For Foodies: Asia in a Box @Palo Alto

Ever crave for fine authentic Asian street food? Hmm... "fine" and "street" usually don't go hand-in-hand but someone's pulled it off well.


Check out the brand new Asian Box that just opened in the heart of Silicon Valley at the Town & Country mall in Palo Alto. Hailing from the Slanted Door in SF, Executive Chef Grace Nguyen has whipped up a great menu that uses sustainably grown and raised ingredients. The system is quite simple: just choose from a variety of items on the menu to construct your own "Box" to go.  

Here's how it works:
1) Choose your starter from a few types of rice, salad, or noodle.
2) Pick your fave main dish from pork, shrimp, tofu,etc.
3) Pick your add-ons (veggies have a choice of wok steamed or wok spiced), add condiment toppers and choose your sauce.


And voilà, you have your own new Box!  
To see the full menu go here.

Address: 855 El Camino Real, #21, Palo Alto, CA (Inside Town & Country Mall)
Open: M-Sat. 11-7, Sun. 11-5


Follow them on @asianbox

Yum, yum, yum!

As I'm no longer a resident of NYC, it's hard to plan my visits these days. Why? Cuz there's just too many new restaurants I want to try and not enough time! Noticing so many cool places sprouting downtown, I chose the new Duane St. Hotel in Tribeca this time, just a block away from Bouley. The hotel is modern & cute with good service so a total thumbs up start!

While we munched on Bouley bakery pastries in the morning, I've gotta say that the best bite in town this time was our 5-course tasting menu at the raved Degustation restaurant (East Village.) For $50+/person, the dishes are well constructed, creative and tasty! The fun part is watching the dishes prepared right front of your eyes. They only have counter seating that wraps around a tight spaced "mini-kitchen" where the chef and his team efficiently grill, whip and assemble. It was amazing to see how the talented 26 yr. old chef, Wesley Genovart, a Spaniard who worked at Perry St., whip up the marvelous and delicate dishes. Wesley kindly gave us advice on where to head for drinks in the neighborhood, which definitely topped off our memorable evening. The image is of the appetizer we had there. Bon appetit!