Wild

The idea of gluten free has been around for a long time now but I’m still quite not 100% sure what gluten free really means. Is it just no flour? What else has gluten in it? So when an invite to attend dinner at Wild, a gluten free restaurant in Williamsburg, I decided to go. I was curious about gluten free and was hoping to learn something.

We were treated to two gluten free pizzas, the Wild Mushroom Truffle pizza with ricotta and arugula and the Wild White pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, truffle oil and cracked pepper. There were also the house salad with beets, tomatoes, artichokes, and goat cheese, pan seared salmon, wild chicken parm, gluten free penne pomodoro, and couple bites of desserts.

I love that there is a gluten free centric restaurant for people that are allergic to gluten, a place to dine out. But this place isn’t for me. I felt bad as I was eating the pizza because the entire time I was thinking about the slice of non-gluten free pizza I was going to eat when I get home. Am I bad? The flavors were there on the topping, I especially liked the white pie but I just love a good pizza crust way too much to give it up. There were hits and misses for the rest of the menu. The penne was over cooked but nice sauce and the chicken parm was pretty good.

Overall it was a fun night and I got to try some gluten free stuff but I just don’t think I’ll give up gluten anytime soon.

Wild, 340 Bedford Ave, Williamsburg Brooklyn

Ted Allen And Pepcid Tastemaker

Few weeks ago, I was invited to an interesting event. The Tastemaker dinner, hosted by Chopped’s Ted Allen, took place at Pok Pok NY in Brooklyn. When I got the invite, I wasn’t too sure what it was about especially when the event was from Pepcid (yes the heartburn medicine) and Eater. Thai food doesn’t make me think heartburn and was Andy Ricker suppose to cook the whole dinner from a mystery basket?

I’ve never been to Pok Pok NY and have heard so many great things about it, I decided to check out this event. The night started off with cocktails, signing waiver forms and getting your table number. The bar, the tables and even the restrooms had bottles of Pepcid lying around. Finally, Ted Allen gave a quick speech and afterwards we all sat down at our tables. Dinner was served family style and we all enjoyed yam samun phrai (a herbal salad), Ike’s Vietnamese fish sauce wings, sai ua samun phrai (Thai sausage with chicharron and curry), phak buung fai daeng (stir fried bok choy with chillies), plaa neung bui (whole steamed striped bass with preserved plums), kai yaang tua (whole roasted chicken), and sangkhaya fak thong (sticky rice with pumpkin and palm sugar custard).

Thank you to Eater, Pepcid, Ted Allen and the Pok Pok NY crew for a great night and good food. Everyone was super nice and always great to meet other food people. I can’t say that the meal was amazing like how other people had talked about it but it was definitely good. While everyone was crazy over the chicken wings (I thought they were too salty), I was all over the stir fried bok choy and the salad. Crunchy, light, refreshing, and went so well with the sticky rice. The other dishes were pretty good. I mean, I’m pretty familiar with the flavors so the dishes were good but nothing truly jumped out at me as WOW. I did surprised myself by eating the dessert. If you don’t know, I hate Asian desserts but I didn’t want to offend anyone so I gave it a try and….it wasn’t too bad. The custard was darn tasty.

Thank you to Hunter Public Relations for the invite. I’ve always wanted to try Pok Pok NY and I finally did. Definitely good to have them in the neighborhood.

Pok Pok NY 117 Columbia St, Brooklyn

Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop

Late last year, Gotham West Market opened on super super west side of Manhattan (oh dude what a walk from the A/C train). It’s basically a big food court like space with food “stalls” from The Cannibal, Little Chef (from Caroline Fidanza owner of Saltie), Court Street Grocers, etc and The Brooklyn Kitchen for your kitchen supply needs. Though one of the more anticipated opening was Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop. From what I have read online, Ivan Orkin is suppose to be a genius at ramen making and for him to be popular in Japan that’s a pretty huge deal.

There was so much hype for this place. Check out what Howard and I thought about the ramen.

M. Wells Steakhouse

M. Wells is known for their decadent…over the top dishes and M. Wells Steakhouse definitely delivered. A stack of pork chops (7 total) for dinner? Sure! A bowl of tomato-y tripe? F yeah! Though probably my favorite bite at M. Wells Steakhouse and yes…so far this year in 2014 was the little scoop of bone marrow that was sitting inside the bone. It had absorbed all of the deliciousness of the soup and it made something that was already tasty into something crazy tasty!

Also, they make a really good New York cheesecake. Remember when cheesecake was all the craze?

Sorry for the crappy iPhone photo, the place is dark.

M. Wells Steakhouse 43-15 Crescent St, Long Island City, Queens