- Look at how wonderfully oily
and delicious that salmon looks.
That's gonna be my first bite right there.
Good morning everyone it's Mark Wiens
with migrationology.com in New York City.
Just got off the subway at 2nd Avenue Station.
Crossing the road right now.
We are on our way this morning
to eat another classic in New York City.
A place for bagels, cream cheese, and salmon.
It's about 10:15 am.
This is the Russ & Daughters appetizers.
This is the classic deli,
but they also have a cafe, I think around the corner.
The line is a little bit out the door
but we're gonna get in very soon and then take a number
and then probably have to wait for a while as well.
What number are we? 345.
First accomplishment, we got into the door.
We got number 345 and right now they are one number 333.
Oh, we can look at the menu here as we're waiting.
They do have a number of things on the menu
but I think I'm just gonna go straight up with the classic,
the bagel with cream cheese and choice of smoked salmon,
although I have to choose the type of salmon.
Russ & Daughters was established in 1914,
so it's another real classic heritage
traditional deli restaurant in New York City.
One classic
with Scottish salmon, everything bagel,
and the caviar cream cheese.
Does it come with tomatoes and onions?
- [Man Behind Counter] Whatever you want.
- Okay with tomatoes and onions.
He's making my bagel in the back right now.
I got everything bagel
and I just got the caviar cream cheese.
And I decided to go for the Scottish salmon
but I was really kind of at a loss
of which salmon to choose.
There's so many good ones.
And there are no seats inside the restaurant
and they just have a couple benches outside
but they're all full so
we're gonna walk down the road a little bit.
There is a basketball park down the road
and then also a couple benches
right in the middle of the road.
Maybe right in the middle of the road is a good idea.
I was so tempted to order so many more things in that shop.
Russ & Daughters is really a purveyor
of some really fine fish and canned goods
and preserved, salted things
and I love just about everything they have
in that entire shop.
But the prices are pretty expensive
so you could definitely spend a fortune.
It's a very waxy paper.
Oh yes. And here it is.
Oh this is beautiful.
Okay, the bagel, I got the everything bagel,
and it is a handmade bagel.
It's a boiled bagel and then with topping
sesame seeds and poppy seeds.
And then I got the Scottish salmon
plus the caviar cream cheese, and then tomatoes and onions.
I think that's everything.
I love how the cream cheese is just squished.
And it's on both sides,
so then it just squishes through the hole.
And then the salmon in the middle,
the juicy tomatoes, okay I cannot talk any longer.
That is a thing of beauty.
What an exquisite combination.
The bagel is nice and chewy and heavy with that outside skin
and you can taste that boiledness to it.
Then all of those, kind of salty seeds on the top,
then the salmon inside is so silky, has a smoky flavor,
and then it's just that cream cheese,
the thick layer of cream cheese is awesome as well.
I'm not sure if I can taste the caviar in the cream cheese
but probably I can taste it on its own.
And then you get a little bit of that juiciness,
freshness from the tomato and the onion.
That's awesome.
Literally the salmon though is so creamy and so silky
that it meshes, blends in to that cream cheese.
They almost have the same texture.
When I took that first bite the tomato kind of
shot out the back so I'm gonna scoot that forward.
Oh, I lost a little sliver.
Stick that back in.
And even though there's not a lot of salmon
on this sandwich, but the salmon is such good quality
that you can taste the salmon throughout the whole sandwich
and I love how they really took their time
making the sandwich.
They didn't rush anything.
They really sliced everything very thin
so that it stacks really nicely.
That's an entire mouthful of cream cheese.
All the stickiness of that.
Oh, and with that salmon mixed in the middle, those onions.
I'm down to my last bite and this is the best bite
because all of the salmon has squished out
and also a hanging piece of tomato
has all squished out to the bottom there.
However, it's also a very sad bite.
It's the last bite.
I really should have ordered two.
You could easily eat two of these.
They're not very big and they taste so good
you could easily order two.
But one, I'm gonna stop at one because it's so good
and I'm gonna just linger this last bite.
Making sure to lick all that cream cheese off.
That was incredibly delicious.
It was pretty expensive though, for how small it was,
and for just like, one slice of salmon in it.
But it was extremely delicious.
Russ & Daughters is definitely a timeless classic
of culinary heritage in New York City.
Okay we're at Spring Street Station
and heading up to 14th Street.
Somehow the subway dropped us off,
maybe there are two 14th street stations,
I'm not totally sure, but it's gonna be a couple blocks
to get to Chelsea Market from here.
So we are on our way.
We have just arrived to Chelsea Market,
the heritage classic market in New York City
and I know it's gonna be a busy day here as it is Saturday.
I just took a really quick walk though the market
but the number one place I wanna eat is Tacos No. 1
and it's kind of at the back of the market.
It's really, really busy.
There are about, I would say at least 50 people
in front of me, but I have gotten in line.
I don't think the line will take too long.
I'm gonna wait it out for some tacos.
The menu is pretty short and sweet.
They have tacos, tostadas, quesadillas,
but I'm gonna keep it all tacos
and I think I'll get one of all the tacos they have.
There's four different types that they have.
I'm about to place my order, that line didn't take too long.
- [Man Behind Counter] Have a good day guys.
- Thank you.
What's up man? - Hi.
- Can I have half and half. - Half and half, okay.
Everything on it? - Everything on it, yes.
(speaking Spanish)
- After you pay then you bring your receipt over here
and then you can either choose flour or corn tortillas.
And then they assemble them all right here.
It smells incredible, and they have a spit.
On the spit is adobada which is pork
and it definitely reminds me of the doner,
thank you man.
Tacos are ready.
Oh these are beauties.
These are absolute beauties.
I'm gonna just go on, so much good sauce.
Okay, I'll just go with some of this.
This salsa.
I decided to order one taco of each.
But inside it was so hectic and it was so busy,
it was so tight, the lighting was bad
and they were playing like, 10 different types of music
in the Chelsea Market so we took these plates of tacos
and came straight for the exit of the market
and then came to the park which is
right across the street.
On this plate are two of the tacos with corn tortillas
and I think this one is the adobada,
and this one is carne asada, and then they put
a handful of onions and cilantro
and also some guacamole and then I added on some salsa.
And I got some lemon wedges.
I got some fried chilies on the side.
Squeeze on some of that lime.
Rehydrate these tacos, some lime.
Oh yes, and then I think I'll just go
for that whole fried chili on there.
Oh yes, these are beauties. Absolute beauties.
Oh how I've missed Mexican food.
Tacos are one of the best things in the world.
Oh that is just incredibly good.
The meat has a little bit of a jerky meat taste.
It's nicely spiced.
And then with that guacamole,
there's also pineapple on here.
I got like a sweet burst of pineapple.
All those salsas, the onions, the cilantro.
I had that dried chili in that bite, too.
The dried chili is not very spicy but it is very fragrant.
And that's a good corn tortilla as well.
Wow, tacos are awesome.
That's a stunning taco.
Next up, the pollo asado
I'll move over to this plate.
And they've wrapped these into little cone shapes.
And these are the flour tortillas.
I almost forgot to squeeze on some lime.
Lime is a must, I love that extra sourness and acidity.
That's really good as well.
Smoky little pieces of chicken.
You've got the guacamole in there, the onions,
the cilantro, that dried chili,
and that tortilla is really good as well.
Even though it's been sitting for like ten minutes,
the tortilla has still held up with all those juices,
even though it's very thin as well.
That's a good tortilla.
Mexican food, and particularly tacos,
are one of the things I really miss living in Asia.
Next up is the nopal, and this is a type of cactus.
Add in that dried chili, oh and another half here.
And then, you can see the little pieces of cactus.
Squeeze on some lime.
I think this might be my first time to try this one.
They almost taste like green chilies,
but with a little more of a sliminess to them.
Yeah it has a sliminess similar to okra,
and then it has a little bit of a crispness as well.
This is a vegetarian taco.
And my final taco is carne asada.
It's getting juicy over here.
Squeeze on the final lime.
And then I forgot to get any spoon or fork,
so I have this pico de gallo here.
I'm gonna have to just eat it with my fingers first.
Smoky, flavorful beef. Not too tender.
It has a little bit of a grainy, meat texture to it
which is fantastic.
Those onions, the cilantro,
that squeeze of lime, the guacamole,
all the same ingredients that were on all the other tacos.
I love tacos, so much.
Those tacos went down so easily.
I am so happy right now.
I could easily go right back in there
and order another round of four tacos.
But I don't know if I'm gonna go back in
and wait out that line.
But they were really, really good tacos.
The adobada, in particular, was the best.
There is also, right in this area, the High Line Park,
which is an old railroad that has been converted into a park
and I think we're gonna walk around there
for a little while next.
And this is an old railroad track or train track
that goes right through New York City
and they've done a really nice job to make it into a park.
A lot of people here today
and because it's a railroad track,
it goes for a long distance and it's very thin.
Look at that view right now, and the flowers.
We walked all the way to the end of the High Line Park
and then came down the steps.
We're back on ground level now.
That is such a great way to recycle an old railroad track.
And not only that but they did a really good job with it.
The trees, the views, the different places to sit.
Ying and I spent about an hour back at the hotel
and we're now walking around.
We are staying in the Garment District
which is right next to Korea town,
so I thought it would be in order this evening
to have Korean food for dinner.
This restaurant is called Cho Dang Gol
and their specialty is sundubu which is the soft tofu.
And that is exactly what I'm gonna order,
and it happens to be one of my favorite Korean dishes
so that's one of the reasons I chose to come here.
This restaurant makes their own in house tofu
so it's homemade tofu and she just gave me a sample.
It looks like scrambled eggs.
Even though it's soy bean, it almost tastes like curd.
One of the best reasons to eat Korean food
is the banchan, which are all those little side dishes.
So she just brought them out.
We have six different things
and kimchi is one of my favorites.
Slightly fermented, it's nice and sour.
Fried eggplant, maybe?
Oh yeah. I think that's eggplant.
Thank you. Thank you.
I got the sundubu jjigae with mixed seafood
and I think there's some pork in here as well.
And it was bubbling away, this smells fantastic.
And let me tell you, this is a dish you wanna,
you wanna cool off before you take a big bite of it.
And even when you think it's cool,
you wanna blow on it for a little while longer.
Okay.
Follow with some rice.
And I think in here there are bits of squid.
Yeah, pieces of squid.
There is like, some zucchini,
and a mussel.
And then Ying and I also got a plate of japchae to share
which is the sweet potato noodles.
That's really good.
Nice and hot, gooey and sticky,
and you can taste that sesame oil and sesame seeds.
We're gonna walk back to the hotel from here.
I'm gonna end the vlog for today right now.
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