Viiza: Pizza Cones

If you live anywhere in the lower parts of Brooklyn, cough, 8th ave, cough, then you might have heard about this new place around called Viiza, a store that specializes in pizza cones. I was surprised to see an innovative place like this pop up on 8th Avenue.

Grilled Shrimp Cone

Another thing that shocked me was the line that went out the door in the afternoons. To be fair, the store itself is very small as there is no seating inside. I'm guessing people are reeled in by their drinks...

Strawberry Lemon Green Tea

... in light bulb bottles?!? Heck yeah, everyone wants one of those. It is completely rational to stand in line for a drink that comes in a light bulb bottle.

I should note that it takes a while for the cones to be made, even when it's late at night and you're the only one there. So, those long afternoon lines in the blistering hot sun can get pretty dreadful.

Sauteed Beef Fillet Cone

Now let's talk about the pizza cones themselves. So far I've tried the Grilled Shrimp and the Grilled Chicken (on separate days) and both were very cheesy and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that since I am a cheese addict. The amount of filling was decent; I got a chicken in almost every bite in the Grilled Chicken cone but I'm not sure I can say the same for the Grilled Shrimp cone.

Quick Mention: Steak 'n Shake

If you've got a hankering for a burger like I have been lately, you might want to check this place out if you happen to be in the area.

Read my review on Yelp by clicking here!

Happy eating!

Kaya: A Coconut Spread

Hello Food Friends! I am here, back from the dead to review/describe an interesting food product I came across in my local Chinese Supermarket (if you live in the lower parts of Brooklyn you can probably guess which one). I had never seen or heard of this spread before until I saw it sitting on the shelf, as I was frantically searching for agar agar powder (that’ll be for another post).

So here I have purchased “Traditional Kaya”, a coconut spread. According to the Wikipedia page about this spread, it is a coconut curd or jam that is popular in Southeast Asia, mainly Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Kaya in the Malay language means "rich", representing the texture of the spread. It is also referred to as Serikaya or Srikaya. 

While we were in the supermarket, my mother inspected it and said it was probably the stuff Chinese bakeries use to make their coconut breads or tarts, so I gave it a try. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this besides taste it, but my mother had also recommended I spread it on toast.

Upon purchase, I had expected the spread to be thick like Nutella or caramel, since it shares a rich brown color to caramel or dulce de leche. To my surprise, it was actually much lighter than I expected, contrary to its given name. The consistency is very similar to apple butter, which I feel to be a more concentrated version of applesauce. Imagine applesauce, except a darker color, sweeter and less watery.

The coconut flavor is very faint so this wouldn’t be a bad spread to feed to those who aren’t coconut lovers (e.g. Everyone in my life. Smh). I also detected a faint coconut scent, and when eating the spread accompanied with toast, it can be difficult to detect the coconut. Sampling by itself, however, it is much more prominent, but not overwhelming. It is not overly sweet either, so although I recommend you not to do this, you could eat spoonfuls of the stuff. 

Overall, a decent spread. Nothing that will blow your mind, but it’s not bad on toast. I’m interested to see what else I could do with this spread (Maybe a custard? Not sure, I’ll have to test that out). So let me know what you would do with this spread or if you’ve had it before!

 Happy eating!!

Taste of Times Square 2015

I'm alive with a post for a food festival that I could've put up last year! It's alright though, this food festival is from this year. Because I don't want to make the same mistake (wait too long and then never post about it...), I'm gonna try to make this concise. Prepare for lots of pictures.

Pictured: A board with the location of all the stands

I'd first like to note that the weather was a bit gloomy, although that did not alter the food experience.

 

Pictured: Table for Paul's on Time Square, adorned with platters of tiramisu, panna cotta, and chocolate covered strawberries

Beginning with the panna cotta - tiny, but smooth. Reminescent of melted vanilla ice cream, only thicker and richer. As I described to Kaity in an attempt to explain what panna cotta is, it was akin to a milky vanilla pudding. The bit of strawberry sauce on top was tangy and complimented sweet cream.

Pictured: A decorative cheesecake, courtesy of Junior's

Next up, shrimp and grits. The grits were more textured than I had expected - there were probably real pieces of corn. Shrimp on point. No comments on the sauce except that it reminded me of something else I've had before.

 

Rigatoni bolognese from Orso - basically what you'd expect. Pasta with beefy tomato sauce.

Dark chocolate layer cake. Overly sweet and decadent for the average human being, so sharing would be a good idea. Denser than your average cake. Giant malt ball garnish.

Chicken and sausage jambalaya from Bourbon Street Bar and Grille. Never having had jumbalaya, I was unsure of what to expect of this. The rice was very soft - you wouldn't be able to pick grain by grain. According to Kaity, the sausage was unexpectedly soft, unlike the snap of the casing you'd usually get from a sausage link.

Roast lamb slider from Hourglass Tavern. Not the most aesthetically pleasing, but one of the tastiest. Lamb was tender and went well with the light and refreshing tzatziki sauce.

Bananas Foster Cheesecake from Planet Hollywood Times Square. Cold cheesecake and warm cinnamony sauce are amazing together. Looked like a mess, but it was my favorite thing that day.

Our last sampler was the Signature Mac & Cheese and Beef Brisket combo from B.B King Blues Club & Grill. The mac and cheese was alright - it wasn't anything spectacular. The beef brisket sauce was a bit sweet from the sauce. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the two went well together.

Well, that's all from that day! It was great to be able to try food from lots of different places that I wouldn't have been able to try otherwise, due to a low budget (broke foodie struggles).

And now, a bit of a shoutout for the people I was with:

Photo Credit: Kaity's Instagram

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I did attend this food festival last year, but never got around to posting about it. We tried recreating the photo we took together in 2014, and ended up with these gems. Thanks, foodie team.

Anyway, have you been to the Taste of Times Square Food Festival? Would you want to next year (first Monday of June, I believe). What would you want to try?

Happy Eating!!!

Macaron Day 2015

If you're friends with any foodies or macaron-lovers, surely you've at least heard about the upcoming Macaron Day this Friday, March 20.

The reason why people are hyped up about this day is because participating stores will be giving out free macarons from 10AM - 5PM or until supplies last, as you probably read in the article above (from amNY).

Pictured: Macaron from Macaron Cafe, one of the participating stores

So, now for me to spew out some additional fun facts about this day that I didn't know myself until I checked out the site.

François Payard organized the first Macaron Day in NYC, which was inspired by the Jour du Macaron in Paris. Unsurprisingly, Jour de Macaron translates to Day of Macaron.

Macaron Day will always take place on the first day of Spring.

The purpose of this event is to raise money and awareness for City Harvest, a food rescue organization.

City Harvest is helping to feed 1.4 million New Yorkers facing hunger by collecting excess food from restaurants other food establishments delivering it to community food programs across the city.

I encourage you to visit the website to enlighten yourself more about Macaron Day!

For more information about this event, click here.
If you'd like to read about Macaron Parlor, click here.

Happy Eating!!!

Quick Mention: 12 Corners

 12 Corners

155 E Broadway
New York, NY 10002
Lower East Side

I’m back from the dead!

Ah yes, the lovely incoming warm weather must have brought me back to life. Finally - no more having to tread through inches of snow to get to my destination.

 

Pictured: Relishing the warmth of the sun

 

 What better way to celebrate this amazing weather than by visiting a local coffee shop? Granted, I do wish I had gone when it was still a bit colder, but ordering a hot latte when it was 60 degrees out was definitely worth it, just for the pretty, pretty latte art. 😊☕️

Pictured: Pumpkin Spice Latte

I’m surprised they still sell pumpkin spice lattes in March - I'm gonna guess most coffee joints aren’t going to make it a seasonal flavor like Starbucks.

Of course, coffee is typically accompanied with pastries and the store was not lacking in that department. I noticed the muffins were the exact ones from Blue Sky Bakery - it was actually the sign of the flavor that made me realize this and upon discussion with my friend, yes, they are from Blue Sky Bakery and the other branch has doughnuts from Dough [which I still need to try].

Like most coffee shops, this one had enough seating to accommodate for those that come with their laptops to stay for a couple of hours to study and get work done. I envy those types of people as I was sadly unproductive. Hope I wasn't disruptive to everyone else; I tend to be a loud chatterbox…>___>

Employed with friendly staff, this was a store I'm glad I finally got to try out.

☕️ Happy eating!!! ☕️

See ya, 2014!

Hello everyone! I'm sure you're all surprised to hear that I've temporarily come back from the dead to wish you all a wonderful New Years!

My excuse for my inactivity this time are college applications. Welp, there goes my 3 posts a month streak. It was a fun 4 months, and my new years resolution will probably be to keep another streak up, maybe even cutting it down to 2 posts.

Anyway, what to do for the last post of 2014? Reflect on the year? Why not.

Let's take a trip down memory lane.

(This is basically gonna be a recap post, so if you've read all my posts, then you probably won't find this very interesting.)

In the beginning of the year, I was a good friend and visited my pal at the dessert shop she worked at.



It was around this time when the Samsung Galaxy Studio was still buzzing and trending (in my mind, at least).



Skip forward to the summer; I celebrate my birthday with some comforting Southern food.



In the fall, that cute tea shop in Brooklyn opened up.



Remember when I had ice-cream during the colder season?



I miss these Cuban sandwiches so much.



What a year! Did anyone else find 2014 more pleasant than last year? Was it the same as always? Are you still stuck in 2012 like most people I know are? Looking forward to 2015? Okay, I'll stop pestering you, but here's to the new year!

Happy Eating in 2015!!!