The Feisty Foodie

Nu Sushi

Feisty Foodie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:30:46 +0000

Wandering around, looking for lunch one day, I was sad to discover that Kyoto of Japan, my former go-to-cheap-Japanese-takeout-style place had closed down… but in its place opened Nu Sushi. Curious, I snagged a menu and discovered that though it would also fall into the same category, it offered some items that Kyoto hadn’t.

The first time I went there, I was excited to discover they offered Japanese curry udon (or rice). I love Japanese curry, and with udon? Ooh! My big fear was whether or not they’d overcook the udon.

This entire meal was $8 – it’s from a section of their menu called the Luncheon Special, which is good from 11:30am to 5pm, served with salad.

The salad itself was pretty standard, although it was bigger than I’d have expected.

The ginger-carrot dressing was alright. I wasn’t wild about it but I’m rarely wild about this dressing, to be honest.

And yes, this was my curry udon (chicken). Hmm… I was sad to see only 3 pieces of broccoli, though the carrots were nice and tender-crunchy. The flavor was fine – not quite as pronounced as I’d have liked it, but it satisfied the need because where else down here can I get Japanese curry? (Seriously, where? If you know a place, feel free to TELL ME!) The udon was slightly overcooked, but not unbearably mushy; I think the heat of the curry on top of it might have kept it cooking.

I don’t understand why but apparently, I did not photograph what was underneath that huge layer of sauce. Weird. But there was some udon under there, I assure you! There was also way too much chicken for my liking sliced on top of everything; chicken breast, though it wasn’t particularly dried out or overcooked (nor moist, but the excess sauce fixed that easily). I probably wouldn’t order this again unless I really wanted Japanese curry, but mostly, I’d likely just make my own at home and bring it in for lunch.

A short while later, I returned and ordered from the same section of the menu again, this time ordering the house udon, which is described as “roast pork crispy gyoza & veggie” – this really intrigued me. Crispy gyoza?

Ah. What looks like Chinese style roast pork (char siu), on top of some broccoli and deep fried … well, it’s not gyoza, but it’s sort of like a dumpling-ish-thing.

A sweet-glazed piece of roast pork.

I really appreciated that they keep the soup separate from the noodles so you pour it over the noodles yourself. This does wonders for preserving the noodles’ integrity until you want to eat it.

Dumping the soup in – which was kept at a good, hot temperature – begot this. The sweet glaze off the roast pork mixed into the soup and added a nice depth of flavor; the soup appeared to just be regular beef broth. It had teeny bits of tofu in it; I hoped this wasn’t what they served as miso soup because um, it would suck to get that and be told it’s miso soup. It’s not… though having miso udon would be so awesome… mmm maybe next time I’ll ask for that.

There were bits of seaweed in there, too, which I didn’t mind.

The noodles were more al dente than they had been for the curry udon, though still a little too soft for my tastes. Honestly, though, for $8 and only a block away from my office, I’m not complaining. I’m happy this place has these items on their menu for those days when I really can’t get my act together in the morning enough to pack myself lunch – these are the kinds of things I crave in cold weather. Oh, and those crispy gyoza things weren’t that great – too over-fried, but I just kept them separate from the soup, and pushed them into the soup for a few seconds to loosen them up and make them more edible. Not a big deal at all.

On yet another visit, I decided to order from the section titled “All Day Box To Go” – which I assume to mean that it’s available all day (it’s listed as available from 11:30 – 11:30, which may be their hours of operation) and that it’s only available to go – it has a larger selection of items, ranges in price from $7-9, and comes with soup, salad, and four pieces of California roll. I opted to get the “smoky salmon” because the other items are mostly items I’m quite familiar with (gyoza and various teriyakis, tempura).

The box is quite generously large, with a good amount of everything. A good scoop of rice, salad, … though I didn’t photograph it, the miso soup that accompanied it was actually pretty good (and no, not the same as the broth I’d been given for my udon above). It tended towards the sweet side, but a natural sweetness, like some sweet vegetable had been steeped in it then removed.

The California rolls were pretty standard, though on the mushy side… which confused me because I can see cucumbers, avocado, and ‘krab’ – I’m not sure why I think California rolls should be a little more crunchy in the middle, if they’re missing something. Eating these made me realize I haven’t had California rolls in YEARS. They were sufficiently tasty and inoffensive, but what do you expect?

As for the ’smoky salmon’ I’d been curious about – it was simply extra salted and peppered salmon that had been cooked well. The flavor was alright, though squeezing lemon juice generously over the top of it brought it to better places. They sat on top of a bunch of veggies cooked tender-crisp (which is how I prefer them!)- green beans, carrots, broccoli – pretty tasty. I probably wouldn’t order this dish again, but I could see the appeal for someone who wants cooked salmon that’s not teriyaki-style.

Yvo says: I will definitely be back as time goes on – the lunch prices are reasonable, the location is convenient, and so far, everything has been pretty tasty. Plus, they offer some items that I don’t see on all the local Japanese menus… I see this as a great addition to the neighborhood and a nice option for this style Japanese / lunch boxes (although their obento section is $16! must be HUGE) with mostly reasonable prices.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Nu Sushi!
recommended for lunch

Recipe Fridays: Stuffed Peppers

Feisty Foodie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:30:34 +0000

Woo, another recipe! Sort of… I’m not sure what you’ll say about this, since I have photographs of the one I don’t want you to make.

Well, there it is. It was incredibly tasty but just a bit too dense for me. I mean, it was basically a giant meatlump inside a pepper! Which is good but then very dense, I can’t even imagine coupling this with mashed potatoes (which I wanted to do, and might do next time)…

Since the recipe is so very simple, indulge me a moment while I explain how this came to be.

I went to Fairway in Red Hook a few weeks ago, and they had these gorgeous bell peppers – red, orange, yellow – on sale. So I bought two bags, even though I normally don’t purchase things I get in my CSA in case I wind up with massive piles of it at home. And then I found myself with a lot of peppers quickly turning; I added one bag into my chili (which was delicious!), but wanted to do something different with the remainder.

So I wrote briefly on Facebook about what I had at home, and my coworker said “Stuffed peppers…” She gave me a brief rundown of how to make them, which I decided to tweak to what I had on hand.

Enter: The Boyfriend.

I called him and asked him, “Do you eat stuffed peppers?” forgetting that at this point of ‘bachelor living’ he will pretty much eat anything I make. He responded that he does, but I had to make sure: “What’s in stuffed peppers?” because hell, everyone’s got a different recipe - this seems much like a standard home recipe that lots of people make, and I didn’t want to risk making it with what I thought should be in them – since I’ve never eaten it before – and then him being all “This is NOT what stuffed peppers are like! I’m not eating this!” (Well, he doesn’t do that, but you get my point.)

After he described pretty much what I thought it should be, he then said, “But you know what would be REALLY good?! You should make it with prosciutto mixed into the rice, and ooh little cubes of mozzarella, and… and some peas.” Yeah, the BF has been coming up with recipe ideas for me to implement – he’s done this on a much smaller scale in the past, but this was completely his own. I was impressed, and decided to go for it. (Also, most awesome boyfriend ever: I complained that on a student allowance, I couldn’t afford prosciutto, so he surprised me by handing me a 1/4 lb. of it a few days later. The cynics among you will tell me it was a selfish move since he wanted to eat it, but it made me happy and I don’t care what you say, it was a nice and thoughtful gesture!)

So that’s what I did. I also made myself some ground pork + Italian seasoning + cubed mozzarella + rice, but those didn’t please me as much as his seemed to please him.

Couple days old rice
A few slices of prosciutto, hand torn
Cubes of mozzarella
Frozen/defrosted peas
Basil ribbons (my only addition/tweak to the recipe)
Salt/pepper to taste

Bell peppers, tops cut off, innards discarded
Pasta sauce (I used a quickie homemade bit, but use what you like)

Toss the first group of ingredients together, then pack semi-loosely into the bell peppers. Place bell peppers, standing up, in a lightly oiled baking dish. Pour sauce over on top, and around the peppers a bit.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, then serve.

—> I saw a lot of recipes call for par-boiling the peppers beforehand; I was worried about how mushy they’d turn out if I did that. The way I did it, the peppers actually remained pretty crunchy outside, which I loved. They still had bite to them and tasted excellently sweet. BF devoured his, took some leftovers home, and ate those up as well. So I’m going to guess they were truly delicious that way… I’ll have to re-make them so I can try some this time and take some pictures of those, haha.

Happy eating!

Grand Sichuan International – St. Mark’s Place

Feisty Foodie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:30:37 +0000

I was recently attended an informal food blogger dinner. Basically, James of The Eaten Path sent out an email and managed to gather a really great group of food bloggers. It was kind of amazing to sit there and pick the brains of these people with much better blogs than mine; or just sit there and absorb while many topics close to (most) bloggers’ hearts were discussed, such as monetizing, advertising, and lots of other similar words.

In attendance: Zach of Midtown Lunch, Nichelle of Cupcakes Take the Cake, Talida of Talida Bakes, Robyn of The Girl Who Ate Everything, Danny of Food in Mouth, Ulla of Goldilocks Finds Manhattan, Cathy of Not Eating Out in NY, Lindsey of Lush Life (not a food blog but a spirits/cocktail blog!),

One of the great things about eating with a big group of mostly-adventurous eaters is being able to order a large variety and trying so many different things. This was my first time at Grand Sichuan, but Robyn and others had been there multiple times (Robyn especially!), so I sat back and didn’t try to take part in the ordering process. Dishes quickly began to appear on the table, but I was too busy trying to snap pictures of everything to remember the names of it all! Oops! Perhaps one of the other lovely attendees will stop by to help me remember what we ate

I think this was tea smoked duck; I enjoyed this but it didn’t particularly stand out among all the dishes I tried.

Pumpkin/kabocha (I don’t know which one)! It was alright. I’m not a big pumpkin fan but this was pretty tasty, and very mellow comparative to everything else on the table.

BOWL OF FIRE. I didn’t even attempt to try a small piece of this; when it arrived, the top was completely covered in chilis (in the blurry photo, they are pushed to the right side of the bowl) and brightBRIGHT red. I listen to the warning signs. It was described as a fish something or other; the fish looks pretty good, and I didn’t hear any complaints, though those chilis terrified me. Even more terrifying was watching Talida take a chili and eat it straight, then tell me “Yeah, it’s kind of spicy.” Crazy woman!

Cucumbers in scallion oil. Really delicious and bright tasting – a very good palate cleanser between bites of spicy-ish food.

Jellyfish that I believe was also coated in the same scallion oil, and very yummy. I like jellyfish and its slightly strange, bouncy texture, but if you’re not used to it, that might be the killer for you.

Beef tendons… chewy as expected, pretty tasty anyway.

Yummy veggies! To me, you can’t really go wrong with dark leafy greens cooked in the Chinese manner (slightly steamed, or sauteed, or stir fried, or steam fried, with garlic… mmmmmmm….)

Same goes for this dish, another dish of similar but different veggies. Also, don’t ask me names of Chinese veggies, I will likely never know them.

Cumin beef – absolutely delicious and scrumptious!

Soup dumplings! Not bad, but not the best I’ve ever had, either.

Mapo tofu. I wasn’t impressed… but this was the first time I had it in a restaurant (the first time being when I, um, made it myself), so maybe I should have been. It wasn’t super spicy (which is good!) but I didn’t expect to see it so saucy. I must try making mine again with a bit more sauce to it!

Shredded pork with bean curd and Chinese celery. This was only alright – I expected more flavor, but another dish totally surprised me…

because it’s chicken. I don’t know what was in this or what it was called but zOMG good! I’ll be honest – I’ve been stealing the names from Robyn’s Flickr to be completely honest (and she has much better pictures of the dishes that night!) – but I would definitely order this dish again, no question.

Overall, the food was great, and it came out to like $25 or so a person, including a pitcher of beer and all of that food above (maybe I missed a dish or two?). Great introduction to the cuisine with so many fabulous dishes and a wide variety. I will no longer think of St. Mark’s Place as strictly for Japanese food…

Yvo says: I think this is a great place in an even greater location – the food is reasonably priced, and if you go with a large group, you really get to try a lot of dishes and eat very well for inexpensively, family style. Going with just one or two other people, you can still order a number of dishes, though of course, you should expect leftovers and a slightly higher bill. The food is super flavorful here – there’s a lot going on, with spicy foods, sweet & savory items (at the same time, mind you) – and just really delicious. Go here. And maybe pay more attention to the names of the dishes you order than I did – I was too busy trying to absorb the knowledge being dropped on me.
recommended

CSA Week #20

Feisty Foodie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:30:08 +0000

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Essentially, one purchases a ’share’ in a local farm – much like the stock market, one then has a vested interest in seeing the farm succeed. Dividends/pay outs come in the form of produce – vegetables and sometimes fruit. Different farms do things differently; my farm happens to be also organic, and I pick up my box each week – Tuesdays for me – from a local location. Join me on this journey – my inaugural season with a CSA – as I explore the various vegetables I receive and what I can do with them to turn them into delicious happiness…
For more information on CSAs, click here. To find a CSA local to you, you can click here or for one in NYC, visit JustFood.org. I found mine by typing “Forest Hills CSA” into Google – my neighborhood name + the word CSA, and I’m sure that would work for you as well. Good luck and enjoy the fruits of your labors… har, har.

CSA Week #20 came fast and hard this time around. I was excited to see the return of some items and some new items as well. I didn’t manage to use everything as quickly as I’d have liked, but the squash was cut in half for me, so I quickly decided to roast it on the spot. I dropped chopped kielbasa into the hollowed out center, garlic, and onions, rubbed the exposed bits of it with olive oil, then roasted it at 350 degrees for an hour or so until the flesh was nice and tender.

Mmm, it smelled heavenly. I only used kielbasa cuz that’s what was in my fridge; if I’d had Italian sausage, or something more porky-and deeply flavored, I’d have used that to greater pleasure.

I mashed everything altogether and look how delicious it looks! It smelled awesome! And it tasted awesome for lunch. Which also shows what I did with the broccoli – I roasted it, then tossed it with sour cream, crisped bacon, and onion… mmm. YUMMY!!!

While the squash was roasting, I threw a packet of the beets in with them and let those get nice and yummy too. I just snacked on these and watched one of the baseball games.

Last but not least, magic soup! Kielbasa (since I already had it, clearly), cabbage, kale, carrots, and broth… and so good. Man, I love my magic soup! It will have an entire post dedicated to it soon… and yes, this did stave off any illness that tried to take me down!

Not a bad week for my CSA, though the next few promise to be really horrible, judging by how little time I have for everything

Product Review: Barney Butter and Nature’s Pride

Feisty Foodie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:30:44 +0000

Via FoodBuzz’s Tastemaker’s program, I was able to try two new types of Nature’s Pride bread recently, 12 grain and 100% whole wheat, both with no high fructose corn syrup and lots of whole grains.

Via Swagapalooza, I was able to try Barney Butter, which is almond butter made in a peanut-free facility (ie, even if you’re allergic to peanuts, you can eat this stuff, since it’s not made anywhere near peanuts!). Two varieties, crunchy and smooth, though I only tried smooth.

Very few ingredieans and pretty much all natural – almonds, evaporated cane juice, palm fruit oil, and sea salt.

I actually combined the two, along with Harry & David cherry butter (which is like cherry jam or preserves, not really butter-like as I don’t believe there’s any dairy in there), for a new twist on the old classic PB&J – almond butter and cherry butter sandwich on Nature’s Pride 12 grain!

Along with my tall soy latte, that made up lunch one Saturday, between classes.

Now the taste. Nature’s Pride 12 grain still tastes sweet, but plain like the above photos (as in untoasted), the flavor is very mild and the only way you can tell it’s whole grain (aside from appearance) is biting into the occasional grain. Not bad. Honestly, I decided that while it’s fine the way it was (I didn’t get a chance to try it with sliced meats for another type of sandwich), it tastes much better lightly toasted, which brings out a nuttiness in the bread, and gives it a great crunch-factor.

As for the almond butter – I really like it; it tastes like a much milder peanut butter, with not much distinct nut-taste, but a great creaminess and smoothness to it (this is the smooth style). I have to say, I’ve only tried almond butter once before – Justin’s Natural brand (which is sold in individual packets at Whole Foods for about $1, thank goodness), which I DETESTED. It was gritty and grainy and just yucky; I only know this next bit from my own experience with almonds, but it was pretty clear that they didn’t skin the almonds, which leaves a very gritty taste to it. I don’t know if Barney Butter skinned theirs or if they just pulverized it enough that I couldn’t taste the grittiness, but the smooth is super smooth and creamy and really delicious. I considered what this might taste like mixed with noodles (like cold sesame noodles with peanut sauce), but I haven’t been able to get past eating it on toasted 12 grain bread for breakfast yet It isn’t too sweet, either. Just… right.

One thing I don’t like about it is the $8 price tag though…

Yvo says: I like both products very much together, and I’m sure I’ll eventually be able to break myself from eating them together… even though they are delicious like so! I bet the almond butter would be awesome spread onto chocolate rounds… or mixed into noodles… eaten off a spoon… spread on celery… really, any way you’d eat peanut butter. As for the Nature’s Pride 12 grain bread, I do foresee becoming my new brand of bread (unless it’s prohibitively expensive… I try to balance my food choices based on taste, price, and healthfulness); I was growing annoyed with my previous brand who shall remain nameless since they include high fructose corn syrup in their ingredients.
highly recommended

*full disclosure: I received the above items free-of-charge; the bread through Foodbuzz, and the almond butter through Swagapalooza. However, in neither case did anyone from either company contact me, nor do they even know I exist.