Put the 'IN' in Puddin'

Restaurant Name: Puddin' By Clio

Location: 102 St. Marks Place, New York, NY

Website:  http://www.puddinnyc.com/ 

Price Range: $10 and under (depending on size)

JCL Rating: 7.5/10

JCL's Choice: Banana Cream Dream

As I was wandering in the city aimlessly, I suddenly remembered there were a few spots in St. Marks I saw last time but didn't try yet. Puddin' wasn't one of them. But when I walked by, from the corner of my eyes I caught the name "Puddin'." I had to walk in and see what that is all about. I was just going to look around, but the warm welcome by the cashier/pastry cook caught me off guard. It would feel awkward if I just walk out empty handed. Their puddings are separated into two types; puddings and Clio's signatures. The signatures are already pre-plated. As for the puddings, you can add any toppings to it. 

Puddin' is a very tiny spot with 3 stools. The pastry chef Clio Goodman thought of the idea of having a pudding shop when a friend requested a childhood treat, butterscotch pudding. Everything is order to go. I asked which one is their best seller, and the cashier said the banana cream dream. So I ordered that and one more to confirm its consistency. I picked lemon pudding and a salted caramel sauce as topping.

Banana pudding on top and bottom sandwiching the crumbs, fruit cake and whipped cream

The Banana Cream Dream consists of real banana pudding, graham cracker crumbs, banana fruit cake, and dollop of whipped cream. Dollop of anything just means a lump/small amount of it. A super strong banana flavor. I guess all the other ingredients in this pudding was just for the texture since I couldn't taste any of it. The mouth feel was very rich but gentle. Extremely creamy. I had a regular size banana cream dream. That was a bit too heavy for me. I had to force finish the last few bites. But If I had ordered a mini, it would have been perfect. 

Top layer is lemon pudding, bottom is salted caramel

Lemon is one of my favorite ingredients of all time; regardless if it was savory or dessert. The refreshing smell cleanses your senses. The acidity with a touch of tender sweetness pulls all the underlying flavors of the ingredients. It is truly an amazing ingredient. Anyways, when I saw lemon pudding I automatically relate it to savory. They just happened to have salted caramel sauce, so I had to get it. The pudding itself is very light with a medium touch of lemon flavors. No tartness at all. The salted caramel acts like a bridge that intensifies the sweet and lemony tastes. I just wish it had a deeper acidic taste to it instead of being all sweet. 

Oh, Puddin' also has cookies, cakes and drinks. 

It was certainly a treat to have walked in here. I would come back next time to try some other flavors... maybe the coconut or butterscotch. The roots of this pudding centric shop grew from the thought of butterscotch after all...

On a side note, the post title's "in" refers to trendy. Inspired by the "In" tab in their website. 

Munch away, Cambodian style

All photo credit goes to Cathy Lam

Restaurant Name: Num Pang

Location: 21 E12th St, New York, NY

Website:  http://www.numpangnyc.com/ 

Price Range: $30 (for 2) - Cash only

JCL Rating: 8/10

JCL's Choice: Peppercorn catfish, pulled Duroc pork, corn on a cob

My first Cambodian food experience is in Num Pang, a gourmet sandwich shop opened by Chef Ratha Chaupoly and Ben Daitz. Accompanied by Cathy, we traveled all the way to Union Square to look for this unique sandwich shop. All of the gourmet sandwiches are served on a freshly toasted semolina flour baguette and are made a la minute. You pick up your order and have the choice of take out or go up stairs for the first-come-first-serve seating. 

What exactly is "num pang?" Num pang is the Cambodian term for bread or sandwich. Aside from exceptional food, they have a very interesting concept going on. Every month they will feature a chef in the "Guest Chefs Give Back" program to design their signature sandwich. 6$ of each of the featured sandwiches sold will be donated to charities. For the month of June 12 - July 12, the guest chefs are Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Dan Kluger (Chef de cuisine of ABC Kitchen) creating the ABC Num Pang (poached chicken salad with crispy chicken skin).

All their sandwiches are served with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and chili mayo (which we think is spicy mayonnaise). This set up is extremely similar to Vietnamese sandwiches. Anyways, I had the peppercorn catfish, Cathy had the pulled Duroc pork, and we both got the corn on a cob. 

Catfish sandwich

Aside from the perfect combination of the sandwich foundations in Num Pang, the peppercorn catfish was seasoned and cooked perfectly. The house made sweet soy sauce on the catfish brings out the natural sweet flavors of the catfish and at the same time it hides the earthy taste. This is a fish sandwich to the finest. Every bite is succulent. A must try in my books!

Pulled pork w/ blood orange lemonade

Duroc is a breed of American pig. This pulled Duroc pork sandwich that is dressed in the spiced honey gives the pulled pork the moistness that it needs. A touch of the chili mayo combined with the spiced honey forms an incredible duet of flavors after flavors in your mouth. The cucumber, pickled carrots and cilantro then acts as a refreshing agent to get your mouth for the next bite! The balance of flavors profiles is pure genius.

corn on cob w/ coconut flakes

Their signature side dish, corn on a cob that is drenched in chili mayo and topped with sweet coconut flakes is as good as it gets. With this grilled corn, you are expected to get dirty with it. The chili mayo will be smeared all around your lips and you won't want to stop and wipe your mouth until you have completely devoured this poor corn. 

All in all, this sandwich shop is amazing. I highly recommend it. This has got to be some of the best sandwiches I have ever tasted. 

Organic to the Max!

Picture adopted from bareburger.com (forgot to take one)

Restaurant Name: BareBurger

Location: 85 2nd Ave, NY, NY

Website:  http://www.bareburger.com/

Price Range: 25$ a person

JCL Rating: 7/10

JCL's Choice: The Ruby (Wild boar meat), Big Blue Bacon (Ostrich), The Western (Bison)

As the three musketeers (lol) were wandering around the city thinking of what to eat for dinner, this burger joint came to our minds. We remembered walking by this place plenty of times in the road to St. Marks, but never got the chance to try it out and so we decided to check it out. For all the wild game lovers or exotic meat eaters, this place is for you! It sucks that it only serves it as burger but nonetheless, it is worth the trip. They have bison, elk, wild boar, ostrich, free range chicken. The bun selection includes brioche (personal favorite), multi-grain roll, wheat flour wrap, lettuce wrap, and tapioca rice bun (gluten free!!!). 

The atmosphere was calm and relaxed. The hostess seated us as soon as she found out how many people we had. One funny thing about this was we say this girl wearing a pikachu suit with a pikachu backpack and pikachu stuffed animal, then when we walked in to Bare Burger, they were playing Pokemon. 

This place basically sells everything organic and free range. All the animals were pasture raised, antibiotic and hormone free. Their sodas are natural sodas from Maine. They even have organic wines and beers now! This place is on top of the organic trends that have been going around the food industry. They take orders with a portable device, so no need for that MICROS system (I can see this system being popular in the future since it saves time from walking back and forth to the MICROS). 

We get to pick what type of burger we want (all the other stuff except for the bun and meat), we pick the type of meat and the bun. I ordered "The western" with bison meat and tapioca rice buns. Frankie had the "big blue bacon" with ostrich meat and brioche bun. Ray ordered "the ruby" with wild boar and brioche bun as well. We also ordered a basket of fries (comes with BBQ, spicy chipotle, and ranch dressings) and the Maine hand crafted sodas. 

The memorable part of The Western was the bison meat and the peppercorn steak sauce. The coleslaw adds crunchiness to the burger. The bison meat was extremely tender (I ordered it medium rare). The only thing not so great about my burger was the tapioca bun. It was a bit dry. I knew I should have paired it with the brioche bun!!!

The ruby was probably my favorite out of the 3 that we had. The wild boar was extremely tender. It had a hint of smoked bacon. It had havarti cheese (never heard of it till now) which was very milky and buttery.  

AND IT HAD PASTRAMI AS WELL!!! Double the meat. But I did not taste much of the horseradish mayonnaise at all.

My second favorite was the big blue bacon. The ostrich meat was succulent and flavorful. The apple chutney adds sweetness to the burger. The bourbon sauteed mushrooms adds moisture. And the smoked onion adds smokiness. Too bad the Danish blue cheese wasn't as represented as I thought it would have been. 

Although each of the burgers had its imperfections, it was definitely enjoyable. This is a really cool place for friends to hang out and just talk about random stuff. The servers were very attentive and always had a smile on their faces. The presence of their professionalism makes this a comfortable place. I recommend all the readers to try this place out!

Asian Elegance

Picture taken from the web because I forgot to take one.

Restaurant Name: Le Colonial

Location: 149 E 57th St, New York, NY

Website:  http://www.lecolonialnyc.com/menu.html 

Price Range: 40$ a person

JCL Rating: 7.5/10

JCL's Choice: Cha Gio Vit (roasted duck roll); Vit Quay (lacquered roast duck w/ tamarind ginger sauce)

This is the first time that I have heard of a Vietnamese French restaurant, so I had to try it. This restaurant has two floors. Dining area is on the first floor and bar/lounge on the second floor. The interior decor is very traditional with the black and white paintings. The dining room is very evenly spaced. The menu is traditional Vietnamese food but with a touch of French influence. 

The host was extremely welcoming and professional. We arrived at the restaurant at 5:30, so it was a bit empty. He gave us the option of which table we want to settle down on and asked if we would like to leave our coats at the coat check. The front servers and back servers were extremely attentive. Our water glasses were never empty. This quality service is fine dining service for sure, but at a much cheaper price. 

I had the Cha Gio Vit, which is the crispy 5 spice roast duck roll with taro, shiitake mushroom, and scallions. It is served with fresh lettuce leaves, cilantro and mint. You roll the spring roll with a piece of mint/cilantro on the lettuce leave and dip it in a sweet sour sauce. The freshness from the lettuce and herbs takes away the grease from the fried spring roll. What a perfect balance. 

Rigo had the Pho Soup which consists of oxtail broth, rice noodles, beef tenderloin, bean sprout and fresh herbs. The broth needed a bit more seasoning. But it was really flavorful. The rice noodles were al dente. It also comes with a spicy and savory dipping sauce for the beef. 

For entrees, I had the Bun So Diep. It is grilled lemongrass scallop and shrimp on top of a vermicelli salad, mint, lettuce and toasted peanuts in a ginger dressing. The scallops and shrimps were seasoned really well and cooked to the perfect tenderness. The ginger dressing that is on the cold vermicelli salad was a bit sweet with a hint of spiciness. I wasn't too crazy about this entree though.  

Rigo had the Vit Quay which is the lacquered duck with a tamarind ginger sauce. What does it mean by lacquered? Lacquer means the food is glazed with a condensed sauce that will give it a nice shine. Balsamic vinegar, sugar or honey is usually used as food lacquers. This duck was oven roasted. Honey was probably used to glaze the skin. The skin was so crispy. Underneath the crispy skin was a thin layer of fat. Ducks are usually very fatty, but it isn’t the case here. The sweet and sour ginger sauce takes away all the greasiness from the duck. Another combo that demonstrates the power of sweet and sour sauces!

This visit was definitely worth it. Great ambiance, very professional staff, excellent food. The plating is much more elegant than regular Vietnamese food. Oh, this restaurant was also rated two stars by New York Times. If you happen to be by 57th street, and you happen to be hungry, give this place a go! There aren't that many Vietnamese French fusion restaurants around!