even i wanted to be a hipster

i always have a comrade to explore Williamsburg now that Bubby has moved into her new residence in the midpoint between Williamsburg and Bushwick (which we have affectionately named "Bushburg"). 

and so it was that this past sunny Sunday, i hopped on the B62 which dropped me off right in front of Supercore for brunch with Bubby. even though it was 1 pm when i met her, the place wasn't very full. i guess hipsters wake up late, because the place got packed right in the middle of our brunch.

Supercore has a clearly Japanese influence and food style, although it also caters to the less adventurous by offering American brunch and entree options as well. the indoor space is small but there is an adorable backyard in the back, with plenty of shade to avoid the sun but still enjoy the warm weather.

Bubby and i were immediately enticed by the $20 unlimited brunch option, which allowed you to pick any entree from the menu and have unlimited brunch drinks: sake bloody mary; beer with lemon, ginger, and honey; sake mimosa; and 1 other option which escapes me. if you plan on drinking more than 2 drinks (each drink costs $6), then i recommend going with the brunch deal.  since Bubby and i were both recovering from our prior night out, we skipped the option since we only had 1 drink each. i highly recommend the beer which is super light and refreshing with fresh ginger and lemon slices added directly in the drink. like a beer lemonade. 

we were both looking for stick-to-your-ribs hearty food, so it's no surprise that i ordered the Beef Curry (stewed for 4 days served with brown rice and roasted potatoes) ($9.50) and Bubby ordered the Meatballs (with homemade tomato sauce served with brown rice and roasted potatoes) ($9.50).  both of us housed our dishes as soon as they came out and it was the perfect remedy for our minor hangover discomfort. 

Photo courtesy of Stella Im Hultberg

afterwards, we walked off our meals with a trip to Brooklyn Flea for all the unique but ridiculously-priced wares where we ran into Bubby's friend. she directed us to Fabbrica for some coffee in a cool setting. although we didn't sit down, the place looked good and was full but not packed, which is a good sign. 

i also realized how "liberal" Bubby and i are: 2 men got in line in front of us to purchase coffee. 1 of them was holding the most adorable half asian/half white baby bay. being in Williamsburg, i made the assumption that the baby belonged to the 2 men, e.g. the 2 men were a gay couple. when i commented about how adorable "their" baby was, Bubby also made the same assumption and agreed. as soon as i said it, i realized that the baby didn't have to belong to the 2 guys, it could just as easily be that the father was in a heterosexual relationship/marriage with an asian woman who just happened not to be there with the 2 men.

about 5 seconds later, an asian walked in and approached the father and baby. 

just goes to prove, you should never jump to assumptions. 

Something Like Korean

initially when Cousin told me she was coming into town, i was a little put-out in that selfish-aww-man-but-i-wanted-to-laze-about-and-do-nothing-like-i-do-every-weekend kind of way. there's always something slightly inconvenient about being asked to deviate from your normal schedule.  but, as with all things, change can be a good thing.

the eating and drinking theme of last weekend definitely took an unintended "korean" turn. it was kicked off by meeting BlackSesame at our usual friday night happy hour at K-town for some 50 cent chicken wings, soju and Hite beer. i'm supposed to be dieting (the result of a "serious" conversation with my Mom) and had had a little Checkers relapse the night before, so i'd abstained from eating all day except for a giant iced coffee (with skim and splenda) and a half of a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

so after 2 bottles of soju, 4 beers, and a lot of inappropriate conversations with the bouncer, BS and i headed off to Chinatown before i became one of those "unni" girls in the bathroom. i had intended for us to check out Super Taste so i could cross another restaurant off my list (hey, if i'm gonna fall off the diet wagon, i might as well go down slugging noodles and dumplings). unfortunately, by the time we rolled onto Eldridge Street from the subway, most of the restaurants were closed except for one sole beacon of light: Sheng Wang. and so it happened that BS and i found ourselves sharing a bowl of Fujianese Dumpling Noodle Soup ($5) and an order of dumplings ($3). 

i honestly couldn't have been any happier at that moment. the dumplings were juicy and flavorful with thin dumpling skin, but not so thin that the filling just falls out at the slightest touch.  the noodles were chewy and a great texture.  the only thing that would've made it better was if i had been clear-headed enough to order what i had really meant to order: the fishball noodle soup. because fujianese fishballs are the best little treasure bombs any fishball could have (it's fishball on the outside and meat on the inside. surprise!). but that being said, our order was perfect for the meal we were fulfilling and the shared order was just the right portion so we didn't walk away feeling like fatties.

after dinner i lame-assed it home in order to prepare for my cousin's arrival since she was taking a red-eye from Cali. and by laming out i missed out on meeting Sarah Silverman who BS saw at the bar he went to (Bell House in case you were wondering. they were doing a comedy show there that night.)

This is what happens when you decide not to be lame and go home.

after cursing my bad luck when i woke up the next morning, i diligently cleaned my room waiting to hear from my cousin. but around 12:30 i had still heard no word and was getting stahving. so Kitty and i made plans to meet up at Miss Korea in K-town for some delicious kalbi and  pork belly bbq and dumplings.

Miss Korea supposedly has some kick-ass lunch specials and is generally all-around good. when we arrived at 2 pm on Saturday, the place was packed. however, by the time we finished eating (around 3:30ish), the place had completely cleared out except for a few stragglers. 

we ordered steamed beef and pork mandu ($8.95) to start. being chinese, i'm a big fan of boiled and steamed dumplings. however, to date i have yet to have any steamed korean mandu where the dumpling doesn't completely fall apart. when i'd told Kitty i wanted to order it, he raised his eyebrows in a "are you sure?" look which i had chosen to ignore. lesson learned: when eating mandu, always ordered to fried version.

for entrees we decided to go with straight-up BBQ, so we ordered a serving of thick-sliced pork belly ($22.95) and premium kalbi aka Hang A Ri ($26.95). while the samgyupsal was ok, the galbi was superb. the marinade flavoring perfectly complements and tenderizes the meat and the portion is very generous. and it comes with some interesting vegetables inside the pot which is also grilled with the meat. another perk of Miss Korea is that they allow you to specify which type of rice you want (healthy or white).  the healthy version is the purple rice with various types of beans and oats. very hearty and it fools you into thinking you're counteracting all that dense meat you're putting into you're stomach.

after the late lunch, i was pretty full and skipped dinner which worked out well for Cousin, who had a double dinner at Ippudo and Soba-Ya due to a miscommunication with the hostess at Ippudo. 

the next morning, continuing my korean-themed food-a-thon, we grabbed brunch at Bistro Petit in Williamsburg. hole-in-the-wall doesn't begin to describe how tiny this restaurant is. it has 3 dining counters and self-serve station of fancy sodas and coffee (and no free refills on coffee and no tap water available). we sat at the counter facing the kitchen and helped ourselves to menus. it's a limited menu, with only 1 page of options, but then again, for a place so small, what else would i expect?

we ended up sharing an order of Watermelon Salad ($10)-diced watermelon, pickled watermelon rind, mint, grilled haloumi cheese, and spicy watermelon reduction sauce and the Kimchi Bouillabaisse ($19)-mussel, scallop, pollack, shrimp, fried tofu, rice gnocchi, kombu, white wine, korean chili paste, watercress and kimchi. 

the clear winner was the Watermelon Salad. sweet, refreshing watermelon with contrasting yet complementing flavors of picked rind and salty haloumi cheese. amazeballs. the Kimchi Bouillabaisse on other hand was a little salty. while the seafood was well-cooked, the soup itself was salty. and i kept wishing it had made up its mind whether to be fusion or kimchijigae instead of a wishy-washy version of neither/both.

after our meal, i took Cousin down to Brooklyn Flea in order to walk off some of the food and to check out the wares. it was my first time visiting the Flea since they moved from Hanson Place to the Williamsburg location. the wares were interesting, but a more important food lesson learned: the lines at vendors at Brooklyn Flea are significantly shorter than at Smorgasburg. well, with the exception of Dough.

food and drink porn. sort of.

i have no delusions that i'm one of those chic food bloggers with fantastic pictures of the food and drinks i consume at trendy NYC restaurants. nor do i profess this to be a food blog at all (it's clearly not). honestly, i'm usually too embarassed to take the actual photos when the food arrives. it feels so dorky. but that doesn't mean i don't appreciate all those food bloggers who take the time to "dork" it up so that i can preview the food/experience at a restaurant i'm considering going to. THANKS!



although i shy away from doing it, as you've probably realized from other posts, that doesn't mean i don't do it. although, if you were paying attention (which you probably weren't-i wouldn't blame you), you'll notice the pictures usually involve the same ppl. so, are those my only friends? honestly...

ok, i'm not that much of a loser. the reason the pictures tend to have the same ppl is because those are the friends i'm so comfortable with that i don't feel weird/shy about taking pictures of food/drinks in front of them. and they're such good friends that they'll usually let me snap shots of their food/drinks too. thanks for indulging my inner (and outer) nerd!

Crumbs

As if there needs to be any more pictures on the web of these delicious cups of cake. but here they are anyway.
this was a while ago, so i don't remember all of the flavors. i picked this out for HungryHungryHippo's birthday, which fell on a weekday. it felt too sad to let her actual birthday go by without commemorating it somehow. there were plans to go out for a big birthday dinner that weekend but, even so, you should memorialize the actual day as well.my sister is a huge fan of Fluff so i figured getting her the S'more was a good idea. alas, there was no fluff to be found in the cupcake. however, it was still delicious and even looked great with all the marshmallow and graham on top. and the graham was still crispy. now if only there was some way to eat this piping hot as well... i think this cupcake was called Chocolate-Covered Strawberry. what a letdown. maybe i was expecting too much but i really wanted some actual strawberry pieces incorporated into it. or maybe even a strawberry in the center, like ichigo daifuku. alas, it was just strawberry frosting with a strawberry jam center. boooo. this was the first one we ate: Nestle Crunch. this was deeeelish. the little crunch on top gave good texture and the nutella in the center was perfect. maybe a little sweet, but in a good way.

The Oak Room at the Plaza
this is perfect timing since Restaurant Week starts January 24th.

Egg, She and I went to the Oak Room at the Plaza for Summer Restaurant Week 2010. if i'm not mistaken, they're on the list again for Winter Restaurant Week, and the offering isn't that different. if you're thinking about eating there, i offer this piece of advice: DON'T DO IT. with all the options you can choose from for RW, don't waste your time with this one. it's all hype, with no substance.

She and i were interested in dining here because of what it is: the Plaza. i mean, it's an NYC landmark. and when you think of the people that have been through there and the events and moments that have happened there, you can't help but be impressed and awed.

and they definitely don't let you forget that when you go the Oak Room. when you enter there's a short, narrow hallway you pass through. when you pass the stairs on the left (which lead to the new food court) you see very large black and white photos of the famous people that have been to the restaurant. subtlety, thy name is not the Plaza.

we had to wait about 30 minutes for our table although we had a reservation. we went to the bar and were given an extensive drink menu to choose from. we all chose to drink water. TAP. the price of drinks at the Oak Room bar are ridiculous. i know that drinks in manhattan are inflated and ridiculous, but the Oak Room took it to a whole new level. $25 for a glass of Johnny Black? you've got to be kidding. Egg and i did the math and calculated the mark-up for their drinks is about 70 -90%. that's pretty outrageous. it made me look around the bar and wonder at the idiots around us that had ordered drinks.
when we finally sat down and started eating, the food was such a letdown. the choices i made were just super salty: the Bigeye Tuna Sashimi was more soy sauce than soy-pique vinaigrette and the Griller Meyer Ranch Hanger Steak was also salty. the dessert was actually pretty good, but i can't remember exactly what is was. maybe strawberry cheesecake? whatever it was, it's not being offered for their winter menu.
i'll admit, it wasn't all horrible though. She ordered the Lobster and Sweet Corn Bisque which was pretty good, although not as dense as i usually like bisques to be and, as expected, the lobster piece was miniscule. the winner amongst the appetizers was the Tomato and Fennel Soup, which Egg ordered. it's essentially tomato soup, which is good by itself, "grilled cheese" sandwich they serve with it is buttery crispy goodness. they both ordered the Crisp Organic "Brick" Chicken which was really good, although She's piece had a sizable amount of fat/sinews so she didn't end up finishing it.
and of course, the Oak Bar was delicious. but then again, how can chocolate ever go wrong?

Brooklyn Flea Market
in the same weekend i went to the Plaza, i also went to Brooklyn Flea. the two establishments should be considered complete anti-theses of each other in terms of clientele, costs, and conditions. and the food at Brooklyn Flea was infinite times better.i ordered the Ito from AsiaDog. i love the trend that made hotdogs cool to eat again, because i can eat about 10 of them in one sitting. and now that they're "cool" again like they were when i was 10 yrs old, i don't have to feel bad about that. the curry from the Ito gave the hotdog a little kick while the apples cooled it down a bit because of its sweetness. afterwards, i was really tempted to order the Ginny or the Mash but felt it would be bad form with all the other vendor options available.Kiks opted for a set from Red Hook Food Vendors. since she'd been to actual location before and said the food was amazing. and she did not lie. however, since this was a while ago i really don't remember what we ordered. but it was good enough that i forgot to take a picture until we were thoroughly stuffed. so all i can show you is the aftermath.

my bad.