Back again at You Chun

Under food:

You Chun Korean Restaurant

It has simply been frigid all day yesterday. We were ready for some Koreran food to warm up our insides. DJKung's pops has never been to You Chun, so we brought him there last night.

He really liked the hot beef broth that comes in a thermos, which everybody gets. Ditto with the cute app dishes that the always give out. Korean food rocks!

Clockwise from top left: string beans, fish in chili sauce, house saland with carrot-gigner dressing, napa cabbage kimchee, pickles (maybe turnip or daikon), kimchee, fried mushrooms, sweet onions. We never really figured out whether these are apps or condiments, really... we just go on attack mode as soon as they hit the table. THe variety of tastes and textures is very pleasing.

We skipped on the apps this time,since we were pretty hungry. DJKung got the bulgogi andthe kalbi ribs for hima nd his pops. I got hte seafood and kimchee noodle soup.

Bulgogi. This comes out sizzling hot! DJKung's pops liked this with rice.

Seafood and kimchee soup. This was quite spicy and very hearty. A lot of umami goin' on in this dish.

Look at how fat the noodles are! This was when I was a quarter-way into my soup. The noodles really plumped up---one noodle filled up my soup spoon! The menu is not too specific on the type of noodle this is. I am guessing it is a type of wheat noodle with some seaweed to give it a nice green color. Rather chewy, feels like it was hand-cut and made in-house or very close by.

Kalbi ribs (bbq beef short ribs). What else can I say.

DJKung and his pops did get jealous of the dumpling soup on the next table. The dumplings were just massive and full to bursting with pork filling. They kinda felt that getting both the kalbi and bulgogi was a bit overkill, as both were heavy beef dishes that had the same class of flavors. Me, I was just happy with my noodle soup!

We even got a little tipple of rice drink at the end of the meal. It was a refreshing way to end the meal.

DJKung has recommended that You Chun be upgraded to SUPERROTATION. Chibs had the take-home kalbi, and he agrees.

Hot chocolate, hot chocolate, hot chocolate at City Bakery

Under food:

City Bakery
Flatiron/Union Square

After another satisfying meal at Nyonya (we got house special crabs this time), we were in the mood for dessert. We're heard of City Bakery's hot chocolate, so we went to check it out.

City Bakery is in a very nice, airy cafeteria-style space. You could practically just lounge there all day nursing your drink. I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't a bigger array of pastries to pick from, since I thought it was mainly a bakery.

DJKung and I got hot chocolate. His pops got coffee, which he said was pretty good.

Left: honey and raisin scone. Right: hot chocolate with giant-sized marshmallow. The scone was light and buttery. The chocolate... well. It was soooo rich and chocolately, as if they just melted a big bar of premium chocolate and poured it in a cup. The hot chocolate was literally in a big soup pot, which they had to stir a bit before ladling out. We liked the it a lot, although it was a bit too sweet. DJKung was impressed with the sheer density of the marshmallow.

Apple tart. This was excellent. The apple slices were caramelized and full of apple goodness.

We could not finish our hot chocolate because it was just too rich. After overnight refrigeration, it was so super-thick, it was mousse-like. You could have stuck a metal spoon in the cup and it would have stood upright, so thick it was.

I think we'll try this place again, maybe for lunch or dinner. The hot cocoa was just waaay too rich; we'll probably split a cup next time.

Everyone's rushin' to Flushing, Queens

Chinatown
Flushing, Queens

Yay, we finally made it across to Flushing! UFC has been planning this excursion for ages it seems. Last weekend, we finally did it! And we did a food crawl, to boot!

Using our GPS, we made it to the Korean section and had to ask around for directions. Basically, the epicenter of the Chinatown her is Main Street and Roosevelt Ave, by the No. 7 Main Street, Flushing subway stop. We were even able to find some parking at the municipal parking lot on 41st Ave, although there was a bit of a wait.

Once we hit the crowded streets, we see a sign for handmade noodles at the food court of Golden Mall (41-28 Main Street). The food court turned out to be a bunch of little eateries pretty much on top of each other, each apparently with its own specialty. It reminded us a lot of this okonomiaki emporium that we checked out in Hiroshima a while back, where the atmosphere is for serious noshin'.

DJ Kung was really overwhelmed by the menu at Lanzhou Handmade Noodles. Yup, there was a guy there stretching out the noodles to order.

Menu at Lanzhou Handmade Noodles

I ordered the seafood noodles. Came with about three pieces of shimp with shells, fake crab, and a surprising number of little clams. The broth was divine. And the noodles? They were wheat noodles, with a nice spring to them, and cooked perfectly.

DJKung got the beef bowl, which he thought was excellent. He put a lot of the chili oil, which went so well with the broth. Even though it was below freezing outside, we were sweating from all the spice we used. Yum!

The noodle soup really invigorated us. We went back up to Main Street for some browsing. DJKung stepped inside Fay Da Bakery to get a sweet bread. Fay Da must get quite a it of Filipino customers, because they also sell ensaymada now.

Sweet bread from Fay Da Bakery. DJKung said it tasted just like the ones from Mei Lai Wah on Bayard Street in the big Chinatown.

Street view. I wanted to catch a picture with a plane flying overhead, which was approximately every ninety seconds. La Guardia Airport is really close by.

A tiny cream puff joint on the other side of Main Street crossed my eye. Their big-ass cream puffs ($1.25 each, $6.25 for 6) were premade and already loosely wrapped in plastic. These babies were fresh and reaaally good. The crust was a darker golden brown, dsted with powdered sugar, and was crispy. The filling was not overly rich, not too sweet, and just the way I liked it. The place was called Lemon something...

Look at this beauty!

The Chinatown here is really nice just to walk around and people-watch. The food shopping here looks pretty good, although we did not see a lot of seafood displays hanging out in the open. I think it's because there are a lot of big gricery stores here, and the fish are all indoors.

On one of the side streets, we came across a "taho," aka soft tofu stand. Interestingly, it a florist's shop shared its space with it. The store, fittingly, is called Soy Bean Chen Flower Shop (Roosevelt Avenue). We had to bring the soft tofu home because we were getting full at this point. It was sooo silky and satisfying when warmed up.

Superfatty's so happy she found the Soy Bean Chen Flower Shop. Brings back a lot of happy childhood memories. You can eat the tofu inside. We got a quart of it for $2.

The soft tofu tasted just like how I remembered it, except the Filipino version comes with a dark sugar syrup and tiny tapioca balls.

We next ducked into a joint on Roosevelt Avenue that had dumplings. Northern Chinese Dumplings was tucked into a corner of a mixed-use space that included a dry grains store, a video store, and a sushi joint.

We ordered the leek and aquatic food dumpling. The wrappers were rather heavy and the filling was ok. We figure that the food is heartier in the colder north regions of China.

Not bad for $3.25! Even comes with some pickles.

We resumed our walking and stumbled into Flushing Mall. This was great because we had to go pee at this point. The shops in this mall looked pretty quiet. All the action was in the food court, where an awards program for kiddies was being held.

The people watching the program were six and seven deep. A lot of proud mamas and papas were in the audience.

The food court had various offerings. We're definitely going back here. We had a tiny bit of space for the takoyaki.

Takoyaki. The lady turning these octupus balls was not as fast as the others we've seen. However, I think this was the best I've had. She really took her time to make sure it was perfecly cooked and crunchy all over, and each piece had a real bit of octupus in it!

Takoyaki. Look how generous the garnishes (nori, bonito flakes, sauce) are. You're the best, Takoyaki Lady!

On the way back to the car, I just had to have a few more cream puffs for the road. We also stopped by the dumpling place next to the parking lot for some fresh soy milk (unpictured). We gotta try their dumplings next time.

Chibby enjoyed his cream puff a lot. This was a great food crawl!

El Aguila keeps soarin' high!!!

Under food:

El Aguila

Happy Three Kings Day! We headed back to El Aguila in Passaic last weekend for some hearty fare. The place is busy as ever, and we noticed a lot of newbies like us checking out the place.

Creche close-up. The whole display was actually more than six feet tall, and stylized to look like it was the side of a mountain.

We wanted to make it for breakfast to try their specials (churros y chocolate), but woke up late. No worries, though, because the hot entrees were good to go. It appeared that they have a rotating selection of dishes, because they had different foods on display.

Hot dishes. The reflection on the glass camouflages the guy chopping meats for carnitas---you can see his hand on the far right, behind the counter.

The bakery was hoppin' that day in preparation for Three Kings Day, a major religious holiday in Mexican tradition. It celebrates the time when the three wise men, after following the star of Bethlehem, found the baby Jesus. If I remember my religion classes correctly, they gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. More importantly, I think this is the time that kiddies get presents.

Patty cake, patty cake, baker man. Make me a cake as fast as you can!

Trays of rosca de reyes (bread ring for kings). Traditionally, a coin or a little baby figure is baked inside the bread; whoever finds it is supposed to have good luck the whole year.

I ordered a cubano torta (cuban pressed sandwich), with no ham. DJKung got the carnitas burrito (same as last time), and a carnitas taco for his dad. We also got a pina drink and a pina colada drink.

The jolly torta man here prepared my sandwich.




Hot skillet for torta. See how the torta man grilled both pieces of bread, and even the cheese. He also cut fresh slices of avocado and used some tomato and lettuce. The sandwich was not really pressed like a real cubano, but it was still hot, crusty and dang good.

Top picture: torta cubano, sans cheese. Bottom picture: cross-section of same. The tomato was a bit anemic, which is why it looks yellow in the picture.

Taco carnita.

As for the drinks, the pina drink was very fresh and delightfully unsweetened. I ordered the pina colada because it was white in color and looked unusual. It was very sweet, with an artificial taste, no coconut flavor... at least now I know what it is. Can't wait to try their other juices.

El Aguila now has printed menus too. DJKung got the scanner up and running so you can check out their awesome menu. FYI, barbacoa is goat meat.

Brookdale Park Dog Run

Under furs:

Brookdale Dog Run
Bloomfield & Montclair, NJ

Whew! Lenape Trail just gets so packed at times, we can't find any parking! Today we headed to the doggie run at Brookdale Park.

Brookdale Park is a pretty big park in the Bloomfield and Montclair Townships. It always has a lot going on, from soccer and archery practice, to kiddie playgrounds and free summer concerts. The doggie run opened sometime around 2007 with great hoopla, as doggie parks in the North Jersey area are very rare (because everybody has a backyard?). Every time we go here, it tends to be crowded.

Doggies this way!

The doggie run has a big dawg (right) and a little dawg (left) area.

Bad dawgs go here for time out.

Brookdale Dog Park gets points for their doggie fountains, on-site pick-up baggies and their little training courses.

Chibby says: "I'm not sure why everybody's following me!"

Doggie pipe.

Doggie hurdle. This is for the birds... look how low it is!

I don't know why Chibby and Babams just get into the pack mentality and start harassing other dawgs. Specially the younger ones. No biting, of course, but they just go bark-bark-bark like it's a full-on brawl goin' on. So we get dirty looks from the good people of Montclair/Bloomfield about this (thanks a lot, furs). But hey, they're just doing what doggies do.

We next headed off to the meadow outside for more running around.

Brookdale Dog Park never made it to our rotation ever, mainly because we find it too crowded. Personally, we find the doggie owners here are not as laid back as those from the other spots we frequent. If you have a very docile low-energy dawg, this might be the place for you.

Get the royal treatment at King Spa

Under fun

King Spa Sauna

321 Commercial Avenue

Palisades Park, NJ 07650

(201) 947-9955/7665/7666

http://www.ekingsauna.com/

Happy new year! Nothing quite like a good scrubbin' to wash away last year's grit and grime, and to beat the winter cold! King Spa is a bath emporium in the industrial section of Palisades Park. It caters mainly to Koreans, who are very fond of their baths.

King Spa at night.

As you walk in, you'll notice that the lobby is quite small. The basic entrance fee is about $40, but with a coupon (available in Korean establishments in the Bergen county area), you get a $15 discount. King Spa requires that they hold on to your picture id while in the premises. You'll get a numbered key with a barcode that you can wear on your wrist or ankle.

The men's section (the baths are separate) is upstairs, on the third floor. The women's section is on the ground level, to the right. You grab a towel and shirt/shorts (pink for women, blue for men) before you walk in. There are shelves for shoes, which you are required to take off (in typical Korean/Japanese bath house fashion). Your key opens your locker, where you can stash your clothes and personal effects. For the women's section, there is a numbered cubby right outside the wet spa area where you can stash your toiletries and towel/shirt/shorts.

Taking a camera inside would not be prudent given that everybody's nekkid for the most part, so I've taken some pictures from their website.

Women's wet spa. It includes shower stalls and sitting showers. You take a basin and a stool so you can squat down and scrub yourself good. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste are available. Should you need the exfoliating pads, you can ask the attendant, who will scan your key. There is a hot pool, a lukewarm pool (with herbs) and a cold green pool, as well as a clear cold pool with a powerful shower (make sure you shower first!). Their herbal sauna is nice and hot-hot-hot!

You can get the full body (and I mean full body) scrub and an oil massage at the wet spa area, available at extra charge. No new age-y relaxation here. They treat you like a slab of tuna and will scrub you to an inch of your life. The massage is more soothing, and they do try to stretch your joints. Afterwards, you can definitely feel that your skin is softer and smoother.

DJKung says that the men's side is pretty much set up the same. They do not have the little cubbys for towels that the women's side does. The men's side also does not have the big ice-cold pool.

You can then get dressed and check out the co-ed saunas on the second and third floors. King Spa has a very nice array of rooms and saunas for a variety of ailments. I prefer the hotter saunas. It is nice just to just close your eyes and relaaax.

This is my current favorite igloo---Bul Hanzung Mok (for women only). It is pretty warm inside and you will start sweating almost immediately. It smells like dried herbs and wood inside. I think this is supposed to be good for your reproductive organs.

Bulgama room (co-ed). This one is supposed to have infrared rays and ions. It is not as hot as the Bul Hanzung Mok. Muzak is usually playing, and it is easy to fall asleep here.

There are a few more igloos and rooms that you can check out. Basic rules apply: don't bring any reading material (although some do), keep quiet, and try to respect other people's space.

There are also private massage rooms. I have never gotten a dry massage here. DJKung had the thirty-minute foot massage before, and he said it was worth it. He described it as a deep tissue massage, with special focus on the joints.

Afterwards, when you are feeling squeaky clean and pleasantly drained, you can hang out by the restaurant and get some food. This is the meeting spot for friends and family that come to King Spa together. After you place your order, they will scan your key and call your number when your food is ready. The food is pretty good and reasonably priced. We like the rice drink, an iced drink with rice and beans served in a big glass bowl. It is so refreshing after a nice long sweat.

Restaurant section. I love the rocco furniture with the stone sculptures. The restaurant section is usually lively and full of shiny-faced, freshly bathed patrons wearing their King Spa shirts and shorts.

There is also a lounge section where you can read Korean newspapers, watch tv, play go, or fall asleep on their leather recliners. It is not uncommon to see people snoring away. Relaxing is really hard work!