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)

New York’s massive variety of food excites my tastebuds like no other. Every corner you turn there are exciting restaurants, bakery, delis ect….from the bog-standard bagel & hotdog stand to classic pattiserie and even a congee bar in Chinatown.

One of the places that I was extremely excited to try out was one of the momofuku (meaning lucky peach) chain of ethnically diverse melting pot cuisine. Too cool for school, none of their restaurants/bars are advertised on the outside – I missed the noodle bar and had to walk past it a few times before I realise it was there. Located in the East Village, chef & restauraner David Chang really hit the point with four unique, diverse and critically acclaimed eateries that dances on your tastebuds.

I decided to visit the more casual noodle bar instead of the 12-seater ko, who only took reservations online. This was the first in the small empire that David Chang build, and I had to just taste for myself the to-die-for pork buns & udons. Heavy Korean and Japanese influences pepper the menu on all four momofukus, but they are most definately not typically ‘asian’.

The utilitarian communal benches

momofuku is just ‘one of those restaurants’ that menu du jour really IS menu du jour. The choices are not repeated like for like and varies from lunch to dinner. Some restaurants serves the same daily specials day in day out, taking away all the excitement and point of having a daily special.

So this was what we had – pork brisket buns, miso ramen and chocolate chip cake truffles.

The fabulous thing about momofuku is the fact that they were entirely okay with us ordering a set between the two of us. It was 3.30pm, and we had already eaten lunch, but my eyes were obviously bigger than my stomach. Alot of restaurants out there would push and push for us to order two meals or a bunch of drinks….or served us with a fucked-up expression on their faces. Ugh. I never return – irregardless of how good their food might have been.

Bacon had other ideas on this sharing thing, and the slurpee-like machines behind the bar amused him. He ordered a lychee flavoured soju (Korean rice wine) frozen cocktail.

.

We sat at the bar, and I simply love how we looked directly into the open kitchen.

I love suprises (of the good kind only) and our barman/waiter served us some hor d’oeurves that the chef had cooked up that day – pork pate with mustard pickle on toast. Yums.

Before long, our pork buns arrived. Bear in mind that this was supposed to be a prixe fixed menu for one,therefore we only got one bun

Like wow. I had never had brisket so tender in my life-literally melt in your mouth. It went exceedingly well with the pickled slaw and cucumber. The dough of the bun was warm and soft, just perfect. Very impressive.

Next came the miso udon. Bearing in mind that bacon hates miso, he loved this dish. And certainly it did not taste like any miso-out-of-a-packet that I consume on a regular basis. Creamily savoury (what sort of magic miso IS that??!) with a swirl of chilli oil, it coated the home made noodles (it was more like the Malaysian-styled pan mee (flour noodles) rather than fat round udons) very well and imparted a savoury flavour to the otherwise plain noodles. Toppings of ramp (wild garlic), scallions, naruto maki, oyster mushrooms and toasted nori (seaweed) completes this hearty and tasty bowl.

I had to move the seaweed aside – yes, bacon hates seaweed as well.

Food over, it was time for desserts. I most definately was not going to have the soft serve ice cream, so chocolate chip cake truffles it was then. Served in a large asian teacup, we had three large truffle which was a cross between crumbly chocolate cake and chocolate coated in white chocolate crumb. Truthfully speaking, it could’ve been better, and if there was one area where momofuku had been let down, it was the dessert.

.

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Avenue
East Village
New York, NY 10003

We had to go past Buffalo to return to NJ anyway, which was reason enough to stop off for lunch in Buffalo. With Elvin & his Food Network obsession, he convinced me it was a good idea to go into Buffalo for buffalo wings. And what a brilliant idea this was.

I love buffalo wings, but had no idea it actually meant chicken wings that were invented in Buffalo, NY. I had always thought it was just some random name. Don’t know why, as Yorkshire puddings were invented in Yorkshire and Bakewell Tart were invented in Bakewell ect ect. I guess the name buffalo just seemed so – generic.

.

And Anchor Bar was where it all began. One night back in the 60s, Teressa Bellissimmo went into her kitchen at the bar to cook something up for her son and his friends who had popped over after closing time. She fried up some chicken wings (which at that time was only kept to make stock) , and slathered them with a sweet, sticky and spicy sauce and a bleu cheese dip – and the rest is history.

The Anchor Bar is located at a generic-looking suburban strip. Considering it was a weekday, it was pretty packed inside.

We ordered the 50 wings platter between the both of us much to the amusement of the waitress. We had a half-and-half of the original and spicy bbq wings. No, we didn’t finish it all, I had the foresight to take the rest away for Elvin . It is not cheap, and obviously the more you order the cheaper it becomes, but even at a platter of 50 wings this cost us $37 for the platter, making it just under $1 per wing.

.

No fuss presentation, a metal platter with chicken wings, bleu cheese sauce and celery sticks.

.

It was crispy, sweet, sticky and tender all at the same time.

My verdict? Absolutely delicious. The tender chicken meat contrasts beautifully with the crispy coated skin and the sticky-sweet sauce. Every bite crunched into the thick crispy batter before sinking into tender juicy chicken meat. Bacon was annoyed, as he would not be able to enjoy buffalo wings in the same way again after having been to the original one. I cannot decide between the original medium version or the spicy bbq version. They are both equally good in their own way, dipped in a pot of bleu cheese. Yums.

Bacon sucking on his chicken bones.

I know we were hungry, but seriously, it looks like we’ve eaten more than 1/2 of the 50 wings!

As with most things, its better eaten fresh. Elvin wasn’t very impressed with the takeaway – by that time the crunch had already been lost and the whirl in the microwave did not help the tenderness of the chicken meat. However, we continued to have it for breakfast for the next few days, so obsessed we were.

I would most definately recommend a visit to Anchor Bar if you were ever in the area. Truly an experience for the tastebuds – and this is what travelling is to me. Some people travel to shop, some people travel to relax, I travel to eat. Well, I do other stuff as well, but I believe that when you travel, you need to go native and not settle for the obvious cacaphony of fast food outlets. And Anchor Bar is truly something special. Probably as good as my experience in the hotel in Mexico where Caesar Salad was invented; but thats another story for another time .

(yes, I love visitng places where famous dishes are invented )

The Anchor Bar
1047 Main St
Buffalo, NY 14209