Food & drink
fromPortland Mercury
1 week agoNice Time Makes Nice Pasta, Indeed - Portland Mercury
Nice Time offers unique Korean-Italian dishes with fresh pasta, making it a standout food cart in Portland.
Fusion food has historically had a bit of a bad rap, with overly gimmicky dishes and unnecessary combinations turning diners off. However, when you drill down into what fusion actually is - blending together flavours, ingredients and techniques from different cuisines - it's something that a lot of chefs are doing all the time.
The green curry pad Thai initially had me scratching my head - it feels sacrilegious to recommend pad Thai with zucchini in it. That said, the noodles have chew and get seared with wok hei; the permeating green curry flavor feels abundant and herbaceous thanks to fistfuls of fresh Thai basil.
At most, Lim recalls, maybe one item - say, a curry puff - would nod toward the local food culture. Because afternoon tea at the big hotels was "fancy" and expensive, Lim says even locals wanted the food to be authentically British. Why would anyone pay so much to eat a Malaysian snack they could buy down the street for just a few ringgits?
Chef Keith Sarasin - the founder and chef of pop-up restaurant the Farmer's Dinner, who grew up in New Hampshire - has been immersing himself in the art of Indian food for decades. And Boston benefits from his dedication to the culinary culture at Aatma Curry House, a new restaurant inside Brighton brewery Widowmaker Brewing Co. Here, he endeavors to make high-quality Indian food with fusion flavors, while educating diners about the cuisine with a glossary of Indian terms in the menu.
If you're looking for a very solid, under-$20 lunch in Downtown Brooklyn, stop by Xifu. They make Shaanxi dishes like flaky rougamo stuffed with chopped pork, turqouise-tinged dumplings, and a great spread of noodle dishes. They also serve something we've never seen before: a burrito, using a griddled flour tortilla, that's loaded with stir-fried pork and julienned cucumbers. It won't be going on our best burrito guide anytime soon, but it's a fun and fusiony thing that kind of works.
Michelin-starred chef Elias Taddesse re-launches his popular concepts, merging fast-casual dining styles into one location in Shaw, serving diverse culinary fusions.