restaurant week

we decided to make this first week of march our version of restaurant week! for our posts this week, we're going to feature recipes from some of our favorite places - places that inspire us, delight us and have a particular dish that we just can't get enough of. 

we were lucky enough to hear about momofuku noodle bar about a year before david chang was in every food magazine imaginable and now we make sure to get a few amazing pork buns every time we visit manhattan. gourmet magazine published the recipe for these amazing sandwiches in october 2007 and we finally got around to trying them at home this past week.  we recently received 8 pounds of pork belly from a friend (don't you wish all friends came with pork belly?!) and in addition to the bacon currently brining in the fridge, we knew we had to try the recipe. another great memory from that first visit to the crowded restaurant in the east village was discovering hitachino white ale. it's from the kiuchi brewery in japan and is a Belgian style white ale with plenty of orange peel and spices, plus the logo on the bottle and cap is the cutest little orange owl you've ever seen! unfortunately, the noodle bar no longer serves this fantastic beer but you can find it at specialty liquor stores and markets with amazing imported beer selections across the country. it is definitely worth seeking out and a great pair to the steamed pork belly buns. the recipe is a bit long with many steps but the end result is SO worth it - they taste exactly like the little pieces of heaven that put momofuku and all it's glory on the culinary map. get the recipe here, find some hitachino (or order it here) and have a pork bun party as soon as possible!