Wednesday, August 08, 2007

• Storming through NY

  It is currently my first week working at Xanga.  The good?  I've finished moving into my sweet ol' granny's condo, and have begun my assault on the restaurants surrounding the Xanga "complex".  The bad?  The 45 minute to 1.5 hour commute is a little rough.  Also, the random flooding of the NY subway system seems to have thrown my meeting schedule entirely out of whack.  (To be honest, I didn't know I was meeting until I got in this morning, so its not too bad)  ^_^
  
  Lunch Day 1) Pret - Gourmet sandwich shop
  The meal consisted of a fantastic brie, basil, and tomato layered on a fabulously crusty French baguette, and a beautiful looking yogurt desert.  The brie was creamy, and the basil was pungent enough to attract the attention of my coworkers as I walked past.  The yogurt, for all its rich creamy texture, and beautiful blue/purple berry enticement was, unfortunately sub par.  I'm generally a big fan of unsweetened yogurt, but the blueberry jelly was all tart, and no taste.  Additionally, the granola bar topping had lost all of its crunch, and had become a soft, texturally - lacking grain coating.  Not tasty.  2 Stars.
  
  Lunch Day 2) Ginger - Mid-scale Chinese Takeout
  Contrary to common belief, the true mark of a good Chinese restaurant is not simply a high concentration of Asian patrons.  Rather its a solid mix of Asian and non-Asian patrons, pouring out the door into the streets, that show off a restaurant's ability to appeal simultaneously to a broad range of palettes, reflecting both high quality, high value, and wide variety of gastronomical fare.  Ginger, the mid-sized Chinese place a couple blocks away is one such place.  The #9 "Shredded Pork with dried Tofu" which I ordered was very authentic, (though admittedly, it was more of a sliced and stir-fried pork than a shredded pork) with the subtle taste of Tofu-Gan (the aformentioned dried Tofu) pairing nicely with the fragrant celery and the stir-fried pork.  The cute little eggrolls that came on the side, as well as the simple salad were fairly tasty, and quite pretty, but they didn't really stand up to the robust flavor of the pork.  Still, quite an experience.  3 Stars.
  
  

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