.

Where we were staying in New Jersey, there were blocks and blocks of bog standard strip malls, like anywhere across North America. I have an affinity for these strip malls, they tend to contain nail salons, the usual big names like Walmart and Target to smaller establishments like Trader’s Joe (I love Trader’s Joe!) and other independent stores and restaurants; from clothing stores to a pizzaria and locksmiths. You just never know what will you find next. It is most definately preferable to the high streets in so many towns across the UK which are usually full of just big name shops.

.

I would love to say that I found Jimmy Buff’s in one of my drive-throughs; but the fact was I first found out about Jimmy Buff’s on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives – my latest favourite TV show. The host, Guy Fieri, goes around the US visiting great independent diners and ‘dives’ – this range from large pancake diners to chinese restaurants to a food truck.

However the beauty of strip malls was that I did not even need to hunt it down; we spotted it as we were driving out of the car park from clothes shopping and I had to stop. It was about 11am in the morning, but we had not have any breakfast, so we ordered the trio of pushcart hotdogs. I would’ve loved to get a selection of their giant hotdogs, but I thought that it would be too heavy for us as we were planning for lunch as well.

.

The seating area

.

The simple counter

.

Our hotdogs were cooked fresh – deep fried, not flat top cooked, boiled or grilled.

The chilli dog. Very delicious indeed – this is probably the best chilli dog I tasted up until then. The skinny hot dog is deep fried, which preserves the juiciness contained within the dog casing. The chilli was bolognase-like…but it went very well with the dog.

.

The cheese dog. Yeah, we could’ve probably gone for chilli cheese, but the generous amount of all the toppings would probably not be able to contain more than one topping. As it were, the bun was falling apart before we finish eating it.

.

The beauty of Jimmy Buff’s? Bacon recognised the person that cooked our hotdogs from tv – it was the owner’s son . A family business through and through; and not just for TV. How great is that?

Jimmy Buff’s
CASTLE RIDGE PLAZA
354 Rt 10 west bound & River Rd.
Tel: (877) 9HOTDOG

.

Hello it’s me! I’ve been away for quite some time – spent about two weeks travelling in New York, New Jersey, D.C and Philly. It was seriously the most ‘adventurous’ trip – I made it to Newark but my suitcase didn’t until a few days ago. Bacon being the nice person he is said that he was glad it was me and not him. Yup. Then on the day we were supposed to be coming back, our flight got cancelled due to airport closure in Paris. Then a whole load of that white stuff dumped it down in the Northeast, and JFK closed for business, which meant we were effectively stuck. It wasn’t until three days later that we eventually manage to get on the plane….whew!

Upon returning home I was struck by the ugh flu bug that have been doing its rounds…bleark. It was so bad I took three days off work – the longest sickie I’ve had in ages. Anyway – thought it was time I continue my Awesome America series or I may start forgetting…so let’s see….maybe we can start with the war of the Korean Fried Chicken.

/———————————————————————–/

I love fried chicken of all types, and have been hearing about this marvel that is Korean-styled fried chicken. Apparently the fried chicken is dipped into some sort of cramazing sauce – sweet & spicy. Hmm. Sounds yum. Obviously with the UK being a general all-round desert for Korean food, it’s not available here. I had noticed a few restaurants specialising in Korean Fried Chicken during my previous trip to the Big Apple – so I couldn’t wait to go back and actually try some.

I did some research prior, and it seems that the most popular chain is Bon Chon. Established in Korea, it is expanding speedily in the US at the moment. The inside of Bon Chon looked more like a sports bar than a chicken restaurant – hm. Not quite sure I like that; I have an idea in my head of what a chicken restaurant should look like, but thats just me.

.

.

We ordered the spicy chicken drums – when I ordered drums I thought it was the drummet of the chicken wing, not the actual drumSTICKS. That really sucks, because bacon hates drumsticks! Anyway, we ordered 10 wings, which apparently translated into 5 drumsticks. It would really had helped if the waitress had explained this before – all she asked me was drum or wing.

.

The skin – as you can see, is super duper paper thin crispy and separated from the meat.

.

This was served with a side of pickled mooli, which was supposed to temper the heat slightly. However, we found that the marinade, although we asked for the hot version, was very, VERY mild. I can taste the sweet soy and ginger flavour, but the spiciness was very tame. Hm. Not entirely convinced. Amazing skin, so-so marinade and flavour. It could probably do with a dip as well?

We were there mid-afternoon, and the place was pretty quiet. The wait staff kept coming over to ask if we were ok and if we wanted anything else…like every FIVE minutes. That gets very annoying and grating after the second time. Ugh. It was not cheap, but affordable.

.

.

Earlier that day (yeah, we hit two Korean Fried Chicken place in ONE day!) we were also at Kyo Chon, another Korean Fried Chicken place in NYC. This at one end of K-town, just around the corner from the largest Macy’s ever. This place resembles a McDonalds rather than a sports bar – complete with paper boxes to eat out from and a separate counter to pay and collect.

.

When we ordered, the cashier actually told us that the hot was going to be VERY hot. We obviously paid that no heed and told her that it was ok. Boy oh boy….

We ordered 10 of the signature (non-grilled) wings. In HOT.

As with most Korean Fried Chicken, this wa cooked fresh, and we were given a buzzer to alert us when it is cooked. I sent bacon to get us a selection of sauces. It wasn’t too bad a wait, but then again it was 11am, no lunch crowd in sight yet.

.

.

The last time I saw wings as beautiful as this was when I visited the home (literally) of the buffalo wings. These were absolutely great to look at – lovely crisp crust, completely covered by sauce. And when I bit into it, I nearly died. Boy was it spicy OR WHAT?! In three bites, we were flushed red, fanning our tongues…the whole nine yards. The piping hot fresh-out-of-hot-oil did not help in tempering the heat. However, I soon found out that dipping it in one of the sauce (my favourite is the honey dijon) helped tremendously. The slight sweetness of the sauce complemented really well with the spicy chicken – not to mention that the creamy texture did justice to the crunchy chicken skin. To die for.

.

.

It was all very delicious – I give it my two thumbs up! Compared to Bon Chon, Kyo Chon was more like what I expected it to be, buffalo wings on steriods. Super spicy, super tasty, and super yummy. I love buffalo wings, and these babies feel/taste like the buffalo wings that I know, just edgier. Things might have gone better at bon chon if I ate there before trying Kyo Chon. Don’t get me wrong, Bon Chon was delicious, with that amazingly crispy skin; but Kyo Chon blew my mind. Top fried chicken. I get what the hype is now. I totally get it.

.

Kyo Chon
319 5th Avenue (at 32nd Street)
New York City, NY 100
Tel: 1-212-725-9292

Bon Chon Chicken
314 5th Ave 2nd Floor, (between 31st St & 32nd St),
New York City, NY 100

.

Psst. Are you still reading? Seeing that we’re on a fried chicken post…some bonus material for you then.

.

.

The American KFC! Some people may not like it; but it’s still miles and miles better than the English KFC. It has hot & spicy, it is CRISPY (unlike the mostly soggy KFC in the UK), serves mashed potatoes and whip up a pretty good coleslaw. And serves Southern biscuits. Delicious; but nothing compared to the other KFC .

.

EDIT: This was part of my Awesome America blog posts – however, I’ve just noticed that I’ve left this in the draft!! So here it is – my love for chain-restaurants revealed!

I’m not entirely sure that a trip to Red Lobster deserves an entire blog post by itself. Heh. Well, I’m going to anyway, as I never did document my visits to Red Lobsters years ago. Red Lobster is a nationwide seafood chain, serving up lobsters (doh), crabs, shrimps and more. However, my favourite memory of Red Lobster is most definately their deliciously naughty Cheddar Bay scones. Served warm, buttery, soft and herby, I had dreamt about them for many years since I left CA.

.

As usual, when we went in for an early lunch, I was not hungry at all, having just had breakfast. Seeing that the Red Lobster by Times Sq was the only one that we’d seen in New York, we thought we would pop in for a quick lunch anyway and share a platter.

The yummy Cheddar Bay biscuits. The best part is they are FREE – comes complimentary with every main course ordered. OMG. When I was a penniless student, I used to go into Red Lobster, order the cheapest entree, and get two lots of the biscuits. And then doggy bag all of it when I’ve finished with a basket of biscuit. Yeah, I have no shame . The biscuits are really beautiful. So buttery it should be made illegal, as soft as a marshmallow, it literally melts in your mouth. I have to admit though, I don’t really like the main courses as much as I love the free starter.

.

We ordered a Seafood Platter, which came with a starter of Caesar Salad. Crisp and tasty, like a caesar salad should be – just nice.

.

And here it was – the shrimp and lobster platter. A pot of buttered shrimp, a shrimp skewer, a lobster tail, wild rice, fries, ketchup and melted butter, this was seafood dipped in butter. It tastes better than it looks, and suprisingly not as greasy as all the butter would lead you to believe. The seafood was suprisingly fresh, and the butter counteracts beautifully with the well seasoned seafood. Bacon even went as far to declare that this was the best meal he had in the States – and with the places that I bring him, this is no easy feat!

I miss Red Lobster already.. It was lovely when I was a student and it is still unpretentiously lovely now. Highly recommended as a family restaurant as they cater for kids, but it serves up good value tasty seafood for adults as well. I wished they would seriously consider opening a branch up in the UK, although it would probably triple the prices!

Before we accidentally bumped into Eileen’s Special Cheesecake, we were actually on the lookout for La Esquina Taqueria & Cafe, Mexican cuisine exordinaire. Another non-tourist haunt, this was recommended to me by a blog friend as serving one of the better mexican food in the NY area. Seeing that it is literally diagonal from Eileen’s, I still have no clue how we missed it.

Serving up mexican food street-food style, it is tacos galore, and even proper sandwiches in baguettes. There is a sit-down cafe next to it, but we decided to go it takeaway-style from the taqueria, where food is freshly cooked and the service is speedy.

Lining up. Looks like the streetfood kiosks that pepper California.

.

Bacon ordered the pepito, the grilled steak sandwich in a crusty baguette with chimmichurri sauce. You could taste the freshness of the ingreddients, and that was nice.

.

I had the fish taco, pescado a las brasas. Grilled skewer of fresh fish with red slaw and salsa verde, this was freshness to the max – obviously I didn’t realise that one portion meant one taco – could’ve done with a few monre. Fortunately I didn’t order more, otherwise I wouldn’t had been able to finish my ‘side dish’.

.

Taco soup. Hardly a side dish, this was a hearty meal by itself. Chockful of tangy tomatoes, creamy avocado, chicken and crunchy black corn tortillas, this was heavenly. It was the first time I had taco soup – and ever since returning to the UK, I had had this three more times, once in a mexican restaurant and I made it myself twice. I fell in love with this dish, and I think the magic is due to the amazing creamy avocadoes and swirl of sour cream – somehow mine just never taste 100% the same, but 97% is close enough for me! Yummys.

.

La Esquina was refreshing, a definate well-loved trendy neighbourhood haunt. It has a slightly speakeasy-like aura surrounding it. Minimalist food with extremely fresh ingredients, this really impressed me. Flavours are not masked with lashings of tinned salsa or cheese/sour cream combo that is so prevalent in Mexican restaurants in the UK. Everyone seem to know exactly what they wanted except for me and bacon, the token tourists. I am ever so pleased that we stumbled upon (well, more recommended to, thanks Megan!) this little slice of real New York, and the flavours of Mexican food delighted my tastebuds to no end. Ahh….I remember now why I used to love Mexican food. Thank you La Esquina for bringing me back.

Resource
La Esquina
106 Kenmare St
New York, 10012, United States
(646) 613-1333
Underground: Spring St Station

I’ve never been a big fan of Sex in the City, but I’m always a big fan of cakes. NY is (in my opinion, at least) most famous for a few types of cakes, the NY cheesecake, Baked Alaska and the cake reinvented by S in the City – the American cupcake. I seeked out for one, and literally bumped into the other. Ah, fate

We were actually searching for a Mexican street-food stall in SoHo that was located literally across the road from Eileens. Being completely blind, we just missed it for some stupid reason, and instead walked into Eileen’s for cake and directions. It was late and I was tired, and the little unassuming cake shop pulled at me like a magnet due to its quaint little size amongst other building blocks. I couldn’t have planned it any better. Eileen’s, it turned out, was a very famous and popular NY-styled cheesecake shop. Eileen herself actually gave us directions (by literally pointing across the road..doh).

.

.
Founded in 1975 as a wholesale bakery, the retail doors only became a reality when people started knocking on her door to buy cake. You can still see evidence of this inside – a small eat-in area of about 8 seats is supplemented by a gigantic wholesale-sized kitchen. Eileen herself was baking up a storm when we got there; apparently she was expecting a French film crew in the next hour. She still came out for a chat with her customers, which in my opinion, provides independent establishment with the extra personal touch compared to modern carbon-copy cafes

If you believe the internet, Eileen’s serves up one of the best (if not the best) cheesecake around in New York. And I agree. Deliciously smooth and light, tempered by just the right amount of sugar – unlike the commercially available cheesecakes with their faintly sickly sweet taste.

.

We ordered two mini cheesecakes – the original and the pecan.

.

The original

.

Pictures all around the teensy store. That’s the famous Eileen, by the way.

As we set there agape staring at the walls of reccomendations and awards, it finally dawned upon us that we were indeed in a treasured NY institution. Like wow. And not only does Eileen serves up a good cake, she is friendly and helpful as well. She seems to know most of her customers that walked in whilst we were there, and having been there since 1975, it’s no suprise that she is probably as local as they come.

.

Later that day, I literally bumped into the one place that I wanted to visit. I obviously didn’t realise that the cult following of Magnolia Bakery had resulted in a number of branches all across NY City. Hm. I was walking around Mid-town, and suddenly started spotting girls with paperbags from magnolia. Interesting. And then I spotted it.

.

.

Made famous by the SATC girls gossping over cupcakes, this NY institution was instantly elevated to the levels of glamour. Who would’ve known that cakes (especially cupcakes, the bane of children’s parties) could be elevated to glamour? Tourists (like myself) came from all over to experience the SATC phenomenan – heck, I don’t even watch it. But Magnolia Bakery transformed the cupcake industry as we know it. There are now dozens of Magnolia-wannabe bakeries all over the world, concentrating on pastel colors and sickly sweet frosting. Hey, I fall for it hook line and sinker too . I even had cupcakes for my wedding before it was all in-rage like it is now.

.

It was, as expected, super busy inside.

Cakes Cakes!

.

So anyway – because we had already eaten about 3 times over, I could only order one measly cupcake for us to share (REALLY could not fit any more in!). And it would just have to be the cult Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

First impression, not bad. Slightly plain-looking without the usual crazy pastel colors, but I don’t really care.

Digging in.

I’ve only really tasted one other red velvet before (other than mine) and it was Hummingbird Bakery’s. Magnolia’s is lighter than Hummingbird, both cake and frosting. This is most definately a good thing, Hummingbird excels in pretty presentation, but I do find their creations too much on the heavy side, dense cake and heavy frosting. Magnolia is also lighter on the sugar, which is really good as the frosting at Hummingbird usually ruins it – it’s nice, but far too much of it and far too sweet. Whereas Magnolia struck a good balance between flavours, lightness and sweetness.

I came away slightly dissapointed by the whole experience. It is probably the massive commercialisation – I don’t know what I expected, a hole in a wall? It feels like the KFC of fast food – nice enough, but the commercialisation ruins it slightly. Even though the cake is passable (slightly better than average I would put it), the whole experience is far from the homey home-grown bakery that was potrayed when Carrie & the girls gossiped in it.

Even though Eileen’s started off as a wholesale commercial venture, it had somehow manage to maintain the home-made neighbourhood feel about it, giving the cake character and the whole establishment history. Magnolia’s started off as an independent bakery, and morphed into a faceless commercial money-making giant – complete with branded gifts, countless stores and massive queues. Oh the irony.

Resources

Eileen’s Special Cheesecake
17 Cleveland Place
(corner of Kenmare and Centre Sts., opposite Lafayette and Spring Sts.)
New York, NY 10012
Spring St. Subway Stop

.

Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleecker St (W 11th Street)
New York, NY 10014
(other locations across NY)