Red Mango

In the season when everyone screams for ice cream, it is particularly important to make sure you stay hydrated - and under your calorie count. 

So, an excellent alternative to ice cream is frozen yogurt joints like Red Mango that are propping up all over the city.

Their slogan - rethink yogurt - is appropriately named, and their justifier - not all yogurts are created equal - is quite fitting for their yogurt.

I was a little confused as to where to start, because the menu didn't have any selections other than broad categories like smoothie or shakes. Then I turned my head around the corner and saw the self-serve station.

It was like a yogurt buffet with ten different flavors to choose from, like pina colada to peach to pineapple. I grabbed their smallest cup size because I knew I would go overboard otherwise.

I got a thick serving of lemon, peach and pineapple. The lemon and peach were white, and the pineapple was yellow.

Then you head over to the serving station and get some toppings. Everything is priced by weight, so if you're not looking to break the bank go low on the toppings.

I got the basic toppings of mango, granola and some blueberries. All of them were pretty healthy in my opinion, in keeping with the frozen yogurt tradition of slimness (versus traditional high-calorie ice cream).

And man was it good! I really enjoyed the creamy, acidically sweet taste of pineapple, which kind of overpowered the mild lemony scent. While the taste of the peach was somewhere in the middle, I really enjoyed its aromatic scent which reminded me of peach cobblers in Georgia.

The mango topping the best amongst all of them. It was sweetly soft and melted into the rest of the flavors. The blueberries tasted pretty fresh and healthy, and provided a nice contrast against the yogurt icebergs. The granolas was unfortunately my least favorite, as it was too nutty and crunchy in a weird kind of way that didn't go well against the yogurt.

I sat down on one of their bar stool tops and watched other people pick out their ice cream - I mean yogurt - while slowly enjoying mine. The cashier was having a hard time explaining to a customer that yes, all of their ice cream is fat-free, calorie-free, antibiotics-free, ice cream-free....

It was a great way to enjoy the hot afternoon, and just as their cup slogan chants - treat yourself well.


Red Mango

$$ (for ice cream/yogurt standards it's average, but compared to grocery store ice cream, it's pretty expensive)
**** (4/5 - how can I give anything lower than a 4 to ice cream?)
Kids-friendly

Brookside Diner

Last week Hubby finally went to the dentist to get his root canal, the result of 10 years of not going to the dentist (kids, don't try this at home).

It just so happened that during the root canal, the dentist dropped everything and said, "Sir, it looks like your teeth is rotten from the core. We need to pull it out."

So the root canal turned into a tooth pulling session, as my hubby painfully described. Blood was gushing out so much that he had to change a gauze every 15 minutes. The doctor also prescribed antibiotics and painkillers (which his coworker suggested auctioning it off on eBay) to sooth the gaping hole in his mouth. He even had to take half the day off because it was too painful to think.

Anyway, it also just happened that day that we planned to visit my dad's in NJ to pick up the wedding presents that we had left at the venue.

On the way over, hubby was complaining about his throbbing toothache. Although I felt pretty bad, there was nothing I could do for him. I myself was in a state of coughing/wheezing/sneezing with a cold from wedding exhaustion.

When we finally got there, my dad took us out to a diner for dinner. Normally, I would have been pretty excited, but this time, I was like uhhh but neither of us can eat anything. I was however quite tempted by a little baby playing with a thick sugary toast.

Since none of us felt like eating anything - despite the friendly waitress' suggestions - we started off with some soup - hubby and I got the chicken matzo ball soup, and my dad the split pea soup (as per the waitress's advice).

I had always wondered what was a matzo ball, and finally got a chance to find out this time. I was a bit disappointed because it just tasted like soft dough. The soup was kind of lackluster too, tasting a lot like chicken broth.

But my dad's split pea soup was out of this world! It was so creamy and seasoned to a mild perfection, bringing out the authenticity of the split peas with a lentil-y kind of texture.

My Dad didn't want any meat, so I ordered for him a cannelloni parmiagiana. I had to google it first before ordering it because I wanted to make sure I was getting the right thing as I thought I was getting, which is a noodle envelop with cheese and blanketed by more cheese.

Cannelloni Parmiagiana

Indeed, I did get the thing I thought I was ordering. I liked the simple presentation of it, and it reminded of Christmas with the pasta sauce at the bottom and the green flakes of parsley sprinkled on top.

The taste though was less festive. It was kind of plain with the ricotta cheese. I don't really like the taste of ricotta because it's got this texture that I'm naturally averted to. Can't really describe it. It was quite cheesy however, which my dad really liked. I think next time I should get him a veggie lasagna or an eggplant parmigiana.

Hubby, in all his toothache pain, ordered some pancakes with sausage. I wondered out loud whether he'd be able to eat it, considering his dentist's advice of eating liquids like soups and congee. But he said no problem, probably because he loves pancakes so much.

He finished two, and I helped him finish the rest. It was for the most part pretty good, but the syrup was cheap sugary liquid that made it taste kind of artificial. Also, the pancake mix was a little too doughy for my liking, not like the fluffy kind where you don't have the doughy texture lingering in your mouth. In retrospect, I should have ordered a serving of thick toast for myself.

Surprisingly, my fav part of his dish was the sausage, because it was crisp and tender, fried to an oily finish.

I also helped Dad finish some of his pasta. It was pretty good at the end if you scraped off the sauce with some of the bread. Btw, the bread is a little iffy, because towards the end I was chewing it, and I could scrap off the grossy layer of egg paste at the bottom. It actually tasted like plastic, and if you tried ripping that layer, you would find an impossible task in your hands.

I would have loved some dessert, like their luscious cannoli looking pastry or a slice of their red velvet cake, which was only $2.50. But I figured it would melt by the time we got home, so opted against it.

By the time we left the diner was filled up with family patrons who were probably regulars. This little girl from one lady hopped onto the table next to us with two grandparents and their daughter (who ordered a large plate of beef steak with gravy, a sandwich and some chicken). That was pretty cute I guess, and shows just how family-ish this community it.

A lovely diner, with hit-or-miss food (always listen to the waitress!). But I'd be back just cuz of the atmosphere.


Brookside Diner
$$
*** (3/5)
Kids-friendly

Fresco Tortilla

After a crazy wedding day, we spent another long day unpacking all our presents - yes, I got 2 big mouth juice extractors (exact same one!), one slow cooker, an ice cream/sorbet machine, one waffle maker and a frap maker...enough to start my own coffee shop.

Needless to say, we were both pretty beat to cook. So we headed to the taco truck outside our house, but unfortunately it wasn't there yet.

So we went to Fresco Taco, a ridiculous cheap Chinese-run tex-mex joint. All the tacos and burritos are below $2.50. It's even featured in the New York Times because of how cheap and filling it is. Even the most expensive entree cost $5.39, which includes a side of beans and rice, and a pop. 

It's a small hole-in-the-wall with about 10 seats. There's one Chinese lady at the counter taking orders from walk-in customers and delivery. She goes at a super fast speed writing down orders, and must have asked for our order at least twice in the 5 min we were reading the menu.

There were two Chinese workers and some Mexican ones working in the open kitchen. One was at the grilling station grilling large mounts of meat, and another was busy filling up the tortillas. Apparently they purchased their own tortilla pressing machine similar to a panini machine.

They are pretty efficient as our order came just 5 min after we ordered. They were also preparing a lot of meat for the rest of orders for delivery. Most of the people coming in seemed to be regulars, ordering by the number on the menu.

Hubby got a meat and a green pepper tortilla, while I got a beans and cheese one. It was pretty good for the most part, I really liked the mildness of the beans which had the consistency of red beans. I couldn't really taste the cheese because it was also really mild.

It comes with a side of salsa, which is pretty spicy. Next time I would love to try to the jack cheese quasadilla, and their guacamole tostada.

Although it was pretty good, you're getting your money's worth in that it just doesn't taste that fresh. A kind of artificial taste lingers in your mouth after eating half of it. But still, wouldn't complain because of the price.



Fresco Tortilla
$
*** (3/5)
Kids-not-friendly (good for take-out or delivery)

Toloache

After our rehearsal dinner (still wedding week), we went to Toloache, a posh Mexican restaurant located in the heart of theater district.

Originally I wanted to go to Pomaire, a Chilean restaurant in the similar area, but it somehow didn't let me book a party in advance, so I yelped away and found this.

It looked pretty nice online and in the review pictures.

It was pretty busy when we got in around 7, so we had to wait a bit outside until we were seated upstairs. I loved this authentically Mexican ceramic moral of a lady in traditional garbs. This definitely grabs your attention as you head upstairs.

It wasn't as big as I had imagined, but at least there was space for a table of 10. Everyone was seated and water was served. Since it was a large group, we had to wait for a long time before everyone perused the menu to order (plus translating Mexican dishes into Chinese isn't an easy task).

The menu was seemingly standard with the usual Mexican dishes like tacos, quesadillas, salsa. But what was unique is their stand-alone entrees that fuse together Mexican and Asian cuisin, like their Adobo marinated japanese eggplants (which made my Mom think this was a Japanese restaurant).  

 I almost jumped when I saw their Oaxacan-style dried grasshoppers on the menu.

Some waiter came by our table and told us the special of the day. I couldn't really catch a single phrase he said because of the noise level and his thick accent. I think it was something like fish with pinenuts or something.

Also, when we told our drinks waitress that we were all dry, she seemed stunned and became wide-eyed. Really, is that that shocking to have non-alcoholic guests?

For starters, we got some chips and guacamole. The waiter told us to order a couple of these, because their portions apparently were small. But they cost $15 per guacamole! So we got the traditional mild guacamole with avocado, tomato, onion and cilantro, and the frutas medium with pomegranate, vidalia onion, mango, peach, apple and Thai basil.

The waiter was not kidding when he said these are small portions. Normally, chips this size are on the house. But not these ones apparently.

We had to wait a ridiculously long time for these. During that time, I tried to carry some conversations but to no avail, because my stomach was rumbling and it was too loud.

Finally, it came. Our end of the table (the unmarried end) got the traditional guacamole, which was really fresh and chunky. It was gone pretty quickly.

The other side (moms and dads) were almost afraid to try theirs. My Dad refused profusely until I insisted. I didn't get a chance to try their pomegranate dip, but I'm sure it was pretty good.

 Quasadilla de Camaron

I ordered a Quasadilla de Camaron with shrimp, chili del arbor salsa, onions, and pineapples. It's like a Hawaiian-Mexican style pizza. It tasted a bit sour, probably because of the pineapples and the salsa.

I was amazed by the simpleness of this dish - basically it was ingredients scattered on what appeared to be a thin layer of tortilla bread. All this for $13? Not worth it. (Plus I came two pieces away to my Mom and hubby's Mom.)

 Berenjena Adobada

My maid of honor, being vegetarian, got the Berenjena Adobada, which is the Adobo marinated Japanese eggplant, lentils, sweet plantain, and achiote-habernero salsa. I tasted a bite of her eggplant, which was pretty juicy and marinated.

Carnitas de Lechon

Hubby got this Carnitas de Lechon, which is brick oven-roasted shredded suckling pig, habanero-sour orange salsa, cactus avocado and chicharron salad. Obviously I have no idea what half those ingredients are, but it looked pretty juicy.

Hubby's Mom got some tacos because she's all about portion control (especially because when we got our orders it was already 8pm).

Pescado Sarandeado

My dad got the wild striped bass with cauliflower puree, Brussels sprouts salad and chile pasilla de Oaxaca salsa.

This was the special of the day that hubby's best man got, which does look like sea bass with pine nuts or lily bulbs. It was again, a ridiculously small plate but looks very exquisite.

I have no idea what this dish (above) is, but it looks like fish.

Our photographer got a load of shredded meat.

And our officiant got this meaty dish, probably the Rib Eye with grilled rib eye, fried Brussel spourts, queso fresco, picked red onion salad, salsa trio, chile de arbol and panco chimichurri. Again, no idea.

Being a Chinese party, no one ordered dessert, although I was still largely starving from my "dinner" and wanted ice cream. But alas, it was too late and we had to get a good night's rest for our big day the following day.


Three major complaints about this restaurant:

1. Noise level way too high - can't hear the person across from you
2. Portions waaaay too small for the price point
3. There's only one bathroom!

All and all, horrible restaurant if you're expecting something excellent, like for a rehearsal dinner. Verdict: please go to your corner Mexican joint if you're looking for something authentic, or if you're actually hungry.


Toloache
$$$
** (2/5 - I know, the lowest rating I've given any restaurant thus far)
Kids-friendly (with reservations only)

Best Ever Chinese Dumplings

Before picking up the wedding dresses, we made a short stop in Chinatown last last Thursday to grab some lunch. It was at a place called Lan Zhou Noodles. Lan zhou is a province in China that's renowned for its  - not surprisingly - hand-pulled noodles.

It was a hole-in-the-wall diner with two tables facing the window to people watch, and some benches along the wall for quick dine-ins. We grabbed two stools facing the tiled wall.

Since hubby is a huge fan of potstickers, we ordered a plate of those. It's only $2 for eight of these babies, which could fully be my lunch and then some. For a dozen, it's $3.


They came so promptly that I didn't even have time to watch the chef make the handpulled noodles by rounding out the dough and pounding it out on the board. I wanted to take a picture of him, but hubby stopped me =( out of embarrassment (hey I need to learn!).

The dumplings were also all handmade by another worker. You can see all of them make it outside the kitchen. They were pork and chive dumplings - actually, let me rephrase that - they were the BEST dumplings I've ever had. Yes, this includes years of mom-and-dad dumpling making sundays with the best ingredients and hand-grown chives.

At first bite, you wonder whether you've hit dumpling euphoria, because the outside skin is fried to a perfect crisp, and the inside tastes like a xiao long bao with the juices rolling into your mouth. Then you're filled with a mouthful of chewy and tender pork and chives. I know, even for me, an ethic Chinese-Muslim (gasp! betcha didn't know that) who is not supposed to eat pork, loved this dish.

The noodles came like 2 min after we started digging in. We ordered the beef tendon hand-pulled noodles that came with floating pieces of bak choy.

The noodles were a delight - very al dente and chewy, giving your mouth a good exercise. The broth is rich and doesn't taste pull of msg like most of the other dishes in Chinatown. The bak choy is a good balance between the mildly salty broth and the chewy noodles, adding a bit of colour and nutrition to the dish.

The only thing I didn't like is the tenders (unfortunately). They were a little too tough for my liking. I would have rather preferred sometime more melt-in-your mouth.

Another side dish I liked is the salted pickled veggies at the side, which was at once refreshing and added some flavor to the noodles. I can't comment on the sanitary-ness of them because it seems like its home-made and put into a plastic container with a common-usage spoon, but I really liked its marinated taste.

While we were eating, hubby pointed out to something that struck us both as odd. On the glass door leading to the sidewalk, there was a sign plastered in red that said "glass". Well, I suppose it's to help people not bump into it if the glass is too shiny, but c'mon, it's inside a doorframe for goodness sakes.

Oh yes, and the best part about this meal? It's only $7. Ridiculously cheap, right?

If you happen to fall in love with the dumplings like I did, you can also opt to purchase a bag of 50 frozen ones for $8.50.


Lan Zhou Noodles

$ (should be half a $ actually)
**** (4/5)
Kids-friendly (at least not during peak hours)

Taverna Kyclades

Thursday of wedding week I went to dine with my in-laws at Taverna Kyclades, the popular Greek restaurant in my hood.

The lineup wasn't that bad when we got in around 6.30, which subdued hubby's mom concern about the wait. We were seated inside in a table of four, although I really wanted to be outside to get some fresh air.

The menu is pretty standard with the usual Greek fare. But what is unique is their seafood, in particular their market fish. I've walked past this place many a time, and have always seen giant platters of fish flanked by sides of beets, rosemary potatoes, garlic bread, rice...

Here's a (sideway) look at their seafood menu. I was pretty tempted by the scallops, but it was kind of pricy. The stuffed fillet also looks very tempting, but unfortunately I wasn't really hungry that day to become even more stuffed. So I settled on the obvious choice - the grilled baby shark.

Hubby's dad is a carnivore, and loves his meat. He ordered some pork chops. Mom is more of a regimented dietician, so she opted for the grilled whiting. But unfortunately they ran out (at 6.30?) of the whiting, so she went for the shark. Seeing this, I changed my entree to the quail.

I really wanted to order an appetizer of pan-fried Greek cheese, but judging from the portion size I knew we'd be way too stuffed. Oh well, maybe next time.

Our garlic bread came in prompt time as we were waiting. The golden loaves came drizzled with a thick layer of olive oil and pesto. It looked really tempting, but I resisted from grabbing the whole loaf in the spirit of family sharing.

This bread is amazing. I would come here for the bread alone. The crust gives you a bit of a bite and chew, but then you're rewarded by a complex flavor of soft starchy bread inside, which is even better when you dip it in olive oil.

Hubby's mom told us not to eat too much of it lest we lose our appetites for our entrees, which looking around we could only guess how stuffed we would be.

So I killed some time by looking around the decor inside the restaurant, like this painting of a dock. Everything about it is evolved around the sea and fishing it seems.

And although I haven't been to the similar Greek restaurant across the street, I can already tell by the Zagat reviews why this is the go-to place for authentic Greek cuisine. The reviews lauded the chef for his authenticity and ingenuity, while remaining true to the freshest ingredients.

Our dishes came about 15 min later. Hubby was quite happy with his stuffed fillet with crabmeat. I really liked the presentation, because it looks rustic and hot off the grill. I tried a bit of it, and it was just as I expected - full of chunky meaty goodness.

Stuffed fillet with crabmeat

Of course, my quail was more elegant. It came in three pieces, charcoal grilled and all (wings included!). I gave one to hubby's mom, who traded it for five pieces of baby shark, and one to hubby's dad. I actually had trouble finishing mine because the ashy charcoal was a little too pungent, and it was hard to get the meat off the tiny bones.

BBQ Quail

Hubby's dad's pork chops also looked pretty appetizing, even I who don't eat pork wanted to try some.

The entrees are all accompanied by a generous side. I ordered the rice, hubby and his dad ordered hortas which is a Greek green, and hubby's mom got the beets.

Wow this rice was the most tender, creamy, well-seasoned rice I have ever tasted. It was so smooth and tender that I could just eat this for my dinner. Everyone loved the rice. (And the carrots made it look healthy too!)

The hortas was kind of bitter and tasted like mush. It was almost as if someone collected leaves and steamed them. Although I didn't enjoy this dish, I tried to eat as much of it as I could to appear like I'm a healthy eater.

I really liked the sliced beets. Beets are naturally sweet in its own right, but I think they probably marinated it a bit in sugar because this was extra sweet.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the baby shark, which turned out to be my fav dish. It was surprisingly tender and chewy, contrary to my vision of a rubbery meaty texture. And it came with a side of garlic mashed potatoes, the only potato dish of the meal (I should have asked hubby to get the roasted lemon potato as his side).

While dining, the table next to us filled with a Greek family of two uncles and a small girl. They ordered some feta tomato salad as a starter, crumbling the giant block of feta into cubes before eating, which made me want to ask for a bite. Then they ordered some fried sardines, market fish, grilled salmon, the whole shebang. It was then that I understood the true nature of Greek hospitality - that even with three people, you still have to eat to your fullest.

I also learned something from the table to the left of us, which appeared to be two newbees like us with a Greek tour guide. She explained to them to wait until the olive oil has fully been settled into the bread to eat it. I made a mental note of that for next time.

In the end, the only true finisher was hubby, who somehow ate all of his dish. Even hubby's dad, a champion plate-cleaner, didn't finish his pork chops because he was busy eating the rest of the stuff. Hubby's mom rationed most of her shark away, and I just ate the rest of her shark and the rice and beets. We had a lot of hortas left over because everyone got sick of the medicinal herby taste after a while.

Then to top it all off, they gave us free on-the-house desserts, which is a creamy cinnamon ricotta pudding.

Warm ricotta bread pudding

It was so heart-warming and rich that it was almost a little too much especially after a loaded meal. I managed to finish half of mine, stopping halfway mainly because hubby's mom was saying it was a little too much cholesterol to handle in one day.

I also really wanted to take some of the bread home, but hubby resisted, saying "who takes bread home?" A good food critic that is!

This is a restaurant for family get-togethers, so bring your love and a really really empty stomach!

Taverna Kyclades
$$$
** (3/5)
Kids-friendly (with reservation)