“This one wants to try something really weird,” the parent of a young man on my most recent Flushing Chinatown food tour said. We had already tried fu qi fei pian, the Sichuan mélange of offal that combines tripe, tendon, and beef shin, so I knew the kid was a tough customer. He seemed satisfied by the plate of crunchy Chengdu style pig ears we shared at Golden Mall. (more…)
Elyse Pasquale digs into a Filipino balut in Woodside.
I’ve gone on record before as saying that I’m not a fan of the word foodie, preferring such designations as “good eater” and even the pejorative “glutton.” All that said there is one person who for whom my hatred of the F-Word does not apply, my good friend, Elyse Pasquale, aka Foodie International. She was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule, which includes everything from eating reindeer hearts and scorpions to harvesting her own olive oil and slaughtering pigs, to answer Seven Questions.
Where did you learn to use chopsticks? In my bedroom, in high school. I grew up on a horse farm outside of Philadelphia. There wasn’t much diversity in the area when it came to food. In high school, a take-out Chinese joint opened in the same strip mall as our grocery store. Let’s just call it the year of Lo Mein . . . I was determined to perfect my chopsticks skills, so I followed the directions printed on the wrapper and practiced in my room. I think my execution might be a little unorthodox, but I can hold my own in any Tokyo ramen shop. For the record, I also tie my shoes counterintuitively, but my bows still turn out looking like bows. (more…)
Lechon from Engeline’s will be just one of the items on offer.
Tomorrow night a bonanza of Pinoy food from balut and pork sisig to lechon and bibinka comes to Brooklyn for a Foodraiser for the Philippines hosted by the Gastronauts and Food Curated. Woodside, Queens, aka Little Manila, will be represented by Engeline’s, which is generously donating two roast pigs and a mess of balut to the cause. In addition to traditional Filipino fare, there will be novel dishes like venison adobo and bone marrow fried rice from Ain’t2Proud2Brunch.
The event is being held from from 7–10 p.m. at The Woods (48 South 4th Street Williamsburg), and features a complimentary bar. Advance tickets are $50, or $60 at the door. Money will benefit the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines, give relief, and help devastated communities recover and rebuild. A large portion of the funds will go to Rose Charities, which is currently carrying out medical relief along the north coast of Negros Island. Missions are also being carried out by them in Cadiz City, as well as some of the small isolated islands which to date have had almost no relief.