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Alternative Views: Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Otafuku Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki

For all the talk about New York being an expensive city to live in with restaurants that are often out of reach, there are still places like Otafuku in the East Village where one can get a unique gustatory experience for under $10. Sure, the entire place is the size of your bathroom and there is only standing room to eat (if you’re lucky). But this is New York, and if you live here you know that size is not equal to space. It’s what you make of it. And what Otafuku has done with nary a space to sit is quite remarkable.

It’s far from fancy. Three guys and a griddle plus a hardwood counter where they dump the nori, bonito, Bulldog sauce and Japanese mayo on your selection.

There are only three things on the menu: takoyaki (dumplings with octopus), okonomiyaki (potato and cabbage pancakes with pork), and yakisoba. I like simple menus. It keeps the restaurant focused and maintains the quality of its limited offerings.

A wall poster describes their offerings in detail:

“TAKOYAKI: Takoyaki, octopus balls, maybe called Japanese Comfort Food made by pouring a liquid paste of wheat flour into round metal molds and adding chopped octopus, ginger, scallion, and tenkasu to the paste and broil the mixture like little balls.

OKONOMIYAKI: Okonomiyaki is a Japanese style pancake made using a batter of flour, water and egg with shredded cabbag, corn, meat (beef or pork) or seafood (shrimp or squid) grilled on a hot plate and topped with special sauce, mayonniase, dried bonito flakes, dried seaweed powder. Okonomiyaki literally means Cook what you like, and customers can get choose (sic) their own favorite ingredients and then cook up their Okonomiyaki.”

My favorite is the takoyaki and okonomiyaki combo for $9, a full meal for even a big eater such as myself. I ask for extra ginger and red pepper powder and they gladly oblige, recognizing I must know my stuff. I’m not Japanese, but my country was a Japanese colony for a while. I’m just teasing. All I know about okonomiyaki I learned in New York, from Otafuku and in the homes of gracious friends.

Takoyaki on the left and okonomiyaki buried in bonito flakes on the right, plus extra red ginger.

I enjoy watching my food made in front of me because I can see the simplicity of the process: potato flour batter and some vegetables, a hot griddle and some chopstick and toothpick maneuvers.

Turning the takoyaki, as seen through a hot and oil-splattered window.

As far as the finished product, it’s the best of its kind. I hardly find okonomiyaki in Japanese restaurants (I’ve seen it once on a menu in 10 years of NYC dining, and it was nothing like Otafuku’s). The okonomiyaki is soft, flavorful, and served with an abundance of toppings and sauces. The takoyaki is crisp on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. I believe I only see takoyaki in Japanese market food courts, and rarely at that. This combo above remains to be one of my favorite quick go-to meals in the city. The crowd that gathers outside the cramp food stall seems to agree.

There is only one outdoor bench to sit on, and it has a warning sign.

The Otafuku lady guards the stall from the bark of wood in which she is carved. This box that must be as narrow as one king bed offers a secret that’s hard to guess from outside.

I’ve made okonomiyaki at home. It’s pretty good, but it can never be made with this much love. As far as Japanese street food (until a future trip to Tokyo), Otafuku has my heart.

Otafuku

236 East 9th Street New York, NY 10003-7503

(212) 353-8503

Ginger Flounder and Steamed Choy Sum

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Want a healthy, delicious meal in under thirty minutes? This puts the entree and the side in one oven for a great meal 20 minutes later.

We first encountered this fish dish when a friend named Fanny made it for us, but using a whole snapper. We’ve always enjoyed the flounder at Hop Kee so we decided to order a whole flounder from Fresh Direct (can’t say any more good things about their fish and seafood section). I like this dish because of its simple yet distinct flavors and relatively simple preparation. Along with choy sum (chinese brocolli), it’s a perfect combination of light protein and greens.

Pre-heat the oven to 400C. Begin by cutting through the meat of the flounder twice with a knife. Don’t go all the way through! Salt the flounder on both sides and drizzling some olive oil on top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.

While the flounder is baking, cut and arrange choy sum (Chinese broccoli) in a baking dish
and drizzle with some olive oil.

Cover securely with aluminum foil. This will create the steam that will cook your choy sum.

Put the choy sum alongside the flounder and retrieve both when the flounder is done.

While both are baking, cut some ginger into very this strips.

Saute ginger in olive oil and drizzle with a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

Ginger should turn into a crisp brown.

The flounder is done in 20 minutes or when the meat is opaque but still moist and slightly gelatinous.

Pour the ginger mixture on top of the flounder.

Take the choy sum out.

Voila! If you think this looks pretty, wait till you smell it.

Serve with the choy sum for a fragrant, sumptuous and healthy meal!

Served here with a dollop of bukkake okazu rayu or chili garlic oil for the choy sum. One may substitute oyster sauce or soy sauce for dipping, or simply eat the choy sum on its own.

The flounder goes really well with the sweetness of the choy sum when it’s steamed in its own juice.

I love chili garlic oil, especially this one that our friends graciously shared with us from Tokyo.

It’s different from the Chinese version (I favor Lee Kum Kee’s chili oil) in that it is much more flavorful and has bits of fried garlic that miraculously stay crispy in the oil. A must-have if it’s available to you. Left to my own devices, I could drink this bottle straight up!