Serendipity 3

Yesterday, I ate at Serendipity for the 2nd time. It was upon the request of my friend that was visiting from LA.

Getting a table at Serendipity is the most absurd thing I've ever done to get the privilege of getting to pay someone to give me food. I wanted to get there early so as to avoid the lines to get in, so we (including AG) went there at 6pm. There was already a long line and a really long queue. We gave our names, and after it was added to the already lengthy list, we were told to come back in four, read it, 4 hours. While standing around, someone came by and asked their status on the list. "What time did you put your name in?" "1pm" "Ok, maybe another 30 minutes" How insane is that? I later learned that the place opens at 11am but a line starts forming at 930am. Wow!! But it's only like that because of the holidays and the tremendous influx of tourists coming into the city.

Anyway, we came back four hours later, and had to wait an additional 30 minutes. Outside. In the cold. When we were finally brought it, we had to wait an extra 15 or 20 minutes before we were finally given a table. A 5 hour wait for a restaurant!!!

During the 5 hour wait, we managed to go to Ferrara's, Gray's Papaya, and White Castle. So needless to say, we just ordered dessert. Their most famous item is the FFFrozen hot chocolate. So we got that and an order of Spudniks. The Frozen hot chocolate is an over sized sundae, topped with whipped cream. It is simply delicious. I don't know how to describe it. It overflows with the sweet chocolate taste and even gives you a brain-freeze moment or two (in my case, throat-freeze too!). The dessert was a meal into and of itself.

The Spudnik on the other hand is a plate of potato slices, with the skin, cheese and some other stuff. It tasted like it could have come from TGI....Fridays. It was nothing special and was honestly a disappointment. The highlight was definitely the dessert. Although a five hour wait is too much even for a dessert that large and good.

Prices were all right, $6.50 for the bland Spudnik and $8.50 for the sweet frozen hot chocolate.

The decors were very unique. Full of Tiffany lamps. The website, http://www.serendipity3.com/, gives a hint of the type of decors you'll find inside.

The place is an attraction, just like the line er, the crowd of people outside, and certainly does a lot to bring people to that area of Manhattan (225 East 60th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues).

I find it hard to believe that the movie, Serendipity, is the reason that so many people want to go there. I doubt that a romantic comedy can be so influential. If it is, it really shows the power, at it's best, of product placement in a movie. Andy Warhol used to frequent the place and used to pay for his meals with his drawings. I doubt that that's the reason for the crowds.

Also, it's called Serendipity 3 because it had 3 founders. It is not the 3rd restaurant.

My tired rating: 5 cereal boxes out of a possible 6.

Mandoo Bar

Mandoo Bar, at K-town on 2 West 32nd Street near Fifth Avenue, is a great place. I've been there a few times this year, so when I friend of mine was visiting from LA, I just had to take her there.

We came in at around 12 noon and there were only two other tables taken. By the time we had ordered, all the other (about 10) tables were full and there was a line going out the door!

The combo mandoo (combination plate with 4 pieces each of seafood, veggie, and pork Korean dumplings) was awesome. It tasted like a new experience even though I had had that before too. We also ordered the Beef Fried Rice - which was stir-fried and had chopped beef, veggies, and an egg - and the Bibimbop - a giant salad-like dish that had veggies and greens, some beef, and an egg. The bibimbop had a reddish sauce served on the side that you were supposed to pour into it and mix, but we just dipped our mandoos (the dumplings) in it instead - and it was tasty. A bit later the waiter told us that it was for the bibimbop, so I poured the rest of it in the bibimbop and mixed it...the sauce really did fit the bibimbop better, but by then there wasn't much of it left.

I really like the food. They're all so simple, but oh so delicious! Korean food is tasty and this place ranks as one of my favorite Korean places.

The decors were simple and plain. All the tables and seats were bamboo colored benches. Meaning no back rests. If you lean back, you lean on the person sitting on the table behind you. The had framed pictures on the walls that all had some slightly intellectual and witty sayings on them. The temperature was on the cold side, which it also was during my previous visits on the spring and summer.

My chopstick and tea rating: 5 cereal boxes out of a possible 6.

Bonus points: They have part of the kitchen on the front window so that you can see them rolling and preparing mandoos from the street.

Dos Caminos

For our holiday lunch, my work group went to Dos Caminos (373 Park Avenue South and 27th Street) for lunch last week.

It was great. The place is much bigger inside than its external storefront shows. It was nicely decorated and had a somewhat hip/metro feel. It was on the dark side but the company was fun and the conversation was light.

We (around 10 or so of us) finished a couple of pitchers of Sangria. The red sangria was much better than the red.

Service was awfully slow, but since lunch was on the company's time (and tab) I didn't mind. By the time my food came, I forgot what I had ordered....

We got nachos for appetizers. The chips were nothing special but the guacamole is prepared on a station near your table, but it's close enough that you can watch - although they don't call your attention to it. You can't choose to customize your guac, like you can in this other restaurant in Hoboken, but that's alright. Real and fresh guac is good!

I ordered an appetizer that had some octopus in it. It was the best octopus I ever had. It wasn't hard and chewy at all. It was so soft, it almost melted in your mouth. It was like dining on a lobster claw. I don't remember what my entree was, but since I don't remember, it wasn't anything special.

Dessert was great. The pumpkin flan was awesome!! Just like a regular Spanish flan, but with a hint of pumpkin. There was also ice cream and sorbet, they were good but not great.

Prices were reasonable enough, most entrees were in the $12-$20 range.

My rating: 4.5 cereal boxes out of a possible 6.

Enjoy the holidays!

Home-cooked surprise for AG

Today is AG's birthday and as a surprise I made her some brunch.

I haven't cooked in years so this naturally got me very excited. Fortunately, the omelettes and pancakes that I made were delicious!

The pancakes were made from Aunt Jemima's Complete Pancake and Waffle Mix. It's very convenient, just add water, mix, and it's ready to cook. I burned my 1st pancake, but the rest were nice. I made about 6 or 7 pancakes, all of which we finished.

For omelettes I used Cage-Free Omega 3 organics eggs. I don't think they tasted any different from regular eggs. I cracked open 6 eggs and mixed it in a bowl. Poured some egg mix in a pan and fried it. When the eggs were done, I placed a slices of cheese over one half, then covered it in diced tomatoes. I then folded over the other half and transferred the omelette to a dish. I made 6 omelettes.

Me and AG liked what I made. Since It's been years since I last cooked, my biased self rating is: 4.5 cereal boxes out of a possible 6.

I hope to keep cooking a regular activity of mine again.

Happy holidays!!

Web store idea - hmmm

Last week me and AG came up with an idea to put up a web store. Several days or weeks before, I told her that when I first started my undergrad that I wanted to put up a brick & mortar store and the web store will be just that: the web store of what I hope can be a brick & mortar store someday. I don't remember how the conversation went, but we did decide to put one up.

It takes some work to get a business set up and I'd like to do this right. The hard parts will be going through the mumbo-jumbo of legalese, tax stuff, organization, contracts, finding suppliers, determining the target market, finding a web host, testing, and others. The fun parts will be product testing, designing the website, fulfilling orders, etc... I'm not sure how to market it, but forums, blogs, and search engine optimization will play the biggest parts.

I'm really excited for this and my mind has been all over the place. I spent some time looking for some suppliers, went looking through web hosts, and even affiliate programs. I think this whole thing should launch without it's own web selling site first. Or start selling stuff through online market places like ebay and amazon, and later develop a website. I'm not sure. I dunno.

I really do want to start it out small. Thing is, I'm so busy already, it's going to take me a real long time to set things up and get things going.

Teriyaki Boy

I love Teriyaki Boy, the one on 45th street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues. I eat there quite often, maybe 3 or 4 times a month. It's great. I love chicken teriyaki. Even their sauce. Heck, even if I order a non-teriyaki dish, I ask for the sauce anyway. That's how much I love it.

They're also very affordable. They have meals that start at $5 or $6.50. They usually come with rice, chicken or fish, sauce (mmhmmm!!), salad, a side of california rolls or dumplings, and miso soup or soda. How good it that? Of course prices will go up if you add other stuff. To get either vegetable or shrimp tempura, price goes up a dollar or two. Service is also very, very fast. It takes a bit longer if you order a non-teriyaki dish, since they will make them to order. I've had their eggbowls and ricebowls. They're all delicious. Even their sukiyaki was excellent. They also have a sushi fridge stand, where you can take some already made rolls, chirasi, or rice balls.

Again, they were all good. I'll be there again next week.

My biased rating: 6 Cereal boxes.

Butternut Squash and Pierogies

AG made butternut squash sopa with green peas and potato spinach pierogies with artichoke lemon pesto a few nights ago, and it was very good.

Today she served them as left-overs and they were even better.

She put the pierogies down on the plate and covered it with the butternut squash. She then made some eggs and placed it on the side. When I first saw it, I got hungry. Tasting the egg and the squash, they didn't really seem to mix well. Later, when I was mixing in the pierogies too, the three food types blended wonderfully in my mouth. The egg was good with all three.

I think the squash is normally prepared so it is saltier, and the version that AG made didn't have any salt. I think. I don't really know about these things about food, I just like to eat. Anyway, the squash didn't taste the way it is normally served elsewhere, I think, but it was still good.

after a while, I commented that the dish might be better if I had some bread or rice. Actually, the soup was so good and thick, I just wanted to spread it on something and eat it, just for the taste. She pulled up a box of triscuits, whole grain and on the salty side, and the squash soup was very good on it. The triscuits were good with a slice of cheese on it too.

I stuffed myself. There are still leftovers in the pot, so I plan on picking on them later.

My cereal boxes score out of 6: 5 Cereal Boxes.