What’s For Dinner #87 - the Holiday Menu Planning Edition - November 2022

[THECHARLES (Charles Yu)]

New Choice Restaurant, Hwy#7, Richmond Hill - Feeling perplexed as to why this fine hole-in-the-wall, wok-hay specialist had been totally forgotten and ignored by me for so long?!

Arriving at our originally preferred dining destination - “ Chi-Star “ at 5.30 pm, we were stunned by the line that formed outside the packed restaurant!! Making an immediate, 6th generation jet fighter like, 180 degree turn, we headed down the ‘ Hwy #7 stretch ‘ in search of another acceptable alternative. Driving past ‘ New Choice ’, we unanimously agree to give this decades long, iconic Richmond Hill Cantonese wok-hay specialist a long overdue re-visit.

Settling down in a less than half empty restaurant, after the ‘ Chi-Star experience ‘ just a few minutes back, it was only natural that we all felt a bit of apprehension pertaining to this rather unusual and tranquil scenario! Still, we decided to stay and give the place a try. After all, they did manage to survive through Covid!!

The menu was extremely huge and diverse, featuring a large number of authentic, traditional Cantonese, home-style specialities. The dishes, our party of four selected, ( including a few to test out the kitchen’s wok-hay skill ) included the following:

• Fried Pork Chop with Thousand Island glaze ( Sweet, tangy and lip-smacking good )

• Stirred fry Gai-Lan ( Chinese Kale ) with sliced beef ( Gorgeous wok-hay! The beef was nicely seasoned, well seared and caramelized! An extremely well-done dish! )

• Sauteed BC Clams with a sweet, sour and spicy Thai sauce ( An exotic tasting and different preparation methods. Another praise worthy lip-smacking dish! )

• Stir- fry Lotus Root and house-cured salted pork with fermented brown bean curd! ( An exotic tasting dish with a vivid flavour profile. An acquired taste that can grow on you ).

• Stirred fry Squid with preserved Chinese Mustard Green in Black Bean Sauce. ( Yet another nicely prepared dish loaded with wok-hay aroma. Squid was tender and perfectly cooked. Wonderful sauce. )

• Complimentary Soup-of-the-day ( Pork bone, chicken feet and sun dried vegetables )

All in all, a most enjoyable and well executed meal at an amazing price-point!..IMO, one of Richmond Hill’s best value-for-money, casual, Cantonese Wok-Hay eatery, offering delicious food!

Bravo for still going strong after all these years!!

BTW, the restaurant started to fill up after we handed in our order. It was totally packed by the time we left at around 7.00 pm!

[Phoenikia]

I just ordered this new Romanian cookbook, Tava, focused on baking. One for me, and one to give at Xmas. https://irinageorgescu.com/new-tava-baking-book/ ( I ordered it through Indigo.ca , since I don’t do Amazon, but if others do Amazon, use the HungryOnion link to Amazon )

[ipsedixit]

No, these are not banchan.

[MunchkinRedux]

Cinnamon-and-cumin-spiced lamb meatballs with zucchini filler. Greek salad. Some storebought pita (with which I’m not impressed). Yogurt with garlic and dill.

Made plenty of extra meatballs for some avgolemono in our future.

Toms, shallots, and zuccs (from frozen) from the garden.

[Lambchop (DeMarko)]

It looks delicious! The pita, which you don’t like, looks almost like pilot bread to me, or kind of a pilot/saltine cross. Do you buy your lamb from the grocery store, or perhaps have connections for local?

[THECHARLES (Charles Yu)]

Recently, I had this ’ pretty huge ’ bone marrow, topped with Escargots in a red wine reduction at ’ Monarque, Montreal '!

[emglow101]

Great northern bean soup . I’m making it again. Adding chard . Also Ditalini pasta.
Cheers.

[small_h]

A beautiful day for Greenmarket shopping in Manhattan, so I had to fight my way through the crowds. Luckily, I scored some good stuff! Mussels, with saffron, tomato and parsley.

Spaghetti squash, with feta and sage.

Oysters, with cocktail sauce.

[BeefeaterRocks]

Sticky bourbon chicken thigh with basmati rice and green onion. Snap peas, from the garden, radish and shallot salad, ranch dressing. There was a Bombay rocks and lots of wine.

[paryzer (Eli Paryzer)]

We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter in Newton, NJ including roasted delicata squash with medjool dates, brussel sprouts, quinoa, breadcrumbs, apples, and pecans; excellent crab cake and sweet potato fritter; grouper; short ribs; It all went great with an excellent Italian Primitivo and a red blend.

[Rasam]

@GretchenS

Turkish-style braised romano beans from the freezer with cobanero chili and lemon juice.

Those Turkish style beans look and sound amazing! Do you have a recipe you used? These might be popular here.

[MunchkinRedux]

Typically I’d make our pita, but I was being lazy here and hoping for a reasonable short cut. Lesson learned. I’ve added a pita-baking session to my schedule next week.

I do not have a direct source for lamb, but buy it at the grocery.

[GretchenS]

I use an old Epicurious recipe but the link seems to be broken. Turkish-Style Braised Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye)

Paraphrasing: sauté a minced onion (or 2 or use a leek or 2) in a lot of olive oil in a Dutch oven, add 2 minced cloves of garlic, add small can diced tomatoes with juice (or part of a box of Pomi), add 2 lbs fresh or frozen Romano (or green) beans, maras or aleppo pepper, a bit of salt, a bit of water, bring to simmer and cook covered in 300 oven for a couple of hours, stirring every 30 minutes and adding a bit more water if needed. Serve at room temp with big squeeze of lemon. A dollop of yogurt is also nice. Even better the next day brought up to room temp. Makes 6 servings.

A long time ago, way back on Chowhound, several posters mentioned adding potatoes but I never have, partly because I always freeze several portions and I don’t find that potatoes freeze well.

[chiel]

Still in the city after Dia cause of a hurricane which we figured would be better to ride out here. Went to the night food stalls at the plaza. Red pozole (which my gf added a ridiculous amount of chiles to…) and a huitlacoche memela (which she folds ) with salsa macha and a green salsa and crema. Both were really good.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Nice! It wasn’t so much the size of the bone (“that’s what.” - she), but the amount of marrow. Enough for 4 tipsy/hungry adults to share

[ottawaoperadiva]

@GretchenS Thanks for sharing the recipe. One of the cheese stores I frequent is owned by a Lebanese man. In addition to having a wide assortment of cheeses he has an assortment of Lebanese dishes made in-house. He has hummus, baba ghanouj, tzatziki and fasoulia. I have always wanted to try making it at home so I hope to give it a try following your recipe.

[Amandarama (Amanda)]

That looks delicious!

[ottawaoperadiva]

Last night’s dinner was a cauliflower curry and corn on the cob.

[mariacarmen (maria ascarrunz)]

that all looks amazing… buen provecho!

[Lectroid]

@Desert-Dan

After eating my own pasta, neither my girlfriend nor I want to go back to commercial pasta.

Fresh pasta is, indeed, fun and rewarding, and for many applications, is wonderful.

But do not casually abandon dried pasta, which is preferable in many applications, esp dishes like caccio e pepe or carbonara variations. Good bronze die cut pasta treated right and finished in the sauce is a thing of beauty.