My End Of 2015 Fried Chicken Post

- My 2015 FavoritesManhattan InnIf I had to pick the ONE fried chicken that just totally blew me away, this would be it. I can't believe none of the food media people wrote about this. Forget fuku, forget Root & Bone, forget everything...just go here.

Howlin Ray's

Egg

Federal Donuts

The Breslin

Yafa Deli

Ma Peche

Gentry Chicken

*For more info on any of these places, check out my fried chicken project website

- Places Food Media People Are Not Talking About But Really Should All of these places serve EXCELLENT fried chicken yet I have never seen any of these places in any fried chicken lists. Manhattan Inn - See above J'eatjet? - I hate sausage gravy but the one served at J'eatjet? changed my mind. Egg - Looking for something simple and delicious and just a solid plate of fried chicken? Ma Peche - Yes, the food media loves David Chang and gets load of press but people mostly talk about the fried chicken dinner at the noodle bar and fuku. The habanero fried chicken at Ma Peche is crazy good and should be getting a lot more press. 44 & X - I had low expectation for this place but it surprised me. Marietta - Peaches HotHouse, the sister restaurant, gets most of the love because of their Nashville inspired hot chicken but Marietta does a better job. Yafa Deli - Anyone that loves fried chicken, knows about Yafa Deli but I rarely see it on any "Best Of" lists. Broadway Bakery - Feeling nostalgia? The fried chicken here tastes just like old school Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sidecar - A solid plate of fried chicken at this local Park Slope spot.

- Favorite Sandwiches Cheeky Sandwiches Wilfie & Nell Parson's Chicken and Fish Delaney Chicken The Commodore The Meat Hook Sandwich

- All The Places I've Been In 2015 -Manhattan The Breslin Hudson Common Maharlika Filipino Moderno Ma Peche Mighty Quinn's Barbeque Delaney Chicken The Smith 44 & X Wilfie & Nell Root & Bone Egg Shop Cheeky Sandwiches Birds & Bubbles Spitzer's Corner Bian Dang Pies N Thighs Seoul Chicken fuku+

-Brooklyn J'eatjet? The Commodore Wilma Jean Egg Yafa Deli Pies N Thighs Red Star Sandwich Shop Abilene Manhattan Inn Shake Shack Wangs Marietta Beehive Oven Esme Mayfield Endless Summer Sidecar Fawkner Keg and Lantern

-Queens Broadway Bakery Queens Comfort Sweet Afton Mister Chicken to Go BocBoc Chicken Delicious Engeline's Restaurant and Bakeshop

-Los Angeles Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. Ledlow Howlin Ray's Gentry Chicken

-Philly Federal Donuts

-Chicago Parson's Chicken and Fish Honey Butter Fried Chicken Longman and Eagle

Roasted Broccoli With Shichimi Togarashi

Are people bored of broccoli? Or is broccoli boring? I don't hear people getting excited about broccoli. I'm definitely guilty of over looking it every time I'm at the farmers market...going for more the super seasonal vegetables. But after eating so much fried chicken at the Fried Chicken Club meeting, I had a super strong craving for broccoli. I'm not sure why I had the craving......but I ended up buying couple heads of broccoli at the farmers market. I love chicken and broccoli and my mom usually stir fries it with garlic but I wanted to try something different. So in spite of the heat, I roasted the broccoli.

1 head of broccoli 1 onion (optional) Salt + pepper Olive oil Shichimi Togarashi

1. Turn on the oven to 425 degrees. 2. Trim the stem of the broccoli to get rid of the tough part. 3. Cut the broccoli into smaller pieces. (I like slicing each floret down to the stem.) 4. In a mixing bowl, mix broccoli with olive oil and season with salt + pepper. 5. Lay the florets on a roasting tray. (I had an onion lying around, so I roasted that also.) 6. Roast the broccoli for 15-20mins or until tender. 7. Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi to taste. 8. Serve + eat

This is super optional but I had some King's Hawaiian dinner rolls so I made a broccoli sandwich with Kewpie mayo and onion.

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich

I'm not really a big crab person. It's not that I hate crab but it's just too much work for that little meat. Haha, yeah I'm lazy. When I was a kid, my mom would simply boil shrimp with the shell on and serve it with soy sauce. I refused to eat it because I didn't want to peel the shrimp. Or maybe I was smart cause she ended up peeling the shrimp for me. Heh. I do like the taste of crab, so when it's soft shell crab season, I make sure to stock up. It's pretty easy and quick to cook them. I usually fry it in butter and serve it with whatever seasonal vegetables I just happened to have. BUT this time, I made a soft shell crab sandwich because I finally got my hands on some King's Hawaiian bun. Last time I checked, about 2 years ago, the closest place to buy King's Hawaiian bread was in New Jersey. I found these in Pathmark in Gowanus.

Things you'll need: Soft shell crab (make sure to ask if the crabs are already clean) Cornmeal (or flour) 1 egg Butter Salt Japanese chili powder Kewpie mayo Lettuce Buns (any kind you like)

1. Crack and scramble the egg. 2. Coat the crab with the egg. (1 egg is enough to coat 3 crabs.) 3. Coat the crab in cornmeal.

4. Put a knob (about 1 tablespoon) of butter in a hot pan. (Medium heat) 5. When butter starts to foam, put the crab in. 6. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden. (Beware, the crab does splatter when cooking.) 7. While still hot, sprinkle salt. 8. Sprinkle chili powder to taste. 9. Split bun in half. 10. Squirt mayo on bun, put desire amount of lettuce leaves, put crab on top, and finish with another squirt of mayo. Put top bun on. 11. Crack open a Narragansett beer or your favorite cold beverage. 12. Eat

LA Eats 2015

Not sure if it was because I haven't been home for a long time or I wasn't as lazy to trek out but this time in LA, I definitely ate a lot of stuff....a lot of great stuff. Here's everything I ate in the 7 days I was home. Picture above, an early lunch at Madcapra, a falafel place inside Grand Central Market opened by Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson. Right after I landed in LAX and picked up my rental, I drove straight to In-N-Out (obviously). The next morning, had dim sum with the family at Five Star Seafood Restaurant. It was less than $18 for 4 people.

When I found out, about a month ago, that LA was getting their own Nashville style hot chicken truck, I quickly emailed the people at Howlin' Ray's. I saw that they were doing tasting events so I wanted to check if I can get a sneak taste! They said yes and that's how I ended up at the home of chef and owner, Johnny Zone. Afterward, I visited my friends, Chris and Katy, and we walked over to Churro Borough for some ice cream.

Took my parents to get dumplings at Luscious Dumplings in Monrovia for lunch and then had fried chicken happy hour at Tokyo Fried Chicken in Monterey Park before driving out to Mid-City for tacos.

Met up with my sister in Mid-City for Leo's Tacos Truck. This truck is parked in a gas station all day but to get their famous tacos al pastor that are freshly made, you gotta visit them at night.

I spent the majority of Friday doing my taco crawl/Instagram takeover for Saveur. I started the crawl with 2 crispy shrimp tacos at Mariscos Jalisco, a Jonathan Gold approved taco truck. Then it was steak and uni with smoked soy sauce taco at the Guerrilla Tacos truck in front of Blacktop Coffee.

Then tacos at Guisados in DTLA, followed by a half shrimp/half fish taco from Ricky's Fish Tacos.

I took a break from taco crawling to eat a quesadilla stuffed with cheese and chicharron from the Blue Corn Quesadilla Lady near Echo Park. On Sunday, I drove down to Irvine cause I promised my friends I take their family portraits. We met up at the Great Park and there was a farmer's market where I ate a bacon wrapped dog topped with fries.

Going back to Saturday, I met up with my two sisters to eat at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. It was my first time! Also, they have chicken and waffle so of course I got it.

Sunday night the whole family went to Ji Rong Restaurant for their popular Peking Duck and pork belly with mustard green.

On Monday night, the whole family went to Ledlow in DTLA for their fried chicken dinner, which is only served on Monday nights. Besides fried chicken, we also ordered the corn bread with bacon and the duck confit with Brussels sprouts salad.