t-something

at this point, Williamsburg, or the 'burg as i affectionately/lazily call it, is old news as a bastion of up and coming restaurants and bars. i started travelling out there in order to attend Smorgasburg and then slowly traveled over more often to eat at the various bars and restaurants. but even so, i don't go as often as i would like. most likely because my home base is Brooklyn Heights, so in order to get to the 'burg i have to go into Manhattan to take the L train, or else take the G train, which runs less frequently at night, or a bus. these act as deterrents to any casual outing to the 'burg.

which is why i love it when others give me a reason to go out there.

PerfectHusband decided to celebrate his t-something birthday (at a certain point i think we should stop specifying what age we're turning) in the 'burg. and he decided to go old-school: the multi-location birthday party.

the first stop: The Ides Bar.  Located at the rooftop of the Wythe Hotel, the bar undoubtedly has a great view. best for night times and sunsets. unfortunately, the place oozes pretension. i arrived on a saturday night around 9 pm and was immediately turned off by the small line forming around the corner of the hotel. because it was PH's birthday, i braved the line and waited to get in. between the asinine conversations taking place around me and the ridiculous procedure to get in, my patience was slowly being worn thin.

Ides Bar has a dual check system before you can enter the bar. first there's the hostess on the 1st floor. who is preceded by a red carpet. yes, they are pretentious enough to have a red carpet-like the ones you see celebrity step onto when entering awards shows. if you are able to make it to the hostess and are permitted entry to the bar, you are directed to an elevator. where another bouncer waits to check your ID. hmm, think they should've checked that at the first checkpoint? you are then squished into the elevator and arrive at the top floor, where you are finally let into the bar. 

which is only 1/3 full. 

and that is the ultimate douchey thing to do. the bar was not full at all, yet they were "creating" a sense of occupancy with the false line outside and making constant announcements that the line was "closing" and anyone not inside would not make it in for the night. 

booooooo.

the only thing that saved this place was the view and the company. and 1 of those things i can have any time i want, without the douchery.

luckily, we moved onto the 2nd venue: Berry Park.

much more my speed. no lines, no pretensions (although still half hipster-packed, but i can forgive that). although much more packed than Ides Bar, the place is large enough, with an upstairs and downstairs, to accommodate large crowds. plus it played my favorite type of music: old school hip hop and top 40. drinks are well-priced and the crowd is definitely out to have fun. 

i mean, look at how much fun we're having.

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. 

japanese comfort food heaven

i love japanese food. it's simple and delicious and tricks me into thinking i'm eating healthy. be it luxury japanese food e.g. sashimi/sushi or japanese comfort food e.g. ramen/donburi/udon/ soba, i love them all and would gobble them up any time of day.

so no surprise that i was frothing at the mouth to go to Samurai Mama in Williamsburg. a hipster udon house that boasts a fancy water filtration system that contributes to its delicious udon noodles. while i can't vouch for the veracity of their claim, i can testify that they have f*ing amazing udon.

a small restaurant with the now-commonplace communal long wooden table/bench in the center, there are also cozy booths running along the wall, making it a great place for both an intimate dinner or a group outing.  both times i've been there, i attended a weekend lunch, which allowed me to save a few bucks by ordering from their lunch menu (yay a restaurant that has a lunch discount even on the weekends!) as well as their a la carte menu.

for lunch they provide you with a gratis order of salad and Kinpira, which seems to vary but will inevitably include the cooked burdock root and carrots with sesame oil and soy sauce. it's a nice way to whet the appetite and start introducing the refined and subtle japanese flavors that infuse the meal. 

the Pork Betty Daikon ($9) is a tender piece of pork belly with a melt in your mouth portion of the both the fat and lean parts of the pork (hence the pork belly). full of flavor and a made-at-home comfort food feel.

a must-order is Mama's Pork Gyoza ($7/$10). Samurai Mama serves this dish in the original cast-iron skillet it's cooked in.  there is an amazing crispness on the bottom of the gyoza while the inside remains succulent and juicy. an added bonus is the web of crispy starchiness that is created in the skillet, which makes the dish seem more like an art piece than food. i'd seen the starch web cooked in certain japanese shows but had not seen the skill displayed here in the states until now.

i don't think that sushi is Samurai Mama's strong point, but they do have some interesting combinations.  if you do opt to order sushi, i highly recommend the Hot Pepper Tsukudani ($5/$6).  it is a spicy bite of cooked green hot pepper with sake, mirin, avocado, and bonito flake. there's a spicy kick from the hot pepper which is complemented by its accompaniments. the Guacamole Tuna ($6/$7) on the other hand was forgettable flavor-wise. we had ordered this dish taco-style which means 2 larger pieces of sushi seaweed containing tuna, guacamole, and cilantro wrapped like an open tortilla. the serving style is novel, but the seaweed dwarfs the contents creating an inequitable bite.

lunch offers you different options and combinations, all which are very filling.  my first trip, my friend and i ordered the Japanese Dry Curry and Croquette ($10) which is served with salad, soup, and small appetizer (the kinpira). we opted to upgrade the soup to a mini udon ($2). even for a mini, the udon portion was still decently sized, and then coupled with the giant bowl of curry and rice, made a filling portion that could be shared between 2 people.

if you're in the mood for udon, then definitely order the Spicy Bukkake ($11). this a dry udon, so no soup. however, the spicy minced beef sauce and poached egg that comes on the side, to be "dumped" over the noodles, is plenty flavorful, while still being subtle, and moisturizes the udon noodles sufficiently. the addition of a perfectly runny, poached egg is the cherry on the sundae.

while dining there with a friend who wanted a more traditional udon experience, we opted for the Sansai Udon ($9). this is vegetarian friendly, so i immediately think it's healthy. it's a lightly flavored broth and is a great veggie option, but not enough where i would opt for it again since i'm not vegetarian. in addition, the problem with ordering udon in hot broth is that the broth continually cooks the noodles, which may result in overcooked, soft noodles if you don't eat fast enough.

i genuinely love this restaurant and, if it were around the corner, i would eat here all the time. i guess a 30 minute bus ride isn't too bad either.

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.

Egg becomes a Chick...or is it a Cock?

happy birthday Egg!! i love you!!

Egg turned the whopping 26 (god i feel so old. and yes, i'm only 26 but still... i've been 26 for 6 months!). for his birthday we went attempted to go to Sea, a Thai restaurant in Williamsburg. yea, that's right, Williamsburg. that just goes to show exactly how much i cherish Egg as a friend if i was willing to go to Williamsburg for him. altho, i'll admit, it wasn't that bad. we took the L from Union Square to Bedford Ave and, for my 1st trip to Williamsburg, the area didn't look bad. lots of little restaurants and bars. then we arrived at Sea. and i literally wanted to turn around and run. the place looks like a club that belongs in the Meatpacking district. except they expect you to eat there. over the loud club music. in the dark blue lighting. with a million ppl standing around holding martinis and screaming to hear each other. um, no thanks.

luckily for us there was an hour and half wait for a table so we opted to go to the Thai restaurant next door. unfortunately, i can't remember the name. however, the food was just ok so there's really no reason to remember it in particular. after dinner, we headed even deeper into Williamsburg to attend Egg's friend's party. however, at that point i was in no mood to party. it's what always happens to me after eating a ginormous dinner. i get food coma and just want to sit and veg. it especially happens when i eat a dinner and drink a lot with it (which i did b/c Egg and i were the only ones who really drank at the dinner so we finished the majority of a bottle between us).

i made the requisite appearance at the party but was just biding my time until i could go home. yea, i'm lame like that, but the party wasn't that great, although the rooftop was. maybe another time.