New York Tour de Barbecue

On a recent trip to Manhattan I decide to embark on a mini tour de barbecue so I consulted with my friend Gary over at Pigtrip.net - he is a barbecue genius. I asked Gary where I should go for the best ribs in New York and as I expected he gave me some choices; Wildwood for saucy ribs or RUB (Gary's personal favorite) for smoky au natural, also known as dry rubbed. If it's beef ribs or brisket I'm looking for, Hill Country is where it's at, which happens to be just 4 blocks from RUB. So after considering my options and looking at a map, I decided I would start at RUB for some of their smoky ribs and then make my way over to Hill Country for those famous beef ribs.

RUB, which stands for Righteous Urban Barbeque, is a small place with a takeout counter on the right, seating with wait service on the left, and a bar in the back. With several rib cut options on their menu I needed some assistance. First was the choice between St. Louis ribs or baby back ribs. I was leaning towards the St. Louis because they are usually meatier. But then I had to choose between the short end or the bony end. The short end is the last seven ribs off the slab and is also known as the tender end; the bony end is first six bones off the slab and is usually much meatier. Meat was what I was after so I went with the bony end with a side of their vinegar based cole slaw. The ribs were very smoky, almost too much, but they were very tender with a nice smoke ring and crispy bark. The slaw was outstanding, I like creamy coleslaw as much as the next person, but this vinegar slaw was excellent and perfect alongside the ribs.

Next stop, Hill Country Barbecue Market. I stopped in around 3:30pm so the restaurant was pretty empty. I was greated by a nice young woman at the front door who asked if I had ever been there before. I said no, and quickly got a lesson in the barbecue market. Upon entering the market, I'm given a meal ticket. Meal ticket rules can be seen in the second image below, but basically you take your ticket to the butcher counter where you order your meat, I ordered one big beef rib, and the butcher will weigh and price your meat. He'll affix a deli counter style sticker to your meal ticket and direct you towards the sides and trimmings station. With hot and cold sides to choose from I settled on Cool as Cucumber cucumber salad and Confetti Cole Slaw.

The beef rib was big, tender and very delicious, and the cucumber salad was sweet and sour vinegary perfection; if I was a cucumber I would want to be made into this delicious salad. Finally the confetti cole slaw, lightly dressed this cole slaw was a little creamy and a lot good. If I hadn't come from RUB I would have ordered more than one beef rib and may have tried some of the other great sounding sides. I don't know about you, but beer braised cowboy pinto beans and campfire baked beans with burnt ends sound pretty awesome to me. In hindsight, I wish I had at least tried their skillet cornbread. I'll have to wait until next time, and trust me, there will be a next time.

The next time you're in New York City and craving some barbecue, you should definitely check these places out. I'd suggest you start at Hill Country first, with live music everyday and fantastic Texas barbecue, it's a real treat.

Hill Country Barbecue Market
30 West 26th Street (Between 6th and Broadway)
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212.255.4544

RUB BBQ
208 West 23rd Street (Between 7th and 8th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212.524.4300

Find yourself at Tao

Taoism is a philosophy, a religion, and a way of life; Tao Restaurant in New York City could be considered the same. Opened in the Fall of 2000, Tao has been cranking out some of the best Asian food in all of New York and is still generating the same buzz today as it did nine years ago. Frequently visited by celebrities and athletes alike, Tao makes you forget about everything else when you walk in the door. You are warmly greeted by a giant statue of Buddha upon entering the restaurant, and the restaurant invites you to try a lot of what they are offering with small plates, large plates, noodles, sushi and more.

I was alone for my first visit to Tao, working in New York City and eating out every night. I sat at the bar upstairs in what used to be the balcony of an old movie theater with a great view of the entire restaurant. I was immediately greeted by a friendly and very helpful bartender who quickly poured me an Asahi and helped me decide what I should order. After discussing several of the amazingly delicious sounding menu options with the bartender, I settled on the following three small plates (no pictures, I didn't have my camera!)

Crispy Tuna Sashimi Roll with Edamame
This roll was excellent. Four pieces atop hot, steaming edamame served with a spicy edamame wasabi dipping sauce. The roll was crunchy on the outside and deliciously soft and rare on the inside.

Satay of Chilean Sea Bass with Wok Roasted
This small plate came with two skewers of Chilean sea bass sitting on top of four spears of roasted asparagus and it was fantastic. The sea bass was cooked perfectly, no teeth necessary. The rich and buttery fish simply melted in my mouth and the roasted asparagus was peeled for presentation and provided great balance to the entire plate.

Lobster Wontons with Shitake Ginger Broth
This small plate included 6 wontons in a shitake ginger broth. The shitake ginger broth was great but the the wontons were definitely missing something. They were good, sure, but were pretty flat on flavor and definitely lacked any significant lobster flavor. It would be fair to say this was just another wonton served in a fantastic shitake ginger broth.

I can't wait to get back to Tao New York to try some more things on the menu. Everything sounds so great and the few things I have tried tell me that the kitchen at Tao knows how to crank out excellent food that looks AND tastes great.

If you find yourself in New York City, find your way to Tao for some Asian enlightenment.

Tao New York
42 E 58th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues)
New York, NY 10022
Ph. (212) 888-2288

A Cuban Lunch at Sophie's

I took last Monday off to spend more time in Manhattan and decided to look up my friend JT for lunch. He works down by Madison Square Park, right between Murray Hill and the East Village. His office is across the street from a Cuban restaurant called Sophie's. There are seven Sophie's locations, the one we went to is on E 23rd Street.

For those of you who have never worked in New York City, or never visited, Manhattan is the land of the steam table, also known as the buffet. On almost every corner of Midtown Manhattan there is a restaurant, convenience store, or deli with a steam table or two serving a all sorts of decent food from Indian to Chinese to good old fashioned American comfort food like meatloaf and mac 'n cheese. Sophie's could be considered an upscale buffet, except you don't serve yourself.

When JT told me we were going to a Cuban restaurant, I thought restaurant, not steam table. So when we walked in and I saw a long steam table running down the left hand side of the restaurant, I wondered to myself, "will this be good?" The table was full of an assortment of beans, different kinds of rice, and lots of different meats. At Sophie's you can stand in line for take out at the steam table, or sit down for service in the back of the restaurant. JT and I grabbed a table in the back and spent a few minutes catching up; we worked together back in 2006 and haven't seen each other in about a year.

After looking at the menu for a few minutes, I took JT's recommendation and ordered the spicy grilled chicken (pollo picante) with a side of yellow rice and beans (arroz y frijoles) and a mango shake (batido). We also ordered a side of fried sweet plantains (maduros) and a side of fried green plantains (tostones).

Because all the food is up in front of the restaurant in the steam tables, the service was extremely quick. Lunch arrived and I was impressed. The chicken was actually cooked perfect, topped with assorted peppers and onions with the rice and beans on the side. The chicken was seasoned great, it was indeed spicy and the rice and beans were good for rice and beans. There was a bottle of green jalapeno sauce on the table so I ate my chicken with some of the sauce, it was definitely spicy, and definitely good. JT and I agreed that the sweet plantains tasted much better, but I liked the firm, fried texture of the tostones.

If you work in Manhattan or are visiting and looking for a good, inexpensive lunch, stop into Sophie's at any one of their seven locations.

Sophie's Cuban Cuisine
- 28 E 23rd Street (between Madison & Park Ave) (212) 260-8884
- 96 Chambers St. (212) 608-9900
- 73 New St. (212) 809-7755
- 240 W. 40th Street (212) 730-9200
- 805 Third Avenue (212) 308-1024
- 141 Fulton Street (212) 608-6769
- 369 Lexington Ave. (212) 922-3576

Sushi and Seviche at Sushi Samba

It should be clear by now that I love sushi, and one of my all time favorite places to eat sushi is Sushi Samba in New York City. This restaurant is a Japanese Peruvian fusion and it is outstanding. There are two locations in Manhattan, one on 7th Avenue South which has super high energy and outdoor seating and the second on Park Avenue South which has a sultry lounge called Sugarcane attached to it. Whether you choose to eat at the 7th Avenue location or the Park Avenue location, you will always be guaranteed great food! There are also Sushi Samba locations in Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv, and now Las Vegas.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in New York and convincing enough to persuade my friends to go to Sushi Samba with me on Saturday night. We started off with a round of cocktails, I had a caiparinha, Brazil's national drink made from cachaça, sugar and lime. Next up was an order sawagani, also known as Japanese river crabs. The little guys can be found swimming around most fresh water streams in Japan, and you can see them swimming around when you enter the 7th Avenue location. Once they enter the kitchen, though, they are flash fried, salted, and arranged single file on a long white plate. The crabs are extremely crunchy on the outside with a soft, velvety crab texture inside. This is definitely extreme eating - just pop them in your mouth whole, and crunch!



Following the river crabs was a sampler of four amazing seviches! A yellowtail sashimi seviche with ginger, garlic & soy, a lobster sashimi seviche with mango and lime, a tuna sashimi seviche with grapefruit juice, jalapeno & almond, and a king salmon sashimi seviche with guava, carrot & mojito splash. Each seviche was amazing and bursting with flavor. They were fresh, fruity, and simply delicious. If you go to Sushi Samba and only order one thing, order one of these!


While we were all drooling over the seviches, our platter of sushi arrived. We ordered three Samba rolls plus the Sushi and Sashimi deluxe platter which came with the Green Envy Roll. Picture from the left are the green envy roll with tuna, salmon, asparagus, aji amarillo-key lime mayo & wasabi pea crust, a special Samba roll with tempura rock shrimp, a Pacific roll with king crab, avocado, Asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema, and a Rainbow Dragon Roll with freshwater eel, red bell pepper, cucumber, mango & avocado. The sushi and sashimi that came with deluxe platter included tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi plus unagi (eel), ebi (shrimp), hirame (fluke/halibut), and maguro (tuna) sushi. Each of the Samba rolls except the Rainbow Dragon came with a special dipping sauce and each were excellent. This was a seriously good platter of sushi, some of the best we've ever had.


After we devoured the platter we wanted to see what the sushi chefs at Sushi Samba were really made of, so we asked the chef in front of us, we were seated at the sushi bar, to make us something special. What he came up with was creative, visually appealing, and incredibly delicious! The chef took a a wooden form mold and started building something great. He put down some rice, topped it with unagi (freshwater eel), avocado, and red jalapeno, and then more rice on top. He them put a top onto the form and pressed down, creating something akin to a sushi sandwich. The picture of his creation is below, but it's a little blurry. He took his creation out of the form, cut it into triangles, topped it with a little eel sauce and orange tobiko, and set it down in front of us. It was so good and such an honor for us to have had the chef make this just for us!


Finally, we finished our meal with a dessert sampler which ended up being on the house; maybe because we gave the sushi chef the honor of creating something special? Anyway, this dessert sampler contained a flan like dessert, a dish of seasonal fresh fruit, berry sponge & yuzu sorbet, a soft Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream, and a warm chocolate banana cake with maple butter, banana chip & vanilla rum ice cream. The yuzu sorbet (back right) was sprinkled with Pop Rocks!! What a surprise that was!


I can't wait to get back to New York City so I can eat at Sushi Samba again. I have never had a bad meal there, in fact, every meal I have ever had at Sushi Samba has been amazing. The sushi is always fresh, the seviche is always creative and bursting with flavor, and the cocktails are always great.

The next time you find yourself in New York, or Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv or Las Vegas, make it a point to go to Sushi Samba!

A Match Made in Hot Dog Heaven

A quick glimpse of the first photo and many people will know exactly what I'm talking about! Gray's Papaya is a fast foodies go to in Manhattan. With three locations on the West Side of Manhattan, you're never too far from a tasty grilled hot dog with onions and sauerkraut, with a fresh papaya juice to wash it down.

For $3.50 you get two freshly grilled hot dogs with your choice of mustard, ketchup, grilled onions, and sauerkraut, and a good sized cup of freshly made juice - I like the papaya but you can also choose from orange, grape, pina colada, coconut, or banana daiquiri (non-alcoholic.) I almost always stop into Gray's for a couple dogs and a papaya juice when I'm in the city. Next time your in Manhattan, stop into Gray's for their recession special of two dogs and a drink.







Locations are 539 Eighth Avenue at 37th Street, 402 Sixth Avenue at 8th Street, and 2090 Broadway at 72nd Street.

Don't BRGR Me

One year ago while in New York, I was inspired by Frank Bruni of Diner's Journal and visited Stand. Frank and a colleague of his visited Stand AND brgr in the same afternoon; I waited a year to complete my burger circuit visiting brgr just this past Friday. Remembering how much I really liked Stand, I was looking forward to brgr. Unfortunately, I didn't read Bruni's brgr transcript until just now; I really wish I had though, I would have gone to Blue Smoke.

I walked in to brgr around 2:30pm last Friday afternoon. The place was pretty full but there was no line to order. Brgr looked like a fancy fast food joint. You order at the counter, take a number, have a seat and your food will be delivered to your table when it's ready. I ordered a vanilla shake ($5.50), the BRGR ($7.00 - a 1/3 pound beef patty with American cheese, BRGR sauce, grilled onions and the requisite shredded lettuce, tomato and pickle,) and an order of sweet potato fries ($2.75). Then I grabbed a seat at the counter and watched the food folks at work.

My first observation was that the burgers were being cooked, fried I should say, on a flat-top griddle, one liked you would use to prepare eggs and pancakes, or like the ones they use at that McNasty chain. The next thing I noticed was that the staff assembling the burgers weren't always sure what was going on, they were more interested in jawing with each other than paying attention to the orders.

Just then, my vanilla shake arrived, in a plastic cup. I can not believe that it was actually voted best shake in NYC last year, it was so not that good. I'd pay for 10 vanilla shakes at Stand before I ever order another one at brgr; in fact I'll probably never go back to brgr anyway. The shake was not thick and not that good. Strike one.

Next came the burger, wrapped in paper, and the fries, in a small paper bag. I was disappointed that the burger bun was not grilled. I watched the staff feeding the buns through what I can only imagine is a vertical toaster of some sort, which made the buns real soft and appear to have spent some time face down on the griddle, but they didn't. The burger was cooked to my specification, medium, but it was greasy and felt like fast food in my hands and in my mouth. Strike two.

The BRGR
American Cheese, BRGR sauce and Grilled Onions w/ Sweet Potato Fries

I was really hoping that the sweet potato fries were going to be the saving grace here; nope, sorry. Apparently they haven't improved in the year since Bruni ate them. They were slightly crispy, under seasoned, and not tasting all that great. They had a similar consistency to the crispy fries sold at BK, the exterior crunch of the fries just didn't seem natural. Strike three. I'm outta here; I'm going to Gray's Papaya for dessert.

Next time I'm in New York, I'm going to Blue Smoke for a burger. One of the comments on Bruni's brgr recap said they had a good burger. I know their barbecue is excellent, I'm hoping the burger is too.

My bottom line is skip the line at brgr and head straight to Stand. Brgr will just disappoint you.

Brgr
287 7th Ave
New York, NY 10001
Ph (212) 488-7500
http://www.brgr.us

Stand ... and Eat

After reading Frank Bruni's Double Burger post a couple weeks ago, I was looking forward to eating a burger of my own while in New York this past weekend. While J was working, I would have plenty of time to go on a little burger tasting tour. As it turns out, I only made one stop on my tour.

I considered my options and decided to go to Stand. The restaurant was not very busy, although for 3 o'clock in the afternoon there were quite a few people there. The center of the restaurant was filled with picnic table-like tables and cushioned benches, I was comfortable and looking forward to my burger. If you like to lean back in a chair while dining, ask to be seated along one of the walls, their are chairs at these tables.

I decided to go with the classic burger (red onion, lettuce, tomato, sliced pickle, homemade ketchup, dijon mustard) with cheddar, a small order of French fries (at my servers suggestion that they are better than the shoestring fries) and a vanilla shake, a $6 vanilla shake. I know, crazy. While I was waiting for my burger, I looked around and saw the burger salad being enjoyed at the table next to me. It looked good. The salad itself looked a lot like a grown-up coleslaw and what made it a burger salad was the three small burgers lined up neatly, perpendicular to the rim of the large white salad bowl.

My vanilla shake arrived a few minutes before my burger and fries, I resisted the urge to drink it all down before my food arrived. It was $6, I wanted to make it last! My classic burger with cheddar and small plate of French fries finally arrived. The homemade ketchup served with the classic burger didn't cut the mustard though. As Frank pointed out in his review, there is no ketchup better than Heinz when it comes to a burger and fries. I couldn't really detect the homemade ketchup on the burger but it tasted more like a marinara when I tried it with the fries. My burger was cooked more to a medium rare temperature than the medium I asked for, but I didn't care, it was good. The bun was grilled nicely but probably could have been sliced a little closer to the middle. The bottom half of the bun began to deteriorate as I passed the halfway mark on the burger. I finished the last few bites of the burger holding it upside down. The bottom line on this burger is that was very good. Not great, not the best burger I've ever had, but it was very good. Worth the $10 I guess.

The French fries were also good, very crispy like I like my fries, and seasoned well. I do think that they needed to changed the oil in their fry-o-lator though. The fries were good and crispy but they tasted a little like they were cooked in old oil. The small plate of fries that I ordered would also have been plenty for two or three people to share.

Finally, the $6 vanilla shake. It was good and thick, really thick, the best $6 shake I've ever had. Well, it's the only $6 shake I've ever had, but it was good. Definitely a challenge to suck the shake through the very big straw.

I enjoyed my experience at Stand very much. The fries were good, the classic burger was very good, and the $6 vanilla shake was very good. What wasn't good was my $21 bill for a burger, fries and a shake! I'll try brgr next time I'm in the city, it reminds me of The Counter out in Santa Monica, CA.

Stand
24 East 12th Street (5th & Univ.)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 488-5900
(212) 488-5906 (fax)