Embracing My Inner Jew

I am one quarter Jewish, which I know doesn't really make sense, and being that it was my father's father who was Jewish it's the least amount of Jewish I could possibly be. Nonetheless, I grew up in south Florida celebrating both Christmas and Hannukah as a small child. I also had a great number of Jewish friends, at whose homes an invitation to passover dinner was always available.


However, it was not until the first time I ate at Sarge's Deli on Third Avenue that I realized how much of an influence the Jewish culture (more specifically, Jewish food) has had on my life.


Sarge's is by far the place I have eaten at more than any other restaurant since I have arrived in New York (I'd say about 5-6 times by now). It just feels like home, and while I really like the city, I love the comfort of being in a place where there decor, food, service, and all around feel of the place immediately take me back home to a deli in Boynton Beach, where I sat with my sister and Pop-pop and Mim, two of the greatest grandparents a kid could ask for!


Sarge's is decorated with the traditional deli decor with maroon vinyl booths and the hideously tacky tiffany-style lamps. It's so bad but it feels so right.


On my first visit I was promptly greeted by my server, the sweetest old Jewish woman I have ever met. The first thing you are brought is a glass of water and a small complimentary plate of cole slaw and pickles(which are fantastic).

There really isn't any need for me to look at the menu because there is only one thing, or rather a combination of things that I ever order. First we start with the matzo ball soup. Just look at the size of that thing! It occupies the entire soup cup!



The texture is softer than any matzo ball I've eaten, but still manages to stay together perfectly. And there's just enough broth to accompany each bite of the matzo deliciousness.

Next is the hot pastrami on rye (with a side of potato salad).


I have yet to go to Carnegie Deli or Katz's Deli, which supposedly have the greatest pastrami on the planet, but I have had Sarge's pastrami, which is by far the best pastrami I've ever had. Once again, look at the size of it!

The first time my friend Jon came with me to Sarge's, he immediately complained about the $11.95 price tag of the pastrami sandwich. Shortly after taking his first bite though, he quickly said, "That's why it's 12 bucks." It just makes you want more, I never want to stop eating when I go there even if I'm too full. I feel as if I'm doing something wrong if I leave even a few slices of stray pastrami on my plate.

It's safe to say that I will be back at Sarge's in the near future. Actually, writing this makes me really want some pastrami, I gotta go...

Momofuku Noodle

I’ve previously written about Momofuku Ssam, one of the three Momofuku restaurants in Manhattan. This afternoon I made my second trip to Momofuku Noodle, the second of David Chang’s spaces which I failed to write about after my first visit.

Located on 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets, the restaurant is currently masked in scaffolding, making it hard to spot unless you’re looking for it. Thanks to my fancy new phone, the place was rather easy for me to find.

Now before I talk about the food I would like to reluctantly admit that I ordered the same exact thing both times I have visited, going completely against my desire to try new things. The reason I did this was because my first visit was so genuinely satisfying, that I badly craved the two specific dishes I had originally had.

To start my meal I ordered the steamed pork buns, a dish I have seen gather numerous rave reviews, and for good reason.



Steamed buns are a difficult thing to describe if you’ve never tried one before. The texture resembles the inside of freshly baked bread, although since they are steamed, the exterior of the bun takes on no color and does not become tough or crusty. It’s simply a pillowly soft pocket of light and airy bread, the perfect canvas for a seemingly endless list of ingredients.

The oval-shaped buns are spread with a light coating of a soy-based sauce, and then assembled with thin slices of crisp cucumber, two thick slices of deliciously fatty pork, and small rings of scallion. Being someone who loves spicy food, I liberally doused my buns in sriracha (that sounds wrong), a chili sauce that packs quite a punch. If you can handle the heat, follow my lead as the sriracha adds just enough acid to cut through the intensely rich pork fat.

For my next course I ordered the chicken ramen for the second time.


As you can clearly tell, the pork buns are totally unnecessary, as the size of the chicken ramen is enough to fill up the hungriest diner. Served is a rich broth with a good amount of ramen noodles, flavorful dark-meat chicken, bamboo shoots, scallion rings, and a sheet of Nori. (I also added my usual dosage of sriracha.) The addition of the chili sauce makes my face sweat while I eat, one of my favorite side effects of spicy meals.

My favorite part of the noodle bowl is that the mound of carved chicken meat is added at the last moment, allowing the skin to remain incredibly crispy despite being submerged in the broth. I also love that it is not only accepted, but encouraged to loudly slurp your seemingly endless noodles as you eat (Having to clean errant drops of broth off of my glasses at the end of the meal is fantastic). Biting off noodles mid-slurp is bad technique. After my minimal practice, I have started to master the technique of guiding the noodles with my chopsticks, helping to minimize the mess.

Both times I have left Momofuku Noodle, I have been entirely satisfied and already looking forward to my next visit. The rest of the menu looks equally as good, and I hope that on my third trip to the restaurant my cravings subside, allowing me to explore the menu a little more.

JEAN GEORGES LUNCH!!!!

At around 9:00 am on a Saturday morning I had the great idea to go to Jean Georges for lunch. Jean George is one of three 3-Michelin star rated restaurants in New York, and while the open cafe setting is much less formal than their white linen dining room, the meal was still fantastic.

The restaurant offers a fixed price menu of 3 courses (appetizer, main course, dessert) and costs $28, a ridiculously good deal for the quality of food you are served. Of course I saw a few other things on the menu that I wanted to try so the price of my meal (sorry mom) increased pretty significantly.

I've never had foie gras, which I find a little odd considering how much I love food and how universally accepted the duck or goose liver is as a delicacy. It's not that I was ever turned off by the idea of eating foie gras, as much as that I've never really been to a restaurant that I felt could do the foie gras justice. So naturally when I see the "foie gras brulee" on the menu, I knew instantly what my first dish would be. Doesn't it look wonderful?!



The round piece of foie gras was topped with caramelized sugar and sprinkled with sea salt, the whole thing resting gently on an equally round piece of toast. The small dish that accompanied the plate was filled with some kind of fruit puree (it has been a while, and I forgot exactly what it tasted like).

If there is only one thing I could stress to you it is, go eat foie gras now! I know it may creep you out a little, but get over it, it's hands down the single best thing I've ever eaten in my life. The richness and creaminess of the duck liver combined with the sweet crunch of the brulee and the sea salt, and the crisp but chewy toast was unreal. The reason I forgot what was in the little dish was because I didn't even make it to that side of the plate. I was so mesmerized by how something could taste so good that I completely ignored the (probably delicious) fruit.

After trying something new, I wanted to try something familiar, and tuna is one of the most familiar menu items in my daily meals. The tuna tartare sounded interesting and I knew the quality of fish here would be second only to maybe Le Benardin.

When the appetizer came out it looked more like a sculpture that a plate of food, with contrasting colors and a vertical presentation that made me wonder how each radish stayed perfectly in place as the server carried them through the long dining room.


The fish was among the freshest I've had, as well as the avocado (which is hands down my favorite fruit), and was sitting in a pool of a perfectly balanced sauce that had flavors of yuzu, ginger, and chili. It created a wonderful mix of sweet, spicy, bitter, and salty, all working to accent the tuna. The sliced radishes added a needed crunch and were equally as fresh as the other ingredients.

Ok so now we'll begin the 3-course tasting menu. First we have the crab toast.


The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this is, "How the hell do I eat this?"
I wasn't sure if the crab salad-topped toast were meant to be wrapped in the large lettuce leaves, or whether the small 'salad' was only there to accompany the toast and be eaten separately. I opted for the second choice, although in hindsight I think I would've enjoyed it more had I wrapped it up.

The flavors were mediocre and somewhat unforgettable. Don't get me wrong, it was the best crab salad I can ever remember eating, but it's still crab salad on toast, pretty boring no matter how you spice it up.

For my entree I chose the BBQ pork belly with crispy sushi rice.


This was almost as good as the foie gras, but on a completely different level. If you're not familiar with pork belly, just think of a giant uncut chunk of bacon that is slow cooked until freakishly tender, then seared to create a thin crispy crust. The piece of meat is probably 65-70% fat, but that's why it's so amazing. The fat melts instantly when put in your mouth, and the attached pork meat is unbelievably tender and requires little to no chewing.

The sushi rice was a little on the dry side, but had a great flavor and the crispy crust on the outside of the rice was a welcome change from the melt-in-your-mouth quality of the pork belly.

For dessert I ordered the 'mango soup' with angel food cake, fresh diced fruit, and a sorbet of which I have since forgotten the flavor. While extremely refreshing and flavorful, the dessert ranked along the same lines as the crab toast for me, being a little too unexciting and regular for me.


Although the two dishes were rather boring, they were still executed perfectly and tasted great. However the foie gras, tuna, and pork belly all offered me something I have never tasted, which after all is why I'm eating all this food in the first place. Overall my trip to Jean Georges was memorable and I'm excited to try the more formal setting for dinner.

Daisy May's BBQ

Alright it's been a while since I've written anything so I have a lot of catching up to do. Going all the way back to Memorial Day, I was in the mood for something you're always supposed to be in the mood for on this day, barbecue. So I hopped on my bike and rode across town to Daisy May's BBQ on 46th and 11th.

I've had a decent amount of really good barbecue in my life so I was looking forward to this trip, as Daisy May's has received excellent reviews from pretty much every publication I've seen.

I ordered the 'Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich', and the 'Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs' with sides of Cajun dirty rice and beans, and Bourbon Peaches. I also ordered a sweet tea, which was served chilled in a mason jar.



Overall, I was honestly disappointed. I'm not sure if I caught them on a bad day, with quality of the food sacrificed due to the higher volume of BBQ seekers on Memorial Day, but there was something missing in nearly every part of the meal.

Lets start with the pulled pork sandwich, which is one of my favorite meals on this earth and the menu item I select 99.6% of the time I eat BBQ. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the pork is slathered with sauce like a sloppy joe. Every time I see this I can't help but think they are trying to compensate for half-decent meat. I never understood this practice, and am actually quite turned off by seeing this happen. Let me explain why.

The beauty of a really good pulled pork sandwich is the moistness of the shredded pork that just melts when you bite into the sandwich. It should consist of long but tender strands of slow-cooked pig placed on a buttered and toasted bun. The application of the sauce should be left to the individual consumer, as should the addition of cole slaw to the sandwich. By inserting the cole slaw before you send the sandwich out (as Daisy May's does), the heat of the pork softens the cabbage and reduces its crunchiness, defeating the purpose of slaw on a sandwich in the first place.

The ribs were dry, and I'm not referring to the rub, they were dry all around. Just because you're preparing your ribs without sauce, doesn't give you an excuse when the meat contains no moisture. The rub had a good flavor though so I finished a good portion of my ribs.

Neither side item is really worth mentioning. They were both decently mediocre.

The best part of my meal was the sweet tea, served how every sweet tea should be served. Sealed in a mason jar with a few sprigs of mint, the tea had been chilled to almost freezing, allowing it to stay cold enough throughout your meal to avoid the need for ice. Ice does two terrible things to sweet tea; Dilute the tooth-stabbing sweetness that makes the beverage so delicious, and occupy valuable real estate in the jar that could be considerably better served by more tea.

After eating that enormous amount of meat, I knew I couldn't just hop on my bike and ride away, so I took a walk down to the Hudson River and encountered this ship...


From what I understand it is the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), a US Navy assault ship which was docked during fleet week.

More for My Mom

Here's a continuation of fun that doesn't include any intake of food or beverage.

While walking around with Jon and Sarah yesterday trying to figure out what to do (which we never did, and all went home), we randomly walked past Madison Square Garden, pictured below.


To be honest I though it was ugly. A very uninspiring circle of brown and gray, I barely even noticed it until we were standing under the giant flashing screen hanging off the side of the building.

Today I went to Central Park for the first time. I had been to the borders of the park a few times but hadn't really ventured inside yet. It's nuts how your surroundings within the park can be so polar opposite from the mass of concrete and steel outside of the park.

The first thing I came across was the Central Park Zoo, which to be honest I had forgetting even existed. I didn't go in because I didn't want to look like the loneliest person in Manhattan, just wandering around the zoo by myself.

However the seal tank was right along the fence, so I took a picture. Look mom, New York seals!

Next I walked down this decently scenic path as I was on my way to absolutely nowhere. It looked nice, enjoy...


OoOoOo that's nice to look at, buildings and wilderness...

For My Mother

My wonderful mother is dying to hear about something that I am doing other than eating and drinking, as well as see the area where I am living. So the next few posts will be centered around the touristy things I walk past on a daily basis.

Since I work between Lexington Avenue and Park Avenue, I walk down Park nearly every day. Littered with outrageously priced designer fashion boutiques and jewelry stores, I feel grossly out of place on this street.

The picture below is the intersection of Park Avenue and 51st Street looking south.

This is about a five minute walk from where I am staying. The large building at the end of Park Avenue in the photo (In the shadow of the MetLife building) is where Grand Central Station is located. I've only been to Grand Central once, which was actually yesterday, but I was in a hurry to catch a train so I didn't really have any time to explore. It's big though, really big, with a ridiculous number of tracks.

If I actually took time to slow down and look at all the winding hallways and towering arches, I could have gotten pleasantly lost for a few hours. But like I said I was in a hurry and operating at my newly developed New York pace, which I can't say I'm a fan of. I already miss walking with a slow stride down the streets of West Palm because nobody down there is ever really in a hurry.

This next picture is of Saint Patrick's Cathedral on 51st and 5th. About a 10 minute walk.


It is enormous (Surprise!). I have yet to go inside the cathedral, which I've heard is visually stunning, but I walk by the mammoth house of worship a lot. It occupies an entire square block in midtown. Pretty...

The last picture in this post is related to my personal interests. I encountered this building while aimlessly wandering around my neighborhood the other day.


It's a LEED existing building renovation!(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) As you can see from the signs on the scaffolding, the development team is pursuing a LEED-Gold Certification, which is rather difficult to obtain on an older building. I'll put up some pictures of other LEED buildings that I encounter in the near future.