New York: Becco

We were all able to secure a flight out of NYC that week on Friday so Thursday night was our last dinner in NYC.  We walked around Hell's Kitchen for a bit, looking for a place to eat.  At first we though sushi, then it turned into BBQ, and then we finally decided on Becco. 

Becco

355 W 46th St 

Between 9th Ave & 8th Ave 

New York, NY 10036 

Hell's Kitchen

becco-nyc.com

Becco, means to peck and nibble.  The bird logo is quite fitting haha.


Complimentary starters.


I forgot what they called it, but I'm just gonna call it white bean hummus :P  It's exactly like a hummus but instead of garbanzo beans, they use white beans.


Olives.


Assortment of bread.  The bread at the front with the rosemary and caramelized onion was very good.  Salty though.


Becco is known for having a $25 wine list, so we picked a Fattoria Paradiso Sangiovese.


Our antipasti.


Prosciutto San Danielle.  You can choose between San Danielle or di Parma.  I'm a fan of San Danielle.


Chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano.


Tonnato di Vitello.  Roasted veal loin sliced paper thin & topped with diced plum tomato, capers, scallions & tuna aioli.  I was not a fan of this... thanks to the tuna aoili.  It was like tasting creamy canned tuna on top of veal.


So we found out that the only pasta option is if you order the Sinfonia di Paste, which is unlimited pasta.  There's three different pastas daily and those are the options.  Instead of ordering individual pastas, the guys just ordered an entree, with the unlimited pastas as an add-on.  Janice just got the Sinfonia di Paste.


Penne Bolognese.  Probably my favorite out of all of them.  Heaty meat sauce.


Gnocchi Gorgonzola.  It was good, but gnocchi was definitely overcooked so it was very soft and mushy.  


Server serving the spaghetti from the pan.  That's probably the reason why the pastas are so overcooked since it just sits in the pan while the servers are serving it.


Spaghetti Marinara.  Overcooked as well.


Comes with Caesar's Salad.


Jimmy's Porterhouse d’Agnello.  Grilled domestic porterhouse lamb chop with scaffata, and finished with extra virgin olive oil.


Edwin got the Osso Buco alla Becco.  Braised veal shank served with farro tossed with butternut squash.  Very heavy and hearty.  They also give you a small spoon for the marrow.


Link and I went for the Costoletta di Vitello alla Joe.  “Joe’s Veal Chop” grilled & served with garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized shallots & escarole with prosciutto, then finished with extra virgin olive oil.  Very thick piece of veal.  Cooked perfectly.


The super garlicky mashed potato.

In the end, Becco was more like an Italian steakhouse than a pasta place.  Nothing to complain about, but we had crazy food coma once we were done.  I think Edwin, Link, and I were tired both mentally and physically from everything that happened that week when Sandy hit.  It was fun since it was with good friends (bromantic trip) and everything is more fun with alcohol but we were definitely ready to go home.

New York: Pure Thai Cookhouse for the Best Dry Noodles

No joke, I had one of the best dry noodles in NYC this time around, and it is from Pure Thai Cookhouse!

Hungover once again, we woke up late and got ready for a late lunch.  From Jimmy's place to here is actually not that far, but that trek was hard, especially when you have nothing in your stomach after a night in Ktown.  Took about 15 minutes to get there, and found out we had to wait for another 40 minutes.  Edwin and I weren't too happy about it, but damn, it was worth it.


Pure Thai Cookhouse
766 9th Ave
Between 51st St & 52nd St
Hell's Kitchen
New York, NY 10019
purethaicookhouse.com

Pure Thai Cookhouse.  With a name like that, I expected really authentic Thai food, and it really is legit.

To-go menu and their lunch menu in the back.  Menu's available on their website.

Small restaurant.  The kitchen up front is just for noodles only.

Definitely reminiscence of food vendors in Asia with the way it is set up.

I like the transparency here hahah.

Jimmy & Janice ordered the Shrimp Calamari Herb Salad to share.  Kaffir lime, lemongrass, mint, shallot, peanut, ginger, and chili lime juice.  Intense flavors.  The ginger was a little too much for some, but I liked the spiciness from it.

Grilled shrimp and calamari.  Beautiful.

Edwin ordered the Chicken Satay to share.  Rubbed with coconut milk and tumeric.  Served with a side of pickled veggies and peanut sauce.

Tumeric gives the chicken that orange-ish color.

Pickled veggies.  Very vinegar-y.

Peanut sauce.  Generally not a huge fan of peanut sauce since I was mildly allergic to peanuts just a few years ago, but it's light and whatever they add to it makes it really good.

Chicken with the peanut sauce.

We also got the Steamed Fresh Roll.  Definitely favorite out of the three we got to share.

Crab meat, pork sausage, cucumber, smoked tofu, and tamarind reduction.  I think the fresh crab meat and that tamarind reduction set it all apart from the others.

Link's Fried Rice with Lump Crab Meat.  Egg, Chinese broccoli, tomato, scallion, onion, light soy sauce, and lime.  Solid fried rice.  Again, the crab meat was bomb.

Good fried rice means it should look fluffly and light!  Also, if I ordered this, I would've requested 10 limes and go crazy with it haha.

The noodle dish I'm still obsessing over a month later, the Ratchaburi Crab & Pork Dry Noodle.  That handmade egg noodle is a MUST here.

Handmade egg noodles, roasted pork, lump crab meat, yu choy, and scallion.  I love everything about this dish.  The colors, the seasonings, the toppings, the noodles.. The dish is seasoned lightly and you can just taste it without the toppings overpowering it.

The roasted pork is very tasty, and again, delicious crab meat.  The pork is flavorful and not too fatty, with a good bite to it too.  I can't express enough just how much I like this noodle dish.  It really is one of the best dry noodle I've had anywhere, and that includes Asia too.  Pretty much, I inhaled it, and even thought about ordering another one, but I was stupid.  Should've done it.

You can get it with soup or soup on the side, and I went for the latter.  Soup is a very simple broth, sorta reminds me of the soup they give you in Taiwan night markets to go with your porkchop rice.

Janice's Krabi Seafood Noodle Soup.  It had chili peppers next to it on the menu haha.  Looks like such a busy bowl!

Flat rice noodle, shrimp, calamari, water spinach, bean curd, fermented tofu, fish ball, and tomato pork broth.  There really is a lot going on haha.  The heat slowly creeps up on you.

I was craving milk tea of some sort and I wanted a drink for the walk back, so Jimmy and I got a Thai Iced Tea there.  Doesn't taste artificial, which is a good thing!

On our way back, I was already getting hungry so I made the gang go to a dollar pizza store with me to get a whole pie.  Went to Roll And Go, which is Jimmy's favorite in his area.

Whole cheese pizza for $8?  Yes.  

Edwin and I went crazy with the garlic seasoning, chili flakes, and oregano haha.

I really am still thinking about those noodles even today.  The firm handmade egg noodle, the flavorful pork and crab, and all the other toppings & seasonings make it so good.  There is Thai Town in LA, but I don't think any of them can be comparable.  Sad.

New York: Yakitori Totto

For dinner on Halloween, we went to Yakitori Totto, the sister restaurant of the super popular ramen spot in NY, Totto Ramen.  We didn't have a reservation, and they almost denied us, but eventually they let us dine if we can finish within one hour.  Not the ideal situation, but we took that offer haha.

Yakitori Totto claims to be the best yakitori place in NYC.  I'm a huge fan of yakitori, especially with so many near where I live, so definitely excited to see if Yakitori Totto can live up to its hype and the Totto brand name.


Yakitori Totto
251 W 55th St 2nd Fl
Between Broadway & 8th Ave
Midtown West
New York, NY 10019
tottonyc.com

Entrance is stairs leading up to the second floor.  There's Jimmy doing the fob sign.

The sign outside.  Japanese Hiragana but in Chinese, it literally translates to "Bird Man."

Where the grilling happens.  Very small place.  There's the bar near the kitchen and only a handful of tables.  No wonder you need reservations...

Front of the menu. They have a full menu on their website.

Rather than going with the usual Sapporo, Kirin, or Asahi, we got Ebisu!

Their policy.  $20 per person at least.  Trust, very easy to hit that amount.

First up was Maguro Zuke, which is tuna sashimi in garlic flavored soy sauce.  You can see the edge is browned from the marinade.  Very light though.

Tako Wasa.  Raw octopus seasoned with wasabi.  I'm not a huge fan of wasabi so I didn't care much for this.

Shirauo Kara-age.  This was an awesome appetizer.  Fried small silver fish with matcha salt! 

Yup, salt flavored with matcha, the ground up tea powder!  Very unique!

First skewer up, Kawa, which is chicken skin!

Wished it was a bit crispier, but still tasty. 

Tongue.  Everybody likes beef tongue except for me haha.  Pretty good though!

Gizzard.  I think?  Hahaha

Kamo Negima.  Duck + scallion?  Yup.

Tsukune.  Chicken meatball is my favorite yakitori items.  We got one of each, sauced and salt-seasoned. Not bad, but not my favorite (Torihei in Torrance).  Definitely like the sauced one better.  Nice sweet soy glaze.

Now... this one is pork for sure... but I forget which one =|  Maybe just pork loin?  Pork mustard?  Kurobata pork though!

Negi Pon.  This one was memorable haha.  Pork loin topped with scallions and ponzu.  Love the acidity. 

Hiza Nankotsu.  Soft knee bone, aka chicken cartilage.  Crunchy and chewy! 

Shishito peppers and miso paste.

Eringi Bacon.  Mushroom + bacon is a combo well received.

Harami.  Marinated skirt steak.  Nice sauce.  A little overcooked though!

Yaki Onigiri.  We got this sauced and salt-seasoned to try both.  I actually prefer the salt version better this time.  It's like a chewier mochi!

Hatsu, chicken heart.  One of the most popular yakitori items anywhere.  Chewy.  Still sorta bloody?

Everything was good and we got to try a lot of things since we shared among 6 people, but man, it was really pricey.  Average for a skewer there was around $3 while most places is $1.50-$2.  I can see why it is so popular though since Totto does yakitori right and for NYC, it's something a lot more unique.  If Totto was in LA, especially South Bay area, it'd have a tough time :P