soup

Yeh Yeh’s Funeral (The Way He’d Want It – Lots of Food)

May 18, 2013

beef, beverage, Chinese, dessert, dumplings, Korean, NYC, seafood, soup, tea, travel

Don’t Worry – this post is only contains pictures of the food we ate and written things we did for Yeh-Yeh’s funeral service.

Albany John & I drove down for the service. My lovely sib-in-laws, Maka & CVS, were nice enough to let us stay with them. We drove down late on a Friday night, so that I could be at the airport to pick up my sister, who was flying in from Seattle.

Once I picked her up, we went to the YehYeh’s condo in Flushing. The parking god must have smiled on me for driving late at night and waking up early to pick up my sister from the airport, because I found (free!) street parking almost instantly. In Flushing. On a weekend. My poor sister was sick, and the flight didn’t help, so she napped in the condo while I went out to lunch at Jin Cheng with my dad and Aunties.

Jin Cheng is stupid close to the condo, and it has free parking, so it’s in my family’s roster of restaurants to go to. And guess what? They actually serve a good lunch. Unlike the rest of Flushing, Jin Cheng was pretty quiet, not even half full. The meal was miles better than when I’ve been for dinner or Chinese New Year. They really can’t handle a crowd.

Seafood Congee up top. Light & gingery. I didn’t mind a bowl.

I requested we get a plate of black bean squid. Good wok hei on the squid. Bleh to the peppers.

Beef and gai lan. Very tender beef, also with good wok hei.

Oop, sorry, this was chicken with hard chives cut long. Tasty stuff. I bought more chives to cook with at home shortly after this.

We hung around and just talked for a while. It’s just a whole other transition, a new step in life, to process with Yeh Yeh passing.

We went to San Soo Kap San for dinner with my uncle, aunt & her husband/my uncle, and one of my cousins. That dish with the red strip in the right bottom corner on the big plate? Raw squid. It was soooo freaking good! They only gave 1 plate of it as ban chan, and probably for good reason (I could have eaten about 10 of these). The rest of the banchan spread was also pretty impressive – fresh tofu, konjac (I think…) kimchee, cucumbers, small fish, pickled parsnips (MY JAM!), turnips. So much tastiness.

One bubbling bowl of scrambled egg ban chan. Very delicate – like a savory custard.

They grill all of the meat for you. Kind of expensive – most dishes hover around $30! Yikes! You can see tongue above. Thin rounds. Tasty.

Pork Belly! Yeah!

Galbi! We got two orders. My other cousin’s girlfriend is Korean and she said you don’t normally get 2 orders of the same thing, traditionally. My cousin said his parents know and do it any way, lol. I can’t argue, that galbi was great. Meaty, juicy, had that nice galbi marinade.

I think we got some other kind of sliced beef, too.

I still felt like eating my feelings after dinner, so my dad and I went to Tous Les Jours for some dessert. I was up for anything, but my dad says after going to Korea for a few months last year, he prefers Korean bakeries over Chinese ones because they have better quality ingredients & products, and are more innovative in what they make.

I think they are kind of expensive, but they are also the only bakeries open after 6/7 PM in Flushing. All of the Chinese ones close by then. There’s also a Paris Bakery nearby in downtown Flushing (that you can see from Tous les Jours) and is also open late.

I went for a black sesame doughnut and a cream cheese filled danish.

My dad got a blueberry cheesecake.

All sliced up:
Black sesame doughnut – mochi dough was chewy and kind of odd at first, then an addictive texure. Not too sweet.
Blueberry cheesecake – Asian cheesecake. Fluffy and cake-like.
Cream cheese danish – rich, rich rich, and crispy pastry exterior. Indulgent, but really good.

And like that, I was down with the more expensive Korean bakeries. Good stuff, and different than what the Chinese bakeries sell in Flushing.

Saturday I went to Flushing not knowing when I was going to leave. I wound up spending the whole day there & taking the subway back to Forest Hills. I was really happy to have late night public transportation – I wouldn’t have been able to drive, I was so sleepy!

The next morning we got up and ready to go to the funeral home for the Chinese equivalent of a wake.

Mama & Papa John had come in and were staying near the funeral home. We went out there to grab an late dim sum at … some place in Manhattan Chinatown. My bad, I forget the name. I was trying not to spill anything on my clothes and get to the funeral home on time (Thanks for lunch, Mama & Papa John!).

Someone brought treats to the funeral home. Dan tats. Okay, I will have one. Still warm. Yum. Yeh Yeh. Sigh.

And we went in. It was a traditional Buddhist Chinese funeral, even though we’re not really religious. We folded lots of coins out of paper – that was pretty nice – having something to do with your hands at all times. These were burned as offerings. Although my cousins & I were smartasses and couldn’t help but jokingly bemoan how stereotypical it was to have origami at an Asian funeral, or how we were doing arts & crafts.
Showing emotion/sadness was discouraged, and certain curious circumstances before the funeral helped prepare me for this, although, really, I’d been fairly emotionally detached up until then, so I don’t think crying would have been all too much of an issue any way.

Two Buddhist Monks came in and read a chant. We thought it would just be for a few minutes, but it ended up being about 45 minutes. It wound up being very soothing. Albany John was sweet and took a video of it all for my brother, who couldn’t make it. I think he will really appreciate the monks’ chant.

The service was also bilingual, for us ABCs who don’t understand Cantonese. I’m thankful for that, so I could still participate and understand what was going on without feeling ashamed about my lack of Cantonese.

After the funeral, the sons (my dad & uncle) took all of the remaining guests out for dinner at a nearby restaurant on Mott Street. Eh, food was okay, but Manhattan Chinatown is mostly for tourists now.

This was “special” chicken, in that it tasted like they steamed it one day not quite all the way, and then served it the next day. :X

Salt & pepper pork – okay, this was good.

Gummy lobster. Didn’t even finish it. My dad tried it and agreed. His table’s was good, though.

I always forget how absurd banquet food seems to people who didn’t grow up with it.

After this, we all went our respective ways. Albany John had to get back to Albany that night, so he took a train back.

The next day was the burial. We woke up early to get to the funeral home. Some more traditions/rituals that I didn’t quite understand. Drive to the graveyard, where YehYeh was buried next to Grandma.

Once Yeh-Yeh was buried, we went to one of his favorite restaurants in Flushing – Mellie’s. Another traditional post-service meal.

Sticky Rice with lobster, sweet & sour pork, some soup.

Then I spent the day hanging out with my cousins & sister at my Aunt & Uncle’s place just outside of Flushing. That was great. I haven’t done that since I was a kid. Just spend a few hours hanging out, watching TV, chatting. My sister was all about mahjong. We got Caribbean food & pizza for dinner.

I went back to Forest Hills for one last night with CVS & Maka. Maka took me with her to work in the morning. It was kind of like the world of tomorrow. How did it take me so long to visit this place? There were also snacks everywhere, so I left well fed & caffeinated on my way to Flushing to hang out with my Dad & head back to Albany with my sister.

My Dad and I decided to go out and try a bunch of food from all of the places in Flushing. My sister tagged along for the com First up:

My Sweet Home Dumpling on Roosevelt for 10 tasty dumplings. Freshly made to order (including the dough rolled out!). So good, and under $5.00

Then we walked to the underground food mall on Main Street. You know, the one past Starbucks? Any way, we hit up NY Lan Zhou La Mian. The guy at the stall evidently was asking my dad if my sister & I were single, and my dad quickly responded in the affirmative, haha (my sister is single).

There’s one long folding table and some low stools near the menu board.

Dad went with oxtail noodle soup. He loves oxtails, and I can’t seem to get enough of them, either. The broth was very flavorful, and came with a few pieces of baby bok choy.

Hand pulled noodles were great! Springy chew, flavorful, and went well with the oxtails and broth. The bowl was enormous, and there were hot sauce condiments aplenty on the table. Dad let me spike the broth near the end when he was done with the soup. Yeah!

Then we walked off our gluttony a little more around the edge of downtown Flushing. My Dad saw Forest House, and “Hong Kong Milk Tea” on the sign and wanted to go in.

My Dad said he hadn’t had Hong Kong style Milk Tea in the US, and the difference between this and other Milk Teas you get is that they steep the tea for longer. He said in Hong Kong when he was growing up, the really legit places would strain the tea through a silk stocking.

It took a few minutes for this to come out, but boy was it good! Now I want Hong Kong Milk Tea ALL OF THE TIME – it makes other milk teas look weak and too creamy by comparison. There was a nice bitterness to contrast all of that dairy, and the bottom of the cup had some tea leaves (in Flushing Chinatown it’s usually a teabag in coffee + cream, and it’s not steeped for very long).

Our mini food tour was a nice segue into leaving (fat and fairly happy). There are plenty of things to think about when one of your loved ones passes. I’m lucky to have been able to connect with my Yeh-Yeh. I was still a kid when my other grandparents passed, and I didn’t get to know them as well.

Sam Won Gak

April 10, 2013

Chicken, fried, Korean, new food, NYC, restaurant, review, seafood, soup, travel

Leave a Comment

The last time I saw Yeh-Yeh was when he was in New York Hospital Queens in Flushing, NY. He had suffered some more mini strokes and had an NG tube in. He slept for most of the time I was there, and only started waking up an hour or two before my dad, Albany John, and I left. There were flowers by his b

The time before that, he was in a rehab facility after his first stroke was discovered. He was awake, but didn’t recognize any of us, not that we could really tell. That really freaked me out. It made me anxious to see someone I love not recognize me, or his kids. He couldn’t even talk. After that visit I was probably more edgy, reserved, irritable, and anxious (or all of the above) than normal. It’s hard for me to know I’m unable to do anything to change a situation.

Any way, the last visit. I had stayed up way too late the night before (1 am, 2 am, 3 am?) having a pointless snip fit with Albany John. Later that morning when we woke up, I asked if he’d come down with me. Of course, he said yes. I’m glad I had the company in the car with just a few hours of sleep, and the support while we were there.

We got in around noon, and YehYeh snoozed for most of the time we were there. I found this very comforting. Like he wasn’t sick, and he was just tired. Some family friends/extended family were there, and left a bit after we got there. We had several hours just with YehYeh, and spent a few minutes in our chairs snoozing right next to him. I really liked that. No rush. No fussing. Just some time with my YehYeh.
My Dad & Auntie showed up later in the afternoon. Some time around 4 or 5 the potassium they were administering to him really must have started kicking in, because he started waking up and looking around. He’d look right at you. My Dad had told me earlier how he’d give anything just to have him around for a while just blinking. Man, I had that same feeling when he opened his eyes.

We left a little after that, some time close to 5:30 or 6 pm so my dad and Albany John and I could get some dinner. I kind of didn’t want to leave, especially because he had just opened his eyes, but it had been a hard day, and it was nice to have someone else tell you to do something, or to go.

We wound up at Sam Won Gak in the Murray Hill subset of Flushing. I had mentioned I could go for Korean, we drove around and found free(!) parking outside on the street, and Sam Won Gak sounded pretty good. Turns out, it’s Korean-Chinese fusion. They start you out with some pickled yellow daikon, raw sweet onions, bean paste, and kimchi as the banchan. Not the most plentiful, but not bad.

The waitresses were all older auntie type ladies, who worked together like an efficient military group. Sam Won Gak seems to be a hang out and drink kind of place, at least on a Saturday around 6 PM. Most of the other patrons were middle aged guys or older hanging out and putting away soju like it was their job. No rush, spacious tables, minimal decor. I’d probably like going here a lot if I lived here, because there’s more space than a bar, and it’s much quieter than a bar, too.

I forget what this was exactly called, but it’s basically like a Korean take on General Tso’s chicken, but less greasy/gloppy than the Americanized Chinese dish. But still a bit gloppy. $13 or $16 or something like that. A big plate of battered and fried chicken pieces in a lightly spicy cornstarch sauce with a smattering of veggies. The waitress double checked on wanting it spicy, and I was kind of bummed by the heat level. Didn’t even require a second glass of water. Flavorful, but not very spicy. Even my dad agreed that this was tasty, and not painfully spicy.

My Dad spent a few weeks in (South) Korea this past year. He was in a fairly rural part and couldn’t really get down with the food served in most restaurants because it was usually so spicy. He liked this seafood soup a lot, and said it was really flavorful, and nothing like you’d be able to actually get in Korea. It was something like $8-9 and came with a ton of seafood and veggies. Massive bowl, flavorful and light/non-greasy broth, and tons of seafood. I liked it, too.

Albany John went for the spicy crab soup ($9-10). Oh man, was that also a good choice. Like my “spicy” chicken, it was also not very spicy. Like, probably a 2/10 in terms of heat. Flavorful, though, and also a clean broth. A bounty of seafood, and plenty of real crab – no fake stuff here.

We drove home that night.

Snacks at Ala Shanghai

March 31, 2013

Chinese, dumplings, frugal, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup

4 Comments

My Dad was in town to say farewell to my sister before she left the state for a few months. We stopped at Ala Shanghai for snacks.

Noodle soup, xiao long bao, and some other nibbles while we spent some time together. I drove my dad by some houses I liked in the Latham area, and I can’t decide how good/bad it is that I’m giving extra points to places for their proximity to Ala Shanghai.

Uncle Lanny brought out some siu mai for us to try out. These are all-seafood. Scallops and shrimp. No pork or other meat. Dude, these were awesome – fresh and briny. I’m so getting these again.

Sushi Tei

February 28, 2013

frugal, Japanese, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup, sushi

Leave a Comment

Went out to Sushi Tei in Guilderland with Albany John and a friend one chilly evening. Albany John was craving sushi & suggested Sushi X, but I was not feeling a buffet, so I suggested the more relaxed and cozy Sushi Tei.

Some rolls – a philly, a spicy tuna, a salmon skin, and a regular tuna roll. Yum. And SOoOOUUuuuPPP, delicious soup! I love the soups at Sushi Tei – so flavorful, rich, clean, and simple all at once. I got tempura soba ($12.50). Albany John got a few rolls and a mini udon ($5.50) in the background. We also got a few apps – Tako yaki above ($6.50). It’s dough balls baked, filled with octopus, and topped with bonito flakes. I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of bonito flakes on their own (or perhaps only in very small quantities), which is kind of odd because I normally love all things intensely fishy. But overall I enjoyed the salty/savory octopus balls. Heh. Octopus balls.

I forget what this was called, but it was so good! They were cucumber & mango wrapped in raw salmon and in a sweet/tart soy sauce. I didn’t think I’d like them, what with the mango (coz I don’t really like to combine fruit + savory things) but it was younger mango so it was firm and wasn’t too sweet. The only problem I had with it is that there were only 4 to split between the three of us. I could have eaten about a dozen of these on my own!

I love the service at Sushi Tei – it’s like going over to your best friend’s house. Everyone is casual, nice, and serves at a relaxed pace.

Our total was something like $46 before tip.

Ala Shanghai to go

February 20, 2013

Chinese, local, pork, recommendations, restaurant, review, soup

Leave a Comment

Nothing like some spicy mapo dofu and pork, tofu, and capsella soup from Ala Shanghai, especially on these bitterly cold nights we’ve been having lately. Dinner for two for less than $20. The map dofu was especially spicy, which was a nice surprise since in the past I’ve thought Ala’s mapo dofu had lots of flavor, but not a ton of kick.
And that pork, tofu, and capsella soup stays insanely hot for the entire drive home. Yum. The mild to tame the heat.

Druthers Restaurant Week

December 18, 2012

beef, beverage, dessert, duck, fried, frugal, local, restaurant, salad, seafood, soup

1 Comment

Restaurant weeks in the Capitol Region can be disappointing. Generally, it’s 3 courses for a set price in the $20-30 range. Oftentimes, restaurants post menus they wouldn’t normally serve to meet a price-point, or just for the sake of participation. When I saw Druthers‘ menu for Saratoga Restaurant week, I thought “Hey, these guys are doing it right.” Their menu was 3 courses for $20, and all of the items on their menu seemed like plausible dishes to make their menu.

Danika of Garnish Marketing and her hubs, one of our other girlfriends, and Albany John joined me for dinner one night.

Albany John tried a Druthers Manhattan. Our waitress was friendly, although when she dropped it off she mentioned that while the cherries seemed ugly, they were the best cherries she’d ever had. Kind of an odd comment, but the cocktail was well balanced and enjoyable ($10).

I went for the lobster bisque for the appetizer. Huge bowl of lobster bisque, and an enjoyable toast to the roux base of the soup. I was quite surprised with this portion on a restaurant week menu. I hope they add it to their regular roster of soups, because this was great. Not only was the roux well-toasted, but the lobster and cream were well balanced with a sherry finish (I couldn’t pull a tarragon note, but sherry in lobster bisque = awesome) and this wasn’t over-the-top rich.

Albany John got the duck wings in Thai peanut basil sauce with a raspberry puree & basil. Holy moly, these need to go on the menu, like, NOW. The skins were crispy, and the peanut basil sauce didn’t sog it up one bit! The flavors all really worked well with duck meat. Oh man, I want a ton more of these! Again, there were a good four duck drumsticks on this plate – a crazy amount!

Danika went for the slivered beet salad, which was heavier on the arugula and dressing than beets.

Entrees are where Druthers slipped a bit. Their menu listed the cod as “pan-seared” with a smoked tomato puree, crispy pancetta, and cous cous and tarragon salad. , so we were surprised when they came out battered and fried. A few of us ordered the cod, and we were so confused, we wondered how we could all misread a menu.
We asked the waitress to double check for us, and she brought over a menu and made mention of how she hadn’t read the restaurant week menu and how this was how the cod was prepared all week. She even went to check with the chef, and came back to tell us that it turned out that this was a mistake in printing that no one had caught. She’d said the chef told her that pan searing cod was impossible since it would fall apart, and that this was the intended preparation. She was nice for checking, although her delivery was a little rough at times, asking if we were “going to eat it or not?” or if she’d have to take it back to the kitchen. She came back later, and was more apologetic and more insistent about taking things back to the kitchen. I’m not the most effective vocal communicator, so I can relate to not having a perfect response in awkward situations, but some of my other dining companions were wowed (and not in a good way) at first hearing “Well, are you going to eat this, or am I going to have to bring it back to the kitchen?” in a flat tone.
What was interesting what that this is how the cod had been prepared all week, and our table was the first to notice this (or at least, the first to bring it to the attention of the staff).

The fry job was a bit oily and greasy on the cod, so the thick batter wasn’t the most pleasant thing to eat; I picked all of the cod out of the batter. I didn’t see any pancetta on the plate. Maybe it was left off, or was another misprint. I think pan-seared would have been a much more enjoyable preparation method. Use Real Butter didn’t seem to have any issue with her cod falling apart when pan searing.

The Duo of Filet Mignons were prepared as the menu stated, however, both of the orders at our table were requested rare…

And came out closer to medium and fairly tough. Aww.

So, while the entrees were a bit of a low note, dessert ended on a high note. Chocolate mousse, peanut butter & chocolate layered cake, and a strawberry sorbet in the back. All of these were great. While I don’t normally order desserts in restaurants, I think I’d order them again at Druthers. I couldn’t even finish the peanut butter & chocolate layer cake – so rich! The vegan sorbet had tons of fresh strawberry flavor, and the mousse was dense at first, but finished lightly.

Our waitress came back during dessert to chat a bit more. There was something about her that I really liked, she seemed like a good person and a good fit for Druthers as a server. She thanked us for being a “cool” table and not freaking about about the entrees earlier because it was a mistake on their part, but was ultimately out of her control (a server can’t control how the kitchen decides to prepare dishes). I just wanted to hug her – you could tell she felt badly about the preparation/earlier interaction (probably more than she should have) – it’s tough being the middleman between diner and kitchen sometimes. I still also think that Druthers restaurant week menu was an example of a restaurant doing Restaurant Week the right way – having dishes that they might be testing out for their main menu, or seem like they’d fit in with their normal menu (i.e.: they didn’t break out raw oysters, prime rib, burritos, or other stuff that wouldn’t fit with their menu).

Taiwan Noodle – Winter Steamed Rice Dishes!

November 30, 2012

Chicken, Chinese, dumplings, frugal, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, soup, veggies

4 Comments

Met up with one of my good ol’ Albany friends, her son, and her beau, Farmer Jon, for dinner at Taiwan Noodle recently. ‘Scuse the yellow-y and/or out of focus pictures. My white balance was slacking during this meal, and I don’t get to see my girly all that often so I was more focused on her.

We chose Taiwan Noodle because it was a good middle meeting point for us, and because they have seriously cheap eats. And we like to eat. Scallion pancakes to start!

Ground pork noodle soup for my friend & her kiddo.

Stuffed pork steamed buns. I think we also got some Xiao Long Baos as well.

I can’t not order the pork foot noodle soup. Or some iteration of pork trotter when I’m at Taiwan Noodle. So tender! Farmer Jon said he’s seen where pigs walk, and he’d rather not nibble on that, tyvm. Lol, love that Farmer Jon.

Oh, more snacks! Spicy chicken wings. These had a good amount of kick but weren’t overwhelming. It was a dry-spice heat, not saucy. Reminded me of togarashi spice like you can put on Japanese ramen soups.

And some wood ear & celery in the background. Albany John can’t get enough of these. I think he orders these every time we go to Taiwan Noodle. He likes how soft and tender they make them.

I am bummed this came out so yellow & blurry! Okay, so Taiwan Noodle now has steamed rice in bamboo baskets for the winter months. They’re all $7.95, and they are GIGANTIC! Albany John got a pork & black bean steamer above. I don’t know why I was surprised by the size, since at $7.95 they are the most expensive dish on the menu, but seriously… it’s enormous. It’s an entire large bamboo steamer – like 9-10″ in diameter, and filled with rice and pork. They come with a dark soy sauce on the side.

Farmer Jon got chicken & lop cheong (chinese sausage). He wasn’t too crazy about the chicken having bones in it (it’s rustically chopped and hacked pieces of chicken on the bone), but thought the flavors weren’t too shabby at all.

One of the best things is that an extra lop cheong is just $1, so you can add it to any of the steamed rice dishes. Yeesssssss.

Ala Shanghai – Spring Love

April 15, 2012

local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup, veggies

2 Comments

Spring dinner at Ala Shanghai – they have some new specials on the menu. Beef ribs on the left, and soy beans with pickle on the right. They are both served cold. Lanny brought these out for me to try, and explained that cold beef ribs are how it’s served up in Shanghai. The coldness helps enhance a chewy texture, but they aren’t tough. Mmm, I do like chewy textures.
Pork with Tofu & Capsella soup ($7) to start. Albany John was like “What’s capsella?” And I was like, “A veggie,”. Handily, many ingredients are explained and defined (with pictures, even!) in the menu. Love Ala Shanghai’s soups – so clean & light and well flavored. Tender pork, minced cubes of tofu, and the capsella adds some nice vegetal flavor, but it’s nothing overwhelming. Kind of like spinach, really.
For dinner we split the steamed whole fish with hot peppers ($16). The peppers come in fresh & are dried in the restaurant for a few days before being used in the dish. Loved this dish – perfectly steamed, and lightly flavored with soy sauce. The chili peppers add some definite heat – Lanny warned us a bunch before ordering it that it was one of the spiciest dishes they serve, and when he saw Albany John chomping on peppers (coughing & breaking a sweat) he also mentioned that it wasn’t mandatory to eat… uh… all of the peppers on the plate. Goodness, that man loves his spicy food.

I ate the tail, hehe.
I thought of my Yeh-Yeh when I saw the winter melon with dried shrimp ($11) on the menu. It was so good! The winter melons were the star of the show, and there were so many dried shrimp! Mmm, so good.
Tail, you are mine!
Here, fishy fishy fishy!
And some medlar jelly for dessert. This worked wonders to cool down our mouths after the spicy steamed fish!

Capitol Region Mini Food Tour

April 12, 2012

beef, local, pasta, recommendations, restaurant, review, salad, sausage, soup

4 Comments

My Dad came up for a weekend, so he was taken on a food tour of the area. First stop was Selena’s Cafe in Troy for lunch. Albany John likes this place, and he’s only told me good things – it was definitely a place I’ll visit again. $6.99 for salad bar lunch buffet with soup/mac & cheese! $5.99 if you just want the salad bar.
And the salad bar comes with a bunch of fresh ingredients! We went for a late lunch and they were still replenishing the salad greens and items at the bar. Freshly roasted chicken, ham slices, chickpeas, tons of tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, olives… so many veggies! What a great value! Seriously, there is a ton of stuff on their salad bar – tis a great healthy alternative for lunch. There were a bunch of salad dressing offerings as well.

Their mac & cheese was awesome. So rich & creamy. They also had a pot of cream of mushroom soup for the soup of the day. I took a few spoonfuls – so rich and fresh! Equally delicious – I liked how fresh everything was.

We went to Taiwan Noodle for dinner. My dad really liked this place. They were slammed and were apologetic to my dad in Chinese since we came during a rush. Tea was really good (it’s served in large mugs) and we all LOVED the pigs feet appetizer for $4.95. My dad and I couldn’t get over what a great value this was. The feet were sliced and super soft – great tendon & collagen texture. Jiggly, soft, & supple. My dad was saying it’s a great bargain because trying to make this dish at home would be so much work for three people – long cooking times, and the mess to clean up afterward. This was a great portion for the three of us to share. Loved it. Get it. It’s not gross, it’s delicious.
Dad also liked that they served some baby bok choy with the pigs feet. And they’re cooked perfectly – cooked enough to be cooked through, but still have some crunch to the base. Mmmm! Perfect boy choy!

Sorry for the poor exposure – Boiled lettuce in oyster sauce (and some oil). I’m still not sold on this dish. My dad likes it and has made it at home before. Texturally it was alright – the lettuce was wilted but still crunchy. I’d rather have a greener veggie boiled like gai lan, but I guess this is legit Chinese home cooking.
Suppah time! Albany John got the Spicy Noodle with Meat ($4.75). Nicely chewy noodles! Albany John thought it wasn’t that spicy, but I thought it packed a goodly dose of heat. It’s either ground pork or beef (or both)- the menu doesn’t specify, even in Chinese, lol!
My dad got the three mushrooms soup ($5.95) – shiitake, enoki, and straw. Very clean soup. Noodles were also nice & chewy.

Spicy noodles came with a broth on the side. Albany John, heat lover that he is, requested more hot sauces. They gave him two – an oil based one (I think it had ma la peppers in it), and a chili paste. Boy was he red by the time he was done with his noodles!

I had the stewed beef chuck soup ($4.95). OMG, so tender, and even had bits of tendon attached to the beef. Generous portions of beef for a soup. And the broth! So flavorful and yet not greasy! I specifically ordered the chow fun noodles with my soup – these aren’t chow fun noodles, just flat rice noodles. They were nicely chewy, but next time I won’t specify the noodle and just have get those nicely bouncy & chewy long noodles that come with the soup by default. Again, perfect bok choy.

We left stuffed for $30 with tax and tip. How crazy is that for dinner for three people?! I left about 1/3 of my soup behind – couldn’t finish it, so much food! My dad wanted to go back the next day for dinner again. That good. We also hung around after dinner and chatted, and they didn’t even try to push us out (don’t worry, the rush was long over by then!) and kept asking us if we wanted more tea. So nice, I love that this space is being put to good use again!

We went to the Troy Farmers Market for brekkie the next day. Albany John got a tamale from Magdalena’s. He loves their hot sauce and while it had a good dose of heat, it was very flavorful, too.
Dad and I opted for Nighthawks Kitchen. You can see Christian Noe outside cooking while his family and friends take orders. They’ve got a neat setup for how to get orders to him – you should check it out – very ingenious and a good use of space.

I opted for a ham biscuit ($2.50). It’s deliciously smoky ham on a sweet potato biscuit. The biscuit was a bit falling apart, but surprisingly (very) tender and fluffy. Noe, I want this recipe!
Dad opted for an egg sandwich with sausage. I may have been a source of influence on the sausage.

Dinner was DeFazio’ for pizza. We got there when they were busy and ordered the Fra Diavolo pizza – nicely spicy and I could only manage two slices! Woah mama! We also got sides of sausage & meatballs. So good and meaty. Garlic bread was tasty, although there was an ant crawling around the outside of the basket. It took somewhere around a half hour for everything to come out, which seemed a bit on the long side. We also got sun dried tomato pesto, which was very creamy. The noodles were great – nicely al dente yet tender, and if they weren’t homemade I want to know where I can buy them.

Petta’s

April 3, 2012

beef, bread, Italian, local, restaurant, review, salad, soup, veal

7 Comments

I’m trying to search out more restaurants in Schenectady, so Albany John and I went dinner at Petta’s in Schenectady with Phairhead & Sexy Beast. Yay date night!
Don’t even ask me how many slices of bread I had. Ok, I had 6. Tasty stuff. The service was great – our waiter was friendly and knew his stuff. The decor itself is 50s recreation room. Kitchy.
Dinners come with salad or soup. I got the chicken soup to start, which was a bit heavy on the grease. Probably wouldn’t get it again.
Albany John went with a salad, which had comically large slices of celery, but was overall a nice starter salad because everything else was bite-sized.
For dinner I ordered the veal cutlet sorrentino. Great fry-job on the eggplant. The bottom was veal cutlet, and the top were thin eggplant slices. I wasn’t so crazy about the sauce – it was a little sharp for me and had some metallic finish going on. I got a side of linguine – s’okay.

Albany John got veal oreganata with a ton of sliced mushrooms. Loved those mushrooms. It was okay, too.
Sexy Beast got the prime rib – this was the SMALL 12 oz steak. GET THE STEAKS, GET THE STEAKS, GET THE STEAKS. This was perfectly cooked (med rare as requested) and so deliciously savory. Soft & buttery. The au jus was perfect – incredibly savory – not at all watery or weak. This was a beefy dish in every sense of the word. Phairhead and I stole Sexy Beast’s cast off fat bits (who throws those away?!)
Phairhead got the lasagna – I’m glad I didn’t. Fennel all up in that sausage! But good for a fennel lover.

I’m probably going to pass on the pasta dishes at Petta’s the next time I go, but I am ALL OVER that steak section!

—Albany Eats!

Documenting the foodings of a local. With a grain of salt.

Archive

soup

Yeh Yeh’s Funeral (The Way He’d Want It – Lots of Food)

Sam Won Gak

Snacks at Ala Shanghai

Sushi Tei

Ala Shanghai to go

Druthers Restaurant Week

Taiwan Noodle – Winter Steamed Rice Dishes!

Ala Shanghai – Spring Love

Capitol Region Mini Food Tour

Petta’s

Follow “Albany Eats!”