About two weeks ago my husband and I decided that it was high time we tried Crif Dogs. They have a reputation for being some of the best hot dogs in NYC. Seeing that the dirty water hot dog seems to be an endangered species in this city, this would be a place definitely needing to be checked out to give proper homage to a food that was once an NYC staple. While you can be a purist and have your dog with just mustard or ketchup, Crif will present you with options you never knew you could have with a hot dog.
We decided to be unconventional and tried the Tsunami Dog and the Garden State Dog. The Tsunami is a bacon wrapped hot dog topped with chopped pineapple and green onions and teriyaki sauce. While the bacon, teriyaki sauce and pineapple work well together complimenting each other, the raw green onions can be a bit sharp and unsettling to take in. The Garden State Dog is also bacon wrapped but it is topped with chopped pepperoncini, mustard and american cheese. Both of these options were filling and tasty and have made us believers in the existence and survival of the hot dog in the concrete jungle. We will be back for more.
If you, like me are someone fortunate enough to have watched MTV when it was actually a good channel to watch, then you must have been lucky enough to have watched The State. One of the skits form that show that is most memorable to me is the Barry and Levon 240 dollars worth of pudding skit.
This was the only thought going through my mind when I saw the store front for Puddin' in New York's East Village. My husband and I decided that since Criff Dogs (fodder for my next post) was not open yet, we could very well reverse the order of our meals and indulge on dessert first.
I am in love with this place and the fact that if you decide to stay and eat your pudding there, the most wonderful smell of chocolate pudding being made from scratch is constantly wafting around. I opted for their Classic Pudding, which is chocolate pudding at the bottom, a middle layer of whipped cream and a top layer of butterscotch pudding. My daughter of course had the chocolate because she is a purist and who can blame her when it comes to pudding, especially from this place. My husband went with their Banana Cream Dream, which is layers of banana pudding, graham cracker crumbs, banana cake crumbs and whipped cream. It was a fantastic way to start lunch. Here are some images to help you with your visual interpretations of this place.
Classic Pudding
Banana Cream Dream
Chocolate Pudding with Sprinkles
I am definitely going back to this place, especially if I am feeling low because nothing can pick you up like a small batch of well made pudding. Oh and this will always make me laugh.
I finally took the time to go to this wonderful bastion of goodness. I have been wanting to check it out for a while. I figured that anyone who is good enough to earn the respect of the ever surly but sincere Anthony Bourdain deserves to be given recognition, and oh my is the recognition deserved. My daughter wanted dumplings (which we had later), but I tried to convince her (for my sake) that Baohaus was a much better choice.
This place definitely does not disappoint. I had the Chairman Bao and the Birdhaus Bao. Although I liked the Birdhaus Bao the Chairman Bao is so delicious, delectable, delicate and flavorful that I can sincerely declare I am addicted to it. I will probably have dreams about it tonight. I also have to mention how awesome the staff that was on duty when we went there was to us. They were so happy to see how much we enjoyed our food and even gave us a sample of their sweet Bao Fries with black sesame and pandan condensed milk glazes. I am in love with this place and will probably start having an indecent affair with it, sneaking away to it so I can have more of the love only the Chairman Bao can give. Here are some more pictures for your perusal.
The lovely BAOHAUS crew
The Chairman Bao - My new found guilty pleasure
My husband and daughter in a state of food induced bliss
