Peeping at Peep

Peep is a small, narrow Thai restaurant in SoHo. RRR, Marcello and I met up there on Friday night for a few drinks and some dinner.

We started our evening off with a few appetizers: crispy ginger calamari, grilled teriyaki duck and Emperor steamed dumplings.

The calamari was passable, however, the avocado, green onion and tomato dipping sauce with a nice bit of heat to it was truly the star of this app. I did find myself intrigued by the wine glass and lettuce presentation but maybe it was just the potent cocktails getting the best of me.

Marcello's duck was quite tasty with just the right amount of crispiness to the duck and a gooey sweetness to the teriyaki sauce.

The steamed dumplings with chicken and shrimp that I chose were pretty good but in a town full of dumplings; I've had better. Of course that didn't stop me from sopping up all the garlicky soy dipping sauce.

Marcello's main dish was the steamed striped bass and seafood noodle and RRR chose the garlic dish with beef. I found RRR's dish quite tasty and kept leaning over her to get a forkful of the tender spicy beef and used some of the sticky rice to sop up the sauce.

My main was the ginger-teriyaki glazed red snapper. The presentation was certainly interesting; basically the fish was hulled out and the fillets of snapper were placed on top. Despite a crunchy fish tail waving at me I found this dish quite enjoyable.

The sticky-sweet teriyaki sauce provided a nice balance to the fish and the crunchy bok choy was cooked just right. Peep seemed to skimp a bit on the mushrooms (I only found four small bits of mushroom) but the protein portions were so generous I decided to give them a pass.

Peep's claim to fame however, lies in the restrooms. The one-way mirrored bathrooms provided plenty of conversation material for our table and I'm sure many others.

Restroom curiousity might be what gets people to check out Peep but the loungey downtown vibe and unpretentious service would probably be what gets them to come back. Add decent food at gentle prices along with generous cocktails and you have a good starting point for an evening out on the town.

Mediterranean Shrimp Salad

Par for the course this time of year are lots of articles on easy quick no-fuss heat-free meals. Mark Bittman suggested 101 meal ideas in The Dining Sections of last week's New York Times and this month's issue of Real Simple magazine did a feature on some fast "heat-free" meals.

I decided to give Real Simple's Mediterranean Shrimp Salad recipe a trial run and bring it to work for lunch this week. The results were quite refreshing and light. A bit of a traditionalist in the kitchen, normally I wouldn't pair feta with shrimp but in this case it works; especially with the addition of lemon juice. The citrus balances the saltiness of the feta and adds some flavor to the shrimp which I cooked with a bit of crushed red pepper for a spicy kick.

The crispy green bell peppers add a crunchy contrast and the sliced olives really adds to the Mediterranean flair. Herby freshly chopped basil is the key to bringing the freshness of the dish together and one ingredient I make sure to use in everything I make whenever I have it on hand.

I added some radicchio to the dish and have eaten it both as a wrap as well as a simple salad. You certainly feel like you are doing something good for yourself when you have this healthy low-fat meal.

Thanks Real Simple!

Summer lovin'

Once summer arrives, I always seem to get the same cravings: tomatoes, corn on the cob and grilled steak. Unfortunately city living doesn't always afford the opportunity to grill and while I am certainly no exception to that rule, I manage to work around it with my trusty grill pan.

On Saturday, I splurged on some $4.50/lb heirloom tomatoes at the Union Square Greenmarket. There were some nice Jersey tomatoes at a more reasonable price but I was too exhausted to battle the Greenmarket crowd in order to comparison shop and instead chose the best looking stand closest to my destination.

I also settled on some bi-color corn on the cob since my favorite all white corn was nowhere to be found. Add some skirt steak from the supermarket, along with some basil and cucumbers from the Greenmarket and I was on my way to an amazing meal.

So before heading out to Yankee Stadium with Goldie on Sunday, I marinaded my skirt steak. Garlic, roughly chopped scallions, soy sauce, olive oil, salt, and pepper thrown into a handy Ziploc bag and the heavy lifting was done.

And while the water was boiling for my corn on the cob, I let the meat come to room temperature. During this time, I gently chopped up one of my expensive tomatoes, a cucumber, some basil; mixed with some kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, balsamic vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil and I had a simple, fresh and beautiful salad to go with my meal.

Now just a quick sear of skirt steak with some time for the meat to rest and my meal was complete.

The taste of summer just doesn't get any better than this!

A blow out and a pig out

Goldie treated me to a Yankee game today. It was a bit of a blow out (poor Devil Rays) but more importantly it was an opportunity to enjoy all the culinary delights that Yankee Stadium has to offer.

We began our afternoon with a bag of peanuts courtesy of an earlier trip that Goldie took to Gristede's. By the end of the first inning, I was more than ready to begin my afternoon of gluttony.

I chose chicken fingers and fries with a side of barbecue dipping sauce. The fingers was good with just enough grease to keep the bready coating onto the stringy chicken and not too much that I would be a slippery greasy mess. The fries were quite good; crispy with a nice coating of salt and some pepper perhaps? Goldie was able to grab a few before I inhaled the entire paper basket. Hey for $9.50 there had better not be any leftovers!

While I was merrily dipping away, Goldie was enjoying two Hebrew National hot dogs and by the fifth inning I got one for myself.

Pretty good for a ballpark dog with just enough snap on the outside and just juiciness on the inside. (now if I only had some kraut....)

The pièce de résistance was supposed to be the Carvel ice cream in a helmet cup during the seventh inning. We went with vanilla with rainbow sprinkles and I'm glad I took Goldie up on his offer to share one since by this point I was really making quite the pig of myself.

As a former Carvel employee (senior year of high school) I'm a pretty harsh critic when it comes to ice cream. The vanilla had a bit of a chemical aftertaste and was a bit of a letdown. I probably would have fared (slightly) better if I waited until after the subway ride home and hit up Mister Softee instead.

Don't feel too bad for me though, there are certainly worse ways to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon!

Black Pearl

After a glowing review in the New York Times' $25 and Under column; Goldie, Smunch and I decided to brave the crowds and give Hill Country a try. Touted as "one of the best barbecue places to open in New York City in a long time" we were curious to see if it lived up to the hype. We were not alone. Arriving at 7:45pm on a Thursday we were told that it would be at least an hour and fifteen minute wait and since we didn't want to wait quite that long and instead we went across the street to Black Pearl.

RRR and I have had lobster roll at Black Pearl a long time ago; when it was a window within Julep, an East Village dive bar. The owners must have had some success there and opened a true blue restaurant in Chelsea. Or at least I am pretty certain these guys are one and the same.

We were seated promptly which was surprising since I would have thought Black Pearl would see more impatient diners from Hill Country. We HAD to have the lobster roll so three orders with fries and a side of haricot verts for yours truly.

The restaurant space might have increased but the portions have certainly decreased. The roll was decent but not as buttery or toasted as I would have preferred. The lobster meat was sweet and with just enough mayo to coat the lobster without being overwhelming. But overall, the lobster was a bit (well) underwhelming.

The fries were thin and crispy with a nice crispy coating and just enough salt. And the string beans were decent with toasted pignolis added to the veggies to give it a bit more punch. Overall a 'decent' meal and I stress decent - passable, good fare but nothing outstanding.

Perhaps I am spoiled by my Cape Cod lobster roll?

Dessert fared much better than our main courses. We shared a raspberry and plum cobbler and a slice of key lime pie. The key lime was more of a tart than a slice of pie and was sweet with just the right amount of limey tartness. The raspberry plum cobbler was quite good with rich creamy vanilla ice cream, a generous amount of cake to absorb the oozy berry syrup. The plum added a nice sour balance to the sweetness of the raspberry.