Little is Better

keylimes
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Today was the last day on American Gangster for Karen, so I went to get a treat for us.
I rode my bike up 11th ave, which was scary because of all of the Lincoln Tunnel traffic and because I can't stop thinking about the two people who recently got run over on their bikes last week. But I made it to the Little Pie Company in one piece and bought a key lime pie because they are tart. Karen has a very tart sense of humor and we were calling her the proptart, so it works. Riding south on 10th Ave was scary because I was scared my pie and mini cheesecakes were going to fly off the back of my bike. Then, much to my horror, a cop on a horse started trotting in front of me! I couldn't pass them on the left because the traffic was bumper to bumper to the Tunnel. I like horses, but that one did not seem happy, it kept on snorting and turning around, it was unnerving. I rode like a slug praying that the horse wouldn't poop in front of me.
Picture is a photo I took last year when I was working on "The Departed." The plain pie is from www.littlepiecompany.com Little Pie Company ($19) and the dressed up one was from Billy's ($25). I added the lime slices to Billy's because we had left over ones from the margaritas. We conducted a taste test and decided that while http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/ Billy's (184 9th Ave. bw 21&22nd) is prettier and had a thicker crust, Little Pie Co.(407 W. 14th St. & 424 W. 43rd St.) is better because the filling was tarter and limier.

kyle

kyle
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

My friend Kyle's film ROOM has a week's run at the Pioneer (Weds 6/28 - Fri 7/7. The screening this Wed. will be introduced by Kyle and followed by a discussion with reps from the Joseph Campbell Foundation and the New York Jung Association. I'm going to buy tickets for the show tonight. I hope there are some left. I know this isn't really food related, but the Pioneer is owned by Two Boots pizza, a great place to get a slice. And they have an awesome peanut butter pie at their sit down restaurant across the street.

enids

enids
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Remember when some bitch called me fat on my own blog entry? I had eaten at Egg in Williamsburg, and I left hungry. I was annoyed and that person was annoyed that I was annoyed. Anyway, I said that if I wanted brunch with a Southern flavor and I was in Billyburg, I thought it was better to go to Enid's. And it still is! Last weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair in McCrarren Park so before Carol and I overdosed on wacky teeshirt designs, we needed food. I got the toad in the hole and Carol got the veggie burger. The burger was good, homemade and it had a little spice of something that made it quite red. My fried toast with two eggs was straight forward and filling. I also had a side of yummy greens, but it's literally off to the side for the photo.

Pee on me!

The Strangers With Candy movie finally opens June 28 at the Landmark Sunshine! Can you see Amy in the picture behind Dave and Steve? Apparently she signs her autograph with "pee on me." Here's what I think you should do next Friday: get a big group of friends together, go to Lil'Frankie's (19 1st Avenue bw 1st & 2nd St.), order the Frankie's salad, get a pizza pie, order some cocktails, (the Key lime pie tastes remarkably like the real thing). Then get more beer at the bodega and smuggle it in to the theater. Guaranteed good time. But friends and booze are essential.
Last night I went to the premiere of Strangers with Candy for friends and booze. The party was at Dylan's Candy Bar. The owner is Ralph Lauren's daughter, so I thought there would be candy from all over the world. I mean, I figured she's kind of a wealthy curator of candy, so why not search out interesting wackiness? The gummy teeth were the most fun, but the usual jelly bellies, m&m's and sour patch candies were all free at the party, so I'm not really complaining, just commenting. Note: If you want more interesting stuff, go to the Lower East Side and Economy Candy (108 Rivington Street) or the Sweet Life (63 Hester St.).
Let's move on to the food. Now, I've told you how I was disappointed with my last wrap party's food, right? Basically it was a movie about a French trained chef, but the food for the party was sliders and chicken on a stick. It didn't go with the concept of the movie.

Strangers with Candy is trashy fun, so the Costco food was perfect! Chicken nuggets (salty&greasy delicious), mini sliders (they were tinier than regular sliders), pigs in a blanket (really making a comeback—this is the 3rd party I've been to with these salty suckers), bagel pizzas (not as gross as they looked), BLT bites (my favorite—it seemed healthy with that little grape tomato, though the bacon could have been crisper), paper cups of mac&cheese (these were a hit, though I thought the mac wasn't cheesy, but greasy and it seemed uncouth to squeeze the cup's contents into the mouth). I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I didn't get trashed on the free wine and beer, didn't eat too much salty food, but I did eat a ton of candy. It's now sitting on the craft service table at work calling my name. When candy calls, you better answer.
Below, you'll see me being bummed that this guy isn't holding a food tray, but a trash tray. There were little trays of chocolate covered mini oreos, goobers, and yogurt covered rice crispies. I wondered if they were trying to get rid of old stock.

Simple sandwich

This new movie I'm on now is another big budget spectacle, so I was expecting a fancier office. Two weeks ago the ceiling in the accounting area and craft service area collapsed and ruined some computers and lots of paperwork. Rumor has it that the Moonies cult that is a couple floors above us stopped up the sink to flood the place. On the bright side, I'm digging having my own office and the craft services are consistent. Mostly stuff from Costco, but I really love the effort the production assistants put into styling the snacks. Things are getting busy, but once the director is in the house, there will be a lovely spread and I'll post some photos.
We're located in an area of town that isn't my favorite for dining, so getting lunch delivered isn't always quality. I've managed to find some good stuff, but not much. Yesterday I ran an errand and just wanted a good sandwich and a smoothie. There's a little cafe called Amazonia where I grabbed a smoothie—more on that later. I want to talk about my sandwich.
Trio French Bakery (469 9th Ave. bw 37th/38th)is a bare bones place, the card says they specialize in bread, rolls, breadsticks & toast(?) for hotels and restaurants. They make cookies, but strangely they are the Italien variety and they're not my favorite. The sandwiches are the real find here. For 4 bucks, I got this HUGE turkey and provolone with lettuce, tomato and mustard on a really great wheat hoagie roll. There are so many delis that use shredded iceburg and boring sliced bread, but because Trio has so many kinds of freshly baked bread, you know that the meat (they also slice up ham and salami, and cheese are really going to shine. I rounded out the meal with chips from the craft service table. Doritos Black pepper Jack and Kettle chips with cracked black pepper. The Doritos are stupid (who needs another flavor besides orange cheese?), but the cracked pepper potato chips are quite good. They're thick and hard and I detected a vinegar flavor, but I can't check the ingrediants because the bag is gone. I didn't eat them all! Okay, gotta go, someone's calling me.

I don't know much, but I know I love you, Lalibela

lalibela
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

I don't know much about Ethipian food, other than I love it. Whenever I go to Washington DC, I always try to eat at Lalibela Restaurant. It's my favorite place to go because the food is delicious, it's cheap and it's fast. Need I say more? I can tell you on the vegetarian sampler ($9), which is enough to share for two, there are greens, potatoes and carrots, yellow lentils, two kinds of red lentils, tomato and onion salad, braised cabbage and carrots, all served on and with the signature bread, injera. I had to consult the website ethiopianrestaurant.com to get the proper names and to tell me more about injera. It's really fascinating! Injera is a crepe-like bread that always reminds me of old lady skin. It's full of little holes from the fermentation process of the grain it's made of called teff. The bread has the tang of sourdough with a cool moistness that goes great with some of the more fiery sauces. I had no idea the proper way to hold the injera was to have the pores face the food, but it makes sense, the little holes absorb the sauces better.
Here are the proper names of the dishes pictured (I think!)starting with the greens then going clockwise. Unfortunately there were no descriptions of what the types of spices are used. But that's what makes it so yummy and mysterious. Also because languages get translated into different spellings, the names may not be the same. I was looking at different restaurant menus and they all spell things differently.

Gomen - collard green cooked to perfection with spices
Atkilt Salata - boiled potatoes, jalapeno mixed in salad dressing
Aterkik Alitcha - split peas prepared with light sauce
Shiro Alitcha - mild split peas are milled together & slow cooked or is it Shiro Wot?- split peas are milled together and slow cooked
Misir Wot - pureed split red lentil are simmered berbere sauce
Misir Alitcha - pureed split red lentil are simmered in mild sauce
(I'm not sure which one was spicy, but I think the chunkier one in the middle.)
Timatim Selata - tomatoe salad, onions, jalapeno & lemon juice
Atkilt Wot - cabbage, carrots, potatoes simmered in sauce

Well, whatever the stuff is called, it's really really good. Don't be turned off by the slightly odd texture of injera. It's different but terrific!
Lalibela
1415 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone (202) 265-5700
In NYC, there are a few Ethopian places, the ones that are downtown are: Awash #2 - 338 East 6th Street and Ghenet - 284 Mulberry St. If you want to try them with me, tell me. It's the kind of stuff you need to eat with friends.

Rich & Eoin Make Quail with "Truffles" Part 3

These were hard to shoot because this location kitchen was in the basement where it was pretty dark. There was a lot of noise as well with the rest of the shooting crew running around. The craft service dude was quite chatty and trying to edit his voice out was quite the challenge. There was also a parking PA that ended up being rather helpful, he shot the bit at the end for me.

Rich & Eoin Make Quail with "Truffles" Part 2

Real truffles are quite expensive, so props assistant Eoin conducts some test on how to fake a sliced truffle. This was shot on location at a restaurant that we used for the Untitled Scott Hicks Film. It used to be called Hue before it closed for business and was located on Bleecker near Charles St. The movie restaurant is called 22 Bleecker, but if you actually try looking for that address, you'll end up next to the Planned Parenthood close to the Bowery!

Rich & Eoin Make Quail with "Truffles" Part 1

The following 3 one minute videos were actually one long sequence, but I split them up to put on YouTube. While I was working on the last movie, I went to set every now and then to bug the peeps in props. Rich and Eoin make faux cooking fun. Because one day of shooting can last up to 14 hours these guys were cooking like mad all day, but they still managed to have fun. Luckily the food didn't have to actually taste that good. Food that had sexy closeups were prepared, then styled by a food stylist I never actually met. This minute introduces you to Rich and Eoin and the dish they are preparing. Top Chef LeeAnne Wong developed the menu for us.