Summer food fests and more

Similar to most towns and cities, summer means outdoor food festivals and farmers market.  While I enjoy farmers market, I do not go for the $5 per pound tomatoes or green beans but rather the free samples of breads and spreads. I ventured to Williamsburg Brooklyn right across the river where every Saturday the "flea market" known as Smorgasboard features 95% prepared foods (yay!)  From bbq to tacos, arepas to viet sandwiches, this place is a foodie's paradise .

Out of everything that was eaten, I wanted to highlight this hot dog.  We've seen the asian inspired tacos (Korilla BBQ or Seoul Food) and sandwiches (think Bimbimbap burger at Social Eatz) but please meet Asia Dog.  You can find an outpost in Nolita, but Asia dog also makes its rounds at various food festivals and concerts throughout the summer.  I opted for the Sydney chicken hot dog, the bun was pleasantly toasted, the dog lightly grilled and topped with a relish of refreshing mango, cilantro, onion, cucumber, lime and fish sauce and finished with a handful of crushed peanuts.  To cap it off, I rode the east ferry back to manhattan on a full belly of hot dogs, pork sandwiches and an interesting espresso stout chocolate chip cookie.

When our initial brunch location in st. marks was packed at 1:30pm, I was looking forward to eggs so naturally was not that excited for our back up lunch at Xian Foods even though it has been featured by Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmerman. And for great reason as it was affordable and delicious.  There isn't alot of seating and they even have rules about when and how you can take seats.

We went with the most yelped about dish the cumin lamb noodles (left) and then a cold noodle dish with seitan and cucumbers as well as the stewed pork sandwich (for $2.50!).  I think the most interesting part of both dishes was the texture of the noodles, much thicker and denser than your typical rice noodle.  While the dish could have used more lamb, the strong cumin chili flavor was prominent and addicting.  The underrated star was actually the pork sandwich hiding in that paper bag.   The hoisin stewed pork was wrapped in a bread that more closely resembled a crusty an arepa. Toasted on both sides this sandwich was a great way to balance the heat of the other dishes.  If you are afraid of spice or oil in anyway, this might not be the place for you.

FYI- if you get a dish that has the word "tingly" in the description- be prepared for numb feeling in your mouth.  You are not having an allergic reaction but rather this is a temporary, courtesy of the Sichuan peppercorn.

On a different note- I made a visit to New Tu Do- a Vietnamese joint near Chinatown. With so many options in that area, I relied on the keen eye of my sister's boyfriend for advice and his research of yelp pictures.  And with summer in full swing, it just doesn't make sense to have pho.  So recently I've really enjoyed nem nuong, a red pork meatball.  It comes with pickled carrots, daikon, cucumber, lettuce, mint, peanuts, green onions and micro vermicilli. It's kind of like choose your own adventure where you pick your ingredients and wrap them up in rice paper like summer rolls and dunk it into the typical sweet sour fish sauce.

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What is it?

Instead of biscuits, rolls, croissants or danishes at the Popover cafe., you get a warm popover, a egg based bread/pastry with a crusty exterior and hollow airy soft interior. The flavor definitely reminds me of a crepe and with a dab of strawberry butter or syrup, this is a delightful start to brunch here at this  upper west side spot.

Another notable dish is the kobe beef hash.  Cubes of  this beautiful beef is slow cooked then finished on a flat top with onions and cubed new red potatoes.  The mixture arrives with a nice char and two eggs prepared to your liking.  The fat from the meat really creates a luxurious and gluttinous brunch dish and it is difficult to leave anything on this plate.

Review: Parallel 17 and L'Asie

Parallel 17 was voted top 10 best new restaurants by 5280 in 2008, however the meal was at points almost inedible.  The vietnamese french fusion cuisine flopped for me in many areas.  On mondays, they offer happy hour all night which brought in a full house around 7 on a traditionally slow dining night.  The tuna and tofu tacos, both tried to imitate TAG's version of sushi tacos however, P17's version were excessively salty and inedible. The fried taco shell sitting on a guacamole mousse reminded me of what you would find prepackaged from the grocery store.  The duck spring roll was bland and the grilled beef on the bahn mi slider was more like deli style roast beef.  The only dish interesting was the pork belly sliders on the traditional asian white buns, with a blueberry coulis and heavy flavors of hoisin.  We shared the sizzling saigon crepe (pictured above) which was a coconut scented crepe filled with sauteed mushrooms, beansprouts and shrimp.  It was pretty bland, but piqued our interest in terms of the concept.  I've decided that when any portion of the meal is deamed inedible, in this case the tacos, the restaurant cannot score anything higher than a 5.

P17 Plate score: 4


I went to L'Asie because one of my friends absolutely loves this place and insisted I try it before I left denver.  L'Asie offers thai, vietnamese, japanese and chinese dishes and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, deals such as half price appetizers and two for one drinks will please both drinkers and eaters.    The combination platter of appetizers including the chicken satay, thai spring rolls (which are really vietnamese) and gyoza (japanese) were all solid and I was pleasantly surprised with the calamari.  After tender slices of squid are deep fried, they are sauteed in a garlic, onion, spring onion sauce that made the flavors pop and made this appetizer a success and different from the usual calamari dishes you find elsewhere.  While the color of my combination (chicken, shrimp and tofu) pad thai was a little too neon  and desperately needed some hot sauce to add dimension to the dish, the flavor was on point and the portion was more than generous.


L'Asie Plate Score: 7.5

sandwiches, ice cream and vietnamese

Madison street is a local pub serving sandwiches, salads, small plates and bland tacos.  The grilled mahi mahi fish tacos were flavorless and could have used more than sprinkle of salt.  In other words it was forgettable.  The porchetta sandwich was a unique dish with extremely tender slices of italian style slow cooked pork with a mustard herb sauce.  The pork sandwich alone however will not be a strong enough reason for me to return in the near future.

Plate score:  5



I am a loyalist when comes to ice cream and little man ice cream it is at the top of my list.  I am always
willing to give other places a try, mostly to confirm that little man is the best in denver. On my third trip to Sweet action ice cream they had atypical flavors such as guiness milk chocolate ice cream and banana reeses pieces.  I sampled the saigon cinnamon and vietnamese coffee, both were excellent too bad they wouldn't let me have half of each.  I agonized over which flavor i should choose and settled on the vietnamese coffee with flecks of ground espresso beans.  Other interesting flavors included the blackberry lavender ice cream which was interesting, but not good enough to warrant a full scoop.

Plate score: 8




My vietnamese food radar is admittedly pretty limited to Pho 95 and Pho 79 however i ventured to New Saigon on Federal for a new experience.  They have a menu as overwhelming as one you would find at The Cheesecake Factory.  Luckily my friend directed me to the noodle specialities where i settled on the combination rice noodle bowl.  If you have never had one, mine included, grilled steak, pork, shrimp, vietnamese egg rolls, fresh raw veggies and herbs such as cilantro, green onions, sprouts all over a heaping of rice noodles.  It is served with a mild sweet and sour rice vinegar fish sauce which you pour over the noodles.  The entire dish was delicious, the noodles were thicker than the usual rice noodles in pho and the grilled meats were thin, marinated and as my friend described it like wet jerky.  If that turned you off, i'm sorry but it was very so flavorful and well infused.  Vietnamese egg rolls are stuffed with ground pork seasoned with asian spices and like anything fried it was delicious.  At just $7.95, the entire bowl with all of its components was a delicious dinner and could be perfect for takeout in the future.

On a side note they have a large menu of boba teas which are fruit or tea smoothies with black tapioca balls.  I decided on the papaya one because it was advertised to be made with "real papaya"  What came out was papaya powder blended with condensed milk and ice with 2 dozen bobas floating on the bottom.  False advertising.  I mostly review foods so this drink though sub par does not detract from the fantastic meal.

Plate score: 9

Pho 95

Pho 95, the reigning Pho place according to both westword and 5280 did indeed deliver on this windy january day. The rare steak, vietnames meatball and brisket noodle soup bowl was piping hot and deliciously flavorful and all for just $6.45. Definitely not for the vegetarians.

Plate score: 9

Pho 79

Traditional rice noodle soup with vietnamese meatballs, sliced rare steak and brisket. Served with bean sprouts, thai basil, jalepenos, and limes. Delicious and can't beat the price: $5.95