Come on down to Congee Village

Congee Village
100 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 941-1818
www.congeevillagerestaurants.com

Congee Village is one of those places that we have been going to for a while for fast and yummy Cantonese food. During the dinner rush and weekends, it is crowded and noisy with families and big groups. It is open till fairly late (around 2 am), which is great after a night of carousing about town. The location, on the outskirts of Chinatown, means that it fairly easy to find parking.

The specialty is of course congee, or rice porridge. Congee is typical breakfast fare in China. Unlike the Philippine version (arroz caldo) which employs a lot of garlic, ginger and chicken, congee is not as seasoned and is thicker and starchier.

Small bowl of seafood congee. It is served bubbling in an open clay pot and is very hot-hot-hot! Try not to burn your tongue!

The menu is your typical Cantonese, with a lot of familiar dishes--- seafood (including frog legs), meats, chicken, veggies, rice and noodle dishes. There are also set meals for family-style dining, if you are so inclined to splurge (shark's fin soup, anyone?). We ordered the fried bread with milk dipping sauce and it was all gobbled up before I could take a picture.

Mixed mushrooms in oyster sauce. This was quite yummy, and so full of umami. There were button, enoki and shitake, if I remember correctly.


Young chow fried rice.

I was able to snap a picture of this last piece of scallion pancake before it disappeared. This was a light and delish appetizer.

Fried pork ribs. Yes, they are unapologeticaly fatty. Why else would you get them?

Fried squid. These are battered and fried, so they tend to be rather greasy. The best part is the fried little garlic bits that fall to the bottom.

As you can see, we kind went overboard on the fried stuff, no wonder were quite gassy the next day. Next time, we will order more veggie dishes.

Tomo's Cuisine

Tomo's Cuisine
113 Route 23 South
Little Falls, NJ 07424
(973) 837-1117

Tomo's is one of those hidden gems in suburbia where the food is unexpectedly good, you wonder why there isn't a bigger buzz around it. It's a pretty good bet for those times when schelpping into the city is just not feasible. What is extra special about Tomo's is that their offerings go beyond your typical sushi and sashimi joint. They have lovely little apps, grilled fare, and even some home-style dishes.

Tomo's is a very tiny place, maybe about ten tables in all, so there can sometimes be a wait. Best bet is to go before or at the tail end of the dinner rush. They have a BYOB policy, which is nice.

These pictures were taken a while back and were floating in cell phone memory limbo until DJKung was able to retrieve them.

House salad. I recall that this was a mix of watery iceberg and possibly greenleaf lettuce. The ginger sauce was tangy and tasty.

Hmmm. This may have been simmered pork belly in soy sauce, a typical home style dish.

Veggie tempura. From what I remember, it was sweet potato, green beans, okra. It was nice, although our preference is for panko-breaded, as opposed to battered, tempura.

Grilled sardine. Yes, this was pretty fresh that day. Grilling brings out the wonderful briny fish flavor. Yummm. This would've been great with some beer, but we did not have any.

Baked oysters.

I am not sure if this was hamachi (yellowtail tuna), which we like to get. We cleaned off the meat from this one, for sure.

Toro sushi and eel hand roll. DJKung and I were not too impressed by the toro, which was quite lean.

Best ever 'cue at Bourbon BBQ

Bourbon BBQ
529 Goffle Road
Wyckoff, NJ 07181
(877) 774-7427 (77-4-RIBS)
www.bourbonbbq.com

After a pleasant browsing experience at Then & Now, we went to this very unasuming BBQ joint on Wyckoff Road, practically in the middle of nowhere, entirely on a whim. DJKung was hungry and there were literally no other places that we knew of in this mostly residential area. UFC agrees that this has been our best find in a looong time.

The menu is certainly very intriguing, and they have catering too, which they seem to do a very brisk business in. While waiting for our order, we noticed their delivery truck with the chef and sous chef (DJKung said that he could tell from their jackets, who knew) loading trays and trays of food. DJKung then eavesdrops on the boss' instructions to the two young men behind the counter:

CHEF TALKING TO STAFF IN A MOBSTER/GODFATHER VOICE: "So what you do is take the order, take the money, and give the food. Take the order, take the money, and give the food.... Anyone give you any trouble, just kick 'em out. Anyone give you any trouble, just kick 'em out."

Then the chef and sous chef leave. The place was pretty quiet by then, because it was a very nice Saturday afternoon (4-ish) before the dinner rush.

We entertained ourselves by admiring the two (expensive) smokers and the various rubs, sauces and bbq accoutrements on display for sale. The decor was very pit-stop-meets-a-60's midwestern diner-in-the-middle-of-nowhere look. From the rolls of paper towels propped up on each table, the very smoky spice mix from the shakers, and the thin-and-spicy barbeque sauce on the tables, we were convinced that this was a SERIOUS place. And so it was.

French fries and the ribs appetizer with onion rings. Frankly, DJKung was quite rapturous about how this was THE BEST barbeque he'd ever had. Even his dad stated that it was "good" (which meant it was excellent).

The barbeque here is made Southern-style, but we were not sure of the provenance. Kentucky and I think Tennessee were thrown out by some of the review articles posted on the walls. The ribs are prepared much wetter (and messier) than at RUB, fall-off-the-bone tender, with a nice smoke ring. DJKung stated that it the ribs at Bourbon were on par with the burnt ends at RUB, which if I recall correctly, was one of the more specialty dishes.

The onion rings were just dang good... fried to perfection and with no sogginess at all. The onion taste was all there too.

Blackened salmon wrap.

I was not hungry at all, but to be a good sport, I got the blackened salmon wrap. And finished it all. The salmon was prepared on the dry side, and was hauntingly sweet, smoky and spicy. It came with some greens and a kick-ass remoulade. It was just WOW. The pickles were soggy.

DJKung remarked that it was rally cool that this place only served RC colas, which gave Bourbon extra nostalgia points. Not a lot of places carry RC anymore, and it fit in with the whole "back in the days" feel of Bourbon.

DJKung and I agreed that this place was much more than meets the eye. From the two dishes we've had, there were just too many special little touches that really place the cooking here to gourmet stuff. From rooting around on the internets, we notice that the chef here is/was affiliated with a fancy-pants restaurant in nearby Ridgewood, which explains the little classical cooking details.

With the value and quality 'cue that we had this day, we've added Bourbon BBQ to SUPPERROTATION status. We cannot wait to try more.