Tea Time

After our filling meal at Yeti, I thought it might do us some good to walk a bit and look for a little something sweet. There's not much in the way of bakeries on the way down to the 40th St. stop, except La Vienesa Colombian Bakery, but I didn't want to relive my Buen Sabor experience, so I'll go there when I'm good and hungry. We almost gave up, David and I, but on the corner of 40th and QB there is a place called RA, and I have been curious about it since I made my initial exploratory trip. What could it be? It calls itself a cafe and lounge. Could it be a hookah place? Could I be lucky enough to have an Egyptian cafe on the trail? We decided to walk in. It is not an Egyptian place, and we were sort of confused as to what it was as we sat down on one of the couches. It is definitely less of a cafe and more of a bar. There was a couple sitting at the bar with drinks, and another couple sitting at one of the tall tables in the middle, picking at a plate of fries. The place was dark, the back half was very lounge-y with banquettes, and the music was fairly loud. The bartender came out and handed us menus, and I have not seen such an eclectic menu in quite some time. There were all sorts of items, from turkey burgers stuffed with apples to a falafel platter to their signature dessert: a chocolate mousse pyramid filled with molten caramel. For $7 an order, I wasn't able to solve the mystery of how one might fill something cold such as mousse with something hot such as molten caramel, since I had $5 cash and that was all I was willing to spend after dinner. But there was something so earnest about the place, and it didn't feel right to walk out, so I went up to the bar and ordered two teas. The bartender repeated the order, as if she didn't quite hear right, and perhaps that is the strangest thing possible to order in a place like that, but a few minutes later, a very nice runner came out with two plates that looked like this, and please forgive the picture, which was taken on my phone:It was quite the setup for a cup of tea, and we were both surprised and pleased. Our own pitcher of milk! Plus a rocher! The little things in life. Can a small chocolate and hazelnut candy make someone happy? The answer to that is a resounding yes. We finished our tea and chocolate, and when I walked up to the bar to pay, asked the manager/owner looking guy how long they've been open. Just a month, he said. I need to take a walk past the place on a Friday or Saturday night and see what really goes on. I'm not sure who their ideal clientele are, but whoever they may be, I hope they show up.

Ra Cafe and Lounge
3917 Queens Boulevard
Sunnyside

Yeti of Hieizan Japanese and Nepalese Cuisine

What to say about dinner tonight? David and I met in Elmhurst and walked all the way down to Sunnyside in the snow, and the wind, stopping for a pair of socks for my cold and sockless brother along the way. I was excited. I've never had food from Nepal, or been to a Japanese-Nepalese restaurant in Queens, or a place called Yeti, so it was a first on all levels. As soon as we opened the door, it was another world. Warm, wood paneled, with intimate booths decorated in a strange (or not so strange, considering the name) mix of woven mats from Nepal and Japanese prints on the wall. I had done all kinds of research this morning, looking for advice, dishes, posting on chowhound with little luck, except a warning to stay away from the sushi. Easy enough, the Japanese half of the menu was not what I was looking for. So armed with a few names of dishes that I looked up online, I began to order. First off, samaya bajee, an appetizer sampler, listed on the menu as choila, bhutun, bhatmas, chiura and achar. We didn't know what to expect, but it came out in a bento box looking like this:

Here is the wikipedia definition of choila:
Choila is a typical Newari dish that consists of grilled water buffalo. It is considered a necessary part of the diet among the Newari people along with several other ingredients.
That isn't very helpful, is it? We did not get water buffalo, but we did have beef, cold chunks of it, marinated and spiced with red chili.
Chiura, as far as I can tell, is beaten rice, or rice flakes, "a dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes". They are meant to be mixed into things, like the following dishes.
Bhatmas according to Yeti are stir fried dried soybeans/peanuts
They were definitely soybeans, toasted and crunchy, stir fried with a little oil, hot green chilies, garlic, and onions. It was addictive and would make a great bar snack.
Bhutun, say Yeti, are sauteed stomake, intestine, liver, with garlic, onion and nepali herbs. Of which animal? I would have to say mutton. Apparently, 2 of the 3 Markel children like to eat stomake (I'll have to ask my older brother how he feels about it). The pieces of various innards were chewy and crunchy, especially with the beaten rice mixed in.
Achar I'd had before, it was the one familiar thing on the plate, a nice pickle.

Next up, a Nepali Thali. Our guide for the night, our very pleasant waiter, advised us to get a thali if we wanted something authentic. He recommended the beef thali, but then he recommended beef for everything. The man really likes beef. So we got mutton for a little variety.
A pile of rice, potato and string bean curry, sauteed mustard spinach, dal, the mutton, more pickle, and rice pudding. All for $11.95. I particularly liked the spicy greens, David enjoyed the potatoes,and we both were surprised by the very gingery dal, after having been warned that Nepali dal is sometimes lacking in flavor.

A close up of the mutton
The mutton did have a lamb-y taste, but not quite as strong as we were expecting. Lots of bones. We both agreed that we liked it, but the sauce was very rich (butter, I presume), and as it grew colder, got thicker and even richer.
Pickle close up.

We wanted to try all sorts of different things, so we kept ordering.
Out came the soup:
Also endorsed by our waiter friend, who told us that their soups were special since the noodles were all handmade, was the thinduk. We couldn't resist ordering a large bowl full. The noodles were flat and wide, and had a nice texture to them. There were slices of radish, chopped scallions, and more of the greens, plus bits of mutton floating throughout in a mild broth that smelled just like brisket cooking on Passover (and David backed me up on that one).

Lastly, the momo. By the time these came out, the manager had dimmed the lights so much that I couldn't get a good shot. We got the mixed order, although if it were up to our waiter they would have been all beef. He really likes beef. He told us. There were veg, pork, chicken, and of course beef. There was some confusion as to which was which, but with so many sauces to dip them into, it didn't really matter.
David and I were both so happy to be eating something that was slightly familiar but at the same time completely new. With each dish brought to the table, we looked at each other, smiling but hesitant. We had nothing to compare it to, but it was fun. Should we like it, did we like it? The only way to answer that is to embark on a food tour of Nepal. Or maybe Jackson Heights.

Yeti of Hieizan
43-16 Queens Blvd
Sunnyside

Samosas in Sunnyside

It was with some hesitation that I decided to tackle the next restaurant of the route. Sonali Cuisine seemed perfect: it's on 44th street and Queens Blvd, it adds some variety by not being Turkish or Korean, and I'm always in the mood for Indian food, or Bengali as the case may be. Plus there's a huge poster on the window with a glowing review from the Village Voice. Sounds great. However, when I began my customary research on the place, I came across some horrible, really bad reviews. My favorite one ended: "Someone else please go there just to CONFIRM the SUCKINESS" (yelp Oct09). Well, if you put it that way...
There were complaints about the emptiness, the microwaving of the food, the small portions. Chowhounders weren't too into it, only one person on Yelp said it was worth going to, but Robert Sietsema made it sound so irresistible. I can't let a good review or a bad one shake me, though. It's about the route and the experience, and a bad restaurant will only make for a good story, right? Right?
So with slight trepidation José and I went there for dinner on Friday night.
It was empty, aside from a man with his computer and a cup of tea who alternated between nodding off in his chair and checking his email. But it was only 5 pm (earlybirds that we are), and there did seem to be a pretty brisk delivery business. I knew that I wanted the butter chicken, after having read in the VV that it was "unspeakably rich" and made with "gobs of butter". Otherwise, we would leave it up to the staff. Whatever they might recommend, we would get. That was the plan and we stuck with it.

The waitress was very nice, I'm not saying she wasn't, but here were our recs:


Samosas, 1 meat, 1 veg.


I liked the chunkiness of the potatoes, and the green sauce was good. And I do love a good samosa. But there were all kinds of other things on the menu that would have been more exciting. I guess we look boring. I'm ok with that, but I think I need a new tactic.


Butter Chicken. I got it, it was definitely butter-y.

Vindaloo. Her rec for José. I guess she could see in his eyes that he wanted something spicy, because she said the vindaloo was hot, and had chunks of potatoes. He nodded his head and made it so. It wasn't very spicy at all, but it had a touch of heat, thankfully (if it had been for me, who knows?). It was well seasoned, the potatoes were cooked nicely, and the chicken was pretty moist.
The rice was definitely basmati, contrary to one reviewer that said it was just long grain rice.
It was perfectly good, plain rice.

Garlic Naan. Chewy, crispy, fresh. I watched through the tiny window into the kitchen as disembodied hands (it was a very small window) stretched out naan dough, so I knew it was house made. The waitress recommended the garlic bread because "it has a smell to it" and I know she meant that in the best possible way.
The meal was not terrible, and that was a huge relief. Yes, they used the microwave to heat our tea, the samosas, and maybe even the rice. But they do that at half of the snack places in Jackson Heights. And it was pretty empty. And I've had bigger portions at other places. But it was fun. We enjoyed watching the man in the corner fall asleep on his laptop, the staff was very helpful and friendly, although they might want to keep in mind that there are some slightly more adventurous eaters out there in the world, we had a nice dinner, and the bill was around $25. Maybe it's better to go in with lowered expectations, or maybe I'm not being picky enough, but I can not confirm the suckiness.

Sonali Cuisine
44-13 Queens Blvd
Sunnyside

First Colombian Bakery on the Trail

Let me preface this by saying that there are many Colombian bakeries to be found on this quest, and I am not going to visit all of them, as I really don't need that much bread or cake in my life. I had to start somewhere though, so we tried El Buen Sabor on 46th St, for a little something sweet after lunch. My first thought when I walked in, however, and saw table after table full of contented eaters, slurping their lentil soup and enjoying their rice and beans and platanos and beautiful, crispy chicharron, was to curse the tofu stew in my belly. All I had room for was a piece of flan and perhaps a cup of tea. Why oh why can't I have an extra stomach rumbling around somewhere for days like this? But alas, I have only one, so I had to settle on a small dessert and something to snack on for later. It really was quite busy, and I stuck to the first display case, while longingly eyeing the steam table towards the back. So flan, a coffee, a tea, and a little pastry; guava and cream cheese looked good. The flan had the perfect texture. It was smooth and creamy, not unlike the soft tofu that I had eaten for lunch. It was not too eggy, and not curdled, which has been the downfall of many a flan. The flavor, however, was difficult to discern, because my tea had been prepared with a few too many sugars, so my sweet taste buds were done for.


The pastry, which I toasted up and ate this morning for breakfast, (with some unsweetened tea), was crispy and sweet, oozing with the warm guava paste and melty cream cheese. I guess the only benefit of being too full is the leftovers.
But I dreamed of chicharron last night.

El Buen Sabor
4507 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside

I Like Soft Tofu and Korean Pop Music

Korean lunch today. José and I took the train down to Sunnyside this morning, headed into Natural Tofu around 1 PM, and the place was doing a pretty good lunch service. At least half of the tables were consistently full in the front area, and there were even a couple full tables in the back. I had been reading about sundubu jjigae all morning, and was getting hungrier by the minute, so I ordered right away: Kimchi Soft Tofu with beef, ($7.95).
José decided on the L.A. Galbi, (because everyone knows that Mexicans love Korean short ribs) and the Vietnamese noodles (because he loves Pho). Britney Spears was wafting out of the speakers. There was a pause, a new song came out, and it sounded exactly the same; same beat, same auto-tune, except the language switched from English to Korean, and that somehow made it better.
First out, salads:

Who doesn't like free kimchi?

And then came the Tofu:


Let me just tell you that there's nothing like a bubbling, spicy pot of soft tofu and kimchi stew on a cold day, except that it really wasn't all that cold out. I also love cracking eggs into bubbling things, as you can see here:


The Kalbi:

Not the best I've ever had, "so-so" to quote my husband, but it's always nice to have a sizzling pile of meat and onions on the table. I am eager to try them at some of the Korean BBQ places on the route.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle: Rice noodle, Bean Sprout, Cilantro, Meat Ball, Lemon, Mexican Pepper $7.00
Do you see how big that bowl is?



It was an enjoyable lunch, we left stuffed, and aside from the ribs ($13) which we shouldn't have ordered since we were so full of soup anyway, very reasonable.

Natural Tofu
4006 Queens Blvd
Sunnyside

Coatzingo

A few blocks and neighborhoods were skipped for tonight's dinner, a delivery.

We don't go out for Mexican all that much. I'm married to a Mexican, so when we want good Mexican food, we cook. And when we're lucky, and my grandmother-in-law is here visiting, we eat really, really good Mexican food. We do, however, eat a fair amount of street food here in Queens; tacos, elotes, esquites and such. But José is very picky about where we get it from. More about that when I hit some taco trucks.

When we do get Mexican, it's almost always a delivery, and we usually order from two places, which are both, coincidentally, called Tulcingo. Not to be confused with all of the other Tulcingos out there, and there are many. We order from the Tulcingo on 82nd street (4011 82nd Street), occasionally, and more often from Taqueria Tulcingo on 83rd street (4010 83rd St). Whatever the specials of the day are, that's what we get. Over the past few years, the meals have ranged from absolutely delicious to just good. It seems to depend on who's in the kitchen that night. Any sort of meat, when stewed with chipotle with chunks of potatoes, is a winner. I've had some great albondigas, costillas en salsa verde, and tortitas de pollo as well.

So tonight, Mexican delivery, but for the sake of this blog, we ordered from Taqueria Coatzingo, a Chowhound favorite, and a place to cross off of my list. Coatzingo is all over the boards, the specials are highly recommended, and I've been reading about it for ages but we, for some reason or other, never ate there.
When asked about their specials, the cashier rapidly listed at least ten different options. As soon as she said albondigas I stopped paying attention. I love meatballs of any sort. And then I perked up again when I heard huazontles (if you want to know what they are, click here) and ordered those too. Two dinners? Why not. With so many choices José was at a loss. When asked which special was her favorite, the woman on the phone did not hesitate in endorsing chuletas en salsa verde con verdolagas. With that sort of recommendation you don't even have a choice, do you? The food came fairly quickly, and a free 2 liter Coke as a bonus. Something was a little off, though. The bill was almost $40 for just 3 entrees and José looked a little shocked. Now that may not be shocking to most of you, and it certainly wouldn't be for us eating out in Manhattan, but when we normally order, the specials are below or around 10 bucks, and here they were $12.50. Is it because Coatzingo has more of a non-Mexican clientele than the other neighborhood places? I will find out in the future as I make my way through the other places on Roosevelt, once I actually get to one for real.
But, back to the food: it was more expensive but was it better?


Albondigas (meatballs): the chipotle sauce was done well, spicy but not overpowering, some nice slices of onions throughout, and four large meatballs. They had the right taste, slightly minty, well seasoned and flavorful. Many Mexican cooks either put rice or stuff their albondigas with hard boiled eggs, but these had neither. I asked José what he thought. He concurred that while he liked the flavor, there was some texture missing.


Huazontles: Delicious. Stuffed with cheese, battered and fried, then smothered in a spicy tomato sauce and topped with cream. Huazontles do, as the gourmet sleuth said, have the look of broccoli and taste sort of like spinach. There were all sorts of textures and flavors to the dish: the creaminess of the cheese with the spiciness of the jalapeños in the sauce, the fresh green taste of the huazontle, and the crispy then soft batter. Really good, but I couldn't finish it. Lunch tomorrow.


Chuletas (pork chops): José definitely enjoyed them. The meat was soft, not dry like pork chops can sometimes get. The green sauce was thin and spicy, full of verdolagas, (purslane) which gave it a slightly bitter note, in a good way. It had a complex flavor, and I kept grabbing forkfuls of the sauce, even though I had my hands busy with my two dinners.


The rice and bean container: Lost points for being half the size of the take-out rice and beans that we usually get, but gained points for having a chunk of queso fresco and a spoonful of guacamole.

All in all it was a good meal. Definitely high quality, fresh, and authentic (as authentic as it can get in NY) Mexican cooking. But I have had meals just as good at our usual places, and for slightly cheaper prices. So. I have lots of Mexican restaurants ahead of me. Will I find the perfect place? What does that even really mean? I'm not sure, but it will be fun finding out.

Taqueria Coatzingo
76-05 Roosevelt Avenue
Jackson Heights

V & V. Just like Temple Beth-El.

While I am trying to eat at the restaurants in order, the problem is that on the 40-or-so-block walk home from Sunnyside, I always want to stop somewhere along the way, and I usually do. After Turkish Grill, David and I passed the very old fashioned V & V Italian Bakery and just had to go in. It's a tiny storefront under the 61st Ave Station, full of baked goods. They have challah and Irish soda bread, loaves and rolls of all kinds. But it was the display case full of cookies that really caught my eye. Temple cookies! We were in heaven. For all of you non-Jews out there, after services on Friday night and Saturday mornings, there is usually a kiddush, someone says a blessing over the wine and some challah, and there are trays of snacks to nosh on. Some temples are fancier than others, and the selection may change, but there are always (at least in my experience) assorted cookies that look just like this:

The counter-girl was incredibly nice as I ordered one of these and one of those, and how about that one, make that two of those. When I asked her how long the bakery has been around, the older woman next to her said, with a slight roll of her eyes and a smile "oh, more than 40 years!".

I always get too excited when I see this kind of cookie assortment. It isn't that they are the most delicious cookies in the world. It's just that I can recall biting into the sprinkled end of a raspberry-filled cookie and being filled with an overwhelming feeling of happiness. Everything made sense and life was good. Ok, maybe they are the most delicious cookies in the world.


V & V Italian Bakery
6119 Roosevelt Ave
Woodside