While I was tempted to repeat the delicious delicacies from Round 1, there are just too many options here. Spud and I had big discussions about this foodie food court and settled on a great porchetta sandwich ($9) from Piccolo’s Cafe with a nice hunk of pork, arugula, mozzarella, carmelized onions and a sweet and spicy aioli. Next was a heaping, messy, bold and tangy pork bun (2 for $6) from Fatty Snack. The final savories were from Asiadog: Sidney ($5)- Thai style
relish with mango, cucumber, red onion, crushed peanuts and Mel & Steve ($4.50)- Asian slaw with sesame seeds. Both were good, but not as bold in flavors as the earlier dishes. I will try Asiadog again, because it is supposed to be amazing. On to dessert, with 6 tiny, delicious donuts ($2!) from Cuzin’s Duzin and an excellent Wancko’s cookie ($3) of peanut butter, chocolate chips and pretzel chunks from Sigmund’s. This was another successful adventure at Mad Sq Eats.

The cheap eats gods have aligned and provided us with a place to taste many eats from top food truck vendors and have included hot sunny weather! On the west side of Madison Square Park, until October 21st, you will find a gathering of amazing food vendors like Wafels & Dinges and Momofuku Milk Bar, plus great beers. With nearly everything priced at under $10, I will have to break down my posts by rounds:

Round 1: For our first visit, we tried Manushe ($6) a rolled flatbread with yogurt, mint, cucumber and spices from upscale Lebanese eatery ilili. Next, we had a Cheddar Truffle Pretzel ($3) from pretzel guru Sigmund’s. Both snacks were tasty, but neither compared to the Tomato Chile Dumplings ($6) at Mehtaphor/Graffiti. These dumplings are made on the spot, with crispy edges and bold flavors, and are ridiculously good. I think Chef Mehta might be a genius. The cannolis from Artisan Stuffed Cannolis provided a sweet dessert (3 for $5). Go with the peanut butter cup in a chocolate shell, it’s always a winner. Skip the Shake Shack line, and check out these awesome vendors. (Thanks for the tip Litza!) Stay tuned for Round 2!

I have eaten dinner at 4pm with the blue-haired crowd in Florida and I can’t really recommend it. A much more exciting early bird special is at Betel, a Malaysian restaurant in the West Village that offers an 8 course menu between 5:30 and 7:30 for only $35! Yeah, it is a pretty ridiculous deal. Of course we had a couple of drinks at the bar, catching up with our friend Joanna, which added another $14 each to our bill, but the stormy mule and ginger mojito were well worth it.

The food was very good as well. We toured flavors of Asia, starting with a West Coast oyster in cilantro and fried shallots and ending with tender wagyu beef, the unanimous choice for tastiest course. The dessert was fried banana, which had a thick batter. My only complaint about the menu was that almost all the courses had similar flavor profiles of mint and cilantro. I am no authority on Malaysian cuisine, but they might want to mix it up more, considering it is 8 courses, plus mint in the mojitos.

But, overall, it is a fun experience that works well for a date in a trendy setting, with open windows out to Grove Street. While the 25 Zagat food rating might be slightly high, you won’t find a more exciting 8 course deal for that price anywhere else. Plus, there was not a blue hair in sight.

A few months ago I wrote up 4Food as the future of fast food, and while it had its perks, FoodParc is the winner of this Post-Modern duel. It is natural to compare this east side/west side pair. While they are not related in any way, they did open up around the same time, both offer sleek decor with lots of glass, Formica, and screens, so many screens, and both offer cutting-edge ways to order, with faster food and quality ingredients. But FoodParc just offers more, in almost every way.

The place – not sure I can call it a restaurant – is 4 separate food counters with not only different items but different cuisines. There is Press with coffee and pastries, 3B’s: Burger, BBQ and Beer, Fornetti (Italian), and RedFarm Stand (Asian). You order with touch screens, swipe your credit card, look for your order on screens, go pick it up – and that’s up to 4 different stops, and then sit and eat. I’ve never said this about anywhere, but the seating is my favorite aspect of the whole place. FoodParc is part of the Eleni Hotel and there is a HUGE outdoor patio the whole length of the block. It is between two buildings, open on each end and offers a giant screen showing movies? Images?, not quite sure. Plus, they have a ton of indoor seating, and it’s tiered, so it’s pretty private. In fact, I’m writing this review from my table at FoodParc (with their excellent free wifi)!! That’s a first for WeCouldEat.

So yeah, yeah, yeah, how’s the food?? It was kind of hit and miss. From RedFarm we had pan fried vegetable dumplings ($4.25/4) which had a nice sear and sauce, and were tasty. Also, the Duck Bun ($5.95) was excellent. It’s large slider/smaller burger size with a great squishy bun, a quality piece of duck, not too fatty, and great acid on the shredded cucumber. On the downside, the tomato and basil pasta served on pita ($9.95) from Fornetti was a bummer. It was partially our fault for going whole wheat on both, but there aren’t too many healthier items here. Any of the other options, like a la vodka, carbonara, or bolognese, would have no doubt been more exciting, but I’m not sure any pasta on flatbread is a winner. It leads to incomplete versions of pasta and pizza. When I come back, I will probably stick with just FarmStand, although it would be fair to try 3B’s.

The other negatives were that while I was here at an off-time, it must be a nightmare to navigate during lunch rush, especially since the wait for food isn’t quick – although they will text you when your order is ready. The location is pretty obscure, no man’s land between Herald Square and Chelsea, but I like that, because if this was Union Square, it would be mad packed.  The future may be healthier fast food, in a post-modern stadium seat, but we will see if FoodParc takes off with its huge overhead – literary – there’s a giant hotel on top of it.

Not only are we big Top Chef fans, but also loved Angelo’s former sandwich shop, Xie Xie, so we were really excited to hear that his new place opened last week. Although, I have to admit that hearing the name and location, Social Eatz in midtown east, already left me scratching my head and wondering about the concept. Walking into the restaurant doesn’t add clarification, the decor is modern, the lights are low, the music is electro-popish, and the menu is Asian street food, I guess? It consists of apps, salads, burgers, tacos, sides, desserts, about three in each category. On its Facebook page, Social Eatz says its simple and fun with Asian comfort food. I get that desire, but there is definitely confusion in execution. The decor and service, which was very attentive, set up the diner for a real sit-down meal, not a spring roll and taco, for instance. But all this really doesn’t matter much if the food is what we perceive as Top Chef caliber. Let’s see…

There is a lot of Korean influence, but also flavors from Japan, India, Thailand, etc. We tried several dishes with mixed results: The soba noodle salad had a strong sweet flavor with candied bits, mostly balanced by scallions. It was different and I liked it. The bulgogi burger was disappointing. It was a little small (and I don’t love huge burgers) and had a kimchee topping, but not much flavor in the burger or topping. Plus it had a lot of grizzle for a little burger. The first bit I chewed, but the second was tough and I had to spit out. The meats are supposedly high quality, but didn’t taste like it to me. The bibimpop burger looked better. The Kung Pao Wow is a chicken sandwich that was the best of what we ordered. Its peanut sauce was delicious and went well with the shredded cucumber topping. But again, the chicken seemed kind of fatty, and maybe that is more authentic, but was tasted more like what you’d get at Quizno’s. The cream spinach has cheesy and creamy with lots of Indian spice, and it was good on its own, but didn’t mesh flavor-wise with the rest.

I hate to be this critical of a place, especially a new place, but a Top Chef All-Star does carry high expectations and Angelo will draw huge numbers of fans based on his fame and reputation. So we will see what happens here, it is really early to tell. I know its unfair to be so critical, it’s like going into a classroom the first week of school and expecting the teacher to have a perfect class. But frankly, Social Eatz is just confused with its name, concept, and food. Angelo’s former eatery, Xie Xie (see our review), had three Asian-inspired sandwiches (the Vietnamese beef was incredible), and knew it was a sandwich shop. It had a great Hell’s Kitchen location and modern style. The name didn’t matter because the concept and food were clear. Social Eatz is all over the place. Does the name mean its communal or bar food? So overall, we were not impressed and I don’t want to make a personal judgment about Angelo, because I don’t know him, but he does seem scattered on TC and his new place definitely needs some straightening out. Plus, the website isn’t even functioning yet. That’s a big issue to me. How do you open an eatery without a website? How difficult is it to design a quick webpage? The one thing that saved our experience was the Daily Candy discount of $15 for $30 of food. Plus the prices are reasonable, so at least you are not paying much here…

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave (10/11), East Village

Well it did not disappoint, even with all the hype. The Noodle Bar has the sparse, clean, wooden decor typical of many sushi eateries. I love the open kitchen and next time I will sit at the bar so I can watch the chefs in action. We started with a chicken tamale served in a traditional banana left. It was very good and I wanted many more. Next to a perfectly hard boiled egg split in half, topped with soy, scallions and bonito. On to the signature pork buns, which had the perfectly squishy bun wrapped around fatty slices of pork. The fat was too much for Spud, but I enjoyed it, because it was actually really flavorful if you could get past the texture. Next the Brussels sprout, which were roasted long enough to be tender with a nice charred flavor. The accompanying Benton bacon chunks were awesome and really made the dish. Finally, the noodles. We were porked out and ordered the ginger scallion noodles with pickled shiitakes and cucumber. We weren’t expecting much, but these noodles were delicious! The texture had a perfect bite and were just slippery enough. The shiitakes added a meaty flavor the dish worked together so well.

So now I am officially on the Chang bandwagon. My one criticism is excessive salt, but that is pretty much a given, especially with Asian flavors. But I love all the creative combination that push the envelope, but yet are comfort foods. It is amazing to eat a tamale, Brussels sprout and pork buns in the same meal and have it integrate so well together. I will definitely be back and I am anxious to try Ssam, Ko, Milk Bar and the Fried Chicken Dinner.

for Momofuku Noodle Bar

Xie Xie pronounced “shay-hay” is the word for thank you in Mandarin, which is fitting for this little sandwich shop that tries hard to nab some of the spotlight on a restaurant-packed stretch of 9th Ave. It does a pretty good job of it too. The environment is ultra-modern with stark white tables and stools, white and purple ceiling and wall slats and a hip Asian-style logo and website. The tiny menu contains 5 or 6 sandwiches with modern fusion combos like shredded braised chicken with egg salad, cilantro; Asian Lobster Roll with mayo, tarragon, crispy shallots; fish with onion jam sriracha mayonnaise, dill; and Vietnamese bbq beef, basil, mayo carrots, kimchee. We had the fish, which was tasty, but didn’t quite blow me away, and the bbq beef, which was amazing and I would definitely return for it. The salty beef was balanced nicely by crisp carrots and the tangy kimchee. It’s similar to a bahn mi, with a slightly different flavor profile and a big thick roll. Xie Xie’s dessert is quite interesting too. The 1000 Year Old Ice Cream Sandwich (see full review on our sister site Diner Cakes) is a little bit of a gimmick, since it is obviously much younger, but contains a molten caramel center that is said to resemble a 1000 year old egg. It’s a fun little dessert and a cool accompaniment to the spicy sandwiches. Check out Xie Xie, you’ll thank yourself!

We have been wanting to try Kuma Inn for about a year, but never got the right opportunity until our foodie cousins, Jill and Bill, told us they were flying in from Columbus, Ohio and wanted to go for an interesting, off-the-beaten-path place in Manhattan. Kuma Inn is definitely out of the way in a second story location on the Lower East Side. It is easy to miss as the front is only a narrow vertical sign announcing a long stairway behind a door. But once inside, it presents a cozy, Asian-influenced interior that feels more like an apartment, than a dining room – but in a good way.

The five of us, including our cousin James, had a great time as we sampled a dozen or more tapas style dishes and discussed recipes, restaurants, street carts, celebrity chefs, and all other foodie topics. The cuisine at Kuma is a little hard to describe because it is based on Owner/Chef King Phojanakong, who has a Filipino and Thai heritage, and French training. It is mostly Asian influenced, exemplified by the delicious shrimp shumai and wasabi pork dumplings that we devoured. We also had amazing Spanish chorizo sausage, whole baby octopus, tuna tartar, noodles, edamame and several other eclectic delights. It is a really fun menu to share with a small group and the BYO policy of beer, wine and sake keeps the prices down. Spud and I will definitely return and try all of our favorite dishes again.

I highly recommend Kuma Inn for a true foodie experience. People aren’t coming here for the scene, decor, or service. There are many other places for trendy small plates, but what elevates Kuma is the food. It’s all about the food.

We love the restaurants in Astoria, meal for meal it can stand up to nearly any neighborhood anywhere. Once in a while, however, a restaurant outside of Manhattan can be a bit overrated by Zagat’s and other guides, most frequently in the suburbs. This was certainly the case with JJ’s Asian Fusion which has been receiving high praise for years. The 2008 Zagat’s calls it “a contender for the best Asian food in Queens award” and gives it a 25 food rating! That is extremely high and to put it in perspective is equal to or higher than every BBQ, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Southwestern and Spanish restaurant in the entire survey, the only steakhouse that tops a 25 is Peter Luger’s. So while JJ’s was fine and certainly not bad in any way, it could never live up to its hype. We had the edamame potstickers and a bunch of standard sushi rolls, but nothing really impressed us as delicious or even very unique, other than the potstickers, which were pretty overrated as well. The other thing that sticks in our craw about JJ’s is that it is in no way Asian fusion. It was a standard Japanese menu with the additions of fried rice, dim sum and a few other basic Chinese dishes. Fusion should mean that a variety of flavors from different ethnicities are combined in a single dish. JJ’s could learn a lesson from real fusion restaurants like Spice Market and Sushi Samba, which both are fantastic and get a 22 food rating. So go to JJ’s if you are nearby and want a decent meal, just don’t believe the hype and expect a life altering experience.

Watawa
36-98 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria

We actually like Watawa, another Astoria Japanese eatery, better than JJ’s. It is not even in Zagat’s, but is a real neighborhood no frills Japanese with an unbeatable lunch deal of three rolls with soup and salad for $10. We have been there many times and have found it solid and reliable with a standout shrimp tempura roll. It is not the best sushi on the planet, but is quiet and only known in the local area, and that’s the way we like it. Similar to pizza and Chinese, I feel that everyone has a local favorite place for sushi. This is ours.