The Strand Smokehouse

The other day we checked out The Strand, a local BBQ joint with smokehouse meat. It's in a really cool factory-looking setting, replete with floor to ceiling windows and overhead fans.

It was pretty packed when we got in - apparently this is a really hip place with lots of lively vibe. The large communal tables make for easy mingling, and there's even a stage for a live (banjo) band. It kinda reminds me of a rustic school cafeteria from the mid-west, where there are the "cool kids" table and the "nerds" table. Except at this place, you can basically eat whatever you want, and get your own water (or drinks) on the sidebar.

The drinks section was pretty neat - you can get fresh lemon water in mason jars. The drinks come in big pitchers that remind you of a neighborhood backyard party.

 

Basically there are only a couple of items on the menu, including pulled pork, BBQ ribs, brisket, smoked salmon, chicken, turkey breast, beef cheeks, etc. There also a couple of sides that you can also order, like biscuits, corn bread, corn salsa, and mac n cheese. Meat is by the pound, so you can order however much you like.

We got the short ribs and turkey, with sides of coleslaw, mac n cheese and corn bread. I liked the way they presented the food on a sheet of paper. It reminds of those eclectic Western smokehouses that's meant to look rustic, but in a refined way.

The ribs were really authentic tasting, like the original version of what BBQ ribs was meant to be. They don't marinate it beforehand (or at least not that much), so you can actually taste the meat. For flavor kicks, they provide extra BBQ sauce or mustard at the side, so you can add whatever you want. Only downside was the meat was a little too fatty.

The turkey was pretty lean, and well smoked at the sides. It was a bit too dry, but well seasoned. Our sides tasted probably better than the actual meat. The coleslaw was creamy and crunchy; the mac n cheese was the cheesiest we've ever tasted, and the corn bread actually tasted like corn (though it too was a bit too try).

I think the food was leaning towards the dry side, but hey, it's a Western cookout, what do you expect?

All and all, a neat neighborhood joint. Prices are not that steep - meat is about $7/portion, and sides are $3/portion. Probably better to come with friends because you can share the sides while enjoying the music and atmosphere.


***.* (3.5/5)
 $$

The Strand Smokehouse
25-27 Broadway
Astoria, NY 11106

Kids-friendly
(Good for parties)

Boston Market Lunchtime

Today a couple friends and I went out for lunch at Boston Market.

I've actually never tried it before, and I was looking forward to trying their rotisserie chicken. (We were originally headed for Ruby Tuesday's, but due to my curiosity for this chicken joint I basically stopped the car, for better or for worse =).

My friends wanted to try the ribs, and I the chicken. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the ribs as well. So we ordered a family meal for 3 (even though there were 4 of us) with ribs and chicken. The meal comes with three sides and portions of corn bread.

I was amused to see bottles of Sriracha sauce lying around the counter. Guess they're really getting culturally diverse now with the condiments.

The BBQ ribs were pretty good - really tender and well marinated. It was fall-off-the-ribs too, and the meat doesn't get sickening like some other brands. The chicken, not so much a hit, but that's perhaps I'm a bit biased (negatively) towards chicken. My friend says it tastes better with gravy.

Our side dishes consisted of mashed potatoes, loaded potatoes, creamy spinach, steamed veggies and some stuffing. My favorite was the stuffing, because it tasted like a salty version of bread budding, except with a healthy dose of rosemary and small bits of carrots and celery. 

The stuffing was a hit and miss with my friends - they seemed to either like it or hate it (one was okay with it). The steamed veggies were a bit too tough, and the creamy spinach was leaning towards the overly-cheesy side. The mashed potatoes were right on, probably the best amongst the sides. Actually they were quite nice because they let us split one bowl of sides, so technically you could sample 6 sides (in smaller bowls).

The best part of this experience was the service. They were expedient and helpful, delivering our dishes to our table, even though we could have carried it ourselves. They seemed to really care about serving their customers, something not usually seen in the city. The servers also seemed to know everyone in the restaurant.

The loaded mashed potatoes were pretty tasty, with bits of bacon and cheddar cheese drizzled over it. This was a bit heavy at the end when none of us could touch anything anymore.

In the end we wiped clean the ribs. We probably should have ordered more ribs because there weren't that much to begin with in the first place. The chicken we had trouble finishing, because only one of us liked the texture, and she was already stuffed.

The tab came to about $38, and that's for 4 people, mind you. I was thinking at the end whether we should have gone to Ruby's instead, but given how this was a pretty decent American fare and a good time with friends, I happily settled with it.



$
*** (3/5 for food, 5/5 for service)

Boston Market

Coffee Time in Korea

You know, everyday around this time (3pm) I think about my lovely coffee break in Korea. It was this April that I visited the Land of the Morning Calm (Korea, that is), and I was fortunate enough to catch the bloom of the cherry blossoms.

Our hotel in Daegu was located on top of hill that had an amazing view of the man-made lake and surrounding park. It was gorgeous to see the pink cherry blossoms in full bloom throughout the entire area.

There's a lovely little walkway leading up to the hotel, where you can take a stroll down into the heart of the town.

I love how the cherry blossoms fly down and swirl around, just like in the movies.

That lovely afternoon, my friends and I went to Angel-in-us-Coffee, a Korean version of Starbucks. The name is a Christian allusion implying that coffee is a gift from the heavens. So true.

They have some really Asian treats like this thick maple caramel toast with a generous heap of whipped cream and chocolate drizzles all over. Not to mention a handful of chocolate sprinkles on top. They also have Belgian waffles (a la mode if you prefer), neatly cut up sandwiches, and all types of coffee.

The toast is actually cut up into 9 different pieces for people to share. The thickness is about 3 times the size of normal toast, and about 3 times softer. The bread is chewy, and because it's been cut into pieces, the chocolate drizzles soaks into the bread, making it taste like bread pudding. 맛있어 보여요 (delicious)!

I also tried a cup of their signature maple macchiato in a signature cup. It was so homey, with a sweet and foamy touch. Plus a drizzle of maple syrup to top it all off. We happily chatted while we gulped down our coffees and toast, which was basically what everyone in the shop (mostly middle-aged women with their toddlers) was doing. 

예뻐요 (So pretty)!

After our delightful coffee and treat, we walked around the lake down a lane of beautiful cherry blossoms. And found these - fried silkworms.

Beondegi - fried silkworms

Apparently this is like a street snack that people just munch on when they are hungry. Albeit they're full of protein - crunchy on the outside, errr...tender on the inside? I don't really know, nor do I ever want to find out. (A friend said that it's kinda sour and chewy...ewww.) I still have visions of them crawling around, and getting stuck in my teeth if I ever had the guts to eat one. (But the sauce it comes with is kinda tempting - ketchup or kimchee flavored maybe?)

So I decided to go home to a hot steaming cup of...spicy Korean ramen! What could be more suitable to end a lovely day in Korea?

한국, 나사랑해! (Korea, I love you!)

Happy Ice Cream Day!

Happy Ice Cream Day!

You know, summer is a great time for snacking. Because of heat, you don't really feel like eating a lot of food during meals, but rather, snack now and then when you're about to melt.

Yogurt is a great filler-upper for an instant boost of energy. I love fruit yogurt, especially passionfruit yogurt.

It's an awesome swirl of passionfruit jam and greek yogurt. Sweet and with a sour tang, it definitely gives you a kick that you need to powerstart your day or recharge during your day.

And of course, you need the cute little spoon to make it taste better.

Office ladies, this is something you can't do without. Cookie Rolls - Love of Office Lady. Crunchy on the outside, nutty on the inside.

Of course, you need to have some ice cream to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. How about some lovely sesame ice cream? This is not that sweet, but a rich and almost nutty tasting ice cream to satisfy your ice cream cravings.

After having a healthy dose of sugar, you'll want to cool off with a nice cucumber. This one was planted from my friend's backyard using organic compost. If I weren't crazy about ice cream, I'd say it tastes better than the ice cream itself!

For dinner time, if you happen to swing by Chinatown, make sure you grab some bubble tea and some oily Chinese pretzels.

As for dinner? Try some avocado face mask. After some ice cream of course =)

Mexicana Revisited - El Grill Restaurant

The other day we craved for some Mexican, so we walked to the beloved El Grill Restaurant near our old place. It's the best one in the hood that's loaded with really, and I mean really authentic Mexican food. (It was also the first one I went to in terms of home-cooked Mexican cuisine).

Though it doesn't look like much of a restaurant from the outside, it's actually got a lot of variety of tacos and local dishes presented on the colorful menu from the outside. There's also neat little take-out window underneath the menu where you can grab and go.

We sat at one of the tables at the end of the joint, the one with a lovely Asian bamboo from a very Asian looking pot. I liked how this restaurant, like Los Amigos, looks like its ready for a fiesta at any moment.

Apparently the restaurant's name in Spanish means Sports Restaurant. No wonder they blasted sports news all the time on their mega-tron (it was a really huge panel-to-panel TV).

The waitress who was also one of the chefs seemed pretty busy taking everyone's order. They didn't seem to have enough hands to tend to the actual patrons of the restaurant, which was fine because we were looking forward to munch on the chips anyways.

Except the chips never really came. Instead, I had to go to the counter to get it myself. The waitress had apparently forgotten about us, so when I went up she told me to grab the chips myself. Only problem was that I couldn't because it was behind a glass counter, so they brought it to us after a while.

I love their chips because it's bake in-house. Really fresh and just the right degree of crunchiness. Also the salsa is not that spicy or soggy, which makes a nice pairing with the chips. We also got some Mexican coke (made with cane sugar instead of sucrose) and mango Boing! to sip along with our salsa. I really liked my boing pop because it was just the right amount of refreshing sweetness to munch on with the chips.

My shrimp dish finally arrived 20 minutes after munching on these delicious chips. I took my first bite on a red hot pepper. True me, it was literally red, a pepper and was quite hot. I thought it was a normal pepper at first, and it tasted like such a specimen of green pepper because it was tender like one. But it packed a lot of heat towards the seedy part, and that was when I started panting for water.

Camarones Ala Veracrusana

My shrimp dish looked like a jamalaya platter, with broiled skin-less shrimp embedded in a caramelized onions and red peppers in a rich bed of mystery sauce. The yellow rice was nice and soft with bits of peas tucked inside. The refried beans looked pretty fresh, unlike the recent one that I had at Los Amigos. I had to ask for a second helping of the tortilla chips to alleviate my burning tongue.

And apparently you're supposed to roll up the rice and beans with the tortillas they deposited in aluminum foil, but I didn't know that until Hubby taught me. It was like a Peking duck roll without the duck.

Carne Enchilada Tacos

Hubby's tacos looked equally fiesta-ish as mine. Especially the fried green cactus. I remember having this last time we were here, and it was both crunchy and tender at the same time. I took a bite of his steak taco - so juicy and flavorful. The cactus complemented that nicely.

I can't remember what the tab came to be, but it was very reasonable for the portion and quality of food. Though the service wasn't hot like their peppers, you have to come here for the food, amigo.

**** (4/5)

$

El Grill Restaurant

3011 30th Ave

Astoria, NY 11102

Better than Porsena Homemade Pasta

After visiting Porsena, I decided to cook up my own pasta, at least to see how it'll measure up against the gourmet pasta.

I started with some good ole' sea salt and a pot of water. Sea salt is great for boiling pasta because it's stronger tasting than normal salt, and gives the pasta more chew. Unfortunately, while getting out my pasta pot I chipped a piece of glass from the plant sitting by the kitchen counter, and kind of caused a mini-accident in the kitchen. But I was not going to be stopped by chipped glass.

I have a thin for spaghetti and angel hair. We always use Barilla thin spaghetti for saucy pastas, because the taste is always al dente no matter how much you boil it.

When the water is boiled, simply drop it into the pot. It's great tasting no matter how much salt you put in, but generally speaking a dash is enough.

I always have trouble measuring exactly how much pasta I need. I tend to cook too much of pasta every time I make it, so this time I decided not to drop in the entire box (there wasn't much left anyway).

After the pasta is boiled, drain it and rinse with cold water. This will help retain the color and texture in the cooking process that ensue.

For this sauce, I decided to go with some regular pasta sauce, some Chinese noodle sauce and the juice from the Japanese pickles I had. Yes, I know that sounds absolutely, horribly disgusting. But trust me, it works (especially the pickle juice!).

So first, fry up some onion pieces into an oiled or buttered pan, until the onion is caramelized. I would have added some garlic except it was kind of rotten after being left on the counter for half a year.

Then drop in the pasta and dump in some of lovely red sauce.

For those of you not familiar with my cooking style, this is Italian cooking done up in a Chinese style, which means 1. Not following instructions, and 2. Measuring things by eyes only.

Then I put in about two tablespoons of the Chinese noodle sauce, and gave that blob a good mix. Oh yes, let's not forget the pickle juice. About now is a great time to drop in that magical pickle juice. Oh yea.

Look at that beautiful tangle of sauce + noodles + onions. Trust me, it tastes just like it looks (I hope that looks delicious to you  =).

 

On that particular day, I decided to go all out. Since we're having pasta anyway, why not cook some pollock?

I searched for some pollock recipes, but found none that caught my eye. So I decided to experiment a little (I know, that's usually a hit-or-miss when I experiment with things).

I thawed the pollock and heated a pan with a bit of butter. Then dropped in some soy sauce and a dash of sugar.

Basically, I pan-fried the pollock without marinating it first. But I put in some hot sauce with the soy sauce to spice things up.

It sizzled a lot when it was being fried, which didn't sound all that great and actually didn't look that hot either.

Nonetheless, I decided to carry out an entire experiment (at all costs).

I had some cucumbers and chayote (below) lying around, so I decided to use it all up before they mold in the fridge. For some reason, things in my fridge tend to mold pretty easily. Probably bad air circulation.

So I chopped the cucumbers into half rounds and the chayote into thin strips. Then pan-fried it with a dash of vinegar and some stir-fry sauce.

Here's that handy stir-fry sauce that we always have in the fridge (courtesy of House of Tsang, which has great sauces for any occasion).

The end result?

The pasta tasted absolutely, positive delicious. And Hubby agrees too. That's something he doesn't agree with, so to get his approval was pretty satisfying. We literally slurped every last noodle off the plate.

The fish was surprisingly tasty. By panfrying it in butter and soy sauce the pollock naturally soaked up all the flavor, making it delightfully salty (in a good way).

The cucumber and chayote combination was a crunchy, sour veggie retreat. Hubby didn't really like it all that much, but I thought it was pretty refreshing.

So would Porsena offer me a gig cooking up my Chinese pasta? Probably shouldn't quit my day job with just that prospect.