I'm Moving!

Hi everyone!

Thank you for following me on BLOGSPOT- however I have found a new home on my personal website:

Please follow this link: http://www.cynthiachung.com/foobie to see new updates FOOD updates! The link is easier for all to remember, and easier to come by :D

Thank you so much!

Bar Paya

Went to Bar Paya last night. It was a Peruvian place with a very wide selection of wines and tapas. For those who did not know what "tapas" are, (it's okay, because I just learned it too) it is the Spanish word for "Finger Foods". According to Wiki, "Tapas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtapas]) is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid)." Most of the dishes here were somewhat tapa-like.



The place was dimly lit, with a few candles hanging from the ceilings and sitting on the tables. The walls were lined with wine bottles. It was a nice atmopshere, quiet and dark.



We started with the Guacamole with Lobster and Shrimp and chips. It was awesome. The guac was cool and chunky, the lobster bits were large and you could actually taste it. Then we also shared the: Roasted Duck Breast (Chinese 5-spice, beer-braised leg, quinoa) - this was AMAZING. The duck was tender, juicy and very tasty. Very well cooked. Then we also got the Pan-Seared Organic Chicken (aji amarillo gnocchi, grated pecorino)- which was okay. The chicken was a little overcooked.



We also got the Grilled Hanger Steak (chimmichurri Peruana, yuca fries). The steak was tasty, cooked medium and had a great taste to it. We also ordered the “Aji” Tuna- which were little rare burgers with aji amarillo. These little burgers were amazing. (images above) We shared all of these, and it was definitely worth it to go in a large group and get a taste of everything.


For desert we tried the Panna Cotta- Pisco Tangerines, Coconut (which was this Flam type thing, image above) It was interesting, wasn't my favorite type of desert but a lot of the other guys enjoyed it.


Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (the area is nice and breezy, next to the pier)
Cost: The prices were: Small $2, and Large $3.

** Images were taken with iPhone4** (pretty decent, eh?)

Uncle Louie G's Italian Ices - Brooklyn

I know it's a little too late for ice-updates. It's October and it's beginning to get cold.. but everyone still loves icies! Actually, today's weather was up in the 70s... Well anyway, a few weeks ago, a few friends and I traveled to Governor's Island for a picnic, and on the way there, we stopped by this little ice truck. It's called "Uncle Louie G" and its by Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park. I think we were all really hot and tired and wanted a pick me up, so we all got ices there. To be honest it wasn't the best. NOTHING compared to Ralphs (but that's a whole other post that I will get to in the future because that is one of my personal favorites!!)

There only had a small selection of ices, flavors such as: Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Rainbow, Mango (great!), Vanilla Oreo, Cherry, Chocolate, Passion Fruit (pretty good!), Lemon, Coconut, Watermelon (tasted like bubble gum), Blue Razz, Mint Chip, and Tropical Rainbow.



I think overall it was pretty good. The mango was decent, but it lacked the REAL mango slices that Ralph ALWAYS has in their Mango Ice... but it was good for the moment.

What I don't understand is how people can eat Ice Cream Milky flavored stuff as an Ice-Form. I still have this horrible habit of ONLY eating FRUITY flavored things in ice form. I can't shake it. Vanilla Ice just sounds horrible (ha, great pun, go me!)

Taste: 2/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 (the area is nice and breezy, next to the pier)
Cost: The prices were: Small $2, and Large $3.

Some more Food Stops in San Diego & LA

I was only in LA for like 2 days back in August.. but I got the opportunity to try out some interesting stuff. Hopefully I'll be back in Cali soon to visit and be taken to even better places :)

Well, San Diego- We crossed the Mexican border at around 5am in the morning, go to San Diego at about 8am, stopped to get a cup of coffee at Cafe Calambria.



Even though I was just getting a coffee to go, the barista saw my camera and offered to make me a cup with a design on it so I could take a picture. Totally saw me as a tourist. Ha, but it was sweet none the less, and it was pretty.



The Mission [Diner]


Then for actual breakfast, we went to this place called The Mission. This Diner was cute, open spaced, nicely decorated. The waitress was really nice and the food portions were huge. I ordered the Roast Beef Hash and Eggs- Grilled Angus beef, horseradish cream, rosemary potatoes, and scrambled eggs. It was a delicious meal especially after such a sleepless night. Yum..



21 Choices:



We also stopped by 21 Choices in LA, thanks to my friend Sophia who told us we HAD to try it. Personally, I didn't find it that great- tasted like an over-glorified Mr. Softee. The ice cream was so rich, I didn't even bother finishing it. But the place looked real hip and trendy. Yeah...



We also waited about 2 hours on line for a 'Kogi Taco' from the kogi taco truck in LA. It's just Bulgogi stuffed inside a taco. Nothing too amazing. The cops cut us in line before the truck opened. Aren't they nice? Yeah...



Found a Prying Matus while on the line:

What is a Fooobie?

I'm going to tell you all a little story. It's entertaining, trust me, try to read to the end.

I first came up with this idea when I was sitting on a night train from Venice to Naples in Italy in December of 2009. I kid you NOT. I still have the memo that I wrote to myself on my blackberry that night. I couldn't sleep because the train was bobbling around too much so I just sat there, staring in the dark, thinking about all the crazy foods that we were trying that week and how I would be able to share it with people. I had eaten an AMAZING dinner that night, and photographed it, but then I thought... okay, so now what? Show people these pictures on facebook? Nah, how about I make a blog that can explain it and also tell people where they can get these YUMMY foods as well.

Which then led me to think... I know nothing about food. My friends always talk about foods, restaurants, yada yada, stuff that I don't really care about...they're all super foodies... and I just eat and take pictures.

So, I decided to combine the word: Noob and Foodie. If you guys do not know, a NOOB derived from the word Newbie, which from terms have been diluted to just a Noob or NUB. Someone who is a NOVICE at something. A Foodie is someone who is very much familiar with the Food Culture of the world- something like that. Which when you combined the two words, what comes about is: FOOBIE. BUT, foobie was already taken by someone... so I named this blog, FOOOBIE.... (with 3 O's instead of 2)...

So then we come to now, 6 months later, and a whole bunch of posts. My dear friend, Jessica Tseng left a message on my Buzz post. "Jess Tseng - I was googling your food blog because Jon's coming down this weekend and a couple of hs friends wanted to get food... I remembered that your blog was called "Fooobie", but google told me what Foobies really meant. Oct 1"

I then proceeded to google what 'Foobie' REALLY meant. Urban dictionary SURE TOLD ME!

Urban Dictionary Says this:
1. Foobie
Foobie, a compound word made up of fake, and boobies. To describe not only those wondrous silicon orbs that seem to abound everywhere these days, but any variety of artificially enhanced hooters

However, I'd like to use the #4 definition, which is this:
4. foobie
1:) a generic exclamation to address the approach of another.
2:) one who is silly or meaningless; a doofus. commonly used with friends or friendly acquaintances.

DOH

Am I going to change my blog name? No. It'll take too much work to move all my posts over. So I'm going to celebrate this discovery with some imagery that I saw in Japan in 2004. Boobie Bread!



Disclaimer: I hope none of you guys found this offensive. If so, read someone else's blog.

Ba Xuyen

So yesterday I did something out of character. I traveled to Brooklyn. Ugh yes, Brooklyn. One of my friends suggested we go try this "really great" Viet place on 9th ave + 43rd street. So I went. It's ghetto, it's small, it's in the middle of no freaking where, but man, it was good- yeah, pretty much better than the truck. (see post here)



Mostly I went to see my two old high school friends, whom I haven't seen in literally 5 years. Danny Cai and Alejandro Chen-Li! But I was honestly really impressed with the sandwiches there. Ale had a Sardines sandwich! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THEY HAD SARDINE SANDWICHES??? (sounds gross, since I'm not a huge fan of fish but some of you may like to try it...). I had the grilled pork sandwich. It was freaking amazing. They had some kind of strange white sauce mixed in with the spicy hot sauce,.. made the sandwich a little easier to eat. It wasn't dry at all, the pork was really tender and full of flavor. It definitely was a good eat.



Ghetto, dirty, hole in the wall, but damn good. And for $4.00 for a sandwich this big? I definitely don't think you'll ever find that kind of price in Manhattan OR Queens...



*5 points to whoever can find my blackberry. LOL

Taste: 5/5
Atmosphere: 2/5 (I definitely would not come here after 8pm)
Cost: $4.00 (FOUR BUCKS FOR A HUGE ASS SANDWICH? I THINK YES!)

2010 NYC PIZZA TOUR

Yes, I know I'm REALLY LATE with this entry! But I wanted to write about it so I will! So a few friends and I went on this little pizza tour back in the beginning of Summer (I seriously think it was June 8th? That's how late I am...haha!) We hit up a few places and together shared a bunch of different slices of pizza. I will recap you with what we tried and what I thought of each place.

*** WARNING: VERY IMAGE HEAVY *** :) ENJOY~

POSTO PIZZA (2nd ave btw 18+19th street):

Typical cheese pizza. Wasn't that enthralled by it. The slices are really small, kind like 1/4th the size of a normal slice. Really thin crust, simple, easy to eat, good for being the first pit stop of the morning.


ARTICHOKE BASILLE'S PIZZERIA (14th st btw 1st+2nd ave)


This pizza was really interesting. It was super cheesey and thick crusted. The sauce was something like alfredo sauce, completely drenched the pizza.



Flavorful, thick, saucy and cheesey... it was everything you really needed a pizza to be. I remember burning the roof of my mouth when I bit it... so be careful. Each slice is huge, I think you get sick/bored of the cheesiness by the time you get to 3/4th of the slice being finished. So, just drink a lot of water...

VENEIRO'S:


Our next stop was to break the Pizza-cycle with some dessert. We walked over to Veniero's Pastry Shop (11th street btw 1st+2nd ave). Biggest mistake. It was decent, but to me, it felt like some sort of over-done tourist trap. The space was real tacky, gold-mirrors and all this jazzy stuff all around. The pastries didn't seem that fresh, they were overly glazed and super DUPER sweet. Could have lived without it.

LUZZO'S PIZZERIA:


Then we went back to Pizzas. Our next stop, "Luzzo's" (1st ave btw 12th+13th st)
This was my personal favorite place. Most of us were pretty stuffed from the past places, so we all wanted something lighter. We ordered the pizza with arugula + ham topping. It was amazing !!! The arugula was so refreshing. The ham was sliced real thin so it wasn't overbearing, and the just completely packed the pizza with a ton of arugula. Actually, I've never had arugula before, prior to this pizza, and now I'm in love with this plant. The guys that worked there were real nice too, they decided to pose for us and take pictures... hah

MOTORINO'S:

Our LAST pizzeria stop was "Mororino's". A BIG no-no for me. We tried the Brussels sprout toppings- to be honest, it tasted bad. The Brussels sprouts were all burnt and tasted like charcoal, and the pizza wasn't anything I can remember. That's all I need to say. Here's a picture to sum up my words.

I think the coolest thing about that place was that the pizza box looked hot- that's about it..

DESSERT TRUCK WORKS:

The last place we went to was called, yes, my pick, "Dessert Truck Works". When I yelped it, I thought it was going to be an actual truck, but it ended up being a real shop! It was really nice there. The place was beautifully renovated, brand new, menu written in chalk, real cute place. I ordered the Honey-Rosemary Ice Cream. It was so good !!! Sweet, but not too sweet, rich, but not too rich.. ahh it was lovely. I'd go back here again anyday. They had a lot of other cool pastries that I wanted to try- all pretty decently priced. It's a cool place to just take a friend, date, or whatever to hang out and get something sweet. I'd pick this over momofuku any_day_....



The end!

Downtown Vietnamese Truck! - 'Banh Mi Cart'

Hopefully, I will be getting back to my updating moods. Life has gotten really busy this past Summer, between traveling, working (a LOT, Thank GOD!) and being a crazy, I've hopefully calmed down a bit for a little to pop my head in this blog and write about some great foods I've been lucky enough to try.

So one of my personal favorite places to eat is this truck, called the "Banh Mi Cart" on Hanover Square and Pearl Street in downtown Manhattan. (In the Financial District) There are so many stories associated with this little truck. But I've eaten there 3 times and each time has been heavenly goodness.

The first time was with my friend Shelley, who told me about this truck (since she works like a block away). The second time with my friend Alan, which best story ever, we literally ran around the whole financial district looking for this stupid truck in the pouring rain. My blackberry's googlemap really sucked, so we got lost, and I'm not very familiar with that area so yeah, we got lost a lot. The third time was with my sister for a really random quick lunch break, where we both craved it, and I traveled all the way from midtown just to go get it with her. (Yeah, I know..SUCH.. a _long_ way :p) Each time it tasted great, hit the spot and filled me up like a happy child getting a huge gift on Christmas morning.



I always get the sweet pork Vietnamese sandwich. They have things like spicy pork, chicken, vegetable, spring rolls, summer rolls, whatever finger-type foods the Vietnamese have- but no PHO.. sadly. Anyway, the sandwiches are thin, packed with meat, cucumbers, carrots and some other mysterious veggies (which are probably easily named, but I can't think of them off the top of my head right now) - but it all tastes great. The reason why I really love this place is because of how fresh and clean it tastes. It doesn't feel too heavy after you eat it, and it definitely leaves you feeling good after finishing the whole thing. It's not huMONNgo, nor is it too small, it's pretty much the perfect size. What's also pretty great, is that it costs $6, which if you're from queens, you're like WHAT THE HELL, WHY WOULD I PAY SO MUCH FOR A STUPID VIET SANDWICH, because you can get one for like $4, BUT! again, in manhattan, honestly, where can you get a lunch that's less than $8?! (WITHOUT a drink!) This is actually a jewel of a deal! :)

Anyways, if you guys have a chance, go check it out- should be there Mon-Fri from 11am-2pm. Don't call me if you get lost- I still probably can't find it even to this day. Ha!

Thanks to some of those DEDICATED FANS (HA HA WHO AM I KIDDING??) I realized that I forgot to put my proper ratings in, so here goes:

Taste: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Cost: $6

Cello Wine Bar - NYC

Taking a little break from my "Road Trip" Entries. I'm completely behind on my udpates! Will try to make up now!!

I walked into Cello Wine Bar on 53rd between 2nd and 3rd ave, and was greeted with a narrow 'hole in the wall' space that was beautifully decorated. The walls were brick and the tables were cozy and it was mixed with soft light and candles that lit down the row. It was a beautiful little space and I instantaneously loved it. I spoke with the wine director (and as some of you may know, I freelance for New York Magazine, and sometimes I get to go these great places to photograph the interiors, in which why I was sent here...) gave me a lot of great wines and even had the chef cook me a whole 3-course meal to try!!

First we started with a salad:


Then, his special, Mac 'n Cheese,


then finally his delicious panini/banana/nutella bread toast- thing magiggy. Everything was magical!



I highly recommend this place. The Mac and Cheese was really good- but seriously, his panini-banana-nutella thing was amazing. It's his personal creation (as a chef) and it was seriously one of the best tasting things I've had in awhile. I didnt actually check out the prices of the dishes, but it doesnt look too expensive. Doors open at 5pm, it's a great place to take a date, or just to hang out at the bar to eat some finger foods. The dishes aren't huge, so it isnt in any way overwhelming. The wine's delicious too!

Eddie's Cafe - SF

So this one morning in SF, I woke up really early- due to my jetlag, and I really wanted some good breakfast. I was actually really craving some like, IHOP-type food, so I yelped some good places to eat around my friend Stephen's place, and I stumbled upon this place called "Eddie's Cafe". The reviews were decent, and it was really close by, I think it was like 2 blocks away and the prices looked real good. (hey, i'm a poor traveling nomad!)



We got there, and it was like a small corner shop- something that reminds me of Central Perk from Friends. The decor in the place was eccentric- pictures lining the walls, random flower pots- and the place was packed. It just seemed like a friendly-neighborhood diner that served "regulars" and was filled with a bunch of happy waiters. The restaurant was owned by Korean folk, which was a bit of a surprise to me, since the restaurant's stated it as "Soul Food"....and how random is it that there are penguins on the cover of the menu- what does that even MEAN?



Anyway, the food was decent, your typical breakfast foods, hashbrowns, eggs, sausages and coffee- tasted all right- but the price is what made it. I think I got all of that for like under $7 bucks- which is pretty insane because if I remember correctly, Ihop ususally charges like $7 STARTING.. without tax/tip!

Look how happy one of the customers are, eating their breakfast food!



Taste: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5
Cost: $5-8

THE ALL AMERICAN ROAD TRIP!! PT 2

A continuation...
Burma Super Star - SF (4/5)

This was actually my favorite restaurant of the week! This was my first time every trying any Burmese food, (to be honest, if you asked me to locate Burma on a map- I don't think I'd know where it is...) Anyway, a friend of mine was recommended it, so we went there for lunch one rainy morning. When we Yelped! it, we got a lot of warnings that it was going to be a super bustling place, because it was so popular, but when we got there - we didn't even have to wait for a table. But the place WAS packed to the brim. Literally there were like 2 feet in between each table and it was a great atmosphere. The service was quick and friendly, and everyone seemed to be breaking happy bread together.






We ordered the 'Samusa Soup', which is supposedly the most "popular" and "best" thing in the house. It was a vegetarian soup that had a mixture different veggies, predominantly it tasted like tomato soup, with a lot of other things mixed it, but one thing that I noticed that stood out, was they had this bready-texture THING inside which made the soup, the SOUP. Haha, overall the flavor was great and it tasted awesome and I would go back to try it again. We also ordered the Pumpkin Pork Stew - Tender pork stew slow cooked with kabocha squash and ginger- and it was the BEST. I've never eaten pumpkin cooked before, and it tastes a lot like squash... I suppose they are the same thing? But it tasted so awesome! We also ordered the Beef Kebat - Stir fried beef with onions, tomatoes, green chilies, and mint leaves. They say it's spicey, but it wasn't at all.

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE CO. (SF) - (3.5/5)



Supposedly my friend said this is one of the two best coffees to try in SF? I stumbled upon it by accident one rainy morning, while RUNNING ERRANDS FOR A FRIEND, and was greeted with a nice surprise. I ordered the New Orleans Iced Coffee because I was curious as to what that tasted like. It was iced coffee with a dash of mocha on the top. It was good, strong coffee and tasty. Way better than the burnt crap that Starbucks always serves. The price was a little high, I think it was $3.50 for this cup- that's not really normal for a cup of iced coffee- so this can be a once in a lifetime sort of deal.

THE ALL AMERICAN ROAD TRIP!!

Hello my fellow reader(s) (plural, I hope!),

I have just returned from a cross country road trip that began in the little city of San Francisco, I then journeyed through Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, Alamogordo and Roswell New Mexico, Lubbock Texas, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Little Rock Arkansas, Memphis Tennessee, even hit a piece of North Carolina, the Smokey Mountains, up to West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and then back to New York City! It was a pretty long and arduous journey, but I'm back alive, in one piece, and I honestly don't regret any moment of it.

Of course this is my FOOD BLOG, so I will be updating you with some glorious images and reviews of all the interesting places that I ate at. Of course the next few posts will be updates from that trip, so I hope you will enjoy them!

We'll start with San Francisco!

CHOWDER - SF (2.5/5 stars)




Down at the Fisherman's Wharf, I tried this place called, "Chowder". Since this is the bay area, seafood around here should be pretty tasty and fresh no? So I wanted to try the Clam Chowder in their famous sourdough bread. Probably not a good idea to come here to try it... it's better in Boston. Hah. The decor of the whole place was great, the staff super friendly. The whole interior of the little shop was cute and inviting, but the food was just bad. The clam chowder was SUPER salty. I don't know if they think that the sour dough bread had to be consumed fully in order to counter balance the taste- but I wasn't about to eat the whole piece of dough just to get the taste of salt out of my mouth!

TRISH'S MINI DONUTS - SF (3/5 stars)



Next, I also tried this little donut place called, "Trish's Mini Donuts". I thought it was a cute place and the donuts actually ended up tasting really great. It was semi-sweet, there was sugar coated around it, but it wasn't nasty sweet. One the down side, I think the donuts were a little too oily for my taste, and it could have been a bit fluffier- but hey that's just me.

Okay, I'm going to try to limit each post with 2-3 different restaurants, since these are all going to be short blogs!

IN & OUT BURGER - SF (2/5 stars)


Okay, so I don't get what the hype is about this place. I mean it was good, but it wasn't GODLY. Everyone and everyone always raved about how great this place was, but honestly- is it because you haven't been to Five Guys before?! It was decent, I tried the "secret" burger- the "Animal-style" burger- but it was just mediocre. Yeah it was juicey, and the price is good for the meal, but the fries they gave me were cold and stale and just didn't cut it to any standard that people have given me. So all in all, I had a cruddy experience here and I don't think I'd ever crave this place ever again or want to go back. That's all. For all of you people that hate what I just wrote, I'm sorry, but that was my truthful experience. However, I do encourage you guys to go try it for yourselves.