Resturant Review: Quan Sushi

By Katherine Corson

Yay, Friday! I love Fridays mainly because I don’t have class, so it’s my day to relax and regroup from the rest of the week. And this Friday I decided to regroup with some sushi from Quan sushi. This sushi joint is great for getting a cheap quick sushi fix. For $8.20, they give you miso soup, salad with ginger dressing, and 2 rolls of sushi. I also ordered through Seamless Web and applied a 10% off coupon code they emailed me, making my grand total with tax 8.11. Pretty good bang for your buck if you ask me.

Although the soup and salad are rather standard, they did have some high points. The miso soup stock had a good level of saltiness but perhaps too salty for some. The seaweed was soft but not soggy, while the tofu unfortunately was nearly non-existent. The scallions, although few and far between, did add an interesting texture and flavor contrast. The ratio of ingredients to broth leaned a bit too heavily toward the broth, but given the price it met my expectations. And while the salad ingredients are unremarkable they did absorb the ginger dressing well. The dressing, although a bit watery, also provided an excellent kick of ginger and a nice mix of flavors.

And finally, and most importantly, the sushi.

I opened the takeout container to the overwhelming aroma of wasabi, which unfortunately doesn’t appeal to me all that much. However, the sushi itself made up for it. While some cheap sushi places tend to use too much rice to compensate for the lack of fish Quan absolutely does not fall victim to such sushi cheapening schemes.

First I had a Philadelphia Roll, a personal favorite of mine as I grew up in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The ratio of salmon to cream cheese leaned a little more toward the cream cheese, but the cucumber was an excellent texture breakup between the softness of the cream cheese and the salmon. Additionally, the smokiness of salmon really shone through in this roll.

Then I had a Tuna Avocado roll, which definitely exceeded my expectations. The roll included an ample amount of avocado that blended nicely with the tuna. And the tuna itself was rather simple but still fresh and delicious, which is key for sushi.

So, next time you’re looking for a cheap and quick sushi fix, I'd say Quan Sushi is your best option within 500 feet of Broome.

Frozen Yogurt In NYC

I distinctly remember the first time I ever tasted Pinkberry. It was the summer before my senior year of high school and I was up at Columbia University doing a summer program. At the time I thought it was the be all end all of frozen yogurt places. And while having one dangerously close to the dorm still makes it feel that way sometimes, I’ve come across many more frozen yogurt places since that are just as good if not better.

That same summer I tried 16 Handles for the first time. I was out on the town with a family friend and we ended up in the East Village hungry to fix our sweet tooth. And besides the stores great name, they have a great concept too. Keep in mind this was back in the day when Pinkberry limited the number of toppings you could have, and at 16 Handles you were free to explore. The store has 16 handles (or different flavors) of frozen yogurt, and then from there you also can add unlimited toppings, from fruit to marshmallow sauce. I love it because it allows me to experiment with my frozen yogurt, and it makes no two batches ever the same.

Not only that, but 16 Handles does a great job of supporting the community. TODAY they are helping raise money for fellow Broomie Gwynna Forgham-Thrift’s short film “Must Love Cats.” If you’ve ever wanted to try 16 Handles, or if you’re already a fan, come in this Tuesday and help raise money for the project! Just make sure you mention the phrase “Must Love Cats” and 30% of your purchase will go to the film.

I’m glad I got out of my Pinkberry phase, and I love that much like cupcakes, frozen yogurt is a New York Tradition. What are some of your favorite frozen yogurt places? Got any favorite flavor combinations?

Resturant Review: Saha Thai

By Katherine Corson

It's Monday. It's the most dreaded day of the week. It’s the day of being back into the swing of things and the craziness that’s NYU. But it’s also the day I ate delicious food from Saha! It was 9pm and I hadn’t had dinner, and although most of Chinatown is closed, Saha is open on weekdays until 10 and weekends until 11. Basically awesome.

Saha is a great little Thai place on Centre Street, just down the block from Broome. No seriously, it’s less than 500 feet from Broome. You can place an order and your food will be ready in 10 minutes.

Tonight I had one of their many, many, many menu options (really, the amount of selection is kind of insane) that is new to Saha: the yellow curry. And I have to say, I absolutely loved it! At under $10 and for the amount of food you get, I consider it a great value.

Here's the amount of food you get for the price:

This thai curry differs slightly from its Indian counterparts in that this variation provides a thinner consistency, which makes the dish as a whole lighter and provides excellent balance with the remaining ingredients.

But of course the curry would not be complete without the potatoes, onions, or chicken. The textures of the three ingredients do really blend well together. And although the chicken doesn’t quite melt in your mouth, it helps to balance the strong accent of the potato. These three ingredients truly work in harmony. The dish also comes with rice, which is prepared with a hint of salt that helps accent the flavors in the curry.

Overall, I am a fairly regular customer of Saha because of its great quality Thai food and its proximity to Broome. So the next time you’re craving some Thai and want to try something apart from Pad Thai, I highly recommend Saha.

What are your favorite restaurants near Broome? If you want to share them with the rest of the building-- send a review to the blog at broomestblog@gmail.com!

Five Points Manhattan Walk and (Free) Lunch -- New Date and Time

Saturday, November 3: 11:00AM-1:30 PM

"Will anyone say that it is safe to the general health, humane to the poor, creditable to our civilization, or in any manner right and proper that these Dens should continue as they are – human packing houses and fountains of Disease and Vice?" So asked an 1850 New York newspaper in an article on of the "Dens of Death," cellar residences in the neighborhood of Five Points in Lower Manhattan. Once sensationalized as a center of sin and debauchery, this neighborhood can now be recognized as a diverse, complex and fascinating part of our evolving city history.

Tours of the neighborhood were popular in its heyday of infamy – "proper" New Yorkers venturing downtown to see if the fantastic tales the newspaper spun were in fact true. This Saturday – November 3^rd --we'll take a slightly different venture. Come along for a stroll around the historical Five Points area, seeking out the remaining landmarks and noticing the changes in the area, now occupied by a popular city park, the southern edge of Chinatown, a city jail, and a court house. We'll then have lunch at a great Thai restaurant near the park, and have an informal discussion of what we saw in the rich neighborhood around us, only a short walk from Broome Street.

Meet in Broome lobby at 11:00AM with your walking shoes on. We'll walk for about an hour and then have a Thai lunch.

RSVP to Colin, Downtown Scenes Faculty Affiliate, – colincheney@gmail.com

We're also screening GANGS OF NEW YORK, Martin Scorsese's "historical" tale of Five Points, on Friday night, so please attend this also to get a little bit of myth, a bit of truth, about the neighborhood.

Please read the following two websites to have a little primer on the background of the area and in history:

Urbanography – A brief commentary on Five Points , including newspaper accounts from the 1840s and 50s -- http://urbanography.com/5_points/index.html

National Geographic –Article published at the time when Martin Scorsese's GANGS OF NEW YORK premiered: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0320_030320_oscars_gangs.html

Ghost Tour of Lower Manhattan -- Downtown Scenes

Come search out the ghosts of downtown New York!

On Friday, October 26th, come along on a tour of supposedly haunted locales around City Hall in Lower Manhattan. We'll be taking a tour organized through "Ghost Tours of New York," and they say we'll try to find the spirits of "Algonquin Indians, Black slaves, Dutch settlers, Walt Whitman, P. T. Barnum, Captain Kidd, and the ghosts of Trinity Churchyard." We'll also, they say, perform an exorcism to lift the curse preventing mayors of New York City from going on to public office (I wonder if Rudy knows about this...).

The Details:
Ghost Tour of Lower Manhattan
Friday, October 26, 7pm
RSVP to Colin ( colincheney@gmail.com) , Downtown Scenes faculty affiliate, by Monday, October 22nd.
Wear comfy walking shoes, and a jacket.

We'll meet in the Broome lobby at 7pm to walk downtown, grabbing a quick slice or two of pizza (FREE!) along the journey. Bring your favorite ghost story to share with fellow Broome folk. (The tour itself starts at 8pm and will last about an hour and a half.)

Five Points (Manhattan) Walk POSTPONED

While two Five Points trips in one weekend sounded exciting - a double-header of sorts - we're postponing our local trip to Manhattan's Five Points, so as to make sure as many folks as possible can get up to the Queen's Five Point event -- a viewing of the legal graffiti there and a chat with a local artist. Our walk in search of the ghost of Leonardo DiCaprio in Chinatown, and our lunching with Cameron Diaz lookalikes at her favorite Thai place, will be postponed until early November. If you'd like to head along on the Queens event, please email Ana Christa (anachrista@nyu.edu) or Dom (dominique.deleon@gmail.com). It is going to be a great trip!

Faculty Fellow in Residence Program

Join Brad, Jo, and Benny for
“Bitch ‘n’ Bitch” (and Rice to Riches)
– a discussion group where we “bitch” about gender and sexuality issues

and eat yummy rice pudding!

This week’s topic:
Are women the new men on TV?

This event is relevant for those of you in the following streams:
Gender and Sexuality (of course!)
Arts and Culture
Big Ideas
Philosophy

However, all interested Broomies are invited!

Thursday 27th – 9 - 10pm – Apartment 412

Faculty Fellow in Residence Program - All Streams welcome!!

Join Brad, Jo, and Benny this Monday (24th) for a screening of the documentary,

"Road Trip Nation."

The movie was made by four friends with one dilemma: "what do I want to do with mylife?" Fresh out of college and unsure about the career paths in front of them,they were determined to expose themselves to more than just the traditional liferoads. They hopped in an old RV, painted it green, and hit the road to talk withinspiring people from all walks of life to find out how they came to do whatthey love for a living. "Road Trip Nation" documents their travels and theseinterviews. The movie has now evolved into a PBS TV series, three books, anonline community, and a student movement.

So if you've been thinking about what will happen after you graduate (and evenif you haven't yet!), come and see this movie for inspiration.

This Monday (24th) - 8.30 pm - Apartment 412.

POPCORN will be served!!!