Tacos el Bronco in Sunset Park

If you ever make it down to Sunset Park in Brooklyn, by all means, eat tacos.  There's a plethora of spots to pick from, but a local favorite is Tacos el Bronco.  The food truck sits outside of what looks like their storefront, but no one sits in that store.  

Instead, plastic chairs line the sidewalks, people gawk at the TV screen playing through the glass, and joyfully eat their tacos with their families.

Tacos are $1.50 a pop for most of the proteins (tender beef, chorizo, roasted pork and more) and come with fat stalks of scallion, juicy lime wedges and griddled cucumber and radish slices.

Burritos are giant and satisfying, full of meat and happiness.

It's nice to sit in the open air, sharing one thing in common, a love for simple, good food.

And it is good.

Especially with the delectable, spicy house green sauce doused over everything.  

I particularly enjoyed the suadero and the chorizo tacos, but honestly, I could probably eat all of them over and over. The horchata is also not to be missed.  They pour you a generous cup made from one of those take-out soup containers - it's a little too sweet but also just a little too good.

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Seriously the tac'o the Sunset Park town.  Four tasty tacos, a fat burrito and a refreshing horchata cost only $17 - amazing.

Tacos el Bronco
4324 4th Ave
Brooklyn, NY

Hanoi Nights: Bia Hoi, Vietnamese BBQ and Chè

In the final post of my Vietnam series, I just wanted to leave you with a night scene from Vietnam.

The tourists love to go to "bia hoi" alley, it's located in the middle of all the cheap, cheap hostels at the corners of Luong Ngoc Quyen, Ta Hien and Dinh Liet, and you basically can sit at any of the plastic tables littering the sidewalks, filled with foreigners from all far reaches of the world (though mostly Australia), all drinking out of the same dirty cups filled with the same bia hoi (translated as "fresh beer") which costs just a quarter.  Yes.  Only 5,000 Vietnamese dong.

And you can get absolutely blitzed for just a couple of dollars, like everyone gets.

Around the corner, you can build up your drinking tolerance eating some Vietnamese BBQ.  You never really hear much about Vietnamese BBQ in the states (Koreans just have that area covered!), but here, it's a popular night meal for lovers who bond over the grilling of marinated meats and vegetables over gas flame.

At Xuan Xuan (look for the yellow shirted staff), a variety plate is about $10 for 2 people.  There was beef and pork belly and do-it-yourself dipping sauce which consists of limes, salt and pepper and red chili.

Then you just grill the meat on aluminum foil tented over a hot grill.  Add oil for steam and sizzle, dip, eat with veg and stuff it into your mouths.  The meat is tender and tasty, and the hot moto-fueled air just adds to the whole ambience.

Then around the corner from the BBQ place is a chè spot, one of my favoritest desserts in the whole world.  Chè basically means pudding, but the word pudding is used loosely - it's essentially a liquidy type of dessert, and there's lots of types.

At Chè Ngon, they only had a couple left when we arrived after dinner: a taro pudding (top center) and a coconut soup jelly pudding (bottom left).  The desserts are served warm, with a cup of crushed ice to add if you prefer it cold.

The chunks of taro are nice and soft, soaked in the sweet syrup, and the coconut soup dessert was loose, light and lovely.

What I like a lot about Vietnamese youth is that they are not that interested in drinking alcohol.  You'll find them camped outside of coffeeshops and chè places shucking bagfuls of sunflower seeds, tossing the shells on the ground, busy chatting with friends.  It's such a refreshing, simple way of hanging out, and I really love it.

Bia Hoi Alley

Corner of Luong Ngoc Quyen, Ta Hien and Dinh Liet

Xuan Xuan

47 Ma May Street,  Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam

Chè Ngon

31 Đào Duy Từ, Hàng Buồm, Hoàn Kiếm Hà Nội, Vietnam

The Birthday Celebration: Sasabune, Flex Mussels, Lady M

This year, the boy took me to Sasabune, a tiny little sushi place in the Upper East side that serves only omakase.



No menus, just pure trust in the sushi chefs.



I won't pretend to remember most of the meal, but I thought I would just share what your meal would look like if you're interested in coming here.  Our omakase came with three appetizers, four plates of nigiri and a duo of handrolls.  If you find yourself full at any time, you can tell them to stop, and they will adjust your tab accordingly.

Little tuna sashimi plate in soy

Oysrers and crab stuffed octopus (the best!)

Melty chunks of monkfish liver (special of the day, and an add-on to the omakase)

Mackerel

What is immediately different, after you eat the first bite of nigiri, is how warm the rice is, compared to the room temperature rice served at most sushi places.  The result is unexpected, enjoyable and makes the fish more tender.

Tuna, cod, fluke and mackerel

That eel tho.

Butterfish.

Sasabune is also very strict on what is to be eaten with soy and what is not.  Often, the non-soy nigiri rice has already been kissed by soy and seasoning and does not need more.  It's hard to remember which ones not to do what with, so I just eat the plate as is, and everything tastes just fine.

Fattest roe this side of the Mississippi River !

Scallop and hamachi

The two handrolls at the end of the meal were blue crab and toro.  The crab is my favorite, but the fattiness of toro also always wins me over every single time.

At this point, you can choose to order more of your favorites, or end the meal.  And though the meal was relatively quick (less than an hour), our bellies had become completely pregnant with hot rice and fish, so we called it quits for sushi.

But we had to press on, for birthday celebration sake.  We walked a few blocks over to Flex Mussels where the boy had dutifully researched desserts to find made to order donuts with fillings of choice !

The donuts come 4 or 6 to an order with a variety of filling options, including: fluffernutter, PB&J, salted caramel, s'mores, Meyer lemon, blueberry and more.  Yes, more !  Oh the humanity !

The donuts come standing tall in these cute wooden trays, made just for donuts, of course, and they are so hot, so airy and so bloody brilliant.   We inhaled them all.

Then it was time for a quick stroll through Central Park (you know, to help our stomachs digest the night's feast),

so that we could make more room for Diana's surprise gift, Lady M's banana mille feuille.  A whole one.  All for me - she's simply the best !!

So we cut ourselves some huge fat slices, sunk into the couch, and let that duhlicious cream melt into our mouths before passing out from food exhaustion.

What a great birthday!

Han's Nonsensical Rating: While Sasabune is a pretty good value, Nakazawa is still supreme when it comes to omakase, and the price points are pretty close to make the latter a better buy.  The mussels I've had at Flex are merely okay, but I'd return for those donuts any day, and Lady M.  Duh.  Delish.

Sasabune
401 E 73rd St, New York, NY 10021


Flex Mussels
multiple locations
174 E 82nd St, New York, NY 10028


Lady M
41 E 78th St, New York, NY 10075

Saigon ! Old Lady Bun Rieu & Fanny Ice Cream

Across the street from Ben Thanh market, wedged in between the shopping stalls and touristy pho and frozen yogurt is the bun rieu lady.  She sells bun rieu, soda, coffee and sim cards.

She shrouds her face in mystery, but when I tried my hand at ordering two bowls of my favorite ever type of soup, I could see her eyes crinkle with amusement.  I'm glad my English accented Vietnamese consistently entertains everyone I encounter.

Her setup is simple, two steel pots simmering hot broth and hot water for noodles.  One small table and two stools to sit.

The rest of her fixings are tucked away in the alley, where she rummages around for the finishing touches.

And out emerges a beautiful bowl of bun rieu, a golden seafood-laced broth and rice noodles with a variety of seafood-paste toppings.  The proteins are a bit of an acquired taste, but the broth is beautiful and clean.

The two bowls cost us maybe a dollar and a half and warmed our bellies so!  The old woman is ultra-cute also.

At night, we'd cool off with visits to Fanny's, a late-night dessert type place dishing creamy ice creams in inventive ways.  I mean, just look at that adorable cyclo ice cream with the orange slice wheels or the banana boat sundae!  There are dozens of more cuteness within the elaborate menu.

We went with the chocolate fondue for two featuring twelve perfect scoops of ice cream (you can pick any flavors from their entire menu), fresh fruits and crisp little wafer cookies.

The ice cream flavors range from traditional to eclectic: and include avocado, ginger, young rice, cinnamon, straciatella and others. 

The sorbets all sound amazing and taste fresh - flavors include black currant, soursop, passionfruit and mango.

It was easy to see why you'd name a place so, because the ice cream goes straight to your fanny, and there ain't nothin' you can do about that but enjoy every spoonful.

Fanny Ice Cream

multiple locations

Chicago! Breakfast! The Bongo Room! Minghin Cuisine!

As we count down Diana's final single weeks, I don't know what I am more excited about - celebrating her matrimony or getting to relive all the great eats we had in Chicago from our May visit!  (It's a pretty close call!)

Some of my favorite meals in the Windy City was definitely breakfast, and I know I'm heavily biased - I mean look at the number of reviews we have tagged for Breakfast & Brunch alone.

The Bongo Room is simply a must-eat destination for any visitor (come on a weekday to avoid all the wait!).

Though the savories may entice you, the sweets are the true attraction with a handful of decadent pancake options like the white chocolate and caramel pretzel pancake.

Sinfully rich and decadent and aching to the tooth but despicably delicious.

A nice complement to that pancake is the Meyer lemon and blackberry pancake which was my favorite - the Meyer lemon cream so light and dreamy, atop a graham cracker dusted pancake.  Perfection.

Ooooze that cream into my mouthhhhh.  (Sounds so dirty, but I don't even care if it means I get more Meyer lemon cream !!)

The best tip from Diana is to order singles of the pancakes - that way, you can try more pancakes AND you get pancakes fully covered in the luscious sauces, which we all know is the very best part anyway.

To balance the sweet, we ordered one savory dish to share - the croissant sandwich with bacon, egg and dill smothered home fries.

The croissant was buttery flaky bliss, and eggs perfectly cooked to over medium.  The potatoes were too silly with dilly, so would be recommended for any pickle fans.

And if somehow you find these pancakes too boring and wish for more ethnic breakfasts that will equally delight and amaze you, mosey your way to MingHin in Chinatown.  Order basically everything.

We tried the beef brisket with rice rolls - a little claypot filled with rice roll dumplings in a thin, soy-based sauce with chewy bits of beef on bone.

The ultimate deliciousness: shrimp dumplings with green chive (soon to be Greeshma's favorite).

So. Much. Chive!

BBQ steamed buns - airy bundles that melt on the tongue.

Turnip cake.

The best rice rolls I've had yet in the States - thick, chewy noodles filled with tasty roast pork.

Just look at that gleam !

You can also get them filled with fried crullers which is a great little combo of chew and crunch.

Siu mai - chock full of pork and shrimp.

Baked BBQ pork turnovers.

MingHin's signature shrimp dumplings - why are these always so easy to eat a dozen?

Short ribs with honey sauce.

Shrimp dumplings with pea tips.  Just so beautifully made (and tasty to boot!).

And as much as I hate to say it, the savories were far better than the sweets at Minghin, though they look amazing:

Sesame balls.

Baked creamy egg yolk bun.

Tri-colored egg tarts.

And you know what else I love about MingHin besides the impeccable rice crepes?  They take reservations on the weekend.  Can a place get anymore amazing?

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Chicago, I wish your winters were warmer because Bongo Room + MingHin are reason enough to move to your fair city.

The Bongo Room
(multiple locations)
1152 S Wabash Ave
Chicago, IL


MingHin
2168 S Archer Ave
Chicago, IL