Chiu on This

The bora and the tennis roll

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friends Nionne and Seth in Richmond Hill / Ozone Park to chomp on Guyanese food, specifically, Guyanese-Chinese and baked goods.

When Nionne, a former colleague, recently posted on Facebook that she was enjoying Ovaltine with tennis rolls with cheese, I was intrigued, trying to imagine, rather than doing an immediate search on the interwebs, what a tennis roll could possibly be. With an ulterior motive in mind - Nionne had taken me to eat Guyanese-Chinese twice before at Hibiscus Restaurant and Bar, and I'd developed an intense liking for their fried rice dishes - I asked her what tennis rolls were, and she offered to take me for a visit to Richmond Hill, hitting up Hibiscus along with a trip to a Guyanese bakery. Yes!

This intersected nicely with some plans I was making for another eating outing with my friend Seth, whom I've known since my college years. Seth has been living in NYC for maybe less than two years and, as a historian, amateur sociologist, and generally inquisitive person (altogether, a smart person who is not a smartypants), has already learned a helluva lot about the city's neighborhoods, peoples, patterns of habitation, and foodways. In short, he's one of the few non-annoying chowhoundy folks I know willing to travel across boroughs for food. We'd been trying to figure out where to eat next (he'd nixed a previous suggestion to try the Iraqi hot dog at a Colombian place in Elmhurst) when the opportunity for Guyanese-Chinese came up. His response when I asked if he'd be up for it was, "Would I be up for it?  WOULD I BE UP FOR IT? I am GEEKED!"

Okay, so with this lengthy preface out of the way and our cast of characters established, here's the food:

My pick: Fried rice with chicken. Magically delicious!

  Seth's pick: Chow mein with lapchong (Chinese sausage)

I didn't take a picture of Nionne's choice - the fried rice with everything (lapchong, shrimp, chicken) - as I think I was already tunnelling into my tower of food. Once again, I can't actually describe or define what made my dish so delicious, or what the specific variation Guyanese contributed to hyphenate the Chinese element of the fried rice. I can say that the chicken, both dark and white meat, was perfectly cooked: a crisp yet slightly chewy skin, that difficult combination of textures to achieve; somehow scarcely a trace of fat or greasiness; and very moist and tender flesh left on the bone. I couldn't identify the sauce drizzled on top of the chicken - not XO sauce or oyster sauce, but something like those yet not as salty and not sweet. Small bits of the green bean-like bora, which I thought looked like Chinese long beans (only to discover while doing some lite background research for this blog that they're - gasp! - actually one and the same vegetable) brought a welcome crunch and slight trace of bitterness and chlorophyll to the rich dish. I highly recommend adding hot pepper sauce, which is similar to this brand of Thai Sriracha hot sauce, to the fried rice and chicken for even more flavor complexity and happiness. (Speaking of Thai hot sauce, I felt like this dish was something my mom and her side of the family would really like, as it does remind me of Thai versions of fried rice, including the slice of cucumber on top.)

After polishing off lunch and wrapping up the leftovers - portion sizes here were enormous - we decided to walk over to Little Guyana Bake Shop to find those tennis rolls, and to aid with digestion. We made a detour to check out Warung Kario, a Surinamese restaurant that's on our to-do / to-eat list; we'll need to do some homework before then, as none of us could translate the menu. The stroll down lively Liberty Avenue on a sunny day, punctuated with stops in grocery and seafood stores to figure out what banga mary fish looks like and how much Ovaltine costs, provided a nice diversion from my impending sense of doom from not having gotten any work done over the weekend.

Once at the bakery, Seth got an super red sweet that looked of Asian Indian provenance, and Nionne picked up some tennis rolls and other items. I mooched a tennis roll off Nionne and bought a bottle of mauby, which I'd never tried before - unfortunately, I didn't develop a liking for mauby, which tasted bark-y (well, it is made from bark), slightly medicinal, a bit too sugary, and bitter; I'm willing to give it another try, as maybe it was the specific formulation/brand of the drink that I didn't enjoy and not the type of drink itself.

As for the tennis roll, even though it didn't come hot out of the oven, it tasted lovely. I'm not a big fan of breads or sweets, so it boded well when my first bit led me to want to continue eating. I had done a slight bit of reading up on tennis rolls so couldn't take credit for identifying the lemon and orange flavors in the bread (from the zest that goes into the batter). The tennis roll reminded me a little bit of Portugese sweet bread, but less dense and less sweet. I ate a few bites but was still too full from lunch; I saved the rest for breakfast the next morning. Slightly toasting it didn't make it any better and detracted from the texture, adding butter was good, but next time I'm going to 1) try it with cheese, as I can see how that'd work nicely and 2) with a little sweetened condensed milk, to be decadent.

Whew! I feel full and happy just reliving this. If anyone wants to replicate this meal, take the A train to Lefferts Boulevard to get to these places, and let me know if you're going so I can join up with you.

Something-hyphen-Chinese

Today's going to be a good eating day. I'm meeting up with Nionne, a former colleague, and Seth, a friend from college, to have Guyanese-Chinese food in Richmond Hills in Queens. One of the best things about living in NYC is the wide range of hyphenated Chinese foods I've got access to.* There's Cuban Chinese, of course; Indian Chinese, a brilliant mash-up of cuisines (I still have to write up something about the fantastic Himalayan Hut in Jackson Heights); Guyanese-Chinese, which I'm so grateful to Nionne for introducing me to, and which I'll write more about in a separate post; and Peruvian-Chinese, which I tried out with Seth and a couple of friends last summer.

My notes from that lunch at Chifa Union in Elmhurst aren't that great, mostly because the blazing heat of that day had melted much of my brain away. I hate Hate HATE hot weather, and I'd had the bad luck of picking one of the hottest days of the year to try out a new restaurant and even worse luck in picking a bad - that is, unnecessarily long - route over broiling, unshaded concrete sidewalks to get there. When I arrived at Chifa Union, I was a disgusting fount of sweat, and only an arctic blast of air conditioning could have cooled me down.

So while I don't have good descriptions or even the right names for the dishes we ate, I can at least share some pictures with you, and give an overall endorsement to Peruvian-Chinese food, which I do plan to try again. (For other reviews, try out this item from Edible Queens and this writeup from Serious Eats.)

I think these are the remnants of Chi jau kai, a deep fried chicken dish

We demolished the chaufa (fried rice)

Sweet and sour fish

Was this the Chancho con tamarindo (roast pork with tamarind)? Sigh. I need to keep better track of things.

* A few years ago, I'd heard about a series of documentary films about the foods of the Chinese diaspora, and after a quick bit of searching while writing this blog, I'm excited to have run across this video online. I haven't watched it yet and am really looking forward to seeing it and learning more about the culinary and cultural evolution of Chinese cooking.

What I drank this week

At Saxon and Parole:

• Celery gimlet - Spring 44 gin, green Chartreuse, St. Germain, lime, celery, verjus. One of the best cocktails I have had in ages, and I don't even like celery that much. This is my drink for the summer. Having a gigantic pitcher of this on hand at all times would make me very happy.
• Corpse Reviver #3 - Dorothy parker gin, lillet blanc, combier, fennel juice. Note the root vegetable theme continuing with the fennel juice. A good drink but not entirely memorable; maybe I needed another for a true revival, versus a Walking Dead outcome. I didn't stop to think about what versions 1 and 2 of the corpse reviver would be like.

At Blaue Gans:

• The Klimt - Sekt Blanc de Blanc, Campari, Cointreau, Plymouth Gin. If you like Negronis, you'll like this. I happen to like Negronis a lot.
• Hungarian Paprika Margarita - Jose Cuervo Silver, Cointreau, Lime Juice, Paprika. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this went very nicely with my currywurst. The paprika reminded me of li hing mui powder. Second best drink this week, after the celery gimlet.

At Salt & Fat:

• No cocktails, unfortunately, so I got a Sixpoint Bengali Tiger IPA. In hindsight, I think I should have had a pilsner with my meal, which I'll review in an upcoming blog.

At Boca Chica:

• The aged cuban or old cuban? I can't find their drink list online. That's too bad. Well, there was rum and mint in it, and I had one on the rocks and one straight up. Order it on the rocks, and it comes in a tumbler; order it straight up, and it comes in a martini glass. Why? I don't know. But it tastes better straight up.

Not sure if I'll be having anything tonight. My liver could probably use a break. My wallet, too!

Procrastination, the great motivator

Early September, and I may already hit my average of two posts per month.  As my earlier post from today indicates, I am trying to avoid work.  I've batted around a couple of emails and commented on a memo, but I haven't paid attention to the really tough things.  Instead, I've finally cleared my desk of a massive stack of mail and washed the dishes.  I've moved a pile of clothes from the living room to the [unused] bedroom - hey, that's progress for me.  I've put the laptop on the desk and will figure out later how to fix my office chair, as its back has just fallen off...

I'll pretend that I'm doing writing warm-up exercise by posting this blog on a recent excursion to Ben Benson's Steakhouse to celebrate my friend Janice's new job. It was a bit of mini-reunion of planners where I got to see other friends including fellow food blogger Anthony from grad school, non-academic affiliate Sean "Mean I" Robin, and Maestro Oscar. We didn't partake of any steaks (have to save this for a Beefeaters Club meeting) but shared appetizers at the bar - a platter of oysters (Kumamotos and the oysters of the day, a tiny briny type whose name I can't recall) and grilled calamari. The calamari was excellent, tender, smoky and well seasoned, although we were all pretty stumped as to the seasonings.  (We'll have to check with Janice's friend Brian, who's bartending there now.) It didn't need any dipping sauce, just some squirts of lemon to fresh it up.  I'd definitely order that again.

I only found out the next day, and by chance via Anthony's friend and automatic member of the Beefeaters Club, Jen, that Ben Benson's is known for its generous pours.  That explains how several of us came away both buzzed and pitifully hung over the next day, even though we didn't have that much to drink, if you measure by glass/volume/unit consumed.  I think I had two Collins glasses of scotch and soda, and I should have been more aware of how strong they were before I suggested that we call it a night with some Woodford Reserve, one of my favorite bourbons. (This kind of info, by the way, is why I don't promote my blog more to co-workers; while relatively tame, I'm sure it would raise some eyebrows. I'm already editing/censoring myself more than I'd like.)

That's it for now.  If you see another blog from me today, you'll know I'm in deep work avoidance mode.

Eight is enough

I definitely work with a good group of people.  Eight of us got on the 7 train to Sunnyside for a meal at Tangra, an Indian Chinese restaurant that doesn't make you balk at the notion of Asian fusion cuisine.  Recommended highly by Insha, Reena, and Susan, this was, I believe, the first field trip organized under the auspices of the Vera foodie committee (but credit goes to Insha specifically).

We started off with three excellent appetizers - lollypop chicken (top photo, left), fried fish fingers, and shrimp pakoras.  All were deep fried and commendable, crispy but not greasy at all.  The fish and shrimp came with a spicy and garlicky condiment which I would put on practically everything given the opportunity.  I was personally disappointed that Arnold did not eat the last lollypop chicken drumstick.

Five main courses were decided upon quickly (another sign of good group dynamics - compatible ordering): dried chili gobi/cauliflower; basil vegetable kofta in gravy; a sizzling beef platter; hakka style chow mein (bottom photo); and prawns with pineapple (top photo, right).  The last item was the least successful or interesting dish, mostly a sweet-and-sour facsimile.  The two vegetable dishes got raves.  I particularly favored the dense and toothsome, almost meaty, cauliflower.  I wished we'd had more of the peppery sizzling beef, which arrived in an aromatic cloud, but I suggested that we go to Tangra Wok for a noodle comparison.  The dishes were not that spicy/hot to my palate, but some folks expressed feeling a slow and steady burn.

We rounded out the meal with orders of mango ice cream and kufti to share.  Phew!  Time to loosen the belt.  My thanks to the food crew (Grace, Gloria, Sam, Insha, Sandra, Beverly, and Arnold) for a great start to the week and for picking a Queens restaurant to boot.  Could our next stop be the Bronx for jerk chicken and pork?

[Tangra is at 39-23 Queens Blvd. near the 40th Street stop on the 7.  (718) 786-8181.  They're halal, too.] 

Tangra time

Last weekend I finally did some wandering along Queens Blvd. while on my way to volunteering for a computing class for seniors.  I took the Q60 bus which, although incredibly slow, allowed me to check out the stores that I would normally never see while travelling on the somehow equally slow subway.  That's how I spotted Tangra Wok in Rego Park at 95-24 Queens Blvd., across the street from the Bed Bath and Beyond mall complex.  Rather than going to Ben's Best for a pastrami, as I'd originally planned and will probably write about later, I headed to this new-to-me place.

A few years ago, I had tried out Chinese Mirch (120 Lexington Av.) and very much liked the combination of Chinese and Indian flavors.  Just recently, my co-workers Susan* and Insha and then Reena** recommended that I try Tangra Masala (two locations - Sunnyside and Elmhurst).  So when I spotted Tangra Wok, I thought I'd give it a shot, not knowing anything about the strong opinions people have about the places.  The chicken Manchurian, flavored with lots of ginger, was pretty good, although I would have preferred to eat it with a stickier, short-grained rice rather than the basmati it was served with.  The leftovers, enough for two additional servings, were even tastier, as the flavors seemed to merged and strengthened.  I would definitely go back to TW for another try, but I'm also planning on going to TM in the near future.  A comparison of these Indian Chinese places would be a good subject for a Time Out NY review.

*Susan recommends the dry gobi chili.

**Reena recommends the vegetarian Manchurian meatballs and the chicken tangra masala noodles.

Fried chicken heaven

You must go to Pollo Campero.  A chain that started in Guatemala, expanded to El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, México, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and then hit the US, Pollo Campero has got the goods.  Crispy, juicy, aromatic, flavorful chicken meets up with a host of excellent side dishes, including (my favorite) Campero Beans, made from pinto beans mixed with bacon, sausage, tomato, and onion; spicy rice; and tostones.  Three or four salsas provide condiment variety, although good old ketchup is also available.

I'd read about Pollo Campero - word was that folks would go to Central America and return with buckets of chicken and other goodies.  Understanding this phenomenon all too well (my mom still brings me Zippy's chili from Hawaii, although I could buy it online instead of making her carry it on board), I figured that x thousands of people couldn't be wrong, so I had to try the place out.  I persuaded Todd and Nancy to come along with me on its second night of business.  We waited an hour in line, snacked on some tacos from a nearby truck, and chit-chatted with the other folks in the same predicament, some of whom had clearly eaten at one of the franchises before and others who were slightly curious as to what us non-Latinos were doing there.  Anyway, I've always been a grumpus when it comes to standing in line, but then again the length of the queue convinced me of the product's worthiness, and I was not disappointed.  The real question is why I am not there more often.  If one opened up near the office, I would be a goner.

103-16 Roosevelt Ave. on the 7 train; get off on the south platform at 103rd St. - Corona.  (718) 205-6842.

The Completo

Let me introduce you to the "completo," a beef hot dog I encountered over the weekend in queens.  Served on what seems like a hero roll, the hot dog itself comes completely obscured, covered by "sauerkraut" (actually just lightly pickled cabbage, still very crispy), diced tomatoes, what seems like a cup of guacamole, and decoratively topped with swirls of mayonnaise that look like the icing on a hostess ho-ho or ding dong cupcake.  I tried to get the can of diet coke in the picture to give you a sense of scale. this hot dog was monstrously filling.  Halfway through, I nearly gave up.

This dog would be a great pre-Mets game meal; you could sit through 15 innings and not get hungry.

JC & Family Restaurant & Pizzeria, 68-14 Roosevelt Av. between 68 and 69th St. in Woodside, (718) 478-1199.  Take the 7 train to 69th St.; the restaurant is right under the subway tracks.