Posted by: Jeffsayyes | May 27, 2012

New Yorkers Guide to Montreal 2 – About PDC, More Funk, the Portuguese, and a Pogo

As we left off….

We came to Au Pied de Cochon because the defunct M. Wells is still one of my favorite restaurants. Their owner was a big chef at PDC, and we wanted to see his roots. We reserved our place, and our meal there was great, even impeccable. It was everything a food-based writer and his staff photographer would love. But for me, it’s a truth that there is great food everywhere, and the things that I appreciate aren’t necessarily the contents of one’s plate.

Part of why I loved Montreal so much was that they didn’t have as much of a lower class of individuals in the kitchens. It seemed like many of the cooks were actually owners, or at least heavily involved members of the restaurant as a community. I’m not the type of person to appreciate celebrity chefs, or feel lucky when they actually make an appearance to grace your plate with their gaze, so maybe I’m not their intended clientele – but that’s what it feels like in too many Manhattan restaurants – and PDC. I actually have no idea if the famous owner actually graced our plates or not – I have no idea who it is. When we arrived here, we were rushed to our table, looked into each others eyes for a few moments to acknowledge the fact that we made it, ate some taste good foie gras food, then felt rushed out. There is certainly something more, and I have a feeling they once had it, but tourism and television followers have a tendency to erode an individual and reveal a corporation.

To me, Au Pied was too polished, too organized – our meal didn’t have organic character. All the checkmarks are there, but at this point, it feels formulaic. The staff is nearly scripted, and at the process of seating, I feel like I’m bustled in, told to relax and anticipate the experience; then at the exit, I’m said a nice goodbye, but wholly without a staff reflection of my experience. I’m serious! My meal is not going to make a difference in this celebrity-chef approval machine. A decade of excellence may do that to an organization, but it was that rough naivety of M Wells which I loved the most. Me, I don’t eat for the greatest tastes ever – go read some boring asshole”s blog for that (missing link)- I’m here for a real experience. I want to see mistakes and sweat and people trying and having some balls with their cooking. I’m swooned things other than veritably delectable food. It would take a very unique occasion to bring me back. Here’s some foie gras:

What was amazing, and cool, and fantastic delicious and all those things was Le Comme Chez Soi (5386 St Laurent). It was new and rough. The room was loud and casual. The open kitchen had 2 men working alone and clearly in charge. We didn’t just see them cooking above the waist, we saw the whole kitchen full-frontal because there were no barriers to their workroom, other than being in the nook position (see below). The food was not arching towards the scientific levels of PDC, but the character was astronaut. The outside didn’t have signs yet, and half the menus were chalkboards on the walls. Because of this, I didn’t realize half the dishes til I left, but from our buffalo lasagna and crepes, and from looking at the hamburgers and other plates around us, I have heavy desire for being there again and again. The disappoint came, though, because I knew I wouldn’t be back for a long time. It was here, on our last day, that I realized how refreshing and deserving Montreal is. I have a big place in my heart for this city.


Sometimes it seemed like the whole town was full of M. Wellses. Owners in the kitchen, flaring their funkitude. Loud crowds of people eating awesome food. I love that stuff.

Check out this menu from MA’a'aM Buldoc (and even how they spell their name)
4355 de Lorimier St

Just incredibly funky. And the food was good too. This was our first meal in Montreal and it set the tone for the week.

The people were so nice at Alati Caserta (277 Dante) in Little Italy; they saw us peering through the window after they closed, and let us in so we could try something. We took our time, and they couldn’t have been more serene. Here’s an absolutely fantastic cannoli:

I don’t have much experience with Portuguese bakeries, but I fell in love with Pâtisserie Dorée (1560 Dudemaine). The egg custard was something I’d travel 100 miles for.

Here’s more Portuguese: The signature dish at Romados (115 Rue Rachel E) is their rotisserie chicken. However, I believe the the perfection is in their fries. No matter, it all comes meshed together in one styrofoam platter, overflowing at your point of sale. And when you order, make sure you request the sauce. It’s a total local joint, getting way busy at mealtime hours. I wouldn’t say it’s a tourist destination, but it definitely is a way to have really good food with the locals.

The two big farmers markets in Montreal are the Jean Talon and the Atwater. Both are in interesting neighborhoods, with Jean in the middle of a true Italian area, and Atwater in an up-and-coming vicinity. Jean Talon is much more real and preferred, but near Atwater was this greasy spoon, Green Spot (3041 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest). There we were introduced to a steamed hot dog and the pogo.


steamed hot dog, full

Pogo = corndog
———————————

We had around 3 or 4 poutines during the trip. I actually wasn’t wholly into poutine, I mean, I’ve had fries with cheese and gravy before… True, the cheese is squishy different, but still. I think it’s more of a comfort food to Quebeckers than a tourist destination. And that’s fine, I mean, tourists aren’t going to come to my mom’s house for turkey even though it’s the best ever.

The truly old school diner, Paul Patate (760 Rue Charlevoix) makes their own brand of spruce beer. It smells off-putting, like pine-sol, but tastes pleasantly faint with a little sting, and the liquid itself is remarkably clear. Definitely refreshing, and something you can’t get in New York.



—————
Next time I’m in Montreal (and I definitely want there to be a next time), I want to hang out more in the Italian section, in more modern destinations than Cafe Italia (instead try Myriade for coffee on the other side of town, or Olimpico!). I always have some experimental places to go which may or may not be a mistake – and for next time I’d some of those to be Italian food. Sounds funny, right? I didn’t have any pizzas because I didn’t want to waste a meal. The Italian restaurant pizzas looked reasonably good, though probably not as good as New York, and the take-out pizzerias did not look as good at all - though it was interesting how most of the diners sold pizza. I guess I’d like to try one some day. The Neopolitian movement is happening slightly there, maybe I’d try Magpie.

Next time I want to try Nouveau Palais. This was recommended as friends of M Wells, but we ran out of time and couldn’t get there. I think I’d love it. I kinda know I would.

We realized that many places close on Sundays and Mondays, so we will plan better for that next time. For instance, Lawrence.

Next time I want to go to a sugar shack in the spring.

Banquise - for poutine. It seems to be in agreement that the towns outside the city are best for the dish, but within the city limits, Banquise might be the best for squishy cheese curds and deep brown sauce over crusty fries. As my earlier comments may hint at, our poutine this trip was good, but not otherworldly. I still want more.

Next time, I want to go to that Italian bakery we went into on St Viateur, which we thought was the bagel shop. We must have seemed like tourists, and unfortunately were too full to eat when we went in there. I’d like to remedy our seeming naivete. The tarts looked excellent, and the “ponte pizza” looked as big as the Bronx-style. I can’t figure out what the name of it was, but it was on the east side of the street, and not necessarily on St. Viateur, but within close distance of there. This really makes me struggle trying to figure this out…. Let’s keep moving

No Name brand mayo

Here’s my yelp list of where we went in Montreal. It’s pretty complete.
Help from CA Chowhounders
Thanks to Camille for hosting!
Thanks to Sebastian for showing us around.

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Posted by: Jeffsayyes | May 21, 2012

Urban Oyster Tour Scouting Mission – A tour guide’s comparison

I’m trying to be awesome at tours. I want every aspect of what I do to be complete and great.  Last week, I met up with a friend, Brian Hoffman to go on his Urban Oyster tour of the Financial District Food Carts.  I’m lucky enough to know Brian from our shared passions of NYC, pizza, and telling people about it – I even think I’ve watched his pizza video of NYC 3x. For this adventure, I wanted to see the differences in our tour styles, in his preparation, and how we eat.  I’ve got to learn from people like Brian because I don’t want to get better just through experience; I’m going on the best tours of NYC to get great at this now.

Urban Oyster is a company that has about 5 tours throughout the city of varying matters history and ingestion. The main one i wanted to go on was the food cart tour because, apart from just seeing how other tour guides do it, I wanted to know more about street vendors in Manhattan. I wanted to see how the Roosevelt Avenue vendors compare. In this post, I’ll compare our tours and tell you some of the things that I learned and how I’ll implement them to what I’m doing.

Before the tour, I was sent an email for location, what to wear, and other information. The current email that I send out is very structured with the essentials, and not much verbiage. I think I will keep it like that because I like to have a bit of mystery for what’s going to happen with these tours. Their email, however, was more comforting to the toured ones.

Here’s something cool – Urban Oyster has a check-in at Four Square … It would be great if everyone took advantage of it, but reality may have other plans…. Also, they have a line in their email about gratuities. That’s a good idea. Lots of times when I do tours, I can sense people are unsure of what to do regarding this… When I tell them “this is our last stop,” I see them fidgeting around in their pocket, wondering if they should put out a bill or not. It would be good to say from the get-go, Damn right I accept tips for doing this thing! I need you to encourage me to be awesome like this!

Okay – On to the tour! – Here’s Brian handing out the first dish


Our first stop was about 40 feet away from the meeting spot, at Veronica’s Kitchen, a Jamaican cart that’s been on my to-do list for years. Brian had a nice system where he had a stack of little bowls to give to each vendor, and they knew to fill the bowls with a $2 portion (or so). For my tours, we usually get tacos (split in half), quesadillas (split in thirds or fourths), and other times people end up sharing a dish full of food. Sometimes we do have some excess food which goes in the garbage – a problem I’d like to solve.  I always have little plates and utensils with me, and on my first street food tour after I went on this Urban Oyster tour, I gave one of my vendors a stack of little plates as she was splitting the quesadillas – and as a result, she portioned them out seemingly by instinct – Universal communication, yes!  That worked out well.


At Brian’s tour, we usually had somewhere to sit (or at least lean) as we ate. For my street food tours, there isn’t much places to sit, but some of the vendors do have their own chairs which they put out for customers that we use. We also make use of the shelves that are on the trucks themselves. I guess it’s more hunch forward for Corona, and lean back for Manhattan. It’s a different crowd and a different landscape. On Roosevelt, it’s more families and people are more relaxed. On the FiDi tour, it’s people on their lunch break, lots of clean suits potentially getting dirty.

One thing that I couldn’t get over during the tour were the lines! Wow, all these well dressed people 20 persons deep for lunch. I don’t know how they do that. The lines do go pretty quickly, but still…

Brian told us about some of the businesses that make and customize the carts. The Midtown tour apparently goes to the factory, dang I missed that! Also, he highlighted Worksman Cycles in South Ozone Park, Queens, who make and customize vendor carts (they also have some awesome bicycles). Below was among the pictures and documents he showed us of historical photographs and other items.

I similarly have a big binder full of dossiers on the vendors, applications, laws, maps, and other info. I haven’t quite found the best way to introduce all this stuff into my tours, but people are always like woahh, when I bring out the big binder. Last tour, I just put it out at our starting location (Mexican karaoke bar), and told them you can look through my stuff if you care to. The pages didn’t get ruffled through as I would have liked, so the big binder still mostly just served as a device to give me a back ache by the end of my tour.

It was cool to compare the business models (FiDi Manhattan vs Roosevelt Ave).  One of the aspects most dissimilar is that some of the Manhattan vendors change locations every day. From my own analysis, this creates an Event when they are in town. Where, on Roosevelt Avenue, vendors typically have their spot, relying on regular customers coming out of the subways, here, the Bistro Truck is only in your area one day a week, and you are probably sensing more of a pull to visit them because of this. That smaller window of time makes it more desirable, and people think of their presence as a special occasion. Pretty cool.


In total, we ate at around 6 stops. My favorites were the bahn mi from the bahn mi cart, the meatball sliders from the Our Heros Truck, and Waffles and Dinges – with the Wafels and Dinges spekuloos topping on the waffle one of the best things I’ve ever had from a cart.

As for take-home swag, Brian gave us postcards for Urban Oyster, which show a map of the locations we went to. It’s a slick looking, low cost item, but I wonder how often people actually mail them. Either way, it’s a promotional sheet, with added value as a postcard – so that’s cool. On my tours, for swag, sometimes I have games where people try to spot something on the avenue that I’m looking for… like illegal items or types of permits, etc. and I’ll give them a Mexican candy prize if they win. I love games and giveaways, but many times I forget about the game and it’s too late by the time I remember it. It would be great to have a sponsor who wanted to give things to my participants, like Mexican promotional products or maps of NYC.  Hmm, what’s Goya up to?…


The next day, I was sent an email by Urban Oyster, prompting to tell friends and review, and to tell me about their other tours. This inspired me to rewrite my own closing letter with a greater, more concise push to write reviews on my tour. In addition to a rundown of what we ate and where we went, I currently have a schpeil about how important reviews are, as opposed to news articles – but I’m going to cut that out to keep it efficient. I’m going for a greater push at reviews now because I have an urgency that I need to have as many people come on my tours as possible – and personal recommendations are the best way to get people to come on the tours. Last week, I had some major breakthroughs to the community and I keep on delving deeper and deeper in it – this area thrills me to no end, and there’s so few resources on it. I need to share everything I see with people in person, and I need to bring people to Roosevelt Avenue to show off what we have.

What I realized about my own tour is that I don’t have to go to 10 vendors in one night like I’ve been doing. At the Urban Oyster tour, we went to 6, and I was very satisfied. I do always try to over-deliver, but sometimes just passing by and explaining is okay. I do, however, feel bad for the vendors if we don’t buy anything…. maybe they can be short drink stops or something…

For Brian’s tour, I tried to remain in the background and learn as much as possible, but I couldn’t help but get involved in the conversation about the street vending and legalities. Coincidentally, there was another tour guide there training to lead this tour, and one guest remarked that they got three tour guides for the price of one. I didn’t want to take any spotlight, so after that remark, I resolved to chill out and just eat the food…  Someone also asked if we were competitors, if our tours were similar. We both denied it, although we might be somewhat competitors… but the fact is that our tours are very different; Our tours are as different as Manhattan and Queens.

Thanks, Brian, for leading a great tour! Read more about Mr. Hoffman at his site, EatthisNY.com, and Urban Oyster at UrbanOyster.com

Hopefully next is Scott’s Pizza Tour. Most of us guides regard him as the height of food tour guides in NYC. I’m long overdue for a ride in the pizza bus…

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Posted by: Jeffsayyes | May 9, 2012

New Yorkers Guide to Montreal: Ployes, Penguins, and Funk

I generally judge a place by how long I’d like to live there (Sheepshead Bay, 3 months; Pittsburgh, 2 weeks; New Jersey, 6 months); but Montreal, I would live there. Live there! There’s not an abundant amount of immigrants like NYC, but what it lacks in diversity, it makes up for in character, funk, and fresh fruit. Seriously, I think every plate I came across was accompanied by some edible fruit garnish that tasted delicious. That’s function!

In NYC, we strive for the best, but that might just be a case of our competitive Me being better than You. Here, high rents and other costs cause our proprietors to concentrate on margins. In Montreal, it was different – I saw a strive for expression. What a great town.

I’ve said this before: The best way to see a city is to stay close to the ground and ride faster than two legs can take you – with frequent stops. Me and number 1 brought our bicycles and we did.

First, let’s get to the Must Haves:

Schwartz’s (3895 Saint-Laurent) - When I passed by, the line was out the door, so I dismissed it. No matter how good it is, I wasn’t going to wait in line like a lemming for a sandwich. THEN, I saw the take-out shop next door selling the exact same sandwich – and with tables and counters to sit at! Zero line. How come no one told me about this before???

Let me tell you something about Schwartz’s - It’s better than Katz’s. I didn’t think this was possible. Ordered “fatty,” you will never get closer to heaven. It’s so soft and salty; the bread is fluffed and smooth. For $6.15… wait, 6 bucks??? Damn, NY is a killer on the wallet, how am I even GLAD to pay 15 dollars for a pastrami at Katz’s?? Well, for 6 dollars and 15 cents Canadian, I will, without flinch, expose my money clip to that.

I have no idea what the classic Schwartz’s deli looks like, and I don’t care. Schwartz’s take-out window gets 5 out of 5 stars on whichever foodie site you’re looking at – easily. It blows up the scale.

Bagels vs NY: Montreal’s are sweeter, more condensed, with a stiffer shell. As far as I can tell, there are two main companies of bagel: Fairmount and St. Viateur. The process is cool, with the big shovel in the oven, and I guess it’s worth at least checking out how they bake it. Everyone has an opinion on this, but I have to say, I like the big, chewy NY bagels much better (butter goes to MTL though).

One of the most impactful meals we had was at a greasy spoon. It was soooo local. It didn’t have any internet reviews and there was no self-describing magazine story on the window. It wasn’t the commercialized diner on the way to the Biodome, it was the one directly across from it… the name: Roi D’Ontario (3991 Rue Ontario Est). Here, I learned the ploye. These little pancakes, called crepes on the menu, were so buttery and light that they became a revelation for me. These discs got me hooked, and since that meal all I wanted was more crepes. I even majorly contemplated going back a second time (an unthinkable act for me).

Back in Queens, I learned to make these soo simple little things. Ready for the recipe? flour, water, baking soda, salt. Enough water that it’s fluid. And butter the pan generously. Flip when it gets bubbling and the bottom looks good.

——————-

We did some tourist stuff. Some were worthwhile, like the Biodome residing INSIDE Olympic Stadium. I learned about the French downtown, which was where I’d prefer to spend much of my time as a tourist, and I learned about English downtown, home of Old Montreal – which sucks. Old Montreal was like being in the South Street Seaport or the NOLA French Quarter, such a waste. Other than looking at general stuff, there isn’t much realness to the area. I believe there is a museum in the vicinity, but we just didn’t get to that. And as for the Underground City, it’s basically 5 malls connected to each other underground. It is big, but I don’t like being in malls as it is, so why would I like being in one huge conglomerate of one?

Here’s the Biodome:

I loved the penguins.

Continued…

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Posted by: Jeffsayyes | April 3, 2012

Thali Plate at Tawa Foods Defined

A thali plate is the staple method of meal at any Nepalese restaurant. Here is the thali plate from one of my favorite places to eat, Tawa Foods (3738 72nd St, Jackson Heights, Queens).

Seen here is a bowl of daal (lentils), saag (mustard greens), seemi bean (string beans), tomato achar (pickled tomato), fried kerela (bitter gourd), and chamal (rice).

The fried kerela is surprisingly great. Everywhere else I’ve had it, prepared stewed or sauteed, the bitterness was too intense for my American palate. Even once at the back end of where Norling Kitchen currently is, years ago, I spied a Nepalese man’s plate and he warned me that I wouldn’t like it. I didn’t. But I do now. Especially with the fried seeds mixed in with the melon-ness. It tastes like gourd chips.

The vegetable items on a thali are usually refillable at Nepalese restaurants if you ask nicely enough.

There’s a lot to Tawa, despite its small size and makeshift decor. Bring a date, it’s a great test.

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Posted by: Jeffsayyes | April 2, 2012

NY Bite Club Fed Us Courtesy BBC America

It’s crazy, I’ve been wanting to go to NY Bite Club for 6 years already! It seemed like just as this started getting it’s footing, the whole underground industry was blowing up. This particular supper club was always appealing to me though. Maybe it was because I followed the chef’s reviews on yelp, or maybe it was the imagery on the old site which reminded me of things death. I was always waiting for that special moment or that special someone to be the reason for going though, and I never actually went. On Saturday night, it happened thanks to the generosity of BBC America and their new show No Kitchen Required (premieres Tuesday at 10pm).

I think it was the first time I’ve been a guest at a supper club like this, but I know it was the first time I’ve been to one with such esteem. As soon as I walked in to the host house, a member of the staff took our coats, and as we peeked at the kitchen, about 5 more members were busy beeing around creating good food with an aesthetic eye.

The theme of the night was Mexican, which they thought was appropriate for me because of my experience with food along Roosevelt Avenue. I would never call myself an expert on Mexican food, but I have a good enough foundation to be open to their flavor wheel. There are so many styles of Mexican, so whenever someone says Mexican food (or Indian food in the same fashion), I throw away all assumptions of what it is and just open up for what’s coming next.

But as the plates started arriving, I couldn’t help but compare to what I was used to.

Plantain bowl with ceviche


Pozole con Puerco
white hominy, roasted pork, chicharron
This was just as good as my favorite, La Cabana in Woodside. Didn’t taste like a twist or fusion, just tasted good in a funny bowl/plate contraption.

Huitlacoche Quesadilla
Corn smut, queso Oaxaca, epazote, masa pocket
I liked this choice for the menu. Huitlacoche is an ingredient I’m always showing people on my tours, and this version of the filler was as good as any I’ve had, although smuttier than most.  The huit was in a a fried masa pocket and not a big layer of tortilla folded over. As I always tell people, it’s hard to dictate what exactly IS some of these foods. I have no idea if they took inspiration from a certain area of Mexico, but I’ve learned to laugh at people who can ascertain whether something is or is not properly prepared with something so broadly defined as so many of the Mexican street foods. For example, probably the only essential element of a quesadilla is cheese.


Pipian de Pollo
Bobo chicken, pumkin seed puree, herba santa
This rice was one of my favorite rices of the year because it just felt right. Warm and soft, it was like a spicy cloud of grain.


Chivo Enchilada & Chanfaena
Roasted baby goat, 4 chili gravy, masa boat, avocado
Goat innards soup
Interesting how they used the term “Masa boat” instead of tortilla. This was my favorite dish of the night. With one bite, I blurted out: This is better than Roosevelt Avenue. Damn. The quality of the meat shone through, and the spices let me sweat only slightly while letting the goat do it’s thing post-mortem.

The goat innards soup was way potent, and the shot sized cup was surprisingly a nice size for this taste. I mean, how much goat innards can one take??


Flan & Horchata (horchata not pictured)
Caramelized custard
Rice milk, canela
Creamy, hard to finish after how many dishes we’ve been fed already. Pretty good night I’d say.

Drinks from Death & Co were provided too (menu). I barely drink, but these were easy for me… except the last drink which seemed like pure jet fuel over a huge piece of ice. I didn’t take pictures of the drinks because I really can only compare them to the well drinks I’ve had in the past – but I can say they were tasty, potent, and maturely pretty. If those drinks are reading this, don’t be offended that you haven’t been featured here, you were picture worthy, but my heart belongs to warm chewable stuff.

It was a great experience, and I was happy to finally get to something I’ve been meaning to go to for so long. As I looked more at the website, and thought more about the night, I realized that being here was more about the experience and talking to people than just the food. The food was great, you can’t argue that, but as far as connecting is concerned, it was such a good way to meet like-minded people. Good luck to the team at NY Bite Club, and check out their sponsors for the night, BBC America who’s premiere episode of No Kitchen Required is this Tuesday night, April 3rd, at 10pm.

I’m sworn to secrecy their location, their faces, and their names; but I can point you here and here.

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Posted in Events, Mexican, NYC | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Jeffsayyes | March 29, 2012

Introducing: The Ambassador Test Kitchen

The Ambassador Program is one of the best things I’ve done. I really like how it’s making people’s food dreams come true. Lately in my travels, I’ve come across businesses that want to try out new ideas for themselves. I have always liked trial runs and thought that these special occasions, like friends and family nights, were especially seductive. Also, I get so excited and my mind gets whirling when I start brainstorming with business owners – it would be a shame to let all this creative energy go to waste!

So what I’m doing is bringing these new experimental ventures to my friends who follow my stuff, and I’m calling it The Ambassador Test Kitchen.

We’re starting off with restaurant that I’ve admired for years: Thailand Center Point. They always appealed to me as the obvious underdog to the ubiquitously mentioned SriPraPai down the block. They are unique in their style and their menu, without being in your face about it. And when I brought other publications to them, they got to know who I was and I got to know who they were. I met the mother/chef Annie Phim, who amazes me because she’s relentless with being fresh and keeping her customers and herself interested. I met the daughters who usually work as servers, and I became acquainted with how and why they do business.

Annie revealed to me that what she really wanted to do was teach Thai cooking. I revealed to her that I find people to participate in other people’s dreams. We picked a Tuesday at 2pm because Annie is the only cook at TCP, and 2pm is her down time. Wednesdays are busy because Sriprapai is closed then, and Thursdays through Sundays are busy all day. I understand that this is not as convenient for everyone, but I also understand this is New York City with 8 million freaks and 4 million different schedules. I think we can make this happen.

Here’s the line:

Thai Tuesday – the First Thai cooking class at Thailand Center Point
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2-4pm
Owner, Annie Phim, will be showing common ingredients and cooking methods for Thai food, then demonstrations for:

- Papaya salad
- Thom Yum Goong soup
- Drunken Noodle

With hands-on teaching for at least one of these dishes (probably papaya salad).

Drunken Noodles, courtesy: Judibean

Cost: $48 (includes special gift)
Must pre-pay via Venmo (preferred), paypal, check or cash
Limit 10 people
Thai Center Point, 63-19 39th Ave, Woodside, Queens

If this is a success, TCP will offer more cooking classes throughout the year. This is Annie’s dream – I hope we can make it happen!

To sign up, contact:
JeffOrlick -at- gmail
516-428-4085

Because it is such a small class and we can’t afford cancellations, we must pre-pay. Please contact me asap to get the payments settled and your RSVP in.

Ohh, check it out, we did our Queens Love interview there last month!

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Posted in Ambassador Program, Cooking, Events, Queens, Thai

Posted by: Jeffsayyes | March 19, 2012

About Chowhound

I’ve been heavily into the food exploring scene for a while. I think I can talk about it smart enough.

What’s the deal with Chowhound?

In New York, Chowhound is an intense forum for food explorers. I’m pretty sure it’s the same around the world. Members are either well-versed in whatever or believe they are, but either way, the exaltation of their expertise is triumphant and many times proven by the date which they first became active. Going in and speaking can be like doing the gauntlet. It’s a place where you should know what you’re talking about or else you will get called out on it. Some people do rundowns of a menu, news, or a restaurant review, while others offer a question and the responses from the forest usually yield a supportive census. I like that part. Also Chowtips is addicting, super easy useful, and extremely addictive. I apologize for this chowtips hole I am about to put you in: http://www.chow.com/food-news/103826/how-to-make-rice-milk-and-horchata/

You can get some very specific information, and find many of the edgier restaurants 6 months before NY Times thinks about writing about it. I suspect this is where many paid food writers poach without contributing.

For a few years, I was well involved with it, but that has probably stopped. After being censored by moderators for putting up links to my own site and events, I no longer can agree that the purpose of the site is to share information. The owners at yahoo seem to instruct the moderators to limit links mostly back to Chowhound. Also, comments mysteriously disappear if they are seemingly not by some also mysterious ethos guidelines of Chow. I’ve made myself quit cold turkey because of it, and instead am concentrating on giving tips on my own blog, twitter, facebook, apps, jacksonheightslife.com, queenslove, and even yelp (but in a more casual way). Another thing that is frustrating, but possibly with purpose, is that there is no messaging functionality.

Further, lately my research has been in spots that aren’t covered in chowhound, like street food in Queens or the Bronx. For these items, I can’t find any experts online. I’m mostly just doing the legwork, speaking to locals, and taking tips from unconventional sources that don’t know how valuable they are. Yelp is actually not bad for this. Hey, I gotta hit the next level, right?

Another extreme food forum is egullet. I am not active on there and can’t speak accurately on that, although I can see they offer a wealth of information – with a higher ratio of industry insiders than just fans of eating. More recently, I’ve gotten involved with Quora, which is as much about smart information gathering, but has more worldly topics. It’s like a mature Yahoo Answers. Roadfood has also been reliable to me, but it seems too curated to be open like I like.

I used to check chowhound every day, multiple times a day. I’ve pulled away, and I think I’m better for it. Now I have more time to concentrate on my stuff, and use it mostly for research when traveling to foreign cities.

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