The Green Table Food Review - Chelsea Market, New York

The Green Table
(click photo for a larger version)

The Green Table is a little eatery located in the heart of Chelsea Market and is devoted to serving organic foods and beverages. The menu boasts some of the freshest ingredients delivered from local farms and green markets. Some of the most popular dishes ordered here include the Pot Pies (Chicken, Beef, and Vegetarian), Macaroni and Cheese and the Green Table Burger. I will be reviewing two of the three, and perhaps make another visit to taste the last. The eatery seats about 20 people, with a mini-bar seating area in the front and an additional seating area outside.

If you're curious about the decor and the atmosphere, I can easily say that once you walk-in, you will feel the hustle and bustle of New York and Chelsea Market slowing down by a few notches. I immediately felt calm here as I was surrounded by green farmhouse windows, rustic looking tables and the serenity of the restaurant environment. The friendly wait staff also added to comfort of this cafe -- and after the meal that I had, I wished they had pull-up beds that allowed me to take a nap. :D

Here are my food reviews, with color coded items -- GREEN (I enjoyed it) or RED (I would pass on it)

Macaroni and Cheese ($9 side; $15 entree w/ fresh greens)

Coach Farm Goat Cheese, Neighborly Farms organic Colby & Cheddar, Parmesean & Hudson Valley Milk combined with Organic pasta and topped with herbed breadcrumbs

After growing up on Kraft's Mac N' Cheese (which I still love), its difficult to fathom how tasty homemade "real" mac n' cheese really is. And though this wasn't my absolute favorite mac n' cheese that I ever tasted (Cafeteria has my favorite mac n' cheese), this was still pretty darn good! Its not over-the-top cheesy or gooey, just the perfect cheese and the perfect mini-crunch with the herbed breadcrumbs.

Side note: I would recommend ordering this as a side dish because there's no sense paying $6 for the mini-salad (no matter how great tasting it is).

Classic Chicken Pot Pie ($15)

Free-range chicken and an assortment of organic vegetables topped with a flaky pate brisee crust, served with market greens

Ok, I grew up eating Swanson's Chicken Pot Pie (gosh, are you wondering where all the home-cooking was when I was growing up?!?! Non-existent since my parents were working 24/7 at our noodle shop, but that's another story) -- and again, its amazing tasting the real thing. The real thing has less lard, which I'm sure is slightly healthier than those Swanson's frozen pies. :D Inside the classic chicken pot pie was a good blend of vegetables, hearty combination of white and dark meat and the consistency within the pie was thick and not soupy. I have to admit I added some salt and pepper to my liking, but overall, it was a great fresh potpie -- and how can you not love the "chicken" branding on the top of the crust?

Roasted Chicken Breast ($18)

Roasted Amish Country Red Cockerel with Tuscan Kale, cheesy potatoes & thyme jus

Personally, I thought the chicken was a bit chewy and not tender as I would have expected it to be -- but afterall, it was chicken breast (white meat) and not chicken leg (dark meat). The potatoes had a consistency of grits and was quite tasty; initially I thought the kale would be bitter, but it wasn't and I'm not sure how I can describe its distinct taste but I enjoyed it. (btw, did you know KALE is a highly nutrious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties and is considered to be an anti-inflammatory? yes!) Sad to say, but the only good thing I can say about this dish is that the potatoes and the kale made this dish, rather than the chicken.

Housemade Sauerkraut with Dickson's Pork Belly ($6)

With the craze of pork belly in a lot of new creative dishes around Manhattan, I'm not surprised that a pork belly dish would appear here. Though, I'm not sure if I would have paired these two together because the pork belly truly lost its flavor in this dish as it was over-powered by the tangy-ness of the sauerkraut (no, there was no balance of the two ingredients). So, I will definitely pass on this dish. But before you walk-away disappointed -- I will openly admit, I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut (even though I do put it on an occasional hot dog), this sauerkraut was just overly-tangy for my tastebuds!

Roasted Butternut Squash w/ aleppo pepper and olive oil ($4)

A simple, yet delicious dish that when roasted gives you more of the sweetness from the butternut squash. Did you know that butternut squash is a type of winter squash and is considered a FRUIT? Yup.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience sitting and eating at one of the green tables inside this organic eatery in Chelsea Market. Its a great spot for lunch, brunch and dinner; or if you're on the run, they do take-out too!

Location: Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue, NY, NY 10011, 212.741.9174, Open Mon thru Saturday 12 to 10 pm ; Sunday 11 am to 5 pm (across the way the water fall and Amy's Bread)


Did you know? The Green Table originated from a catering company, The Cleaver Co., which has been around for more than 30 years! Mary Cleaver believed that the best foods are grown, tended and harvested within a day's drive of your table. Her catering company has produced meals for the Dalai Lama and Martin Scorcese, large-scale parties for Microsoft and even for Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment.

Great N.Y. Noodletown Temporarily Closed for its C Rating

Last Friday, I wanted to get a quick bite to eat at Great N.Y. Noodletown, but to my dismay, it was closed. I thought it was odd but didn't think much of it. A few days later, a friend who was visiting from out of town told me she walked by the restaurant on Sunday and also noticed it was closed. That's odd, I thought to myself. Then, yesterday, I was talking to another friend who was shocked that it was closed and I deliberated -- yeah, THAT IS odd -- Chinese restaurants are never closed, not on Christmas, New Years, and not any holiday -- not even a Chinese Holiday... so why was it closed?

And the answer was discovered this morning. My friend forwarded me this article from NY Grub Street stating that it was shut down by the Health Department. Doh! Why didn't I think of that! Obvious answer for many good restaurants in the city, not just ones in Chinatown.

I'm not going to mention what the health inspector found since it may gross out any reader (you can read it on their website), but will we see an influx of "temporary" Chinatown restaurant closings in the near future? Perhaps, but it won't be limited to only Chinatown restaurants but I surmise it will be many restaurants in NYC...

So Great N.Y. Noodletown received a C rating ... can you think of any other restaurants that you like that may soon be closing? NY Grub Street will make it easier on you ... check out a few of the C rated restaurants with 28 or more demerits! Some of the restaurants on the list may surprise you ! Boqueria, BLT Fish, Wolfgang's Steakhouse, Peter Luger's and more! Mind you, some of these violations may be due to lack of filing papers and not just "health" concerns at the restaurants. So, read on... If they don't respond to the Department of Health's issues/concerns, then we may well see an increase in yellow signs indicating the restaurant is temporarily closed! At this rate, I think everyone is going to have to cook at home -- let's just hope the supermarkets pass their health inspection. :D

Los Pollitos (Park Slope) - 28
The Slaughtered Lamb - 28
Uncle Vanya - 28
Centrico - 29
Hakata Ton Ton - 29
Oro Bakery and Bar - 29
The Rusty Knot - 29
Oliver’s - 30
Two Boots (Ave A) - 30
Los Pollitos (Bay Ridge) - 30
Bar Carrera (Second Ave) - 31
Lenny’s Clam Bar - 31
Moonstruck Diner - 31
Snack - 31
The Jake Walk - 31
Salt Bar - 32
The Sunburnt Cow - 32
Gallagher’s Steakhouse - 33
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (Greenwich St.) - 33
Financier Patisserie (Stone St.) - 33
Manhattan Ocean Club - 34
Bill’s Gay 90’s - 35
Bombay Grill (Seventh Ave) - 35
Forge - 35
Hooters - 35
Pacific Grill - 35
Peter Luger Steakhouse - 35
Smith’s - 36
Sotto Voce - 36
Cipriani Dolci - 37
Euzkadi - 37
Gusto - 37
Gobo (Third Ave) - 37
La Bonbonniere - 37
Cafecito Bogota - 38
Mercadito (Ave B) - 38
Nori - 38
Wild Ginger (Broome St.) - 38
Shang - 41
Dim Sum Go Go - 42
Nyonya (Sunset Park) - 42
Riposo 72 - 42
La Nacional - 43
Le Barricou - 43
BLT Fish - 44
Fish - 45
Grand Sichuan (Ninth Ave) - 45
El Quijote - 46
Macao - 48
Russian Samovar - 48
Great NY Noodletown - 50
Le Bilboguet - 50
Urban Lobster (Stone St.) - 50
Snacky - 51
Macondo - 52
Myrtle Ave - 52
Spicy & Tasty - 52
Boqueria (Spring St.) - 54
Fat Hippo - 56
Monkey Bar - 60
Le Gamin (Bedford St.) - 77
Dopo Teatro - 93

List derived from article on NY Grub Street (click)

Ken Shung's Lighting Class -- #5 -- Ring Light / Ring Flash / Ringlight / Ringflash

Ring Light aka Ring Flash.

Tuesday's lesson was taking photos with a ring light. Ring lights are used frequently in fashion photography. why? Because its trendy and the "in" thing to do. Just kidding, well, sort of -- but a lot of fashion photographers do like the way the ring light provides a hard edge light, with a modest fill in the face or frontal illumination. As you can surmise, photographers will also use the ring light for beauty and portrait photography.

You can make your own ring light (find it on the Strobist) or you can buy it for $300. Ray Flash is one of the makers of ringlights/ringflashes. And this are their thoughts on why ring lights are used --

"Ray Flash creates a "3-d shadow-wrapped look". Because all light originates from the front, i.e. from around the lens, it produces a virtually shadow-less look on the front of your subject, while a soft even shadow appears around the edges. It is ideally suited for fashion, portrait, beauty, wedding & macro photography as a main or fill-in light."

According to The Strobist, photographers like Jill Greenberg and Dan Winters use the ring light as a sole light source, a primary source in a multi-light setup or as a subtle fill. Whatever way you choose to use the light source, is of course at your discretion, but how do you know if you like using it without trying it out? So here we go.

Here are some examples of how it was used in class and how I used it on my own.

First the set-up:

- I chose a very lively background - purple - (well, at least different from the typical white and black) and thought it should help the image pop a little bit and show the hard-edge profile.

- I set up two strip banks -- one on the left and one on the right of the background -- aimed at a 45 degree angle towards the subject

-- The background is not far from the subject, maybe 2-3 feet ... and we would call this the "up against the wall" shot

-- Subject is sitting on an apple box and was asked by Ken Shung to do something interesting.

This is what Ken got on his shot.

-- You'll notice that the backlights are illuminating his arms and the ring flash which is set around the camera lens provides a front illumination of the subject, giving it the "hard-edge" look






Now its my turn. I repositioned the lights a little differently and moved further away to get a full body shot. I wanted to test how the ring flash would works with models that are in motion (well at least for a few seconds). So, I set the model about 5-7 feet away from the background (well, because I didnt want the background to fall on her after she doe her twirls and jumps). Initially, the camera and ring flash was on a tripod, but I felt a bit restricted, so Ken suggested I should move around with the ring flash detached from the tripod -- and I did -- after some 50 shots, it started to get heavy, but the photos worked!

Below are a few shots of Model Carolina Santos Read.

I still got the hard-edge look around her body and that front illumination that lightened up her face. So, it worked, even in motion.

Lesson from Ken Shung: There are no hard and fast rules in photography. Reposition the lights, move the model, move your camera... whatever you do -- If it looks good, it looks good.

I will have to admit, there is ONE rule that should never be broken -- HAVE FUN on your SHOOTS... So, here is one of the photos I took of Instructor and Commercial Photographer Ken Shung and Model Carolina Santos Read having a little fun with the props on set. :D

And that's a wrap ladies and gentlemen...

For more info on ring flashes and how to make them, visit The Strobist's website to learn more. If you're not into making it yourself, ring lights are also sold by Ray-Flash for $300.

B you go... if you are like me, I'm curious to see how the ring flash compared to my other shots using the Octabank light and the Beauty Dish from a few weeks ago.. So I've enclosed it here.

Octabank light below that gives you a "softer" look.



Beauty Dish: This is slightly different, since I only used the beauty dish to light the front and made everything else be a silhoutte.

A Warm Welcoming for U.S. Reserves - 67th APS Hill Air Force Base

Welcome Home 67th Aerial Port Squadron!

Salt Lake City, March 6, 2010

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, I was fortunate to have arrived at the airport to witness a warm welcoming home for some U.S. Reserves who were returning from their 45-day volunteer efforts in Haiti.

For more, check out my travel blog -- www.simplyEVERYWHERE.blogspot.com

KyoChon - Korean Fried Chicken Closed for Retraining?

I was going to visit KyoChon, the most anticipated Korean Fried Chicken restaurant to open in NYC this year, but just recently found out via other "Yelpers" that its closed March 18th and March 19th due to improve its efficiency, aka "retraining" employees to work the food lines.

Some yelpers believe its because of the bad reviews it has been receiving. After reading some of the Yelp reviews -- 33 people have reviewed it thus far -- the 2 stars may be indicative of its recent two-day closing. WOW! For a much anticipated opening, and the craze of Korean Fried Chicken in NYC -- the 2 stars is a HUGE disappointment!

So what are people complaining about mostly?

- Size of chicken - tiny, small, minuscule -- I think I need a thesaurus to add any more words

- Price of chicken - ok, have people not had Korean food? In general, its just over-priced -- but for some reason, we all still go! Yes, we're just all that dumb, or crazed for Korean food (I personally, LOVE, Korean food -- so I pay the price :( ). But one yelp reviewer said this "At their take-out counter, a small order of their signature wings (5 pieces) costs $5.99, while a large order (20 pieces) will set you back $17.99. If you get a combo which includes a side and a soft drink, the price skyrockets. "

- Long wait times -- north of 30 minutes for wings! wow! that is long. How long do you think it takes to fry some wings? especially, if you know customers are coming -- that stuff should be deep frying all-day long -- especially if this is the much anticipated Korean Fried Chicken that all New Yorkers are waiting for...

Yikes, 30, 40, 50 minutes of waiting for Korean Fried Chicken? No wonder KyoChon is closed for two-days to retrain its employees and improve its processes! For their sake, and for the price of that prime-retail location, let's hope this place is only experiencing the "jitter bugs" of its new opening and will have all the kinks worked out by March 20th -- otherwise, it will be bad news for this well-established and well-known Korean brand.

p.s. there is hope for KyoChon, especially since their Springfield and Flushing locations are "said" to be much better! So, will the re-opening of KyoChon meet that of its sister chains? We will wait and see.

Visit KyoChon's website (slow to upload info).

NYC Chinatown Fruit Market Under the Manhattan Bridge

This is one of the many fruit stands in New York City Chinatown. Fruit and Vegetable markets can be found throughout Chinatown - on Canal, Mulberry, Elizabeth, Bowery and ... basically just about every street in Chinatown! But there is one fruit/vegetable market under the Manhattan Bridge that is enormous and sells a variety of items -- fruits, vegetables, man taus (white bread rolls), and even fish (yes, you'll find all sorts of random things). What I find interesting about this street is that -- its not just Chinese people selling these items, rather its a diverse community of individuals. If you wander down this street, don't be surprised to hear the non-Chinese individuals speaking Mandarin/Cantonese to their clients. If you are lucky, you'll also witness true "Darwinism" at its best with non-Chinese vendors yelling "catch phrases" that lure customers to their stands... which catch phrases you may ask -- "cheap/inexpensive", "very sweet", and "very fresh".

The prices you find here will be the same throughout the street, but most likely cheaper than other street vendors on other streets (i.e. Canal/Mulberry/Bower). Why? They've adapted the Costco/Walmart model of volume discounts! 10 plums for $1.00? A pound of cherries for $1.50. Need I say more? However, sometimes you do get what you pay for... So as far as the quality goes, be careful not to be duped. If you buy something, inspect the items before you leave (especially, if you didn't pick it out) because they may have also put in some "bad ones" (usually fruits) -- and you won't notice until your home!

So happy fruit and vegetable shopping down this street!

Here are some of my select photos from July 2009 shot with my Nikon D60 or you can visit the album to get more detailed info on the vendors.

Manhattan Bridge Chinatown Fruit and Vegetable Market: Under the Manhattan Bridge

The closest street I would say is -- its between E. Broadway and Division Street, near Forsyth and Market Street ... If you hit Eldridge, you've gone too far!

What to do when you're unable to sleep? Blog about being trapped in a pyramid!

I guess you can read to get your eyes tired... or you can count sheep (does that really work?) ... or you can write...

So I decided to write about my recent trip in Egypt ... about getting trapped in a pyramid ...

For an interesting story ...

click below ...


Trapped in the Red Pyramid of Dashur, Egypt

Rain, rain ... go away ... come back another day... Hurray! No More Rain!!!

As I am wide awake at an odd hour in the morning, I found this photo and it was taken on 09/11/09.

How many of these did you find on the streets over the past few days... Lucky for us ... we are free and clear of rain for the next week and maybe even longer! YES!!!!

But, sadly, there is a lot of clean-up work to be done in certain parts of New York and New Jersey.

Ken Shung's Lighting for the Magazine Class -- #3 -- Octabank Light

Model: Laura Volapacchio

For our third class, we had our choice of setting up with a Octabank, Softbox or Foamcore... I decided to go with the Octabank since we were doing portraits and I wanted a soft feel ... And after 15 minutes of shooting, this is what I ended up with ... :D

Background: Laura Volapacchio is currently attending NYU Gallatin, pursuing her own major focusing on Visual Culture (which is all encompassing fashion, dance, art and beauty). She is quite a sensible young lady and I wanted to portray her as such. Additionally, she loves to dance and has a background in ballet, but would love to do jazz or modern tap dance -- so my thought was to capture two types of portraits -- a young, sensible and fashionable young adult and a dancer with her ballet shoes on.

Lesson of the Day: Don't be afraid to move your lights around. Sometimes the model can be 2 ft away from the light -- and its ok... Just play with it, test it and see if it is what you want your photo to be... and of course, always be creative!

sidenote: for those who don't know what a octabank is (because I didn't), its essentially an octagon shaped soft box. there are two brands that make it (that i know of) -- elinchrom and westcott -- and its great for portraits. its a great bank light to evenly distribute light (or so, that's what I found). The bank light is also put on a redwing studio boom stand, which allows you to swivel the octabank everywhere (above the head, to the left to the right, below)...

I wonder though --- if you can achieve the same evenly dispersed light via umbrellas? ... probably similar, but not exactly the same -- Ken mentioned that the Octabank manages highlights better in clothing, where other smaller light sources have fall off within a foot.

Chinatown Kids Playing with Party Snaps (Chinese New Year Celebration)

If you walked around Chinatown on Chinese New Years Day (February 14, 2010) you were bound to see kids walking around with their box of Party Snaps. Party Snaps are "noise makers" -- little sachets filled with some sort of fire-cracking powder that once thrown onto the ground makes a KA BOOM noise. Ok, not that drastic... but it does catch your attention. And kids love these things -- I know I did when I was young (and a little older... alright alright, I still enjoy the occasional surprise you POP ... its fun for all ages!). These things are about $1.00 for two, or if you're lucky and aggressive with the sales people, you can negotiate three for $1.00 (good luck though!). Any random knick knack store sells them in Chinatown and if you absolutely can't find them -- google it and you will be surprised that amazon.com sells it and a whole bunch of other online retailers!

Below are a few photos of this very animated young girl playing with her party snaps... you will love the expressions on her face! Click away on the photos if you can't see her face...

This is her digging DEEP into the box to get a good number of POPs to throw our way!

The ... "I'm going to get YOU sucker " face...
and "Just to show you I'm serious, I'm throwing one on the floor to demonstrate how scary I can get!

The "UTTERLY" annoyed face of "why didn't it pop!"

"Ok, I'll get you next time!"

SNAP away!

What did I learn from Ken Shung's Lighting Class Today?

"Forget the technical, be creative!" says Ken Shung...

and he may be right, considering there's only TEN three hour class sessions with him. So, with limited time in each class (less than two hours after instruction and set up), he says -- BE CREATIVE!

With 30 minutes on the clock ... I start to photograph .... I have to think creatively, I have to act decisively, and most importantly, when all the sh$t hits the fan, I still have to think positively!

So what did I learn from Ken Shung's Lighting Class today? Be Creative and let the technical part come later ... and I present to you my photograph of ...

"A Silent Wish ..."

Model: Ayana Barber

Note: Don't be misguided, the technical part is very important and it takes months/years to understand, so expecting to pick-it-up within a 3 hour 10 week session will be challenging! Thus, creativity with my photos will be at the forefront of this class... in addition to getting to use all the fabulous equipment at the School of Visual Arts. But so far, so good with Ken Shung's instruction of Lighting for the Magazine class!

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

and of course,

A Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Photo done with a 4x5 View Camera w/ a Phase One H25 Digital Back.