Summer Cocktail

Waiting for a table to grab a burger at Peter Luger, we perked ourselves up with some summery drinks at Dressler, one of our favorite restaurants in NY and a perfect spot for a fun, romantic date. I got a classic Bloody Mary. My friends tried a new cocktail called the Mutt, a new creation of Isaac, the bartender who is in the shot. It's made with Sauza, Budweiser, black pepper and lime. If you like Michelada, you would like this drink with a twist.

Eccentric object

So real that a walking dog tried to jump on. Stuffed coyote for $300 sold on a street in Williamsburg.

Homey Japanese Restaurant

I want to keep this a secret so this hidden spot won't be much harder to get a reservation. So here's a little sneak peak for ya. This new Japanese restaurant is very small, seats for only 30 or so. One of the best thing about this spot is its space. They have a small Japanese garden inside. With modern furniture and a few crafts by Japanese artists, the owner/chef hopes this to be his own house in which he entertains his guests (customers).

As per my friends' recommendation, we had the course. This course is incredibly reasonable. Almost too much food. First dish was veggie salad with bagna càuda. The sauce was a bit too loose  and hard to eat. But the taste is amazing. Some Japanese daikon radish, endive, beets...

We also ordered a few dishes from the menu. Their house-smoked meat was simply fantastic. Each meat is smoked slightly differently. See the duck with yummy fat? 

Baked seasonal fish and vegetable. It's a whole fish for two people. Thanks to my skill with chopsticks, I ate everything but bones. 

One of the main dishes is this mini Wagyu burger with sun dried tomato and caramelized onion. It was good. I wish they cooked it close to rare. At this point, we were so stuffed. 

This place, for now, is BYOB, which is AWESOME. The staff (hostesses) are very kind and nice. The owner/chef comes out to the dining room to greet every guest, like we are his friends. If you want to experience this place, it might be hard to do unless you walk in there. The numbers on review and websites are not really working. The best bet is "Be friends with Miko!" like my friend hooked me up. 

Sunday Suppers

A friend of mine introduced me to this private cooking class. It's held at an apartment in south Williamsburg. The host/owner of this apartment is a lovely couple — the wife is a professional photographer who takes fabulous photos during the class. The husband, also a really nice guy, is a great host.

First thing you notice is the fantastic presentation. They work with a designer and floral coordinator for each event. This time, it's coordinated with purple flowers, a theme of french country side.

For this day, the idea was to cook with locally grown products. The chef/instructor got groceries from a farmers' market. All ingredients are labeled with a beautiful handwriting. Most of them are so fresh and good that we munched them raw during the cooking.

A super smart idea: Menu made of a paper bag, which becomes a bag for participants to take a few peaches home as a gift. The designer printed the handwritten menu on brown paper bags. Simple, functional, brilliant!


First dish: Mix market green salad with green apple, parmesan cheese, pine nuts and champaign vinegar dressing. I LOVED this salad. Such a simple dressing works so well with the mix green and herbs. This mix green, available at the Union Sq. farmers' market, is unfortunately really pricey...

Second dish: Fresh pasta with mushroom and fresh asparagus. Fresh pasta makes an enormous difference. The idea of slicing asparagus with a peeler and toss with the pasta is now my new favorite technique. It adds a contrast to the sauteed mushroom sauce and fresh pasta.

Third dish: Baked trout with parsley pesto. I made this pesto. It tastes super green on its own. But the fish makes it milder. It cleanses your body, too! 

Dessert: Lemon and rosemary cake with strawberry sauce. I normally don't eat sweets and I was pretty full at this point. But this cake was so good that I cleaned up the plate. Strawberries are in season now. Just cook them down without sugar and it's a lovely marriage with lemony sponge cake. 

Big Wing Wong

A lunch with my girlfriend in Chinatown. We both love congee so we tried Big Wong, which was favored by a few trustworthy dining sites.

They are famous for its roast duck. We got congee with sliced fish and a noodle soup with roast duck. Neither was amazing. Perhaps we picked wrong ones. The fish was too thick and congee itself was bland. On the other hand, the noodle is a bit too salty. It's really cheap, both around $3, and the small portions are good for sharing. The roast duck must have been better over rice.

Pressure Cooker

This newly released documentary movie Pressure Cooker, to me, was a refreshing, uplifting emotional roller coaster. As a big fan of food movies and from the title, I hoped it would be about food. Well, it is, but not so much in a traditional way.

Very basic background of this movie
Mrs. Stephenson is a Philly public high-school teacher. Because of her blunt character and strict disciplinary style, she gets on the bad side of other teachers who also train their students to compete for scholarships—through a cooking tournament sponsored by C-CAP. There's no such sour reputation in her own school—because she is not an unreasonably audacious tyrant. She is a tough yet caring teacher who tries to bring opportunities to her students from working-class families. As amazing as Mrs. Stephenson is these kids. All are very hard working in the cooking class, on grades, with sports (some of them belong to the cheer leading team which Mrs. Stephenson coaches), against adversities in each family.

I know nothing about making films and no doubt every movie presents directors' intention or view, which is also true to documentaries. In Pressure Cooker, however, intentional gimmicks or editing play very humbly, in my opinion. In the after-screening interview, the directors explained the process was very spontaneous. Mrs. Stephenson was also on stage with one of her students from the movie. She remembers getting annoyed with the camera in the kitchen first but then didn't even notice afterwards.

I laughed a lot and cried almost the entire 90 minutes. It was a very strange feeling; to cry and feel very warm in heart simultaneously. While other reviews tell too many details on what happens in one scene to next, I hope you just go straight to IFC (a nice size theater with great seats)!

FYI: One of the directors Mark Beckers' former movie Romántico is also a very wonderful documentary, a portrait of a Mexican musician. Now available on DVD.

Beer? Bacon? Beer.

I like beer and bacon. But my better half LOVES them both. For him, this smokey beer from a German brewery Schlenkerla must be a heaven. It truly smells like bacon. In our hood, W'burg, a craft beer bar called Lenora's Way on Bedford Avenue used to carry this beer. (Sadly, they are closing down soon and no longer carries this beer.) Another place to try this beer is The Diamond in Greenpoint. This bar is pretty cozy with a nice backyard, away from hipster-jammed main streets. It's worth a try but could be too intense for most people.

Mongolian Spot

My big, nephew's butt. Don't worry. He's not abused. The blue bruise is called Mongolian Spot, a birthmark that appears on most Asian babies and some hispanic babies. I hear that some western social workers and nannies confuse with child abuse. They disappear as they grow.

Tora, Tora, Tora!

My friend's 3-month old boy, Tora (Tiger), is one of the cutest, calmest baby. He didn't mind Mr. M's corse beard and stayed happy on his laps for hours.

El Almacen

Our new favorite dinning spot in W'burg is a tiny, charming Argentinean restaurant. Started with tapas menus, they now have a full menu. At the moment, it's BYOB (wine stores in two blocks: We like UVA on Bedford and North 6) and Cash Only. The space is really small and tight, resembling a little bit like Marlow and Sons, another excellent restaurant in the hood. It's good for a group of up to 4 people, perfect for a couple who appreciates intimate atmosphere. It seems they don't take a reservation. They didn't even answer the phone when I called to confirm they allow byob. Probably not the best place for vegetarians. Wonderful service by charming Argentinean staff accompanies the great food!

Special on the menu: Lobster tacos. It was good and very reasonable for two full meat of lobsters. The sauce, however, was too rich and overpowering to enjoy such beautiful lobster meat.

Home made chorizo: This chorizo isn't spicy at all, more like a really good sausage. I prefer not to have the ketchup on the plate, but it is a nice piece of sausage. Glasses of red wine and this alone would satisfy me.

Home made papardelle with coffee braised oxtail ragu: The ragu is rich but the flavor/sauce is seasoned very simply.

Tira De Asado: This was wonderful. The short rib is super juicy and nicely chewy. We gnawed on the bones. You'd never find such a satisfying steak for $15 in Manhattan.

We'd love to go back soon while it's BYOB. I hope they never serve alcohol. Otherwise, it'll be so hard to find seats and the bill gets bigger, unaffordable for occasional visits.


El Almacen
557 Driggs Ave (between 6th St & 7th St)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718-218-7284 (They normally don't answer phones)