NY Family Vacation

Family Vacation

These are various pictures from family visitors in October.

Takara

Pan Seared Tuna

Location: 150-11 14th Avenue, Whitestone, NY 11357
Cuisine: Asian Fusion, Japanese, Sushi
Phone: (718) 747-1368, (718) 747-1465
Prices: $17/person (dinner)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 10
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

This is my new favorite restaurant. It was recommended to my parents by Auntie Remy, who is a regular there. One night, my parents went out with her and brought me left overs... a portion of the pan seared tuna, which is now my favorite dish. Since then, we've gone there for several family occasions.

Their specialty is sushi and Japanese food, but the owner has experimented with and expanded the selection to Asian Fusion. For their entrees, the seafood is the best I've ever had and I haven't even tried all of their dishes yet. The pan seared tuna is the most original dish I've seen. The edges of the tuna are seared and the middle left rare. The pieces are setup in a mountain shape around a clump of sesame soba noodles. It's then topped with seaweed and caviar. Spicy mayo forms a moat around the mountain.

The owner is also a chef and concept developer. He seems to have a personal relationship with his guests. He has hung out with us as well as every other table, making everyone feel at home. The restaurant is family run, so the staff is just as friendly as the owner.

While some dishes are mid-range to pricey, you do get your money's worth with portion size.

Charlotte & Jeff

Chinese New Year 4712

I found the slideshow embed option finally. Ever since they moved to Google Photos, I've been unable to post the Flash slideshow, but it's possible to pull up the old Picasa page and grab it from there.

Christmas 2013

Click here for photos

Bounce Castle

Wesley's Birthday

Click here for more photos

Cranky's Cafe

Location: 48-19 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City
Cuisine: Cajun
Phone: (347) 738-4921
Hours: SUN (9am-10pm); MON-FRI(8am-10pm); SAT (9am-10pm)
Website: www.crankyscafe.com
Prices: ~$20/person (dinner)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

Click here for the Picasa album 

Fish Deboning

This is the deboning of the fish @ Tung Yi Fung. The goal is to filet the fish without flipping it over. This was an OK job as he pushed the veggies off the plate (saved by Uncle Charlie)... and the segment close to the head broke.

Tung Yi Fung

Location: 135-29 37th Ave., Flushing, NY, 11354
Cuisine: Chinese, seafood
Phone: (718) 886-8233
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: All the Time

There's nothing new here. All stats are the same as before. I just wanted to bump this restaurant up with Auntie Remy & Uncle Charlie's visit.

Click here for recent photos

Shogun Palace

Location: 34-20 Linden Place, Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Asian, Buffet
Phone: (718) 888-1133
Website: www.shogun-palace.com
Prices: $11/person (lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 10
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

I'm not a fan of buffets, but I'd have to say that this is one of the better ones. The location probably doesn't help the business much, but it's a nice find if you know about it. With a lunch price of $11, you'd think they would hold back on the good food, but there's actually a full variety of choices. There are no cheap variants of dishes. The soup station is even open for service. Trays at the counter were replaced quickly when they ran out. The environment was actually pretty nice... better than many banquet halls in Flushing.

Click here for the Picasa album

Unidentified Flying Chickens (UFC)

Location: 71-22 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, NY
Cuisine: Korean
Phone: (718) 205-6662
Website: http://ufchicken.com/
Prices: $10/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 9
Environment: 7

Frequency: All the Time

I actually don't think I ever reviewed this one because I've always taken out from there. This was the first time I ate in. I think UFC shares the title of Best Korean Fried Chicken along with Mad for Chicken. The two are very similar, but I'd say UFC holds the edge in the secret sauce while Mad has the better organic meat. Service is excellent as the store owner is always available and hospitable to his customers. Prices may seem high, but you get a lot when you stop and think about it. The quality of the ingredients is also top notch.

Click here to visit the Picasa album

Broadway Chinese Cuisine

Location: 83-17 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 5
Service: 9
Value: 6
Environment: 7

Frequency: Uncommon

This is supposedly one of the best Chinese restaurants in Elmhurst, but I wasn't impressed by the food. It was OK, but maybe it's just because I eat in Flushing's Chinatown all the time. I guess it could be the choice of dishes as well. For more details, check out the comments on each image. On the plus side, the service was great and the place was clean.

Click here to visit the Picasa album

Auntie Remy & Uncle Charlie's Vacation

Auntie Remy and Uncle Charlie came over from the Philippines to visit for a few weeks this Spring. They were actually here over a week ago, but went with my parents and some friends on a group vacation to Cancun. I took this week off to spend time with them while they're in NY.

The following album covers a home dinner and another one in Elmhurst the next day. Click here to see photos.

Photos from Yesterday

I haven't been on Picasa for a long time and they've since redesigned it. It doesn't look like they have a slideshow embed anymore, so here's the link to the album...

https://plus.google.com/photos/112810729141147132176/albums/5869450032207797697?authkey=CL2A6PP8-dfQDg

Jeff's Question / Charlotte's Answer

Now that it's over, it's safe to post about this. Jeff had a whole bunch of us create stop motion animations or videos. Each clip was a letter spelling out, "Charlotte Li Chua, will you marry me." This was played at a family gathering under the disguise of a multi-month birthday party. I shot facing the audience so I could get the reaction. I'll post the message video when Jeff uploads it.

Congratulations to Jeff and Charlotte!

Photos coming soon...

Holiday Food Fest

I had the whole week off and wasn't traveling. Since Wiley has combo vacation/sick/personal days, the tendency is to have a lot of days at the end of the year because of overpreparedness for being sick. Naturally, I spent the week meeting up with friends over meals.

This album consists of:

1) Oceanic Seafood Restaurant: This was a Friday lunch with my parents, Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim at a new buffet restaurant that took over the former Gala Manor. Full review in the future.

2) Pre-New Year's Dinner @ the Yeo's: This was a home-cooked meal by Auntie Kim.

3) New Year's Dinner: 2 rounds of Korean BBQ at my parents'.

Christmas 2012

Happy Holidays 2012

Gotham City Holiday Decorations

Shadowdragon

Alyssa Goldenblade

Shaolin Longfist

Kryo Jennyx