Madison Square Garden Hotdog, Knicks VS Nets, Manhattan

Madison Square Garden is home to many big entertainment events. It's also supposedly home to some pretty decent hotdoggies.

I had a plain dog with mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup. Salty and greasy with a nice snappy casing. Maybe I was hungry, but these were actually pretty good.

The teams soon came onto the court for their warm-up.

After my warm-up, I decided to hit another dog. This time I went for the cheese and sauerkraut. Although it made it slightly more messy to eat, I did enjoy the tang that the sauerkraut imparted. The spiced sweet potato chips were also a refreshing change.

A pity, albeit not surprising; sad to say, the hotdogs were the only things which scored some points tonight.

D

Burgled in the 'Burg, New York Times

Thanks to another blogger's site, I decided to have a glance at the New York Times (which I do not read at all despite living here) and boy am I glad I did. Check out this article I came across

Excerpt: "At the other end of Manhattan’s culinary spectrum, how a blogger satisfied his nighttime craving for White Castle and Church’s Chicken. [Dancing Blue Seal]"

It's only really a small mention but that I was still like "Wow".
What can I say?

I'm a simple man with simple needs.

Read the full article here.

D

Sweet Spring Restaurant, Manhattan, New York

Although the Winter this time round was relatively mellow. We did have that occasional day or two of snow.

On a cold snowy day as such, nothing is better than a hot meal.

Sweet Spring Restaurant (25A Catherine Street, Chinatown) isn't really much of a restaurant really. Heck, with just three dingy tables, I would not even go as far to call it a cafe. But they do serve pretty decent Chinese snacks and little meals for the occasional homesick bloke. This is their version of the "cat ears" pasta in soup dish that I had in Hangzhou; hot and soupy, this was just the thing to break that Winter cold spell.

The first round of savories came in the form of an oyster puff. Crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy and filled with an oyster and some minced pork within, this sure brought back the memories of the snack I used to eat as a child.

Chinatown is known for their cheap dumplings and everyone has a shop which they swear by. Personally I feel that Sweet Spring does them the best. Although they come at a slight premium (we're talking at 1.25usd for five instead of a competitor's 1usd), I can actually taste meat in these. Their spicy dumpling soy sauce is extremely tasty as well.

All in all, three heart warming dishes and a bowl of fresh homemade soy bean milk for under five bucks. Complaints are impossible.

D

Papaya King, Manhattan, New York

Besides the quintessential bagel and thin slice, New York is famous for their hotdogs. You can obtain hotdogs in a variety of forms in New York; from the bare-bones street cart to fancier places. Papaya King has been around since 1931 (in particular this very one on 86th and 3rd), so obviously they must be doing something right.

Started off with the standard hotdog with relish and onions. Not too bad, the hotdog was pleasantly meaty with a snappy casing. The bun was also soft and not crusty.

The curly fries were a tad bit greasy but combined with the ketchup, these salty and crispy spuds were pretty good. I guess I was lucky because I caught them just as they finished frying a fresh batch.

Looking up against the wall, I saw this sign which spoke great words of wisdom. Apparently it's true.

To test the hypothesis, I ordered two chilidogs. The chili was just a little sweet for my liking and could have been much more hotter (in a spice sense). Nevertheless, these were still pretty good and I washed everything else with, you guessed it; a refreshing cup of papaya drink.

With this many locations available, it's good to know I can pickup a good dog when I need one. Besides, if it's good enough for Kramer (Seinfeld fans probably know this), it's good enough for me.

D

Cornelia Street Cafe, Manhattan, New York

Cornelia Street Cafe has been around for a quite a while (like a thirty years or so?). It's also a great place for some chill-out jazz at night and has been voted as one of the top 100 hundred jazz clubs in the world. That aside, they also have a pretty decent brunch menu, which was why we were here.

We were seated by the window allowing us to bask in some warm sunlight. I'm not usually a fan of sunlight but it was a rather chilly Winter's day, so any heat was welcomed. Besides, I've always enjoyed peering out onto Cornelia street.

I had the duck quesadilla. Definitely not an authentic Mexican dish but it was tasty and meaty without being too heavy. It was accompanied with a nice tangy salsa which balanced off the salty duck flesh and cheese.

She had the pâté platter which came with four thick slices of pâté; two coarse and two smooth. The bread biscuits which came along with the pâté was warm too, which was a nice touch.

To end the meal, we had the butter milk pancakes topped with fresh fruit dusted with icing sugar and doused with a lot of maple syrup. These light, fluffy pancakes infused with the flavor of the sweet molasses are the key to the perfect brunch.

Of course the only thing sweeter in this meal was my dining companion whom I hoped, thoroughly enjoyed the brunch as well.

D