Azn Dirty Dog

Konichiwa

A little tasting we did for a client that requested a specialty hot dog bar during the dance portion of the wedding.  We did a couple different variations for her but I chose this one to share in particular because.... well its the bomb!  Very simple recipe so check it out below, and yes she will be serving this to her guests!

URBN Market Azn Dog

1 Serving

Hebrew National Beef Frank 7"

Korean Radish 1each

Carrot 1 each

Sugar .5 Cup

Rice Wine Vinegar .5 Cup

Go Chu Jang Pepper Paste 1Tbs

Mayonnaise 1 Cup

Sesame Oil 1Tsp

Diced Spring Onion 1 Each

Salt TT

Black Pepper TT

Black and White Sesame Seeds 

Start by cutting the Korean Radish and Carrots into a thin spiral cut.  If you do not have a spiral cuter a grater will do just fine just dont use a fine grain because you want these to add texture to the dish.  Place these in a cup or container with a Tbs of salt and let sit for 20 minutes to pull out all a good amount of water.  Drain then soak with the sugar and rice wine vinegar for a quick pickle about 10 minutes.  

Now make the spicy mayonnaise.  The reason I use Go Chu Jang as opposed to sriracha is you get a roasted subtle heat.  So combine the Pepper Paste, Mayonnaise, and Vinegar and put into a squeeze bottle for better plating and application.  

Now cook your hot dog to your preference.  I like to start them in the microwave wrapped for about a minute just to bring the middle to temp then finish on a char grill because you cant beat the texture using a broiler.  You could always use a grill pan or a regular pan to crisp the outside.

I toast the inside of the bun so it can hold up to all the moisture of the fixings.  Assemble all ingredients a voila!  the Azn Dog.  Spice it up once a while!

You get everything from hot, cold, spicy, sweet, juicy, and crispy.  Whats not to love!  Enjoy

The Slut!

I feel so dirty!  I mean the place is called eggslut.....  I've finally had the chance to eat at this place after hearing about all the hype.  Without further a due here its the eggslut review!  And yes I ordered 2 items for myself and a burger after......

The Slut and Goucho Sandwich

Now by no means was this meal horrible but I will tend to sound a bit disappointed with the review. 

 In the front you have "the slut".  It is a beautifully soft sous vide egg,  the whites we perfectly cooked and the yolk runny the way I like it.  On the bottom there were hashbrowns but its really just mashed potatoes after being sous vide in the jar with the egg.  The grey salt was a nice touch and some chive gave it a good sweetness but this jar with an egg and potatoes and 3 crustinis is hardly worth 9 dollars.  The flavor was pretty good but now I will not crave "the slut" from here on out!

In the background is the Goucho sandwich.  Very good flavor and maybe a bit on the high side as far as price but I would possibly give this another shot.  First of all I am sucker for arugula and there was no shortage on this,  The wagyu tri tip was cut thinly enough so it wasnt tough at all but had a nice mouth feel and chew.  The chimichuri was legit one of my favorite sauces that give the sandwich a nice acidity and freshness from all that parsley.  I think the star on the sandwiches are the brioche buns,  Usually brioche can be super fatty from all that butter and tend to break apart when saturated with sauces but this one was firm enough to withstand the eating process but had a super soft interior.  Very well made sandwich and for 12 not so bad.  10 and I'd want to come here more often.

The Fairfax

Again great sandwich on some great brioche.  The eggs come perfectly soft scrambled and the carmelized onions give it a nice sweetness.  Mel got the sriracha mayo on the side and actually didn't even have regular mayo to substitute which is a bummer.  You have the product already you are telling me you mix everything and don't leave diners the option.  Anyway good but pricey breakfast sandwich.

I would say that at the end of the day I would only bring people here if it was their first time or wanted to show something different.  Grand Central Station as a whole was a great place to visit.  I really do hope more of these food districts pop up everyone and give smaller places a chance to showcase their food and diversify our choices.  Chains can get pretty boring sometimes.  Keep an eye out for URBN Market Food District coming 20??!

Toto Isawan sa San Diego

Mabuhay!

I've been on a Filipino food kick lately.  Those down home stewed dishes with tons of fat or grilled and fried innards on a stick street food is whats been catching my attention lately.  There has to be something said about cultures that take these undesirable cuts and scraps from these animals and making them taste good, well most of them anyway.  In the picture below is a smorgasbord of offering from Totos Isawan sa San Diego.  Ihaw I believe means grilled and Isaw means the innards of these animals,  I could be wrong but take the word of a coconut Filipino (Brown on the outside white on the inside) with a grain of salt.

Lets start with the chicken feet.  I love me some dim sum and the chicken feet stewed in the black bean and garlic is one of my favorites.  When I saw these for the first time I was scared they would be tough because they looked straight grilled.  But they were slow cooked or possibly braised before grilled and they were tender and tasted like heaven!  I ate most of the ones pictured above.

On the bottom right those are called puet ni manok or chicken butt.  Yes they are the buts of the chicken and you can see the little poop shoot on the ends but the meat around it... Delicious!  Doesent have the mineraly poo taste at all just some juicy grilled meat.

The red looking balls are called kwek kwek.  Not sure if that is translated into something but the smaller ones on the right are quails eggs that have been hard boiled then battered and fried into the balls.  Chelesterol Heaven!  I probably ate the equivalent of the cholesterol of a dozen eggs because I was popping these like nothing.  They did have the bigger regular chicken eggs pictured on the left but if your going to eat a battered fried egg you might as well go all out and do the quail egg.  SO GOOD.

Now the long white tube that is skewered on the stick next to the chicken butt is chicken intestine.  Now traditionally these intestines are not washed very well and this was what was the most terrifying part to me but when you get a good char on these they taste so good.  Reminiscent of a chewier chicken skin in texture but a much more complex flavor from the minerals that were in the well.... Poo.  Really good.

There were 2 types of the pig intestines, the large and the small.  I have to say the large was really not appetizing to me.  I even had it burnt to a crisp but lets just say I felt like I could taste everything the pigs ate.  Just a smell and flavor that really was so overpowering I couldnt enjoy the flavor.  The smaller intestine on the other hand had a very nice chew and only had a slight smell of the feces haha!  I actually really liked the small intestine very much so.

Not pictured here are the fish balls.  These I felt like my company who were all true Filipinos were really drawn to because it had a sense of nostalgia for them.  My friend Nicco said when he ate it it reminded him of being on the side of the street hungry after working all day.  Now Ive had fish balls prior to this and I don't really ever remember them being great but with most of the isawan here they came with a specific sauce that each flavor was supposed to be paired with.  The most common sauce I think is called sowsowan which I think also mean to dip.  This is usually a sweet, vinegary, garliky sauce which goes great with the super rich foods.  The fish balls however had a liver based sauce which was mineraly and sweet and really took the one note fish balls to another level.  

Another dish which I would say was my favorite that I had this night that is also not pictured is called Betamax.  Kind of sounds like the fish you buy at walmart that you put on your desk but these were actually coagulated blood cakes that are grilled.  These were so good because it was like an airy mineraly cake that had a meaty taste and texture.  They were pictured because I ate them all so fast.

All in all I had a great experience,  I always appreciate trying new things and just to see my heritage and others that actually came from there appreciate these things was really eye opening.  So I encourage everyone to try it or you could wait until I open my own ihaw ihaw spot in North County!