authentic

Authentic Thai Spice in Hell’s Kitchen

~ Jonathan H ~ 2 Comments

Pure Thai Cookhouse
766 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10019

I love spicy food. It’s a fact of life, and I’m always on the hunt for a new dish to satisfy my heated cravings. For me though, even better than a dish that makes me sweat, is a plate of food that also brings flavor to the party.

Photo Mar 21, 6 57 43 PMPure Thai Cookhouse is a small, hole in the wall restaurant in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood styled after a historic Thai shophouse. Pure is the sister restaurant to Chef David Bank’s Land Thai Kitchen, located on the Upper West Side. While Land is also known for its spicy dishes and heat, it features more traditional Thai meals. Pure specializes in dishes found from Thai street vendors, as well as farm dishes or rural and market dishes throughout Thailand. The food at Pure is super authentic, and takes you on a culinary tour of the many regions of Thailand. While it only has about 20 seats, this place is packing people in for its bold flavors, great service and unique spin on Thai eats. This is a great place to take a date, some friends or even your parents for elevated Thai food.

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The Chicken Curry Puffs ($8) appetizer might have seemed to be pretty standard fare, but were anything but ordinary. The filling was made from moist caramelized chicken, earthy onions, and tender sweet potato. Although the sweet potato gave it a touch of sweetness, the filling was also flavored with warming spices that gave it a mild touch of heat. The chicken was aromatic, and had an almost creamy consistency from being braised and helped along from the potato starch. The puffs had a perfectly flaky crust, that was slightly chewy with crisp edges. The plate came with four good-sized pieces and garnished with a tangy cucumber relish. The relish not only cut through the heaviness of the dish, but also helped cool it down.

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The Ratchaburi Crab and Pork Dry Noodles ($11/$13 lunch/dinner) is a favorite of mine. The egg noodles are handmade from a secret, family recipe, and you can really taste the difference from those that come in a box. The noodles are dressed with a mild sauce flavored with fish sauce, palm sugar, rice wine vinegar and lime. It’s tangy, sweet, sour, salty and pungent.  The lump crab meat is flaky and delicate, and there’s a lot of it to soak up excess sauce. The pork was slight salty—in the best possible way—with a pleasant chewiness that makes it almost “chashu”-esque, similar to the delicate pork belly found in a bowl of ramen. The yu choy and scallions gave the bowl a wonderful crunch and textural contrast to the other soft components. The sauce is mild enough and the perfect vehicle to spice up with the chili and sauce garnish basket placed on the table. Be careful though, you don’t want to overwhelm the vibrant taste of the noodles with too much heat.

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If you’re in the mood for something more stir-fried or curry style, the Wok Chili Turmeric with Beef ($11/$13) is absolutely delicious. Flavored with kaffi­r lime leaves and thai chilis, the heat is very prevalent in this dish. I ordered it Thai spicy since I love it super-spicy and the beef can definitely handle the heat of the turmeric chili sauce. The asparagus and string beans provide a nice crunch, as well as a sense of freshness to the saucy plate. The chili marinade makes the beef very tender and keeps it from getting dry. The turmeric in the sauce gives it a lovely orange color, and a backbone of warmth. The side of rice is essential to this dish to not only sop up extra sauce, but also to take the edge of heat off of the dish. A generous portion of jasmine rice is included for no extra charge, but for an extra $1 you can get sticky rice. I like to use my fingers to grab pieces of rice and dip it into the excess sauce.

Photo Jun 19, 7 09 54 PMThere’s so many great dishes to choose from on the menu at Pure Thai Cookhouse to satisfy everyone–from a Thai spice novice to a expert noodle slurper. Make sure to check out Pure, and also its sister restaurant Land Thai Restaurant a couple of miles uptown for a meal that will make your face sweat and your taste buds tingle!

Thai House of Deliciousness (or What I Ate On My Israeli Vacation, part II)

~ Jonathan H ~ Leave a comment

Thai House
8 Bograshov Street
Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is, in my opinion, an amazing cit. In some respects, it reminds me of mini-Barcelona with the beach and then a large downtown, and in some respects it reminds me of San Francisco with a slightly bohemian attitude. Either way, it has a killer food scene.

image1Continuing on my Israeli food journey, this stop was actually towards the end of my trip. After eating lots of local Israeli delights like hummus, pita, falafel, salads, roasted eggplant etc., I was craving something a bit different, so I decided on Thai food. When I asked around, and then looked online, Thai House off of Ben Yehuda Street near the beach was recommended over and over. After having eaten here, I wholeheartedly agree—this was definitely some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had. This place gets super busy around dinner time, and all day on the weekends since it’s a block from the beach. There were a lot of locals eating here, as well as some American tourists in the mood for an authentic Thai meal. I was at one of two tables filled when I came in and the whole room was filled when I got the check.

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image3I sat in the dining room that had bamboo walls and roof, and it very much lived up to its name of “Thai house.” The menu was big with lots of choices, and all of the dishes can be made to your spice level. I wish I had 10 stomachs to eat with, especially with the incredible smells emanating from the table next to me—lime citrus, spicy chili, umami fish sauce, sweet Thai basil, garlic, and more—each one more tantalizing than the next. The table decorations were very simple—no frills—and it was clear that the food and authentic decor are the main events here. I do have to say that I regret not trying one of the cocktail specials that sounded refreshing.

image5The best part of my meal here was really the food though. It was hard to choose from all the selections, but I think I chose wisely. I started with the Yam Neua Beef (46 shekels, ~$12), or grilled rump beef served with a hot chili fish sauce. When the plate came to the table it was presented beautifully. The sticky rice came in its own sack, and I was encouraged to tear pieces of the rice off with my hands and eat it with the spicy beef. The beef was sliced thin and garnished with sliced onion on top, and sliced cucumber below that almost became pickled from the heavily acidic sauce coating the beef. The meat itself was so tender and had been marinated in lime juice, chilis and fish sauce, and some sugar to tenderize the beef. The choice to cook the beef at medium rare also kept it from being chewy. It made it not only super pungent and spicy, but also light and meaty, and the sticky rice was able to absorb excess sauce. The plate was also garnished with small pieces of chili—leftover from the marinade—as well as some mint leaves. The dish was just fun to eat, and the temperature contrast between the warm rice and the cool meat was a nice touch.

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For my entrée, I wanted some sort of noodle dish and went with the recommendation of the waiter—Yum! The Pahd Sen Lian with goose (72 shekels, ~$19) had egg noodles that tasted homemade, and not mushy at all, as well as three kinds of mushroom—button, shiitake and oyster—morning glory—sometimes known as Chinese broccoli—and scallions. I requested the dish spicy, which it was, but I also added some pickled chilis to the noodles from the tray of spice condiments that was brought to the table. The result was a building heat that complemented the slightly sweet sauce on the noodles.Although the ingredients were very refined, the presentation and composition was almost rustic, but in the best way possible. I could imagine myself eating this dish in some small village in Thailand. The goose was also amazing. Not only is it rare that I get to eat goose meat, but it was cooked very well and included a good amount of chunk, breast meat. The fat was cooked off, which just left the tender, moist meat. It was slightly gamier than duck, and very meaty—satisfied the carnivore in me.

image8My experience at Thai House was in one word: delectable. The food was delicious and thoughtfully composed, the decor was authentic and at the same time the perfect level of campiness, and the location was wonderful. It was a great break from the hustle and bustle of my time in Tel Aviv and a satisfied my need for a spicy Thai meal. #Nomnom!

Authentic Filipino Cuisine in the Outer Boroughs

~ Jonathan H ~ 2 Comments
FullSizeRenderLast weekend, I was planning to attend a Greek Easter party (my first) in Queens, NY, when my friend asked if I wanted to grab some dinner before the party. Who am I to say no to dinner? So we made plans to meet up with a couple of others on Saturday night Filipino food at Papa’s kitchen in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens. As I walked the few blocks from the 7 train to where Google was telling me the restaurant was located, I noticed it seemed a bit residential. Were we going to one of these underground restaurants starting to pop up around NYC the last few years? Or maybe a dinner party through something like Feastly? Alas, while eating in Papa’s Kitchen at times felt like you were in someone’s home, it is definitely a bonafide foodery, but with homely charms.
FullSizeRender-4Opened in October of 2012, Papa’s Kitchen is co-owned by a brother and sister team. Beth, is the hostess, as well as waitress and basically the entire front of the house staff. Her brother is the chef, and perhaps the Papa of the kitchen? The restaurant itself was super cozy; an intimate,
hole in the wall–in best way possible. Beth was super friendly, and even spoke to my friend in Tagalog. As a waitress she was very attentive, which admittedly was probably easy since the space was small–my estimate was 2-3 small as well as 2 larger tables. We were a party of four, so were lucky to have a great window booth in the front.
IMG_1802This place is all about no frills, simply authentic Filipino cuisine. The tables were simply decorated with the food served on styrofoam plates covered with banana leaves with plastic cutlery. The food is not out of the box or super modern, but that’s what makes it great. Personally, I feel that places like Papa’s are missing from the NYC food scene today. Here it’s all about the pure home dishes, and all of the food tasted fresh and home cooked. Food > frills any day!
Oh, not to be forgotten, this place is BYOB, with a decent liquor store down the block. Plus, they have karaoke (for free)! Although it was king of a hard sell–a tad aggressive lol–it made the atmosphere kind of awesome.
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Most important though is the food! Since I wasn’t as familiar with Filipino cuisine as my friend, I let him take the lead and just focus on eating, and singing of course. We started with the Shanghai ($7.95) or Lumpia Shanghai, which is perhaps one of the most well-known Filipino foods. In fact, there are restaurants like Lumpia Shack in Brooklyn and the West Village that specialize in these Filipino spring rolls. Naturally, these seemed like a good place to start our meal. The Lumpia were a little greasy, but made them more authentic. They were extra crispy with a nice crunch, and reminded me of a Middle Eastern cigar dish. They came with a pork filling that was deliciously moist, and a spicy dipping sauce on the side that reminded me of sriracha. Ten of them came in the order, so we were all able to have a couple.
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Next up was the Pancit Palabok/Luglug ($8.95), a dish of thick udon-esque noodles that were cooked in a shrimp sauce with cabbage. The noodles themselves were nice and aromatic with a great chew. The boiled egg and pork rid garnishes provides a nice textural contrast. The lemon, when squeezed over the noodles, provided some much-needed acid to balance out the heaviness of the noodles.
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The Kare Kare ($12.99) entrée came out about the same time as the noodles, along with a large communal bowl of rice. The dish consisted of beef stewed with eggplant, bochnoy (a version of boo choy?) and string beans in peanut sauce. The beef was super tender and the string beans retained a nice crunch. The rice was great to soak up the sauce. A salted shrimp liquid garnish elevates the curry like dish from almost bland compared to the other dishes. Using some of the chili sauce was great with the Kare Kare as well.
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The most anticipated dish, for me at least, the Crispy Pata ($14.99) was up next. To summarize in one word: Yum! Pata refers to the pork, in this case a pig’s trotter or foot, although it doesn’t look like a foot at all when it comes to the table. The Pata lived up to its crispy moniker with the super crispy skin–almost like cracklings. The meat underneath the skin was fatty and delicious, and so moist that we used our hands to tear it off the bone. There was a nice spicy sauce on the side to slather on the meat, and a separate dipping sauce for the skin of chili vinegar. The chili vinegar was tangy with a nice bolt heat, but not too strong. It was a nice break from the heavy meat and helped cut through the fat of the pork.
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While the Crispy Pata might have been the showstopper, the dark horse might have been the vegetable dish of the night, Sitaw n Kalabasa ($10.99). The menu makes a point to note that this dish was in the vegetable, but not vegetarian category. Maybe that’s why the veggies were so hearty. It sounds simple enough, pumpkin and Asian string beans in coconut milk, but the combo was magical. The chunks of pumpkin were plump and tender, but not overcooked. They had an almost potato like meatiness, without the heft that often makes potatoes turn mealy in curry dishes. The pumpkin skin was edible as well. The coconut milk sauce was super creamy and perfectly blanketed the vegetables.
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While we were waiting for our final dish, my friends decided to order a bonus dish, as if we needed anymore, but this allowed me to sample some more Filipino cuisine, so yay! Our order of Pork Adobo ($10.99) was interesting. The pork was braised, so it was slightly meow toothsome than the Pata, but not in a bad way. If that meat was pull apart tender, then this one was almost like a grilled texture. The pork was tossed with red onions that had a salty bite to them. The onions were cooked through, but with a crunch–an almost stir fry texture. The pork was dressed with a tangy, greasy sauce with hints of acid throughout, probably from the soy sauce and vinegar used in the braise. Overall, the dish was pretty addictive; it has a building flavor, and the combination of salty and sour made me keep eating it. I especially loved having some do the rice that soaked up the adobo sauce.
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Up last was the Chicken Tinola ($11.99), which was listed as chicken cooked in a ginger broth and is exactly what you get. I somehow felt that this dish should have come out at the beginning of the meal as a starter. Beth brought the clear chicken broth to the table (in a bowl that I actually have at home), and served it to us in bowls at the table. The broth was deeply aromatic and slightly funky from the ginger. The soup had sliced red onions floating throughout, as well as knobs of fresh ginger, bok choy, and pieces of chicken on the bone. The chicken had been cooked in the broth. The chicken meat ended up being nice and tender with a subtle ginger flavor. The real star of this dish was the broth though. Even though it was the end of our meal, I ended up drinking multiple small bowls of the broth. There was a lot leftover, so I wish that I had been heading home afterwards in order to take leftovers for the rest of the weekend.
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Since the place was BYOB, one of our group went to a store down the block and got a six-pack of Modelo beer, which is from Mexico. The beer was light and refreshing, and just a lIttle bit sweet. Plus, it came in a cool bottle.  Overall, the food was delicious and super tasty. This is definitely a place to come back to soon, and I definitely feel like I’ve gotten a taste of the Philippines.