Review – Little Poland

Little Poland is a restaurant located in the East Village of Manhattan that is just like any typical Eastern European restaurant I would expect. If you have never traveled outside your hometown and don’t know much about Eastern Europe, be in for a culture shock at this restaurant that got a C grading from the health department. Normally I cringe when I have to eat at a B restaurant so this was definitely going out of my comfort zone. I stopped at this restaurant on my errand running trip so I was alone. Got a table in the corner at the front of the restaurant overlooking the street and people walking by – best seat in the house for sure.
I checked out their menu and the day’s specials and decided on something I don’t usually cook myself, beef stroganoff, which consists of beef strips served in creamy gravy. Alongside that I got noodles, the traditional thing to get with beef stroganoff and kind of random, sauerkraut, cause I couldn’t decide what second side I wanted with my meal.
The beef stroganoff was flavorful but had a few unexpected parts of gristle in it. I also bit down on something black and suspect-looking a couple of times and realized they were just juniper berries. Imagine my relief…
The noodles were a perfect accompaniment although the sauerkraut was their version of what it should be and not something I would order again, just because I am picky about my sauerkraut and don’t want carrots or other veggies added to it.
If I hadn’t been so stuffed afterwards, I would have ordered the cheese blintzes cause they sounded and looked delicious but guess I’ll have to save that for next time.
There was a family sitting in front of me, mind you with no children, who were doing nothing but complaining the entire time. Can you believe the waitress who didn’t want to check on the soup back there, and she didn’t bring rye bread, etc.. I was pretty sure they must have been Midwesterners visiting cause they really were expecting the world and got an Eastern European waitress who really didn’t give a crap. They’d talk shit about her as soon as she’d leave and she’d talk shit right back about them in Polish. It was quite entertaining to observe during my lunch. So yeah, I enjoyed the show and the food at this establishment that got a C grade, and I’d go back.

Review - Cafe Sabarsky

It's been a while since I've written and that's because I've been incredibly busy. Busy with work but of course also busy with trying new places to write about. First up is Cafe Sabarsky, which is a Viennese-style cafe inside the Neue Galerie museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
We've been experiencing ridiculous heat waves and since I decided not to get an A/C unit, I thought a visit to the MET might cool me off a bit. On the way there, I walked by the Neue Galerie museum, which is a museum displaying German and Austrian art. To keep the ambiance alive, they also offer great treats in the cafe on the first floor.
Cafe Sabarsky oozes old world charm. Having lived in Vienna myself, I can assure you that the traditional feeling in there is legit. Everything reminded me of my favorite city in the world, from the decor to the German newspapers available for your perusal, to the surprisingly delicious food.
Granted the staff did not speak much German so when I ordered the German-named food, I had to point it out on the menu or use its English name instead. Who cares though, many going there don't speak German and don't give a hoot.
I started my meal with gulash soup which was flavorful with spices, a bit peppery as it should be, and quite filling. I should have thought of that before having ordered another course.
For my entree I ordered the Kaesekrainer with sauerkraut and roast potatoes. The Kaesekrainer is a bratwurst-type sausage stuffed with cheese that melts during the cooking process and is wonderful once you bite into it. Doesn't look pretty and actually doesn't sound very appetizing either but it's delicious. The sauerkraut was very soft which I'm not used to. It was buttery as if melting in your mouth. Not sure if I was crazy about that. Also, I felt the flavor of caraway seeds in it was missing but if you don't eat sauerkraut often, you won't know the difference. The roast potatoes were funky. There was some kind of dessert spice sprinkled on them and I'm not talking about nutmeg. I could not figure out what it was but I didn't finish the potatoes.
For dessert you can check out the cakes and tarts displayed along one wall of the cafe or simply order from the menu. I opted for the strawberry and elderflower mousse cake which looked divine. I love any type of mousse so this was an absolute winner. It wasn't overly sweet and after my heavy meal, it went down just right. I even recommended it to the people sitting at the neighboring table who were trying to decide on dessert.
The final bill was a bit higher than I normally like to spend but then again, I don't usually eat that much. I was simply excited to eat my favorite food.
Even though I was there alone, I did not mind it as I flipped through the German paper and enjoyed listening to the classical music during my meal.
I will definitely go back and try other items on their menu.

Review - La Villa

There seems to be a shortage of cheap pizza places in our neighborhood, so we do of course the next best thing and go to a restaurant. La Villa is kind of like the California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) chains with a restaurant part, a bar area, TV screens that show nothing but sports and wood-fired ovens for their pizzas. So on one of those pizza craving evenings, we stopped there and ordered a small Speciale pizza, a slice of red velvet cake and consumed some beer while we waited for our to-go order. Our "small" pizza was easily enough for 3-4 people and my husband was keen on the meat choices so we shared that one. The toppings were fennel sausage, pepperoni (not my favorite), homemade meatballs, mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted peppers and mozzarella. Generally I just like ham or prosciutto on mine but this was surprisingly good. Good enough in fact that I would order it again.
Their red velvet cake was moist and thankfully not as sweet as most of them.
The ambience inside was nice, mellow and pretty much just like CPK would be.
Overall, a success for our first visit. Keep you posted on future ones.

Storing Eggs

To follow up yesterday's info, thought I'd share data specific to storing eggs and foods containing eggs. Nothing too glamorous but still important to know. This would have come in handy during Easter now that I think about it if any of you colored eggs, etc. but will also be good to know for any other holiday such as 4th of July (think of macaroni salads for picnics) or Thanksgiving and Christmas (pies galore).

Leftover Storage

After my not-so-pretty experience with food poisoning, I'm paranoid about handling, cooking and storing food properly because most likely, I got myself sick. So I did a little research online and found the following information regarding storing leftovers. Some of it I already knew, some was news so hopefully this will enlighten you as well.

Review - Bierkraft 2

I know I've already talked about Bierkraft before but we had the chance to go back recently for their first annual Oyster & Beer festival. Unfortunately this was a day after I had food poisoning so the oysters were not in the stars for me but I did order one of their popular sandwiches. My husband along with a bunch of other people tried the oysters and said they were surprisingly delicious for a place that's not know for serving anything other than beer and bread.
As far as the bread/sandwich part goes, the picture below shows everything that's wrong with it. They've got the idea right by choosing great ingredients or toppings for their sandwiches but they use a beheamoth of a roll that is too thick and chewy. By the time you finish eating the sandwich (which has to be shared with someone else because it's huge), your jaw feels like it's had a jawbreaker. Nevertheless, that won't stop us from going there and sampling other goods.

Quinoa Salad

If you are not familiar with quinoa, read up a little on the internet about it. It’s a very healthy protein-rich grain that is consumed in developing countries but is making quite a name for itself in the Western world. This is a wonderful alternative to meat too but sometimes I serve it as a salad alongside steak or something similar.

Ingredients

1 cup of chicken stock

1 garlic clove, smashed

½ cup of quinoa

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

¼ of a purple onion

Half of a small cucumber

2-3 mint leaves

¼ cup of parsley

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1-2 splashes of vinegar

Directions

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly before cooking. Place in a pot with the chicken stock and garlic and bring to a boil. Once the stock comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa looks translucent. Meanwhile chop the cucumber and tomatoes into small pieces and finely dice the onion. Chop the parsley and mint and all with the vegetables into a bowl. Add the salt, vinegar and oil and stir to combine. Once the quinoa is cooked, set aside to cool. Combine the cooled quinoa with the vegetable mixture and place in the fridge for half an hour for the flavors to meld. Serve cold or at room temperature.