Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan's Blog, page 2

Excellent Pork Chop House: Taiwanese Comfort Food

There are some people whose food instincts and advice I greatly respect. One of them is the voracious (and all-around awesome) Ed Lin, author of New York Chinatown thrillers “One Red Bastard,” “Snakes Can’t Run” and more.

So when Ed recently posted a photo of a bowl of noodles at his favorite Taiwanese place in New York, I immediately sat up. I trust Ed on all matters gastronomic — especially Taiwanese, a cuisine he knows inside and out.

Which is how a few days later, sous chef and I found ourselves wending down a narrow curvy lane in Chinatown, eyes peeled for one “Excellent Pork Chop House” …

Now, I have great respect for restaurants with straightforward names. Taste Good in Queens, for example, serves incredible Singaporean/Malaysian food that, well, tastes good.

So I certainly took it as a good sign that this restaurant was simply named Excellent Pork Chop House.

Inside, the setting was spartan — always a good sign in an Asian restaurant in Chinatown. (If they’re trying too hard to distract you with silly bells and whistles like comfortable seating or say, air-conditioning, chances are the food’s not terrific.)

I also appreciated this highly odd collection of figurines and dolls that were very nicely displayed. Hey, nothing telegraphs homey as effectively as “bizarre” sometimes.

Since Ed had recommended them — and since they’re in the name of the restaurant — we figured pork chops were the way to go.

First up, pork chop rice, which featured rice topped with seasoned, stir-fried minced pork, pickled mustard greens — a deliciously sour, tangy, crunchy and earthy preserve vegetable that’s commonly used in Southern Chinese and Taiwanese cooking — and a thick slab of pork.

This was beyond tasty — the pork chop itself was juicy and nicely fried, bursting with flavor. But the combination of minced pork and pickled mustard greens worked perfectly well without it, too. Sous chef said he might order this dish sans pork chop next time, in fact.

Next, we had the pork chop noodles. First came the chop — which was as nicely done as the first we’d had. Look at all the juices on there — so good.

Then, the noodles — the broth was light, slightly salty and porky but what really made the dish was the gobs of pickled mustard greens on top of it.

I quickly learned the key was to mix it all up so you got a bit of crunchy sour deliciousness with each bite of noodle and slurp of soup. Before I knew it, this entire bowl — which I had at first deemed to large for me to finish — disappeared.

As terrific as this meal was, the even better part came next. Our bill for the two dishes — plus a Coke and a hot tea — came up to $11.

There are increasingly few places in New York City where you can eat like a king and be out just a few dollars a person. Well folks, this is one of them. And it’s excellent, indeed.

Excellent Pork Chop House, 3 Doyers Street, New York, N.Y.; 212.791.7007

 

John Searles’ Lentil Soup: A Toast to “Help For The Haunted”

Few things make me happier than tasting my friends’ cooking — especially if it’s a situation in which I had absolutely no idea that they knew how to cook.

Recently, I had the pleasure of making one such discovery about a dear friend of mine, a person I adore and whom I know mostly as a writer (certainly not a cook) — the novelist John Searles.

I made this discovery one chilly evening this spring when John’s partner, Thomas (the chef in that family), wasn’t around. Instead of ordering in, John decided to cook up some soup instead. I remain grateful for this decision as this meant that I got to taste his lentil soup, which turned out to be so hearty and tasty that I distinctly remember the delicious sensation of its earthy goodness warming me up from within.

So when fall and all its coolness arrived last week, this soup immediately came to mind.

Besides, I had a very special reason to toast John this month — his third novel, a gripping literary thriller titled “Help For The Haunted” just hit book stores! It’s only been out for a week and it’s already gotten rave reviews everywhere — both Amazon and USA Today just named it one of the month’s best books.

So cheers to the book and to my dear friend John. And of course, let’s not forget his lovely lentil soup …

Now, if you haven’t picked up “Help For The Haunted,” get yourself to a bookstore now. It’s the chilling story of two sisters trying to find their way after their parent’s murder in suburban Maryland, told through the voice of Sylvie, 15, who is determined to find out who killed their parents one snowy night. Gillian Flynn called it “Part ghost story, part coming-of-age story … a dazzling, dark portrait of a troubled family beset by the supernatural. The result is a novel both frightening and beautiful.”

I’ve read this book — in fact, I finished most of it in one night, staying up until 5 a.m. because I simply couldn’t put it down. But apart from that, this book has a special place in my heart because John was writing it when I first met him in 2010. We were both housemates at Yaddo, the stories artists colony in upstate New York, having escaped the city in order to hunker down and write. I was finishing “A Tiger in the Kitchen;” he was midway through “Help For The Haunted.”

It was a hugely stressful time — but also the exact sort of experience that makes two people best friends for life. (Or, kill each other — thankfully, that didn’t happen.)

This is us below taking a break from the writing for some ping-pong and games with the gang in the pool room back in 2010.

As I write this, John is on the road, starting a two-month tour that takes him across the country to share his book.

If he’s coming your way — San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and more — come on out and say “Hello” when he’s in town! I can promise that he’ll entertain you — even if he isn’t cooking.

And if you want to try his tasty lentil soup, here’s his recipe below. Buon appetito … and good luck, John!

~~~

John Searles’ Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

2 TB finely chopped onion
4 TB olive oil
1 TB butter
2 TB finely chopped celery
2 TB coarsely grated carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped prosciutto
1 16 oz. can chopped Italian tomatoes
4 cups beef broth
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper flakes to taste
3 TB grated parmesan cheese


Directions:

Saute onion in the stockpot with the oil and butter over medium-high heat until light golden brown.

Add celery and carrot and saute for two to three minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the chopped prosciutto and saute for about one minute.

Add chopped tomatoes with their juice and simmer for about 25 minutes, uncovered, stirring once in a while.

Stir in lentils and add the broth. Add salt, black pepper and hot pepper flakes. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes. (Test the lentils to see if done and if necessary, cook longer.)

When lentils are done, taste for seasoning. Take off the heat and swirl an additional TB of butter (if desired) and the parmesan cheese. Serve with additional parmesan on the side.

 

Hemingway’s Hamburger: Papa’s Favorite

Earlier this year, I was perusing a Boston Globe story about some Ernest Hemingway papers from the writer’s years in Cuba that had just been donated to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

A book editor who’s on the board of the Finca Vigía Foundation in Boston, which has been working on preserving Hemingway’s Cuba documents and bringing them to the United States, had told me of the story and I could not wait to read it. I’ve long been a Hemingway fan — an admirer of not just his work but also his appetite for life, food and drink.

So it was unsurprising that one line in the story about what the new papers contained struck me: “And the more mundane, like his instructions to the household staff, including how to prepare his hamburgers: ground beef, onions, garlic, India relish, and capers, cooked so the edges were crispy but the center red and juicy.”

Hemingway’s ideal burger? I had to find out more.

Many weeks and a few burgers later, I wrote about my quest to recreate Hemingway’s hamburger in The Paris Review.

I won’t go into details — you can read more there. But for the recipe and another glimpse of the burger, click right here …

One thing you’ll learn from just looking at the recipe is that how packed with ingredients it is. Here’s how my meat looked at the beginning — and this was even before I’d added the wine, egg, dry spices and more.

Having tried it, I have to say it’s the most umami-packed burger I’ve ever tasted. The recipe may look a little labor-intensive, with all that chopping and whatnot. But after your first bite, I can guarantee that you won’t regret it.

So, have at it and buon appetito!

~~~

FROM EXPERIMENTING,

PAPA’S FAVORITE HAMBURGER. There is no reason why a fried hamburger has to turn out gray, greasy, paper-thin and tasteless. You can add all sorts of goodies and flavors to the ground beef — minced mushrooms, cocktail sauce, minced garlic and onion, chopped almonds, a big dollop of piccadilli, or whatever your eye lights on. Papa prefers this combination.

Ingredients –

1 lb. ground lean beef

2 cloves, minced garlic

2 little green onions, finely chopped

1 heaping teaspoon, India relish

2 tablespoons, capers

1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands sage

Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning — ½ teaspoon

Spice Islands Mei Yen Powder — ½ teaspoon **

1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork

About one third cup dry red or white wine.

1 tablespoon cooking oil

What to do –

Break up the meat with a fork and scatter the garlic, onion and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into the meat with a fork or your fingers. Let the bowl of meat sit out of the icebox for ten or fifteen minutes while you set the table and make the salad. Add the relish, capers, everything else including wine and let the meat sit, quietly marinating, for another ten minutes if possible. Now make four fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties should be an inch thick, and soft in texture but not runny. Have the oil in your frying-pan hot but not smoking when you drop in the patties and then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes. Take the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again. Flip the burgers over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the heat down again and cook another three minutes. Both sides of the burgers should be crispy brown and the middle pink and juicy.

 

** Spice Islands discontinued its production of Mei Yen Powder three years ago. If you don’t have any in your pantry, here’s how to recreate it:

 

9 parts salt

9 parts sugar

2 parts MSG

If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon Mei Yen Powder, use 2/3 tsp of the dry recipe (above) mixed with 1/8 tsp of soy sauce.

 

 

Mexican Cottage Pie: A British Standard, Spiced Up

I have been in love with pie for as long as I can remember — crisp crust, hot filling … what’s not to adore?

My love extends far beyond traditional American apple and pumpkin pies, however — spicy (or sweet) empanadas, pot pies, shepherd’s pies, British pork pies, Singaporean fried curry puffs (which are, essentially, hand-pies) … you name it, I’ll worship it.

So I was thrilled when Lucy over at A Cook and Her Books suggested pie for this month’s theme for our Let’s Lunch virtual lunch date, which is a special one as we have a bunch of fabulous new bloggers joining our little group this month: Betty Ann at , Margaret at Tea and Scones, Too, Naomi at The Gastro Gnome, Sara at Three Clever Sisters and Tammi at Insatiable Munchies.

What to make for this month’s lunch? I decided it had to be something pretty special to toast our new Lunchers …

Now, I’ve made my fair share of pies for Let’s Lunch before. Two years ago, when we did pie as a summer lunch topic, I dreamt up a Japanese curry pie that — if you don’t mind me saying — was out of this world. Just this summer, when we attempted “Too Hot to Cook” dishes, I whipped up a chilled key lime-mango pie that pretty much disappeared instantly in this household.

For this month though, savory pies were on my mind. I have long adored British pork pies and lamb curry pies — though I’ve never had the guts to actually attempt one. And recently, I’ve been a little obsessed with Canadian tortières, a holiday pie (for Christmas or new year’s) packed with dice veal, beef or wild game.

With a looming deadline for my book revisions however, there was no time for anything quite so ambitious. Instead, I took a stab at a pie combination that I’ve imagined might be tasty: Mexican Cottage Pie.

Now, I adore British cottage pie — always have, since my girlhood in Singapore. And I adore Mexican flavors. How about combining the two in a dish?

First, I started with the filling — sauteing ground beef, garlic, green peppers, corn, onion and home-made taco seasonings in a pan before adding some beef broth and cooking all that together.

Next, I lay that in a casserole dish and topped it with buttery mash with minced scallions mixed in for some extra zing.

Then I topped that with shredded Mexican-style cheese.

Into the oven that went, and when it emerged, it was a steamy melty mess of potatoes and cheese with bubbling Mexican goodness beneath. It smelled divine.

How was it?

Beyond delicious. The taco spices really took the filling up several notches. (As much as I love traditional cottage pie, some versions can taste a little bland.)

And each bite of heavily spiced ground beef paired with creamy mash, topped with a little bit of crunch from the crusty shredded cheese was irresistible. Sous chef and I each had two massive helpings before realizing we’d eaten our way through almost half the casserole pan in just one sitting.

So I’d say the experiment was a success. My little recipe’s below, if you’d like to try it out at home. In the meantime, as always, buon appetito!

~~~

Don’t forget to check out other Let’s Lunchers’ pies below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.

Anne Marie‘s Apple Pie Sandwiches at Sandwich Surprise

Betty Ann‘s Calamansi Pie at

Jill‘s Guava and Cream Cheese Empanadas at

Lisa‘s Sweet Ricotta Noodle Pie at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Linda‘s Biscoff Banana & Pear Galette at Spicebox Travels

Lucy‘s Sweet Potato Custard Pie at A Cook and Her Books 

Nancie‘s Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie at Nancie McDermott

Naomi‘s Huckleberry Pie Ice-Cream at The Gastro Gnome

Sara‘s Herb Pie from Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s “Jerusalem” at Three Clever Sisters

~~~

Mexican Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1/2 cup beef broth
6 TB taco seasoning — I use this recipe. (or two pouches Taco seasoning)
8 TB unsalted butter **
2.5 lbs large potatoes, peeled
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 cup milk
4 scallions, minced
1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
Pepper, to taste

** Note, if you want to lower the amount of butter in this dish, use 4 TB vegetable oil or 2 TB oil and 2 TB butter to cook the veggies and beef in instead.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes into quarters or large chunks, place in a pot, add 1/2 tsp salt and fill up with water so there’s about an inch of water above the potatoes. Bring to a boil then let that simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender and you can put a fork through them.

Drain potatoes and return to the pot, add four TB butter and milk, then mash it all up until smooth. Add salt to taste then mix in minced scallions and set aside. Add salt and pepper to taste then set aside. If using frozen corn, thaw the corn and set aside.

Heat four TB butter (or two TB butter and two TB oil) in a large pan then add minced garlic, sauteing until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Then add onion and green pepper, sauteing until they’ve softened. Add beef, breaking it up and mixing it well. Just before it’s fully cooked, add taco seasoning and mix well. When beef is almost cooked, add corn and beef broth and mix well. Let it cook, uncovered, simmering on low heat for 10 minutes. Make sure the liquid has cooked down a little — you don’t want the filling to be too runny.

Remove beef mixture from pan and it into a three-quart casserole dish, distributing it evenly. Layer the mashed potatoes on top evenly then use a fork to rough up the top a little so it’s not entirely smooth.

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until it’s bubbling and crusty. Remove from oven, let it rest for a bit, then serve with a side salad.

Korean Roast Beef Sandwich: Umami on a Bun

Among the problems to have, this was a good one: What to do with that tub of leftover ssamjang in the fridge?

After whipping up a batch of the sweet, spicy and garlicky Korean dipping sauce for a recent night of kalbi, the leftovers remained front and center in my fridge, nudging me to do something — anything.

Sure, marinating a few pounds of short ribs for another round of kalbi was tempting — perhaps when I have more time.

For now, however, I had other easier plans …

Now, ssamjang is pretty easy to make. I followed the fabulous Korean-American blogger Maangchi’s recipe to the letter and it was delicious. That combination of pepper sauce, sesame seeds, sesame oil, garlic, two kinds of onions and more is an umami explosion in a bite.

Which made me think that it would be perfect for jazzing up sandwiches, which are not my favorite thing to eat because I find them generally bland.

So, armed with some roast beef and bread, I started the experiment. First, I toasted some bread and spread wasabi mayo on one and a thick layer of ssamjang on the other …

… then layered on the beef and lettuce — which is so key to the kalbi-eating experience, which involves wrapping the grilled beef in lettuce with rice and kimchi. To finish, I gave it a bunch of sprinkles of fresh ground pepper and lunch was ready.

How was it? Just about the best sandwich I’ve ever made. The combination of sweet, garlicky and nutty ssamjang with the zing of wasabi and the tender earthiness of the beef was delicious.

As the sandwich disappeared, I wondered how this might taste with a layer of kim-chi, however.

Ah, well — time to whip up another batch of ssamjang, I suppose.

~~~

Korean Roast Beef Sandwich

Ingredients:

Two slices of bread (any kind)
Ssamjang (Recipe here, via Maangchi)
Wasabi mayonnaise
Two large lettuce leaves — either green leaf or romaine
3 slices roast beef
Fresh black pepper


Directions:

Toast bread, spread a generous amount of wasabi mayonnaise on one slice and ssamjang on the other. (Note: If you would like this a little less sweet, go easy on the ssamjang.)

Place a lettuce leaf on each slice of toast, layer roast beef on top and give it five big sprinkles of fresh pepper. Combine the two sides and serve immediately.

 

Belle Harbor Steak House (Rockaway Park, N.Y.): Back to the Basics

There’s something to be said for a solid, old-school meal.

What this means varies, of course, depending on where you are. In the U.S., I’ve always relished the mom-and-pop low-key restaurants that still roll out unfussy, decades-old standbys — hot turkey platters, melts, meatloaf and more. (If you’ve read “A Tiger in the Kitchen,” you’ll know what a meatloaf obsessive I am.)

I find myself craving these meals when it gets a little chilly. And so on a recent rainy day, we found ourselves heading over to a little restaurant called Belle Harbor Steak House in Rockaway Park, New York.

I’d caught a glimpse of the menu a few days before and it seemed like just the place to warm you up on a cold drizzly afternoon …

Step into the Belle Harbor Steak House and you’ll feel like you’ve set foot in any number nice-ish diners or eateries in Anywhere, America.

After a few days of exciting eats, however, we were ready for the expected.

The menu here is sizable — there’s breakfast all day, a host of dinner items and a big “lunch specials” menu, which offers an entree with soup or salad and a dessert. Not a bad deal considering most of the lunch specials were about $11 or $12.

To start, we sampled the minestrone, which came packed with vegetables. It was fine — nothing out of the ordinary.

The onion soup was terrific though — a little on the sweet side but packed with mushy, delicious onions and topped with a crusty slice of herbed bread.

Sous chef’s chicken parmesan was so massive the plate was barely large enough to hold everything. The chicken was a little thin but this was otherwise perfectly fine.

The star of our meal, however, was my hot turkey platter.

Now, I had been hesitant to order it — it’s not exactly the sexiest or the most complicated dish, after all. How hard is it to slap slices of turkey on bread and pour gravy over it?

As I remained conflicted as the minutes ticked by, sous chef said, “How often do we eat somewhere that has a hot turkey plate on the menu?”

A very good point. And I certainly had no regrets once it (pictured up top) arrived — I did’t have to get very close to smell the rich gravy dousing a giant mound of turkey on bread, with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce on the side. Each bite was a delight, that lovely mix of herbed warmth from the gravy paired with sweet cranberry sauce, cool to the tongue.

After I’d mopped up the last drop of gravy with my last piece of turkey, I was instantly sorry that there wasn’t more.

Though we were stuffed, dessert was part of the deal — all made in-house, we were told. And so a chocolate pudding it was. (Not bad but not terrific.)

The rice pudding, topped with generous sprinkles of cinnamon, was delicious, however. This, we demolished.

Was this a memorable meal? In the grand scheme of things, probably not. (Though the next time I find myself in Rockaway Beach, I might just head to Belle Harbor Steak House for another delicious hot turkey platter.)

But one can’t live on sexy meals alone. Sometimes, it’s memorable in its own way to just celebrate the basics.

Belle Harbor Steak House, 268 Beach 116th St, Rockaway Park, N.Y.; 718.318.5100

Rockaway Taco (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.): A Delicious Reprise

It isn’t truly summer until you’ve had your first fried fish taco. (So I believe, anyway.)

Going by this policy, summer still hadn’t hit for me in early August. This late in the game, that certainly had to be fixed.

So on a recent morning, even though I had only just been to Rockaway Taco in New York‘s Rockaway Beach a few days before, I decided it was time to return …

When I first posted about Rockaway Taco, I have to confess to feeling a little ill-equipped to do so. The place is all about tacos after all, but I had gotten there too early to actually sample any. (The chilaquile breakfast I had, however, was truly memorable.)

After I left, I realized that not only had I missed out on tacos but also some supposedly terrific drinks.

“Get the pineapple juice,” the fabulous fashion stylist Doria Santlofer had urged on Instagram.

Since I admire Doria’s impeccable taste, this was the first thing I ordered on my return — one order of pineapple-mint juice and another of watermelon. As you can see from this photo, the drinks were summer in a cup — tangy, light and sweet but not too sweet.

Of the two, I preferred Doria’s recommendation — I especially loved the extra zing that you got from the tart pineapple, brightened up with the refreshing taste of mint.

We started with the quesadilla filled with black beans and cheese ($3.50). This was tasty enough — I liked the char on the grilled slab of cheese. But what truly got me were the tacos ($3.50 each) — the carne taco (pictured up top) filled with minced meat and a jumble of julienned vegetables, was delicious, each bite dripping with meat juices.

And the fish — oh, the fish. The fish itself was lightly breaded and deep-fried to perfection — airy, crunchy, sweet and flaky. Combined with the tossed salad on top and wrapped up in a tortilla, this was delicious. I could have eaten five of these at a go.

I know I’ve said this before — and fairly recently, too. But if you find yourself in Rockaway Beach, run — don’t walk — to this taco joint.

We left Rockaway Taco with big smiles that day. We were full, yes. But more important, it now felt like summer had truly begun.

Rockaway Taco, 95-19 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach, N.Y.; 347.213.7466; http://rockawaytaco.com/

Thai Rock (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.): Sweet-Tooth “Thai”

Every few days or so, a craving will kick in.

If I haven’t been cooking or if I’ve been on the road, unless I’m in Asia, I’ll start to really need the taste of Asian food of some sort. So, after a few days of lovely fish sandwiches and hot dogs at Rockaway Beach, I started sniffing around for something a little closer to home.

And then I remembered a sign on a building by the water: “Thai Rock.” And off we went …

I had read about this place — it had only been in business for two years before Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, destroying its deck and leaving soggy wooden floorboards from waist-high water within.

It’s part of the peril of being right on the water — which, fortunately for diners most of the time, offers lovely views, especially if eating al fresco.

Plus, if you feel like getting a little exercise in before dinner, the owners rent jetskis as well.

As expected, the deck was packed by the time we got there at cocktail hour.

But turnover is pretty fast here, it seems — we were seated within minutes. (Waiting for someone to bring over the specials menu and take our drink order took a little time, however.)

Nonetheless, we were hungry. And I found the handwritten — and canceled out etc. — specials endearing. (And perhaps also a good sign — it could mean that they update the specials list every day? One could hope.)

The restaurant’s cocktail list is hefty, inspiring us to venture out of the sparkling or white wine box for a moment to sample a ginger mojito, which turned out to be a refreshing concoction that packed just a little zing from the ginger and wasn’t too loaded with spirits.

Even though dumplings aren’t particularly Thai, they were pretty much the only appetizers listed. So, an order of shrimp dumplings to start, it was.

They came nicely arranged on a paper plate — which was lovely. And they were all right — we were hungry; they filled us.

Now, the sous chef is the biggest pad thai fan — he can never resist ordering it once he spots it on a menu. And besides, this place is supposedly run by two sisters who once worked in restaurants in Thailand. How bad could it be?

Oh, it was bad.

I could tell the moment I spotted the plate that the noodles were off — I didn’t even have to taste it to know that the noodles were gummy. But the bigger travesty was how flavorless the dish was — where were the delicious hints of garlic, fish sauce and more that make pad Thai phenomenal?

Nowhere, that’s where.

In its place was a sickly sweet tomato flavor on gummy noodles coated with gritty grains of scrambled egg.

Sous chef, who almost never complains about anything he eats (he grew up polite that way), looked miserable.

“These are the worst noodles I’ve ever had,” he said.

And that’s saying something.

Thankfully, our other dish wasn’t as bad. Thai Rock has a small section just on grilled meats, featuring Crying Tiger, chicken satay and a “Thai burger” marinated with cilantro, basil and red onion — which tempted me until I saw the young Asian woman a few tables away order it and wrinkle her nose after a bite.

To me, it’s hard to screw up grilled meats, so when it doubt, go with the foolproof choice. (This was a policy that had recently served us well at another Rockaway Beach establishment, after all.)

So I ordered a grilled pork chop marinated in garlic, cilantro and white pepper, served with a house-made chili sauce.

While this was not much like any Asian grilled pork chops I’ve tasted, it was edible. The house-made chili sauce was another matter, though — this was, again, intensely sweet. (In fact, it looked and tasted just like the bottled sweet chili sauces I’ve purchased at Asian groceries for sous chef, who is partial to them.) What we couldn’t figure out was what the gritty coating of crunchy bits on top was — after a few tastes, our best guess was Kraft grated parmesan cheese.

Now I’m a fan of the fiery, so I asked the waiter if he could bring out some chopped Thai bird’s eye chilis. After disappearing for a bit, he returned to explain that the kitchen didn’t have any.

But how could this be? That chili is so central to Thai cooking — I had seen kra pao beef on the menu. Surely, the chef must use the chili somewhere — anywhere — on the menu or as an ingredient in a condiment?

The waiter looked a little sheepish and explained that the restaurant dishes really were designed for Americans.

“So, people who like Asian food that’s sweet, not spicy?” I asked.

He nodded, shrugged and scurried away.

And right there, this got to heart of my pet peeve with lousy Asian restaurants. When you blatantly dumb your food down, the dishes suffer. And really, if you’re that kind of chef, I lose all respect for the establishment.

So when it came time to order dessert or more — even though we were still hungry, our choice was clear.

No thanks — there had to be a better second dinner out there somewhere.

Thai Rock, 375 Beach 92nd Street, Rockaway Beach, N.Y.; 718.945.5111; http://www.thairock.us/

 

Breezy Dogs & Shakes (Breezy Point, N.Y.): A Dog Day of Summer

Lunchtime on a hot summer’s day and two small boys are very silently perched on a bench near Fort Tilden Beach.

They’re still; their eyes a little glazed. Finally, one breaks the stupor to very slowly say, “These are soooo good.”

The source of their trance is at their elbows — two almost empty cups of thick, cold milkshakes and the carcass of lunch. At this point, we’ve just gotten off a sunny bus ride all the way to the end of the Q22 line at Rockaway Beach, all in search of this mythical Breezy Dog food truck we’d been reading about.

From the look of the fog these boys were in, lunch was starting to seem worth the ride …

 Even though we’d read as much as we could on the whereabouts of this truck, we still weren’t entirely clear where to go once the bus stopped in Breezy Point, New York.

Just around the corner from the bus stop, however, we spied a white truck …

… with a short line of people. (It was late on a Monday, after all — no summer hordes on a weekday.)

This was definitely it.

The menu is pretty straightforward — you have a range of hot dogs from $2.50 to $4.25 or various wraps, tacos, knishes and more.

Besides the hot dogs, the big thing here is the milkshakes — 100 flavors, I kid you not.

We get a Breezy dog  ($3.50) — beef hot dog, topped with melted cheese and chili. The bun is soft, the hot dog is basic but the overall combination of meat, sweet roll, just a thin layer of chili and a river of runny cheese is delicious, hitting the spot immediately.

It’s more of a head-scratcher trying to decide on what shake to try. I’m completely flummoxed, so the sous chef says, “Nutella!”

No dice, alas — they’re out today.

A chocolate-Twix shake sounds just a bit too decadent so chocolate-strawberry it is. And a mind-blowing one at that — just enough chocolate to taste but not so much that it overwhelms the strawberry. The few bits of fresh strawberry we find on our tongues are a pleasant surprise.

The boy was right — this is “soooo good.” As they wrap up, they offer sound advice on beach adventuring, too — ignore the signs, go past the barricade and at least get a glimpse of the tip of Fort Tilden beach, which is still closed following 2012′s Hurricane Sandy. “They don’t really check you,” one very seriously volunteers.

We watch as they take their last sips, toddle over to their bikes and slowly meander off into the afternoon. A perfect summer day indeed.

Breezy Dogs & Shakes, 168 State Road, Breezy Point, N.Y.; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Breezy-Dogs-and-Shakes/253892841379818

The Wharf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.): A View — With Food on the Side

Remember how I mentioned that people love to tell me where I must eat when I travel?

Well, The Wharf in New York‘s Rockaway Beach is certainly not one of those places.

Check it out, yes — I definitely heard that. With its outdoor dining deck with sweeping views of the water and Manhattan’s skyline in the distance, The Wharf’s vista for a sunset cocktail can’t be beat. But eat? We had read and heard enough about the food to know there were probably better restaurants in Rockaway Beach.

Even so, on a recent evening, as our cocktails on that famous deck were disappearing, the vaunted view was nudging us to stay.

How bad could the food truly be? We decided to find out …

Now, if you’re going to try The Wharf for dinner, I suggest getting there as early as you can from 6 p.m. on. As you inch closer to sunset, the place gets packed.

Nonetheless, we lucked out and snagged a table with a terrific view. (That’s Freedom Tower to the left in the distance and the Empire State Building to the right.)

The menu is a basic one, filled with fish, steaks, pastas, burgers and a host of sandwiches and salads. As tempting as some of it sounded, when you’ve been warned about the food, the less adventurous you get, the better it is, I find.

So we started safe, splitting an order of quintessential bar food: Mozzarella sticks.

These came hot, crispy and were perfectly pedestrian — nothing unusual, which was good.

The sun was really putting on a show for us now, so we decided to chance it with more food.

Fish and chips seemed basic enough — and it certainly was. The fries were fine and the fish — though a little thin and bland for my taste — came hot and crispy, which was all I had expected, really.

The “fish on a bun” sandwich, however, was a pleasant surprise — the fish was nicely fried, with a juicy flaky center, giving it no hint at all of having once been frozen.

Our meal worked out so nicely — and didn’t inflict us with any ailments overnight — that we decided to head back for brunch the next day. The view’s the thing at the beach after all — so, why not?

Weekend brunch turned out to be a lovely deal — for the price of the dish, you got coffee or tea, toast and either a Bloody Mary, Screwdriver or Mimosa. Not bad at all.

Especially since this perfectly decent platter of pancakes and sausages with fries only cost $8.95.

My massive pile of steak and eggs was a little pricier — $12.95 — but it was still a great price, all things considered.

Would we go back? Absolutely. (We did have two meals in a row there, after all.)

Next time, I might even get more adventurous and order a grilled cheese.

The Wharf, 416 Beach 116th Street, Belle Harbor, N.Y.; 718.474.8807; https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wharf-Bar-Grill/127787763929043