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A Fun Outing with Robyn’s Posse and the Pork Stupor Dinner

On Saturday, Robyn invited me and a bunch of her friends to her extremely belated birthday dinner (since her birthday was on late August). I honestly have to say, this was my highly anticipated event of the season. I mean, you’re hanging out with the coolest and funnest food bloggers and her friends, and eating a huge hunk of pork, which will be spoken about later. On another note why I am saying it’s a highly anticipated event it’s because it’s my first time eating at Momofuku Ssäm for dinner; I hang my head down in shame for being the smallest minority who is a New Yorker, foodie, and a food blogger. It’s an embarrassment.

Since I was free around 3 PM, I texted and called Robyn if she’s out in the city before the dinner, she called me and said yes, she’s already visiting one of her friends at work in SoHo. She’s planning to meet another friend, Alex (who happened to be a vegetarian) soon, at the Spring Street stop. As I hauled my butt downtown, there’s a huge confusion in the subways where the E train doesn’t take the normal route of going to Spring Street and the C train goes express, (which I took since the announcement from the conductor of the E train said so earlier) and ended up in the Canal Street stop, where it borderlines TriBeca and Chinatown. Ugh, Don’t I just love the subways systems here…

I called Robyn again for apologizing for taking so long and told her about the whole conundrum. At least Alex hasn’t shown up yet, so I’m not that late. Eventually I walked up to her area, we chatted, and she gave me the gift of macarons. They’re not Pierre Herme but she said that they’re better than Bouchon’s. I trust her palate wholeheartedly since she’s now considered a supertaster but beyond that, she’s the one who introduced me to the transcendent world of macarons. Oh, how I would love to go back to that teary-eyed feeling of bliss again… Anyways, she got these from work, which is Serious Eats, where they got a mail order from Mad Mac (just click here for an idea of what they look like in packaged form). I didn’t take any photos since it got crushed in my bag by the time I got home. So, I’ll spare you people from seeing squished, colorful confetti of macarons crumbs.


We eventually met a reader, Caroline, who stopped near us and went off excitedly about reading our blogs and she’s thrilled to meet us. We’re totally happy that she loves our blogs. I’m still not used to this celebrity thing, even though I’m almost a complete nobody in comparison to Robyn. Anyways, it’s really nice to meet her. So, Hi Caroline! :)

Alex eventually surprised Robyn (then me from her scream) when he took a photo of her when he arrived. Happy hugs exchanged between them and she also gave the gift of macarons to Alex. Instead of calling her “the girl who ate everything” probably I should call her “the chocolate and macaron fairy.” Since her past few trips to Europe she brought me either of those things…

Anyway, after greetings were exchanged, we’re all generally hungry due to the vast pork-centric dinner therefore tried not to eat that much, but Robyn wanted to feed Alex with some delicious bread from Grandaisy Bakery. We love bread…

We all bought a slice of pizza (not the usual slice you’re thinking of; we’re talking about Roman-style) and started to nosh away. Robyn had this ginormous slice of Bianca (incredibly for the low cost of $1), Alex tried out the zucchini and a cookie, and I had the Bianca con pecorino.

Robyn talking to Alex Robyn talking to Alex

Robyn's ginormous slice of Bianca Pizza Robyn’s slice

My Bianca con Pecorino Pizza My pizza

Bubbly texture of bread Bubbly texture

There’s something so darn tasty about Grandaisy’s (and Sullivan Street, which tastes the same but different owners for each) bread. It’s chewy, great flavor, and pretty darn inexpensive, especially for Robyn’s Bianca. It would’ve been more delicious if they were fresh out of the oven.

Eventually, I shared my caramel apple that I bought from Bouchon Bakery that morning since I ran out of coffee at home and I needed a cup before my classes. Anyways, Robyn and I were skeptical about cutting that apple in half with a plastic knife since we were assuming that the apple would be very crisp and the caramel coating is hard. However, it was pretty much the opposite. The caramel was chewy and the apple was semi-soft.

Caramel Apple, unwrapped
Caramel apple, unwrapped

I split the apple!
It’s in half

The apple had a heady floral scent besides smelling like an apple (which I’m guessing it’s a Gala?). The caramel was very buttery and the peanut coating was actually a bit soft. Not bad but a bit pricey for what I paid for this apple ($8.50).

To give you the idea that the caramel is gooey, look at the photo below.

Blooper shot of gooey caramel
Blooper shot

After we’re done eating, we walked around SoHo for the sake of killing time and waiting for another friend of Robyn’s, Charlie, coming down from New Haven, CT. As we walked out, we discussed about doing another round of “jumping photos” that Robyn’s doing a lot of lately, that’s if there were any open spaces to do so. I had a spark of hope since every time I look at her “jumping photos” it looks like a ton of fun. Anyhow, we walked down Spring Street and Alex noticed this store whose entrance is emblazoned with graffiti, which is named Kiosk. We went upstairs and by the time we were on the landing, it smelled like food and once we went in that tiny store (more like a room), and basically sell international toys or goods. On our way down the stairs, Robyn and I noticed this psychedelically decorated portion of the wall with the word, “SUCK” on it and took a photo.

Kiosk
Kiosk

Crazy...and SUCK
SUCK!

In time, we walked over to UNIQLO since Alex was kind of looking for a knee-length peacoat that he’s been wanting. So, we’re doing more window shopping and Robyn and I eventually became his “equipment holders” (he brought a camera and a small bag) as he tried on a few coats.

Alex rocking out the coat
He’s stylin’

Around five o’clock, Charlie called Robyn, telling her that he’s in SoHo! Since he’s not too familiar with the geography down here and I said out loud that there’s an Adidas store nearby where he’s located, she told Charlie to wait in front of that store and we’ll walk over to meet him.

The group...
The group

After greetings were exchanged and I introduced myself, Charlie gave Robyn her birthday present. She opened it later on and turned out to be a gift certificate to Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria. Awesome. She’ll be eating a couple of pizzerias out in Connecticut soon enough…

We walked into the Adidas store since Alex was looking for a particular red sneaker, so we all went in to casually search for it. The funniest thing that Charlie said as Alex heading toward the sneaker section, he said, “Go! Go look for your material wealth!” OMG. Funny. Ok, maybe not to you but if you were there you’ll be laughing out loud. Eventually Alex’s quest for his sneaker ended in defeat, we walked around SoHo to let time pass by even more.

When it’s about forty minutes until her reservation/dinner time, we all decided to go to our destination of the night, Momofuku Ssäm Bar. Since I was heeled boots, I was complaining that I don’t want to walk our way up since it’s quite a distance to go but Alex stated we should walk. Just to save my feet for the rest of the night, I changed to my sneakers before we continue our way uptown.

As we were around the Whole Foods on Houston, Charlie started to complain, “Who’s idea was it to walk?” But eventually we arrived to the temple of pork (Momofuku Ssäm) and meet Robyn’s brother, Hubert at the front. As the time closes toward 6, most of the party-goers have arrived, we all went in. Not surprisingly since it was a Saturday night, the place was packed…and really loud with the chatter of other diners and the music that was playing in the background. When we got seated we all (as in 7 of us at the moment) looked at the menu and start talking about the food. We also saw Chef David Chang working in the kitchen.

The menu
The menu

Chef David Chang at work... Chef David Chang

Eventually, everyone but Carol arrived before we made a final decision on what we’re ordering, which took another ten minutes since we don’t want to kill ourselves with so much food before the bo ssäm. So here goes the feast…

Santa Barbara Uni Santa Barbara Uni

We started off with the Santa Barabara uni with whipped tofu, tapioca, and scallions. It was really silky and fresh since it tasted like the briny ocean. The tapioca pearls added a chewy dimension and the scallions gave off a subtle onion-y nuance to the dish. The green flecks on top were dried, salty seaweed, which gave it some added flavor. Very delicious.

Bread and Butter Bread and Butter

Shortly afterwards, the large platter of Bread and Butter had arrived. We ordered this mainly for the sake of Alex’s vegetarianism since we know that he won’t be eating the pork butt or anything that is touched or laced with a flavor of an animal. The thin baguette was toasted and it’s served with sea salt butter from Vermont and St. Helen’s Farm goat’s butter, hailing back to England. I only tried the sea salt butter and it was quite good. But it’s strange that this plate cost $8. Probably we should have asked for more bread to justify the price tag a bit.

Satur Farms Fried Cauliflower Fried Cauliflower

While most of us were nibbling the bread, the arrival of two orders of Satur Farms Fried Cauliflower ($11 each) bestowed upon our table. This dish was flavored with mint, fish sauce, and chilies. After I took a bite of the cauliflower, I was blown away. The subtle flavor of mint, mingled with the salty fish sauce and chilies worked so well. I think there was some garlic, if my palate serves me well… Anyways, I thought to myself if there were any cauliflower-haters, this would totally make them a convert. Yet the argument would be that it’s fried, so it won’t count as a vegetable anymore but it’s some tasty junk food veggie.

Tello's Chawan Mushi Chawan Mushi

We shared the small order of Tello’s Chawan Mushi ($16). To tell you honestly, I never had this dish before but after this was explained by Robyn and Kathy after we ordered it earlier, I know what they’re talking about. This creamy egg custard tasted like bacon, probably due to the smoked trout roe that topped this dish. The touch of sweetness from the maple syrup was a nice offset to the salinity of the trout roe. It’s quite dainty for its price.

Next up was a plate of Grilled Sweetbreads served with a side of pickled roasted chilies and lime ($14).

Grilled Veal Sweetbreads The Plate of Grilled Veal Sweetbreads

Spicy Pickled Veggies Macro of pickled veggies

Grilled Veal Sweetbreads
Grilled Sweetbreads, close up

I never had sweetbreads grilled before, usually the preparation goes along the lines of having them pan-fried or seared. The char gave off a smoky flavor and the texture was creamy and soft on the inside. The lime was a necessity since it added another layer of flavor and acidity that changes the entire dish. If one ate it as is, the sweetbreads will taste a little bit boring.

The kitchen nearly forgotten to serve us our plate of Roasted Mushroom Salad ($16) and thankfully it appeared. Again, the portions was still on the small side but it’s still quite tasty. The mushrooms worked really well with the pistachio purée since both are generally earthy flavors. The radishes add a crunchy texture to the soft, chewy mushrooms and the crosnes look like insect larvae. I know the latter description isn’t appealing but I don’t think anyone could deny it but at least it doesn’t taste like one…not like I ever ate larvae nor do I want to eat one.

Roasted Mushroom Salad Mushroom Salad

Macro of Roasted Mushroom Salad Close up of mushroom salad

And finally, the pièce de résistance of the evening…the Bo Ssäm ($180)! What they actually do was set up the stage in preparation of the arrival of this magnificent slab of meat. They’ve brought out a large bowl of Bibb lettuce and four sauces (kochujang, scallion and ginger purée, kimchi purée, and regular kimchi) at both ends of the table, three small bowls of rice, and a dozen Glidden Point oysters to accompany the pork. On a side note, Carol finally made it to the party!

Bibb lettuce and condiments Bibb lettuce and condiments

Bowl o' rice Bowl o’ rice

Dozen of Oysters A dozen oysters

To let you know what is bo ssäm is, it is basically the whole pork butt (which is pork shoulder), all five pounds of roasted meaty, fatty glory. And it finally graced our table…

The BO SSAM! BO SSAM!!

Since its presence cannot be denied, most of our table whipped out our cameras and start snapping photos of this legendary, beautiful, roasted meat. Amy was the first to have the guts to grab the tongs and start the pulling off the meat. Oh it was wonderful to see how the meat lifts off with such ease.

Amy tearin' up the meaat...
The carnage of meeaatt…

Then everyone else (but Alex, unfortunately) started to join in and start participating in the porcine feast. Now, to complete the whole idea of what one is supposed or can do with the condiments mentioned earlier, you grab a lettuce leaf, put in some pulled pork meat onto the leaf, pile on some rice, plop on an oyster and a condiment of choice, roll up and eat. For me, I didn’t eat the oyster (because I’m allergic) and I didn’t try the kochujang sauce (because I forgot and it’s far away from me). My favorite sauce of the four was the ginger and scallion purée. It’s something about the onion flavor and the gentle spiciness of the ginger that made my palate happy with the rich pork. Rice was a necessity for the pork to subdue the strong, in-your-face pork flavor.

When we were about a pound away from finishing the entire shoulder, people are slowing their eating speed a couple of notches, Robyn said, “We can finish this. There isn’t much left.” We agreed and a few of us kept going until we have about half, Robyn was playing around with that piece and I said, “Eat it.” She replied to me, “That’s a lot of pork!” But then a few of us started to chant to Robyn, “Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” But she ended up taking a little more than half of that piece. The remainders went to everyone else in the table. But…we actually finish it (sans a large blob of fat that we don’t want to ingest).

The remnants...or lack of. The remains…or lack of

Mentally I thought to myself, “Good job everyone!” After we’re done with the pork, we started to talk about dessert and that was gelato. Yes, our love with creamy, frozen desserts are held near and dear to us. Since there aren’t that many gelato places in the city that are great as what Robyn has eaten in her adventures in Paris and Italy, we thought about going to either Grom or L’Arte del Gelato. The latter prevailed since it’s generally closer to the restaurant.

After we paid the check (and it went a bit crazy and strenuous with calculations probably due to the onset of pork stupor), we walked out of the restaurant and wanted to have a group photo. Fortunately, no one is excluded since there was a woman who stopped near our group and volunteered to take a photo of us with Robyn’s camera. So here what we looked like post-dinner…(Just click on the photo for the names of everyone. It’s borrowed from Robyn’s Flickr photostream.)

Group Photo! Group Photo!

We all then moved as a group and trekked our way to 7th Avenue to L’Arte del Gelato. We bid Amy farewell on the way since she told Robyn that she had Pinkberry’s fro-yo earlier, so she already fulfilled her frozen dessert quota for the day. Anyway, we eventually made it and it’s quite busy for a slightly chilly night but hey, it’s Saturday and people want to go out and eat and mingle.

Gelato Gelato!

After thinking for a while what flavors I want to try, I eventually got meself a small cup with pistachio and Nutella. The pistachio is creamy, nutty, and it doesn’t look or taste artificial. The Nutella was just fine: hazelnut with about a 50%-ish cacao content, and not too sweet.

My cup of pistachio and Nutella
My cup

We started to eat inside the shop, until it got a bit too crowded with the incoming of people and the rest of our group got their sweets so we went outside.

Kathy & Robyn eating their gelato inside the shop K and Robyn eating indoors

Patricia, Kathy, and Alex...eating We migrated…

Hubert and Robyn Robyn and her bro

I found out soon enough was that Alex didn’t really eat much from Momofuku. He only ate the bread and butter, nothing else besides that besides a glass of wine. It turned out he didn’t eat the fried cauliflower due to the fish sauce. We tried to persuade him earlier that fish sauce doesn’t exactly taste like fish but I guess it didn’t work. I guess the gelato made up the lack of food for his evening. He’s one heck of a friend to actually put up with a mostly non-vegetarian dinner. That’s a lot of love and loyalty. Props to you, Alex.

Eventually, I bid farewell to Robyn and her posse since I had to get home. Oh fun times…I just wish I could linger longer with them.

Addresses:
Grandaisy Bakery

73 Sullivan Street
New York, NY 10012

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003

L’Arte del Gelato
75 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10011

Tina

I shoot, eat, and drink. My full time job is a hospital administrator. Moonlighting as a freelance photographer and food and travel writer.

  1. We didn’t linger long after you left. YOU MISSED NOTHING!

    Oh wait, I took a jumping photo..or did you see that? I’m waiting for Alex to upload his photos. Rawr.

    Thanks for writing your blog post so QUICKLY! At the rate I’m going, I’ll write about it sometime next month. Maybe. Eek.

    Everything at Momofuku is dainty for the price. :[ But it’s so good. I can see why people go there so much…if they’re rolling in the monies. I could’ve gone to a really upscale restaurant for the same money, but Momofuku is…a comfortable place to eat. Feels more fun.

    OH BUT WE SHOULD GO DESSERTING AT wd-50 YES.

    Man that pork was so good. Why is it so good? So gooooood? I can still taste it.

    I didn’t realize how little Alex ate until after dinner, I think. -__- You’re right, he needs major props. I might have to bake him a batch of cookies or something to make up for the caloric loss. But he’ll probably only eat one cookie and then be full.

  2. kathryn says:

    Oh no, poor Alex! He probably could have eaten the pickle plate by himself, or the apple salad (without the bacon), or the apple kimchi (without the jowl), or more of the mushroom salad.

  3. Robyn says:

    ALEX REFUSED THE PICKLE.

    .__.

    What Alex enjoys: bread and macarons. And pizza.

    I don’t think he’ll eat things that touch bacon. He’ll only relieve himself of his vegetarianismmm if he gets to eat at El Bulli.

  4. kathryn says:

    Yeah but for the apple kimchi and apple salad, you can probably ask that they make it without the bacon. Did you guys talk to any of the servers about vegetarian options?

  5. thewanderingeater says:

    Jeebus, this is becoming a discussion forum between us three. Anyways….

    Robyn: YES! I LOVE THE PORK BUTT! I’m still dreaming of it…*sighs* But at least I knew I didn’t gain weight from that night. Phew.

    You did a jumping photo?! What?! Now, I’m deprived of fun. :(

    We should definitely do desserting at wd-50! But not this month since I have midterms. (NOO…!)

    Kathryn: Yes, we all feel bad for Alex. :(
    Why can’t he give up a night of vegetarianism for awesome pork?! Eh, we can’t force him so…

    No, we didn’t talk about vegetarian options since well, it’s a tad overlooked. Ok, we (I should say, “I,” since I don’t know if Robyn’s thinking what I’m thinking) totally forgotten to ask since I’m assuming a bit too much from the kitchen and kinda hoping Alex would consume the fried cauliflower.

    If you’re reading this Alex, I’M SORRY!! It’s not totally my fault! I think…?

  6. I kind of assumed they wouldn’t do veg since the menu says…

    “- no substitutions or special requests”
    “- we do not serve vegetarian friendly items”

    But then it says “please let us know if you have any food allergies.” “YES I AM ALLERGIC TO PORK!” Okay, that probably wouldn’t work.

    I guess this will be a less for the future: they will make things sans pork?!

  7. Caroline says:

    it was so awesome bumping into you and robyn, i still can’t get over that i recognized you two and that you were together! you guys seriously have the best blogs – I read them when i have down time at work and they make me want to play hooky and go eat. thanks for the shout out! :) and tina – no worries. i too am embarrassed to say that i still haven’t been to momofuku ssam – it’s def on my “next” list.

  8. thewanderingeater says:

    Robyn: I see a bleak future for vegetarians eating at Momofuku…

    So sad for Alex’s case…so sad. :(

    In regards to your first comment, you’re welcome on blogging so quickly. :) I just can’t help it. How can I shut up and not write about something so tasty?

    Caroline: No problem on the shout out. It’s just appropriate to actually say “hi” whenever I meet a reader who has the guts to meet someone like me…who sometimes (I think) give off a “don’t bother me” vibe.

    Yay! I’m a distraction from work…oh wait, that’s not a good thing. hehe….oh. Just whenever you have a day off, just try one of the myriad of places we both tried. There’s so much to choose!

  9. Kathy says:

    ohmygoooshness!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOO delicious, that dinner!!! :) I think my favorite part of the meal were the SWEETBREADS. Holey moley, we totally have to take Robyn sweetbread-ing one of these day, can’t believe it was her first time! :)

    I agree with you on the bread and butter part – the $8 price tag was really uncessary (even though the butter was ridiculously delish! :)

    *Thanks for putting up the post so quickly!! It brought back fond memories even before they’ve had a chance to fade, lol. And oh man, the cauliflower!!! I can smell it NOW! :)

  10. Charlie says:

    OMG I want to come sweetbreading! They are so tasty. I saw in the interwebs a place to get sweetbread tacos in midtown! Sounds pretty delicious.

    Robyn, Alex also eats peanut butter and pizzookies!

  11. thewanderingeater says:

    Kathy: Oooh! Brilliant idea to go sweetbreading. Not exactly healthy but whatevs. The best version I’ve ever tried so far was from Jean Georges. Ugh…I want to eat there again.

    Charlie: Wuzzup, man! Anyways, I never heard of sweetbread tacos before. Ok, I have but I’m skeptical of eating one.

    PB & pizzookies?! Sounds good to me.

  12. thewanderingeater says:

    Dana: Yup, the bo ssam is $180. It’s worth every dollar you pay for it. It’s sooo delicious, especially the skin. Uuughhh…I still dream of it.

    Thanks! :)

  13. kathryn says:

    I don’t think they’ll make things without pork but there are things where the pork can be easily picked off.

    What are you doing taking a vegetarian there anyway!?

    I thought the Bo Ssam was more like 10 lbs. of meat. Mmmm, meat.

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