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NYC Dept of Health Restaurant Grading – Why B is Fine With Me

Today’s NYTarticle on why restaurants suffer lower Health Department ratings to servefood the way it is intended is right in my line of thinking.

I don’t really care if my sushi chef doesn’t wear gloves (asin Sushi Yashuda, a world-renownedrestaurant), I see him washing and wiping his hands and food surfaces multipletimes an hour.

If my liver terrine is going to be tasteless cold then I’drather go to a B restaurant and have it served at room temperature the way it’ssupposed to be served, as with cooking meats and steaks.

The NYC Department of Health restaurantscoring guidelines do a fine enough job weeding out blatant violators androdent-infested dumps, but adhering strictly to the rules does not make arestaurant great. I’d really rather dine at a B than an A restaurant if itmeans they’ve sacrificed the grade in order to do things right.

Besides, the system is not exempt from most in that itcan be bought. According to a Per Se waiter’srevelation in NY Magazine:

Continue reading →

Pasta with Salsa Amaya – Herring, Sundried Tomato, Capers, Olives, Mushrooms and Garlic

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One of the things I request from friends or relatives visiting from Manila is Connie’s Kitchen Salsa Amaya. It is a bottled blend of herring, olives, mushrooms and herbs soaked in olive oil.

I saute some garlic to bring out some flavors and stir in the bottle’s contents to come up with a flavorful sauce.

I toss some cooked pasta in and serve it promptly, the aroma unmistakably Filipino but with an Italian twist.

This definitely cannot be found in any New York Restaurant menu. Somebody patent it, quick!

And if you are a friend who would like to be on my good side, please ship me some Connie’s Kitchen goodies. Other favorites include Kippers in Capers, Herring in Oil, Daing na Bangus, and Tinapate.

Drool.

Salad: Kale, Cara Cara Orange, Lemon Vinaigrette

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After being able to make a simple kale salad, we were introduced to raw kale and explored other ways of preparing it, especially the possibility of excluding cheese. We had dinner at Amorina the previous evening and had their wonderful salad of arugula, Cara Cara orange, and lemon vinaigrette, which inspired this creation below.

I love the deep green hues of kale contrasting with the dark pink of the cara cara. The lemon vinaigrette coats the kale nicely and gives it a nice softening flavor. The citrus is refreshing and makes the salad a great companion to anything hearty or rich.

Here I served it with baked brussels sprouts (coated in olive oil and rock salt, 350C for 20 minutes), and baked chicken pieces (marinated in lemon, salt and pepper, baked at 400C for 45 minutes).

Kale with Cara Cara Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch kale, cut into strips
1 cara cara orange, peeled and sliced

Dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Whisk dressing ingredients until blended. Toss kale until coated.
Arrange orange pieces on top. Mangia!

Nha Trang Restaurant, New York City

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“Hello, kamusta (how are you)? Long time, no see!” the old waiter at Nha Trang Restaurant on Baxter Street greeted us on entry.

He’s not Filipino but greets all Pinoys this way, and if you chat him up on why he knows how to say masarap (tasty), he will tell you that he lived in a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines for quite a while. We’ve been coming to Nha Trang for over a decade and personal touches like this are hard to ignore.

That’s not to say the food doesn’t deserve credit. Other than Nicky’s, Nha Trang’s pho is among the tastiest we’ve found in the city, and the have perfected the use of half-cooked beef slices that melt in the mouth. Continue reading →

Park Slope Food Coop Vote on the Boycott of Israeli Products (FAQs)

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On March 27, 2012, the ParkSlope Food Coop‘s General Meeting will discuss a proposal by the Boycott,Divestment and Sanctionss (BDS) movement to boycott Israeli products. More about this meeting here.

Who is the PSFC BDS andwhy do they want to boycott Israeli products?

The PSFC Boycott, Divestmentand Sanctions (BDS) movement are members of the Park Slope Food Coop whobelieve that a boycott of Israeli products is a valid tactic in the strugglefor peace and equality in Israeland Palestine.

Because the BDS believes in the democratic of the Park SlopeFood Coop, they have initiated a coop-wide referendum to vote on this issue theway other coop boycotts have been initiated, via a General Meeting.

Previous issues takento a vote by the PSFC:

Whether to introduce meat
Boycott Nestlé for promoting formula over breastfeeding
Boycott of Coca-Cola products
Whether to sell beer (result: yes over two referendums spaced 10 years apart)
Ban on bottled water
Ban on plastic bags
Boycott on Chilean grapes during the Pinochet regime
Boycott on South African products during apartheid
Ban on manufacturers with poor labor practices
Ban on GE lightbulbs because GE sold jet engines to the US Defense Department
Ban on items from Colorado for passing an anti-gay rights ordinance
Ban on Domino sugar products because of a Brooklyn labor dispute
Temporary ban of a member for misbehavior.

(from AComplete History of Park Slope Food Coop Bans, The Atlantic Citiesand the WSJ)

Those opposing theBDS:

Stop BDS atthe Park Slope Food Coop: “Upon any serious consideration, it becomes clearthat BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression ofArabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actuallyhas a problem only with Israeland it can only be deduced that their problem is truly with Jews.”

(If you would like to be added to this list, please leave acomment and a link below.)

Who is talking aboutthis?

“’It’s kind of silly,’ he said afterward. ‘We expect anIsraeli company that makes flat bread to influence their government’spolicies?’”

-Wall Street Journal: FoodCo-op Readies For Boycott Vote, February 12, 2012

“The Park Slope Food Co-op’s campaign to ban Israeli foodproducts is a hate-spewing affront on the Jewish State that will injure thewhole human race.”

-Glenn Beck: GlennBeck is angry at the Park Slope Food Coop, The Brooklyn Paper, February 23,2012

The Jewish DailyForward

(If you would like to add to this list, please leave acomment with a link below.)

What products areaffected?