Maison Harlem

05. December 2012 French, West + East Harlem 0
As a Harlem resident for the last 10 years, I’m all for new bars and restaurants in the area. The neighborhood has definitely changed. You see more new faces walking around, cafés and boutiques, but its growth is still slower than Brooklyn’s. Maison Harlem tries hard. A well-dressed gentleman–and may I say good-looking too–approached our ...

Thit Heo Nuong, Vietnamese Pork Chops

03. December 2012 Pork 0
Vietnamese grilled pork, or thit heo nuong (insert Vietnamese characters in there), remains to be one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. I still remember when my parents and I would eat in Chinatown’s Nha Trang restaurant every week. The dish did not cost much and it always came with a lot of rice; to my ...

Cocoron Soba

28. November 2012 Japanese, Lower East Side 0
61 Delancey Street between Allen and Eldrige $30 each for 3 people, with tip 212/925.5220 ♥ ♥ The temperature dropped and all we wanted was soup. Lisa and I would have gone to one of our usual haunts, but when Christian posted a photo of his soba bowl on Instagram over the weekend, I marked ...

Kimchi Chigae, Korean Soup with Pork Tenderloin and Tofu

26. November 2012 Pork 0
Chigae, or more appropriately jjigae, is a Korean stew made of a variety of vegetables and meat cooked in a broth seasoned with kochujang, or red chili paste. It’s more of a soup to me, really, but I’m not about to correct whatever the Koreans say. Recipes online ask for pork tenderloin, but I find ...

Ajiaco Bogotano, Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup

06. November 2012 Soups, Stocks + Sauces 2
When I traveled to Colombia a few years ago, I learned that it was soup country. Everywhere we ate, there was always ajiaco or sancocho on the menu, the two soups that easily became my favorites. When I first made my own version of ajiaco, I mistakenly added plantains because I remembered liking them from ...