New York Eats

The first part of this post was indeed a throwback to growing up in Monterey Park in the mid-1990’s and having my first overnight field trip away from home. The next set of vignettes expanded on the first experience and included the foodie recommendations.

Part 1: The Taste of Freedom

When I was at Brightwood Elementary School, my fifth grade teachers decided to co-teach several units in colonial American history. The series was called Walk through the Revolution and students were assigned to roles to reenact different historical events such as the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia, Puritans arriving at Plymouth Rock, Boston Tea Party, General George Washington leading the militia across the Delaware Rivers, the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and many others.

That spring, my teachers decided to invite students to participate in an educational field trip with Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Since we were approximately 10-11 years old, we had many parents volunteer as chaperones to travel along with us.

Since it was one of my first trips without my family, I felt thrilled to be with my classmates in a strange place. We stayed on campus at Valley Forge, but we also had local guides to New York City, Newark, and Philadelphia. Although I grew up in the west coast, I always had a special place in my heart for New York and knew I wanted to return one day.

Since my first East Coast trip in spring 1999, I had been to New York three more times. The New York food scene always blew me away. When I began watching Food Network religiously in college, most of the foodie recommendations and the celebrity chefs were based in New York early on. All my favorite cultural icons from my teenage years were also featured in New York at some point, so I associated New York City with a sense of glamour, endless possibilities and energy. The New York style pizza, the delis/bodegas, fluffy bagels, rich cheesecake, and crisp pastrami filled my belly. However, as my cultural consciousness emerged and my palette matured, I began surveying establishments that not only fed my appetite, but also my spirit.

Part 2: The Holiday Girls’ Trip

When my friends from UCSB and I went on a girls’ trip to New York City in January 2017, we wandered all over Manhattan during the holiday season. This was a special trip since it was my first vacation in three years. Since we spent half of the day bundled up and hiking through the concrete jungle, we found ourselves in the hustle and bustle at Chelsea Market. We wanted to sample the local ramen and Mŏkbar fitted the bill perfectly.

Mŏkbar

The tight menu offered subtle variations of soup broth, fresh vegetables, and proteins. This corner storefront was inundated with the late lunch crowd and fortunately we slipped into the three empty seats as the bartender cleared the the tabletops.

Han Bat for 24/7 Korean food

Since my friends and I arrived in New York early January (after New Year’s day), we constantly bundled up and roamed around town all day while braving the snow and freezing temperatures. We found our haven with hot food indoors around the hotel and Han Bat was a gem of a venue during the brutal winter. Han Bat was located next door from our hotel and offered steaming tofu kimchi soup and sizzling protein at any hour of the day. This family owned restaurant had customers streaming in late into the night and early into the morning. We entered the foyer of the establishment at approximately 9:30pm and our delectable delicacies were made to order.

After we devoured our Korean barbecue dinner, we strolled back to our hotel and wandered into the Playwright Irish Pub. Although we noticed many popular beers and ales on tap, the bartender also brought our attention to the stouts, Guinness, and coffee based liqueurs. Small watch parties gathered near the gigantic flat screen to watch the NBA game. As we sat by the bar and laughed, I ordered a tall Irish coffee to chase the aftertaste of dinner.

Coffee at The Playwright Irish Pub

Part 3: Conference Season at the Big Apple

New York City has one of the most vibrant foodie scenes in the world and these restaurants represent a very narrow cross section of all the incredible cuisines available across all five burrows. My dear friend from the education department at UC Davis found these next two iconic foodie destinations when we roomed together for the American Education Research Association (AERA) conference in April 2018.

Ootoya Times Square

Through my mother’s Taiwanese roots, I also grew up with with a deep appreciation for Japanese culture. I also have two uncles from my father’s extended family who grew up in Hawaii and identify as Japanese American. Whenever we finished school early on Thursday afternoons, my mother would take us down the street to the local Japanese restaurant for bento box lunches.

Although I was far from home and forging ahead with professional networking with folks from all over the country, I found a piece of myself I thought was lost or buried under a pile of research articles. Eating lunch at Ootoya with my friends from UC Davis during the AERA conference brought me nostalgia from being a little girl in Monterey Park and sampling delicious morsels with my family after school.

We had a delicious lunch that showcased the home style Japanese food at its finest. Their specialty item was called chawanmushi, soft fluffy, savory custard infused with the essence of chicken. We put in our orders and the savory treat arrived 20 minutes later.

The chawanmushi was steaming hot, firm, but silky. Although the custard had a similar texture to many desserts such as almond jello or soft tofu, the umami from the eggs and the kiss of chicken reminded me of home.

Lady M. Cake Boutique in the Plaza Hotel Food Hall

After lunch, we strolled to the Plaza Hotel. We found the door to the food hall and we discovered this boutique filled with specialty bites and elegantly wrapped treats. Our sweet tooth dictated the next stop and we watched the pastry chefs delicately frosting the signature crêpe cakes in the window. Each of us ordered a slice with different flavors and the cashier delicately placed the slices into elegant gift boxes.

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With our dessert boxes in tow, we found a warm lush spot on the lawn at Central Park and began unwrapping our new culinary treasure. The cake had an incredible balance with light cream in between the layers of crêpe, a spongy texture, but not too sugary or heavy. The perfect treat for a beautiful afternoon.