CORT - Yori House pt. 2

It’s day two of Yori House food aka leftovers because I ordered too much and was too ambitious with what my stomach is ready for in my old age. Check out my previous post for more info and my initial impressions on Yori House.

LOCATION: 114 ELM ST., CORTLAND NY, 13045

On the menu today is the Tan Tan Noodles from Yori House described as chicken broth with flavors of peanuts, chili oil, and black bean sauce for a savory, spicy kick served with noodles. When ordering I had the choice of ground pork or Shiitake mushrooms. Typically I would order pork but I love mushrooms and decided to go with a lighter protein since I also ordered the Shrimp pancake to balance that out. Pork is the more traditional choice with this Chinese plate but it’s not uncommon to use mushrooms when eating vegetarian.

The broth smelled amazing but I won’t lie, it was disappointing to have regular spaghetti noodles versus a rice noodle or an egg noodle. While Cortland might have a very small Asian population, I know there are Asian marts in nearby Syracuse and Ithaca so ingredients are not terribly difficult to find. Changing the noodles pushes the dish over too far into the American realm and takes away from a more authentic dish that could be achieved. Carrots and kale already take me out of it a little but there’s very little that makes this dish feel Asian to me. I’d buy just the broth if I could and leave the rest.

CORT - Yori House pt. 1

It’s finally arrived! Matt and Holly noticed that a Korean restaurant was going to open in Cortland soon and since it’s a small town it’s been a buzz with all our friends. Their grand opening was September 3rd but I noticed on their social media that the completely sold out the first day or two of opening and I figured most places get slammed their first week so it was a better idea to wait a little for things to settle so they’re not so crazy and have a chance to work out all the kinks in the operation. Then over this recent weekend one of our friends went and got a couple dishes and LOVED it so we were convinced that now is the time to go.

LOCATION: 114 ELM ST., CORTLAND NY, 13045

Yori House is a Korean restaurant thats a little more fusion with dishes like Chicken Tacos (Marinated chicken with pickled red cabbage and fresh lettuce drizzled in house dressing -Yum Yum sauce) and Kimchi Pork Fried Rice (both dishes that Caleb decided to order). I think it’s a smart choice to do a fusion to bring Korean flavors to Caucasian Cortland to expose people to the culture with ease. Adding familiar things like tacos and pasta but with Kimchi is much more modern and really great. I hope this gets them continued lines of customers so they can stay open for a long time.

As I said Caleb ordered the Kimchi Pork Fried Rice and the Chicken Tacos. While Yori house has interesting combinations of food, their menu is pretty limited clocking in at 21 dishes total. Salads, rice, noodles, tacos, rice bowls, and of course pancakes. I love Korean Seafood Pancakes which are total staples and Yori house has a Veggie Pancake or a Shrimp Pancake. In a farmland town like Cortland it’s not surprising that Yori house didn’t want to invest in a full seafood pancake. I think shrimp is a great choice for them and good enough for me so that was my first pick. At $10, it wasn’t a bad choice. The Shrimp Pancake is described as a Korean style pancake with shredded vegetables and shrimp. Simple and straight forward. I noticed on their menu that they don’t use too many unfamiliar Korean words or dishes. Very smart marketing for this town.

I was super excited about this Shrimp Pancake. It smelled so good upon opening the container and I could tell the edges were nice and crispy and the middle was still soft and chewy. This is one thick pancake per order and it came with two sauces. One i’m taking to be their house ‘Yum Yum sauce’ and the other being a green chili mayo sauce. Both tasted pretty good but I’m not a fan of green chili so I held off and went with the sweeter Yum yum sauce which was also a mayo consistency. I cut it with a pizza cutter (tips and tricks for ya out there, pizza cutters are great at cutting more than just pizza) and ate a little crumb off the cutter and my mouth exploded with flavor. This thing was perfect and tasted exactly like it’s supposed to taste. Authentic, hands down. As I said before, the consistency was perfect, crisp on the outside edge and warm and chewy and almost creamy in the middle. The onions and other vegges inside gave it a great crunch and was so satisfying. I ate half and was already filled up inside. I was so happy.

Caleb agreed after one bite if his Kimchi Pork Fried Rice he was in. He told his friends to order for Yori House after a couple mouthfuls. This place is at the top of ur list to revisit. Prices were reasonable and the service was great. The inside was super clean and they had a whole line of take out orders on their counter when I came to pick up mine and they were cranking them out super fast. I also ordered some Tan Tan Noodles which is chicken broth with flavors of peanuts, chili oil, and black bean sauce for a savory, spicy kick served with noodles. I love noodle soup and Tan Tan noodles or rather DanDan noodles are actually Chinese so it’s no wonder I would want this in craving home cooked authentic Asian foods. After the shrimp pancake I was too full to tackle a whole bowl of noodle soup so I saved it for tomorrow and I’m super excited to try it. Stay tuned for a review to come.

Gochujang-and-Sesame-Roasted Acorn Squash

Today we tackled the acorn squash and I’ve cooked it before but Caleb’s never had it so he wanted to try a Bon Appetit Gochujang and sesame roasted winter squash recipe. The recipe is designed for butternut squash specifically but they also list acorn or delicata squash as great substitutes so we decided to give it a shot.

All we had to do was slice the squash and toss it on some gochujang, sesame, oil, and soy sauce. I baked it for 30 or 40mins and it was soft and ready to eat! Easy.

I did top it with some scallions this time which added a nice brightness to the squash and overall it was great. The squash was soft and sweet and the gochujang added a nice little kick to finish. It was such a great balanced flavor and so easy which I love. I love squash season.

Sweet Corn Salad with Pancetta and Mushrooms

As I mentioned before, we have a ton of veggies included two more ears of sweet corn on the cob so I looked through my recipes and found this one from Food and Wine for a sweet corn salad with pancetta and mushrooms.

Of course, salad is a great way to use veggies and along with the corn I also had mushrooms that desperately needed to get used so I thought now would be a great time to try this recipe out.

I went to the store and had some difficulty finding pancetta so I decided to try salt pork which I’ve never used before. The recipe also calls for crimini mushrooms but I had baby bellas so that substitute would have to do as well. I bought a salad blend because that’s what I like a little more than frisée and went with a goat cheese instead of the recommended gruyére cheese. Clearly, this recipe was taken more as a guide but with cooking, I have no problem substituting ingredients. I’m the one eating the dish and it’s all fine with me.

I cooked the corn and cut the kernels off the cob, cooked the salt pork (which turns out, is just saltier bacon), and cooked the mushroom in the leftover pork fat. The mushrooms got this great earthy, meaty flavor which I loved and I ended up wishing I had just a little more mushrooms to add. I whisked lemon juice, honey, vinegar, and olive oil together and seasoned a little with some pepper since I knew the salt pork was already quite salty. I tossed everything in the dressing and called it a salad.

Overall, it was a really good salad that was super well balanced. The lemon juice was a little strong and I should’ve balanced the dressing a little more before tossing everything together but I like tart lemon juice so it wasn’t terrible or too overpowering. With the earthiness of the mushroom and the creamy goat cheese I was soo happy. The corn added such a nice sweet crunch when everything else got a little soggy and it was just a really great, filling salad. A great use of the veggies that I was super happy with.

Crispy Salt and Vinegar Potatoes

I am a lover of salt and vinegar chips and while I was sifting through my recipe cards I found this one for crispy salt and vinegar potatoes from Bon Appetite and decided to give it a shot. I was a little skeptical about the vinegar before I started and Caleb easily declined this side dish today so it was all for me and I was pretty excited about it.

The recipe was pretty simple, cut the potatoes in half or quarters, boil them in water and distilled white vinegar until tender then crisp them up in butter. I topped them with a little salt and pepper and a splash more of vinegar and served. Of course, I didn’t have chives because I’m always lacking in herbs but that was totally fine with me. Chives would’ve added a nice touch but I still enjoyed the flavor of the salt and vinegar potatoes alone. At first bite I was a little worried I didn’t have enough of the sour tart vinegar taste but I didn’t want to overwhelm myself initially so I did top it sparingly but once I really ate the potatoes and got into them the flavor of the vinegar-soaked into the potatoes while boiling really came out and it was really really delicious.

I’ve never considered a salt and vinegar potato before but I do love the chips on occasion and this was a really inventive way for me to mix up the potatoes a little bit. I’ve already recommended it to friends and I hope they enjoy it. It seems everyone has extra potatoes that need to be eaten but this is something new to that old classic favorite.