Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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May 10, 2011 By cheryl

Snack Dragon: Toothsome Taco Truck Fare

One of the great things about this recent book busyness has been the nudge it’s given me to venture into unfamiliar territory.

While it’s true that I have managed to eat my way through impressive swaths of New York City in my eight years as a New Yorker, there are some rather untouched spots in in my eating landscape. Based purely on subway inconveniences (and my great sloth) the gastronomically rich far East Village, sadly, is one of them.

So when I recently found myself in that neighborhood, still coming down from the high of having just met and read with the lovely Gabrielle Hamilton, chef of Prune and author of “Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef,” at KGB Bar and completely ravenous from our joint reading from our food memoirs, the stomach, naturally, started calling.

“Mmm … Snack Dragon,” my friend Noa said, her eyes getting so large I instantly could envision them popping out of their sockets. When she started smacking her lips at the thought of the place, I knew we had to go.

Despite the raves that this little taco stand has gotten in the five years it’s been around, I’d never been there. From Noa’s look of utter shock, clearly, this was something that needed to be remedied. Pronto.

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Filed Under: Cheap Eats, Mexican, New York, Restaurants Tagged With: Beef, Carne Asada, Cheap Eats, Chef, Chorizo, Citrus, East Village, Gabrielle Hamilton, Grilled sole, Mexican, New York, Pineapple, Pork, Prune, Taco, Taco Truck, Thai

July 3, 2009 By cheryl

A Mouth Full of Booger


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Slowly and carefully, Greg and I chewed, on the verge of both laughter and disgust as we tried to put a name to what it was we were tasting.

“It’s like a bad taco,” Greg said.

“Tequila or margaritas — regurgitated,” I said, thinking suddenly of a college night long, long ago.

It was actually vomit that we were sampling — vomit-flavored jelly beans, to be precise.

When we had passed a display of rather unappetizing-sounding new Jelly Belly flavors at the Fancy Food Show in New York City, we had known it was a silly gimmick but hadn’t been able to resist. And so we spent some unpleasant minutes with mouths full of centipede (which tasted like grass and earth), skunk spray (as billed) and canned dog food (think Chef Boyardee). (Canned dog food and centipede are new this year.)

Drawing the line at Baby Wipes, we decided to walk away while our tastebuds were still intact.

“I still taste Booger in my mouth,” Greg whispered as we slunk away.

Well, somewhat intact, I suppose.

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Filed Under: New York, Snacks, Sweets Tagged With: Acai, Baby Wipes, Bacon Lollipops, Baltimore Sun, Blood orange, Centipede, Chef Boyardee, Chocolate, Citrus, Das Foods, Dog Food, Earl Grey, Efferve, Fancy Food Show, Green tea, Grits, Houston Chronicle, Jelly beans, Jelly Belly, Knipschildt Chocolatier, Marmalade, National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, New Hampshire, San Francisco, Sara Engram, Sid Wainer, Skunk Spray, Smart Spice, Tcho, The Seasoned Palate, The Spice Kitchen, Toblerone, Village Mixes, Vomit, Yorkshire Tea, Yuzu

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