D1 June 26–July 2, 2015
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This week’s #BestAsianNYC
Instagram Winners
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with
Chef Hung Huynh What makes him tick By Channaly Philipp | Epoch Times Staff
Hung Huynh talks at a million miles per hours. On a recent Sunday afternoon, he was talking up a storm— and that was before the triple shot espresso that he ended up ordering. He has a lot to say about the state of Vietnamese cuisine in New York and in general, and waxes about his favorite dishes. The “Top Chef” winner has been cooking at pop-ups around town, including a Vietnamesefocused one with “Top Chef” alum Leah Cohen at Pig & Khao. I was floored by the flavors—the deep sweet and savory of his caramelized pork belly in a clay pot, for example. While he’s busy talking to investors about restaurants and exploring his next steps, we can’t wait to see what’s next for him. This town needs the kind of Vietnamese cuisine that he can cook. Epoch Times: Tell us about Vietnamese cuisine. Hung Huynh: I think it’s amazing—not because
I’m Vietnamese but also because I’m Vietnamese [laughs]. It’s bright but it’s never overpowering.
I love Thai food but every bite is like BOOM BAM BAM. It’s like a knockout with every bite. It’s delicious but it’s punching your palate the whole time. Vietnamese food, it’s got spices, sour, savory, sweet. It’s very harmonious. At every meal you must have a big pile of herbs and sprouts and lettuce to add freshness. Mint, cilantro, basil, cilantro [Mexican coriander]… it’s very herbaceous. Epoch Times: What are some of your favorite
Vietnamese dishes?
ALL PHOTOS BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Caramelized palm sugar with fish sauce. It’s like heaven. … It’s like heaven and heaven with pork belly. Chef Hung Huynh
!
Mr. Huynh: Defintely bun bo hue. That’s Central
Friday June 26th!
See Hung Huynh on D2
Catch Hung Huynh at Taste Asia in Times Square.
style—their version of pho with pig feet, beef, and fermented shrimp, and a lot of herbs and spices.
Caramel Pork Belly, cooked in a clay pot.
Clay Pot Lamb Pappardelle With Sichuan Chili, Parmesan, Shiitake, and Tangerine Gremolata, served at a pop-up inspired by the travels of Marco Polo.
D2
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June 26–July 2, 2015 www.EpochTaste.com SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
with
Chef Hung Huynh Hung Huynh continued from D2 I love eating all types of fish dishes. And dishes cooked in clay pot, call kho. It’s caramelized palm sugar with fish sauce. It’s like heaven. … It’s like heaven and heaven [laughs] with pork belly. You can do it with catfish—that belly fat!— with minced pork, with tons of black pepper and chilies. I can eat five bowls of rice with that. I love eating pork belly cooked with fermented shrimp paste and lemongrass and pineapple. It smells like hell. It stinks! But it’s so good. That gray smelly paste—it’s so good. That’s the kind of flavors I love. It’s hard to expose that to the West, so let’s do it in a lighter way. I don’t need everybody to love it. Just the people who want to eat it. People will die for it. It’s eaten all over the country—by 80 million people. I walk in Chinatown, there’s chickens hanging with wings and legs. People say, “Ew.” Why are you saying that? A chicken doesn’t walk on its breast. They have feet! It’s crazy. Epoch Times: What about Vietnamese restau-
rants in New York?
Mr. Huynh: New York is horrendous for Viet-
namese food. All we know is pho and pork chops and banh mi—and it doesn’t even taste good. You pay $2.99 and they can’t give you anything but the bread and a hair-thin [portion of] meat. What’s the point? Why not charge $6.95 and give double the meat? And more pâté? Why not? It’s crazy to me. Vietnamese food, no one’s doing it right because the recipes are not passed down enough or taught
Vietnamese food, no one’s doing it right because the recipes are not passed down enough or taught well enough for the next generation. Chef Hung Huynh
Oriental Jewels, served at a recent pop-up based on the travels of Marco Polo. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
well enough for the next generation. People still know them, but it’s not like making an éclair where you open a book, there’s techniques, it’s established. People can research it. Vietnamese is not done that way. It’s a secret— they’re hiding from what? Hiding from making money is what they’re hiding from. We’re depriving ourselves of being successful. We should just spread the wealth like in Western culture. Yes you can have your secrets but at least teach the method. No one’s doing that. A simple thing like making pho, they make it in the family and they keep it until they die and then it’s gone. I’ve been lucky to meet Nha Ca. She’s a writer. She’s an elderly woman with amazing energy, and taught me to make a lot of Vietnamese dishes. It’s great to have someone who’s comfortable enough to share the history. Her training, her experience is priceless to me. It’s old school. Now I can adapt those recipes and share them. People say, it’s hard. Of course it’s hard if you’re doing it in the home kitchen. You’re doing it like you’re in the country, in a rice paddy. [In a professional kitchen] we have machines, you can produce faster than anything.
An assortment of Vietnamese dishes, prepared at a pop-up collaboration between Huynh and chef Leah Cohen.
Hepburn’s Son Recalls Mother’s Life—and Kitchen—in New Book By Jocelyn Noveck
The Nazis had deprived Holland of all forms of sustainability. My mother had to eat turnips and boiled grass.
Audrey Hepburn in Rome in 1960.
Luca Dotti, Audrey Hepburn’s son
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS VIA AP
NEW YORK—Think of Audrey Hepburn, and your mind will likely conjure up an extraordinarily elegant woman in a boat-necked black dress, huge sunglasses, gloves to the elbow, and a chic updo. It’s doubtful you’ll picture a woman in jeans and T-shirt settling down in front of the TV with a plate of penne and— gasp!—ketchup. But that’s the image that her son, Luca Dotti, wants you to get to know. In “Audrey at Home,” an inviting cookbook filled with intimate family photos and memories, he paints a picture of a woman who was happier at home than on a movie set or, really, anywhere else—even though the press, he says, had a hard time believing that. “Yes, she was an international star, but she was Mrs. Dotti to me,” says Dotti, a Rome-based graphic designer who is the son of Hepburn and her second husband, Andrea Dotti. “And she loved her home life the most. I wanted to bring these two worlds together, the public perception of her, and the woman that I knew.” The inspiration for the book came, Dotti says, from a binder he found in his mother’s kitchen, filled with recipes and little notes. “It was from the ‘50s when she had just gotten married (to her first husband) and was starting out as a wife,” Dotti says. “They were mostly elaborate and fancy recipes. But in the end, she eventually came to what worked for her and what reflected her style and her life.” Those simpler recipes, he says, form the core of the book. And so, for example, Dotti begins with hutspot, a nod to Holland, where Hepburn—born in Belgium to a Dutch mother and British father—spent her difficult youth, nearly starving during World War II. (Her final life partner, Robert Wolders, also was Dutch.) “The Nazis had deprived Holland of all forms of sustainability. My mother had to eat turnips and boiled grass,” Dotti says. Hutspot is a puree of carrots, potatoes and onions, in this case with beef added. Then there’s the recipe for chocolate cake. Upon liberation, a Dutch soldier gave her seven candy bars, Dotti recounts, and she became sick after devouring them, unused to having a full stomach. But chocolate made her happy for years, and she loved making her cakes for her children. “I always thought cakes were too dry, but this one was moist,” Dotti says. The point of the cookbook, and of Hepburn’s own cooking, was not to display chefquality talents. “This wasn’t about excelling in cooking,” Dotti says. “My mother wasn’t really interested in that. She simply liked food as a way to get her family together.” And Hep-
burn’s friends—among them the famous designer Hubert de Givenchy—knew that if they wanted to see Audrey, they had to visit her at home, Dotti says. (Hepburn, who died in 1993, lived mostly in Rome and Switzerland, where she loved the countryside; she also spent much of her later years traveling for humanitarian work.) But Hepburn sometimes had trouble making it to her own stove. That’s because, her son relates, she had a cook named Giovanna who was very proud, perhaps too proud. When Hepburn herself wanted to cook, it became a tricky task to get Giovanna to cede the way. “My mother did not want to hurt her pride,” Dotti says. “But there were a lot of struggles with Giovanna, just so my mom could cook!” If Dotti had to pick only one recipe to symbolize his mother’s life, he says it would be her beloved—and simple—spaghetti al pomodoro (with tomato sauce). “It was her holy grail for happiness,” Dotti says. “It was what she thought of when she was homesick.” One of the book’s family photos shows Hepburn, in a bright yellow ‘70s-style shift and those oversized sunglasses, spooning out huge portions of the dish for guests in her garden. An even simpler dish—and certainly less elegant—was what Italians call pasta al forno, but Americans know as lowly mac and cheese. Dotti and his childhood friends ate it all the time at birthday parties, and the son was surprised to learn as an adult—in a museum cafeteria, no less—that the American version is better, because it’s made with cheddar. But what of that penne with ketchup? Dotti suspects it’s the British part of Hepburn that created a fondness for this dish, the ketchup resembling a sauce of baked beans. His mother loved organic vegetables and treasured her own garden, yet still liked to indulge in this “junk food,” as her son calls it. “It sounds terrible, but actually it’s pretty good!” Dotti says. “We ate it when it was just the two of us, in front of the TV.” His recipe calls for penne, extra virgin olive oil, emmentaler cheese—and some Heinz ketchup. Had Hepburn herself written a memoir, she might have described scenes like this. But she never wrote one. Dotti says that’s because in order to be sincere, “she’d have to write about the nasty parts of life, too”—and that didn’t appeal to her. But Dotti, who’s donating proceeds of this book to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, says he’s by no means his mother’s biographer, just a chronicler of what it was like to live in her home, and her kitchen. “This is a son writing about someone who was more of a wife and a mother than a celevbrity,” he says.
AP PHOTO/JIM PRINGLE
“Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother’s Kitchen” by Luca Dotti (Harper Design, 2015).
Managing Editor:
Channaly Philipp
Creative Director:
Rob Counts
Director of Marketing:
Jan Jekielek
Director of Audience Development:
Seth Holehouse
Editor: Social Media Editor:
Orysia McCabe Rowena Tsai
Senior Designer:
Luba Pishchik
Photographers:
Samira Bouaou Benjamin Chasteen
Web Designer: Advertising Director:
Luís Fernando Novaes Jimmy Xie
Talk to us: EpochTaste@EpochTimes.com Advertising Inquiries: AdvertiseNow@EpochTimes.com
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June 26–July 2, 2015 www.EpochTaste.com
#BestAsianNYC Photo Contest This week’s
Winner
Top picks from our Instagram and Twitter campaign to discover the best Asian restaurants in Manhattan (www.BestAsian.nyc)
Restaurant winners will be announced live in Times Square throughout Friday.
@LLINDUH Shogun Sushi
JUNE 26 12:00 PM
OPENING CEREMONY Ribbon Cutting, Greetings, & Hitting the Gong
12:30 PM
PERFORMANCE: SOUNDS OF KOREA PERFORMANCE: SIRAS DANCE COMPANY (THAILAND) AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST THAI RESTAURANTS
@JEANINUSNYC | Chomp Chomp
COOKING DEMO - (1) Zizhao Luo, (2) Pitipong Bowornneeranart
1:00 PM
PERFORMANCE: MASAYO ISHIGURE & MIYABI KOTO SHAMISEN ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: SIRAS DANCE COMPANY (THAILAND) PERFORMANCE: SOUNDS OF KOREA AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST CHINESE RESTAURANTS
1:30 PM
2:00 PM
COOKING DEMO - (1) Esther Choi, (2) Brian Tsao
2:30 PM
AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST KOREAN RESTAURANTS CATHY ERWAY: DUMPLING WORKSHOP ON STAGE
3:00 PM
COOKING DEMO - (1) Hung Huynh, (2) Joe Isidori
3:30 PM
AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST SOUTHEAST ASIAN RESTAURANTS BIAN KANG AWARD CEREMONY & SPEECH
4:00 PM
COOKING DEMO - (1) David Bouley, (2) Yuji Wakiya
4:30 PM
AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANTS PERFORMANCE: THE GOLDEN ROOSTER (RUSSIA) PERFORMANCE: KOREAN HANBOK FASHION SHOW GIVEAWAYS FROM TAISUN (SPONSOR) PERFORMANCE: SAMURAI SWORD SOUL PERFORMANCE: THE GOLDEN ROOSTER (RUSSIA)
5:00 PM 5:30 PM
Winner
6:30 PM
AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST RESTAURANTS SPECIAL AWARDS PERFORMANCE: MASAYO ISHIGURE & MIYABI KOTO SHAMISEN ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS (LONGFEI YANG)
7:00 PM
COOKING DEMO - (1) Hemant Mathur, (2) Terry French
7:30 PM
AWARD CEREMONY: VOTER’S CHOICE - BEST INDIAN RESTAURANTS PERFORMANCE: BOLLYWOOD INDIAN DANCE PERFORMANCE: DUMPLING EATING CONTEST PERFORMANCE: SAUNG BUDAYA (INDONESIA) GIVEAWAYS FROM TAISUN (SPONSOR) PERFORMANCE: SHARON CHENG (TAIWANESE VOCALIST) PERFORMANCE: BEHRI (SRI LANKA—DANCE & INSTRUMENTS) PERFORMANCE: HAN COUTURE SHOW PERFORMANCE: SHARON CHENG (TAIWANESE VOCALIST) PERFORMANCE: BEHRI (SRI LANKA—DANCE & INSTRUMENTS)
9:00 PM 9:30 PM
Join us this weekend (June 26–27) in Instagram heaven in Times Square at the biggest Asian food fest in North America, Taste Asia!
JUNE 27 NTD INTERNATIONAL CHINESE CULINARY COMPETITION 11:50 AM Best Chinese Cuisine Awards Ceremony 12:30 PM Cantonese Cuisine 2:00 PM Northeastern Cuisine
@BOBA_TEASERIES Cha-an Teahouse
@ERINROBLES_ Plant Love House
COOKING DEMO - (1) Anthony Ricco, (2) Barret Beyer
8:30 PM
@LIKEITSYOURLASTNYC Panya NYC
This week’s
6:00 PM
8:00 PM
@JOENNAANG Dainobu
Eat some of the best Asian food NYC has to offer, take some delicious photos with your camera, and post your mouth-watering pics on Instagram with the hashtag #TasteAsiaNYC. Come on and ‘gram with us, and you could be featured in next week’s paper!
3:25 PM Shandong Cuisine 5:30 PM Sichuan Cuisine 7:00 PM Huaiyang Cuisine
TasteAsia.org
Presented by:
TIMES SQUARE 43rd & Broadway
VIP TENT
JUNE 26 11AM–10PM, JUNE 27 11AM–8:30PM
Totto Ramen Georgia & Aliou’s Tiny Treats Café
Crave.it
&
WKTV
Pyunkang
Pyunkang
Taste Asia
Epoch Media Thailand: Kitchen Group of the World
Cooking Station
42 nd ST
Korea Daesang Korea Daesang Corp. Corp.
Ravagh Persian Ting Shan Grill
Fire Belly Korean BBQ
Jinga
H Mart
Pyunkang
Pyunkang
Chang Beer
Chang Beer
Jax Coco
C Bao
The Handpulled Noodle
Gunter Wilhelm
Gunter Wilhelm
Gong Cha USA
Nyonya
C Bao
The Handpulled Noodle
Dosa Royale
Woops!
Han Dynasty
Pasar Malam
Thailand: Kitchen of the World Spot Dessert OBAO Noodles & BBQ
2
STAGE
REET
1
Cooking Station
Spicy Lanka
Panda Cafe Lucy’s Vietnamese Bibingka-esk Kitchen
CoCo Tea
The V Spot
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June 26–July 2, 2015 www.EpochTaste.com SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
We are proud to have been voted
BEST DINER IN NYC by residents and businesses in lower east manhattan
% %
!
% ! ! " % $ %
#
stuff to eat and drink around town
% #
Remedy Diner Open 24 Hours
$10 Beer & Burger Monday to Friday Special 3-7pm.
245 East Houston Street New York (212) 677-5110 RemedyDinerNyc.com
CHEFS SURBHI SAHNI & HEMANT MATHUR, ZIZHAO LUO AT JAMES BEARD HOUSE
Chefs Surbhi Sahni (L) and Hemant Mathur. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
HAPPY HOUR Mon & Tues 4-8 pm
2 for1
Beer or Wine
BUILD YOUR OWN BURGER
At Joy Burger Bar, we are all about customizing your burger experience. With 3 burger sizes to choose from and 9 sauces to complement your toppings, you will always get what you want.
Craft Beer 2 Wine 2 Fresh Salads 2 Hand Cut Fries Catch the game on our 40� TVs 1567 Lexington Ave, New York (212) 289-6222 JoyBurgerBar.com
Award-winning chefs are cooking up fabulous six-course meals this weekend. Part of Taste Asia celebrations, chef Zizhao Luo is cooking dinner, and chef Hemant Manthur and his wife, pastry chef Surbhi Sahni, are cooking lunch at James Beard House. Chef Hemant Mathur is a Michelin-starred Indian chef who earned the first Michelin star awarded to an Indian restaurant in the U.S. He later went on to open Tulsi, which also earned a Michelin star the year it opened. Now, he is at the helm of no less than six Indian restaurants in New York City —needless to say, he knows his way around Indian cuisine. Mathur will be serving up delicious dishes from Bengali and Keralan traditions at his luncheon. Savor the Sago Potato Cakes and Black Seabass Pollichathu (and that's just for starters!). Dessert will be made by pastry chef Surbhi Sahni, who will be whipping up some delectable kulfi, which is traditional Indian ice cream.
Or, have Chef Luo bring you to China for dinner. Chef Luo's specialty is Cantonese cuisine, and has been known as one of the "Beijing Four," one of the top four chefs in China's capital. His extensive knowledge makes him truly a master of Chinese cuisine. Chef Luo will be cooking an authentic Cantonese feast, including delicious Chilean Sea bass steamed over big fire and other traditional Chinese dishes. The dinner will wrap up with delicately sweet Tang Yuan for dessert. Each event will take place at James Beard House on Sunday, June 28, and includes a cocktail hour, a meet-and-greet with the chefs, and a six-course meal. The luncheon will start at 11:30 a.m., and dinner starts at 6:30 p.m.
Chef Zizhao Luo. Tickets for lunch and dinner can be found at ept.ms/TasteAsiaJBLunch15 and ept.ms/TasteAsiaJBDinner15, respectively.
COURTESY OF LNR
CHEESEMONGER INVITATIONAL COURTESY OF CHRISTINE HYATT
Watch as the country’s best cheeseheads battle it out for glory and prizes, while tasting hundreds of cheeses served by the world’s best cheesemakers. Some of the hosts include Columbia Cheese, Cowgirl Creamery, and many more! Saturday, June 27, 5 p.m.– 8.30 p.m. Larkin Cold Storage, 4755 27th St., Long Island City. Tickets: $75. CheeseMongerInvitational.com
Last year's La Nuit en RosĂŠ.
The freshest seafood, every day wner, Jesus Martinez, who comes from the O verdant province of Galicia in northwestern Spain, is most insistent on quality, and goes to pick out fish at the market every morning at 2:30 a.m.
• Enjoy fine cuisine from Spain made from authentic ingredients, elevated by exact and careful preparation.
ALCALA
Restaurant
LA NUIT EN ROSE Pink fanatics, this is an event not to miss, as La Nuit en RosÊ, a festival dedicated to rosÊ wines and champagnes returns to New York. Enjoy novelties from 18 restaurants and 10 gourmet food brands, with more than 150 rosÊ wines, and live entertainment on a Hornblower Infinity yacht, sailing along on the Hudson River. June 25–June 27, 6 p.m.–10 p.m. Hornblower Infinity yacht, 353 West St., Pier 40. Tickets: $75. NuitRose.com
(212) 370-1866 246 E. 44th Street AlcalaRestaurant.com PAUL WAGTOUICZ
Each SIMIT + SMITH simit is hand-rolled at our local factory and always freshly baked with no preservatives.
Salads, Sandwiches, Turkish Tea and Coffee
124 W. 72nd St, New York
3 212-496-6605
111 Worth St, New York
3 212-374-1224
11 Waverly Place, New York 3 212-784-0657 1400 Broadway, New York 4 Convenient Locations!
3 212-398-0098
SIMITANDSMITH.com
Compiled by Daksha Devnani Epoch Times Sta
Gabriel Kreuther Opens Gabriel Kreuther Chef Gabriel Kreuther is fusing French and other internationally inspired flavors in his new restaurant venue named after the chef himself—and it will overlooks Bryant Park. Notable dishes include Spice Rubbed Mangalitsa Pork Neck and Sturgeon & Sauerkraut Tart. There is also a casual lounge to stop by for a relaxing cocktail and tarte flambÊe. Open for lunch and dinner.
Than Bagels Often called a “Turkish bagel,� Simit are softer and lighter on the inside and crunchier on the outside.
Enjoy an evening celebrating the foods of Tunisia and the delicious Tunisian ingredients produced by les Moulin Mahjoub in northwestern Tunisia. Majid Mahjoub will also be available to answer questions and talk about his country and food.
Thursday, July 1, 6 p.m.–10 p.m. 21 E. Seventh St. Porsena.com
Openings around town
Better
We also serve
PORSENA
Semsom: Lebanese Cuisine A Lebanese eatery with a twist, Semsom is in four countries in the Middle East, and is opening its first restaurant in the United States right here in New York City. It aims to oer original pairings, working with top chefs and Lebanese villages alike to form a menu based on tradition, but venturing toward innovative, healthy cuisine. Open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. and weekends from 8 a.m.
Semsom
2 Astor Place 212-979-2363 Semsom.com
Gabriel Kreuther
41 W. 42nd St. (between Fifth & Sixth) 212-257-5826 GKNYC.com
Padoca Opens on Upper East Side Sitting in between comfort and originality, Padoca is a new corner bakery on the Upper East Side that invokes nostalgia while still providing creative treats. Oerings by pastry chef Rachel Binder include sweet and savory baked goods, such as the CarrotApple-Raisin-Walnut-Flaxseed Breakfast Bun (talk about a mouthful!), or Padoca Swirls, its version of babkas. It also oers acai bowls, fresh juices, and coees. If you don’t feel like grabbing and going, a sit down meal is also on the menu, with cafe favorites like sandwiches and salads. It also has seasonal soups, such as the Red Lentil, that focus on flavor and nutrition. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
COURTESY OF PADOCA
Padoca
359 E. 68th St. (northwest corner of 68th & First) 212-249-8085 PadocaBakery.com Compiled by Sharon Zhang Epoch Times Sta
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June 26–July 2, 2015 www.EpochTaste.com ALL PHOTOS BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
SPONSORED CONTENT
Remedy for Roundthe-Clock Cravings What is the essence of a diner? At Remedy Diner, it's all about slightly elevated, classic American staples. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there's no better way to remedy your wildest comfort food cravings. Walking into Remedy Diner is like walking onset of a Hollywood film. The large checkered tiles, embossed ceiling,and rounded edges, along with wood and silver accents set the stage for a very nostalgically '80s art deco diner. One would expect to be served all-star classic diner fare at such a place, and that is what you will get—and then some. Good home-style food, large portions, all at a reasonable price. Take the Tex Mex Burger ($8.50) for example. Open face Angus beef patty with melted pepper jack cheese, bacon, avocados, and a generous side of sweet potato fries. Or the No. 1 Club Sandwich ($13) with triple decker turkey, lettuce, crispy bacon, and tomato served with tri-colored slaw, pickles, and fries. Behind the scenes in the kitchen at Remedy Diner, the use of whole foods and fresh produce is essential. Everything on the menu and everything you see in the pastry and cake displays is made from scratch and baked in-house. Speaking of the menu, it's extensive. Alongside your standard diner fare, Remedy Diner's specialty is options, serving a long list of salads, quesadillas, pastas, finger foods, small plates, and full blown entrees. Notable finger food? Two words: Mozzarella Sticks ($8). My companion and I couldn't put a finger on what made the mozzarella sticks so good, but we could not put them down after the first bite. But then, how could you ever go wrong with fried cheese? As for the small plates, the Octopus Cocktail ($13) is a must. Tender and flavorful with cherry tomatoes, red onions, capers, cilantro, and lemon oil. Entrees include chicken, all kinds of seafood, and steak dishes. We tried the Chicken Parmigiana ($18), a blanket of mozzarella over fried chicken atop a bed of spaghetti with tomato sauce—and we're fans. While the seemingly endless menu dabbles in a variety of cuisines, Remedy Diner's cornerstone is comfort food. No diner is complete without pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The Lumberjack ($12) comes with all three: fluffy pancakes, two eggs any style, and your choice of bacon, ham, or sausage. This is a must if you appreciate the combination of sweet and savory. If you're particular about eating the food on your plate separately, you've got to make an exception for these pancakes. The optimal bite is eating all three things together with a drizzle of syrup. The French Toast ($7) was buttery, without being too overwhelming, and moist, without being soggy. The crust packed a surprising crunch. Wash down your pancakes and French Toast with a Pistachio Milkshake ($5), Black and White Shake ($6), or Shirley Temple ($5.50) with a scoop of ice cream. You can't forget about dessert. There are eight different cakes, eight different pies, and a variety of freshly baked pastries to choose from. We had the Red Velvet Cake ($5.50), with whipped cream frosting, which was our favorite. The Tiramisu ($6) was light and creamy. And the Chocolate Outrage ($5.50) was beyond outrageous, in the best way possible, with six layers of chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. The chocolate cake was moist and dense—a dream ending. What do we love about Remedy Diner? Options. Variety means there is something for everyone, which translates to being family-friendly. The restaurant is also spacious enough to accommodate big groups. A bar serves cocktails and tap beers around the clock. You are greeted by a massive cake display and freshly baked pastries upon walking into the diner. Whatever you're looking for, Remedy Diner will most likely be able to satisfy your cravings.
No. 1 Club Sandwich with triple decker turkey, lettuce, crispy bacon, and tomato and the Tex Mex Burger with Angus beef, melted pepper jack cheese, bacon, and avocados.
Remedy Diner
245 E. Houston St. 212-677-5110 RemedyDinerNYC.com Hours Open 24 hours
You can’t go wrong with the Lumberjack pancakes and Octopus Cocktail.
Walking into Remedy Diner is like walking onset of a Hollywood film.
1.
2.
Remedy Diner attracts people from all walks of life: artists, musicians, locals, tourists—even Lady Gaga.
4. 1 4 2 3
3. 1. The Lumberjack (L) with fluffy pancakes, 3. Black and White Shake (front L), Pistachio two eggs any style, and your choice of bacon, Milkshake (back), and Shirley Temple (front R) ham, or sausage; and French Toast (R). with a generous scoop of ice cream. 2. Red Velvet—our favorite cake.
4. Chicken Parmigiana (top) and Octopus Cocktail (bottom).
FILMED AT REMEDY DINER A few episodes of “White Collar,” a Lexus commercial, and an interview with Jerry Seinfeld and Wale. Head to ept.ms/Remedy-Diner to see the commercial and the interview.
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June 26–July 2, 2015 www.EpochTaste.com ALL PHOTOS BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Greek Pantry Picks from
Chef
Maria Loi By Daksha Devnani & Sharon Zhang | Epoch Times Staff
Real Greek Feta Cheese Feta cheese is one of the most well-known Greek cheeses, and is made from either sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, or a blend of both. At Loi Estiatorio, Loi uses real Greek feta in her salads— tossed with cucumber, tomato, and other fresh vegetables. According to the chef, the “yogurt mania” that trended recently will be taken over by “feta mania” next. Real Greek Feta cheese, is available at Murray’s cheese stores across New York City, but can also be ordered online for delivery nationwide.
Rapsani Wine From vineyards in Northern Greece, Rapsani produces a popular Greek red wine. For Loi, wine from Rapsani is a personal favorite. The flavor fits perfectly with her food, “It’s full bodied, a little bit spicy, with a ton of character ... sort of like me!” she exclaimed. Loi also finds that mixed varietal wines, such as Rapsani, “have more body and character” than other single grape wines. Rapsani is available at various wine and liquor stores.
hef Maria Loi has a warm sensitivity to her. Customers—friends, strangers, even her dentist—walk into her restaurant, Loi Estiatorio, and are greeted with an embrace and kiss on the cheek. With mastery only Loi possesses, she has cultivated an atmosphere of trust and kinship in her restaurant. According to Loi, the ‘yogurt mania’ will be taken over by ‘feta mania’ next.
Loi loves deeply, from her cuisine to her parents to her homeland, Greece, which is a point of concern for the chef. As the economy suffers as a result of its huge debt, Loi believes she has the solution: Greek ingredients. Love from Loi is evident in every dish she makes, but it especially shines through when she talks about Greek products. They are a symbol of not only nostalgia but quality for the chef, who even uses Greek olive oil as a beauty product for her skin and hair. Here are Loi’s Greek product recommendations to save the economy, eat healthier, and cook deliciously:
Kyknos is a 100-year-old company.
Kyknos Tomato Paste At 100 years old, Kyknos is not only one of the oldest Greek canning companies, but it’s also one of the most loved and recognized brands in Greece. Kyknos’s tomato paste is a product that Loi grew up with—when there were no tomatoes available at the farms in Greece, her family would use it as an alternative. Though you’ll find tomato paste in almost any cuisine, Loi mainly uses it in her pasta sauces. Kyknos uses whole peeled plum organic tomatoes and it has various concentrations of tomatoes, giving the paste varying intensities of tomato flavor. The chef respects the care the company takes in production of the paste, and hopes that Kyknos will live on for a million years. Keep an eye out for news on the availability of Kyknos tomato paste coming soon to the United States.
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Greek Yogurt Greek yogurt is a nutritional powerhouse, packing twice the protein of regular yogurt with probiotics to boost digestion and the immune system. Loi describes it as “a good fat to fight the fat,” and suggests eating it postworkout for a perfect protein punch. Loi’s recipe for Greek yogurt is rich, creamy, and easy to make. She also recommends using Greek yogurt as an eye mask, which, unlike some other face masks, doesn’t dry the sensitive skin underneath and around the eyes.
Could Greek products save the Greek economy? Maria Loi thinks so.
Chef Maria Loi.
DRINK TO YOUR
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Athena Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mild Seafood Stew with Nurungji
Greek olive oil is one of the world’s finest olive oils. A good Greek olive oil is a key ingredient in Greek cuisine, which has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Loi recommends Athena Extra Virgin Olive Oil—she can’t live without it. “It would take me three days to explain how good it is for you,” she said. Greek olive oil isn’t just an amazing ingredient in food; it can also be used to nourish your hair. Loi swears by it. Athena Extra Virgin Olive Oil is available at Whole Foods.
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Loi Pasta Loi Pasta is Loi’s new pasta company that was created in partnership with Helios, the oldest pasta company and manufacturer in Greece. Helios takes great strides in upholding traditions while adapting to modern times. “I am proud to be working with them,” said Loi. “They take great pride in harvesting only the best durum wheat semolina to create traditional Greek pasta shapes.” Helios grows its wheat directly on Greek soil, and “The result is pasta unlike any I have had,” said Loi. “I am so proud to have my name on it!” Loi Pasta is available for distribution through Sysco across the United States.
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D8 June 26–July 2, 2015 www.TasteAsia.org SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
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Chef David Bouley at Bouley on June 17.
Chef David Bouley on Emotion, Health, and Kaiseki When you taste a dish from chef David Bouley—whether it is Forager’s Treasure of Wild Mushrooms at Bouley, or Golden Crab Chawanmushi at Brushstroke—there’s something intangible to it. The attention to detail and the focus that Bouley places on the purity of the ingredients are extraordinary. When I spoke to Bouley recently, he talked about the importance of emotion. Perhaps it is that ingredient that adds this elusive je-nesais-quoi. Where some chefs might get bogged down in technique, Bouley keeps connected to emotion by “finding nature at the best time, studying nature. I always tell people, ‘Here’s a bell pepper. Me and the bell pepper, we go for a long walk. We learn everything about each other.’” As a result, he knows how to cook a bell pepper every way possible. Taking the time to get to know ingredients takes time, “A lot of time,” he said. Over the years, he recalls getting up in the middle of the night to jot down notes. “The next morning I wake up and say, ‘What!’ and throw it away. Sometimes, wow it’s perfect! The dish comes because you’ve already been thinking about it for five months.” These days, at Bouley Botanical, he’s busy growing over 500 plants that he uses in his cooking, intensely focused not only on their seasonality but also on their nutrient-dense value. Health and seasonality have long been a distinguishing mark of his cooking. Back in 1985 when all that New Yorkers knew about French cuisine was butter and cream, he was the first to bring to New York French nouvelle cuisine, which he had learned under the late legendary chef Roger Vergé in the south of France. Fresher, lighter French cuisine was a revelation back then. And so was the tasting menu, which permitted him to get to know the preferences of the diners. The tasting menu or “dégustation menu” in France, he explained, was inspired by the Japanese tradition of kaiseki, which consist of small courses, each meticulous and beautiful. French chefs who At Brushstroke, the experience of kaiseki is taken through all the senses. In the middle of this bustling neighborhood, Brushstroke is nothing short of an oasis—calm, serene, pure. Japanese maples grow just outside. Birds find shelter in the foliage and serenade the guests. Time doesn’t quite come to a stand still but it slows down. The kaiseki experience envelops you in its own rhythm. When I was there, I admit I found myself a little anxious and antsy
The tasting menu was inspired by the Japanese tradition of kaiseki, Bouley said.
at first (Deadlines! Paperwork! Meetings! Who has time for kaiseki?)—but in the middle of such peacefulness, the tension soon melts away. For a couple of hours, it felt like there was all the time in the world. To be human again and have a conversation without glancing at the phone every five minutes, to delve into the impossibly harmonious crab chawanmushi, or savor the mountain vegetables in the perfect tempura batter, and to enjoy nature’s seasonal bounty at that very moment? And what better gift is there than walking away, feeling mentally refreshed and physically light? Bouley, who started long ago to think deeply about his guests and their health, has perfected that gift. DavidBouley.com SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Flan With Alaska Dungeness Crab and Black Truffle Dashi. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
David Bouley cooks at Bouley on June 17.
D9 June 26–July 2, 2015 www.TasteAsia.org By Channaly Philipp | Epoch Times Staff
Friends David Bouley and Yuji Wakiya don’t really share a language. Bouley doesn’t speak Japanese, and Yuji Wakiya’s English is minimal. But when the art of food and cooking is front and center, words aren’t necessary.
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Iron Chef Yuji Wakiya and a Game Changing Ramen Sorba It was about 10 years ago when Japanese “Iron Chefâ€? Yuji Wakiya was approached by Rocky Aoki, the founder of Benihana. Aoki had a prediction about the next big Japanese food that would hit the United States after sushi: ramen. He wanted Wakiya to create dishes for him. But Wakiya is a fine-dining chef—to eat at his restaurants in Japan, you need to be prepared to part with a few hundred dollars. A noodle dish wasn’t quite in his aspirations. Aoki passed away seven years ago. Of course his prediction came to pass in a big way. To honor his memory, his wife Keiko Ono Aoki (also currently the CEO of Benihana) enlisted Wakiya, successfully this time, to create a noodle dish—and it’s oered right in the Flatiron. Last year she opened the restaurant KOA (after her own initials). Wakiya makes a ramen dish that should be a game-changer in the ramen world, even if it is late coming to the game of ramen in town—and actually to dierentiate it from the pack, they don’t even call it ramen. They call it sorba. “I don’t know, maybe Rocky would say, ‘Oh Keiko, oh no this is not what I meant,’ but I try my best,â€? she said. I tried one of the sorba dishes and it was nothing like I’ve seen before. We all know the longsimmered pork broth or chicken broth. But here the broth was white. Along with
the chicken stock, Wakiya uses a specially patented, exclusive soy cream that he imports from Japan. As a result there’s a gentle creaminess to the broth. “By adding the two elements, it has umami,â€? Wakiya said. The soy cream, he added, is very nutritious. To this dish, Soymilk Dan Dan Sorba, he also adds spicy ground beef (a take on the Chinese dan dan noodles, I imagine), and drizzles the dish with chili oil made with 10 dierent spices, including sansho pepper. Wakiya is known for his haute Chinese cuisine in Japan, where he blends tradition with his own creativity. In Japan, chefs are looking to its healthy aspect. “There’s a saying in China that means ‘to eat and to heal.’â€? The other dierence with these sorba dishes is the ratio of the dierent elements. “Rocky said Americans need toppings, not only broth and noodles and a little scallion, a little seaweed, some little vegetables,â€? she said. As a result, the sorba dishes have less broth, and more toppings. Another signature dish is a take on a Sichuan classic, the onomatopeic Hehe-A-He Chicken, named for its spiciness. It’s not as much tongue searing as it is flavorful, but the sight of the heaping amount of Sichuan peppers might well add to the sensation.
Obsessive Attention to Detail T
he single inspiration that lead to the establishment of Hatsuhana was nothing more than the desire to introduce unsurpassed sushi and sashimi to New Yorkers. Since the first day we opened our doors in 1976, we have been a sushi specialty restaurant. This has helped us maintain our focus on sushi and excel at the one thing that mattered most.
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Over three decades later, our mission remains unchanged. Obsessive attention to detail should be the norm for sushi restaurants, not something to strive for. The complexity associated with creating the ideal sushi rice. The fragrance of freshly ground wasabi. The freshest fish from around the globe. Please come by for lunch or dinner and let us show you what real sushi is like.
D10 June 26–July 2, 2015 www.TasteAsia.org SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
A
Surprise
Wan Ja Shan uses non-GMO soy beans.
Brewing in the
Hudson Valley
Naturally brewed, Wan Ja Shan soy sauce is earthy and rounded The Hudson Valley is famous for its wide variety of artisanal products: whiskey, chocolate, and pretty much anything you can find at a farmers market. However, like its urban counterpart, upstate New York is full of surprises. Add to the list: soy sauce. Turns out, the Hudson Valley is also home to Wan Ja Shan, one of the top soy sauce producers in the world. It’s the brand favored by chef Ming Tsai. Back in the ’70s, the founders of Wan Ja Shan chose the location not only for its proximity to customers on the East Coast, but also for the availability of the pristinely clean water from the Catskills. Its aim? To create the highest quality soy sauce on the market. It’s made without preservatives, and makes the leading organic soy sauce line on the market. Making soy sauce is no easy task, especially at Wan Ja Shan—its soy sauce, like fine wine is aged, in this case, at least six months and up to a year. This time investment is necessary not only because the sauce needs the time to develop its flavor, but also because Wan Ja Shan makes its soy sauce naturally, as opposed to chemically. Many soy sauce manufacturers use the latter method to make their soy sauce, or some mix of both—to save time, money, or both. Chemical methods use chemical hydrolysis to make soy sauce, meaning that the soybeans are boiled in a mixture with hydrochloric acid. The soy protein is extracted, and ingredients are added for flavor and appearance. When soy sauce is made naturally, the ingredient list is simple: water, soybeans, wheat, and salt. Naturally made soy sauce shies away from chemical additives, and it tastes better. Wan Ja Shan’s sauce has a softer, more complex flavor than its chemically made, sharper tasting counterparts. And the taste is certainly complex. The natural method creates a sauce with four flavors: a little sweet, salty, umami, and sour. As a result of the process, good soy sauce should taste
When soy sauce is made naturally, the ingredient list is simple: water, soybeans, wheat, and salt.
COURTESY OF WAN JA SHAN
By Sharon Zhang | Epoch Times Staff
better when it’s heated up. Entering its production facility in Middletown, New York, a warm aroma welcomes you—something like baking bread. The name, Wan Ja Shan, means “Aroma of 10,000 Houses.” The process is laborious and long, but the result is a better soy sauce. Wan Ja Shan’s dedication to flavor and being chemical-free is matched by its dedication to the environment. It pledges to be waste- and pollution-free, and believe every part of the process can be recycled. Instead of throwing away and wasting the ground soy meal byproduct, the soy meal is given to nearby farmers and ranchers, who mix it in with their cattle and pig feed. The animals got so used to the delicious umami flavor, in fact, that they ended up being addicted to the soy meal. Now, they refuse to eat the feed without it. Products come in organic and gluten-free versions. The soy sauce also serves as a base for myriad other products, like Worcestershire sauce, ponzu vinaigrette, and stir-fry sauces. Wan Ja Shan is available at Whole Foods and other specialty stores. For a list of stockists or more information, see WanJaShan.com Channaly Philipp contributed to this report.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Wan Ja Shan is a sponsor of Taste Asia Food Fest SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Soy cakes, a byproduct of the soy sauce-making process, are donated to local ranchers. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Unlike chemical soy sauce, these soy sauces are aged naturally over months.
Bottling the soy sauce.
D11 June 26–July 2, 2015 www.TasteAsia.org SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
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(Clockwise, from top L) Cardamom, orange, and coconut burfi; besan ladoos and kesar malai lados; chocolate fudge; and kaju katlis.
Indian-inflected sweets from pastry chef Surbhi Sahni
Katsu & Sake
Signature dishes you won’t find in other Japanese restaurants
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By Channaly Philipp | Epoch Times Staff
Experience Bengali and Keralan flavors with chefs Surbhi Sahni and Hemant Mathur at the James Beard House lunch on Sunday, June 28. Part of a Taste Asia celebration. Tickets $200. TasteAsia.org or JamesBeard.org
SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Pastry chef Surbhi Sahni.
For more information, visit BittersweetNYC.com
looking to follow in her father’s footsteps as an artist but didn’t get into art school. “My dad said ‘You could always do wedding cakes. It’s an art form,’” she said. “I’d never seen a wedding cake. I didn’t know what a wedding cake was.” Perhaps things were set in motion even earlier, when Sahni’s father took her to the Maurya Sheraton in New Delhi where he had an exhibition. “They served us tea and cookies over there. I was so fascinated by this gorgeous-looking hotel. I was from a very simple middle-class family. I had never seen a place like that. My eyes were as big as saucers,” she said. She told her father:”This is where I want to work.” As it turned out, the West View at the same hotel was her first job. Hotels at that time were the only places where you could find highquality restaurants serving European cuisine. In Manhattan, where Sahni moved to study food anthropology at NYU, she worked for acclaimed Indian restaurants Devi, Tulsi, and Tamarind. But once upon a time, you would never have found her working at an Indian restaurant. She said, “I never wanted to work in Indian restaurants, ever—no! I can say it openly. We grew up with a very British mentality” that held Western cuisine high aloft and regarded Indian food in low regard. “What’s there to learn about Indian food?” was the prevailing mentality in the hospitality industry. Sahni has of course changed her mindset. She looks to take classic and homey Indian flavors, and present them in a more beautiful way, or change the flavors, and add highquality ingredients. The home kitchen is where she now spins her magic, making sweets that are sweet—but not too sweet. And surely somewhere is a tray of besan ladoos, always within reach. 1000 WORDS STUDIOS
Indian sweets are famously cloying. Whenever I bite into one I always think of dentists. Would they wring their hands in anxiety or rejoice? It depends on the dentist, I suppose. But the Indian-inflected sweets made by pastry chef Surbhi Sahni for her company Bittersweet NYC are a rare exception to the rule. The sweetness is minimal, and you can taste the delicate spices, which offer just a touch of eye-opening somewhere-else. Her little squares of chocolate fudge, bearing a gold dusting as if a fairy had just flown by, leave behind a tantalizing aroma—cardamom, as it turns out. Then there’s also golden squares with a sheen of silver dust: kaju katli are nutty, with the taste of cashews coming through clearly. A distinguishing flavor and hallmark of Indian pastries is the use of khoya, a milk base. To this Sahni adds premium ingredients. Because she keeps sugar to a minimum, their flavor comes through. These sweets are smaller than the standard size you’d find in Indian sweet shops—and I am partial to the size as well as the minimal level of sweetness. They are “just right,” to borrow the words from Goldilocks. They are also quite pretty. For example, green sugar crystals tops the kesar malai ladoo, little balls of saffron and cream, with tiny bits of almond inside. Cardamom, orange, and coconut burfi sparkle with a dash of orange sugar on top. Still, my favorite is the plainest: besan ladoos, little chickpea flour balls made with nothing but butter, sugar, and chickpeas. But they are so good, and they are the one confection that its creator can’t help but eat. “It’s the only sweet I cannot resist if it’s there,” Sahni said as she reached out for a second helping, “They remind of my childhood. I’m mad for them.” Sahni also creates the sweets at Haldi, the popular eatery on Curry Hill. She hasn’t had time to do the desserts for the other restaurants of the Fine Indian Dining Group, which she and her husband Hemant Mathur run, but next on her list will be Kokum, a few doors down from Haldi. Wedding cakes are also part of the business. They are spectacular confections, with graceful designs ranging from peacock feathers to mehndi patterns to lush flowers. Her top-selling cakes are the chili chocolate cake with either hazelnut or caramel icing; and a saffron cake with coconut cream and plum preserves. It’s only been about three years since she started doing them, but the seed was likely planted decades ago. At the time, Sahni was
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Epoch Times, June 26–July 2, 2015
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