It's quite cliche, but celebrating always includes uncomfortable amounts of food and drink. Ms. Kelly Gold convinced me on Friday at 5pm that an unnatural amount of dumplings were necessary. By calling it a "snack," somehow 12 dumplings and two bowls of peanut soup weren't supposed to affect anything but the amount of martinis we would be able to consume later.
I'm not really sure why rickshaw dumplings hasn't taken off yet http://rickshawdumplings.com/ because I get the urge to eat huge amounts of dumplings pretty much all the time. Less than $5 for 6 substantial dumplings; it's worth the trip for a "snack."
Descending into the depths of Pravda (http://www.pravdany.com/), we were greeted by what were clearly European models who escaped the sex trade to be able to serve extra strength martinis to NYU students. It's complicated, and so are the drinks. For example, a horseradish house infused vodka with dill and a mini quail egg. Or cucumber infused vodka with a giant scoop of caviar. The place, drinks, and people are all intense and I had to stop myself from breaking into a Russian accent every time I took a sip of the spicy vodka.
Finally, we showed up for dinner at Zabb Elee, a Thai restaurant I have been dying to try ever since I read a review that said I wouldn't recognize anything on the menu. It was really exciting, but the problem was that I didn't recognize anything on the menu. http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/zabb-elee/
I slowly realized no one else recognized anything either so with the help of the waitress, I took charge and ordered a variety of foods I have never tasted. Some dishes were difficult to taste anyway, despite being ordered as mild, after they numbed my tongue and triggered a variety of excretions from my face. Spicy is an understatement, but so is delicious.
Our dishes included: duck larb, papaya salad, shrimp salad, crispy pork belly, whole fish, and morning glory (weird, right?). I won't confuse you with the Thai names. On the menu, "moo" means pork. That just seems wrong.
I also went to restaurants where I took pictures! Ootoya was a perfect Japanese restaurant with cold soba and salmon sets. Their miso soup was the best I've had in New York.
Patricia's friend, Jason, also introduced me to two new Korean foods! The drink is called Milsu (pronounced mizu) and is super yummy and supposedly what Korean kids get when they are sick.
Then we got Bingsu!! I won't say I've been missing out on this my whole life, but it's shave ice, fruit salad, ice cream, azuki beans, and condensed milk all in one amazing dessert. Why have I never put all those things together in one? Yay Korea!
We walked all day long in the sticky weather!
Then had some sticky dessert after our next meal. Indochine http://www.indochinenyc.com/menu.html is another New York establishment run exclusively by models. Their food is thoughtful and delicious. I had fish filet and cabbage curry steamed in a banana leaf. The winning food was the fried banana wrapped in sticky rice, creme brulee'd served with coconut tapioca and crushed peanuts.
After all guests were gone, I spent the day in central park relaxing and "playing" frisbee with Adam. Wanting a salad on such a hot day, I was reminded that you can run into trouble eating in New York.
While this "salad" was exactly what I wanted, I'll tell you that 10 asparagus spears, one egg, and 1/4 a tomato will run you $15 in this city. Bon Appetit!
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