Entries Tagged as 'New York'

Working in New York

January 9th, 2011 · 1 Comment

Last week I was working in New York again. It was long, long hours, but I did manage one night to meet up with Jeannette, Tien and Jessica for dinner. Jess had suggested maybe going to Hill Country Barbecue for dinner. Tien said that there was a spot across the street they opened called Hill Country Chicken that specialized in fried chicken and he’s been wanting to try it. I’ve been trying to eat better this new year for the wedding, so in the end we did a 360 and decided to check out Takahachi for sushi dinner. It was good and reasonably priced and didn’t make me feel bad about what I ate. But then…..

I’d told Tien earlier that I’d always wanted to go to a Momofuku restaurant. I actually mention in a 2008 blog post that I always wanted to go there. So Tien took us to the Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert. I didn’t feel bad, though. We ordered and split several things and everything was so delicious, it was so worth it.

Jess ordered old fashioned donut soft serve and it tasted exactly like a donut. Jeannette got a cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookie and horchata soft serve. Tien got a salty pistachio “fancy” milkshake which was spiked liberally with butterscotch schnapps and was delicious. Tien also got this:

Cereal milk? I didn’t get it. Then I took a sip. Wow. It tastes EXACTLY how your milk tastes after you eat your cereal out of it. Crazy.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get. It seemed like the thing to do was to get the “crack pie,” so that’s what I did. OMG. Crack. It’s so rich and sweet.. and totally addictive… like crack (or so I hear).

This crack pie is amazing. I’m kind of obsessed now. Thanks, Tien! I have located the recipe for crack pie and I vow to make it as soon as I can (after the wedding). Oh, and I just found this clip of Andersoon Cooper going on and on about how he loves crack pie. “I sent it to my mom,” he said. “My mom’s now addicted to crack — pie. And uh, yeah, seriously, my teeth are going to fall out. It’s like doing crack. After a while of doing it your teeth will fall out.” FYI, Anderson Cooper’s mom is Gloria Vanderbilt.

Ah. And watch this… when Martha Stewart visits the Milk Bar and the pastry chef there, Christina Tosi, makes crack pie with Momofuku chef/owner David Chang.

Zowie! And now I just found out you can order Milk Bar’s cookies and pies online. This is no good. Don’t do crack kids, even if it’s just a crack pie. Moral of the story.

Anyway….. what else?

I mostly just worked and worked. The Bloomberg office is at 59th and Lexington and on this trip I stayed at the Renaissance New York Hotel 57 on 57th and Lexington. It was nice and close and they had these cute mirrors in the elevators.

Small rooms, but clean and modern. Pretty bathrooms. I liked it.

I ate probably half or more of my meals at Picnic on 57th. Everything at Picnic is good and it is close to the hotel, close to the office. I didn’t have to think about where to go. One of my coworkers goes here every single day and orders the same salad. While the salads at Picnic are great, I got a few, they also have really good sandwiches, soups and sushi. And my favorite yogurt for breakfast, too!

And on Thursday… LGA waiting for the plane to take off. It was such a long week. I just stared at this thing for like 20 minutes.

Finally. Sky Mall. I saw these shoes. In the ad they are described as having a “slick speed of life logo,” but all I could think is that the logo looks like sperm.

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Working in New York

December 18th, 2010 · No Comments

This week I was in New York working on a new account I’ve been assigned to, Bloomberg Sports. Their office is located in Midtown East. It is a crazy busy building, a big corporate office, but very modern and contemporary. It reminded me of Google a bit in the way that they have all the free snacks and drinks you can think of. And they are very green and make as much as they can compostable. The sports area has big flat screen TVs that play ESPN all of the time. People randomly shout out “So and So was taken by fill-in-the-blank MLB team.” Interesting. I’m not a huge baseball fan, but sports is a really cool account to be on. I am learning a lot on this project so far and am looking forward to my work in the upcoming weeks. BTW, I’m working on designing iPhone portion of our project, so that is fun.

The office is located a block south of Bloomingdale’s. While I didn’t really have time to shop, I did pause for a moment to look at their holiday windows and to take this short video.

You can almost hear the music playing over the taxi cab horns. Oh, New York.

While I was out there I also managed to get a really horrible photo taken for my security badge. I don’t think the camera at the security desk knows how to take a good photo. Everyone’s photo is pretty horrible. They only have to wear it around their neck every second of every working day. Pretty much you’re wearing the worst representation of yourself.

My photo makes me look like I have a Hollywood Bumpit or that I’m doing a Snooki impersonation! I looked in the mirror right after this photo and I DID NOT look like this in real life!

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Motorino

August 26th, 2010 · 2 Comments

When we saw Adam at Tien and Shannan’s wedding, we couldn’t help but ask him what his favorite pizza is these days. He is the pizza king, afterall. Without hesitation, Adam said “Motorino” so we decided to try it out for lunch on Sunday, our last day in New York.

We skipped any sort of antipasti and went straight for the Neopolitan-style pizza.


Stracciatella : basil / olive oil / sea salt


Prosciutto di parma : mozzarella / garlic / thyme / pecorino


Cherry stone clams : garlic / parsley butter / olive oil


Soppressata Piccante : mozzarella / spicy soppressata / garlic / oregano

Motorino’s pizza was really great. I loved all the flavors. I think we liked the soppressata the best, maybe followed closely by the clam pie and the prosciutto di parma. The stracciatella was good, but I didn’t realize it was a white pie when I suggested it. I wished for something more. Still pretty good though. And hot. When the first pizza came out, Dallas and Yvan took a bite, so I did too. And I burned the roof of my mouth. 3 days later I can still feel it! I didn’t notice that Yvan and Dallas did the fold so the scalding toppings were not directly touching their mouth at once. Oh well it was worth it.

The crust on Motorino’s pizza was really delicious too. We all ate all of our crusts. Usually there is someone who can’t finish their crusts, but not this time. They were that good. It was like baked bread with a nice wood-fire char. We even asked for olive oil to dip it in. So, all in all, great pizza, but here’s the catch. We were hungry so we got 4 pizzas for 4 people. Each pie is $14 – $18. That might have been the most expensive, per person, pizza dinner I ever had! But it was totally worth it to try Adam’s recommendation. Like Jeannette and Yvan said, it’s a good splurge, but not like they’ll be back there every week or something.

P.S. Dallas also tried this NY pale ale, Pork Slap. It came in a can and had this awesome label.

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Dim Sum at Jade Asian & Pastries at Paris Baguette

August 26th, 2010 · No Comments

On Saturday morning we asked Jeannette and Yvan if they’d be up for dim sum since Dallas and I hadn’t had it since the last time we were in New York a year ago! Dallas’s cousin Jessica from Honolulu is living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn now after having completed school at FIT, so we invited her to come along with us. Jeannette and Yvan have a car so after picking up Jessica, we headed out to Flushing, Queens and went to Jade Asian Restaurant.

Jade Asian is set up like a huge banquet hall. Kind of like Jing Fong, where we sometimes go in Manhattan. The thing about Flushing, though, is that it’s out there. Far. And it’s really Asian. In Manhattan you get a lot of tourists, a lot of non-Asians who live there and go to dim sum. Out in Flushing? I was the only non-Asian in a huge ballroom of people. Not that I really care. Just an observation. The dim sum food at Jade Asian did not disappoint. We tried all of our favorites and then some.

Doing my best impression of Jeannette, I leaned back and moaned about how full I was and then leaned forward and chipperly said “Let’s get dessert!” Kidding, but desert was on the agenda, as right across the street from Jade Asian is Paris Baguette. You know Jeannette can’t pass that up!

I was a little confused about why such a French-sounding place was smack dab in the middle of such an Asian neighborhood, but I just read on the Paris Baguette website that they are the No. 1 franchised bakery in Korea, with 1,700 locations in 3 different countries. It should be noted that the only New York location is this one out in Flushing, Queens. Of course when I went inside, it made a little more sense. Amongst the pilethera of French pastries there were a lot of Asian influences: red bean fillings, grean tea flavoring, etc. I recognized a hotdog roll I used to get in Chinatown.

Jeannette went to town and got a bunch of pasteries. I ended up just getting a coffee drink because I was so full from dim sum. Later on Jeannette admitted to Jessica that this is a well-travelled trip for them with guests. Dim sum at Jade Asian, dessert at Paris Baguette. Works for me! Great food, fun morning, and nice to see Jessica again.

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Stop! Dosa Time!

August 25th, 2010 · No Comments

When Dallas and I arrived in New York on Friday afternoon we hung out and chatted with Jeannette and caught up on everything. When dinnertime came around we were trying to think of what to eat that we haven’t had for a long time. We thought maybe Korean, but settled on Indian. Jeannette and Yvan live in Queens and not too far from Jackson Heights, the largest Indian neighborhood in New York, so we headed over there to Delhi Palace for dinner.

We got appetizers and entrees, but most important of all, Jeannette and I split a dosa, which I’d never had before. The dosa is a savory rice and lental crepe served with fresh coconut and tomato chutney. It’s typically South Indian and is eaten for breakfast or dinner. In many places it’s eaten daily.

Delhi Palace had about a dozen different types of dosa. We decided to get the Butter Masala Dosa, a butter flavored crepe filled with spices potatoes, onions and nuts. Delicious, the crepe was nice and light, the filling savory and tasty. And the sauces were good too. I want more dosa!

As for the other food of the night, we of course started with Papadum, the fried crisp lentil wafers that are served at just about every Indian restaurant. We also had an appetizer called Samosa Chaat, which was smashed samosa topped with mildly spiced chickpeas, mint sauce, yogurt, and tamarind sauce. We all through this dish was very good. I’ve had samosa before, but I’ve never had them smashed up with other bits on top. The tamarind gave it a slightly sweet taste. Yum.

Be tried another appetizer called Bombay Bhel, made of rice krispies and mixed with chopped potatoes, onions, tomatoes, mint and tamarind. The menu said it was a street junk food in Bombay and that “U must try” it. So we gave it a try. Meh. When they say it’s made of rice krispies, they mean literally. Rice krispies cereal. Cold. Not the best, but we “must try”!

For entrees, Dallas had the Gosht Chiily Fry, marinated lamb cooked in tandoor, sliced and sauteed with peppers, onions, tomatoes & chilies (spicy). Jeannette had the Gosht Rogan Josh, cubes of lamb cooked in onion based red sauce & flavored with cardamom (specialty of Kashmir). And I had the Murg Korma, boneless chicken cooked with mildly spiced creamy sauce flavored with raisins and nuts. I ordered it mild and our wait asked a few times if I was sure. He seemed to want me to order it medium. In hindsight, I probably should have. My dish was good, but a little more spice would have given it an extra kick. Jeannette said the flavors of her dish were good but not like amazing. Same with Dallas. And his, even though it said “spicy,” it was anything but.

We had garlic naan on the side and some raita. Oh, and Dallas and I tried the Flying Horse beer. Jeannette asked about the wines. They serve Yellowtail.

We decided to pass on dessert since we were so stuffed from everything we ate. There’s a sweets shop attached to Delhi Palace and even though we passed on them, they brought us out a place of dessert to share. I don’t know how to describe what it was. At first we thought it was ice cream, but then realized it was solid square/triangle pieces. They were very rich and creamy, like a cheese dessert. Maybe burfi or kalakand?

It was so great to have a good Indian dinner. In Chicago 99% of all of the Indian restaurants are located up on Devon Avenue, which is about as far out of the way as you can get. I definitely want to try some more dosas!

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