Milk & Cookies Bakery in West Village

Getting a little tired from an afternoon stroll in the city, I stopped by Milk & Cookie Bakery for a break.


The place smelled so unbelievably good as soon as you walked in.


Oatmeal scotches dusted with sea salt
I knew this cookie probably contained 500 calories but it was worth every bite!


Dark Chocolate Toffee
Another decadent and rich soft cookie.


The third one is peanut butter cookie



The bakery totally brought me back to the childhood.  The cookies were amazing.
For people who are not counting the calories, go for the ice cream cookie sandwich.
They look dangerously good.

Hudson Clearwater -- American New in West Village

Hudson Clearwater is a very new restaurant that just opened up in January.


Finding the restaurant requires a little effort.
There is no sign at the entrance and the restaurant is tugged away inside a building.


The interior is simple yet intimate.


Complimentary chief's appetizer.


Lentils, Roasted Celery Root, Kale, Pomegranate Seeds, Beet Puree Salad
The ingredients sound interesting even though I never like lentils. 
It was a bit bland and heavy for a salad dish.


Duck leg confit, Caramelized Turnips, Fennel Puree, Sage Jus
This was an appetizer dish.  
It was very good at first bite, but almost too salty if you had this dish all to yourself.


Cured Pork Belly with grilled beets, Creamy polenta, cherry-dickel caramel
We seemed to see more and more pork belly on the menus these days.  
I am guessing it was a strategic move on the restaurants' part during recession 
since pork bellies were cheap ingredients?


Brussel Sprouts, Apples, Pork Belly Caramel
LOVE LOVE LOVE this side dish.  
The brussel sprouts were cooked soft. 
The prok belly caramel and apple took away the bitter taste of brussel sprouts.


We had to catch a movie after dinner so no dessert this time.
The restaurant is very new and I think still need to work on fine tune their dishes. 
I do want to come back and try other dishes on the menu.

If you can find the restaurant, remember to sit by the kitchen bar to see how the dishes are prepared.

Jade Asian -- Dim Sum in Flushing

Have it ever happened to you that you did not know you were craving for the food until you had it?
I can't remember when was last time I had dim sum, probably from the last "Dim Sum A go go" post, which was probably 10 months ago.
Recently, I went to Jade Asian for dim sum with a few friends.  Within a month, I returned to the restaurant twice.


It was a big catering hall that gets crowded before noon. hassling bussling like all the other dim sum place.
The push cart ladies are quite aggressive and you really need to be quick to say no before they sheve the plates onto your table.


Stir fry turnip cake﹕Turnip cake is the classic dim sum dish.  This is my favorite way of preparing it. 


Ginger Beef Tripe: this is the only kind of tripe that I actually enjoy.  It does not taste gamy at all.
Be warned: If you don't like rubbery texture type of food, do not order this dish.


Lightly breaded shrimp: Not sure exactly what this dish is called. but the shrimp is finger licking good.


Shirmp with mayo & fish egg -- I have yet to seen this dish in any other dim sum places I ate before.


Chicken feet -- Yummmmmm


Some kind of vegetable steam dumplings


Duck Blood with chive: not my favorite, both the flavor and texture.


Shrimp dumpling wrapped in tofu -- So delicate, unusual dim sum dish.


Fried Sesame Balls: One of my favorite sweet dim sum dish. 



Jade Asian is my favorite dim sum place in New York by far.
The variety and quality of the dim sum dishes are much better compare to ones in China town. 
It is hectic like most of the dim sum places and the servers can be pushy so you have to be firm if you do not want to take certain dishes.

But it is worth coming all the way to flushing for their dim sums. Yes, it is that good. 

Seersucker -- Awesome coffee in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

It was one of those cold winter weekends that I was craving for interesting brunch other than omelette & pancakes.
We decided to check out Seersucker in Carroll Gardens for my favorite southern brunch. 



We were lucky to get a seat right away since we were there before 11 AM.
However, the restaurant got packed very quickly.  New Yorkers are crazy about their brunches.


Even though I am not an expert to coffee and the watered down New York deli coffee served me just fine.
I could tasted the difference right away with Seersucker's coffee.  It was aromatic, rich, and creamy.


Homemade Granola -- Milk thistle yogurt, Fruit


Crispy Mississippi Catfish Po'Boy with housemade chips & salad.
Loved the homemade spicy mayo. Some Catfish can taste a little muddy, but not this one.


Country Style Pork Hash and Biscuit with 2 farm eggs any style.
The pork was super delicious! It had crispy crust and full of flavor.


This is one of the restaurants that I would love to return again.
I like the ambiance and the menu. 
There is another dish that I will try next time: "Fried Chicken Livers".

The restaurant does not take reservations.  Come early or be prepared to wait.