Num Pang

Ok so pretty much anyone who knows me knows I'm excited by food; but nothing, and I mean NOTHING has excited me so much (lately) as my visits to Num Pang.  I love sandwiches, complete, compact, carry-away meals.  All the food groups wrapped up in a little, and sometimes not so little, package.  At Num Pang the package is a heavenly roll from Parisi bakery; but it does not end there by any stretch.  Cambodian inspired sandwiches which generally feature their delicious chili mayo, pickled carrots, cilantro and cucumber; but some of their combinations add a chimi type sauce, asian pears, pickled apples or cabbage.  Between their two locations, midtown at East 41st street and downtown at University place and 12th street I have sampled many of their luscious combinations and will not stop until I have tried them all and have that scrumptious chili mayo running through my veins and arteries!  One of my favorites is the Five Spice Glazed Pork Belly sandwich with asian pears...the pork belly melts as sweetly as cotton candy; but I will not confine myself.  The Peppercorn Catfish!, the Pulled Pork with spiced honey!! the Ginger BBQ Brisket!!! OMG.  The kitchen at the downtown location is practically AT the walk-up window and the smells just pull you right in; and there is a small eat-in space with seating up a circular staircase.  The midtown location is standing room only, and you can see the great mural which is posted on their website.  Go, go now! and you WILL thank me.

Fave in the hood...NOT! - Osha Thai Kitchen

i've been told that baby photos of me look, well, like i'm a fat chinese baby.  i would not be surprised since there have historically been alot of chinese in cuba, where my family lived.  perhaps that is also why i have such a penchant for far eastern cuisine in all its forms.  regardless of the reason, it is rare, if not completely unknown, that i don't like an asian restaurant so this one stands out for having the distinct (dis)honor of holding that title.  more's the pity since it is close to home and within delivery range; but Osha Thai Kitchen was a big disappointment from beginning to end.  because the food was culprit there's absolutely no other reason to go since, as i always say when someone counters "but the place was beautiful"...you can't eat the decor.  the long and the short of it, and there really is no reason to be elaborate in my gastronomic displeasure (why bother? there's little pleasure in bile).  the j-dumplings were stale and tasteless, the spring rolls were dense and disgustingly peppery, and the calamari was tough (what else can you say once the calamari is tough?); but because i was still hungry, disdain of appetizers will do that, i had the chicken with pineapple and ginger.  ...the chicken was tough, the ginger lacking and the pineapple bland (like eating water chestnuts type of bland).  i'm sure that pineapple would have preferred to have wound up in the bin than suffer the dis-honor of that dish.  it was the sort of gustatory disgust that makes you want to take the cook outside and kick him 'til he bleeds.   life is too short to have bad food.  go somewhere else...go on, git!

oh mary...

i know, you're all probably starving, so have i been for a long time. let's try to put it behind us...


it's nice to come back on memorial day when we are all getting memorial about something or someone. i've been catching up on the early nyc history (one of my favorite things), which, anyone who IS anyone will know, is stellar. antebellum manhattan continues to innovate...the highline, governor's island, the trade center of the world. eats is no exception (ARE no exception?). and a-propos the early fishing history of the big apple, mary's fish camp tries. 1840's innovation, and turmoil, are alive and well, and just as frenetic...not its best feature. but lets talk about the oysters. but oysters are as oysters are, and mary, unfortunately, had nothing to do with them...but they were fabulous, raw and fresh and with a mignotte or sauce or h=radish. pre-civil war america was HUGE... mary's fish camp is small in size and achievement. the flavors fresh but incohesive, the seafood fresh and well, if blandly prepared, yet done a miserly misjustice...the experience repulsively compelling. noteworthy lacking in adornment gives the food focus, but doesn't occupy the spotlight the way it could. gottta have seafood now? two blocks away? there are plenty of places for drinks if you gotta queue; if you gotta...go for the oysters. 'nuf said.