Friday: Nom Nom Saigon Soba Noodles (and Good For You, Too)

Cheap? Check. Good for you? Check. Delicious? Check, check, check.

Not much more a girl could ask for from a container of premade Saigon-style buckwheat soba noodles, which happen to qualify as both macro and vegan, and a serving of which includes 4g fiber, 11g protein and healthy dose of Vitamin A, C, Calcium and Iron. (Mom would approve.)

Plus, they taste really good; far exceeding the expectation for such “health” food. Since moving to New York and discovering the line of Macro Vegetarian prepared foods first in Gourmet Garage, and then in natural food stores around the city, I’ve sampled a number of noodle, rice, tofu and dumpling varieties.

I continue to be impressed. The Saigon soba noodles ($4.59/14 oz.), for example, have a nice sesame flavor, plus garlic and other, more subtle spices. Plus, the noodles have a nice portion of mix-ins: carrot bits, fresh herbs, smoked tofu.

I prefer to doctor mine up even further with some baby spinach (love, love, love the price point and the geographical localness to Satur Farms‘ line of greens — all grown on Long Island) and chopped red onion, and sometimes a little extra sesame oil or red pepper flakes. So good, and good for you. Good squared.

Lunch: So, So Glad I Didn’t Accidentally Walk Past Otafuku One More Time

I don’t even want to know how many times I’ve walked down this particular block of E. 9th Street in the East Village and not noticed Otafuku, the sliver of a restaurant most recognizable by the pair of long, colorful, Japanese flags hanging out front.

This East Village via Tokyo portal serves only heaping hot plates of three kinds of items, and combinations thereof: takoyaki, deep-fried wheat-flour balls with bits of octopus inside (think Japanese falafel); yakisoba, pan-fried soba noodles with squid, shrimp and all kinds of veggies; and okonomiyaki, fat, griddle-cooked, savory pancakes of chopped vegetables (primarily cabbage, scallions), batter and your choice of pork, beef, shrimp, squid or corn. 

I chose Combination A ($7), one okonomiyaki pancake with shrimp (buried under the bonito flakes on the left) and a half-order of yakisoba (right), thinking I’d be going home with a light sampling of two-thirds of the menu. What I was sent home with was this: 

Oh, my. It’s a giant clamshell full of some of Japanese-style g-r-u-b. So much food. And so cheap! (The most expensive combination meal tops out at $9.) 

I said yes to all the extras, which means the pancake was topped with a sweet, soy-based sauce (my guess) and thin zig-zags of mayonnaise, both out of a squeeze bottle, dried bonito flakes and seaweed powder. A stoner’s delight; no wonder this gem has been around sort of forever (plus five years).

TIP: If you’re on foot, Otafuku might be easier to spot if you watch for the magical, vine-draped, cloister-looking alley that I always stare at, and which is probably responsible for me not noticing Otafuku before, but that I’ve never actually eaten at, either. It’s next to that. (Incidentially, I didn’t know the name of the neighbor when I wrote that sentence. I did a little recon and found out it’s called Cloister’s Cafe. Well put.)

Dinner: Who’s Afraid of Hearty, Bitter Greens?

I had no real agenda for dinner; I figured that since I’d be stopping in four different markets for research for an upcoming article on sorbet, I’d let some market discovery inspire me. And that’s exactly what happened: 

                                                  In Gourmet Garage, I discovered a very interesting new line of fresh, prepackaged leafy greens, by a company called Satur Farms. They’re based out of North Fork, Long Island, so it’s all locally-grown, minimally-transported and has the potential, at least, to be vibrant and fresh. It’s also cheaper. Where 6 oz. size plastic containers of Earthbound Organic lettuces go for $4.99, Satur Farms’ lettuce mixes were priced around $3.50. 

Gourmet Garage was sold out of all but Satur Farms’ “stir fry greens,” which is hands down, the most ambitious prepackaged lettuce mix I’ve ever encountered. This is not a mix for beginners. Even I couldn’t visually identify every single leafy green included (although I got most): “May contain Swiss chard, ripini mustards, kohlrabi, chicory, kale, beet tops, amaranth, bok choy, spinach.” 

Hot damn. That is some mix. So much potential, which I look forward to exploring, but for tonight I decided to keep it fairly simple by sauteing the thickest-stalked greens with a bit of onion and celery in some sesame oil, and mixing in half a container (7 oz.) of these prepackaged Macro-Vegetarian udon noodles, which have a nice, light, pusedo-Asian flavor, and finishing off the whole thing with a healthy squeeze of lime juice and shake of red pepper flakes. I’ll tell you what: It worked!