The Fat Radish

On Saturday, we met up with our friends Danny & Lindsey (check out her LTUL blog!), for some brunch at The Fat Radish. TFR recently opened & is located where the Lower East Side meets Chinatown - which, we all noted, is a completely different world. A cute coffee bar greets you upon entry and after walking down a small hallway, you are introduced to the dining room, which has a very hip and rustic feel to it.

I'll start with the negatives...the location and the service. I shouldn't have to ask multiple times for water or coffee. At brunch, these things should be flowing! I would think that this will only improve as the restaurant ages.

File this under "odd," but the entire staff breezes by in plaid button-downs. Waiters, hostesses, bus boys, etc... I'm not sure how I feel about this but it seems a little like they're trying too hard. We get it... you're hipsters.

Now, on to the goods... the food! My pumpkin pancakes were out of this world delicious and I will 100% be back again when I'm more hungover and these suckers can soak up some alcohol. Served with a maple mascarpone, candied walnuts, & a side of syrup, each bite was simply heavenly. Besides being a sucker for all things pumpkin (whoopie pies, what what!), what made these pancakes better than most others in Manhattan is that they were just a bit undercooked. This caused the middle of the pancakes to have a batter-like feel to it and who doesn't like that? It was like pumpkin cookie dough was greeting you at the end of every bite of flapjack.

This is what I looked like after my meal.

The rest of the table got eggs & while everyone enjoyed, I didn't get the sense that they LOVED the dishes. Maybe that's because I was too busy savoring each bite of my own dish. Lindsey's dish sounded the most interesting - spaghetti squash, candied bacon, & crispy egg. It should also be noted that the portions weren't particularly large. This was OK for the pancakes b/c no matter how you portion 3 pancakes, you're going to be full. But for the egg dishes, it was problematic. Eggs should ALWAYS be served alongside potatoes &/or toast. We had neither. Major no-no.

Oh, and the bloody mary's were quite delicious!! We'll be back soon enough.. Either for the pancakes or to see what they got for dinner.

Jing Fong - A Dim Sum Experience

I strayed from my usual weekend omelet brunch and ventured down to Chinatown a few Sundays ago for dim sum at Jing Fong.  I had never been to dim sum before, so I had no idea what to expect (except for some dumplings). 

banquet room

There was a huge crowd waiting, so we knew it was going to be good.  They give you a number and then call them out in no particular order (we think there was some favoritism going on).  When we finally got called, we rode the elevator up to the big banquet room, where there were hundreds of people seated at big round tables.  Yes, hundreds - the place is huge!

The waiters bring around carts of food and you select what you'd like, pretty much just based upon how things look, since the waiters don't speak any English.  We wound up getting a LOT of dumplings: pork, shrimp with peas, soup, etc.  I guess that was the "safe" move - there were many options more unfamiliar that we passed on.  We also indulged in some soft shell crab, shrimp in rice noodle and a broccoli rabe-type green vegetable, which I would HIGHLY recommend.  It was like pulling teeth to get some water at first - the place is very hectic, but it was pretty reasonably-priced - for 5 people it wound up being around $15-$20/person for a ton of food. 

shrimp in rice noodle

dumplings 

         

I would recommend Jing Fong if you're looking for a gateway dim sum experience.  I imagine there are delicious, authentic dishes there that we didn't get because we didn't know what they were - so I would do some research before going back.

shrimp tempura

Check it out: http://www.jingfongny.com/ 20 Elizabeth St (between Bayard St & Canal St)