Thursday, August 26, 2010

Grubstreet Got it Twisted



Can a brother show a lil independent blog some love? haha. In my post 2 days ago, I was sayin that the blog which got my mind right was that goofy Han and Diana jumpoff but if you read Grubstreet they make like its all about the name critic (all good, misunderstanding). The Han and Diana blog is mad half baked and cracked me up. 2 shawties with cameras lettin off stray shots. But, I thought of all the reviews, they hit it dead on.

The problem with Xiao Ye in my mind isn't that the food wasn't good. If you read Gael's blog, she is mad "insatiable" as the blog says so no one's getting perfect reviews. She's hilarious. I just started reading it over the weekend after poontang gate lol. I was happy with her review as well as metromix. But the reason I changed isn't because some people like or didn't like the fried chicken. Its a philosophical change.

I did my takes on Taiwanese classics and my mom's homemade dishes at Xiao Ye the last few weeks. For instance, I tuck minced mushrooms into my pork on rice, I use sichuan peppercorns and agave nectar in the General Poke-Her-Face Head on Shrimp, Peanut Butter in the beef noodle soup. But my innovations aren't meant to change the taste of the classics. The goal was to keep a lot of the original flavors intact but to get there by different means and have a slight twist on the accent flavors. At a certain point though, you gotta listen to the people. Our customers came wanting an original expericne, they want that Aladdin "whole new world" shit LOL. I think our drinks, music, and space fulfill that expectation but the menu.... needed work.

I've never been the type to let customers run me over just cause they pay the bills. But when enough genuine people who care about what I'm doing tell me they're underwhelmed, I listen. My mom came and loved the food too but just like bron's mom told him to get his in Miami, my mom said no need to sit around making 100 year old recipes and adding peanut butter to it. The reason baohaus is dope is because there's a unique flavor profile and consistency while still maintaining the integrity of a Taiwanese Gua Bao. At Dericious, I'm gonna create an original flavor profile as well. I'm not really thinking about it, I"m just cooking what I like and it'll happen. Most of the menu is the result of getting dumb toasted and shopping at my corner bodega for groceries. If I can figure out a way to braise meat with Four Loko I should win Player of the Year. I'm just sayin......

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