Archive for January, 2009

Shorty’s .32 – SoHo

January 29, 2009 at 3:53 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Home-style Food, Home-style Fun

It was a freezing winter day – the snowfall had turned into rain, the streets of New York with filled with brown slush and puddles – all in all, a don’t-leave-the-house kind of day. There couldn’t have been a better time for some hot, rich, comfort food and a friendly, cozy atmosphere.

Shorty’s .32

www.shortys32.com
199 Prince Street
(212) 375 – 8275

Shorty’s .32 is named for it having only 32 seats in the restaurant. A cozy little spot in SoHo, the humble front of the restaurant gives no indication of the delicious tastes within. The decor inside is cozy – the room draped with many different ceiling lamps, a bar to the side, and a one walled booth seating on the other end. The staff are extraordinarily friendly – our host dished out many little treats on the house, and we even met Chef “Shorty” at the end of our lunch (he hadn’t been the one cooking, but was just coming in for his evening service).

Starters

  • Jerusalem Artichoke Soup – a divine, creamy artichoke soup with homemade potato chips and other spices sprinkled on top. The soup was served to us in little mugs (since it was a complimentary tasting) and was the perfect thing to warm up to after coming in out of the cold winter chill

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup at Shorty's

On the Side

  • Macaroni and Cheese – a must-order from Shorty’s, and don’t ask them to make it any other way (i.e. don’t ask them to add bacon to it). Shorty’s is famous for its Mac and Cheese – it comes in a shallow plate and it baked to be super crispy on top. Absolutely fantastic.
  • Chilled Green Bean Salad – my second favorite side that we ordered. Our host explained that they make the Green Beans in a special way – first they stick it in the deep fryer for 5 seconds, then immediately put it on ice to stop the cooking. When ordered, the chef will toss it with some olive oil and garlic to give it the flavor, and serve. The Green Beans were so crispy and tender, yet flavorful – definitely a great take on a plain vegetable.
  • Asparagus – the asparagus was very good, but didn’t stick out like the other sides. Served like normal asparagus with some cheese on top.

Main Dish

  • Roasted Codfish with Gruyere Broth, Camarelized Onions and Swiss Chard – when my plate came out, our host took the time to describe my dish. As he was pouring the broth over the fish, he explained that the chef’s vision behind this dish was for it to resemble french onion soup. The cod is so tender, almost creamy, served on top of the caramelized onions, which sits on top of some bread. With the Gruyere Broth poured on top, the taste of all the components combined left a rich and creamy, french onion soup-like taste in my mouth. Truly a treat.

Roasted Cod in Gruyere Broth at Shorty's

  • Open-faced Reuben with a fried egg – not on the menu, but a favorite at Shorty’s, my co-worker ordered this dish, and was greeted by a very large sandwich. I tried a bite and found it very good, but I still preferred my Cod.
  • Burger, 8oz Grilled with homemade pickles and french fries – three of my lunch companions ordered the burger, cooked to their liking with their choice of cheese and other toppings. Actually, the thing to note from this dish were the homemade pickle slices – made right at the restaurant, has a kick (they said it was cumin). So good that one person asked for seconds.

Dessert

  • Chocolate cake with Passionfruit Sorbet – Molten chocolate cake, comes out hot from the oven. The sweet and tarty passionfruit sorbet made a nice contrast to the thick, creamy chocolate cake.
  • Homemade ice cream – vanilla and chocolate flavors. The homemade ice cream was very good as well, I personally prefered the vanilla to the chocolate. Possibly because the chocolate was slightly bitter (probably dark chocolate).

Overall on a scale of 1-10: 9.5 For both the spectacular food, and the spectacular service. Would definitely recommend for dates, dinner with family, lunches – and apparently, they also have late night dim sum on Friday and Saturday nights (12 AM – 2 AM)

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Fatty Crab – West Village

January 13, 2009 at 7:33 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Asian Invasion

Dear Readers,

Sorry for my major flaking out of writing posts on eat for work. Partially to blame is the extreme cold wintry weather that has settled in to the New York area and prevented both reps and us from trekking out of our offices to grab lunch. Mostly, we’ve been inundated with lunch meetings catered in the office, which hasn’t been all that bad either.

First entry of 2009 – Fatty Crab.

Fatty Crab

www.fattycrab.com
643 Hudson Street
(212) 352-3590

Chinese and South East Asian food – Do not go to Fatty Crab if you are into bland tastes, or if you can’t handle spices. On the other hand, if you’re looking for explosions of taste in your mouth, exotic and authentic cusine, and are ready to try anything, then this would be a great place for you to check out. Also, I’d recommend ordering family style (where everyone shares dishes) to truly get a taste of all the different flavors in the menu. Plus, it’s more traditional.

Snacks (Appetizers):

  • Quail Egg Shooters – not for the faint of heart. I personally enjoyed them, but my fellow lunchers were not fond of its strange consistency and pungent tastes. Still an experience, nonetheless.

  • Jalan Alor Chicken Wings – “similar to a barbecue-style – tangy, sweet, tender, delicious” as commented by my co-worker.

  • Steamed Buns (Pork or Veggie, we got both) – Similar to the steamed bun sandwiches that are all the craze from Momofuku, I thoroughly enjoyed the pork buns because of the fattiness of the pork. The meat was almost creamy, melt-in-your mouth, and perfectly paired with the greens that you add in yourself.

  • Fatty tea sandwiches with pork belly and sambal aioli – Forgot to ask what sambal is, but there was definitely a taste of seaweed salad in the sandwiches. The tea sandwiches were a good appetizer because it prepared my palette by blasting it with a mix of spicy and sweet tastes.

Main Dishes

  • Assam Laksa with traditional spicy fish soup, laifun – a noodle soup that is large enough to share with three people. As much as I was looking forward to the Laksa (I have yet to find good Laksa outside of Hong Kong), I was not impressed with this dish. For me, it was too fishy (with mini dried sardines and anchovies floating around the soup), and there wasn’t enough of a curry flavor to it as I’m used to. The noodles were good – thick rice noodles – and there were lots of spices and even pineapple slices in the soup.
  • Wonton Mee with shrimp and pork wontons, fried noodles – I didn’t get to try this dish, but I would say it is a safer decision than the Laksa. Not spicy, and the crispy noodles were a good contrast to the soup.
  • Fatty Duck steamed, fried, toasted tamake – Absolutely divine. By far my favorite dish on the menu. The duck was perfectly season, with this great crispy textured skin yet tender and juicy meat. If you get nothing else on the menu – get this.
  • Chili Crab, a dungeoness crab with chili sauce and white toast – Although the restaurant is called “Fatty Crab”, I wouldn’t necessarily order the crab. It comes in the shell, steamed and covered in sauce, but the meat inside is not especially different from regular steamed crabs. Especially after all the work you do to get to the meat, what you get is not rewarding enough to justify the work.
  • Short Rib Rendang braised with Kaffir lime, coconut, chili – This is the second favorite dish of mine. It may have been the first if I hadn’t been too full to do anything but have a quick taste. The sauce that the braised ribs were smothered in was tangy, spicy and sweet. My favorite part was the coconut rice that it covered – mixed with rib sauce, was absolutely delightful.

Dessert

  • Complimentary Coconut pastry for all customers – I truly enjoyed this asian-style coconut pastry. It was like mochi – sticky – yet the top was crispy. Even though I was ridiculously full, I still managed to gobble up two squares of this dessert. A great way to end an ethnic meal.

Overall on a scale of 1-10: 8 – While some of the dishes were truly extraordinary (the duck and the rib), I wouldn’t say all of it was at the same level. However, if you are looking for an ethnic food experience, then definitely check it out.

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