Eat to Blog

Spicy & Tasty is an excellent name for a restaurant, considering the spiciness and tastiness of the food they serve. Long-time readers will remember that I gave a shout-out to Spicy & Tasty in my favorites of 2012 post, and I made special mention of the “bamboo in hot spicy sauce” as one of the best things I ate all year. I’ve been thinking about it ever since that meal I’ve been hoping for a reason to go back. So after Donny and I ate at Biang! I made sure we stopped by Spicy & Tasty so I could get some bamboo to take home with me. So what’s so good about it?

For about $7 you get a huge portion of the bamboo, cooked but served cold. The bamboo is nothing like the fibrous canned things I had when I was a kid; instead the stalks are thin and tender, with the texture of hearts of palm. They are tossed with a flavorful sesame-chili oil, which nestles into all of the nooks and crannies on the bamboo shoots. It’s a simple dish but I can’t seem to stop eating it when it’s in front of me, or thinking about eating it when it’s not. Spicy & Tasty is definitely worth a trip to Flushing, even if you only order this one dish. Also recommended: cold jelly in spicy sauce, tofu and celery salad, and cucumbers in sesame oil.

Spicy & Tasty — 39-07 Prince St, Flushing

So today is Food Revolution Day! It’s the day where you take back your food from giant faceless corporations and cook it yourself. Yep, cook it yourself. Learn something new today. Learn about a new ingredient or a new method of cooking. If you’re an expert, go teach somebody something. Share your knowledge and information. Or go out and support the small mom and pop shop where they’re doing things the good and right way.

In honor of Food Revolution Day 2013, here’s a list of recipes that we like and hopefully you’ll like also!

Guess what?! Perfect timing, it’s soft shell crab season. Go get some and cook this recipe.

Thanks to Jamie Oliver, I’m in love with harissa.

Also thanks to Jamie Oliver, I can now make flatbreads with my eyes closed.

The lobster roll is like the perfect summer food, so here’s Howard’s vegan version.

Here’s an easy tomato gratin.

Speaking of tomato, here’s my quick and easy recipe for tomato and egg over rice.

My mom’s chicken wings and potatoes with coconut milk is my MOST FAVORITE dish ever.

Check out our video on making a 30 Second Vinaigrette.

Cauliflower and apple make a great combination in this bread pudding recipe.

Ah….here’s my Pad Thai sauce recipe plus few different ways to use it.

If you find fiddlehead ferns at the greenmarket, buy some and try this recipe.

One of my favorite food events I attended last year was Village Voice’s Choice Streets. Obviously one of the thing I liked about it was the location. It was held at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. It was also one of the most causal food events I’ve been to. So of course this year I had to go back. While the format was the same, there were few things that were different from last year that, in a way, made this year a little less fun (just a little) but overall I still had a good time.

For some unknown reasons, few of the trucks didn’t show up and they may had sold more tickets than last year because the lines! There were few times where I just stood in a line for half an hour. And by 8:30p some of the trucks had ran out of food already which then added extra pressure on other trucks to continue.

Here are some bites I managed to get….

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This piece was written on 4/25/2013. On 4/27 we visited Beer Table on their last night, where a patron made an impromptu toast to the owners and I drank a beer called Gypsy Tears.

On April 27th, 2013, Beer Table in Park Slope will serve its last beer after five years. The small bar and restaurant was well-known for its incredible beer selection; in addition to a few drafts and casks, the bottled beer menu contained hundreds of options from brewers all over the world, with bottles that cost anywhere from $8 to a select few over $100. This was not the kind of place to chug pitchers of beer; Beer Table was a place to actually drink beer, and to discover new ones. The sign on the door says they need a bigger space – and a bigger kitchen. Justin Philips, one of the owners, says that serving food was always his first priority.

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