April 2010
1 post
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I'm Featured on Vendr TV!
Pat myself on the back? Never. Toot my own horn? Pssh, forget it.
But having a post on the Vendr TV blog .. that’s just too cool.
I’ve always been a fan of Dan Delaney’s journeys through the world of street food, and jumped at the opportunity to help contribute to the $10 A Day challenge.
It also gave me a good reason to finally check out Jersey City’s Louisiana...
March 2010
4 posts
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Happy St. Patty's Day!
For everyone not chugging a pint of Guinness this afternoon, the rest of us had food to satiate our thirst for the devil’s nectar. What better combo in the world other than corned beef and cabbage, this platter coming from All American Deli on Water Street in the Financial District. Interesting mix of red and green cabbage.
Happy St. Patty’s Day everyone!
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The Minimal Ingredient Chicken and Broccoli Pizza
For random improvised pizza, a little bit of flour, water, and a “grain of salt” mentality go a long way. Trust me, I’m not downplaying this meal: it was great, all things considered.
I’m sure Patsy Grimaldi and Jim Lehey would laugh at my pie if seeing the ingredients on paper. But fellas, let’s give this post a chance, and maybe I can win you over.
The...
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Revisiting the Asian Style Pork Chop
Listen, the thing about cooking is that occasionally, you hit the wall on what to make. Sometimes, you’re left with things that you’ve already tackled, and ingredients that have been repurposed. To that, I say this: so what. Throwing in as little as one variable into the mix turns the whole dish around. Take, for example, this asian style pork chop dish.
If you didn’t...
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Stuffed Burgers with Hash Browns
There are few combos in this world that make me happy. A sweet-ass Killer Instinct combo? Yeah, they rule. Combo pretzel snacks? No thanks. But, when the classic combo of beef and potato come together, it’s like Sabrewolfe laying a massive 20-hit smack down on those crappy cheese pizza flavored bites. Enter the stuffed burger, filled with a delicious blend of Mexican cheeses, served on a...
February 2010
7 posts
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Breakfast Sangwich: Egg, Cheese, and ...
SAUSAGE LINKS?! Doth my eyes deceive me? I’ve been eating quick, run-of-the-mill breakfast sandwiches in the city for years, and I haven’t seen this before.. EVER! My childhood man boobs (and my moderately sized down adult boobs) bounced with joy at the sight!
Sure, it wasn’t the best quality, but I take what I can get. It was an forgettable breakfast “cafe”...
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How a Fondess for Rachael Ray Gave Me a Lamb Chops...
We find inspiration and influence in avenues that appeal closely to our own. Both in delivery, and message. There’s no rule in the book that says you have to be Julia Childs to be legitimate source of food knowledge.
Enter Rachael “Yummo” Ray. When Sam is home during the day, she’ll pop over to her television show to watch her whip up some “30 Minute Meals”. I’ve had my reservations about...
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Happy Chinese New Year
Now eat your snails like a good boy! My brother will help you out!
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Swich'n Up Leftovers
Most days at work, I disappoint my friend Matt. He’s a frequent buyer of food at lunch time, and asks me on occasion if I’d like to jump on an order. More times than not, I let him down, and decline, falling back on leftovers I brought from home. Still, the way I figure it, it’ll only be a matter of time before he stops asking. And today’s lunch, grilled chicken with...
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Starbucks Red Velvet Cupcakes
A lot of box …
for a little cupcake…
The cake had a decent flavor, albeit a little dry. The frosting was very, very buttery, which I’m trying to decide if it’s good, or over compensating. For $2 bucks, I felt it was a little steep, but I figure you gotta try it to find out.
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Sticky Lemon Chicken a la Gordon Ramsay
OK, the headline for this post is a bit of a stretch. Am I a multi-michelin star winning chef? No. Am I British? Well, if we don’t count my unhealthy love for Chelsea Football Club and Guy Ritchie films, I’m going to have to give a big thumbs down on that. One thing I am: impressionable. I came across this recipe after stumbling upon Gordon Ramsay cooking up sticky lemon...
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Salt and Pepper Chicken with Oven Roasted...
From the kitchen that brought you such hits as salt and pepper pork comes a tale of leaner poultry proportions: salt and pepper chicken! Thin cuts of chicken, dry dredged in a tangy dusting, and double fried. For those who don’t dig on swine, this may be the answer for you.
Just like the pork, prepping the chicken involves a dry dusting of corn starch, white pepper, garlic, and salt,...
January 2010
9 posts
7 tags
Chicken Fingers a la Food Wishes' Chef John
Of the many foodies I love to read and watch on a daily basis, Chef John of Food Wishes are posts that I am a particular fan of. With an abundant schedule of sports parties around the corner, he bestowed on his viewers a meticulously detailed video on the craft and art of chicken fingers. His trick, besides an overly blatant ad spot for the Nexus One, is an ingredient that has appeared in many...
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One Month Later ... Christmas Eve Dinner
Yes, I’ve been falling back on my own resolution. This little gem has been simmering in my queue for a while, and rather than try and meticulously piece together a month’s old memory of a fantastic Portuguese feast from Lisbon in Jersey City, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Most of them were taken by my brother using my iPhone. Enjoy the pork chops, paella, and...
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Grilled Chicken Sandwich
What is it about the grilled chicken sandwich as the quintessential “I need to eat healthier” go to food? When I bit into this, it was like “rainforest water fall of cool, clear water hit me in the face” fresh!
A simple salt-pepper chicken breasted, cooked in a non-stick pan with olive oil. I also tossed in a knob of butter to kick up the creamy factor on the...
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Salsa Colby-Jack Burger on Pita
Every so often, I like to break the normal whole wheat bread routine and pick up some pita. One of my favorite things to eat it with is tuna salad, compact, (semi)spill-free, and delicious. Even unconventional meals like this salsa colby-jack burger can utilize the pouchy starch. Besides, ever eat a burger on regular sliced bread? Depressing!
I made the patties using meatloaf type ground...
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The Challenge Will Be Webivized
Tomorrow will be the second event in our food destroying Challenge series, entitled “The Benny Tudinos Biggest Slice Ironmen Tag Team”. And while I know you’d love to come over to Monroe Street Park in Hoboken, the reality is it might not happen.
The next best thing to seeing our face-stuffing live is on your interwebz device! Starting at 7:30 PM EST, you can catch the...
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Date Night Over Some Italian(esque) Eats
I’m not a bitter chinese fella, but to be fair, we invented the noodle. And for that, I would like: 1) some credit where credit is due (you hear me, Mario Batali?); 2) show my appreciation for the italian cuisine that bears the starchy fruit of my people. This particular evening’s menu for date night with my beautiful Samantha was a simple, filling, and tasty one: linguine with...
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WatchRemember that television show “Friends”, and when Chandler and Joey had a pet duck roaming in their apartment? Screw that. They never got any fresh eggs out of it, being able to control its diet and in what environment it would be raised in. Smarties like Megan Paska and Katrina Mauro of Greenpoint went in a much different direction when they purchased hens for their Brooklyn...
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Prime Rib and Ziti Soup
This was a random experiment, stemming from my desire to put some carrot and cucumber peels and some onions to good use. I boiled a few cups of water, and tossed in the veggies, letting them simmer for a good 15 minutes. I tossed in some chopped dill and cilantro for extra fresh flavor, and salt and peppered to taste. Letting the pot simmer for about an hour, the broth/stock took on a nice...
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2010 new year's resolution
+ more posts!
I am trying to get some solid, detailed posts here, in addition to my usual quickfire “What’s In Wes’ Kitchen” and lunchtime posts. This will include food 101 and hopefully (using my new kodak zi8!) videos!
+ more cooking!
I picked up quite a collection of kitchen gadgets this holiday season, and I intend on using each one, documenting each success and...
December 2009
18 posts
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My Take on Nan Young's Famous Potato Puffs
Holidays are good for two things: gifts and leftovers. Yeah, I said it. Materialistic? Maybe. I’m not completely downplaying the whole “family and friends” angle, or that small “good will toward your fellow man” bit. I’m just saying presents and food are the two factors that get us kid-on-Christmas-morning giddy around this time of year. One dish that...
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Stone Street Stuffed Tavern Burger Stuffed With...
Like a deceptive winter coat from Old Navy, this burger looked stylishly good on display, but when worn lacked the proper interior and left me unsatisfyingly cold. No, I didn’t actually wear the Stone Street Tavern’s Stuffed bleu cheese burger. And, I certainly did not enjoy it as much as my eyes told me I would. Served on a toasted english muffin and generous amounts of thick...
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Fried Porkchop Over Ramen Noodle Soup
Thin pork chops, breaded with (you guessed it) panko bread crumbs, oven fried to a delicious crisp. Sauteed onions, mushrooms, and romaine lettuce with garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I poured already boiling water into the pan to ghetto deglaze, letting it cook on high for a minute, then pouring back into the pot and bringing to a boil. I tossed in the noodles and cracked an egg over...
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Chicken Lasagna Roll Up
After making way too much noodles for a cheese lasagna I made days ago, I decided to put it to good use with the remainder of leftover breaded chicken I had. This incarnation (which will be revisited for a future italian/japanese hybrid in the upcoming days) will be dubbed chicken lasagna roll up. No, it’s not manicotti. Manicotti tubes are too small, and would pale in comparison to...
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Challenge: How Many Hot Dogs Can You Eat in 12...
A couple of months ago, I put together an idea that would get a bunch of our old friends together for some fun that didn’t involve dank bars, noisy clubs, or blackout evenings. What resulted was the “Challenge” series, with each event featuring some competitive eating feat that one of us would try and conquer. The first one (and most appropriate in my opinion) was modeled...
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Chicken Fried Rice
Not so much a ghetto gourmet entry, as fried rice made at home should be a potluck affair. I think I can safely speak for my chinese people: there’s almost nothing that can’t go into this. Day old leftovers work perfect in this dish, giving them new life and different flavors when mixing them together. I used breaded chicken, french cut string beans, chopped onions and baby...
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Tuna Cakes over Vermicelli with Oil and Garlic
Even though I have a crab cake taste, but live on a tuna fish budget, it doesn’t mean that Bumblebee can’t taste good. I mixed up some standard tuna salad, using a little less mayo than normal, and added some spicy brown mustard to taste. In a separate bowl, I mixed panko bread crumbs, white pepper, and sea salt, and coated golf ball sized tuna liberally. When properly layered, I...
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Sam's Journal - This Onmivore's Dilemma
[This is a guest post from Sam, our resident culinary challenger, who set out to try vegetarianism for an entire month. Read about the experience here!]
Hello Food Community,
My name is Samantha and I am here to blog about my most recent food bet. As Wes’ girlfriend and partner in food crime, I have been given this special platform and hope not to disappoint.
To give you a little...
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Ghetto Gourmet - The Saddest Pot Luck Leftover...
Taking a small step down from the bachelor’s fridge means an incredibly limited base meal, with unlimited amount of random condiments. In this case, I was pushing the boundaries on Thanksgiving leftovers and other one-off dishes, on top of having nothing of real substance as the main feature. What’s pictured above will hopefully be the last saddest lunch ever witnessed. Leftover...
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David Chang Speaks at Google Campus
Never one to keep his opinion to himself, Chef David Chang spoke as a featured guest at Google Campus in New York, waxing poetic on the state of the food industry, how he got into cooking, and his new book “Momofuku”. One thing he said early on hit home to my new found interest in food, and the way people I read and listen to follow the culinary world:
“I got out of the...
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Introducing Samantha Young, Resident Experimental...
This is Sam. She is my girlfriend. I love her very much.
And I love meat. I love chicken and ribs very much. The two share a common trait: I cannot live without them. This is why she must shoulder this journey alone.
Sam is going to abandon eating meat for an entire month. 30 days without steak and bacon, the number one and two of her favorite foods respectively. Over the weekend, we...
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Oven Fried Panko Breaded Chicken Breast with a...
I’ve had a box of Japanese panko bread crumbs sitting in my pantry for a couple of weeks that needed to be put to good use. With a perfectly good defrosted chicken breast sitting in my fridge, I went to work. Chicken went through a quick dry-wet-dry bath of flour, egg wash, and panko crumbs, and into a small pan with oil, already hot in a preheated 350 degree oven. I gave each side...
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NYC Cravings' Taiwanese Fried Chicken and Pork...
Let’s start you off with a little riddle: you are placed in the middle between two tables. On your left, a succulent chicken leg, perfectly fried crispy skin, juicy thigh and drum dark meat. On your right, a tender pork chop, thick, chewy, just the right amount of salt that gets your mouth gushing. The question .. which way do you go?
The correct answer: the NYC Craving’s truck...
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Zitironi and Cheese
I think it’s completely normal to be sitting on a couch one Saturday 10 AM, and get a hankering for mac and cheese from scratch. Everyone should leave the powdered blue box cheese in their childhood past, and try this out. I heated a cup or so of milk and a few tablespoons of butter in a small pot, and tossed in a few different hand shredded slices of cheese: provolone, american,...
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Porkchops and Onions Over Rice
A page out of mom’s cookbook, a simple pan sauteed dish. I browned the chops with a little salt and pepper, took off the heat to cut into strips. I tossed back in along with chopped onions, and poured on some soy and oyster sauce, and ketchup, which gives the dish a great sweetness. Pouring in a little water created a nice sauce which I cooked out to thicken it up without the need for...
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Oven-baked Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes
I put a good amount of the new organize dry spices and herbs I recently purchased to good use for this classic and easy meal. I cut along the bone on the thighs so the chicken would cook quicker. Seasoned with thyme, oregano, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. I gave them a quick hit in a non-stick pan, a few minutes on each side, which crisped up the skin, then oven baked. Sure, it’s...
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Thanksgiving in All its Picture Glory
Traditionally, Thanksgiving has always been an untraditional dining experience in my family. There’s always meats that make cameo appearances, a couple sides that you wouldn’t find in your old holiday picture book. Insert cliche Forrest Gump quote here.
What we have instead is an open buffet filled of assorted goodness, which highlights some year-round favorites like my...
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Coolio, the self-proclaimed "Ghetto Gourmet"?! Not...
It hasn’t been an industry secret that Coolio, of “Gangsta’s Paradise” fame and internet video chef, was coming out with a cookbook. I’ve actually enjoyed his bat-shit crazy demeanor while cooking up some delicious dishes like “Swashbucklin’ Shrimp” and “Cool-a-Cado”.
But damn it, Coolio: you’ve crossed the line.
Since my early...
November 2009
26 posts
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Miami Rice Pudding Company: Don Johnson Would...
The days of the corner drug store, serving soda-floats, ice cream sundaes, and local desserts are gone. In a land saturated with birthday-cake remix cups and Cherry Garcia cones, originality has taken a back seat to convenient commercial safety. And let’s face it: that annoying tip jar sing along has got to stop!
Enter the Miami Rice Pudding Company, attempting to corner an otherwise...
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Long Lines for Cake Boss Confectioneries
How did Hobokenites spend Thanksgiving Weekend’s gorgeous Saturday afternoon? Waiting patiently in line to get into Carlo’s Bake Shop, perchance to catch a cannoli from Cake Boss himself, Buddy Valastro. People curled around the block, armed with cell phone cameras and point-and-shoots. I’m guessing this will be the norm from now until Christmas. Verizon, Ruggerio Realty,...
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WatchDan Delaney over at Vendr TV sent us a Happy Thanksgiving video, featuring the delicious baked goods of the Street Sweets truck.
Contrary to his belief that there is definitive Thanksgiving smell, I think pumpkins, cinnamon, and apples fit the ticket. These aromas capture the autumn season, and truly culminate on the greatest Thursday of the year.
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Spicy Steak Ramen Soup with Cabbage
The way I see it, ramen is a lot like the Asian version of America’s mac-n-cheese. Cooking it purely with its package contents leaves little to the imagination, and produces an otherwise boring meal on it’s own. But, by adding one or two extra things you may have in hand (ie. - cut bacon strips in MnC), you add a depth of flavor that enhances a once mundane idea into a great...
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WatchI first came across momofuku ssäm bar a couple of weeks ago, about the time I started writing this blog. Ever since reading about the food, the philosophy, and the ever-outspoken chef David Chang, I’ve been dying to go there. Being that this experimental online culinary journey is to parlay the skills and tastes I’ve encountered into my own kitchen, I was actually happy to see that...
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A Salt and Pepper Pork Chops Sighting, Outside of...
Whenever Sam and I go out to eat with my family in Chinatown, it’s tough to find the right balance of the safe and the adventurous. Everyone has their own favorite. my sister loves the steamed fish, I love mixed seafood in the bird’s nest (don’t worry- it’s made of fried taro). But my dad’s caught on what to order that he knows will consistently deliver and be...
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WatchDid I mention in my last post that I love corn? When I finally get my ass into gear and venture into Brooklyn for some of their local cuisine, I’ll rely on another Liza de Guia storyteller documentary. Mesa Coyoacan of Williamsburg serves out a traditional Mexico City dish called esquites. It’s a simple dish composed of fresh cut corn off the cob, sauteed with arbol chiles and a...
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Aroma: Beef Chow UnFun
I’m no Chinese food snob. Sure, I am Chinese. And yes, I do enjoy Chinese food more often than others. I’ll eat the greasy, hole-in-the-wall place and enjoy it just like anyone else. Despite this, my meal from Aroma did not impress me one bit, especially considering it’s supposed to be one of the more “premium” Chinese places in Hoboken.
A little...
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