Archive for the ‘Restaurants’ Category

Drinks, Conversation, More Drinks At the Epicurean Cocktail Feast

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Kicking off the LUCKYRICE festival 2012 was a Bombay gin-fueled bash at the Bowery Hotel featuring some of New York’s most creative chefs and mixologists who were asked to serve two cocktails and a dish that best represents them. Mission, accomplished. The Cocktail Feast also showcased how Asian ingredients can be creatively incorporated into mixology, [...]

Kicking off the LUCKYRICE festival 2012 was a Bombay gin-fueled bash at the Bowery Hotel featuring some of New York’s most creative chefs and mixologists who were asked to serve two cocktails and a dish that best represents them. Mission, accomplished.

The Cocktail Feast also showcased how Asian ingredients can be creatively incorporated into mixology, with citrus like yuzu and calamansi mingling with harsher herbs like galangal. We asked the mixologists—and chefs cooking the parings—about working with Asian ingredients, and for their craziest drinking story from a trip to Asia.

– Matt Rodbard






 

Tristan Willey and Karen Jarman of Booker & Dax

What was the process like to create your drink?
Tristan Willey: We were given Bombay to use and wanted to show some of the techniques we use at the bar. We use a lot of liquid nitrogen and have a lot of fun tools, so we wanted to make sure we had something that represented us. On one of the drinks we are creating powdered mint and suspending it into the Bombay. It really makes this brilliant color.

What was your craziest night of drinking in Asia?
Karen Jarman: I was in Brunei, where drinking is illegal, so I didn’t have a drink for two weeks. At the end of the trip I had a glass of wine at a house party with my cousin and thought that my cousin had drugged me, but it was only because my tolerance was so low.

 
 
 

 

Matt Lambert of Madam Geneva

Where do you want to travel next in Asia?
Bangkok for sure.

So it seems you went to Pok Pok Brooklyn…
Andy Ricker is onto something really interesting. He is so talented. It’s proof that the more you know about something, the more fun you can have. Pok Pok is awesome. His laab is ridiculous.

What was your craziest night of drinking in Asia?
Last year I went on a trip with a bunch of chefs to Malaysia and apparently they only sell vodka by the bottle there. There were four of us and we went through two and a half bottles at some nightclub with an open roof on the 24th floor of some high-rise building. The combination of the booze, and my fear of heights, made it pretty crazy.

Your dish tonight – what inspired it?
It’s something we used to do in the days of Double Crown and has worked really well.

How did you work with your mixologist on the drinks?
Me and Laura [Lashley] collaborated, which was pretty fun. And you get to drink (laughing).

 
 
 

 

Tuan Bui of An Choi

You’re doing a drink with durian fruit. That is sort of insanely cool…
We were thinking about staples of Vietnamese cuisine and durian is considered the king of fruits in Southeast Asia. People either love it or hate it. We made a drink with durian puree, coconut milk, Bacardi rum and ginger syrup. We’re excited.

What was your craziest night of drinking in Vietnam?
It was a hazy hot night in Saigon and I was with a bunch of my fellas and we’re at this bar, crazy drunk, and want to go to this underground party in another district so we hail this unofficial car and we start driving 75 miles an hour and I’m praying to Buddha that we get their safely. I blame the crazy Aussies I was with. It was like Midnight Run on Playstation.

How was the party?
It was insane. There were a lot of hot chicks.

  
 
 

 

Jason Littrell of Jbird Cocktails

How did you create the cocktails?
We all just sat down, looked at each other, and said to use some imagination. We made it a point of not using anything straight out of the bottle. So we did a lot of infusions, particularly for the Tuxedo, which is a gin martini variation.

What do you look for when targeting the Asian palate?
Asian culinary traditions can be very scary and different to the American palate. We weren’t looking to do the easy thing 400 times over. We just wanted it to taste good.

You are set up right at the entrance—which means you are the first drink people will have. Are you ready?
We are terrified. But we are ready.

  
 
 

 

Kenny Chin of B Flat

What is the vibe like at B Flat?
We are very serious about making our cocktails. There is nothing else to say.

What kind of ingredients are you using?
Mostly Asian-influenced. Always something special for the cocktail culture.

Why is Japanese barware so freaking amazing? I love my Yarai mixing glass.
They are the right size, not too big and not too small. They are meant to make one or two cocktails only.

  
 
 

 

Dan Greenbaum and Garrett Eagleton of The Beagle

What was the process like in bringing Asian ingredients into mixology?
Dan Greenbaum: Spice is the first thing that comes to mind, but we are also looking at ways to bring Asian ingredients into classic recipes. For the sour component of classics, you can use yuzu instead of lime juice. Essentially, we are plugging a new ingredient into that format.

What type of Asian food do you like eating?
Dan Greenbaum: I love Vietnamese food in New York, but you have to go to the outer boroughs to find the good stuff. That is not the case on the West Coast. Thai food as well.

WTF, you did an Asian version of Frito pie. Rock!
Garrett Eagleton: I’m from Texas, so I thought it would be funny to do a spin. For the ground boar chili we did Szechwan chili, star anise, cinnamon and clover. We also did cilantro and served it on shrimp chips.

 
 
 

 

Steve Schneider of Macao Trading Co.

What was the craziest drink you’ve had in Asia?
Last year I was in Hong Kong and they have a great drinking program there. But I was at this Japanese bar and it took them 15 minutes to make a gin and tonic. That was pretty crazy.

Anything else?
I just spent time in Taiwan and, to be honest, when I’m out there they are making the classics. In terms of crazy drinks, there is this rice wine in Vietnam that has a cobra in it. We have a bottle at Employees Only and made people try it.

 
 
 

 

Pichet Ong

How do you define an Asian style of cocktail?
A lot of the tropical fruits lend themselves really well to mixology—calamansi, yuzu, mango, pineapple. You can even use some of the herbs like cilantro and galangal. You’re starting to see this style of mixology worldwide—I’ve seen them in Australia and Dubai.

What was your craziest night of drinking in Asia?
Whatever happens in Bangkok, stays in Bangkok. There are quite a few bars on Khao San Road that I’ve been to.

 
 
 

 

DJ Justine D

How do you plan a DJ set for a LUCKYRICE event?
I actually really like playing for an Asian crowd because I feel like they are pretty open and, also, because I am part Asian. I like to play a lot of New Wave and older rock music.

You played Depeche “New Life” last year! Any chance for a repeat?
Nah, I don’t like to play the same set twice.

What was your craziest night of drinking in Asia?
I was in Thailand in 2005, in Ko Samui, and we were mingling with the lady boys and the Euro trash boys who were falling in love with them. Getting wasted, dancing to bad trance music and partying with lady boys.

 
 
 

 

Epicurean Cocktail Feast – LUCKYRICE Festival 2012

  
 
 

Posted in Drink, Restaurants | No Comments »

Dinner Theater with Chef Susur Lee

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

As a young boy, Canadian celebrity chef Susur Lee would attend boisterous Chinese wedding banquets in his native Hong Kong. It was at these banquets where Lee first fell in love with Chinese cooking. The chef, who runs a successful group of restaurants in Washington D.C., Singapore and Toronto, fondly recalls the rush of dishes [...]

As a young boy, Canadian celebrity chef Susur Lee would attend boisterous Chinese wedding banquets in his native Hong Kong. It was at these banquets where Lee first fell in love with Chinese cooking. The chef, who runs a successful group of restaurants in Washington D.C., Singapore and Toronto, fondly recalls the rush of dishes landing on the red-clothed table: the fresh soy beans, barbecued pork, sea jelly fish, braised tofu, crispy pig skin peeled from the back of a golden suckling pig.
 
Last week, Lee was in the kitchen of New York’s famed Shun Lee Palace, a restaurant that requires little introduction discussing the elegant Chinese dishes he will be serving on May 3rd. For over four decades, chef-owner Michael Tong has gradually taught New Yorkers that Chinese cuisine is so much more sophisticated than what they are exposed to every day and that excellent Chinese food deserves captain service and refined presentation, or as Lee calls it, “an Imperial style of cooking, both classic and simple, without the parsley and cucumber garnishes.” Tong is also credited with introducing crossover dishes like Grand Marnier prawns and General Tso's chicken to New York. How many other restaurants in New York can proudly claim to have been open since 1971? 
 
Lee was in New York to work with Tong on their once-in-a-lifetime collaborative LUCKYRICE Chinese Wedding Banquet Dinner taking place on May 3. The eight- course menu is a collaborative effort between Susur Lee and Michael Tong with his chefs at Shun Lee—the auspicious banquet dishes were selected not only for maximum deliciousness, but also to wish the new bride and groom long life and prosperity.
 
The bride and groom in this case will be Broadway veterans Dina Morishita (Aladdin) and Welly Yang (Miss Saigon), a real-life couple who fell in love when cast opposite each other in the musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s Wedding Banquet.  They will perform musical numbers such as “Double Happiness” throughout the feast. This is dinner as theater, for all the senses. As with traditional Chinese wedding banquets, we’ll have plenty of cognac on hand with which to toast the bride and groom.

And about the cooking. Along with “good luck” foods like fish and lobster that are traditionally served at wedding banquets, guests will be treated to off-the-menu delicacies crafted by the chefs. There will be a Shanghai-style baby shrimp and black vinegar dish—crunchy and crystal clear, with a bit of sweetness. There’s a cold-poached drunken chicken, served traditionally with bones and skin on, but topped with an inventive port wine gelée.
 
And the duck. Of course there will be duck. Lee’s is poached in a spiced stock and served with a dipping sauce of Chinese salted plum, honey and chili—for a union of sweet, spicy and a little bit of acidity.


We love this archival photo of Susur looking like a bad-ass. 

“I’m very proud of where I come from and my training in Chinese cooking,” said Lee. “There will be something very old and something very new, which is the only way to have it.”  

–Matt Rodbard


Read more about Susur's impressive and inspiring life story in an interview by our friend Regina Varolli published in the Huffington Post.

Check out this video of Susur Lee and Daniel Boulud at last year's La Fête Chinoise at DANIEL.

Another fun video of Susur joking around in the kitchen of Zentan in the Donovan House Hotel, Washington D.C.


 
 
LUCKY RICE Culinary Council
 
Lucky Tips
 
Chinese Wedding Banquet

Presented by 




Purchase Your Seat Here


May 3
7:00pm Cocktails
8:00pm Seated Dinner

Michael Tong's
Shun Lee Palace
155 East 55th Street
New York, NY

$200 + tax


MENU

APPETIZERS – SIX COLD DELICACIES
 
Drunken chicken with port wine gelée

Shanghai seitan with gingko nuts, tree mushrooms and Chinese celery

Squid and jellyfish with cucumber salad and sesame mustard

Smoked sweet pomfret fish

Poached duck in spiced stock with chili plum & honey glaze

Fresh soy bean and soya sheets with preserved vegetables and hearts of palm

MAIN COURSES
 
Stir-fried baby shrimp with gogi berries and black infused vinegar in crispy nest

Hong Kong fisherman's fried lobster with chili garlic and Asian slaw

Shanghai bouillabaisse with foie gras dumpling

Slow-braised short rib served with shiitake mushroom fragrant rice

Spicy "ma po" tofu with steamed fish

DESSERT

French and Chinese tong yuen with chocolate, nougat and rasberry


  
 
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter
 

Posted in China, Chinese, Events, Restaurants | No Comments »

15 Courses at Sydney’s Momofuku Seiōbo

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Our insatiable reporter Matt Rodbard recently ate his way through Australia and brought back some stories about Asian food encounters he had while down under. In his first dispatch, he explained why the yum cha in Sydney is so (bleeping) good. Even though I would eventually blow through a sizable stack of chips at a [...]

Our insatiable reporter Matt Rodbard recently ate his way through Australia and brought back some stories about Asian food encounters he had while down under. In his first dispatch, he explained why the yum cha in Sydney is so (bleeping) good.

Chef Ben Greeno

Even though I would eventually blow through a sizable stack of chips at a sketchy roulette table in the mammoth Star casino, and would later attempt to comfort myself by pounding a mysterious purple cocktail that gave me mile-24-of-a-marathon cramps—I still had a very, VERY LUCKY final night in Sydney.

Rewind five hours and I’m walking through a food court, past a celebrity macaron maker (wtf?) and through the iron gates of Momofuku Seiōbo, to take my seat at the counter for a 15-course fireworks display. It was Australia Day after all. “It’s a David Chang restaurant by following what the other David Chang restaurants do,” English-raised chef Ben Greeno told me during an interview the day before.

And, true, as I settled into my seat the familiar Momo-soundscape played at an enjoyably high volume: Wilco, Built To Spill, deep cuts from Midnight Vultures. So much Built To Spill. But ignoring the jams, and the counter setup—an expanded 18-seat version of NYC’s Ko—this was to be a very unique meal, with the Noma-trained Greeno running point like Jeremy Lin—knocking out dish after dish. Nothing but net.





Sea mullet with blood orange vinaigrette and nori powder. Smoked eel with artichoke and dashi. Spanner crab seasoned with an Old Bay-marmite reduction (for real) and textbook Yorkshire pudding (photo at left).





Day-caught marron tail with an artful squid ink gel(photo at left). And unless you’re up to snuff on your Melanesian seafood, much of product probably sounds a little foreign. It certainly was to me. (Marron is like lobster; spanner crab is meaty and mild and tastes like a scallop).



This is the beauty of the Seiōbo experience. It’s like Momofuku on safari, 10,000 miles removed from the mothership. And though Greeno reinforces that he’s in constant contact with Dave Chang—via email and frequent calls—you’re not going to see a soft egg with caviar on his menu. But you will find an egg custard with green tea, toasted rice and brown butter (photo at left). There’s a pork bun of course, though the bun is made in-house and thicker than the ones served in NYC.



And there’s a closing pork shoulder course, slow-roasted to a porcine candy and eaten without utensils (photo at left). Indeed, this was the closer after the cheese and two dessert courses. Pork. Over-the-top. 100% Chang. There is no doubt who writes the checks.

–Matt Rodbard





Restaurant Recommendations

So now you want to visit Sydney? You must! Australia is a gastro-tourist’s dream. We asked the staff at Momofuku Seiōbo for their restaurant picks:

Su Wong Ruiz, Manager
Tan Viet for crispy skin chicken
Baxter Inn for drinks
Galuzzo’s for fruits & vegetables

Richard Hargreave, Sommelier
121 BC is definitely my favorite bar. Awesome Italian wine list and [owner] Giorgio di Maria is the
most knowledgeable guy out there.

Charles Leong, Sommelier at Large
Golden Century for the best special roasted duck to date
Wine Library for the wine, snacks, and service
Lucio for the squid ink pasta and old Italian hospitality
Bondi Trattoria is a great café that’s open all day, serving steak, oysters and beer. That’s all that’s needed to make a Bondi man happy.
The Corner House for a casual dinner after a game of pool across the road from The Royal Pub.

Ben Greeno, Chef
Ms G’s and Longrain

Posted in Australia, Restaurants, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Head to Hung Ry for Some Delicious Hand-Pulled Noodles

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Ever since the Momofuku Noodle Bar set downtown New Yorkers hearts on fire with noodle desire, shops have been popping up all over the place. The latest to hit the scene is called Hung Ry, at 55 Bond Street, just down the block from Il Buco, The Smile and kitty corner from Peels. This restaurant [...]

Ever since the Momofuku Noodle Bar set downtown New Yorkers hearts on fire with noodle desire, shops have been popping up all over the place. The latest to hit the scene is called Hung Ry, at 55 Bond Street, just down the block from Il Buco, The Smile and kitty corner from Peels. This restaurant is a true multicultural effort. The restauranteur is an Asian Swiss named Amadeus Bogner. The chef is an American named Michael Hodgkins and the craftsman (pictured here) who teases fine noodle strands out of lumps of organic dough with his bare hands is Chinese.

It’s been open for about a week and we can confirm that the food is delicious. Judging from the quality of the food and the comfortable shabby chic interior, it is apparent that there are some real artisans at work here. This is not a faux fusion joint. The prices for a bowl of noodles range from $11 to $19 for the lobster and scallop version. That’s not cheap but that’s not at all unreasonable for a bowl of fresh, organic hand-crafted noodles. What they’ve done is elevate the humble bowl of flour noodles to a very delicious meal by using high-quality, organic ingredients served in Limoges flatware. If you prefer the $3.95 Chinatown version served in greasy, plastic bowls, then this place is probably not for you but if you appreciate fine ingredients put together in a new kitchen and served in a comfortable, clean environment, then you ought to pay Hung Ry a visit.

Try the beef tongue and frog’s legs as appetizers. The tongue is incredibly tender and served in a subtle pickled garlic broth with black chickpeas and carrots. The lightly fried frog’s legs with celery root and walnut salad was surprisingly tasty. Also, you should definitely try the duck breast noodles served with a generous amount of perfectly-cooked duck in a broth with roasted peppers and a hint of sichuan peppercorn.

Hung Ry is still waiting on its beer and wine license. When it gets approved, this place is going to be overrun with noodle nuts. What a great addition to Bond Street.

Posted in China, Noodles, Restaurants | 1 Comment »