Kristabelli – KBBQ

I’ll see your stainless steel Korean bbq plate, and I’ll raise you one crystal grill Korean bbq plate. Oh, did I mention that I’ll throw in an underdraft system that keeps the smoke away from your clothes? And how can I forget that the beef is all wagyu-style, perfectly tenderized without marinate?

Yes, after all the press about this new upscale Korean bbq place brought to New York by the man, the legend, JYP himself…you know I had to experience Kristabelli. Much more than the typical kbbq joint on 32nd street, this was an experience. Each piece of meat was cooked to perfection on your table by an uniformed waiter utilizing all the smokeless advantages of infrared ray-grilling technology.

Address: 8 W 36th St (between 6th & 5th Aves), New York, NY
Price: we got stuffed for $35 / person
Hours: Lunch: 11:30am-2:30pm; Dinner: 5pm-11pm (upstairs bar/lounge probably stays open longer)
Wait / Reservations: Don’t ever make reservations ktown – there are way too many options nearby

The grill and the dining room

An individual set of starter dishes for everyone. The unmarinated wagyu strip steak brought out while the grill is heated

Tofu salad with salmon roe topping was delicious

More side entrees while waiting for the main dish – beef dabubap (cooked bibimbap basically) and seafood soondubu (tofu stew) –> individually portion’d out

Wagyu beef (supposedly on par with kobe-style) and pork slices with assorted vegetables —> waiter cuts up and cooks for you, the crystal grill retains heat between cookings so food is faster to your tummy and there is no black burnt spots on pieces sitting as you digest

Sesame, vanilla, multi-grain ice cream balls with almond flakes on the side

Brunch: 44 & X

What’s better for a lazy Sunday morning than greasy food dressed up in a disarmingly appetizing presentation? Luckily, we found a cute place without a long wait, reasonable prices, and slightly cramped quarters (last night’s gossip from strangers totally satisfying the voyeur in us). Best part: great lighting for pictures!

Name: 44 & X
Address: 44th and 10th Avenue, New York, NY
Price: ~$15 / person
Hours: Brunch Sat-Sun 11:30am to 3pm
Wait / Reservations: Only losers make reservations for brunch, wait was 15 minutes for busy morning

Why you need at least two people for a satisfying brunch…because then you can sample all four of the brunchy staples – pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon.

“Can I eat now?”

These muffins were actually the best part

Verdict: probably better places in brunch-crazy NYC, but this place gets the job done swiftly and painlessly

Cooking Like a Man, Eating Like a Girl

There are few things in life as #winning as cooking your own food. That’s right, we’re in the 21st century and if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen! (translation: don’t rent an apartment with a stove if you don’t learn how to use it)

Step 1: Carbs
Because we’re Asian, our meals are based on some sort of carbs. But white rice is boring. Flied lice Fried rice is dirty. The best is noodles, but you have to dress it up or you can just go to CVS for cup ramen. So below we have used chicken breast to make the broth and added some veggies for additional flavor.

Step 2: Protein
If some protein is good, more protein is better. And because our Asian parents told us that fish made us smarter, we have to go with some minimalist fish filet here. Don’t go 5-star restaurant and get crazy with flavor – we actually like the taste of fresh, cooked, fish so don’t cook more than a few minutes and go easy on the seasoning. Do go creative though and find something other than salmon or tuna. Invest in a sharp knife and you can impress with some cleaning and fileting skills. From the everything-is-a-test-department: if you are squeamish over some blood & guts, how can you handle diapers & throw up?

Step 3: Veggies
No, salad doesn’t count. Grocery stores call it bok choy, but we call it qing cai and what better way to describe it – so fresh and…green. Anyways, this is your chance to utilize your versatility because the perfect Asian vegetable dish requires a bit of stir fry, a bit of water, and a bit of closed-lid steaming to achieve perfection…

Step 4: Dessert
Let’s be honest here: steps 1-3 was for the man inside of you, step 4 is how you nurture that food baby growing inside of you. The trick for great pie: fabulous crust. Then, be generous with the good stuff (fruit, whipped cream, cream cheese, calories) and there’s no way you can go wrong.

Step 5: The Afterparty
Assuming you “washed the dishes” correctly, why not continue the festivities out and about? Because a “nightcap” is only for 50-year-old divorcees in bad rom-coms. Remember there’s no shame in ordering a girly drink – no one wants to share your bitter-tasting manhattan….

Yippee Ki Yay Momofuku

You know what the difference between Chinese food and Western food is? Chinese people keep it simple. You can cook most dishes with either a pan or a pot – forget grill, fry, broil, steam….just stir-fry it or throw a bunch of deliciousness into boiling water. Forget 20 different types of sauces – a typical Chinese cabinet has soy sauce, hot sauce, salt, sugar and maybe some sesame oil and that’s it. Why do you think chopsticks were invented…Asians can eat every item on the menu with two sticks (yes, even soup).

So, naturally, it makes sense that Western restaurants invented this term “Asian Fusion” to over-complicate things and charge more money. But I’m sucker for anytime an Asian dude does something cool in “White America” (see Lin, Jeremy), so I had to go see what this lucky peach was all about…

Dessert – before. (That’s right, I’m leading off with the dessert first because it was the best)

Dessert – after.

Best part of dinner was the delivery service from Momofuku Milk Bar. Yes, the purveyor of awesome pies and cookies (with awesomer names) hand delivers straight to your table. In our case, we sampled the Crack Pie (to die for), Candy Bar Pie (Three words: Giant. Reese’s. PeanutButterCup.), and Compost Cookie.

Main course – pork belly, really torn on this. On one foot, it was absolutely delicious. On the other foot, my mom can make it all day err day and this whole thing was ~70 dollars for 3 people if I remember correctly.

Beverages – they have a good selection of sake, not overpriced by NYC restaurant standards and knowledgeable waitresses (since this is a classy restaurant). The glasses in this picture contain unfiltered sake – which is supposed to be cloudy and fruity/sweeter, except ours was clear like water and not particularly sweet. Hmmm.

Appetizer – I wanted an app that was going to be filling and has some meat in it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have our proverbial cake and eat it too (for now) and so ended with this broccoli thing that was surprisingly good.

Address: 15 West 56th Street, New York, NY
Price: ~$40 / person
Wait / Reservations: Not too bad for normal sit down, but special advance notice is required for the large format (chicken is $175 for 4 to 8 guests, lamb is $325 for 6 to 10 guests) – potentially great btw but I don’t have the guts to try

Honesty, I could probably write several hundred more words about this, but I’ll leave it off by saying that if it weren’t for the great company and having ate a late lunch, I would’ve been severely disappointed (mostly because of the admittedly high expectations.) Sorry mother peach, the hype has rendered you more like J-Lin in Houston than Linsanity in NYC.

Rando Deli – Drunk Food

What do you do when you’re in the office at 4am, with a couple more hours left to go…but you REALLY want pizza?

You order drunk food off Seamless of course. (And scrounge the pantry like a homeless Chinese boy on the subway). For those of you uninitiated, Seamless is like dating an average looking nymphomaniac…sounds awesome in theory, but the overload of mediocrity not only gets tiring after a while but destroys your taste for anything other than amazing later. Case in point, because I can order $30 off 500 restaurants 5 times a week and unlimited amounts on weekends, I can’t eat sushi or pad thai anymore – eating a ton of them in takeout boxes has left me unimpressed with regular variations at sit-down restaurants. And this is why they hate bankers. But I try donate reasonably untouched leftovers to actually homeless Chinese boys on the subway.

Anyways, so I picked one of the few places still open and got some really healthy food. Not. Hmmm….grease. Advice: next time go for the breakfast food. At least you can trick yourself into thinking you went to sleep and this is actually the morning.

Address: Mah computer.
Price: Zero. Thank you deal code 69AMD.
Hours: 6pm to 5am (yes I have now tested the upper limit of that).
Wait / Reservations: Too long for that time of the night.

The best decision I made all week was asking the marketers soliciting our business to bring BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiched to our meeting. Ate this with some mac + cheese and mashed potatoes + gravy while waiting for food to arrive. (yes there is free food after college)

“Pistachio baklava + macaroons.” Utterly more disappointing than going to a strip club and finding it’s dudes on stage. Let’s just move on.

BBQ chicken + mushrooms pizza and everything veggies pizza – not bad, until I bit into a mouthful of aluminum foil

how can you go wrong with wings? this was half-way decent actually, super spicyness made it best part of “dinner”

Inakaya – Robata-Yaki Japanese BBQ

What’s the difference between Japanese BBQ and Korean BBQ? The latter emphasizes sauce and combines many different flavors into each action-packed bite, while the former uses lighter sauces and focuses on grilling the meat to its sizzling perfection. Portion sizes also seem to be smaller for Japanese BBQ.

Inakaya in Times Square is a huge tourist locale that combines performance with food. You sit down and the waiters/cooks yell welcome in Japanese. You order a dish and the waiters/cooks yell it in Japanese. You can also partake in smashing mochi in the back (during which the waiters/cooks yell encouragement in Japanese).

Overall, food was pretty amazing including maybe the best piece of grilled fish I’ve ever had (more comments on that below), albeit, a little pricey considering the smaller portion sizes. It’s a good date spot as the dishes are made for sharing and all the action around you allows you to test how spontaneous your date is.

Address: 231 West 40th Street  New York, NY 10018
Price: ~$30 / person for dinner
Hours: Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm Mon-Fri, Dinner 5:00pm – 11:00pm Mon-Sun
Wait / Reservations: No wait, don’t make reservations

“Robata” means sunken hearth, where the cooks grill your food and pass it you on an extremely long spatula

Salmon (and Salmon Roe) Fried Rice and Chicken Thigh Skewers

Grilled Black Cod (inside was as soft as tofu, outside was perfected just seared, great flavor throughout)