back to Red Farm

I blogged about Red Farm not so long ago.  I didn't give it a rave review but I didn't trash it either. There is a reason that serious restaurant reviewers go back to eat at least three times because it depends on your mood, the day and just a variety of factors.  I admit that I usually write something after the first shot but do return if I liked it. 

Ed Schoenfeld read my post and then reached out to me.  He was determined that I had an all out amazing experience where I could walk away wowed.  And so, we went…Josh, Fred and me.  Not only did we have an incredible meal, I got to talk to Ed.  Ed has been in the food industry for over 40 years running 4 star restaurants spending most of his career in the Chinese food sector.  He even brought Hunan cuisine to NYC in the 70's.  He is one of those unique amazing NYers who has been mostly part of the downtown/Brooklyn scene where he raised his family.  An old time liberal who probably has more than a handful of fascinating stories.  His two sons still live in NYC and you can tell how proud he is of both of them when he speaks.  They sound like they have each found interesting careers as well.  Bottom line, Ed is a serious foodie who is a trendsetter.  If you take a look at his career, he is a man who paved the way for the "food" world we all live in today.

So to the food.  We began with the smoked salmon eggplant bruschetta.  Chopped salmon mixed with vegetables sitting on a warm piece of toast.  I am not doing a great job of describing this dish but we each took our piece and dropped in our mouth and everyone just looked at each other with that "oh wow" look. 

A juicy piece of steak perched on a tiny tart with slices of asparagus on the sides.  Really good and I love just popping the whole thing in my mouth otherwise it would have dripped straight down my chin.  At this point Josh said to me, this place is awesome. 

This is Red Farm's version of the pupu platter.  A few things on here.  Crispy Beef which I had last time and really liked, Curry Tofu which I have to say I am partial to curry, smoked cucumber slices, tiny peppers stuffed with a singular shrimp and a heirloom tomato salad with sauce.  A nice mixture of tastes.

These are almost too beautiful to eat.  You can't really go wrong with deep fried crispy noodles.  Attached to the top is a mushroom vegetable spring roll with your classic dipping sauce on the side.  Have to say the presentation of creating a hole inside the cucumber and sticking the spring roll in it to stand up is clever.  Nice.

Pac-Man shrimp dumplings.  Each dumpling was different and the only constant was there was shrimp in each.  I particularly loved the Pac-Man piece which was a sweet potato deep fried with panko over a dollop of guacamole.

Shu Mai Shooters.  Mushroom shu mai that you pop in your mouth and chase down with a ginger drink.  The ginger drink changed the entire experience.

Soup dumplings are classic in NYC.  These are stuffed with pork and crab.  Be careful, it is a one bite dumpling and you need to let them cool just a bit before making the move.

Diced lamb mixed with Chinese broccoli and pieces of white asparagus.  I really liked this.  A nice balance of flavors and a light sauce.

BBQ'd pork belly.  This has the smoky taste of the usually overdone red pork pieces you get in most Chinese restaurants.  This was a clever way of a standard dish on most Chinese menus around town.

Fried rice mixed together with a variety of vegetables.  I love fried rice…one of those dishes that I keep just having a little bit more.  Really delicious and we even brought the leftovers here home.

Last dish was the lobster.  Big chunky pieces of lobster mixed together with an egg, scallion, rice dish.  I was quite stuffed at this point but I did dig in.  Yum.

We couldn't do dessert, we all hit the wall.  Dinner was great.  I do still hate the communal tables but the space wasn't originally supposed to be what it is.  There are other ideas coming down the pipeline.  I also wish the restaurant was bigger.  Chinese food is something I just don't do that often unless I make it at home.  The local take out places have just turned me off.  I grew up going on most Sunday evenings for Chinese food like most Jews in the suburbs growin gup maybe we will bring back the tradition.  Best part of the evening…getting to talk with Ed.  The man is a NY institution.