FOOOBIE - Where all the NOOB foodies go.

I'm Moving!

2010-12-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Thank you for following me on BLOGSPOT- however I have found a new home on my personal website:

Please follow this link: http://www.cynthiachung.com/foobie to see new updates FOOD updates! The link is easier for all to remember, and easier to come by :D

Thank you so much!

Bar Paya

2010-10-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Went to Bar Paya last night. It was a Peruvian place with a very wide selection of wines and tapas. For those who did not know what "tapas" are, (it's okay, because I just learned it too) it is the Spanish word for "Finger Foods". According to Wiki, "Tapas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtapas]) is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid)." Most of the dishes here were somewhat tapa-like.

The place was dimly lit, with a few candles hanging from the ceilings and sitting on the tables. The walls were lined with wine bottles. It was a nice atmopshere, quiet and dark.

We started with the Guacamole with Lobster and Shrimp and chips. It was awesome. The guac was cool and chunky, the lobster bits were large and you could actually taste it. Then we also shared the: Roasted Duck Breast (Chinese 5-spice, beer-braised leg, quinoa) - this was AMAZING. The duck was tender, juicy and very tasty. Very well cooked. Then we also got the Pan-Seared Organic Chicken (aji amarillo gnocchi, grated pecorino)- which was okay. The chicken was a little overcooked.

We also got the Grilled Hanger Steak (chimmichurri Peruana, yuca fries). The steak was tasty, cooked medium and had a great taste to it. We also ordered the “Aji” Tuna- which were little rare burgers with aji amarillo. These little burgers were amazing. (images above) We shared all of these, and it was definitely worth it to go in a large group and get a taste of everything.

For desert we tried the Panna Cotta- Pisco Tangerines, Coconut (which was this Flam type thing, image above) It was interesting, wasn't my favorite type of desert but a lot of the other guys enjoyed it.

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (the area is nice and breezy, next to the pier)
Cost: The prices were: Small $2, and Large $3.

** Images were taken with iPhone4** (pretty decent, eh?)

Uncle Louie G's Italian Ices - Brooklyn

2010-10-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

I know it's a little too late for ice-updates. It's October and it's beginning to get cold.. but everyone still loves icies! Actually, today's weather was up in the 70s... Well anyway, a few weeks ago, a few friends and I traveled to Governor's Island for a picnic, and on the way there, we stopped by this little ice truck. It's called "Uncle Louie G" and its by Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park. I think we were all really hot and tired and wanted a pick me up, so we all got ices there. To be honest it wasn't the best. NOTHING compared to Ralphs (but that's a whole other post that I will get to in the future because that is one of my personal favorites!!)

There only had a small selection of ices, flavors such as: Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Rainbow, Mango (great!), Vanilla Oreo, Cherry, Chocolate, Passion Fruit (pretty good!), Lemon, Coconut, Watermelon (tasted like bubble gum), Blue Razz, Mint Chip, and Tropical Rainbow.

I think overall it was pretty good. The mango was decent, but it lacked the REAL mango slices that Ralph ALWAYS has in their Mango Ice... but it was good for the moment.

What I don't understand is how people can eat Ice Cream Milky flavored stuff as an Ice-Form. I still have this horrible habit of ONLY eating FRUITY flavored things in ice form. I can't shake it. Vanilla Ice just sounds horrible (ha, great pun, go me!)

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (the area is nice and breezy, next to the pier)
Cost: The prices were: Small $2, and Large $3.

Some more Food Stops in San Diego & LA

2010-10-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

I was only in LA for like 2 days back in August.. but I got the opportunity to try out some interesting stuff. Hopefully I'll be back in Cali soon to visit and be taken to even better places :)

Well, San Diego- We crossed the Mexican border at around 5am in the morning, go to San Diego at about 8am, stopped to get a cup of coffee at Cafe Calambria.

Even though I was just getting a coffee to go, the barista saw my camera and offered to make me a cup with a design on it so I could take a picture. Totally saw me as a tourist. Ha, but it was sweet none the less, and it was pretty.

The Mission [Diner]

Then for actual breakfast, we went to this place called The Mission. This Diner was cute, open spaced, nicely decorated. The waitress was really nice and the food portions were huge. I ordered the Roast Beef Hash and Eggs- Grilled Angus beef, horseradish cream, rosemary potatoes, and scrambled eggs. It was a delicious meal especially after such a sleepless night. Yum..

21 Choices:

We also stopped by 21 Choices in LA, thanks to my friend Sophia who told us we HAD to try it. Personally, I didn't find it that great- tasted like an over-glorified Mr. Softee. The ice cream was so rich, I didn't even bother finishing it. But the place looked real hip and trendy. Yeah...

We also waited about 2 hours on line for a 'Kogi Taco' from the kogi taco truck in LA. It's just Bulgogi stuffed inside a taco. Nothing too amazing. The cops cut us in line before the truck opened. Aren't they nice? Yeah...

Found a Prying Matus while on the line:

What is a Fooobie?

2010-10-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm going to tell you all a little story. It's entertaining, trust me, try to read to the end.

I first came up with this idea when I was sitting on a night train from Venice to Naples in Italy in December of 2009. I kid you NOT. I still have the memo that I wrote to myself on my blackberry that night. I couldn't sleep because the train was bobbling around too much so I just sat there, staring in the dark, thinking about all the crazy foods that we were trying that week and how I would be able to share it with people. I had eaten an AMAZING dinner that night, and photographed it, but then I thought... okay, so now what? Show people these pictures on facebook? Nah, how about I make a blog that can explain it and also tell people where they can get these YUMMY foods as well.

Which then led me to think... I know nothing about food. My friends always talk about foods, restaurants, yada yada, stuff that I don't really care about...they're all super foodies... and I just eat and take pictures.

So, I decided to combine the word: Noob and Foodie. If you guys do not know, a NOOB derived from the word Newbie, which from terms have been diluted to just a Noob or NUB. Someone who is a NOVICE at something. A Foodie is someone who is very much familiar with the Food Culture of the world- something like that. Which when you combined the two words, what comes about is: FOOBIE. BUT, foobie was already taken by someone... so I named this blog, FOOOBIE.... (with 3 O's instead of 2)...

So then we come to now, 6 months later, and a whole bunch of posts. My dear friend, Jessica Tseng left a message on my Buzz post. "Jess Tseng - I was googling your food blog because Jon's coming down this weekend and a couple of hs friends wanted to get food... I remembered that your blog was called "Fooobie", but google told me what Foobies really meant. Oct 1"

I then proceeded to google what 'Foobie' REALLY meant. Urban dictionary SURE TOLD ME!

Urban Dictionary Says this:
1. Foobie
Foobie, a compound word made up of fake, and boobies. To describe not only those wondrous silicon orbs that seem to abound everywhere these days, but any variety of artificially enhanced hooters

However, I'd like to use the #4 definition, which is this:
4. foobie
1:) a generic exclamation to address the approach of another.
2:) one who is silly or meaningless; a doofus. commonly used with friends or friendly acquaintances.

DOH

Am I going to change my blog name? No. It'll take too much work to move all my posts over. So I'm going to celebrate this discovery with some imagery that I saw in Japan in 2004. Boobie Bread!

Disclaimer: I hope none of you guys found this offensive. If so, read someone else's blog.

Ba Xuyen

2010-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I did something out of character. I traveled to Brooklyn. Ugh yes, Brooklyn. One of my friends suggested we go try this "really great" Viet place on 9th ave + 43rd street. So I went. It's ghetto, it's small, it's in the middle of no freaking where, but man, it was good- yeah, pretty much better than the truck. (see post here)

Mostly I went to see my two old high school friends, whom I haven't seen in literally 5 years. Danny Cai and Alejandro Chen-Li! But I was honestly really impressed with the sandwiches there. Ale had a Sardines sandwich! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THEY HAD SARDINE SANDWICHES??? (sounds gross, since I'm not a huge fan of fish but some of you may like to try it...). I had the grilled pork sandwich. It was freaking amazing. They had some kind of strange white sauce mixed in with the spicy hot sauce,.. made the sandwich a little easier to eat. It wasn't dry at all, the pork was really tender and full of flavor. It definitely was a good eat.

Ghetto, dirty, hole in the wall, but damn good. And for $4.00 for a sandwich this big? I definitely don't think you'll ever find that kind of price in Manhattan OR Queens...

*5 points to whoever can find my blackberry. LOL

Taste: 5/5
Atmosphere: 2/5 (I definitely would not come here after 8pm)
Cost: $4.00 (FOUR BUCKS FOR A HUGE ASS SANDWICH? I THINK YES!)

2010 NYC PIZZA TOUR

2010-09-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I'm REALLY LATE with this entry! But I wanted to write about it so I will! So a few friends and I went on this little pizza tour back in the beginning of Summer (I seriously think it was June 8th? That's how late I am...haha!) We hit up a few places and together shared a bunch of different slices of pizza. I will recap you with what we tried and what I thought of each place.

*** WARNING: VERY IMAGE HEAVY *** :) ENJOY~

POSTO PIZZA (2nd ave btw 18+19th street):

Typical cheese pizza. Wasn't that enthralled by it. The slices are really small, kind like 1/4th the size of a normal slice. Really thin crust, simple, easy to eat, good for being the first pit stop of the morning.

ARTICHOKE BASILLE'S PIZZERIA (14th st btw 1st+2nd ave)

This pizza was really interesting. It was super cheesey and thick crusted. The sauce was something like alfredo sauce, completely drenched the pizza.

Flavorful, thick, saucy and cheesey... it was everything you really needed a pizza to be. I remember burning the roof of my mouth when I bit it... so be careful. Each slice is huge, I think you get sick/bored of the cheesiness by the time you get to 3/4th of the slice being finished. So, just drink a lot of water...

VENEIRO'S:

Our next stop was to break the Pizza-cycle with some dessert. We walked over to Veniero's Pastry Shop (11th street btw 1st+2nd ave). Biggest mistake. It was decent, but to me, it felt like some sort of over-done tourist trap. The space was real tacky, gold-mirrors and all this jazzy stuff all around. The pastries didn't seem that fresh, they were overly glazed and super DUPER sweet. Could have lived without it.

LUZZO'S PIZZERIA:

Then we went back to Pizzas. Our next stop, "Luzzo's" (1st ave btw 12th+13th st)
This was my personal favorite place. Most of us were pretty stuffed from the past places, so we all wanted something lighter. We ordered the pizza with arugula + ham topping. It was amazing !!! The arugula was so refreshing. The ham was sliced real thin so it wasn't overbearing, and the just completely packed the pizza with a ton of arugula. Actually, I've never had arugula before, prior to this pizza, and now I'm in love with this plant. The guys that worked there were real nice too, they decided to pose for us and take pictures... hah

MOTORINO'S:

Our LAST pizzeria stop was "Mororino's". A BIG no-no for me. We tried the Brussels sprout toppings- to be honest, it tasted bad. The Brussels sprouts were all burnt and tasted like charcoal, and the pizza wasn't anything I can remember. That's all I need to say. Here's a picture to sum up my words.

I think the coolest thing about that place was that the pizza box looked hot- that's about it..

DESSERT TRUCK WORKS:

The last place we went to was called, yes, my pick, "Dessert Truck Works". When I yelped it, I thought it was going to be an actual truck, but it ended up being a real shop! It was really nice there. The place was beautifully renovated, brand new, menu written in chalk, real cute place. I ordered the Honey-Rosemary Ice Cream. It was so good !!! Sweet, but not too sweet, rich, but not too rich.. ahh it was lovely. I'd go back here again anyday. They had a lot of other cool pastries that I wanted to try- all pretty decently priced. It's a cool place to just take a friend, date, or whatever to hang out and get something sweet. I'd pick this over momofuku any_day_....

The end!

Downtown Vietnamese Truck! - 'Banh Mi Cart'

2010-09-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, I will be getting back to my updating moods. Life has gotten really busy this past Summer, between traveling, working (a LOT, Thank GOD!) and being a crazy, I've hopefully calmed down a bit for a little to pop my head in this blog and write about some great foods I've been lucky enough to try.

So one of my personal favorite places to eat is this truck, called the "Banh Mi Cart" on Hanover Square and Pearl Street in downtown Manhattan. (In the Financial District) There are so many stories associated with this little truck. But I've eaten there 3 times and each time has been heavenly goodness.

The first time was with my friend Shelley, who told me about this truck (since she works like a block away). The second time with my friend Alan, which best story ever, we literally ran around the whole financial district looking for this stupid truck in the pouring rain. My blackberry's googlemap really sucked, so we got lost, and I'm not very familiar with that area so yeah, we got lost a lot. The third time was with my sister for a really random quick lunch break, where we both craved it, and I traveled all the way from midtown just to go get it with her. (Yeah, I know..SUCH.. a _long_ way :p) Each time it tasted great, hit the spot and filled me up like a happy child getting a huge gift on Christmas morning.

I always get the sweet pork Vietnamese sandwich. They have things like spicy pork, chicken, vegetable, spring rolls, summer rolls, whatever finger-type foods the Vietnamese have- but no PHO.. sadly. Anyway, the sandwiches are thin, packed with meat, cucumbers, carrots and some other mysterious veggies (which are probably easily named, but I can't think of them off the top of my head right now) - but it all tastes great. The reason why I really love this place is because of how fresh and clean it tastes. It doesn't feel too heavy after you eat it, and it definitely leaves you feeling good after finishing the whole thing. It's not huMONNgo, nor is it too small, it's pretty much the perfect size. What's also pretty great, is that it costs $6, which if you're from queens, you're like WHAT THE HELL, WHY WOULD I PAY SO MUCH FOR A STUPID VIET SANDWICH, because you can get one for like $4, BUT! again, in manhattan, honestly, where can you get a lunch that's less than $8?! (WITHOUT a drink!) This is actually a jewel of a deal! :)

Anyways, if you guys have a chance, go check it out- should be there Mon-Fri from 11am-2pm. Don't call me if you get lost- I still probably can't find it even to this day. Ha!

Thanks to some of those DEDICATED FANS (HA HA WHO AM I KIDDING??) I realized that I forgot to put my proper ratings in, so here goes:

Taste: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Cost: $6

Cello Wine Bar - NYC

2010-09-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

Taking a little break from my "Road Trip" Entries. I'm completely behind on my udpates! Will try to make up now!!

I walked into Cello Wine Bar on 53rd between 2nd and 3rd ave, and was greeted with a narrow 'hole in the wall' space that was beautifully decorated. The walls were brick and the tables were cozy and it was mixed with soft light and candles that lit down the row. It was a beautiful little space and I instantaneously loved it. I spoke with the wine director (and as some of you may know, I freelance for New York Magazine, and sometimes I get to go these great places to photograph the interiors, in which why I was sent here...) gave me a lot of great wines and even had the chef cook me a whole 3-course meal to try!!

First we started with a salad:

Then, his special, Mac 'n Cheese,

then finally his delicious panini/banana/nutella bread toast- thing magiggy. Everything was magical!

I highly recommend this place. The Mac and Cheese was really good- but seriously, his panini-banana-nutella thing was amazing. It's his personal creation (as a chef) and it was seriously one of the best tasting things I've had in awhile. I didnt actually check out the prices of the dishes, but it doesnt look too expensive. Doors open at 5pm, it's a great place to take a date, or just to hang out at the bar to eat some finger foods. The dishes aren't huge, so it isnt in any way overwhelming. The wine's delicious too!

Eddie's Cafe - SF

2010-07-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

So this one morning in SF, I woke up really early- due to my jetlag, and I really wanted some good breakfast. I was actually really craving some like, IHOP-type food, so I yelped some good places to eat around my friend Stephen's place, and I stumbled upon this place called "Eddie's Cafe". The reviews were decent, and it was really close by, I think it was like 2 blocks away and the prices looked real good. (hey, i'm a poor traveling nomad!)

We got there, and it was like a small corner shop- something that reminds me of Central Perk from Friends. The decor in the place was eccentric- pictures lining the walls, random flower pots- and the place was packed. It just seemed like a friendly-neighborhood diner that served "regulars" and was filled with a bunch of happy waiters. The restaurant was owned by Korean folk, which was a bit of a surprise to me, since the restaurant's stated it as "Soul Food"....and how random is it that there are penguins on the cover of the menu- what does that even MEAN?

Anyway, the food was decent, your typical breakfast foods, hashbrowns, eggs, sausages and coffee- tasted all right- but the price is what made it. I think I got all of that for like under $7 bucks- which is pretty insane because if I remember correctly, Ihop ususally charges like $7 STARTING.. without tax/tip!

Look how happy one of the customers are, eating their breakfast food!

Taste: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5
Cost: $5-8

THE ALL AMERICAN ROAD TRIP!! PT 2

2010-07-09T08:37:00.001-07:00

A continuation...
Burma Super Star - SF (4/5)

This was actually my favorite restaurant of the week! This was my first time every trying any Burmese food, (to be honest, if you asked me to locate Burma on a map- I don't think I'd know where it is...) Anyway, a friend of mine was recommended it, so we went there for lunch one rainy morning. When we Yelped! it, we got a lot of warnings that it was going to be a super bustling place, because it was so popular, but when we got there - we didn't even have to wait for a table. But the place WAS packed to the brim. Literally there were like 2 feet in between each table and it was a great atmosphere. The service was quick and friendly, and everyone seemed to be breaking happy bread together.

We ordered the 'Samusa Soup', which is supposedly the most "popular" and "best" thing in the house. It was a vegetarian soup that had a mixture different veggies, predominantly it tasted like tomato soup, with a lot of other things mixed it, but one thing that I noticed that stood out, was they had this bready-texture THING inside which made the soup, the SOUP. Haha, overall the flavor was great and it tasted awesome and I would go back to try it again. We also ordered the Pumpkin Pork Stew - Tender pork stew slow cooked with kabocha squash and ginger- and it was the BEST. I've never eaten pumpkin cooked before, and it tastes a lot like squash... I suppose they are the same thing? But it tasted so awesome! We also ordered the Beef Kebat - Stir fried beef with onions, tomatoes, green chilies, and mint leaves. They say it's spicey, but it wasn't at all.

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE CO. (SF) - (3.5/5)

Supposedly my friend said this is one of the two best coffees to try in SF? I stumbled upon it by accident one rainy morning, while RUNNING ERRANDS FOR A FRIEND, and was greeted with a nice surprise. I ordered the New Orleans Iced Coffee because I was curious as to what that tasted like. It was iced coffee with a dash of mocha on the top. It was good, strong coffee and tasty. Way better than the burnt crap that Starbucks always serves. The price was a little high, I think it was $3.50 for this cup- that's not really normal for a cup of iced coffee- so this can be a once in a lifetime sort of deal.

THE ALL AMERICAN ROAD TRIP!!

2010-06-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow reader(s) (plural, I hope!),

I have just returned from a cross country road trip that began in the little city of San Francisco, I then journeyed through Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, Alamogordo and Roswell New Mexico, Lubbock Texas, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Little Rock Arkansas, Memphis Tennessee, even hit a piece of North Carolina, the Smokey Mountains, up to West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and then back to New York City! It was a pretty long and arduous journey, but I'm back alive, in one piece, and I honestly don't regret any moment of it.

Of course this is my FOOD BLOG, so I will be updating you with some glorious images and reviews of all the interesting places that I ate at. Of course the next few posts will be updates from that trip, so I hope you will enjoy them!

We'll start with San Francisco!

CHOWDER - SF (2.5/5 stars)

Down at the Fisherman's Wharf, I tried this place called, "Chowder". Since this is the bay area, seafood around here should be pretty tasty and fresh no? So I wanted to try the Clam Chowder in their famous sourdough bread. Probably not a good idea to come here to try it... it's better in Boston. Hah. The decor of the whole place was great, the staff super friendly. The whole interior of the little shop was cute and inviting, but the food was just bad. The clam chowder was SUPER salty. I don't know if they think that the sour dough bread had to be consumed fully in order to counter balance the taste- but I wasn't about to eat the whole piece of dough just to get the taste of salt out of my mouth!

TRISH'S MINI DONUTS - SF (3/5 stars)

Next, I also tried this little donut place called, "Trish's Mini Donuts". I thought it was a cute place and the donuts actually ended up tasting really great. It was semi-sweet, there was sugar coated around it, but it wasn't nasty sweet. One the down side, I think the donuts were a little too oily for my taste, and it could have been a bit fluffier- but hey that's just me.

Okay, I'm going to try to limit each post with 2-3 different restaurants, since these are all going to be short blogs!

IN & OUT BURGER - SF (2/5 stars)

Okay, so I don't get what the hype is about this place. I mean it was good, but it wasn't GODLY. Everyone and everyone always raved about how great this place was, but honestly- is it because you haven't been to Five Guys before?! It was decent, I tried the "secret" burger- the "Animal-style" burger- but it was just mediocre. Yeah it was juicey, and the price is good for the meal, but the fries they gave me were cold and stale and just didn't cut it to any standard that people have given me. So all in all, I had a cruddy experience here and I don't think I'd ever crave this place ever again or want to go back. That's all. For all of you people that hate what I just wrote, I'm sorry, but that was my truthful experience. However, I do encourage you guys to go try it for yourselves.

The Filipino Dinner - Grill 21

2010-05-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

My first time having Filipino food! It was at Uncle Pete's 2nd birthday party at GRILL 21 ! (part of his 3-day bash, of course). It's a little joint on the east side on 21st St between 1st and 2nd ave. It's small, our party literally took up the entire inside of the restaurant AND the outside. There's a lot of cute mural paintings all around the inner walls and there's a clean bathroom.

Thankfully it was a nice breezy night, and we were able to sit outside as well. The owners of the restaurant (a Caucasian man, in whom I suspect is married to the owner-ress, who looked Filipino) were really nice people. A little impatient I believe, but that's because we came in with such a large party and they weren't used to so many heads in one sitting. None the less, they were really friendly and recommended a lot of different things for us to try. We started off with some Filipino beer and spring rolls. The spring rolls were quite yummy, crispy yet still tasty. Nothing compared to Shelley Ting's Amazin' Springs, but they were decent. I have no idea what they had inside, I generally just tasted.. pepper. The beer was okay. As most of you know, again I am not a beer-connoisseur, but this 'Red Horse' Filipino Beer wasn't very memorable.

For my entre, I ordered the "Chicken Curry- chicken chunks cooked in coconut milk with potatoes, carrots & pepper". I know, I know, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to these things. But did you know that in Filipino cuisine, they really like fish? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! I don't like fish though, so I settled with chicken. It was good though, the curry was really thick and flavorful. The portions here are enormous and probably not possible for you to finish- unless you're a REAL MAN. (Kidding). But they gave me about 5 large chunks of chicken leg and massive amounts of curry. (image to the left). A few of my friends ordered the "Sweet & Sour Tilapia whole fish" in which- they LITERALLY gave you the whole fish. I didn't taste the actual dish, but I heard of a few mixed reviews, going from "great!" to "horrible"- so this is something you will have to decide for yourself when you try it. Haha.

FINALLY- FOR THE BEST PART OF THE NIGHT! The YAM ICE CREAM. They call it the Halo-Halo (?). But its basically Yam Ice cream on top of shaved iced with condensed milk and red bean. A lot like Taiwanese Ice, but with the amazing Yam ice cream with rice krispies sprinkled lightly on top. Can I say YAM ICE CREAM again!? It was so delicious- I think everyone loved them some of this!

OVERALL: This restaurant was tasty, worth the buck for it's bang, or bang for it's buck- whatever that saying is. I personally wouldn't venture there for part 2- unless it's just for dessert! That's all!

Taste: 3/5
Atmosphere: 2.5/5
Cost: $25-30

Pio Pio - New York

2010-05-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This post was completely written by a friend who thought it'd be a great satirical piece... on me. He did a great job however, because it seriously sounds like .. me. The only slight edits I made were the ones inside the brackets [].

Please enjoy:

"This post is dedicated to Peter, who recently turned 21 for the sixth time. Sorry for the low picture quality (I left the 10k at home) [he meant to say i left my 10lb camera at home]

Anyway, after a beautiful day playing softball, my friends and I decided to go out and celebrate Peter's birthday (for the third freakin' time). My really annoying friend always suggests we go to Pio Pio but we usually settle for Pork Chop Rice. However, since today was a special day we decided to make the trek to Jackson Heights and try some some chicken that he has been dying to eat.

We get to the restaurant and the first thing I noticed (and you will to) is that this place is FREAKIN LOUD. Some people LIKE to yell at those sitting right next to them but, it was probably just the restaurant's layout.

We proceeded to the bar where we ordered some Sangria. There were oranges, apples and a sugar cane in it. It tasted very fruity and I couldnt really taste the wine but it was a little too strong for me LOL! (I knew I had to stop when I started speaking in a British accent). While waiting at the bar, we saw a table of CLOWNS eating. SERIOUSLY, who comes to a restaurant dressed as a CLOWN? WHO DOES THAT?

My friend Wing is a Peruvian food nut (and resident food connoisseur) so he ordered for us. To start, we got the Palta Rellena, which was avocado, shrimp, red onion, tomatoes and corn marinated in a cilantro-lime dressing. It looked like something Slimer from the Ghostbusters would vomit out, but it was delicious! Not overly spicy and all the ingredients complement each other very well. I also got an Inca Kola, which is a Latino soft drink that looks like Mountain Dew but tastes like bubblegum.

IF YOUR IDEA OF GOOD CHICKEN IS KENNEDY FRIED CHICKEN OR BOSTON MARKET---then this place will make you NEVER want to eat chicken from those places again. For our main course we got the Matador Combo (I wiki'd Matador, and it means "killer" and let me say this combo really lived up to it's name LOL) which consisted of a whole chicken, rice, beans, tostones (fried plantains), salchipapa, fried bananas, and avocado salad. Since we were sharing amongst 5 people, we also added on another chicken. Let me just say that the portions are FREAKIN HUGE. I had some white and dark meat and it was delicious. Usually the white meat I get at other chicken joints is dry and card-board tasting. But here, it was so tender and juicy. I enjoyed the sides but I did not like the salchipapa which was just sliced hot dogs and fries. The birthday boy got flan for desert but I was too stuffed with pollo to try a bite. IT LOOKED GOOD THOUGH!

I really enjoyed eating at Pio Pio. You definitely need to come here with a bunch of people because of the large portions. I just wish this place was quieter for my sensitive ears. Seriously, just imagine a room of Cynthia Chungs all screaming at each other and you will get the idea of just how loud this restaurant is. Also, the bathrooms don't have signs. I walked in to the Men's room LOL. [edit: TONY YANG walked into the WOMAN'S BATHROOM, surprising 2 women who were already inside - so please be careful and look UP.] So if you ever find yourself in Jackson Heights, check this place out (Bring your earplugs)"

Taste: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 2/5
Cost: ~$25

Baluchi's Indian Restaurant

2010-04-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

This blogpost is dedicated to: Alan, Kelly and Justis. For all those good times we drove past Queens Blvd.... :)

So yesterday, I made my way down to South Street Seaport. Before actually heading there, I had lunch with a friend, Shelley (the woman who makes the most amazing Spring Rolls) at Baluchi's. (Yes, Ba-LOOOO-Chees!!!) It's this chain Indian restaurant located all over Manhattan.

This place literally looked like a take-out place, you go, you order, you point at what you want, and they place it all onto a plate for you. I got the Chicken Tiki Masala, which is: tomato & cream sauce, with a side of string bean potatoes. It was a LOT of food and it tasted really good too. I've always thought of Indian food as REALLY heavy- and it really was.. so I advise you to take it easy. It was very rich and super spicy, and you need the NAN (the dough-bread thing on the side) to really sustain you throughout the entire meal (at least for me, I needed it.. because I can only take so much of spiciness...)

I mean this place is nothing to be stoked about, it's kinda like one of those restaurants in which you go to when you crave some Indian food-which was our reasoning for coming here. We just wanted some chicken and potatoes, yo!
If you're looking for a actual DINNER place, try their Spring Street location. I went there like 3 years ago. They have really beautiful/antique looking silverware that they put curry in, and the decor was a lot richer and a better place to go and actually enjoy the atmosphere. The one down here in the financial district was pretty much a take-out place- all self-service.

Taste: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 3
Cost: $10-$13

The Lobster Place / Eleni's Bakery - Chelsea Market

2010-04-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Have you guys ever checked out Chelsea Market? Well inside there are a few bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants and markets housed inside. There's a seafood market, meat market, a regular produce market deep in the back, a chocolate shop, and a ton of other cute little shops inside (mostly for purchasing food of course). There's also this chocolate shop that has home-made hot chocolate made in there that I've been meaning to try- but didn't get the chance to yet. So, someone try it and tell me how it is.

Anyway, I was shooting around the area and decided to get some lunch- I was craving Sushi, so I went into "The Lobster Place" to get some sushi. I thought it'd be fresh-how sadly wrong I was. I guess this is partially my fault for buying TEMPURA (what kind of idiot buys pre-made-tempura sushi?) but anyway, I was pretty much starving and craving it- so I bought it. It wasn't the best tasting grub in the world- but this isnt really a blog about sushi (since we can get sushi anywhere), this is a blog mostly about the entire market area. The place where I bought the sushi is actually a fish market- where they sell basically all this tasty and fresh looking seafood.

The next place I tried, because that sushi didn't really satisfy me... was Eleni's bakery. It was this cute little bakery that I saw the last time I was inside Chelsea Market. It had such a quaint, comfortable set up, a lot like a little country house. There were platters of cookies, baked goods and cupcakes packed on the counters.

I really liked the "eggplant cookies" (image above) and I wanted to try that too, but I decided to just stick to getting a cupcake. Most of you may know that I am a red-velvet cake fan - so I got that here. :)

Isn't it beautiful?! Alas though, as beautiful as it was, it didn't really fix me. It was a little stale to be honest, and I guess that's the price they pay when they place these baked goods so openly on the counters. I'm still a bigger fan of Martha's (when it's fresh- although I have had it stale before- grossness).

Anyway, if you're bored and looking for a place to find fresh PRODUCE, and other cute little bakery-esque places, you should check this area out. There's also a lovely Apple Store down the block if you're interesting in playing with the new iPad.

I feel like I've just written a review for a place, rather than food. Oh well! The blog is expanding! mwahhaha! Comment!!

Zaiya Cafe - New York City

2010-04-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

So this place has been dear to my heart since I was a freshman in High School. This is going to sound super dorky (which I'm sure I am), but I used to hang out inside the Japanese bookstore, "Book Off" pretty often after school. I was learning Japanese at the time, and I liked to practice on .. comic books. Yeah, whatever, JUDGE ME. Cafe Zaiya opened up way during my HS years (2001-2005), and also had a Beard Papa's Creme Puffs (now closed?) inside it. I have no idea where Beard Papa's is these days - I haven't seen any around anymore- must have been a phase (like Red Mango/Pink Berry is going to be-a thing of the past) Anyway, to be honest, Beard Papa's WAS really good!! But this isn't a blog about that place. Cafe Zaiya is a Japanese cafe, that sells Japanese bread, cakes, ramen, bento boxes, onigiri, drinks (calpico & such), caffeinated drinks and basically anything else you can think of. It's like going to MITSUWA without DRIVING out to New Jersey! But this place is, instead, conveniently located on 18 East 41st Street- pretty much right across the street from the New York Public Library (you know, the one where Spider Man's Uncle died in the car?)

It's fun to try out- just to pop inside for a snack- or for lunch. The atmosphere is nice, there's free seating and it's very clean, it gets super busy during the high noon hour (since a lot of people come in to purchase lunch)- but the lines move quickly. There's also another location they have, that's on the 2nd floor of the Kinokuniya Bookstore on 5th ave and 42nd st. Here, they make an AMAZING green tea frapp!

What I love the most about Cafe Zaiya is their onigiris. These are seaweed wrapped rice balls with fillings inside. The fillings range from: Spicy Tuna, Tuna, Salmon, Seaweed, plum and some other stranger things. The best that I recommend is Spicy Tuna. The way they wrap the onigiris will confuse you and shock you to no end. It's like some strange japanese contraption and I seriously- even after all these years- have not figured out how to unwrap an onigiri correctly. But anyway, their seafood is generally very fresh- and it tastes so great when its warm! At $1.75/each, getting 2 would fill you up pretty well, and leave you some space to try other things. Also, it doesn't burn TOO large of a hole in your wallet.

If you have some time, go check this place out for a nice snack!

Taste: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 4
Cost: $2-$12

Two Boots

2010-04-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday, after going to this little shin-dig film premiere party (that also shows some of my work!), 2 friends and I were starving creatures looking for some decent food in the west village at midnight. Luckily for them, I was scoping out the area earlier that day, already taking notes of what places I wanted to check out. I saw this cute little pizza pit on the corner of Greenwich Ave and 11th street. It was called, Two Boots, and in the window was two little boots hanging there. haha, that was cute. It looked like one of those hip little joints that you see in sitcoms or something, so I wanted to try it. So we went later that night.

The menu was really cute, all the pizza slices are named after celebrities from probably like the 60's-90's? (correct me if I'm wrong). They have the typical pizzas, cheese, sun dried tomato, broccoli, pepperoni, etc etc. Okay, I am DEFINITELY not a huge fan of pizza in general. Last time I had Pizza, it was dominos, and I had major food poisoning for 4 days.. so everyone, please be warned and NEVER ORDER FROM DOMINOS PIZZA!!

I ordered the Larry Tate. Which is: Spinach, plum tomato, fresh garlic on a white pie. It was pretty good, the crust was very very thin, (personally I'm more of a fan of the deep dish pizzas-if anything) but this was really good too. I mean, personally I thought there was a lack of flavor since the crush was SO thin, and the cheese was already REALLY thin, and they didnt even put enough tomatos on it. But anyway, the decor of the place was great, really interesting wall tiles and great furniture. Had a bit of the "saved by the bell" diner joint-type look. Anyway, it was okay, for that side of town, where every other meal will cost you $14+, this one will save you a few dollars and get you full :)

Taste: 2.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Cost: $4-6

Pick-A-Bagel on 3rd - New York City

2010-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago, I was walking down third ave, and hadn't had lunch yet. I walked by this bagel shop and it looked somewhat enticing... and I realized I haven't had a bagel in a long time- so why not eat one now? It was called "Pick-A-Bagel on 3rd" (it's on 3rd ave between 22nd and 23rd street) It looked to me like some kind of gourmet bagel shop. I always wanted to try an "expensive bagel" oh some sort. Haha. Well, it wasn't THAT pricey. To be honest, it ended up more like being any ol' deli on the street. There were some crazy variations of spreads though. Some ranging from, "chopped herring" to "Tofu Cream cheeses" to "Lox". (i had no idea what lox was until I wrote this post, then I googled it. the first definition is: "liquid oxygen: a bluish translucent magnetic liquid obtained by compressing gaseous oxygen and then cooling it below its boiling point; OR (the more believable definition in this case) brine-cured salmon that is lightly smoked". ( I think it's the salmon one).

Anyway, being me, I just ordered a cinnamon raisin bagel with vegetable/scallion cream cheese. It was amazing. I always love that combination of sweet and salty all at the same time. Keeps me entertained while I am eating it :)

The bagel is huge, and definitely too big to finish on your own, so I suggest sharing it or eating half and then finishing the awesomnes goodness at a later hour. The bagel itself is fresh, even though I went at around 3pm, it still tasted good. They really layer on the spread. The Vegetables and scallions are huge chunks and really are the actual veggies, not strange random salty squares that are the ones in the Dunkin Donut's veggie cream cheese. The bagel itself cost about $3.50, which is a decent price for a meal!

Taste: 4/5
Atmosphere: N/A - I just bought it to go!
Cost: $3-6

Gyu Kaku - New York City

2010-04-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

So last weekend, I went (yet again) to another birthday celebration. Happy birthday to Jason Wu + congrats on your new job! I was super tired already from a long day of work, but I wanted to go out with them all to celebrate. They picked 'Gyu Kaku' because we couldn't make reservations at 'Ninja' (a restaurant where NINJAS SERVE YOU!! which by the way, I'm going in late April, so be prepared for an entry on that cool place- soo stoked to go there!!!) Anyway. I got LOST trying to find this place. Partially I was impatient since it was pretty cold that night, I was carrying a lot of camera equipment and I was feeling extremely sick- but yeah- googlemap on my blackberry couldn't even take me to the right place- or perhaps I was just delirious- but be warned!

Anyway, I finally got there, and we were seated. The waitress was really nice, pretty, patient with us- since this was a surprise dinner and Jay had no idea we were coming, and it took Alice awhile to lure him into the restaurant. The atmosphere is nice, there is a small bar area at the front of the restaurant incase you're waiting for a table. The place is overall a quiet, dark and warm place.

The food served there is basically an asian fusion of Korean BBQ and Japanese food- but extremely overpriced. I'm sorry to say that the food they served was NOT at ALL worth the money they tried to steal from your wallets. I mean, 5 uncooked pieces of Kalbi was $13, and a bowl of Unagi (eel) bibimbap was $10- but it had like 2 small pieces of ACTUAL eel in it. I guess what I'm saying is that if you're going to eat some amazing Korean bbq-like food, you're better off hitting up 33rd street and k-town... for some REAL DEAL MEALS. (haha, I just made that up and it totally works!) and if you want some authentic tasty japanese grub, just hop around the corner to the other small restaurant around st marks place.

For dessert people ordered the "Green Tea Mille Crepes" (image left) and the "Dorayaki Ice Cream"(image right) The crepes were amazing. The green tea cream in between each layer of a crepe was perfect, sweet, smooth and salty-all at the same time. The vanilla ice cream that came with it definitely made it a perfect hit. That was my favorite thing at this restaurant- if I were to ever come here again, I would just get dessert. The Dorayaki was pretty cool too. They basically give you red bean ice cream, with REAL red bean on the side and 2 little pancakes. You toast the pancake (on the grill) then you layer the ice cream and red bean on top and make a little pancake smore thing out of it. It tastes amazing too!

So overall, what is this place like?
It's a great place to eat dessert. That's all. :)

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Cost: $20-30

Scandinavian House Cafe

2010-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I celebrated with another friend for her 24th birthday! Happy birthday Emily!! We went to dine at the Scandinavian House Cafe on 58 Park Ave (NORTH! It's between 38th and 39th street NOT 32nd and 33rd - like googlemap LIED to me!) Just to clarify if you guys ever want to check it out. (There's also a 'restaurant MONTH' going on where you can get a pre-fix for $35) Decor was nice, there was a huge tree in the middle of the restaurant which was a little strange and interesting all at the same time. There were like little shops surrounding the place and a whole theater in the basement. There was some kind of piano recital going on while we were eating- but we didn't hear anything, I just saw it when I passed by.

IF YOU LIKE IKEA SWEDISH MEATBALLS... this place will BLOW that out of the water! The meatballs here are amazing! So tender and juicy, they are like little round pieces of chocolate that melt in your mouth! They are served with mashed potatoes under it with gravy and some "lingonberry" sauce. (WIki tells me that its a very popular fruit/jam in Scandinavia! Packed with Vit. C for those who need it! (until me, who is currently Vit. D deficient.. haha) A few of use ordered the "Smorgas burger" (as shown in the middle image above) It was pretty delicious. It was like having the Swedish meatballs enclosed by a lightly toasted bread, with a huge chunk of cheese and tomatoes, with a side of baked potato chips surrounding it. They gracefully gave us a little dish of ketchup in the middle of the table for easy access too.

Eating burgers in a nice little joint on Park Ave is somewhat frustrating. I didn't want to be messy and get it all over the place. The burger is super tall, so it's not like you can take a HUGE bite out of it and not get it all over the place. It felt like the toothpick in the middle was just for show. I glanced over at the other tables around us that ordered the burger, and some other guy just took off the bread and ate the meat and insides of the burger-- OK WHO DOES THAT?! WHO!? IT'S A BURGER, EAT IT LIKE ONE!! Sigh, well for $11- that isn't that too steep of a price for it. I mean, doesn't outback or applebees charge like $10 bucks for a platter anyway?

Anyway, somehow I managed to eat it without too large of a mess. I tasted the waffle dessert with whip cream on top too (courtesy of Em), and it was pretty good. Very crispy and light. The chocolate cake that Jeff got was a bit too sweet for my liking, but it came with some ice cream to balance that. Anne and Jeff both got the Cloudberry Duck. (Cloudberry is another type of fruit!! I wiki'd that one too!) It has a very cute name, but didn't look all that beautiful. I didn't take a picture of it either, but I heard it was good.

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2/5
Cost: $20-$50 (depending on your orders with or without wine) :)

Patsy's Pizzeria NY

2010-03-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

Here I am, sitting and listening to some old school Blink 182 as I'm writing this blog post. Last week, I went to Patsy's Pizzeria --- NOT to be confused with, Patsy's Italian Restaurant!! Goodness, there are so many restaurants in New York City- and some even with the same confusing names... took me awhile to figure this out and few times at google to get why the other Patsys didn't sound like anything I ate. Anyway, here's what I ordered:

They have pastas and pizzas, the normal everyday Italian cuisine. However, there's something unusual about the pasta. First of all, it tastes AWESOME. It's very clean, light, and doesn't leave a greasy, heavy feeling after you eat it. (i believe this is a lot like authentic pasta in Italy- because that's what it tasted like when I was there) It comes in two sizes, a family size and a normal portion size. the family size is HUGE! Probably enough to feed about a family of 50-- just kidding- maybe like 5 people. (or you can get one and have it last you for 2 days of breakfast, lunch and dinner..

The thing about them is that their ingredients seem so fresh and tasty, like they just prepared it the moment you ordered it. (and it felt like it too.. because it took them a LONG awhile to serve...or maybe I was just super hungry and impatient..but I don't think it's the latter..) One of the pastas we ordered, had chicken.. and the chicken pieces was so large and juicy that I seriously thought it was lobster for a split second.. I believe it was called, [image left] "Gemelli Arugula e Pollo - Twisted pasta with arugula, with light tomato and sliced chicken " The Pasta is so cool (as shown in the middle image above) it's like 2 speghetti wrapped around each other. Very cool! We also ordered the [image right]"Rigatoni con Le Salsicce - Sweet Italian sausage with spinach, broccoli, olive oil, garlic and wine sauce" I wanted to try some of the sausage here. To be honest, this dish wasn't that great. The broccoli was great (since this is my favorite vegetable- I will eat this in any way) but the sauce was little too salty and heavy for my liking. But it was good none the less...

I don't particularly recommend or condemn this place, but I think it's a nice place if you're in the mood for some decent pasta :)

Taste: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Cost: $15-$35

Rueben's Empenadas

2010-03-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first day out on the road on my own. Long story short, I'm currently free all day and can wander the lovely streets all over New York City now- and it's wonderful! I went downtown over to where my sister worked, and we had lunch together. Walking around Fulton street, we couldn't really find anything that 'we craved' to eat, until we saw this little empenada shop. It was called, "Ruben's Empenada". I actually haven't had any empenada since I was in High School (NO, not the yellow Jamaican beef patties that they served in public high school, there was this little shop by Queens Center Mall that had really good empenadas...) and so I asked if she wanted to go there. She agreed and we stepped inside.

It was pretty empty, but then again, it was about 2pm, so maybe the lunch-time rush was already over? We ordered 2 empenadas, and an apple one to share. I got the "Argentine sausage" (ground beef with pork, onion sauteed in a red wine sauce). It was pretty good. I mean, you can't go wrong with dough and beef rolled together. Empenadas are like Spanish dumplings- definitely has to be decent as long as you like what's inside. It's $4.00 for a meat empenada. (they also have vegetarian and side dishes like soups and cucumber yogurt??) The meat was spicy and hot, it was pretty tasteless at first, I had to add the hot sauce in order to give it some more taste and deliciousness to it. Overall this place is a good place to eat if you're craving for a dumpling of some sort. It fills you up just enough. The apple empenada that we shared was pretty good too. Flaky and crispy-- it's like toaster strudel. (not anything special that you cant get from Pillsbury).

So yeah, overall it was all right. Its a chain, so theres one on 65 Fulton street, 77 pearl street, 76 Nassau Street, and 149 Church Street.. and they deliver- if you need it.

Taste: 3/5 (only because of the hot sauce..)
Atmosphere: 3/5 (the waitress was really nice)
Cost: $4-10 (depending on how many you get, and what other goodies you want)

Angelo & Maxie's Steakhouse

2010-03-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went to have lunch with an old friend. We decided on Angelo & Maxie's because it's close by to my work place and also he's been meaning to try it for some time. He told me there was Lunch Special there for $20.99 so I decided to go for it (Anywhere for a good post right? ;D)

So, we went there, and we both opted for the Lunch Special. You could either get the soup or salad to start. I opted for the black bean soup- which turned out to be really good! The texture was a little weird and thick, but you could tell that it was made of real mashed beans. For our entre, we both got the 8 oz Filet Mignon. It was good. I learned how to cut steak properly. You have to CUT AGAINST THE GRAIN, in order to cut through all of the fibers inside the meat so that it will be easier to chew. (I learned all of this from the genius brain of stephen fang, and also about.com (read the article HERE).

Anyway, the steak was really juicy and tender. They gave us a side of this buttery sauce, which was so awesome when you dipped the steak in it! I actually forgot they had their own specialty steak sauce because I was already so satisfied with the steak juice and butter stuff. So by my 4 bites, I finally decided to try their steak sauce, and it was really good too! Sweet and tangy- a perfect mix with my half raw steak.

The service was great and everyone there was really friendly and willing to serve. Its a nice place, clean and big, so you couldn't feel claustrophobic or anything of that sorts! I wouldn't say that this is a place you HAVE to try out, but if you're in the area, looking for some steak- it's not THAT bad.

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2.5/5
Cost: $30-$60 / person, unless you do the lunch special or share...

NYC Cravings- Taiwanese Food Truck

2010-03-11T21:24:00.001-08:00

So last week, Brian Lim told me about the Taiwanese Truck that comes around on 23rd and Park Ave every Tuesday at 11:15 AM. (It's run by NYC Cravings, and goes around to midtown somewhere too. So last Tuesday, I decided to go try it.

So, I walk over and I see this huge yellow truck in the middle of the street and a lengthy line of (mostly Asian) people. The wait was pretty short, it moved pretty fast. On the menu there were 7 things. You can get either, pork-chop over rice, friend chicken over rice, dumplings (4 for $3!!! You know in Flushing we buy them for 25 cents EACH!? And they taste A HELLA good. Oh, and one time I went to Rickshaw on 23rd and 5th, and it was the most disgusting 4 dumplings I've ever eaten in my entire life, not to mention, I think I paid like $7 bucks for 4 of them. EW!), tea eggs ($1 EACH!) and some other random things. Of course, I knew, that in buying this, I would be disappointed. Nothing can beat the awesomeness of 66 in Flushing. For $5.95 you can get the most great tasting Taiwanese grub in the US- I mean, TRUTH- all authentic Taiwanese kids live up in Flushing- so they HAVE to have some of the good foods there!

Anyway, from the truck, I got the porkchop over rice. Okay, my first reaction when I opened my bag- it was huge. They give you a LOT for $7. A little too much, actually. There was 2 huge slabs of porkchop over what seemed like a bottomless pit of rice and sour cabbage. (mm, i love sour cabbage...) This might be a blunt statement, but it's probably better than any high end, asian cuisine restaurants found in manhattan. Sure it's super oily and gross, but that's what Chinese food is all about!

They have sriracha sauce, duck sauce, soy sauce and dumpling sauce!

Here is my pork chop over rice. To be honest it WAS a too oily and too salty for my taste. It felt like you needed to eat a lot of rice to balance out the intense saltiness of the pork. I mean, even the sour cabbage felt like the water to counter the saltiness... Anyway, to be honest, for this area, it's good. So if you guys are in the area, and have some time- and is seriously craving some taiwanese food... you should try it out!

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: N/A
Cost (w/o tax+tip): $7 for a plate, $4 for 3 dumplings, $1/teaegg