Pam Real Thai Food

When I was in Thailand this past summer, my tour guide, a jovial jokester named Art, brought us to the little home restaurant his mother owned and ran. The old woman spoke very little English, but she did manage to leave me with a bit of wisdom. She said, in heavy accent, "when you go back to America and you go to Thai restaurant, order the pork."
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon in Hells Kitchen NYC. My sister and I had just arrived and on the train in we had looked up "authentic Thai food". Our search had produced Pam Real Thai Food. A tiny corner of Siam stuck on W. 47th Street. After we finally found the small and somewhat dineresque looking place we were seated and handed the ten page menu, riddled with reviews from the likes of the New York Times, The Village Voice, and The Post. I greeted the young waiter with a "sawat di kah" and ordered a Thai iced tea. The taste immediately brought me back to the hot streets of Bangkok. I ordered the Crispy Pork with Basil and Sierra got a simple Pad Thai. Both dishes were amazing. The noodles were by far the best I have had in America. And my pork was just so delicious and double fried that I nearly ordered another. A great place and a great value. Go eat there.

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Meskerem Ethiopian Cuisine

Just north of Greenwich Village NYC, there lies a much smaller, and presumably much cleaner version of Addis Ababa. For all you non-geography bee winners like myself, that is the capital of Ethiopia, and also the home of some of my favorite African food. The staple of all Ethiopian food is a thin, moist, and porous bread like wrap made from tef, called Ingera. It is spread on the bottom of all the dishes and used to scoop all the food in leu of any utensils. It's tangy yet mild flavor is a great complement to all of the things on the table. Although slightly too spicy for my taste, everything we ordered was seasoned to perfection. If you are as adventurous as my sister and I, opt for one of their raw dishes. Worlds away from the likes of French steak tartare, or even Korean Yukhoe, this dish has all the cool texture but a flavor all it's own. This restaurant, while delicious tasting, and with great service, was sparsely decorated, but not in a way where I would have expected more. A must try.

Molly's Pub and Shebeen

3 RD AVENUE, NEW YORK - Floors covered in saw dust, this old world looking bar has just as much to offer the drunken Irishman as it has for the chow hound. My one complaint would be the amount of potatoes. On the potato skins, there was too much potato, in the French fries, there was too much potato. I know I was in an irish place and I'm sorry about that whole famine thing a while back, but I did not come to have a a whole sac shoved down my throat (pun intended). But all in all the burger was very good. Better than i expected actually. The bun was crisp yet moist and the meat tasted very quality, cooked expertly. Large in size and melt in your mouth. This burger holds a candle to - dare i say it - state road in MV (see best burger in the world). Although i must warn that service was spotty and although i liked the fact that the waitress looked like a portly celtic woman instead of a bitchy twenty something "actress", she was often no where to be found. There were a verity of menu options I will be sure to return to sample including fish and chips and chicken pot pie.