San Gennaro Festival, Cendrillon, Ovelia's

Although it rained the night before, the weather was sufficiently decent to go out without an umbrella (but I brought one anyways). This is my friend's neighborhood in Astoria, which (according to Wikipedia) has the highest concentrations of Greeks outside of Greece. There are so many little ethnic eateries - it's amazing how much variety there is here. L and I walked a lot that day. Well for lazy ass me, that was a lot of walking. I'm not used to being a pedestrian. I feel so vulnerable. I need the safety of my car! Ha ha. I forgot what street this is and I haven't put in the hyperlinks yet, but below is a Filipino restaurant in the East Village (I think it is the East Village), Pistahan. Unfortunately, it was closed.

Just up the street (or was it down the street?) is Elvie's Turo-Turo ("point-point"). This is a Filipino fast food joint. You point to what you want on the steam table and they give it to you with two scoops of rice for less than $6. Just like the places in National Ciety and San Diego. We didn't eat here.

Somewhere in the East Village...

The Joe Strummer Memorial...

Although I was recommended to eat here, the line inside was too damn long. This is a well known deli known for their huge sandwiches (pastrami anyone?) but it was also featured in the infamous "fake orgasm" scene as performed by then non-trout lipped Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally".

Katz's worker preparing some food...

Hey, my last concert that I went to was the Cult....Back in 1991! D'oh!

One of many bootleg DVD/CD places in Chinatown...this is where I got my Goshuken Seasons 1 -3 and the TV version of Densha Otoko.

I'm not sure what kind of fruit this is...

Dried mushrooms stand in Chinatown...

Fruit and peanuts stand...

This was kind of gross. There were dried oysters with flies crawling all over them. Tasty. There was also dried shrimps in the other bins. Smelled kind of funky. After walking several blocks through Chinatown, we headed to Little Italy, which is only two blocks.

We were wanted to eat here...at Lombardi's(sorry no exterior shot), but the wait was 45 minutes! Fk that, so we walked down the street...

Lo and behold, it was a festival for San Gennaro. It was mega busy and super crowded.

I wanted a "snack" before we had our real lunch so I just went to the first pizza stand I saw. There were about 10 different kinds of pizza there. You choose whatever slice you want and the guy heats it up for you in an oven. The pizza place from whence these pizzas came was located behind this stand. We saw some workers running back and forth with freshly made pizzas.

I bought one slice and had the guy cut it in half so L and I could share it...

This slice had ground beef, tomatoes and cheese (not sure if it was mozzarrella because the texture was a little different, maybe ricotta?)...Whatever it was, it was pretty good. The crust was the best part - very crispy through and through.

After consuming our pizza slice snack, we headed over to the SoHo area. But before that, we checked out this whimsical (and overpriced, like everything seems to be in SoHo) shop called Pylones. These are hair brushes. So cute yet so unnecessary.

We finally reached Cendrillon ("Cinderella" in French) on Mercer Street. This is an upscale Filipino fusion place. It opened more than a decade. The owners also have a great cookbook out called "Memories of Philippine Kitchens".

For starters, we had the spring rolls with achara (pickled green papaya relish)...

Actually, these lumpia were pretty good - they were filled with cabbage, shrimp, pork, string beans and carrots...The lumpias were slices on the bias (nice touch), but looked kind of ugly just laying there. Perhaps the presentation could have been better. Maybe standing up? Or leaning against each other?

The lumpia (or spring roll as they call it):

My friend had the Baby Back Ribs Adobo with bok choy and blackish purple rice. The ribs were 'de-boned'. Although he liked and enjoyed his dish, he felt the baby back ribs were too "vinegary" for his taste. Taking the bones out kind of takes the fun out of eating baby back ribs though. I had some of his bok choy - good stuff. The rice was a little different tasting, but it looked cool though.

I ordered the Balinese Fried Chicken with Sweet Potato Salad (alas, no rice for me). The two sauce accompaniments were Sriracha (it tasted like it was mixed with something else) and a very very sweet Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce). The chicken was marinated with coconut milk, turmeric, ginger, galangal, and coriander. You could really taste the flavors in the crispy chicken skin. I only at the thigh piece - it was very rich; the breast piece I ended up just eating the skin and taking the meat back to their place. I wasn't too crazy about the cubed sweet potatos. Some pieces were still kind of hard. Despite our waiter's (who was a white guy by the way, not a Filipino) entreaties to order dessert, we were both full. Remember we had pizza before this! Did I really want to pay $8 for Halo-Halo? But seriously, I was full and couldn't eat another bite.

We called it a day and headed back to the apartment. This lovely sight is from their local butcher shop. You can see Wilbur and Billy hanging in the window...

plus a few of their other friends down here:

After several hours of rest, dinner was planned at a local Greek restaurant, Ovelia's. It was a few blocks away. By this time, my friend N had already returned from her business trip. We three met up with L's sister who also lives in the neighborhood. We ended up getting a bunch of appetizers which made up our dinner. One of them was Spanakopita (spinach and feta inside a phyllo dough).

Wait, L actually ordered an entree - some sort of fish with lemon seasoning and fries. The fries don't seem very Greek to me.

Another appetizer was the calamari:

Plus we had the Pikilia which is three kinds of dip with pita bread. The dips included Melitzanosalato (eggplant - it'sat the top), Taramoselata(which is cod roe, but it didn't taste fishy at all), and Tzatziki (yogurt with cucumber and mint).

We also had an order of seasoned meatballs (sorry, I forgot to write the Greek name for it) which was served with Tzatziki...I guess I'm not used to Greek seasoning because I didn't really like it. Although the waitress said the meat was beef, the seasoning to me, tasted off and contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for this dish. It smelled lamb-y but it wasn't lamb.

For dessert we had Loukoumades, which is bite sized pieces of fried dough drenched with honey. They gave us so many pieces! Although there were four of us there, we couldn't even finish half of it.

Mmm...fried dough is always good!

Update

This will just be a quick post. Walked to a lot of different places today - Lower East Side, East Village, NoLita (North of Little Italy), Little Italy, Chinatown. Not in that order.

Before having lunch we went to a couple of stores in Chinatown where they sell bootlegged DVD's. I got the TV version of Densha Otoko ("Train Man") and Goshuken Seasons 1 - 3. I've watched a few episodes of Season 1 here already so I got the series. Goshuken is a Japanese TV series about a young female teacher who is the 3rd generation heir to a Yakuza family. She decides to be a teacher at an all boys school. Her class has all the delinquents and each show has her trying to gain the trust of her students while trying not to blow her "cover". The show also explores the relationships she has with her fellow colleagues and the students. She also falls in love with the local detective. It's funny and over the top - especially the characterizations of her colleagues (the PE teacher, the Head teacher, the principal, etc).

The thing that kind of sucks is that most places in Chinatown only accept cash. We tried to go to Lombardi's but it was packed to the gills with people. The wait was nearly an hour so we headed over to Cendrillon on Mercer Street. Cendrillon is kind of an upscale Filipino place. It's right next to a sex toys shop called Babeland, or something. I believe it was featured in an episodes of "Sex and the City".

Speaking of sex shops, we passed by some S & M looking boutique. The mannequins were dressed in tight and skimpy leather outfits, some with studded face masks. "Bring out the Gimp!"A little girl was peering through the window and then she told her parents, "Ohhh...this is a Halloween store". If she only knew...

More on Cendrillon in a later post. I just got back and want to rest for a while. N is back from her trip as well and is jet lagged (I presume). We'll probably go somewhere local tonight for dinner. No rain this morning or early afternoon. Right now, the clouds are gathering ominously - it will rain tonight.

Tierras Colombianas & Omonia Bakery

My flight to NY was, thankfully, uneventful despite some slight turbulence due to thunderstorms. I was kinda worried while in the lavatory and it was rocking! Ha ha. It was already raining upon my arrival here. I took a taxi by myself for the first time. The driver must have had an earpiece on or something. He was talking to someone in his native tongue for the entire trip. A bit unnerving. But I was dropped off safely at my friends' place in Astoria. My friend N is on her way back to NY after being in China for nearly a week for work.

For dinner, her husband and I went to Tierras Colombianas, which is a Colombian restaurant in their neighborhood. It was just a few blocks away.

Both of us had apple soda - the brand was called 'Postobon' and each can contains 44 grams of sugar! Whoa. The apple soda was pink too. The one brand they sell in San Diego (it's a Mexican brand, forgot the name) is yellowish brown. Not very appetizing looking.

My friend L had the Milanesa, the Breaded Beef Steak. His plate had the meat with rice and beans, plantains. The rice and beans were served on a separate oval plate while the main entree was placed on top of salad (iceberg lettuce). As mentioned earlier, I didn't finish my food so I may just be eating it for breakfast tomorrow. Healthy.

I ordered the Bandeja Campesina (the Country Plate). Actually, I wanted the Bandeja Montanera (the Mountain Plate) initially, but the waiter thought I would like steak instead of chopped beef. Like a sucker, I upgraded my plate. I wasn't planning to eat all the food anyways. The Country Plate consisted of Carne Asada (not the Mexican style), Chicharron (this was a thick ass slice of fried pork with the crunchy skin, the fat and the meat attached), arroz, frijoles, maduros (plantains), arepa (a corn cake), huevo (one over easy egg), and aguacate (avocado). Yes! That's a lot of food!

The beef steak was sliced really thin and it looked and tasted really good. However, I only had 2 bites because I really wanted to eat the chicharron!!! It reminded me a little of lechon kawali. Good stuff! I barely made a dent in the rice and beans though. The arepa was too hard and dry. Not very tasty. I didn't know I was going to get an over easy egg which lay uneaten. The avocado was not of the Haas variety. It was a quite a large slice and had thin green outer skin. That pork though...Fkn' A!

After dinner, L suggested a nearby bakery just down the street - Omonia Bakery (it's Greek).

Desserts...

I bought two slices of cake - Both were chocolate but one slice had layers with chocolate and Grand Marnier while the other was all chocolate mousse. Super sweet. I think I only had a few bites of my slice. The fridge is now their home.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be a little better. Just scattered showers but it will still be humid. Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow. Maybe Lombardi's (the first pizza place in NYC) or Cendrillon (Filipino fusion place in SoHo) or ???

Gotta get some rest.