Tisha Eats New York: Casual Dining

I ate quite a bit in New York (and Hoboken), and my trusty Levi's jeans can attest to that--I can barely get 'em past my bum! Damn. But anyway, I decided to divide my entries into categories, so today we're starting off with casual dining. These are the super laidback places we went to, the kind of places where you don't really need to get all dressed up, and with reasonably priced eats.

Turning Point
1420 Frank Sinatra Dr. Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 222-3797
www.theturningpoint.biz

Traditional Eggs: Two farm-fresh eggs cooked any way you want and served with country potatoes and a toasted English muffin ($4.95); you can add sausage, ham, or bacon for an additional $2.50

I realized recently that I have a thing for brunch. You don't have to get up too early for it, plus it gives you an excuse to overeat--you're eating two meals, after all! (It is a nightmare meal for any sensible diet, though. The whole five-small-meals-a-day thing goes right out the window.)

Given my Brunch Love, I was really happy that my brother took us (meaning me, my cousin Ate Udes/Lorie, and Boston U nephew Gedo) to Turning Point, a really lovely breakfast/brunch/lunch place right along the Hudson. Hoboken itself is such a nice neighborhood, and Turning Point seems to be located at a prime spot, with a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline. If I lived in Hoboken, I would be at Turning Point every weekend, I swear.

I ordered the Berry Delicious and Cream ($8.50)--an absolutely heavenly blueberry-infused waffle topped with homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries. It was served with strawberry sauce and blueberry sauce...but I asked for a side of chocolate sauce. Sweet!

This baby elicited a lot of oohs and ahhs in Multiply and Facebook!

My nephew ordered the Big Daddy Omelette. This thing was no joke--a six-egg omelette loaded with Virginia ham, smoked bacon, chorizo, and fresh mozzarella. I learned that a half dozen eggs is Gedo's normal daily intake. "It's good cholesterol!" he insisted.

This (over)loaded omelette will set you back a little over seven bucks, I think (sans tax)

Ayhan's Shish Kebab
1504 Old Country Rd., Westbury, NY (516) 222-8000

I'm not sure exactly which branch we went to, but I tacked on the Westbury address! The one where we ate was a mall-based resto, and it was packed. There was a really long line snaking around the resto--all people waiting to partake of the $10 Mediterranean buffet! Yup, that's right, a $10 buffet--and that includes a drink. Plus our server, Jamal, was incredibly attentive. He was constantly checking up on us, which totally amazed us given that there were so many other people he had to take care of. I'm guessing Kuya Vic gave him a hefty tip.

Major's Steak House
Branches in Woodbury and East Meadow, NY

"What is it with Filipinos and steak?" asked Kuya Vic.

"Umm...I think it's just our family and steak," I theorized.

Meeeeat

Yep, my mother's side is just full of carnivores. We ended up eating at Major's twice, on two separate occasions (I'm just not sure if the branches listed are the ones we went to!). Too bad my appetite crashed while I was abroad (no disc = small appetite), so I couldn't fully enjoy all the meat set before me.

On the first visit, I had a 12-oz steak served with potatoes while my cousins had the 24-oz version. My brother had a 12-oz steak as well...and a side order of burger. Hahaha. We also ordered some pretty tasty wings. On our second visit, Kuya Vic got the seared tuna (yummy!), and for the second time, we ordered the apple crisp a la mode. "Good choice!" said our waiter.

Tip: If you're not a fan of too-salty stuff, steer clear of the creamed spinach.

Hagi
Off Times Square, near Hawaiian Tropic, NYC

The skewers were about $1.50 to $3 a stick. Note: The chicken skin one is better on paper--it's not like fried chicken skin, and I don't even know why we were expecting it to be! But all the others were good.

My brother might kill me for including his "secret sushi place" in this list. You know how you like keeping some of your favorite things to yourself coz, well, it's cooler that way? Like how you're possessive about a still-unknown band before they go all commercial. I guess that's how he feels about Hagi. (Hey, at least I didn't include the complete address!)

Prices are really reasonable, by New York standards. And my brother believes, like other foodies do, that the mark of a good Japanese resto is when you see Japanese people eating there. Measured by this standard, Hagi passes with flying colors.

The menu item that my bro was most excited to have us try was the five-dollar beer cocktail. It's beer mixed with different flavors of juice. Pretty good, and rather strong! I couldn't finish mine. Allergies + jet lag = a really bad idea!

Diced steak, $7.50

Worth noting is the miso soup, which was just $1.50--comparable to Manila prices! We also ordered a really freaky yaki udon ($9). It had these stringy little things on it that were squirming when the dish was served--it's like the whole shebang, delicious as it was, had worms on it! Gak! My family and I just kept laughing in between eyews. Haha.

We had such a filling meal for such an affordable price. (Although my relatives took care of paying, bless them!) "Panalo, di ba?" my brother kept saying.

The Diner
44 9th Ave. at W 14th, NYC
(212) 627-2230
www.thedinernyc.com

Spinach and artichoke dip by candlelight

My brother wanted us to pay Samantha Jones's neighborhood a visit, so on our way to Long Island one night, we stopped by the meatpacking district for dinner. The area's uber-trendy, so to say that it's hard to get a table is an understatement. Every resto we called on our way there had a two- to three-hour wait--and it was a weeknight! There was the Spice Market (really nice, one of my bro's faves), Pastis, and Vento--all with hordes of people waiting, waiting, waiting.

We ended up going to the only place that wasn't packed. In fact, it was a pretty slow night for them: The Diner. After all, if you were going to the meatpacking district, all dressed up, why would you go to a diner, right? (Insert eye-roll here.) While I had a hard time walking because of my twisted ankle, I heard one woman complain as she struggled across the cobblestoned streets in her sky-high heels: "Ugh! They should pave these roads!"

A little odd that we had a candlelit dinner at a diner...I guess they're kind of trying to blend in with the rest of the district? Would've been cooler, I think, if they were all lit up like a regular diner, just to make it so blatantly different from other spots--a haven from other more pretentious establishments!

I wasn't that hungry so all I had was spinach and artichoke dip. Really good. And that, plus my brother's burger cost about half or a third of what our dinner would have cost in all those other see-and-be-seen places.

It was interesting being in the meatpacking district, and it probably would've been cool...if only it weren't "too cool," if you get me. SATC has either kept it alive or ruined it.

Grotta Azzurra
177 Mulberry St., NYC
(212) 925-8775
www.grottaazzurrany.com

"More cheese, please!" OK, so we love steak, and we love cheese!

My brother took us to this busy resto in Little Italy mainly because they offer a $9.50 prex fixe lunch--you get to pick one pasta and one entree. While I opted to have risotto, they of course picked the pasta and--what else?--steak! "Where else can you get steak for $9.50?" said Big Brother.

They didn't get the steak right the first time, and my cousin wasn't pleased...so they replaced it with an all-new steak. Can we get that kind of service here, please?

The other attraction in this joint is the Wine Cellar which, unfortunately, was booked for a private function that day. We instead got a table in the main dining area, brightened by the sunshine streaming through the windows.

Marra's (Downtown Glen Cove)
1 School St., Glen Cove, NY www.marrasonline.com

Not your typical pasta: My lobster ravioli with saffron cream sauce

On what Kuya Vic dubbed my "last supper," we went to Marra's, a casual Italian resto in downtown Glen Cove. While the food was pretty good, the highlight was just cam-whoring with my family! Sigh, I miss them so.

Kuya Vic's choice: Pasta with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, and oil

In fact, I miss New York. But eating out in a foreign land reminded me that restaurant hopping could be such an adventure--one that I can have right here at home!

Gluttony in Quezon

For mumsy's birthday, she and her friends decided to take a road trip to Tiaong, Quezon to have lunch at Ugu Bigyan's Potter's Garden. I decided to tag along upon hearing that, with just P500, I could feast on...

...all these!

A rundown of what we ate: (left to right, top to bottom row)

• Corn soup, made with fresh corn and not canned Del Monte!
• Pako (?) salad--at first, I thought they said "taco" salad. But this one is made with ferns!
• Puso ng saging. I really, really liked this dish. It's banana hearts cooked in gata (coconut milk) and mixed with onions. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did!
• Fish with mango salsa. Good.
• Some sort of tahong dish. Also good.
• Calamares. I think these were nicely done. None of those haphazardly fried squid rings--each one was perfectly coated in a light and crispy batter.
• Curried shrimp. Possibly my favorite. It's a toss-up between this and the puso ng saging!
• Ribs. Yummm. The inside was a little bland, but the outside was very flavorful, sweet. And since I'm a meat lover, I had a lot of this.
• Ginatan. Dessert was tapioca balls and gabi in coconut milk. We tried to figure out what else was mixed into it--like arnibal and pandan. There was something different about it. I'm not into gabi, but I did wipe out all the gata.

And these were all prepared by Ugu himself. Ugu is a potter whose pretty ceramics can be found in such places as Aman Pulo, I've read. (All the dishes are served on Ugu originals.) I first got introduced to his work when I spotted an interesting bench with leaf inlay at a house shoot a couple of years ago. Leaves and fish are kind of an Ugu trademark.

If I'm not mistaken, this is Ugu's house, found on the property.

The meals are served in open-air kubos surrounded by lush greenery. Walkways lead to a gift shop selling Ugu items like plates and wind chimes--so you get your fill of Pinoy food and Pinoy craftsmanship! Our favorite find: a calamansi spoon. It's a flat, ceramic spoon with holes in it, so that it could catch calamansi seeds as you squeeze! Plus, it's one of the cheapest items in the store, retailing at P120.

The tree in the middle of everything; the kubo at left is where the eating happens.


Cute product: Calamansi spoons

The Potter's Garden is part of Viaje del Sol, a route with interesting stopovers in Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon. Read more about it here.

If you'd like to have lunch at the garden, you'll have to make reservations. There's a minimum required number of people though.

Call mobile 0917-5605708 for inquiries.

Everything I Ate in Bangkok

OK, not everything.

But anyway, I think the reason it took me so long to post was I figured I needed to write extensively on each dish. But I think for this particular post, I could let the pictures do the talking.

Bangkok has so many food options--practically every meal we ate was totally satisfying. Even after eating about four or five times a day, there were still so many other places left to try. And the best part? I actually lost weight. Haha. It was all that walking!

So anyway, seeing the pictures won't nearly be as enjoyable as actually feasting on what's in them. But I hope this gives you an idea of just how awesome Bangkok is as a food destination.

Jim Thompson Cafe

H and I met up with my cousin, Kuya Roji, and his family. They took us to the Jim Thompson House, which has an in-house cafe. A few of the things we ordered:

Pomelo Salad. This was, by far, the best part of the meal. It was positively delicious! There were recipe books for sale at the gift shop, and I was sorely tempted to buy one just for this.

Pineapple Rice

Green Curry Chicken...or something like that

Curry Rice

Evil dessert. Note the truffles on top! Drool.

Roadhouse BBQ
942/1-4 Thanon Rama IV, at Surawong

We took the train to Patpong and did a walk-through before deciding that we would rather eat and get a couple of drinks. Again, our tastebuds were experiencing Thai Food Fatigue, so when we chanced upon Roadhouse BBQ, we immediately went in. It was actually included in our trusty TimeOut guide book, so we were fairly confident we would get a good meal. The tome described it as such: "A monster three-storey venue, distinct from the city's other pus for its US character, barbecue food and smokery." It recommended the buffalo wings, so we ordered accordingly...

The big-ass menu

Buffalo wings. Yum!

A big-ass burger

Food Courts

Bangkok is Mall Country, so we spent a lot of time in shopping centers. I was in awe of their food courts, with their dizzying array of choices, and high-tech payment methods. (You get a card, sort of like Time Zone, and that's what you use to pay. You can refund if you don't use up the whole amount.) A chicken rice meal would set you back about THB60. Not bad.

Seen one, seen 'em-mall? In Bangkok, that ain't so. I think this was from Siam Paragon--their food court has big aquariums with live fishies!

Ahh, this was when we were needed something other than Thai food. There's only so much Pad Thai and curry you could ingest!

This, and the dish above, was what H and I had as our "first dinner" one day. Halfway through it, my cousin called asking if we wanted to have dinner. We said yes, of course. Haha. A second dinner? Bring it on!

One of our last meals. Another food court. We wanted to get something "native"...

...hence, the Pandan Chicken...

...and Pad Thai

I don't even remember what this is. I think it was duck.

Greyhound Cafe
2nd Floor, Emporium, Sukhumvit Soi 24

This is where we went to satisfy our hobbit-like appetites. We met up with my relatives for a second dinner at Greyhound Cafe, which is sort of like Bangkok's version of Cibo. It's run by the fashion store of the same name, and offers Thai and fusion dishes. One of my relatives' favorites.

The chic, minimalist interiors

Lasagna Salad. Good!

I think these were some sort of crablets... I can't really remember, but I'm inclined to say it was good. I don't think I had anything I didn't like.

Interesting: Squid-ink Pasta

More pasta, with white sauce and seafood

Chatuchak Weekend Market

Crazy, chaotic, huge--brace yourself for Chatuchak Weekend Market. You will need lots of sustenance to go through the thousands of stalls! We decided to stop by one of the roadside eateries (like our carinderia) for an early lunch. The food was totally value for money. And this was as close to street food as we got to try while we were there.

Chicken and curry rice

No idea what this is, but it hit the spot!

On our temple tour, we also stopped by Rub Ar Roon Cafe (310-312 Maharaj Road, Pra Nakorn) which, sadly, didn't allow pictures to be taken within the cafe. It's located on one of the oldest streets in Bangkok; the row of shophouses were said to be built in the fifth reign (King Rama V). I had the Khao Gai Ob (grilled chicken marinated in a milk, garlic, and coriander root sauce, and served with fried rice, THB80)--and, like everything else we ate, it left me feeling full and utterly content.

To travel, to eat...ahh, this is the good life!

Davao Food Trip

We got quite a few resto recommendations from our friends in Davao. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to try them all. We would've liked to try the P99 buffet at Kuya Ed's and Greenhills, the Roadhouse Steakhouse at SM City, and the pizza place at the smaller Gaisano, but we just didn't have enough time. Besides, our gracious hosts grabbed every opportunity to stuff us silly, so I wasn't quite so inclined to gorge at every meal.

Some of the places we did get to visit were...

Dencio's Kamayan

If I'm not mistaken, Dencio's Kamayan is located at the highest point of Davao City, offering an awesome view...

With fellow travelers Issa and Kath

The resto is not affiliated with the Manila Dencio's, but it's similar in that it serves Pinoy dishes, grilled items, and pulutan favorites like sisig.

Nanay Bebeng
Marfori Subdv., Davao City

I just googled this address so I'm not sure if it's accurate. This place was just a few blocks from Chateau Veronica (Araullo St.), the apartelle where we stayed (good rates!).

We went there for dinner and there was no a la carte menu, just a buffet at a reasonable price of P248. They've got different kinds of kare-kare (seen below), oily but super crunchy crispy kangkong, and bottomless melon juice--absolutely refreshing given the rather warm Davao weather.

Kare-kare variants

Coffee at Yellow Hauz
V. Mapa St., Davao City

We noticed that a lot of places in Davao have "haus" in their names--just like our second home, Yellow Hauz. This coffee shop was just walking distance from our place, so we must've gone there at least three times to avail of their free wireless internet.

Prices are cheaper than typical Manila coffee shops, so I kept ordering iced tea and various juices, and even got my daily dose of milk (here, I had steamed strawberry milk. Yum). They've also got real food, like pasta for less than P100, and sweets.

Miguel's cheeseburger--was a little dry

Spaghetti was quite good

The brownie I was dying to try (but I couldn't)--Miguel had a lot of this. It looked incredibly moist and fudgy; my watered down pink juice is seen in back

Blugre Coffee
*Landco Building, Pryce Business Park, J. P. Laurel Ave., Davao City
*Matina Town Square, MacArthur Ave., Davao City
*SM City Davao
Owned by Gatchi and Larcy Gatchalian, Blugre (pronounced "blue-gray") is famous for its durian coffee--a great way for durian virgins to get a taste of the fruit.

Gatchi and Larcy originally owned a clothing store called Blugre. They eventually shifted to the coffee shop business, retaining the name that people down south were already familiar with. Larcy, who loves to cook, developed the recipes in the cafe herself. Among them were the pastas and desserts we tried.

Penne pasta with sausage, one of the pricier things on the menu, about P165

Tuna pesto--good, but I'm biased towards our homemade version!

Hungarian sausage--mildly spicy, just the way I like it. Reminded me of Old Swiss Inn, where I first started eating non-Vienna-type sausages!

Chicken enchilada--cheesy! Mmmm

The famous durian coffee--I am not big on the coffee, but this is coffee I can drink. The mix of durian and coffee is very pleasant. It kind of tastes like candy

Dessert--I'm not sure what this was. But it looked mighty fine. They also had this really tempting chocolate pudding-type treat served in a small cup; you can order it a la mode!

Blugre is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Paradise Island

"Best to have breakfast there at around 6:30, then head back to the city by 9:30," we were told by the locals, over and over again. "Stay any later than that and you'll regret it."

We didn't leave the city quite so early, but we were on the island by 8:00 am. We were warned about the scorching Davao sun, and were prepared to shell out some moolah for sun block. But the day we had time to go to Paradise Island was also the rare day that Davao was cloudy and pretty cool--we couldn't stay longer than a few minutes in the cold water.

We could've stayed all day, but the plan was to have breakfast there, so...

No beach trip is complete without a mango shake (it ain't true that if you've tried one, you've tried 'em all! This one was rockin'! Slightly milky. Obviously, I like milk)

Tapa--each ulam costs about P150, more or less, but it's good for two

The danggit was salty, but I liked it

Obviously, someone was playing with her food...

Durian wasn't in season so we didn't get to try it, but we did bring home a box of pomelo and mangosteen.

The thing about Davao is they've got an array of different food offerings--it's not just all grilled seafood or whatever. Near our place alone, we noted a sandwich place, a steak place, a Chinese food place. Gatchi pointed out that Davao is a family-friendly city; I might add that it's also foodie-friendly!