Restaurant Review: Mission Chinese

Finally made it to Mission Chinese! Such a hole in the wall, which we all know means it's the best. This small, sort of dingy looking spot in the Lower East Side lived up to all of the hype (at least in my book). We had to wait about 45-60 minutes for a table at 6:30 on a Tuesday, but this was for a party of 5. We expected a wait, so this was fine and we just got a drink around the corner. They called us when our table was ready, which is so great for a restaurant to offer, so you don't have to stand around. When our time came, we were led down a narrow hallway to the back of the restaurant which had under 20 tables and a few seats at the bar. We were a little overwhelmed with the wide variety of options on the menu, but I was excited about some of the unusual offerings. The waiter was super helpful in finalizing our meal when we gave him our proposed rundown. And here it goes...

I think I have established I love pickled vegetables, so I suggested Tartine's Spicy Carrot Pickles. The carrots were sour and spicy and had a great crunch. A nice start to the meal and a good way to get some veggie representation on the table.

Tartine's Spicy Carrot Pickles

Next was Steamed Eggplant in Chili Bean Sauce. This was a fine dish, nothing crazy. The eggplant was soft and mushy and covered in the chili bean sauce which gave it a kick. Nice for just a taste.

Then came the Crispy Pig Ears with Old Bay seasoning and country ham powder. These were AWESOME. Everyone at the table looked at me a little funny when I suggested it, but we went with it, and thank god. The waiter assured me these weren't TOO Old Bay-y, because I am not the biggest fan of the seasoning, but can tolerate it. For those that are not familiar, Old Bay is found a lot in the Mid-Atlantic region and served with fresh crab or on french fries (among other things). Anyway, these pig ears were fried to perfection, super crispy, seasoned well and totally addicting. I had to remind myself to leave some for the others.

Next were the Griddled Lamb Meatballs with seven spice, toasted nori, Worcestershire sauce and served with potatoes. It came with 4 meatballs (we actually thought there were more, but potatoes were mistaken for balls) that were moist, savory, and complimented by the nori (type of seaweed). A nice appetizer.

Then came the Thrice Cooked Bacon. This is apparently a popular dish, and I can see why. A total indulgence, but great to share. The bacon was served with Shanghainese rice cakes, tofu skin, bitter melon, and chili oil. This was SPICY. They warn you on the menu, and they did not lie. You can push away some of the chili flakes to ease the fire, but it most definitely has a kick. As we were all trying our first bites, we forgot what the round white things were. They had this kind of weird soft chewy texture that lead your mind in a few different directions. We were all chewing thinking "well, this could definitely be something weird but I am trying to be open-minded...." but then the waiter reminded us that they were rice cakes. This revelation completely changed our mind set and made the texture totally acceptable and even good! Funny how that works. The bacon was unreal, but I probably don't even need to tell you that.

Top Left - Crispy Pig Ears
Top Right - Griddled Lamb Meatballs
Bottom - Thrice Cooked Bacon

The next round of food started with the Egg Egg Noodles. These egg noodles came with a soft hen egg, ginger, scallion, and black vinegar. You crack open the egg and release the goodness, and mix it all up. This was a mild noodle dish, which was needed as many of our other dishes were spicy. I love a good runny egg all over my food, so that was plus, and this was just plain tasty. And yes that is cilantro you see below, but don't worry, I was able to dig around it. 

Egg Egg Noodles

Then out came the Broccoli Beef Brisket with smoked oyster sauce. This was super tender brisket, a little fatty, and the smoked oyster sauce provided so much salty/smokey flavor (however they probably could have laid off a little on the sauce). The broccoli on top I think may have actually been broccolini, but either way it was very green, crisp, and crunchy. Great textural contrast.

Broccoli Beef Brisket (photo credit: Alicia Dreher)

Overall, this place rocked. So casual, fun, cheap (surprisingly so), and DELICIOUS. I will absolutely be back and I have already picked out everything else I want to try....

Restaurant Review: Sen NYC

I went to Sen NYC with two of my besties to celebrate a special birthday (aren't they all special?). We had some decent food, however, the service was bad and I would consider this place overpriced.

Service:
To start, the waiter brought us edamame though we did not order it. He told us to keep it anyway which was nice, but then forgot to take it off the bill. So we had to remind him of that. That was when we finally got the bill. The waiter went very MIA after we got our food. I think it took about 30 minutes for him to come back after he cleared dessert to ask if we wanted the check. The only upside to that was I had a wonderful time catching up with my girls.

Food:
We ordered several dishes and split between the 3 of us. We started with edamame (as forementioned, on the house), which was actually really good. Probably the most flavorful and well cooked edamame I have had, and salted just right.

Edamame

Next was the Tuna Tartare, with takuan pickle, shallot, cured quail egg, crispy wonton, and spicy yuzo dressing. This was delicious too, but such a small portion. Not what I was expecting for $16. However, it had a nice textural balance and the quail egg made such a difference in flavor.

Tuna Tartare (sorry for the poor quality photo)

Then came 2 rolls, the Hot Tuna (tuna with three spiced chili sauce) and another specialty roll that is slipping my mind. They were both good rolls, but clearly not too memorable! I always think that all sushi is good, because if it's bad, then it's BAD. So I mean, yea it was good sushi with nice fresh ingredients.

Also, we got the Cahan Rice Pot. This included garlic fried rice, a slow cooked egg that you could break open and mix in, shaved green onion, and sesame seeds. This was a great dish that complimented our other dishes well. This was a bit more substantial and I always like egg mixed in, so that was a plus. I would definitely order this again.

Last was the Harami Garlic Skewer. This came with 3 skewers of wagyu skirt steak and crisped garlic chips on top. The steak was very tasty but a little chewy. However, that is basically the definition of skirt steak, so in other words it was exactly what you might expect. There was a nice garlic flavor and the chips were in fact crispy.

Sushi Rolls, Cahan Rice Pot, and Harami Garlic Skewer

Last was the green tea ice cream (no photo). A favorite flavor of mine, and this did not disappoint. We split one scoop and that's all we needed. It was rich, creamy, and tasted authentic and homemade.

Overall, I probably would not return. There are so many other places for Japanese food and Sen NYC did not offer anything above and beyond, including service.

Restaurant Review: Red Farm

I was meeting a friend in the West Village around 8:00 on Friday night, so I decided to take this opportunity to get a table at RedFarm with Jeremy. Typically there is always a huge crowd lingering outside of the restaurant waiting anxiously for a table, however I got there around 6:45 and was seated immediately. By 7 pm, every table was filled. I didn't realize that there is a downstairs seating area that has a separate entrance, but that is where we were taken. The place has rustic decor with some small tables, but mainly a large communal table in the center of the room. Service was good, and we received our food quickly.

We both started with a beer, me with the Sixpoint Sweet Action, and Jeremy with the Peak Organic IPA. Both were good and nice compliment to the food we ordered. Speaking of food...

We chose 4 dishes to split: Shu Mai Shooters, Katz's Pastrami Egg Roll, Pac Man Shrimp Dumplings, and Wide Rice Noodles with BBQ'd Roast Duck.

The Shu Mai Shooters were presented nicely with 4 double shot glasses containing carrot and ginger bisque with a scallop and squid dumpling sitting on top. The shu mai was delicious and did not have an overpowering fishy taste. It was also just the right amount of salty. The carrot and ginger bisque was VERY gingery. I think I am just sensitive to ginger, because Jeremy was sucking these down. I did like this dish overall because it was actually two things that complimented each other well.

Shu Mai Shooters

Katz's Pastrami Egg Roll was as amazing as it sounds. It was the pastrami of all pastrami stuffed inside an egg roll and deep fried, and served with honey mustard. It was served warm and super crispy on the outside, yet not at all greasy. This dish is just the best idea ever. You must order it.

Katz's Pastrami Egg Roll

The Pac Man Shrimp Dumplings must be their top seller by far. Every single party at the communal table ordered this, and the same waitress brought them all out with her memorized shpeel describing the dish. She was Ms. Pac Man. Anyways, this dish was totally adorable. There was a piece of fried sweet potato shaped like Pac Man directed towards 4 dumpling "ghosts." Each dumpling was made with shrimp, but each one was different in that one also had bamboo, one also had lobster, and I forget the other two. But they were all good. A dumpling is a dumpling you know? Some are better than others, and these count as the better ones. But it's hard for me to tell you why. The fried sweet potato was awesome because anything fried pretty much is. And it was sitting in a dollop of mushed avocado which provided a nice flavor and textural compliment. This was a good dish overall, but I think it is more about how fun and creative the idea behind it is than the actual food.

Pac Man Shrimp Dumplings

Against the recommendation of our waitress, our "entree" was the Wide Rice Noodles with BBQ'd Roast Duck. She suggested we get something from the entree section as the noodles are made to compliment the entree dishes, but honestly this all was plenty of food for us. We both really liked this one. The roast duck was laid on top in slices, with super savory and crispy skin and juicy, tender meat underneath. There was a layer of fat, which normally I hate, but this was really very delicious duck. The noodles were in a brown sauce and had probably an entire red onion with it. This would be my only complaint, the abundance of red onion. While it was cooked onion, it was still a bit overpowering. I think the noodle to red onion ratio was 1:1.

Wide Rice Noodles with BBQ'd Roast Duck

We opted out of dessert because we had to run, but overall we had a nice experience. While the restaurant has a nice ambiance, and has a fun, playful menu that is very delicious, it is a bit pricey for what it is. While way less glamorous, it is hard to pay $100 knowing you can go to Prosperity Dumpling and for just $2.50, receive 10 super tasty, authentic dumplings. Just sayin.