UFC Chicken (Unidentified Flying Chicken) Revisited

How disappointing! The quality of food went way down, just like the size of their chicken wings! Yes...they are now the tiniest wings you will come across and the flavors are not as sharp as they used to be. Currently, the chicken looks like half the size that it used to be and tastes watered down. It was just a year ago that I gave UFC Chicken in Jackson Heights, Queens raving reviews. What happened!? Bring back the finger-licking goodness that is used to be!

The favorite appetizer at Thanksgiving dinner

The Sriracha-and-Wasabi Deviled Eggs were the hit at Thanksgiving dinner this year. This simple to make, delicious recipe came from the Thanksgiving issue of Food & Wine Magazine (November 2010 issue). This recipe puts an “Asian” spin on the traditional deviled eggs with Asian spices such as “Five Spice Powder” and Sriracha hot sauce.

Recipe from foodandwine.com:

TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN Plus 4 hr marinating SERVINGS: 12
Ingredient:

1 dozen large eggs
2 cups soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
10 star anise pods
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup coarsely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Sriracha
2 1/4 teaspoons wasabi paste
1/4 cup snipped chives
Pinch of Chinese five-spice powder

Directions
1) In a large saucepan, cover the eggs with cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Cover the saucepan, remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the soy sauce with the sake, star anise, chopped scallions, sugar and grated ginger. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl and let cool completely.
3) Drain the water from the large saucepan and shake the pan gently to crack the eggs. Cool the eggs slightly under cold running water, then peel them under running water. Add the eggs to the soy mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the eggs for at least 4 hours.
4) Drain the eggs and rinse lightly to remove any bits of scallion or ginger; pat dry. Using a slightly moistened thin, sharp knife, cut the eggs in half lengthwise. Gently pry the egg yolks into a medium bowl and mash with a fork. Stir the mayonnaise, Sriracha, wasabi and 3 tablespoons of the snipped chives into the mashed yolks. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a star or plain tip. Set the egg whites on a serving platter and pipe in the filling. Sprinkle the deviled eggs with the remaining 1 tablespoon of chives and the Chinese five-spice powder and serve. - The marinade made the eggs really salty already, so we sprinkled some brown sugar on top instead of the five spice powder. The brown sugar was a great substitute because it brings out a sweetness among the salty and spicy.

Wondering where you get these Asian Spices? There are many markets in the NYC area where you get them all:
-Hong Kong Supermarkets (various locations in Manhattan and Queens)
-Great Wall Supermarkets (Locations in Elmhurst, Flushing, and more)
Google these markets to find your nearest location.

The BEST cake ever!

Lady M’s crepe cakes are by far the best cakes we’ve ever tasted! The many thin layers of crepes with cream spread in between each crepe slice is just heavenly. If you are looking for a unique cake with an out of this world taste – buy one a cake at Lady M’s. The one risky factor with Lady M’s cakes is that can’t stop eating them!...they are that good!

http://www.ladymconfections.com/

SushiSamba

We’ve been to this restaurant several times now – for happy hours, for dinners, for restaurant week – all just a mediocre experience. The drinks at this place never disappointed, but the food was another story.

This last time we visited this restaurant, we had:

The Pacific Roll: Pacific king crab, avocado, asian pear, soy paper, wasabi-avocado crema
This roll costs $16.00, but it was flavorless and it might as well be a $3.00 California roll. The Asian pear in the roll was more like tiny apple match sticks. This was a very forgettable roll. Not worth the money!

The El Topo™ Roll: salmon, jalapeño, shiso leaf, fresh melted mozzarella, crispy onion This roll costs $13.50 and its trademarked! We ordered it to see why its trademarked. It’s not actually a roll, its actually in rectangular pieces (rice on the bottom with the fish and sauce on top). Again, not worth the money. There was nothing uniqe about it. We guessed that was trademarked because of the shape?

Eal Avocado Roll: This was actually the surprise item of the night. This standard roll was actually our favorite (and costs only $6). The eel was very flavorful and cooked to perfection.

The next time I come here, it would just be for the drinks! The Caipirinha hits the spot.

www.sushisamba.com

Total Yummy Points: 6/10

Essex House Restaurant

Essex House Restaurant is a place to come to back over and over again. This restaurant has been on our favorites list for many reasons. It has something to offer whatever the occasion is:

Weekend Brunch: nice menu selection. Almost all the items are $20, which comes with includes 3 bloody marys, screwdrivers or mimosas. The waiters are very generous with the drinks. You'll inevitably have more than 3 drinks. The menu changes from time to time, but we've liked all the dishes we've had so far (and that's a lot of them!)

Happy Hours: The sangrias are our favorites! Try the red pitcher. Happy hour is 6-9 Sunday - Thursday. The drinks are half price during Essex House's happy hour and there are $1 Oysters all night. The Oysters were not really worth it, they are really tiny. We always come for the drinks and the nice atmosphere. The place plays great music, but not so loud that you can't chat with friends or have to scream on the top your lungs.

Dinners: We love the regular menu items for dinner. The two items pictured here are the filet mignon with sweet potato fries, mixed greens & shallot red wine reduction ($25) and firecracker bbq short rib with cheese grits, collard greens & jalapeño hush puppies ($22). Both dishes were delicious! The filet mignon melts in your mouth and the short ribs come right off the bone. On certain nights, there are also dinner specials. For example, Wednesday nights is their Lobster Special - where you get a whole lobster with several sides for only $18. This is not worth it. When we tried it, the lobster was not fresh and it seemed like it has been cooked and left out for hours before it was served. We always enjoyed the regular menu items, but the lobster dinner special was a huge disappointment.

We would always come back here for the drinks, for brunch and for their regular dinner items! Go check out Essex House Restaurant!

http://www.essexnyc.com/index.html

120 Essex Street (@ Rivington Street) New York, NY 10002

Total Yummy Points: 8.5/10

Olivia Tapas

A group of friends and I went out for Tapas recently at Olivia Bar and Restaurant. We tried almost EVERY SINGLE item on their tapas menu. The verdict (from all of us) - "bland and nothing special." The only items we liked were the cheeses they recommended and the warm bread that it came with . The only other memorable item we ate were the dates wrapped in bacon. Literally, it was just dates wrapped in bacon...nothing more (you can do this yourself without the high price tag). However, we did liked the contrasting taste of the sweet dates and the slightly salty bacon.
Don't let the pictures fool you, they look tasty..but really, its just bland.























If you want to check it out:
161 East Houston Street, New York NY, 10002

Total Yummy Points: 4/10

Pinang Malaysian Thai Restaurant

We recently had dinner at Pinang Malaysian Thai in Forest Hills, NY. We read reviews by other diners on websites such as Yelp and decided to try this out. Many Yelpers raved about the rotti, some even said it was "the best they've ever had." So, that's was the first thing we ordered....2 of them! The waiter told us 1 rotti appetizer was not enough got 2 people. I thought that was strange, but we listened to his advice and ordered 2.Here was the rotti. One was enough! It's no larger or smaller than roti you order anywhere else and its NOT the best we've had. It's not bad, nor good -- really nothing special.

Our entrees were nothing special either. I am not sure all the praise this place gets on reviews sites are well deserved. We ordered the pineapple chicken and sizzling beef entrees -- there was absolutely nothing to rave about. The food was average. It was not what I expected at all from all the reviews. I wouldn't come here again.

If you want to check it out for yourself, here is the address:
111-10 Queens Blvd Forest Hills, NY 11375

Total Yummy Points: 4.5/10

Unidentified Flying Chicken (UFC) in Jackson Heights, NY - Best Korean Chicken Joint!

We recently tried out Unidentified Flying Chicken (UFC) in Jackson Heights, NY. The menu is mostly...CHICKEN as you would expect from the name. We actually thought the name of this place was weird, but the FOOD was definitely not! We were pleasantly surprised at how great the food was! It’s a small eatery nestled on a busy street, so it can be easily overlooked. The upstairs just have a few tables and just for take-out orders. However, if you do downstairs, it has cozy table settings for full service dinner.

We ordered the large chicken wings (in BBQ mustard – this was a little spicy & soy garlic) – both tasted awesome! There are 4 flavors to choose from, we plan to go back to try the other two. The chicken wings were fried to perfection – no grease dripping off, just light and crunchy. The chicken was perfectly seasoned with the sauces, so each bite was just so yummy! The chicken wings came with two sides, we picked the cold slaw and the radish – both were great.

We also ordered sweet potato fries – this actually really impressed us! The fries were very fresh, not the frozen kind you get at most places. They were peeled, cut, and fried on the spot! I’ve never tasted better sweet potato fries before! A+ for the fries and chicken!

We will be back! Go try it out for yourself! Here is a link to their website (its still under construction, but you can see the menu). http://ufchicken.com/

Total Yummy Points: 10!!!!!!! Hands down!

Mario Batali’s Esca Restaurant

We went to ESCA during restaurant week. Mario Batali is a great chef, so we figured the food at his restaurant must be delicious! However, just one word sums up our experience….disappointing!

Let’s get right to the food:

Appetizer

: Calamari – grilled squid with hot pepper, lemon and parsley.This dish was not spectacular; it was neither good nor bad. The most potent flavor in this whole dish was the lemon. I am not sure if that’s what I want in my Calamari.

Entrée: At first, I ordered the Scallops with Cauliflower, after a few bites, I could not eat it anymore. When the dish first arrived, it looked burnt (see picture) – but I thought it must taste better than it looks. No it didn’t! It was extremely salty and the scallops were so overcooked (hence the burnt look) that it tasted rubbery. I chucked down 4 glasses of water while attempting to eat this dish. I gave up after 3 bites. The waiter was extremely nice; he asked if he can bring me something else instead. We chose the Bass. Again, not much flavor aside from the lemon and lime juice. Also a grilled dish (like the calamari and the scallops). We gave up after this…just waited for dessert.

Dessert: Pannacotta – roasted vanilla pannacotta with summer fruit. This was the one dish that we actually liked. We devoured every last bit of the pannacotta. It was creamy and the sauces it came with complimented it very well. Overall, we were very satisfied with the service and the dessert, but that’s no reason to come back again. Mario Batali – we love you, but will not be returning.

Total Yummy Points: 5

Foodie Book Pick: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

I give this book, by Jennifer 8 Lee two thumbs way up!

I devoured this book from font to back. Lee traveled the world to give you an insight into the Chinese-American food world. Ever wonder where General Tso’s Chicken really came from? Do you know what’s in your Chop Suey? How about the famed FORTUNE COOKIES—where did they come from? How did it get started? Lee addresses all these questions, while also answering the question – Which restaurant is the greatest Chinese restaurant in the world?

Grab a copy of this book before you crack open your next fortune cookie!

Street Food from Taiwan

We recently came back from Taiwan and tried many of the local cuisine. By local cuisine…we mean STREET FOOD! Street food or what locals call “xiao chi” is in abundance! We saw (and tried) everything from snake soup to exotic fruits.

Here’s a few of our favorites:

[Picture 1] BBQ squid; [Picture 2] We've only seen these fruits in Taiwan. Not sure what the red apple looking fruits on the left are called. The green fruits on the right are called "Shi Jia" or pineapple sugar apples. Both are delicious!; [Picture 3] Fresh muscles cooked in basil and chili peppers.

[Picture 4] "Steal" Eggs (small and tasty); [Picture 5] Grilled snails! We did not try this...; [Picture 6] Interesting dessert, it was a flour tortilla wrapped with parseley, peanut crumbs and icecream.

Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes

My latest Rachel Ray magazine came in the mail recently and we tried out some recipes. Since its the fall season, this pumpkin cheesecake cupcake recipe caught my eye. Here is the recipe right from the Rachel Ray website.

Ingredients:
One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs, plus 5 large egg whites
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light brown sugar
Simmering water
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces and chilled

Directions:
1) Place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking liners. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar for 3 minutes. Beat in 1 egg white and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

2) In a bowl, whisk the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, 2 eggs, granulated sugar, oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture.
3) Layer each muffin cup with some of the pumpkin batter, then the cream cheese mixture, then more of the batter. Bake until springy to the touch, 25 minutes. Let cool.

4) Using the electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, remaining 4 egg whites and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fill a medium saucepan with enough simmering water to reach a depth of 1 inch; place the mixing bowl on top. Whisk the mixture until it registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer.

5) Transfer the bowl back to the mixer and beat at high speed until fluffy; lower the speed and beat to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at high speed for 5 minutes. Beat in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

6) Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag; pipe large rosettes on top of the cupcakes.

THE VERDICT:
The cupcakes itself tasted great, but the frosting was a waste of money and time. Also, there was way too much frosting for 12 cupcakes. I ended up throwing away the frosting and enjoying the cupcakes by themselves. I would make this again minus the frosting. The recipe was easy to make and takes very little time.

Backyard Cooking Classes at 24 Prince with Top Chef's Nikki Cascone

We recently attended Chef Nikki Cascone’s, former Top Chef Cheftestant, backyard cooking class. It was an amazing experience! The class was at her restaurant, 24 Prince. We’ve learned some cool tricks and tips, plus enjoyed a 3 course meal while learning her secrets.

Chef Nikki Cascone is one of the nicest ladies you’ll ever meet. She is very friendly and thorough in explaining the ingredients, the food, cooking methods, and more. She was very approachable and even dished out some Top Chef behind-the-scenes secrets to us. She made the entire experience very enjoyable. Here’s what we learned to make:

Watermelon Salad
















This was a very unique salad with a mix of fresh greens and fruit. Ricotta Salata is now our new favorite cheese!

Seared Jumbo Shrimp


















Butter squash Pound Cake with Homemade Whip cream


















You’ll have to attend the class to get the recipes…I can guarantee you that each dish is simply delicious!

Each cooking class is $35 per person + tax and gratuity and can be reserved by contacting Emily@24prince.com or (212) 226-8624. Just on a side note: you are not actually cooking with the chef; you are actually sitting and watching Nikki cook and explain the dishes. She provides the recipes at the table and you take notes as she is cooking.

One if by land, Two if by Sea Restaurant

We went to One if by land, Two if by Sea during New York restaurant week (they are actually offering this until Labor Day), so it was a three course pre-fixe dinner for $35. It was an elegant setting and the staff was very nice. The appetizers were good, not great, but the entrée and desserts were superb…cooked to perfection. It was well worth the money.

Here’s what we ordered (from the restaurant week menu):
Appetizers
Tomato Gazpacho (Soup)
Crab, avocado, lemon basil oil
Although, in many Tomato Gazpacho recipes paprika is added, we did not expect this soup to be as spicy as it was. The spiciness really took away from the other flavors of the soup. We liked the small chunks of crab meat in soup though. Overall, it was decent, not great.

Mushroom Tart
Wild mushroom, baby zucchini, amaranth, salsa verde
We would not order this again. It was extremely salty. The mushroom was minced very finely and placed on top of a small piece of pastry. The zucchini was on the side. We tasted nothing but loads of salt on this! Stay away from it.

Entrée
Grilled Bavette Steak
Pearl onions, confit tomato, roasted radish
Three of us were at dinner; we each ordered our steaks to be cooked differently. However, when it came, the redness was the same all around. We were going to send it back until we took a bit to try it first. It was tender and flavorful! Maybe I do like my steak medium-rare…I never knew that! The steak was already nicely sliced and ready to eat. Would come back just for this!

Desserts
We ordered one of each from the restaurant week menu. We loved all three, but the cheesecake was the favorite among the group.
Nutella Cake
Olive oil semifreddo, popcorn ice cream, chocolate coated popcorn

Blueberry Composition
Rosemary gel, yuzu curd, blueberry tapioca, blueberry sorbet and rosemary chip
This was our least favorite because the smell and taste of rosemary was very strong (may not be a bad thing if you love rosemary!).

Mascarpone Cheesecake
Black currant foam, black currant streusel, pineapple
Very soft cheesecake, unlike regular cheesecake where there’s a stiffer consistency. Overall, yummy!

This restaurant is gorgeous, the waiters were nice (they even gave us a complimentary soup), but if it wasn’t for restaurant week, we might not come back again. The regular menu is extremely expensive (you can spend upwards of $250+ for 2 people). The other downside was that the portions are relatively small. We’ll go back again for next year’s restaurant week!

Address: 17 Barrow St, New York, NY 10014 (Btwn 7th Ave S & W 4th St)
www.oneifbyland.com

Total Yummy Points: 8
(Lost some points with the appetizers!)

Ashiya 2: All you can eat sushi and sake for $30, worth it?

We have mixed feelings about this place. We’ll just lay out the good, bad, and ugly for you. Let’s start with something nice to say:

THE GOOD:
You cannot beat the price. All you can eat sushi for just $25 and with an additional $5 you get unlimited beer and sake. We highly recommend the Ashiya and Dragon rolls. The food was some of the best we’ve had at any sushi buffet. If you are looking for decent sushi at a reasonable price and don’t mind the crowd, this would be a safe bet.

THE BAD:
We had made reservations for a large birthday dinner here. We called a week in advance, gave them all the information they needed including our credit card number to hold the reservation. The morning of the dinner, we called again to ask if it was okay to bring a birthday cake to eat there. Turns out it was okay to bring a cake, but they have NO RECORDS of our reservation! They also said they didn’t have a table to accommodate for a large group that night either! After much negotiating and talking to several people, magically, a table became available.

THE UGLY:
You are given a two-hour limit on your sushi buffet, but after you put in your first order, expect to wait at least 40 minutes to get your first sushi rolls to your table. We had some late comers to dinner, but their two-hour limit started when ours started. So in actuality, some people had about 1 hour. You may be tempted to order A LOT of food in your first order since its take so long to come, but be WARNED, if you don’t finish it all, they charge you extra (depending on how much is left). They tried to sneak some rolls to our table that we did not order and after we sent it back, all those same rolls still came back at our table. They sneaked a roll here and there to the plates of sushi that we did order.

Don’t expect a nice, quiet dinner here with friends either. It’s an extremely rowdy crowd. There were people playing “sake bombs” all night. This game involves loud banging on the tables (and yes, you’ll hear plates and chopsticks come crashing down once in a while).

Double check your bill when it comes. Some of us did not order the sake, but was charged. They did take it off after we complained.

To sum it up -- food is decent, price is great, and service is so-so (if not poor)!

Address:
167 1st AveNew York, NY 10003-0309(212) 505-3348
http://www.ashiya2.com/

Total Yummy Points: 6.5

I’m wild for WILD GINGER!

We recently tried out Wild Ginger because we bought a $25 certificate from http://www.restaurant.com/ for $2! We were able to use the $25 certificate with ease and our total bill came out to only $45 (tax and tip included). The setting was serene, Asian influenced, and the lighting was a little dim. Perfect for a date!

Here’s what we ordered:
Appetizers
Wild Ginger Lobster Roll: It was made with fried Panko (Japanese bread crumb) rolled with lobster salad and brunoise (avocado and tomato inside served with spicy mayo and eel sauce). We LOVE LOVE LOVED this roll! The mix of flavors is the best I’ve had in a sushi roll. The taste is very original, nothing can quite compare to it. I would come back just for this roll! It was a little sweet, with a fiery hint and the lobster was delicious. The panko made it a little crunchy too. The texture and the flavors were simply amazing!

Thai Crab Cakes: This was a little disappointing. The crab cakes were heavily fried and somewhat tasteless. We couldn’t taste the crab in it, it could have been shrimp! The flavor and texture reminded me of the spring rolls you get free with your Chinese take out.

Entrées
Wok Glazed Ginger: Caramelized red onion, shiitake mushroom, and pork.
Mild Mango Sauce: Crisp vermicelli on the bottom, fresh mango slices, and beef.

Both dishes were served on a miniature wok and the portions were very decent. Both were cooked very well and were delicious! The mango dish was a little spicy, which we loved!

All the dishes we had here (appetizers and entrees) came with or cooked with sauces that we haven’t tasted anywhere else – what’s the secret? I’d like to know! The waiters were friendly and service was fast too! We highly recommend Wild Ginger!

Total Yummy Points: 9

Location:
226 E 51st StreetNew York, NY 10022

They also have a location in Long Island, here is the website for it:
http://wildginger.kpsearch.com/df/default.asp

Food and Drinks from Majestic Colonial Hotel Beach Resort in Punta Cana, DR

We recently came back from an awesome trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We stayed at the beautiful, all-inclusive Majestic Colonial. If you haven’t been -- its time to go! Let's get right to the food and drinks! Pictures are worth a million words, see below. These photos are from all their restaurants, which included:

• Buffet Supreme Restaurant


• la Hispaniola Restaurant


• Matsuri Restaurant


• Rodeo Grill Steak House Restaurant


• Taíno Resturant


• Restaurant Tres Carabelas ***our top pick!


• La Bodeguita del Majestic


• Restaurant Le Gourmet

Leave us a message if you’d like details on a specific restaurant!