Escaping the city @ Sip Cafe

There is a gem - literally, a large gem - in the middle of downtown Boston, and it's called Sip Cafe. Housed in the pleasant greenery of Post Office Square, and in a little building made largely of glass, it reminds me of the place in Sound of Music where Leisl and Rolf sing and dance and share a chaste kiss. Ah, happier times.

Sip Cafe offers a wonderful escape from your office desk. Not only does it feel lovely inside, but there are seating pads outside for customers to sit in the park. Picnic in the middle of my stressful work day? Yes, please.

Rebecca, Christine, and I hit up Sip a few months ago to grab some lunch and work on the annual first year associates skit (an amusing hazing ritual, which we have now since survived and will never want to relive). Rebecca ordered the lentil soup and declared it delicious.

I got the half sandwich half soup combo. My tomato basil soup:

Fresh, tasty, zero complaints.

My mozzarella/tomato/basil sandwich.

The bread was nicely toasted, the ratio of ingredients was right on, and I'm a happy customer.

While I was ordering my food, I noticed an m&m cookie the size of head (which is big). Naturally, it had to be in my stomach.

I love this kind of cookie - thin, crispy on the borders, and yet still gooey on the inside. 

My absolute favorite thing at sip cafe is their noccio bello - a hazelnut latte topped with orange zest.

Not only am I a big fan of hazelnut lattes in general, but the orange zest really puts this over the top. You can smell the amazing combination long before you taste it, and it really does knock your socks off.

I urge you to go to Sip. All five of your senses will thank you.

Sip Cafe

Zero Post Office Square

Boston, MA 02110

617.338.3080

Burger Brunch at the Brindle Room

On Saturday, I woke up with the best intentions for a fully productive day.

And then I started thinking about burgers.

At 7 a.m.

And I couldn't stop thinking about them.

So a few hours and 5 episodes of True Blood later, I found myself sitting at the Brindle Room with H&H and Jean, sipping on mouth-puckeringly tart strawberry lemonades (made with real tart strawberry puree),

nibbling on three freshly-fried to order doughnuts, made out of mashed potatoes (mind. blown.)  that were just crispy, warm, fluffy and delicious,

From left to right: powdered, salted caramel and almond hazelnut.  Each terrific and not too rich! I could easily eat a dozen and not vomit!

watching Heather order the biscuits and gravy served (featuring poached eggs and bacon), but knowing she'd really be envious of our

burger plate.

Oh the Brindle Room steakhouse burger.  Served only during lunch / brunch hours, this steakhouse burger is simply topped with choice of cheese and caramelized onions that taste of absolute heavenly sweetness.

This burger is easily one of my top 5 favorite burgers of the city. Small, but thick, it is wonderfully flavored by the bullion coating it receives before being baked off in the oven.  Each awesome bite released juices down my hand.  Messy but fantastic !

And the sea-salted steak-cut fries were perfection also. Crispy exterior encasing soft, potato delight.

I think we could've all used another set of doughnuts to round out the meal, but we resisted.  Thinking about it now, I have no idea why.

The Brindle Room is an absolute gem - off the beaten path for brunch, not too crowded, no waits (though they do accept reservations!), good service, and great food.

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Just go. (And eat as many burgers and doughnuts as you can.)

Brindle Room
277 E 10th
New York, NY

Finally, Mission Chinese.

Since opening its New York branch in July, this San Francisco-based Chinese restaurant has been a veritable hotspot on the foodie scene.  Much like the recent Portland-transplanted Pok Pok, Mission Chinese immediately yielded hour plus-long waits since opening and shows no signs of slowing down.  

To avoid this dreadful waste of time, one's options include: 

1. Eating like a grandma, and showing up at 5:00 p.m. (no offense to grandmas, they are super cute); wait for doors to open.

2. Eating an off-peak lunch.

3. Going small on eating group size.  (Invite only the essential friends with the best appetites.)

4. Making a reservation through email and hoping for a response.

5. Getting carryout.

My friend Olivia and I opted for #2:  15 minute wait at 2:35p on a Saturday.  Perfect.

While waiting in the tiny front room, you can openly stare at the chefs through the long plexiglas window showcasing their kitchen.  The wok saw a lot of heat and action under our hungry watch.

After 15 impatient minutes, Olivia and I made our way through the thick curtains to reveal a bright and cheery space, simply decorated with a touch of Asian funk, as highlighted by the great dragon suspended from the ceiling.

And while placing our order took a bit of patience (exceptionally leisurely service), dear Olivia and I were eventually staring down on a meal that could've easily served a family of four, but we do enjoy ourselves a gutbusting challenge !

The infamous thrice cooked bacon and rice cakes.  Strikingly smoky with perfectly cooked pork belly and pleasantly chewy rice cakes.  Not too spicy, but definitely enough heat from the chili oil to sufficiently liven things up.

Salt cod fried rice.  A simple and fine fried rice, but I honestly couldn't taste any sign of fish anywhere - nothing like the pungent splendor of Yogee that I had hoped. Next time, I'd opt for just ordering some regular rice and trying another savory plate !

Mapo tofu.  I revealed to Olivia that this was my first time to ever try mapo tofu, and she was glad that my first experience was at Mission Chinese, where the mapo tofu was excellent.  Fat chunks of medium firm tofu plunged in a thick, spicy meaty sauce.  I loved eating the spicy bits of sludgy ground pork shoulder.  (I know that sounds so attractive.  I mean it in the most flattering way possible.)

Our final dish was the stir-fried pork jowl and radishes.  A strange ol' dish that taught me two new things about myself:

1. I love cooked radishes.
2. I love pork jowls.

The jowls were thick cut, with even ratios of fat to meat, with a harder bite than pork belly and a slightly gamey aftertaste.  Paired with the crisp radishes, the savory sesame leaves and flavorful sauce, this dish was a surprise knockout.  Definite recommend.

Similar to my thoughts on Pok Pok, I was glad Mission Chinese lived up to the hype with its unique combination of textures and flavors from more uncommon ingredients.  I can't tell you the last time I ever saw jowls on the menu, but I am glad they are offered here.  Don't be afraid of the reviews citing super spiciness - I didn't find any of the dishes particularly painful, and actually would have preferred everything to have been kicked up a notch !

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Definitely hipstery, definitely hype-worthy. Definitely go with pork-loving pals.

Mission Chinese

154 Orchard St

New York, NY

Bia: Vietnamese in Williamsburg

My roommate's friend recently alerted me to a new Vietnamese spot on the Southside of Williamsburg that opened earlier this summer.  The restaurant Bia, the Vietnamese word for beer, is a bit confused on different levels. 

First, it is housed in a former divey, roadhouse bar with soaring ceilings, exposed brick and country style wooden tables and benches.  Coupled with predominant Caucasian waitstaff and patrons, the vibe of this restaurant is essentially American...except it serves Vietnamese food and select dim sum dishes.  I guess this combination makes it quintessential hipster.

Bia offers only a handful of mains that vary from vermicelli noodle bowls, to oxtail stew, to coconut chicken curry (ca ri ga).

My friend and I ordered a couple of entrees and a few dim sum dishes to share as appetizers.  Here are the dishes in the order of their confused appearance from the kitchen:

Beef pho, presented as a pile of pho noodles centered in an amazingly clear beef broth with thin slices of raw beef round steak, brisket, raw onion and scallions.

Dressed up with some basil and lots of jalapeno slices.

Although I was impressed with the clarity of the broth, its depth of flavor was strongly lacking in the traditional pho notes, like star anise, cinnamon or ginger.  The noodles are better prepared than most spots in Chinatown, and the whole bowl, despite its overall inauthentic flavor (and overcooked beef), was still fairly comforting.  

My friend's vermicelli noodle bowl was small, with one grilled pork skewer and one quartered egg roll.  I think he was a bit disappointed in the dish, though it looked light and fine for a small summer meal.

The dim sum dishes arrived after our entrees, and I would not bother ordering these at all unless your life depended on it (then maybe I will excuse you).  There's nothing wrong with these dishes, but there's nothing really that great about them.  They're exactly what you could get at a traditional dim sum restaurant for over twice the cost.

Roast pork steamed bun.

Shrimp dumplings.

Snow pea dumplings (with shrimp).

I think the kitchen felt bad about messing up our meal, and they came out with some beef pastry pockets to curry some favor with us.  These were okay.

Were you bored reading this post?  It was kind of boring writing it.  It's one of those meals where nothing stood out, the flavors were generally good but not awe-invoking, and the only thing that was truly interesting was the space and clientele. The flavor of the whole meal was a bit more muted than it really should have been and can benefit from the use of more Asian ingredients.  Maybe this is a kink they will work out with more practice.

Fun fact: The bar / restaurant also has a rooftop area, and though food is not served upstairs yet, they are perfectly fine with the patrons taking their food up there themselves. Maybe the food will taste better with a view!

Bia 
67 S 6th St
Brooklyn, NY

The Roast Chicken at Barbuto & Takashi Dessert

Friday night, Mr. FoodandPants and I braved the West Village streets to dine at Barbuto and cast judgment on their much renowned and touted roast chicken.  

Judgment #1: Barbuto is mighty cute.  Open, airy, and family friendly !  Bring your kids here to eat $8 corn on the cob !

Judgment #2: The knives for chicken slaughtering are also cute - dubbed the 'Gaucho.'  I like that.

Judgment #3: The complimentary olives on the table were pretty, but I still do not like olives.  Mr. FoodandPants ate three, despite saying he also did not like olives.  It goes to show, he might just say anything for the purpose of conversation. (Just kidding. Maybe.)

Judgment #4: You get a whole lot of chicken for this $19 pollo al forno plate.  About a full half chicken - one breast (split in two), a thigh and a leg that is simply roasted with olive oil and lemon.

Judgment #5: This is a good looking roast chicken, topped with a fresh salsa verde and plenty of pan juices for the dipping.

Judgment #6: The chicken is sufficiently moist but not exceptionally succulent.  The flesh is fairly tender and fine.

Judgment #7: The skin is most excellent.  Mostly crisp with plenty of seasoning from crushed black pepper and salt.

Mr. FoodandPants casting judgment below.

The waitress alerted us to the fact that the chicken arrives naked and in its lonesome, without a side on...well, its side.  Of the three side options (i.e., corn on the cob, sauteed greens and potatoes), the potatoes seemed the best bet.

Judgment #8: The potatoes are magical.  Basically a whole potato smashed into rustic, crude chunks and fried to perfect greaseless, crunchy oblivion.  The only salt comes from a soft dusting of pecorino, and it's a delicious duo.

Confession: I ate most of this plate while Mr. FoodandPants focused on the chicken.  Sorry, pal, you snooze, you lose!

After, we stopped into Takashi, a really adorable and popular Japanese barbecue spot for a takeout dessert of their signature soft-serve ice cream.  The restaurant was actually being filmed for a German television programme when we arrived.

The soft-serve comes with choice of toppings: rice dumplings, azuki red beans, black / soybean sesame powder and choice of syrups: green tea, brown tea (hoji), salted caramel and goji berry.  I opted for the green tea.  We were then directed to beg a spoon off the deli next door in order to eat our rapidly melting mess.

Judgment #9: The melting mess was quite good.  Each bite was unique, depending on what topping you spoon, but my favorite bites involved the plump rice dumplings that reminded me of my mom's Vietnamese dessert.  Such fun, chewy little buggers!

And that concludes one solid and charming West Village Friday night, especially with all the public street confrontations between couples and friends we witnessed on our dessert stroll.  I thrive on the embarrassment of others !

Barbuto
775 Washington St
New York, NY


Takashi
456 Hudson St
New York, NY