Best Thai food in NYC by far. You will love it!
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Haven’t been yet to Karl Ehmer’s in Hillsdale but heard about the stand outside the shop selling hot dogs and sausage. What did you get when you were there. Is it worth the trip from Westchester? I do plan on going to Montvale to the new Wegmans, so I don’t mind the drive as long as it is worth it.
Welcome ny! Dude - I’m with you on the street food, trucks & ethnic eats and the long stretches at supermarkets. Stick me in H-Mart and I can kill 2 hours at least!
Qeema is in our regular rotation - I made it last night, in fact. One of my favorite dishes, and so adaptable to whatever vegetables you have lying around. I love anything with methi leaves, so I’m always on the lookout for great new recipes that use them. I often sub methi for half of the spinach when making palak paneer - so delicious. I like spice, too, so I tend to gravitate to southern Indian recipes (and Maharashtrian food as well - spice and coconut, yes please!).
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I love it there. They aslo carry this Country Ukrainian/Russian dark bread that I LOVED growning up as a kid. If anyone remembers the butcher at Tice Farms. They carry many sausages, bolognas, liverwurst ( I Love). They carry many German/European products, too. Like Dusseldorf mustard, honeys, cookies. I love the holdays there since they carry fun candies/marzipan in all shapes/sizes for kids (and adults). They also have specialy meats. I love their vibe, too. Very neighborhood/family orientated. I haven’t been their since July,so now you got me thinking about visiting this week! Mind you the store is tiny. But for me it’s worth the trip. I can’t wait for the Wegmans to open up, too! It’s also on my list!
Thanks, good to know. BTW, I am not local to your area but in thw West Coast where there is also a significant Indian expat population. My Indian coworker attributes the difference primarily to inferior spices and difference produces. Spices that just don’t smell and taste the same as those in India, because of inferior stuff being exported and transportation time. And different taste of meat, and vegetables, etc.
Kashmiri chai- you referring to the kahwa?
Yonkers Miasarnia carries a dark and a black bread that I absolutely love! https://www.facebook.com/pg/yonkersmiasarnia/photos/?ref=page_internal
Is anyone interested in me posting my food/beverage history?
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Of course! having sampled some of your goods I can attest to the fact that you have learned, or should I say mastered, a thing or two over the years.
Yes, I think many are interested.
OK, way too long but here it is.
I was born in New York City, in Harlem, and grew up in Park Slope Brooklyn. My mother was from Wales and England, and grew up part time in London, and part time on their 400+ year old farm, a family of Welsh sheepherders and coalminers. She knew a bit about edible plants, and we would take long walks through Prospect Park foraging for berries and some medicinal plants. She had trained as a nurse in London and was taught some medical plant lore, to add to what her family passed down. My mother was a terrible cook. She didn’t like cooking and as she got older her cooking got worse. Up until I was nine years old we continued to live in Brooklyn and had great deli’s just around the corner and I could get something precooked once a week as a treat.
Then we moved to the 'burbs, Paterson NJ. We ended up eating a lot of meals for free at the cafeteria in the hospital where my father was the administrator, which was a half block away, as we also had a free house that came with the job. The cafeteria food was ok, and better than mom’s. My mother was such a bad cook that she couldn’t even cook spaghetti and sauce from a jar, without the pasta being rock hard in the middle, or so mushy it fell apart, and she always burned the sauce. She and my father grew up during WWII and food just wasn’t that important. It was just fuel. My father can eat literally anything, no matter how bad. I guess spending a year in a POW camp in Siberia and almost starving to death at age 19 will do that. He went into the camp healthy and muscular, 6’2”, 180 lbs. and came out weighing less than 90 lbs. So I was the only one who liked food in the house. My little sister was too young to care. I learned to cook starting with spaghetti and jar sauce. To reheat it I would bake it in the oven since this was before microwaves were in home use. (I was 12 when I saw my first microwave, in 1974, a huge machine in a hospital dining room next to food vending machines with cold meals in them. Sort of like a nasty version of the old, wonderful Automats.)
My father took some wine appreciation classes when he as at NYU and taught me what he was learning. He bought me my first tastevin when I was five, and I then tasted and later drank every wine my parents served, even when they ordered in restaurants. Most people don’t know that in many states, NY being one of them, it is legal for minors to drink if their parents serve them, including when out at restaurants. By the time I was in my mid-teens I had been studying and appreciating wine with my folks for around ten years.
We moved back to NY from NJ within a year, to the town of Eastchester in Westchester County. It was pretty great. Our neighbors were an elderly Italian couple, and the woman thought I was too skinny and kept stuffing me with amazing food. She also taught me to cook some Italian dishes. We had Irish and Jewish neighbors as well, and they all loved to feed me, and I watched them cook, asking questions.
We lived just a block away when a Japanese restaurant opened, in the location that is now the Pipers Kilt. It was called Tanaka of Kyoto, a teppanyaki (hibachi) restaurant. We ate there several times a month. This wasn’t like Edo’s or Benihana with a fancy knife show. Chef Tanaka was an actual highly trained chef from Japan, and the staff was his wife the server and busser, and his uncle the host and bartender. That’s it, no other staff, and no fancy knife show. The uncle had been a hotel bartender in NYC for decades and wore a tux every day. He was the epitome of the perfectionist Japanese Bartender. The place had either three or four teppanyaki tables and was very small. You know the size of the Pipers kilt, back then just one room, no bar. It only lasted a few years since no one understood Japanese food yet, it was the early to mid-70’s. I hung out in the kitchen a bunch of times, and was treated like family, learning a little Japanese, and about their customs and culture. I can still remember an onion soup they made. The soup cooked for two days. There were always two huge pots on the stove simmering. Several types of onions cooked in broth for several days, and then were strained out. Yellow onions, scallions, leeks, shallots, etc. Then plain onions were thin sliced and deep fried until deep brown and added to the broth. There was a bit of soy sauce, and a few herbs and spices, but it was a clear deep brown, and had an amazing depth of flavor. I have never had an onion soup as good to this day.
After a year or two we moved from Eastchester to North East Yonkers, near Tuckahoe and Bronxville. I started trying to cook any and everything to avoid my mother’s disasters. My uncle was the art director for Better Homes & Gardens magazines and books, and when I was 10-11 I called him up and asked him to send me some cookbooks. He sent me every single one they published, from beginners to fine dining, around 20-30. Starting when I was 12 I cooked 90% of my own food. I worked through all the cookbooks and by the time I was 13/14 I had taken over the family cooking.
In Jr high school I took home ed. and loved the cooking classes. I took some cooking classes for kids here and there, and did a lot of cooking, even doing the holiday dinners for all our friends, up to dinner for 20 on some Thanksgivings. By the time I was a junior in HS, 15/16 years old, I had a small private chef business catering and serving small dinner parties in Bronxville, Scarsdale, and Park Ave folks down in NYC. I sold that business when I graduated HS, but still kept a few families that I worked for 1-2 times a year right up until I was in my early 20’s.
Just an aside, but I still remember one dinner down in a Park Ave mansion in April '86, when I was 23, the last one I did, there were several famous people at this ten person dinner. One was Peter Ueberroth who directed the 1984 Summer Olympics; there was a senator, and some big money folks. As I served dinner everyone was talking about Libya and Muammar Gaddafi and what was the US going to do about him. The senator said that something was in the works, and then he hushed up and changed the subject. Several days later the US bombed Libya and Muammar Gaddafi’s home.
I was an entrepreneur as a youth, and had an ice cream truck for the summer after I graduated high school at 17. Then as soon as I turned 18 I worked in fine wine and spirits stores as a wine expert amd sales, Griffler’s in Bronxville (later became Wine Emporium), Zachy’s in Scarsdale, and then manager at a few places in Westchester until I was around 22. I really got into fine dining once I could afford it. When I couldn’t, I tried at home. I learned how to decipher restaurant dishes by taste and recreate them.
Then I ended up starting my own security business (personal and corporate) and while I worked long hours, I also had a huge disposable income. My fiance and I went out several times a week to great restaurants in NYC. This was during the 80’s restaurant boom and life was great.
I didn’t have much time for cooking because of work and for several years rarely cooked at all. Especially when I started college part time at nights when I was 25. I became a licensed EMT, worked with volunteer and paid ambulance corps, and started taking training and certification in all types of rescue and outdoor skills. High Angle Rope rescue, Wilderness rescue, rock and mountain climbing, rappelling, wilderness survival, etc. I also joined Army ROTC in college and one weekend we were doing field exercises and had to eat MRE’s. I couldn’t believe how bad they tasted. Then I went through basic training and while the food was tolerable, who cared. I was starving. Well a few months later I was in a bad martial arts accident and crushed six vertebrae in my neck and was paralyzed. I was lucky and after a few weeks I could feel and move, and was out if the hospital within a month. But my priorities changed from that experience. I wasn’t allowed to get my commission as an officer in the Army, and I decided to focus more on enjoying life, and less on money. I switched colleges and moved on campus full time, out at Stony Brook on Long Island’s North Shore. After the first semester of mandatory horrible campus food I started cooking again, and cooking and food became a big part of my life again. When I started college I had decided that I wasn’t going to drink booze, no nicotine, caffeine, sugar, etc. so I could focus on grades, and experiences. I had quit all other substances when I was 21, after becoming quite burnt out from too many chemicals.
Starting 1990, during college breaks I worked in the wilderness. I started working with the Outward Bound Wilderness schools, and got my Wilderness Guide License in variety of areas like mountain and rock climbing, boating of all types including flat water canoe expeditions and whitewater canoe/kayaking, camping and backpacking, etc. One of my hobbies was camp cooking and foraging for wild edible & medicinal plants and using them to make meals.
I ended up in Seattle, WA, and then rural Georgia for grad schools. Seattle really turned me on to Asian food, and artisanal products; breads, cheese, and quality produce. I lived in the University district and within three blocks of my apt. were restaurants of over 20 different cuisines, all with inexpensive lunch and dinner specials for students. I also worked in an award winning brewpub as bartender and asst. to the brewer. Georgia was even better in many ways. I was doing a double Masters in Outdoor Education, and Adventure Psychotherapy. I was working on weekends doing wilderness based teambuilding training for Outward Bound, Home Depot, Habitat for Humanity, etc. And a few nights a week I helped tend the fire and butterflied hogs at whole hog, open pit BBQ joint. My two roommates, both female, and I raised a lot of our own food. We lived right on the water on a cove off of a very large lake. We had a huge garden and grew almost all our own produce. We hunted, fished, gigged frogs at night, and set fish traps for catfish and snapping turtles. We traded catfish to the poultry farm down the road for chickens, eggs, and quail. I eventually started a small nano-brewery in a friends brick oven pizza restaurant. I was able to take several botany courses in grad school focusing on edible and medicinal plants, physiology and health, and fine tuning my white water and climbing skills, studying and working with the top outdoor professionals in the industry.
I spent the 90’s getting three undergrad, and four masters degrees (two disciplines of Psychology, Wilderness Education, and Business) and working part of the year in the wilderness, but eventually my joints started to wear down from all the heavy weight and work. The other part of the year I was a corporate trainer and consultant to Fortune 100 companies. Wilderness, lots of fun, lousy pay. Corporate work, lousy work, great pay, and I got an expense account for fine dining. I moved back to NY after living all over the country. I have worked in the wilderness in almost every state that has a national park of any size to it, and at conference centers in many as well. I’ve spent enough time in hotel rooms working in Los Vegas that if all the days were continuous, I would get residency. I’ve been to 47 of the 50 states. I’ve lived in almost every region of the country, and in nine states: New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, and Maine. Besides working in the outdoors, in education, and psychology, I bred reptiles and parrots, and am licensed to work with venomous reptiles and endangered species. In Florida I was one of those guys you see on tv who removes the venomous snakes from your house, and gators out of your pool. Well, in 2000 the economic bubble broke, corporations cut costs, and no more lucrative work. That Fall I switched over to working as a psychologist/counselor full time since I have two masters in the field, with a specialization in rescue worker trauma. A totally lousy job, I hated it.
So for fun I got involved with the local, regional, and national, competitive BBQ circuit. I worked with several NYC Metro based teams. Big Island, Robby Richter’s team with many regional, national, and international gold medals. Big Island and friends spawned many NYC BBQ restaurants. RUB, Hill Country, Wildwood, and the BBQ section of Zak Pelaccio’s empire with Fatty Cue, etc. Then spinning off to West Coast restaurants. I also worked with Adam Perry Lang, who won the Best in The World in BBQ. And helped him cook for huge BBQ events. I also helped start and worked with BBQNYC, the first BBQ related events in NYC, held on Randalls/Ward Island for a few years, then in Flushing Meadow Park its last year, serving thousands of New Yorkers the first real BBQ they ever had. Around the same time Danny Meyers Big Apple BBQ came into existence.
When 9/11 happened and I was hired to work for Project Liberty, the counseling side of the cleanup efforts. This was completely miserable. But BBQ weekends kept me going somewhat. So at night I trained at the French Culinary Institute in NYC. The day I finished at FCI I quit working as a counselor and got a job on a dairy farm (Bobolink) in Warwick Valley NY / Vernon NJ, as the assistant to the owner, making artisanal grass fed cheese and baking brick oven bread. I loved working and living out in the country again. Plus I was doing this cool bread and cheese thing, and working with livestock.
After a few months I got badly injured on the farm and went through seven months of surgery getting all my major joints rebuilt. As I recovered I worked a bit as a food and beverage business consultant, something I do to this day. But I got an offer to work on a cruise ship based university as mental health counselor, and also taught global cuisine and culture seminars. I lived aboard this brand new cruise ship in a luxury suite, and got paid to eat my way around the world. I took courses at culinary schools in several countries, and interned and observed in the kitchens of a dozen places worldwide. I had a ton of fantastic food adventures all over Asia and India, Africa, and South America. From fine dining at the world’s best restaurants, to street side hawkers stalls; even torch lit affairs in fine, white sand, dry riverbeds, with white tablecloths and sparkling crystal and china, while on safari in remote parts of Tanzania. It took me quite a while to adapt back to the US after that time spent abroad.
When I did finally adapt back to the US I started working full time as a food/beverage business consultant, mainly working at first with farms, helping them create value added products. Yoghurt, cheese, bread, preserves, syrups, dried fruit, candy, chocolates, dried and smoked products, etc. I worked with 47 farms between Maryland and Maine. I also worked for a while during this time as a NY Park Ranger with the Dept. of Environmental Conservation. A great mix because I lived in NY farm country and consulted, and worked as a ranger, three 13 hour days on, four days off. I also was offered jobs writing about food and beverages online, and for regional and national outlets. I have over 650 paid, published articles to my name, but don’t write that much anymore. I retired from work as a Park Ranger and moved to Mid-Coastal Maine, ocean front on Penobscot Bay in Owl’s Head, within walking distance of Rockland.
I worked with a lot of restaurants and food businesses consulting, and occasionally directly for them if they were shorthanded. I actually ended up there because first I was going to open a smoke house, then a wine bar/café, then was offered a job as chef, but turned all that down and kept writing and consulting. I ended up writing about wineries and distilleries, which lead to me helping to start the Maine Winery Guild, and being offered a partnership with a winery, and to open a brewery and distillery. I travelled all over Maine and became friends with a great many of the food business owners, wineries, distilleries, breweries, and other writers. During this time I started focusing on beverages, especially spirits and cocktails. I was also a VIP media for Tales of the Cocktail six years in a row. During this time I also was very involved with the early to mid-years of the craft distilling boom and worked as the media person for the unofficial trade organization at that time, as well as one of the administrators for the professional craft distillers online discussion forum, which I did for 6-7 years. I became a part of the US Bartenders Guild, first the Boston Chapter and later the NYC chapter, and became very involved when I eventually moved back to NY and served as the Education Director, and as Secretary. I found I was spending more and more time in NYC and had homes in both places, but moved from Maine back to NY.
Back in NY I started consulting to a few distillery start-ups, and was asked to partner with one as the head distiller, production director, etc. The etc. was way more than I planned on since I also became the sales staff, delivery staff, mixologist, brand ambassador, and more. I just wanted to create and make, and I put two award winning spirits on the market, and an award winning cocktail bitters as well. After a few years things were just too much. I had some major health issues, and took a step back and consulted full time again, partly with distilleries, but mostly with restaurants and cocktail bars, and a few food production startups. I’ve worked designing menus, both food and beverage, as chef and mixologist. I’ve worked with a handful of places in Westchester County, from Asian or Italian restaurants, to country clubs, etc. And with some fun, high end cocktail bars in NYC and also some of the best private member clubs. I’ve done some bartending/mixologist stuff to keep my hand in, and a lot of bar management or GM stuff to get programs up and running.
I have worked with several of the top cocktail laboratories in the world, both in NYC and London, including Drink Factory, using “modernist/molecular” mixology techniques to create unusual and interesting cocktail preparations like foams, gels, “caviar”, smoke, and using carbon dioxide for carbonation, nitrous oxide for speed infusion, and liquid nitrogen for frozen effects. I also have my own well equipped cocktail/beverage lab with centrifuge, vacuum chambers, multiple sous vide immersion circulators, filtering equipment, digital refractometers and pH testers, alcohol meters, and various lab tools, equipment, and substances such as hydrocolloids, acids, etc.; including over 250 various botanicals, all also in tincture form and over 30 single botanical distillates.
I am certified in Cornell University/Cider Institute of North America - Cider & Perry Production – Foundations & Science and Production, Society of Wine Educators Certified Specialist of Spirits, US Bartenders Guild Master Accredited Spirits Professional, Pernod Ricard BarSmarts Bartender Advanced Certified, and BarSmarts Pioneers of Mixology “Running a Successful Bar” Certified.
I’m constantly learning new things, getting certifications in spirits, wine, cocktails, and more. At this point I’m semi-retired. I’m currently looking for a farm, but having a tough time deciding whether I want to be in NY, Maine, or down south a bit. I’ve looked at dozens over the past few years, and when I find the right one I’ll set up the farm, growing vegetables and forest farming mushrooms, catering to grown to order for restaurants. Plus a commercial food production kitchen facility for making sauces and prepared foods, and a winery/distillery. I have all the equipment for a winery & distillery in storage, all ready to go.
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All I can say is WOW!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing that!!
Is that it?! (Just kidding, of course!) 
In my almost 39 years, I feel so unaccomplished and uncultured reading this! Thank you for for sharing - you’re a living, multi-faceted reference book of foodie knowledge!
Yes, Kahwa cannot be found in many places already made.
I used to live in Eastchester, NY in Westchester County, but moved to Ithaca a few years ago. I know live in that area. Ithaca has a ton of restaurants, but I see a lot of the same ole same ole on the menus. While the area tries to be hip(ster), it tends to be pretty blah. Red Sauce Italian places, bad pizza, expensive bagels and a lot of sub-par ethnic food. I hear the word authentic thrown around and to be honest, it makes me laugh when people who have never been to said countries, yell and scream about a cuisine’s authenticity. I’m also, fine with a restaurant catering to American palates. I recently had some great Ethiopian food and I’ve heard people argue about the authenticity. Bottom line? Delicious. I used to love to cook everything and anything, but went vegan a while back. I’m still learning, but never run out of new idea. Also, “ruining” a veggie isn’t as catastrophic as a piece of expensive meat or fish.
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@Jhopp217 Do you ever get to Binghamton? We have family there so we go up every so often. When I was in college there, Whole in the Wall was the go-to for vegetarians (and the actual hole in the wall Indian place downtown). Not sure how it is now!
I’ve driven through Binghamton, but never stayed or eaten there. I’ve driven by that place though. I know someone whose GF lives there. I’ll ask him and her the next time I see her.
