Weekend Events: Smorgasburg (Brooklyn)

Welcome to Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, New York

...where the hippy hipster of Williamsburg roam free (on the weekends).

Kind of like your typical Night Market, only served up during the day with all your local/popular favorite restaurants around New York City.

We went on Saturday for Smorgasburg instead of Sundays' Brooklyn Flea. But no worries, because Brooklyn also has a famous (and might I add, HUGE) vintage store a few minutes of walking called Beacon's Closet. Much to say, it didn't stink. =0)

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Here's a peek of some of the food vendors there:

They literally put sticky rice into a bamboo shoot and you use a flat stick to scoop it out. It looks.... hmmm... interesting. 

This looked the best out of all the vendors. It's a simple Chicken & Waffles (photo above). But it was a medium/big proportion compared to the rest of the vendors I passed by.

Pulled pork looked good and we almost got it.... 

They've got different tastes all over the world. These spring rolls looked pretty good. I wanted to get some, but their portions were much too small.

After looking at all the savory vendors (I totally forgot to take photos of the "sweet" vendors, not many but a small hand full), this is what we ended up trying..... and it was......

BOSSANOVA

It was rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreally great chicken burgers. 

Okay..... so you're probably thinking, "but CHICKEN burgers? No way can it be better than regular beef burgers." Well... that may be true, but not the burger I had.

I ordered a very new and fresh take on burgers --> Green Apple Chicken Burger. It had slices of green apple, goat cheese and a very tasty cranberry sauce.

Look at that.... even the bun is hearty goodness. =0)

The chicken patty was so juicy and tender, I was really taken back by how plump the patty was. And then... when my tongue hit the goat cheese then the craneberry sauce and then the apple slices, I was simply in heaven. 

What a burger! That was gourmet to the top level, my friends!

Me and the Bossanova's Green Apple Chicken Burger

<3 <3 <3 <3

The sweetness of the cranberry didn't overpower the patty because the chewiness of the bread helped absorb some of it making it taste even better with every bite.

My friend ordered a very juicy Chick Mac that could easily whip a beef cheeseburger out of the water. 

It's an all-american type burger and it was AWESOME too!

The whole experience was very fun and it wasn't overcrowded to the point where you can hardly move. It's located at the edge of Brooklyn (close to the Williamsburg bridge). They even have a section for people who wanna picnic-it, but you should beware that the ground hardly has any grass and it's not very pretty. 

But for the tourist in me, you can see the cityscape of New York City and that's a beautiful thing.

Cheers to a beautiful first time visitor of Brooklyn! It's not shabby at all!

=0)

My Recipe: Linguine Aioli

When you're low on groceries and you look at what you've got, in your fridge sometimes you get inspired to create interestingly tasty dishes using simple and ordinary ingredients.

Main ingredients:

- Lots of garlic (more the better)

- Parmesan Cheese

- Plain yogurt

- Olive Oil

- Salt

- Pepper

- Korean Pepper flakes (optional)

- Linguine (or any long pastas)

- Tomatoes (or any vegetables)

First, I cooked the linguine and when that's almost done, start the pan and add olive oil and garlic.

Second,  add the tomatoes (or whatever vegetables you have) to the mixture

Third, when your pasta is done cooking, drain it and then add it to their mixture in the pan

Fourth, add Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, Korean pepper flakes, yogurt (2 tbsp)

Five, toss and mix well

Sorry, no fancy plating due to the fact that I was super hungry after smelt it.

IT.... 

WAS.... 

AMAZING.... 

....TASTING!

And lastly, enjoy! 

Food Review: Asian Legend (Yonge/Empress location)

If you live in Toronto you may wonder why I'm doing a food review on Asian Legend. It's fairly well-known and they've sprouted many locations all over the GTA. But, I thought it'd be nice to do one on specificlocations since it's never the 'same' experience in taste and service.

I've been to the Leslie/Finch, Yonge/Empress, Commerce Gate and the Metro Square location (off of Steeles/Warden) and I've found that they are not that consistent, so I thought I'd write it out and see what happens.

Last weekend my friends and I had a pretty late dinner at the Yonge Street, north of Empress Walk location in North York after we went to see a movie at the new Cineplex Empress Walk theatre. By the way, they have FREE PARKING up to 3 hours. They validate on the 3rd floor.

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Anyways, when we got there around 8:30pm - 9:00pm, it was barely full  with many empty seats on the second part of the restaurant, yet we had to wait for a good 8 minutes to get a seat. It looked as though they wanted everyone to sit in one section, so I guess that makes sense.

Hungry after the movies, we order a few dishes

As a child, I've always loved the green onion pancake. But now, they've got many different twist on the green onion pancake.. by adding slices of beef and veggies. This one was on the chef's menu. Hmmm... this compared to the usual greasy bread, I think I prefer the greasy-looking pancake. This "chef's special" felt very dry in my mouth. It left me very unsatisfied.

Next, we ordered beef noodles and soup

This is another staple. When I'm out with my family, we love to order the Beef noodles. This was tasted fair. It said on the menu that it was spicy, but there wasn't a hint of spiciness. I'm not very tolerant for spicy (thought I'm trying to build one up) but when I tasted it, I was quite disappointed. Without the spiciness, the dish became bland and unflavourful. 

The only thing that was good about the dish was the beef. It was very soft and tender and easy to eat.

Again, I stuck with my basics and ordered string beans. This is always a great dish to have. They made it well and it was nice and soft with lots of garlic sauce for taste. 

And last but not least, a new dish for me. I forgot the full name of the dish, but it right under the "Crispy chicken". The full name entailed a region from China, probably to point where this certain dish was born. 

The new thing was the dipping sauce. The sauce was tangy and a little sour. After my first bite, I couldn't say if I liked or hated it. To me, it was very... different. It wasn't bad, but I couldn't quite say I loved it. Would I order it again? Maybe.. maybe not. However, I can agree that the crispy chicken was very good and not at all dry. And for myself, I always love snacking on the sliced cucumbers underneath. =0)

For the service, it was slow, and though it was close to closing time, I found that this particular location is much slower with everything they do. They aren't bad, but the waiters definitely need to be quicker and around more in case customers need something.

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Overall, the food is decent and its a convenient place to get your Northern China food fix. But hopefully, the service does a better job next time I come.

Food Review: Huong's Vietnamese Bistro (Ottawa)

Feeling starved after all the afternoon events for Canada Day in Ottawa, my local friends take us to one of the many many maaaannnnnny vietnamese pho restaurants in Chinatown. 

We go to Huong's Vietnamese Bistro (they are currently in the transition to move a couple houses down on the same street)

The decor brings me back to my childhood -before modern became a thing. It was classic, old but still doable. We went around 4-5pm and they had filled more than half of the restaurant.

Price wise, compared to some of Toronto's Pho restaurants, it ran at a higher rate. In Toronto you can get a small bowl (perfect for myself) for $5.50, but at Huong's their prices started at $6.50 for a small bowl of pho.

More decorations, their tables were filled with newspaper clippings. I looked and saw that it was about them. That in itself always makes me feel more confident. It makes me feel like they know what they're doing... even when they lack elsewhere because in all honesty, if the food is good (and the service isn't too crappy) then I'm down and may stay as a regular. 

I ordered P7 which was pho with rare beef and beef tendon. 

Taste wise, it was alright. But I must admit, to me, all pho is just good. There hasn't been one that super great or super bad. From the soup, I liked it (but still not worth $6.50).

When you're done eating, you can go up to the cashier and pay there! It's basic at this restaurant. But being Asian myself, I don't expect much service, so long as the food speaks for itself.

Overall, I'd give Huong's Vietnamese Bistro 3.5/5 stars

Food Review: Play Food & Wine (Ottawa)

This is as fancy as you can get with a very fair price on extremely tasty not-so-tapas tapas dishes.

As a sister restaurant of Beckta Food & Wine, Play Food & Wine is a more casual dining experience, but the taste looks (cause I haven't been to Beckta to compare) just as good as the premier fine dining Beckta.

Located close to the Byward Market on 1 York Street, it's neighborhood brings out the strollers and tourist going for cute boutiques and to eat at places like just like Play. 

It's on the corner of York, doesn't look too big... that is until you walk in. Two levels with a long narrow corridor that seats plenty.

When I went for lunch (on a Saturday), it wasn't overly busy, but we made sure to make reservations in case. We were seated by the window and we were greeted with a very professional yet friendly waiter. With a menu like theirs, you're bound to ask questions, and our waiter was more than happy to answer ALL of our questions. He seemed very knowledgeable in the ingredients/menu. I was very pleased.

For lunch, they offered and very reasonable deal (I think better than Summerlicious/Winterlicious). From this menu (some exceptions) you can choose 2 dishes for $20. They are tapas dish-sizes, but my friend (who's been here many times before) mentioned that the sizes are much larger than an average tapas dish. 

It was a very hard thing to choose only 2. They had a main entree list that began from top to bottom according to their 'heaviness" -steak being the heaviest menu item and soup being their lightest.

As promised, ART.IS.IN bakery still enters into my meals even though I eat elsewhere. The complimentary was... ART.IS.IN sourdough. And oh my, I must tell you, it was my favorite yet.

Incredibly soft on the inside, with a enough chewiness and not-too-hard exterior with a very great flavour to their sourdough bread. And this time I much preferred the butter than the cold-pressed canola oil dip.

On with the show, I choose what I rarely order when I go out:

Tuna Tataki | edamame | seasame | soy | fennel-orange | yam chips

Original price: $15.00

The tuna was very nice. It tasted fresh and was seasoned nicely. My only dislike was the hardness of the exterior. It was a bit too dry/hard for taste. But the sauce that was drizzled on was a mouth of absolute perfection. 

My second go-to for this dish was the fennel salad. I ate it up like I was a poor man. It wasn't overly sour, but had a hint of sweetness that made the flavours of the fennel incredibly tasty. And the fennel was so light in my mouth that it could have melted.

The yam chips were good, but nothing too special.

Overall, it was a delicious combination of foods and flavours. I felt like I was tasting a million flavours in my mouth from these 3 items on this plate. I was very happy!

If I could have licked my plate (without anyone noticing it, I would have.)

And onto my 2nd dish, which I was very intrigued about. 

Boar Sausage | tempura | acorn squash relish | Caraway mustard

Original price: $14.00

This was amazing... maybe.. just maybe because they deep fried the sausage. ;p

But the sausage was very flavorful and not at all game-y. It was deep fried to perfection and not soggy at all. The acorn squash relish was somewhat lacking in flavour but the Caraway mustard was extremely tangy and spicy. I liked it but I also couldn't take too much of it. So I decided to mix the squash with it and it became like one -both the mustard and squash complimentary one another perfectly.

I was absolutely blown away by how good the food was. The portions of it was simply more than enough for my stomach. It was tapas food, but I must agree with my friend that they felt much more filling than any tapas food places I've been to (i.e. Guu, Don Don Izakaya in Toronto).

Anytime you want to impress out-of-towners, come to this place.

Do I even need to rate this place?! Okay fine, it may have to compete with ART.IS.IN (in different ways) with a big 6/5 stars.