Oct 12
I wanted to say that there was irony in sending a diabetic to cover a dessert-centric event called SWEET, but then I became concerned that I was using ironic in an Alanis Morissette sense, i.e. incorrectly.
Ironic or not, endless confections and champagne did not kill me. Guy Fieri touching my shoulder, leaning in and speaking an inch from my ear came close, though.
I was going to say that Woorijip is the Yip’s of Koreatown (yet actually good) but really Woorijip is more like the Café Zaiya of Koreatown. Only Yip’s can be Yip’s.
Woorijip is geared towards Koreans and neighborhood office workers just happen to enjoy their grab and go lunch options where I’ve never seen a Chinese person ever perusing the steam table at Yip’s. Being my first visit, I was a little overwhelmed with choices and didn’t fully absorb all that was to be had. With refrigerated cases, warm cases, the self-serve buffet, dessert racks and supposedly an occasional noodle bar, this is the type of eatery that requires strategizing and more than one visit to develop a sense of what’s worth your time.
At the late-ish side of lunch, close to 2pm, the scene was less chaotic than anticipated. I got behind what appeared to be the Latino kitchen crew in line at the buffet. They were seriously loading up, mostly on meaty things and rice. Many of the trays were approaching empty, but I was at least able to survey based on signage what may be available on a typical day (not that it matters on a practical level since I’m in the vicinity during lunchtime like never).
Partially out of thriftiness and mostly out of caloric caution, I hit these buffets with the notion of supplementing granola bars, yogurt, fruit, nuts, soup, whatever I’ve brought from home to work. If all I ate were the above, I would be depressed and starving. Small, inexpensive quantities of random Asian food cheers me up.
I rarely go over $3.50 at Yip’s but they’re only $3.49 per pound after 1:45pm. Woorijip is somewhere around $6.50 per pound so I kept that in mind. I still managed to only spend $4.09 on some cellophane noodles, bean curd slab, stir-fried pork, fried squid and seafood pancake that all got smooshed around in the styrofoam container. It's not pretty to look at.
I also picked up a $3 plastic tub of radish kimchi, which totally smelled up the subway. I didn’t realize I was the stinky culprit until I got to my desk at work and noticed the odor was following me and didn’t stay behind in the subway system. The kimchi I’ll eat throughout the week with other stuff.
I would trade Yip’s for Woorijip in a millisecond. I love greasy Americanized Chinese food on occasion, but the spicier, cleaner flavors of Korean would be more welcome on a regular basis. Though in a totally different vein, I am excited to hear that Bon Chon is coming down to the Financial District.
Woorijip * 12 W. 32 St., New York, NY
Despite being new to me, Taco Bell’s caramel apple empanadas are apparently old hat. At a few select Southern California locations, the chain has been experimenting with cupcakes, smoothies and milkshakes. It’s only a matter of times before they start serving Korean tacos.
Los cupcakes actually do exist in Mexico, or at
least chichi enclaves of the capitol city. And yes, they have red velvet. [Fast Food Maven via Eater]
Times are tough for a chain. Red Robin is only giving kids a two-pack of blue and red crayons now instead of the four they used to provide. Bye bye green and yellow.
And even though I know suburban chains in NYC are often disappointing and expensive, I still paid a visit to the Chelsea Olive Garden Wednesday night. I was curious if they were honoring the Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion that lasts until the end of this week.
When this Olive Garden first opened, it was packed and waits were long. Now, the handheld beepers are getting cobwebby. No one was waiting out front or in the lobby, we were immediately seated and empty tables abounded. And they were out of everything, the advertised Oktoberfest Sam Adams, the pork marsala in the glossy tableside advertisements. A total sinking ship.
And as on my last NEPB spot check, there is no evidence of the promotion anywhere on site. When you consider that my seafood portofino (which I chose because it was one of the few pastas under 1,000 calories—I’m one of those oddballs whose ordering is influenced by calorie posting) was $20.50—what food at real restaurants cost—why they keep the Never Ending Pasta Bowl under tight wraps is obvious. When we asked about the $8.95 all-you-can-eat special, our cheery but exasperated waitress (the guy sitting directly behind me in the attached booth was giving her and his date a horrible time, total domestic abuser) just handed us her corporate cheat sheet with the list of pastas, sauces and request that servers suggest unlimited meatballs to customers for an additional $1.99. I should’ve snapped a photo—who knows when these trade secrets could come in handy?
In the meantime, I’m curious about the all-you-can-eat-pasta night in the works at Locanda Verde. I suspect it’ll be more than $8.95. Then again, you can get Spaghetti alle Vongole there for $1.50 less than Olive Garden’s seafood pasta.
The shocker of this piddly Google Adsense income preventing full employment benefits tale, is not that the blogger is being victimized by New York State, it’s that a run of the mill St. Louis food blog reached the $100 threshold—the minimum amount required by Google to cut a check—in three months.
I don’t have any delusions about the popularity of my blog and have wanted to get rid of these useless Google ads for ages but wanted to wait until I got my next $100 first. For a hint at how long it takes me to rack up $100, the last time I got a payout I used the money for dinner at Momofuku Ko when the price was still $85. I am now $4.88 away from my second $100 bounty. At this rate, I will reach that by the new year. Party!
Photo by Michael Schmelling/Details
Details has a slideshow of the top 25 best fast food items with the mildly odd qualification that candidates came from restaurants with at least five locations and one drive-thru. That still doesn’t make In-N-Out Burger, their opening shot, any more accessible to me.
Culver Dairyland’s cheese curds—I wonder how they stack up against the battered, fried cubes I had at Char No. 4?
And I was stumped by Taco Bell’s caramel apple empanada. I had never even heard of such a thing. I just decried fried fruit pies and wished they would come enhanced by caramel. Was someone listening to me?
When I first moved to NYC, I had a plan to eat at a chain restaurant for every holiday. This only lasted for one Christmas Eve at TGI Friday and the following Easter at Olive Garden. My genius has gone unfulfilled ever since.
One thing I never did was celebrate birthdays at a chain (ok, I did have my sixth or seventh at Farrell's along with the son of a family friend who was also born on July 25. His dad's name was Tom Sawyer, which was always kind of weird) of if I attended such a dinner for another, no mention was made to staff and no special songs were sung.
Now I can witness what I’ve been missing out on. Digital City has compiled a list of videos showcasing birthday songs from six chain restaurants.
Outback Steakhouse isn’t the only chain getting a revamp. 12,000 Burger King locations worldwide are getting a new look.
It’s up to you to decide if corrugated metal, TV screen menus and flame chandeliers qualify as, “so much more like an upscale restaurant,” as their CEO John Chidsey puts it. Maybe if you’re from Miami, which BK is.
There have been times when I’ve found myself starving and lazy at 4pm, so lazy that I can’t muster the energy to explore further than the corner Duane Reade downstairs. It’s tough finding a quick snack that’s not sugary or carby, which will just make me more sluggish. Nuts or jerky are about all there is.
So, I was curious when I was offered a selection of Duane Reade’s new DR Delish line to try. (Full disclosure, thanks, FTC.) The slant is no trans-fats, artificial colors and the like. Unable to eat all the treats myself, I shared them with my office to gauge reactions.
One thing immediately became apparent, normal junk food-lovers were wary of items like cholesterol-free baked chips and multigrain snacks while the calorie-counters still steered clear of the cookies and brownie bites, trans-fat free or not. I ate one cookie and yes, they do have more chocolate chunks than your typical store brand. There was also a honey-sweetened green tea. I do appreciate the absence of corn syrup in my beverages but I’m a staunch black coffee and tea drinker.
What I hid in my desk drawers and purposefully neglected to share were the two bags of trail mix crunch, pistachio and blueberry pomegranate. I often keep nuts on hand for a healthy snack, and though these are lightly sweetened clusters, they use rice syrup and evaporated cane juice. I’m ok with that. At two for $5 I would buy these in an afternoon pinch. For me, these were the winner of the bunch.
Wow, I thought Brooklyn’s Ikea hosting Wednesday Rib Nights was radical. Leave it to Iberia to create innovative tapas for their Swedish retailers’ cafeterias. Madrid-based, Australian chef, Adam Melonas, has developed a set of six “Swedish Tapas” that began appearing in 13 Ikeas in Spain and Portugal last month. A new half-dozen are promised every three months.
The first batch includes bizarre hybrids like the Hotdog Croqueta, pictured above, that incorporates mustard, ketchup, onion, bun and frankfurter flavors into a fritter. Other bite-sized nibbles include Swedish meatball empanadas and a Rice Krispie-coated croquette of Iberico ham and prawn mousse.
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