By Dara Pollak

PERILLAAAAAA!! I want to fall to my knees a la Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and bellow this from the depths of my soul. PERILLAAAAAAA!!!

Dramatic? Maybe. There is a reason, I promise, and that reason just might be made of duck. My friend Gil (who, you may have noticed, has been upgraded from cubemate to “friend”), has been going on and on about Perilla since we’ve met, and since I absolutely LOVED the meal, I felt it might be time to upgrade Gil from cubemate to “friend”. So congrats Gil, you are officially my “friend”. Be happy – not many people get to enjoy this privilege. And not many people get to dine with the Mayor of Perilla either; Gil checked in on Foursquare and was announced Mayor because he has been there so many times. A night of good fortune, I say! FYI being the Mayor of a restaurant has it’s perks…read on to see what I’m referring to.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are some photos of what the GFQ studio looked like before, during the renovation, and after.

I had to jump in here and say something, because if either of these bills pass, sites like mine (and many more much larger ones) will be privy to the censorship of the US Government. If you haven’t heard or read about the SOPA or PIPA acts yet, click here and watch the video. Because if you’re reading this, chances are you will agree that it’s a load of bullshit.

To give you a brief rundown of these acts: the US Government will have the ability to shut down, sue, or even send people to jail for infringing ONE link or ONE piece of copyrighted material on their blog or website. Big corporations may cut off funding sources to infringing websites by having US-based advertisers cancel their accounts, PIPA can sue US-based search engines, blogs and forums to have links removed, and some sites may even be blacklisted, meaning they won’t show up in search engines. If passed, these acts can cripple startup companies as well (who rely on a lot of social media tactics), simply if the Government feels that they aren’t filtering their content well enough. Social media websites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook can look like piracy magnets and will be open for censorship and abuse; and since they will be tampering with DNS (Domain Name Systems) and security, the internet will become less safe and less reliable at the same time. Users can be sent to jail for years simply for using a video clip or copyrighted song in their blog or website. The “Solution” is about as bad, if not worse, than the “Problem”.

The vast database where you can find practically anything, speak your mind, and share content is being attacked and for what? Because someone used a Lady Gaga song in the background of one of their YouTube videos? The scary thing is, some folks would say yes, that makes sense. And thus begins the breakdown of one of the greatest forms of technology ever created: the internet. I can sum this up in two words: THIS BLOWS. Not very poignant, but the truth.

This is especially a problem for small sites (like mine) who don’t have the ability/money to defend themselves. I’m all for trying to stop piracy of copyrighted material, but where is the line? The Government is tampering with the internet so people will put even MORE money into Hollywood entertainment. #REALLY? Believe me if I had the opportunity to take back some of the money I’ve spent on the CRAP that Hollywood puts out there these days, I would. Example. Fast Five in the movie theater: $12. Honey Badger or Shit Girls Say on YouTube: $0. Yea that about sums it up. Seriously I’m not even kidding.

If you want to help and try to put a stop to this, click here and sign the online petition. I know I did.

Read more posts by Dara Pollak at her food blog, The Skinny Pig.

Wedged in between the likes of basmati rice and raita in Curry Hill sits The Three Hens, a non-Indian, contemporary restaurant featuring American comfort food with fun and exotic twists. I have to say that I enjoyed some of these twists, while others just left me a little perplexed or indifferent. One that left me perplexed in a good way was, believe it or not, the bread basket and honey butter with hay ash. Yea…about that…

So hay ash is apparently exactly what it sounds like. Hay, burned then ground into a smoky ash, and in this case, dusted on top of some sweet honey butter. The purpose? Aside from that cool carbon color, it is believed to pull out the sweetness from the honey butter with a smoky finish. I didn’t really get a lot of smoke, but either way I could have eaten that stuff with the fresh warm bread all day.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

Creative, beautiful, delicious. These are all words I would use to describe David Burke’s cooking in general, but more specifically, it describes my brunch at David Burke Kitchen on Saturday. Following some unnecessary (but enjoyable) spending at the Bloomingdale’s friends and family sale with my friend Alex, we had a totally necessary and delicious brunch.

The space at David Burke Kitchen is adorned with photos of food purveyors and farmers, which leads into the concept of the restaurant, which is locally sourced, wholesome food.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

If you’re anything like me, one of the reasons you live in NYC is the abundance of takeout spots and proximity to all things deliciousness. Though doesn’t it frustrate you when you can’t get your favorite sandwich or dessert delivered because they simply “don’t do delivery”? Yes. Problems. Fortunately, the online ordering giants at GrubHub are kicking off Digital Food Fest tomorrow, Sep 21st, which will run through Oct 14th. What exactly does this mean for you? It means you can order special items online that you wouldn’t normally see like Peanut Butter & Co’s amazinggg Elvis sandwich (all natural pb, bananas, honey, and bacon), or Katz’s classic pastrami on rye. Drool.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

Perhaps one of New York’s best brunch spots, Egg, is located on North 5th street in my lovely neighborhood of Williamsburg, though I rarely come here because the wait is usually outrageous. But my mom happens to really enjoy it, so I put our names down last Saturday and within barely 15 minutes, we had a table. I was amazed and delighted…

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

Here’s hoping that Hurricane Irene doesn’t pay us a visit until late Sunday or Monday, because then you can enjoy what’s left of the summer this weekend at OpenHouse Gallery’s two “cool” events, Cool Cravings and the Cupcake Cakewalk. I happen to have two tickets to each event and I am ready to give them to YOU, lucky readers. Just email me with the event name in the subject line (either Cool Cravings or Cupcake Cakewalk, whichever you prefer to go to) and I will pick the 5th email I receive for each one as the winner. Sound good? Almost as good as the lineups..

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

I go to Greece for one week and when I come back No. 7 Sub has three new sandwiches. The NERVE. It started when my cubemate friend Gil showed up the other day with a sandwich for lunch. He got the “Filet-o-Fish” which is adapted from the ever-popular (though never a favorite of mine) Filet-O-Fish from McDonalds. I will eat many things but fish from a fast food chain was always a big fat NO in my mind, but I hold No. 7 Sub to a different standard, so I gave it a bite.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

Being of half-Jewish descent by way of Romania, I don’t know much about many of the Jewish holidays (sorry Safta), but I know a thing or two about falafel. And hummus. I had both recently from the Taim Mobile Falafel Truck, and I was very happy; even the fries with saffron mayo were salty, crispy and delicious.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

I think my stomach is still readjusting to food in the US, so I haven’t been eating out as much as I’d like these past few days. As I sit here feasting on water and crackers, I will torture myself (and yourself) by posting some pics of the many greek salads and phyllo-encrusted delicacies I had while I was in Greece…sigh…

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.

In honor of Bastille Day, French restaurants all over town are offering prix-fixe menus for the first annual French Restaurant Week (July 10-July 17th). Personally, I think they could have done a better job at some of these menus, but they’re also competing with Restaurant Week which might not have been the best move. Here’s my pick for best offer.

Le Comptoir in Williamsburg will have three menus during the week – a four course dinner menu including options like hangar steak and bordelaise sauce, homemade gnocchi with bacon, shrimp and arugula, and brioche bread pudding for dessert for $29, a Bar menu with a charcuterie plate and glass of red wine for $17.89 and a Weekend Brunch menu with one entree and one bloody mary or mimosa for $17.89 as well.

Read the rest of this blog at The Skinny Pig Blog.