Spam Is Better Fried

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Boston Common Food Vendor- Daddy's Fried Dough

As a resident of Jackson Heights, Queens, I learned to love and appreciate food from street vendors. Whether they were tacos, arepas, cemitas, quesadillas, or halal food I knew they were made with care. While they are fast food, the preparation was not necessarily fast. I waited five to ten minutes for my food each time and I could watch them carefully assemble my order.

Daddy's Fried Dough

On a weekend trip to Boston, I came across Daddy's Fried Dough in Boston Common. The street cart is located near the Park Street Station T entrance/Tremont Street. Daddy's Fried Dough is available April through November. The fried dough makes for a great snack. Like funnel cake and churros, this snack is fried and often dusted with sugar. It is fresh and you could choose your own topping. It is best shared as it is rich, indulgent, and possibly ridiculously unhealthy. Also, make sure you grab a stack of napkins. You're gonna need it. That powdered sugar flies everywhere!

The fried dough plain and simple.

Pick your topping. Cherry?

Blueberry?

Boston Cream?

Even better. Boston cream with powdered sugar and cinnamon!

Just as good. Apple with cinnamon and sugar!

Daddy's Fried Dough
Tremont Street and Park Street
Boston Common, Massachusetts

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Woonbootmuseum, Amsterdam- Life on a Boat

Canals of Amsterdam, Woonbootmuseum

Amsterdam is known as the Venice of the Netherlands. They have more canals than Venice and not only are they used as roads for transportation but they are also prime real estate. Houseboats are plentiful in Amsterdam and just as popular as apartments.

It's not any cheaper living on a houseboat than living in an apartment. Some houseboats cost just as much as a house and are much smaller. Each one is unique and charming in its own way. The houseboats in Amsterdam have been adapted to modern living standards. They have heat, electricity, and modern plumbing.

If you ever wondered about the ins and outs of a houseboat and what it looks like inside, stop by the Woonbootmuseum in Amsterdam. It is located on Prinsengracht nearby many tourist sites such as the Anne Frank House and Bible Museum.

Entrance to Woonbootmuseum

One of the plusses about the Woonbootmuseum is that there is no line, something almost unheard of in Amsterdam since the lines at the Van Gogh Museum, Old Church, and Anne Frank House are upwards to an hour waittime. The admission fee is just 3.75 Euro.

The museum is self guided. Each patron is handed a laminated floor plan with descriptions of each room.The museum never gets too crowded and there is a little play area for children. The boat is less museum like and has more of a feel like popping into a friend or neighbor’s house.

Floorplan

Livingroom

It’s quite interesting inside and much different than you’d expect. There aren’t conventional bedrooms but two “cupboards” where people climb into to sleep. This boat had one bed for the parents and another for the children. It is a small space almost coffin like measuring about five feet by six by three. I learned that back in the early1900’s people were a lot smaller back then and this space was perfectly adequate.

The houseboat had a decent sized kitchen with plenty of skylights which allowed the natural light to pour in. Onward to the living room, this space was very large and had nice seating, a table, desk, television, and library. The back of the boat led to more rooms, a children’s playroom nook, another sleeping area, bathroom with shower, and storage area. The houseboat was nicely decorated and displayed many dioramas and models of what other houseboats looked like. There was also a video played about houseboat life and a mural on the wall explaining how houseboats float in relation to sea level.

Kitchen

Children's Playroom

Examples of different houseboats.

The Woonbootmuseum is educational and fun. It is amazing how the space is used and I could relate coming from a New York perspective. The deck of the boat was even turned into a garden and patio. Check out the Woonbootmuseum and experience this slice of life of Dutch culture.

Woonbootmuseum

Prisengracht 296K

1016 HW Amsterdam

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Art in Amsterdam- Jaski Art Gallery

A lot can happen in a span of 45 minutes. I had to kill some time before my bike ride into the countryside of Amsterdam. In a span of 20 minutes, I had already found the cutest little toy store along with countless cheese and sandwich shops I wished to have lunch in.

I wandered through a street of art galleries and took a moment to peer into one of the windows. The paintings, dark and imaginative, looked like mixed media. A woman opened the door to say hello and hand me a few fliers.

Jaski Art Gallery

Jaski Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery that lives in what is the New York Soho equivalent of Amsterdam: the Spiegelwartier. The woman, whose name is Willy, invited us in when I inquired if we could take a look inside. She was all too kind and made me a cup of illy espresso coffee. In Amsterdam it is customary to give a little treat, whether it be a chocolate or cookie, with their drinks. I enjoyed every last bit of my chat and coffee break before browsing the exhibit.

Chris Berens, a young 37 year old artist, is a patient painter. His paintings take hours to finish and his technique is simple but complicated. He paints over and over again on glossy paper to the point where his paintings look like different layers and media. They are all hand painted just using different inks and varnishes. To stare at a Berens painting is like looking into a dream. The images are bizarre, of fantasy, ethereal, and often mismatched open to your own interpretation. He will mix fairies with animals, Star Wars spaceships with modern buildings, and doe eyed girls with big heads and nature. Blondie is such a big fan of Berens that the group commissioned him to paint their album cover. He is a true rock and roll artist making a statement.

Strange Days - Chris Berens

Codega - Chris Berens

Jaski Art Gallery is all about statements. Weaved in with Berens’ paintings are the sculptures of Atelier Les Deux Garcons. Les Deux Garcons is the brain child of Michel Vanderheijden van Tinteren and Roel Moonen. Like Berens, they are also from the Netherlands.

Les Deux Garcons specialize in taxidermy art. This is what drew me into Jaski Art Gallery in the first place. The duo sources the animals from taxidermists, antique dealers, and auctions. The animals are stuffed, decorated with props, and posed in such a way that they are whimsical, humorous, and dreamy. This makes light of the matter that their art is based on dead animals. Imagine a chipmunk dancing in a tutu or two hamsters sitting at a table waving guns in the air. Les Deux Garcons like to play on fear and fate all while making you stop and think for awhile.

La Jeunesse Doree - Les Deux Garcons

(hamsters) - Les Deux Garcons

La Tentation Ferme - Les Deux Garcons

Jaski Art Gallery is open every day. They work with young talent, local artists, and collaborate on large scale with museums. They also participate in art fairs around the world. I’ll be looking forward to saying hello at The Affordable Art Fair and The Armory Show.

Photography Credits: Desmond Chow

Jaski Art Gallery
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 29
1017 DB Amsterdam

Monday, May 20, 2013

Openhouse Gallery Presents The Big Cheesy

Openhouse Gallery

I was one of the lucky ones to win a ticket to Openhouse Gallery’s The Big Cheesy on InsideHook’s Facebook contest.

The Big Cheesy is now an annual event at Openhouse Gallery. For two days, the space transforms into a grilled cheese mecca with samples galore. This year seven restaurants/ stands/food trucks participated to showcase their spin on the American classic. Everyone who attended the event got to vote for their favorite grilled cheese with an orange ping pong ball. Each ticket sold granted one hour access to the event. This steadied the crowd flow and gave each vendor a chance to cook enough grilled cheese for everyone and properly introduce their creations.

I started off with the most established of the group ‘wichcraft. Their spicy pork grilled cheese had the perfect balance of spice, meat, and mild cheese. I then moved on to Murray’s Cheese Shop who paired their secret cheese blend sandwich with shots of smoky tomato soup. Mixing things up a little instead of going from table to table, I went across the room to Melt Shop. They had bacon sandwiches with Widmer’s Aged Cheddar and Brick. It was served with a side of cranberry onion chutney. This was an important component to their sandwich. As if sides were not enough, they even used bread from Levain. Local is a plus and I love it when New York merchants support each other.

'wichcraft grillin'

Spicy Pork grilled cheese

Smoky Tomato Soup

Murray's Secret Blend

Melt Shop

Bacon Cheddar w/ Cranberry Onion Chutney

Artisanal cheese monger Lucy’s Whey kept things simple and safe. Their sandwich of apple butter, chili chutney, ham, and Cabot Coop cheddar could not hold a candle to next door neighbor Sons of Essex. These energetic guys seemed to be in competition with Say Cheese for who had the loudest boast whenever a ping pong ball vote was placed in their favor. Sons of Essex offered two choices: the Bowery Bacon Crusted Melt (a bacon crusted brioche with beemster, baby swiss, white cheddar, and manischewitz shallot jam) and a truffle grilled cheese (a gruyere, goat cheese, parmigiano reggiano, sauteed mushrooms, and baby arugula sandwich encased in buttery bread and sea salt to put it over the roof). Upon first bites, they were very very good. Rivals Say Cheese also had two sandwich offerings. One was a French onion themed one with gruyere cheese, swiss, a homemade French onion soup compote, and garlic butter on sour dough bread. For “dessert” they had a S’more sandwich that was made of mascarpone, Nutella chocolate sauce, and graham cracker dust on brioche. There was also a syringe filled with hot chocolate placed in the sandwich. Wowzas!

Lucy's Whey

Sons of Essex

Truffle Grilled Cheese

Bowery Bacon Crusted Melt

Say Cheese

S'more

Even after a dessert sandwich there was still more to be had. The Milk Truck had a bacon cheddar blue sandwich. At this point I was up to my ears in grilled cheese. It's tough being a taste tester! I'm thankful there was a little lounge for relaxing sponsored by Partyup Productions. I had an afternoon food coma.

Bacon Cheddar Blue

Lounge

Openhouse Gallery

'wichcraft

Murray's Cheese Bar

264 Bleecker Street

New York, NY 10014

Melt Shop

601 Lexington Ave.

New York, NY 10022

lucy's whey

425 W. 15th Street

New York, NY 10011

Sons of Essex

133 Essex Street

New York, NY 10002

Say Cheese

142 W. 83rd Street

New York, NY 10024

Milk Truck

InsideHook

Saturday, March 9, 2013

International Restaurant & Foodservice Show 2013

Jacob Javits Center

The first day of the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show took place last Sunday, March 3, at the Jacob Javits Center. This was my second year attending the show and I had a plan: skip all the restaurant equipment and just try out all food and drink samples while checking out what’s new in the market. The show was just as big but somehow I felt this year’s show was more organized and spacious. There was also no shortage of vendors.

I was greeted with fresh gelato made by the Cattabriga EFFE. It was smooth and creamy. Very good gelato upon first impressions and taste. The machine itself was quite impressive as the gelato maker held out a giant mixing spoon with gelato on it for us to taste.

Cattabriga EFFE

Fresh Gelato!

After that, I made a beeline to the Japan section on the right. This was where there would be a lot of hot food and ramen samples. I was right. I tried a variety of ramen and soba. Myojo's ramen noodles were cooked al dente. They had a bite to them and were not overcooked and soggy. Restaurant Nippon was present to demo their famous soba noodles created by Nippon Owner Nobuaki Kuraoka. The noodles come frozen but can be cooked in just eight seconds. Talk about a meal done in a blink of an eye. They paired their cold noodles with a salad. It was very refreshing.

Myojo

Myojo noodles

Myojo Shio Ramen

Soba ingredients

Restaurant Nippon Cold Soba with Salad

These savory dishes left me thirsty. Off to find the beverage vendors, I stumbled upon P&H Soda Co., Dr. Smoothie, and spindrift. I was already familiar with P&H Soda Co. since they have a stand at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg and are Brooklyn based. This time I got to sample all of their sodas from sarsaparilla and lovage to lime and hibiscus. I learned that sarsaparilla and lovage are roots. Of all the choices, I liked the grapefruit flavor the most. Dr. Smoothie focused on fruit and veggie smoothies (carrot apple and mango squash). They were a big hit with the crowd and very healthy. Spindrift was similar to San Pellegrino drinks in taste. They were good on their own but the reps highly suggested to use the beverages as mixers. Prosecco anyone?

P&H Soda Co.

Dr. Smoothie

spindrift Seltzer

There was no shortage of meat and poultry. I tasted duck, steak, and breakfast meats. Esposito and Karl Ehmer were on hand serving slices of sweet and savory sausages. One that particularly stood out was the chicken apple of Esposito. Master Purveyors had a whole collection of cuts to showcase but it was the steak slices Two Rivers Certified Tender that really stole the show. I have never tasted a juicier and flavorful steak before served rare. They offer three cuts: ribeye, striploin, and tenderloin.