not Taipei: NEW YORK- CLINTON ST BAKERY, BIG GAY ICE CREAM, PAESANO's, LUKE's LOBSTER and SHAKE SHACK

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Need to do NYC in a hurry? This is one afternoon of eats that my sister and I accomplished only because my dad drove us around in a Budget rental and parked on the side streets, waiting us to eat and go. Thanks Dad!

Originally I was supposed to have 10 days in NY this past September, with plenty of time to be touristy around our cousin's NJ wedding, but thanks to Hurricane Irene and the laborious flight rebooking process, our trip was cut in half and I didn't have much time in the city. Bummers. Didn't even get to see my friends that I had promised to visit when I "ever made it to NYC."

-CLINTON ST. BAKING COMPANY

A cozy cafe that offers up all day brunch worth waiting half an hour for (and paying US$13 for!), the thing to order are the blueberry pancakes. Fluffy yet with crispy edges, the pancakes are served with a decadent warm maple butter that you'll be trying to emulate at home. How do they do it? It was so good, almost every other table was wielding a camera taking shots. The chunky corn and potato chowder ($7) was a nice way to warm up.

-LUKE's LOBSTER

One of the things that was recommended to me that I really wanted to try was Luke's Lobster's lobster rolls. And if I hadn't had Lobstatruck's roll in LA first, then I probably would have been in love. Instead I preferred Lobstatruck's warm toasted bun (opposed to Luke's cold bun), but the sweet fresh lobster in both were to be savored.

-BIG GAY ICE CREAM SHOP

And talk about multitasking- I ran down the street from Luke's Lobster to the newly opened Big Gay Ice Cream to pick up a Salty Pimp ($5)` and a Mermaid, which was soft serve vanilla ice cream with key lime curd, crushed graham crackers and whipped cream. The combination of the dulce de leche and chocolate and sea salt on the Salty Pimp made it a grown up version of the Dairy Queen chocolate dipped cone. The owner cracked us up with his flair and we were lucky to get some without a wait. 

 -SHAKE SHACK

My friend Cynthia told me that I HAD TO visit Shake Shack as it was her favorite burger in the world and that she drove through a snowstorm to eat there. While I enjoyed the burger and the $5 shake even more, I wasn't impressed with the school cafeteria-like crinkle cut fries, nor the steep NY prices. Sorry, Cynthia and East Coast readers, I'm still an In-N-Out fan at heart!

-PAESANO's 

On the way to the airport, my dad wanted to get some coffee from Dunkin Donuts and that's how we ended up on Staten Island. But thankfully I decided to grab some pizza by the slice and tasted the creamy, amazing wonder that is vodka pasta pizza. Sadly, we were in a rush and I only bought one slice of each (even the marinara cheese was delicious with its zigzags of cheese) that they warmed up in the oven and am daydreaming about when I can go back to NY to eat some more, or at least experiment with making my own vodka pasta pizza in the meanwhile.

CLINTON ST. BAKING COMPANY

4 Clinton Street
Lower East Side, NYC
(646) 602-6263

BIG GAY ICE CREAM

125 E 7th ST
East Village, NYC
@biggayicecream

LUKE's LOBSTER

93 East 7th Street
East Village, NYC
(212) 387-8487
@lukeslobster

SHAKE SHACK

691 8th Street, (at 44th St)
Theater District, NYC
(646) 435-0135

@shakeshackfans

PAESANO's PIZZERIA

12 Bradley Avenue
Staten Island, NY
(718) 761-2070

western/coffee: i recommend COFFEE ALLEY

COFFEE ALLEY
at ATT 4 FUN, 3 FL
No. 12, Song Shou Rd.
(02) 7737-0700

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: coffee-alley.com.tw

hours: 

$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted though some room for strollers. 

Visit reviewed: 10/5/2011

Coffee Alley is a popular chain of coffee shop/cafes that serves Western fare, including sandwiches, waffles and of course, lots of coffee and tea. Be warned there's a one drink per person minimum here, so you'll get to try one of their drinks whether you like it or not.

Surrounding the sofas, the walls are decorated with some interesting art. At the ATT4Fun location, one wall is lined with live potted plants, so you see a wall of greenery. Another wall has framed rows of stones.

 I thought the menu was fun, designed like a newsletter which had lots of helpful pictures and English. Sandwiches, salads, waffles and desserts.

The sandwiches were solid, kind of like ones you could make yourself at home, with tiny scoops of egg salads on the side of some.

Grilled Chicken Ciabatta Sandwich (NT$160)

Barbeque Pork Sandwich (NT$160)

Tuna sandwich with egg salad (NT$130)

But the real must order dish at Coffee Alley were the waffles- there was a plate at almost table in sight. Cushiony and thick, these were the cake-like type of waffles that had become so popular in Taipei ala Melange Cafe, which garnered lines outside its doors and wait times of an hour or more.

I typically don't like cake-like waffles, so I've either been living in Taiwan too long or the salted caramel sauce was the perfect accompaniment because I liked these. I guess if you put salted caramel and whip cream on anything it'll taste pretty good. 

Besides the Salty caramel and vanilla ice cream waffle  (NT$150), you can also get waffles with fresh strawberries with strawberry ice cream, chocolate ice cream banana, azuki red bean and green tea ice cream, or the more unusual, peanut butter and condensed milk waffle or the tuna waffle, possibly only popular in Taiwan.

If waffles aren't your thing, there are plenty of other desserts to order. Ice cream, brownies, or mille-feuille, or ice cream with cotton candy and espresso.

Some things on the menu get lost in translation- when I thought I was ordering a vanilla latte, was actually a latte with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My friend ordered the pizza toast which seemed to take a disproportionate time to come to our table, after all of us were done eating, despite us asking our waiter repeatedly about it.

Advance reservations strongly recommended, especially during lunch and afternoon tea hours.

OTHER LOCATIONS: 

No. 45, Lane 101, Zhong Xiao E. Rd, Sec. 4

(02) 2711-1912

No. 42, Lane 187,  Dun Hua S. Rd, Sec. 1

(02) 2711-1910

No. 253, Zhong Zheng Rd, 2 FL

Shih Lin District

(02) 2888-3322

No. 18 Guan Chian Rd, 2 FL

MRT: Taipei Main Station

(02) 2388-3000

spanish/event: SPANISH MICHELIN CHEF RUBEN TRINCADO at DN INNOVACION press luncheon

CLOSED! a/o 2014

Michelin Star Spanish Chef Ruben Trincado at
DN Innovacion
No. 93 Song Ren Road
(02) 8780-1155

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: dninnovacion.com

hours: Chef Trincado's menu available from Nov 9-12, 2011. Reservations strongly recommended.

$$$

Visit reviewed: 11/8/2011

Ever since Robuchon set up shop in Taipei, it seems that "Michelin Starred Chef" has been the buzzword around town. So for three nights only from November 9-12, Chef Ruben Trincado, owner and chef of Michelin-starred restaurant Mirador de Ulia in Spain, takes over DN Innovacion to showcase his avant-garde techniques and dishes.

Andres Rodes Tejada, Secretary General of Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei with Chef Ruben Trincado

Thanks to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei for inviting me to the press luncheon to get a taste of Chef Trincado's special menu. I don't often go to media events, so it's been an interesting learning curve. At this one, they had plated dishes on a table for bloggers and media to take photos of which looked slightly different from the samples we were served cocktail style later on.

The Sardines Ajoblanco Watermelon and Bitter Orange featured a thin slice of raw sardine and strong flavors underneath the creamy foam. 

Introductions and speeches in Chinese and Spanish. I didn't know that Fun Taiwan's Janet Hsieh spoke Spanish! She sounded fairly fluent, joking with the chefs and beverage sponsors.

Chef Daniel Negreira has a roster of Spanish Michelin starred restaurants on his resume- El Bulli, Arzak, Akelarre and Mugaritz- and had a Spanish restaurant in Taipei, El Toro, before opening DN Innovacion.
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The Wild Italian Porcini on His "Ambience" featured porcini mushrooms on a bed of black sticky rice, playing into the visual that we were plucking and eating them from the field and soil.

Spanish wines from Ramirez de Ganuza.

Which came first- the chicken or the egg? Well with this dish, named The "Farm" on a Plate, they come together. Tender chicken roll slices with slow cooked egg yolk made for a creamy bite.

For a while there wasn't any food coming out of the kitchen to eat but this, so I might have eaten three spoonfuls of them.

All of us Top Chef fans have seen various things being frozen or made into ice cream, but this was the first time I've seen squid ink getting the liquid nitrogen treatment.

So Grilled Squid was paired with the Freeze Dried Ink Sauce which kind of melted in your mouth.

Digestive liquors Meigas Fóra to be paired with dessert.

My tastebuds were unsure of what to do with Foie Gras "Stone" with Smoked Almonds, sort of like a foie gras pate ice cream. Rich, creamy, savory and cold.

Coated with a edible metallic coating, the Chocolate Screw and Nut looks a lot like the real thing.

Chef Daniel Negreira's DN Innovacion has been open for a year and I've been wanting to try it since it opened, but haven't had the chance. I was definitely encouraged by the delicious bites I had at last week's TAS Fair- Galician styled octopus with "pimentón", a sweet and smoky Spanish paprika, and mushroom croquettes to try out Chef Daniel's creative menus after this international Michelin star chef pop-up is over. There's no where else you'd find Spanish molecular gastromy in Taipei!