Tag Archives: banh mi

5 Boro PicNYC- Governors Island

26 May

Today, we went to Governors Island for the 5 Boro PicNYC. If you haven’t been to Governors Island yet, you are missing out. We were there for the first time just this past September for Pig Island and I just fell in love with the island.  It’s a beautiful island right off the southern tip of NYC.  You can get there on a 5 minute FREE ferry (no joke… 5 minutes) and it’s filled with history and beautiful buildings.

The Ferry is open Memorial day through the fall, so today was the first day of the 2012 season, and we were on the first ferry at 10am. Ferries leave from the terminal right next to the Staten Island Ferry at 10am, 11am and then every half hour through 7pm. The island is open Saturdays and Sunday as well as holiday Mondays. (There is also a ferry from Brooklyn)

We were there before the PicNYC admission (11:30am) so we explored some of the island before hand. (Post all about the island to follow)

We got on line and went on in at 11:30am.

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The event, like Pig Island, took place on Colonel’s Row, where each vendor is set up in a tent.

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At the center was a tent set up for Jarlsberg Cheese.

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They were serving grilled cheese (one with pork and one with a meatball pate).

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Both were good, but grilled cheese on a grill just doesn’t have the buttery goodness of the grilled cheese I love.

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They also had a cheese dip that included red onions.

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It was surprisingly good, and kind of tasted like “coleslaw with cheese” (quote from Mike).

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While I’ve had Ricks Picks before, I am always up for a good pickle.  The People’s Pickles are my favorite.

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There wasn’t great signage in a lot of restaurants, but many had some sort of “Jimmy’s No. 43” signage on them.

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One of these had “Street Chicken Tacos” which were surprisingly very good.  Basic and delicious.

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I was, of course, out, but Lucky 777 was serving up some chili.

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I guess they were New Orleans themed by the decorations.

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They had 3 varieties: bean, pork, and turkey.

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Mike went with the pork and said it was very good.

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Sixpoint  Brewery was supplying all the beer at the event. Our tickets came with unlimited food sampling and 1 beer ticket. Unlimited beer tickets were available for $20 more, but seeing as though you could get 4 beer tickets for $20 extra, I didn’t think we would be drinking 5 beers that day, so we went with the basic ticket.

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There was an entire section of hot sauce, that I sadly had to skip over.

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One place was serving wings that had a ghost chili sauce on them.  Judging from the reactions around us, these babies were HOT.

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We hit a series of tents all labeled as Jimmy’s 43.

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One was serving kielbasa, that was sadly a bit cold and lacking in flavor.

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But right next to that they were serving my favorite bite of the day: BBQ chicken.

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It had a crispy skin on the outside and juicy chicken on the inside.  The sauce was flavorful without being at all spicy. It was everything that is good about BBQ chicken.

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There was a also a steak in a chimichurri sauce.  The bread wasn’t toasted and it was nearly impossibly to take a bit out of this. I wound up rolling up my steak and popping the whole thing in my mouth.  It was okay.

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They had some stuff for vegetarians… but really not a lot at all. The potato salad looked pretty good.

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As did the cole slaw. But I wouldn’t advise this event for anyone that doesn’t eat meat.

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There was a banh mi assembly line going on, but they were having difficulty getting these out in any efficient fashion.

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And sadly they weren’t that good.  The bread was soft, no crisp at all (an essential to banh mi in my opinion) and the pork was ground rather than in pieces.

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Mine without sauce was even more boring.

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Sausage was a very popular dish, but these were stand outs.  Blood sausage and veal sausage.  They were both very good, but the blood sausage was especially flavorful without being TOO gamey.

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One of the last places we stopped was Peels, and they were offering house-made smoked green garlic and poblano chile (d’oh) kielbasa with pickled cabbage and house mustard.

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I was out, but Mike tried it and said it was VERY good.

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At this point we decided to leave the event for a bit, and we rented bicycles and rode around the island (another post on that adventure soon).  We came back a little over an hour later, got some more beers, and sat and watched the band.  Unfortunately, the ground was a bit damp so we left with soggy bottoms.

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One complaint I have is that there aren’t enough tables/seating at these events. It’s hard to balance a beer and food that requires a knife and fork.

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My final beer selection of the day was the Apollo.  It’s Sixpoint’s wheat beer and I thought it was just perfect for a humid summer day out in the park.

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As we were heading out, we needed something cold. While most food was free, a few vendors did have paid grub. The line for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream truck was a bit too long, so we decided to check out the Wooly’s stand (a Vendy award winner, according to their sign).

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We weren’t sure what it was, but it came from some sort of revolving ice machine thing.

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They only had mango flavor left, and they topped it with strawberries, brownies, and salted leche sauce.

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The only way I can describe it was that it was like ice clouds.  Not a lot of flavor, just sweet (not really mango) but the toppings were great and it was very refreshing on the hot day.

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Overall, I thought the food at PicNYC was just okay.  Too many sausages and not enough variation. For the $25 cost of admission though, it’s hard to be all-you-can-eat food.  I should have just had more of those chicken drumsticks!  Though really, after all that food, I wasn’t left wanting by any means.

I would say that if you had nothing going on tomorrow, it would be a fun day and definitely worth the cost of admission.  Unfortunately, however, they just posted that they are all out of Sunday tickets. So if you have tickets, have a ton of fun!

And definitely make your way to Governors Island this summer!

Project Food Blog #2: “The Classics”

26 Sep

It has been a big week for NYC Nom Nom.  First, I found out that my recipe was selected to appear (with me, of course) on the Wendy Williams Show LIVE this Tuesday!  I will be up against 2 other audience members in a dessert competition that will be judged by Gail Simons and Johnny Iuzzini for a Top Chef: Just Desserts segment.  I am making a Double Trouble Peanut Butter Cup that was inspired by a concoction I made for Mike’s birthday last year.  I just did a test round and it turned out really well!  I will be sure to blog about it after the show, however, don’t forget to tune in at 10am LIVE in the New York area on Fox 5.  If you are not in New York or want to catch it later that day, you can find the rest of the Wendy Williams TV schedule here.

Second, I filmed my first video blog for Nom Nom.  Stay tuned for a vlog about making a Chocolate Meringue.

Lastly, I was THRILLED to find out that I have advanced to Round 2 of Project Food Blog.  Thank you everyone for voting!  This week’s theme is “The Classics.”  The challenge is to take a classic that is out of your comfort zone and cook it as close as possible to the original.  For my Classic, I chose to go with Banh Mi.  First, Vietnamese food is VERY out of my comfort zone.  While I make a lot of classic American, Jewish, and Italian cuisine, Vietnamese is in a totally different ball game.  On top of that, I was using a slow cooker for the first time.  I received one for my birthday a few weeks ago and this seemed like a great opportunity to try it for the first time.

So why Banh Mi?  Well… we have been watching The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network and I was THRILLED to see that there  was a truck called The Nom Nom Truck competing.  We also were lucky enough to go to the LA Times Food Festival when we were out in LA 2 weeks ago (blog to come) and sampled the delicious food from The Nom Nom Truck.

The closest I have come to cooking Vietnamese is ordering in on Seamless Web.  I’ve had my share of Pho delivery and have dined at a few Vietnamese places in NYC, however, most of the ingredients and cooking methods are out of my comfort zone.  I’m also not a huge sandwich fan, nor have I ever made a point of making a fancy one.

Last night before bed, we prepped the pork for the slow cooker.  The first step was just melting sugar.  Now I’ve only melted sugar with butter or water in the past, so I was nervous that it would burn, but it melted into liquid and caramelized quite easily.

Once it all turns to liquid, you pour in chicken stock and fish sauce.  Now the recipe warned that the ”caramel will harden and steam vigorously.” What I didn’t expect was splattered liquid all over the stove that quenched the gas flame and hardened the caramel to a complete solid.  I spent the next few minutes quite nervous that one of my favorite pots was ruined and I’d have to start all over, however, the caramel did in fact melt and all was well (after a bit of clean up). 

Next, I added the shallots, garlic, and white(ish) parts of the scallions.

The smell was fantastic while it boiled for 4 minutes.

Mike was nice enough to chop up the pork while I prepped.

All that was left to do that night was throw it all in the slow cooker, set it to low, and leave it for 8 hours.  Couldn’t be easier!

I was quite nervous when I woke up the next morning.  I have never used a slow cooker and didn’t know what to expect.  Luckily, it looked (and SMELLED!) fantastic.

The morning prep involved a quick pickling of carrots and daikon.  I have eaten daikon a few times in my life, but I didn’t realize that, when raw, it looks like a giant white carrot.  I’ve never really cooked with daikon before, though it’s very popular in Vietnamese cuisine.  Turns out, it tastes a bit like a bitter raddish when raw.

I’m not the best with a knife, so we peeled both with a peeler and used the shavings for the veggies.

The next step was to soak it in vinegar, sugar, and water for 30 minutes (or up to overnight).

We got parbaked bread from Fresh Direct and heated it up as the last prep step.

Next up was assembly.  I spread it with mayo and the pickled veggies.

Then cilantro.

Then the meat and some more veggies and cilantro on top.

So how was it?  Well… even my pork-protesting sister enjoyed it if that says anything.  I thought it was delicious, but it wouldn’t be able to compete with the Nom Nom Truck’s sandwich. 

It was a lot of fun, however, to do something so out of my comfort zone and try new techniques.  I can’t wait to try some more challenges!  Keep ‘em coming Project Food Blog!

Happy Nomming!

(And don’t forget to watch The Wendy Williams Show on Tuesday!!!!)

Bahn Mi from Paris Sandwich

14 Apr

Bravo me! Two Weight Watchers home cooked dinners down and you’re on a roll… then everything came to a screeching halt… I was on jury duty… downtown… in Chinatown. I hardly know where to eat down there to begin with, let alone on Weight Watchers. I had heard such great things about Paris Sandwich’sBanh Mi from FeistyFoodie. I was bummed that I was finally in the area and would have to forgo for this new diet.   I decided to go with the mindset, however, that you can eat anything as long as you track it and account for it with eating less at other times.  So I snuck open the iPhone app while hearing a slow case and calculated the points.  I was thrilled that it was only 10 points.  That left me with 12 still for dinner (after my 2 points used at breakfast on my yogurt).

Paris Sandwich (on Mott between Hester and Canal) was quintessentially Chinatown.  Women barking at patrons who were completely overwhelmed by a menu they could hardly read.  I tried to ask if there were any peppers in the sandwich or if it was spicy… and the answer wasn’t convincing. So I ordered and crossed my fingers.

They seem to have bread pre-made that they then put through a toaster and add the items.  I went with the grilled pork and it comes with cilantro, Japanese mayo (which looks more like butter and I’m not sure what it adds to the flavor… hmmm), carrots and daikon. (And you can add jalapenos to the sandwich I believe)

All of these flavors just combined to perfection. And the bread was delicious… though messy. Luckily I ate this outside as afterwards I was covered in crumbs! Wouldn’t have had it any other way.

If you are ever in Chinatown and not so keen on dim sum, definitely try the Banh Mi from Paris. It’s delish!

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10