Only One Week Left for Cer Te’s Chubby Porky
This month marks the second time the Chubby Chinese Girl lives in infamy via a sandwich at Cer Te (55th btw 5+6th). It’s hard to follow up to last year’s Chubby Chinese Girl, especially since it’s still available on Thursdays. But once I saw that this sandwich involved crisped pork belly braised with soy and beer, I knew it had to be a winner. They should seriously consider taking Chubby Chinese Girl on as a sandwich consultant.
This sandwich is one to make all your Asian cravings happy. The pork belly, rubbed with brown sugar, salt, and Chinese five spice, braised, and then crisped in a fryer, is beyond excellent. The fat and skin carmelize enough to make it crispy and deliciously sticky. With the pork are watercress and toasted sesame seeds in a sweet sauce, adding a nice crunch and flavor to the overall sandwich. The only part I wasn’t too keen on was the toasted brioche-it was too big and stiff for comfortably eating, but no other bread I could think of would nicely hold the sandwich together while not overwhelming the contents. I found the pineapple slices on the side helped nicely with cutting the fat from the pork, and wished that they had incorporated that into the sandwich itself. Regardless, it’s a wonderful, filling lunch and I highly recommend picking one up before the end of the month.
Posted by Blondie at 8:30 am, June 23rd, 2011 under Certe.
6 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
6 Comments
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I had it and thought it was a bit too salty and sweet for my tastes but maybe I got it on the wrong day.
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Is Midtown Lunch going to cover the C grade? Will they cover the missing sign at Certe? I’m surprised that this story is out there, but not the story about the C grade. And they’ve have a C since February. Where’s the sign Certe?
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Not to play ML/DOH police but I sent in a photo of the C a few weeks ago…At the time they had crushed it into the lowest most hidden corner of their door.
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The C is completely gone right now. They left a B up there up until a couple weeks ago. And if you look, Certe has had a C since February. Now the B is mysteriously gone and there is no C either.
Take a look at Pizza by Certe. They are an A now, but have 32 points in the last inspection which is worthy of a C as well.
MidtownLunch has posts about others C’s. Where’s the post about Certe’s?
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Dear Midtown Readers:
Just to give you some insight on Certe’ and our challenges with the DOH. Our philosophy is to give a “from scratch” high quality product, with value. This presents many challenges in the Midtown area due to landlords, vendors & the DOH. The website that you read was built on the notion of getting a great lunch at great price. The reason why this has not been possible in Midtown is because of the amount of each sq. ft. costs. That is why the only options are mainly fast food and high-end dining. What we do in a 3,200 sq. ft. place would take a normal restaurant about 10,000 sq. ft. As we grow, we refuse to take short cuts such as ready made food. The violations we received are mainly based on non-food items. We are committed to buying from the right sources and ensuring that we feed our customer the proper product.
Without realizing, the DOH is contributing to the McDonaldization of NYC and we refuse to bend. After all, it is much easier to store frozen & canned products, than fresh products. We are adamant about preparing our food on-premise and not having a hidden off-premise commissary that is under the radar of the DOH. The DOH hardly grades on cleanliness & they do not reward for superior products. They are more concerned about temps and holding points. We lost 15 points just on the fact the building did not have hot water, although we have a booster that heats the water as it comes through our space. We are currently appealing the C, which is why we have not displayed the sign. Anyone is welcome to take a tour of both facilities, Pizza by Certe’ (3 star Certified Green Restaurant) and Certe’… at anytime. If you do not have time to come back, go to the DOH website and read the actual violations we received. We are patiently waiting our next inspection, which we feel confident that we will receive the A that is due to us.
The sandwich sure does look good…but Cer Te’s continually slipping DOH grade is keeping me from rushing over there. They are at a 38 Point “C” grade right now. Granted, some of the carts and trucks I eat from probably wouldn’t fare any better.