Flushing Mall Sizzling Plates

Flushing Mall Food Court Area: Ay Chung

Dishes: Pork Chop, Sizzling Beef (pic)

The best pork chop places I have had in a while. the beef is quite good too, and not overdone (wow). Short walk from the subway station on Main St.

The way lines work is this:

1. pay cashier (separate person than food court person)

2. wait for your order

3. if you want a drink, also pay cashier and show receipt to the drinks station (different stall)

4. wait some more (yes, it's worth it)

5. your number is called, and you are presented with a wooden plate with a sizzling plate.

6. Eat the egg before it cooks too much!

7. Dig in to the meat

8. The soups and noodle side dishes are ok, but meat is the main attraction!

9. I still don't get the potato salad thing...it's just too mashed. and weird.

Note: It's definitely better to eat above dishes for dinner. Unless you're really hungry during lunch and want to deal with the mad crowd.

Cola Ribs

Craving something sweet and meaty? Have some cola sitting around the house? Try this recipe.

Watch the instructional video here (note, it's in Chinese, but you can take a look to see what the different steps should look like)

Ingredients

-short ribs (I used about a pound, which was about 5-6 ribs)

-1~1.5 cups of cola (enough to cover the ribs when you cook them)

-cooking oil (about half inch deep)

-sliced ginger

-pinch of salt

-1 tbsp sugar (optional)

-1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, or other cooking wine (I used Chinese vinegar, you can probably use a bit of whatever is in the house)

-2 tbsp cooking wine

-scallion (optional)

-minced or sliced garlic

-chicken stock/flavoring (optional)

Directions

1. First cut the ribs into halves, if this is difficult you can skip the step.

2. Wash ribs and then put them in a pot of water on high heat.

3. When water boils, take pot off of the stove, wash ribs clean in another bowl of cold water.

4. Heat oil in pan/wok, put one star anise (if you have it) in the oil. I didn't have star anise so I just put some Chinese spice mix (5 spice, I think star anise is included). Also add ginger slices.

5. Once you get the spices and oil going, add the ribs (drain them carefully and dab with paper towel before you add them to hot oil!). Add rice wine and some salt. Stir often, for around 5 minutes, until ribs start to brown. Be careful and don't burn them.

6. After ribs start to brown, pour out excess oil from pan, leaving just a bit to keep the pan oiled.

7. Add cola to pan, sugar (if you have a sweet tooth), vinegar, and a bit of chicken stock/flavoring

8. After cola stock boils, cover the pan for another 5 minutes (or longer if you want thicker sauce).

9. Add scallion and garlic, stir around a bit more, and turn off the heat.

Notes:

I have seen many cola rib recipes that take too long (baking, grilling, etc) but this one seems to do the trick nicely. I love how sweet and juicy the meat is. Fairly simple to do too.

Here are the other reipes if you're curious.

Baking: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Cook-Short-Ribs-in-Cola-126604602

Grilling: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/cola-ribs-recipe/index.html

BBQ and Fireworks

Independence Day weekend came and went. Luckily we had beautiful weather in Long Island. J. and I visited Jones Beach and ate out a few times, including a memorable a BBQ place which is reviewed below. There was a county wide carnival where I managed to get my hands on some fresh cotton candy, combination of blue and pink. This was a big deal because I used to wait in line for hours for free cotton candy at various school events. I was not as adventurous with the rides. When I was younger I always bought the wristbands for unlimited rides. Now I'm not as interested in them. We checked out the beautiful Ferris wheel (overlooking green treetops and small buildings) and a small dragon roller coaster (complete with Chinese palace facade). The last few tickets were spent on my ride on the carousel. Food and rides aside, the carnival also had a petting zoo with giraffes, zebras and llamas. I think the carnival is best viewed at night, when all the rides light up and spin to the music.

Famous Dave's

Find the nearest location

The one we went to had a week long lunch special (website's lunch special is only for M-F). There was also a brunch buffet that looked decent since it was a Sunday. I ordered the lunch special two meats combo with green beans. The two meats I picked were spareribs and beef brisket. Next time I'm definitely ordering more ribs and maybe trying chicken or pulled pork. I thought the beef brisket was okay but not impressive. If you get the fries, do try them with the different BBQ sauces!

update (8/2009): got the feast for two platter with ribs and pulled pork, definitely great for 3 people to share. and I liked the pulled pork more than their beef brisket. the chicken was amazing and everyone agreed.

I've summarized the different BBQ sauces below.

1. Rich and Sassy: Tomato based with plenty of molasses. My favorite one. Goes perfectly with ribs and beef and fries and everything else on your plate.

2. Texas Pit: Smokey and good. Black Pepper gives it a kick.

3. Devil's Spit: Supposed to the spiciest one. J. and I both agreed it wasn't that spicy. But tastes pretty good.

4. Sweet and Zesty: Self-explanatory

5. Georgia Mustard: the only vinegar based sauce. Tangy and lighter than the tomato based sauces.