I EAT NY

Otto Gelato

2009-08-16T20:32:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, I started writing a post about my frozen yogurt addiction and the rehab program I developed to combat it, but the gelato we ate after brunch with the ex Moxie Firecrackers is more exciting. People talk about the pizzas at Otto, but that's not what I crave when I pass the restaurant. I remember the first time I had their olive oil gelato fondly. The surprise of sea salt in the fruity (yes fruity!) cream creates a pop of savoriness that makes your tongue water. The drizzle of bright olive oil on top adds luxurious texture. Somehow, I'm able to justify the 10 dollar price of a dessert when it's that good. J was an olive oil gelato virgin so she got that, mint chocolate chip and salted caramel and C got plum sorbet, chocolate, and the famous olive oil. Since I knew I could taste their olive oils, I got the sweet corn gelato with polenta cake, nectarine sorbet, blackberries, and zabayon cream. The corn was indeed sweet. Its smoothness contrasts with the crumbly cake perfectly. The sorbet and blackberries add a refreshing tartness which balanced the richness of the gelato. A perfect summer dessert.
As for Otto, the restaurant was shockingly empty at about 2pm on Sunday. We pulled up an extra chair at the bar and were seated comfortably. The water service was attentive and the bartender let us linger a long time. I really haven't been to Otto in a long time because it's always so crowded in the bar area and the back restaurant and I don't like the stand up bars in front because I'm too short and have bad feet. But because the city is empty during the summer weekends, I know I'll be back for more gelato! Who's coming with me? 1 Fifth Ave. at 8th St.

Currywurst is the Best!

2009-05-04T22:05:00.008-04:00

Two weeks ago, work was shooting in the East Village, so I could finally try currywurst! I'd seen Best of the Wurst, a film about the curry and ketchup covered sausage in Berlin, but I forgot about it until I saw this article in the Village Voice alerting me to the deliciousness of Weschsler's Currywurst and Bratwurst (1st Ave. & E.7th St between the deli and the International Bar.) There must be some kind of powered drug in the curry that's shaken onto the homemade tomato sauce because I can't stop thinking about currywurst. We shot at the same location last week, so I got to go back for lunch. I sat in the front of the bar near the beer taps and chatted with the owner (his name starts with B, but I can't remember it). We talked about the neighborhood and how other small restaurants are popping up on East 7th St. The prices of these artisan foods had to be on the high side because the ingredients are the best quality and the rents are definately expensive.
The currywurst I ordered is the smaller snack sized version for $6. Maybe it's pricey, but for some reason because the dish is two components, it doesn't seem too steep to me. The fries are shoestring type, so they are crunchy and light—perfect for dipping in the savory tomato sauce. The curry powder adds a nice spice but the sausage has it's own spiciness. Made of veal and pork, the sausage is juicy and snappy.
The second time I went to Weschlers, I ordered the pretzel which is from a famous bakery, but the kinks still need to be worked out on this item. I'm sure the next time I go the pretzel will be better. But the real discovery was the sip of the apple wine that B let me sample. It is only 3percent alcohol and he mixed it with a bit of seltzer which lightened and brighten the flavors of the apple cider. It wasn't sweet like the usual hard cider and it wasn't musky like Spanish cider, rather, it was just smooth and mellow. There's other stuff to eat at Weschlers, but I'm so taken with the currywurst, I have yet to try the kale, potato salad or any of the other sausages.

Tax Time

2009-02-28T23:54:00.002-05:00

I've finally looked at all the Important Tax Information paperwork piling up on my couch. What was the Caps Inc. W2? Then I remembered the Fruit by the foot 50 ft. fruit roll up commercial! Ah the memories. Spraying the production designer's shoe to clean off the poo he had stepped in before meeting with the director. Looking through the end of the day garbage bags for the color correct hero fruit rollups that someone threw away. Accidentally and illegally driving the box truck on the West Side Highway. Good times.
The job I liked the most was the steak almanac for Esquire magazine. Working for this stylist was a real pleasure. I love her style, it's casual, reality based and low stress. The photos in person are drool worthy. But while on set, I thought the meat was kind of gross. The best way to eat steak is just with salt and pepper, then grilled outside. Or in Buenos Aires.

Obama for dessert!

2009-01-20T17:47:00.002-05:00

These delicious treats are from Eleni's in the Chelsea Market. Happy Inauguration Day!

Farewell ThinkFilm

2008-12-13T11:35:00.018-05:00

Thursday I went to ThinkFilm's last party. It wasn't as fun as the one we did for the Agronomist, but foodwise, this one was better because there was so much of my favorite kind of food. Free food! The movie was Good. Viggo Mortenson is the star of the film which is set during the Holocaust, so the venue was the Jewish Museum. The museum has fantastic views of Lower Manhattan and the deck houses the outdoor rock installation by Andy Goldsworthy. Espirit Events catered and their food is all Kosher. And nothing says party and Kosher more than pigs in a blanket! The blanket was actually made out of a phylo instead of a bready dough which was then sprinkled with sesame seeds, thus making it a bit messy. Sternos were keeping the chafing dishes warm, so the layers weren't especially crispy, but it didn't matter, those salty bites hit the spot. That same phylo and sesame seed combination was wrapped around mashed potato in little triangle shaped knishes. There were also some sliced turkey wrap pinwheels. The veggie display was particularly nice. They weren't just on a plate with dips in the middle. Instead, real baby carrots and other crudite were arranged vertically in glass vases for dipping into three mayo based dips and big bowls of baba ghanoush and hummus.
So many of these kinds of parties skimp on the sweets. This is a mistake. Serving fruit is nice for your guests as a palate cleanser. Very important since the hummus contains garlic. And while segregating people is wrong, separating your fruit is attractive and allows people to choose what they want, thus avoiding the waste that can occur with a mixed up fruit salad. There were some lovely desserts including cheesecakes, which was a nice tie in to one of the props in the movie. My favorites were the petit fours. In this time of recession, I hear the holiday party is being scaled back, so it was really nice to let loose and live a little. Thanks for the good times, ThinkFilm.

I wish I was here

2008-12-07T12:13:00.008-05:00

But I'm not, so I'll make up something to look forward to as I reminisce about my vacation in Argentina. Liza is back on Broadway! Holiday parties are upon us! I'll be wearing elastic waistband pants this season because of all the amazing steak I ate in Argentina. My visit to the doctor today was more like Catholic confession. Forgive me, Dr. C, it's been more than 3 years since my last appointment. I've been eating steak and fried potatoes and drinking wine every day for the last week. But I just couldn't help it. Everything was just so darn yummy and cheap! One of the favorite steaks of the trip was a suggestion from the fantastic book The Authentic Bars, Cafe's and Restaurants of Buenos Aires . El Palacio de La Papa Frita is on a tourist filled shopping street but besides us, I only saw one other table of tourists. The rest of the folks were families and businessmen. The book is great because it tells you what the restaurant is known for and as the name says, the palace is known for fried potatoes. The papas souffles are amazing because they're almost a cross between a potato chip and a French fry. Somehow they are puffed with air, so the outside gets crispy while the inside is creamy and potato-y. It's not a clear way to describe something, but it's the best flavor of the thing itself. That also goes for the steak, the bife de chorizo. That cut didn't have the bone on it, but it was still sooooo flavorful. We split the steak and the waiter cut the meat with a spoon it was so tender. The juices pool on the plate and mix with the egg yolk in such a way that makes a really nice sauce. There's no need for ketchup when you have that stuff to dip into. Might sounds gross if you don't like eggs, but I love eggs and I loved that meal. Two drinks, an appetizer of provoleta (cheese layers with ham then grilled), the steak, and the potatoes was 100 pesos. In American dollars that's about 33 bux. In NYC, the steak alone would cost you that much! If you go to Buenos Aires, you will be on Ave. Corrientes because it's near all the tshirt shops and you should eat at the Palace.

Taking Woodstock Wrap Dinner

2008-11-07T12:42:00.005-05:00

I've been upcountry for the past couple of months working on the new Ang Lee movie, Taking Woodstock. It's over now and in my time of unemployment I'm left with tons of food pictures and some stories. If you like this one and if the Beatles don't sue me for using their song, I'll make more.

Voter Fraud Begone!

2008-11-04T14:55:00.004-05:00

I'm really glad to be back in the city so that I can vote, but I just got a case of anxiety listening to a radio show about election fraud. This morning started out great though. My dentist said my teeth were boring, there were no cavities and he gave me an election day discount. The sun was shining, birds were singing. When I got to the polls, kids were crying, there were lines. There was yelling. Miraculously, I didn't have to wait, it took me 2 minutes to vote, but I walked out a little disappointed. I wanted to get to know the people in line, make faces at the babies. Talk about the excitement. Then there were no stickers that said I voted, so I couldn't get any of the free stuff that's being given out to voters. Starbucks coffee, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Krispy Kreme donuts, vibrator at Babeland! Now I'm back at my messy apartment trying to figure out how to organize all the pictures I've taken of food from my last job this summer.

2008-06-06T10:38:00.005-04:00

Oh wow. I didn't realize that so much time had gone by since my last post. I started a new gig in the oh so glamorous town of Yonkers. The movie should be good as the director is one of the best in the business, but we're all kind of scared of the impending actor's strike. I took a week off to assist a food stylist on some print ads. The experience was fabulous and as I was eating the celebratory cream puff and drinking a plastic glass of champs, all I could think was, this is the life! Do I have to go back to Yonkers?
The industry I work in is all lies, but it's also funny and beautiful. A portion of my job this week was sorting through huge plastic bags of frozen prepared foods that make up a certain brand of Weight Loss frozen food meals. Here's a picture of the more perfect grilled chicken chunks next to the rejected chunks. The rejects went into the trash. A lot like life, right? Needless to say, when our lovely catered lunch from D'Orazio on Cornelia St. came into the studio, I just couldn't eat the grilled chicken breast on greens salad. However, almost everything else from D'Orazio was really delicious. Well, except this one peach tart that looked gorgeous, but the peaches were too tart and the marzipan tasteless. I still ate that beautiful lie. The other desserts they sent us were yummy, though. Angel food cupcakes with pistachio cream and a cherry on top. Their apple tart tatin was simple and delicious. We had several nice salads of asparagus and avocado, green beans and roast potatoes, beet and endive, but my favorite dishes they sent were the tomato tart, crust was deliciously buttery and the tomatoes rendered sweet from roasting. I also enjoyed their terrific eggplant parmigiana. D'Orazio goes on my vendor list for catering. No pictures of their food though. I was the newbie of the group, so I felt a little shy. I did snap this photo of my boss turning her heat gun on some pesky American cheese. It wouldn't melt the way the client wanted it. We went through 20 rounds of this Canadian bacon and about the same pieces of cheese. I was happy to slice it up, though. Using a meat slicer is fun! I can't wait to update my resume and put that in my skills section.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

2008-05-09T16:19:00.001-04:00

Fast food is bad. The last time I ate at a McDonald's, it was the year 2000. McD's was right around the corner from my office. I had a burning hunger in my stomach and 1.07 in my pocket, just enough to get a dollar double cheeseburger. The burning hunger quickly turned into a burning pain, and I didn't think I'd make it on the 20 minute subway ride in time.
I will never forget that pain, so as a result, I only eat burgers from places that have fresh meat. Like Five Guys! I know it's a chain. Those places are all about profit not nourishment, but 5G seems different to me. The product is good and it's not too expensive. The employees don't seemed disgruntled. The interiors are clean. While you wait for your order, they provide peanuts on the shell to munch on. It's a nice touch. The ingredients are real. I saw whole potatoes in bags, ready to be cut for the fries. The patty is thin, but the meat tastes fresh and it's cooked on the griddle using the smash method. The price isn't dollar menu, but it's still under ten bucks.
I've been to Five Guys in DC and was always glad that they weren't in NYC, because I love Burger Joint and Shake Shack. But those places are always soooo crowded, and if I'm alone and craving meat, I just can't wait that long! Besides, I'm usually looking for something quick before seeing a movie, it's nice to have the option of the midtown and downtown Five Guys.

Located at 55th St. bw 5/6th Ave in Midtown, this 5G is perfect if you're going to see something at the MOMA, the Ziegfeld or the Paris. If your movie is at Lincoln Center, go to Burger Joint because it's closer. I'm sure Five Guys is a mob scene at lunch, but I've only been there on off hours, and they still cooked the burger to order and the fries were fresh from the fryer. In my opinion, the burger at Burger Joint is tastier because it's better seasoned, but Five Guys has the benefit of free toppings like jalapenos, sauteed mushrooms and onions, green peppers and a choice of condiments. Be careful if you get the "little" single patty burger, though. I ordered too many free toppings and they overpowered the meat, but if you slide them off the burger it makes for a sort of salad. As for fries, BJ has the thin shoestring type for 3 bucks, while 5G hand cuts for a meatier fry and it's a quarter cheaper. The fries are dumped into a styrofoam cup and then into a brown bag, so there are actually at least 2 servings in there. For price, 5G wins because their one patty "little" hamburger is 4.25. Burger Joint's one patty is $7. Pictured is Five Guy's cheeseburger. It's 2 patties for 6.25. Downtown at 496 Laguardia Place between Houston and Bleeker, that Five Guys location is good for a quick bite before a movie at the Angelica or even Film Forum. I revisited an old technique for getting hamburger taste without the actual ham. Back in the day at the Dobie Theater in the mall, we were right across from the Burger King. Our cleaning guy, Alberto worked there, so we would get food there, but we would never order the meat. They thawed the frozen patties and kept them in water before they threw them on the grill. Nasty. So we'd order a cheeseburger without the meat. Essentially a processed cheese sandwich it was not terrible tasting and very cheap.
Last night, I really only wanted the fries, but then I saw the veggie or grilled cheese option. Grilled cheese on a bun sounded boring, but melted cheese with the sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions sounded good! I'm a big fan of melted American cheese, it acts like a glue that keeps the veggies in the sandwich. Ordering a sandwich is key because it's wrapped in foil. You can use that foil to top the cup of fries to eat later. There's enough fries in the small order that falls into the brown paper bag to eat with the sandwich. Then the next day you can have french fry salad! Yes folks, for health and frugality, reheat the fries in the toaster oven and throw them in your salad at lunch. That's literally what I ate today. Kind of like a salad Nicoise without the tuna, olives, greenbeans, tomatoes all I had was lettuce, hardboiled egg and carrots (yeah, i know no carrots in Nicoise) in the fridge. Sad but true and still kind of good. Heehee!

Froggy Bottom

2008-05-05T12:22:00.005-04:00

This big guy is a Smokey Jungle Frog. He's got big thigh muscles (hamstrings?) that allow him to jump, but that's also what makes him so tasty. I saw the National Geographic frog exhibit in Washington DC and the reference to mountain chicken reminded me of the first time I had frog legs at Raoul's. This particular kind of frog is native to Central and South America. According to the exhibit info, a species from the Caribbean island of Dominica is now endangered because of frog leg lovers. I just don't think about frog that much because I don't eat them much?! I see them in Chinatown during the summer months, and when they're purchased, they're just stuck in a plastic bag. Cooking them live is probably annoying because they could be noisy unlike lobster. Perhaps if frog legs were mainstream, Red Lobster might have a sister restaurant named Green Frog. Thinking about frogs reminds me that Carissa's friend's documentary, Manda Bala came out on DVD last month. It's a fascinating look at Brazilian society set against my favorite Brazilian pop songs from the sixties by Jorge Ben and Os Mutantes.

Pork as a Condiment with Kale and Tofu

2008-04-30T17:34:00.006-04:00

The NY Times has a great series of articles about the global business of food. It seems to be on everyone’s mind, the higher prices of food these days. I’m lucky to live in a town that has a lot of competition. Between the Farmer’s markets and Chinatown, I’m able to get great food for great prices.
Monday I had no food in my fridge, so the first thing I did was go down to Union Square to see what’s new for spring. I saw some nice asparagus, but I felt like I needed more hardcore roughage. I needed kale. Kale is great because it’s healthy, lasts for at least a week and cheap. I got a big bunch for $2.50.
Then to Chinatown for some pork—I was thinking about how greens used to be cooked with some fatty piece of pig but now most restaurants used smoked turkey because it’s healthier. I felt lazy and always frugal, so I thought it would be yummy to get some roasted pork from any one of the hanging pigs in the Chinatown vendors. I bought a plastic dish full of mixed pork for only $3.50 at the Deluxe Market. I love that place because you can order a pork bun for less than a buck and eat it as you walk out with your other purchases.
I saw the tofu lady’s daughter near the 6 train station south of Canal, but didn’t buy any tofu because before I went to Baltimore, I had to throw the week’s tofu into the freezer. When you freeze fresh tofu, obviously the water within the soy freezes and becomes ice. When you defrost it, the water can be squeezed out and it leaves a drier spongy product that’s good for holding sauces. My plan was to slice some of that and throw that into the kale and pork mix. The point was to use the fattier pieces of pork to lube the pan so the tofu wouldn't stick and to flavor the kale just a bit. The plan was to eat a ton of kale because it’s lower in fat and the tofu would be the main source of protein. I threw in some diced carrots, because it needed another color and I had some edamame in the freezer that needed to be used.
But man! That pork skin was so crispy and savory, especially delicious with the dipping sauce made of oil, ginger, scallions and salt that was tucked into the container. Yeah, I ate the healthy kale and tofu stir fry, but the pork was so good, I had to eat those crispy bits on the spot because later, they’d end up soggy.
So while I aimed for healthy and cheap in this meal, it became unhealthy as my will power waned. Oh well, at least this session of pigging out was cheap and I have plenty of leftovers for at least another two meals. I could even stretch it out further by cooking up some rice.

No-Knead Bread

2008-04-24T23:20:00.007-04:00

It's taken me a year and a half to finally bake the no knead bread recipe from the NY Times. Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery's recipe for no knead bread ran in paper on November 8, 2006. After making the Jamie Oliver bread last week, I figured I should try what tons of bloggers say is the easiest and tastiest bread out there. Seriously, just google no knead bread and there are tons of thoughts about the process.
You start by mixing 3 cups of all purpose flour with 2 tsp. of Kosher salt and 1/3 tsp of dry active yeast. Then pour 1.5 cups of water into the mix. The recipe doesn't specify warm water, but I used it. The dough is really sticky because of all of that water, so use a spatula to mix it and then leave it for 12-20 hours. Yep. It's a long wait. Don't expect to eat the bread until the next day. at night.
Apparently all that time causes that tiny bit of yeast to create the delicious flavor and those terrific bubbles. When the first rise is up, the dough will have an almost beery odor. It's good stuff, but sticky stuff. I used parchment paper (instead of cotton towel as instructed) with a lot of flour tossed on it to prevent sticking to the counter. After watching some of the you tube videos, there are a few moves you need to make, but it's not kneading per se. It's really pulling the dough, the way Kathrine Helmond's face is stretched in the movie Brazil. Fold the stretched sections over itself a couple of times. Then prod it into a ball and wait another two to three hours. Half an hour before that second rising time is up, stick the oven proof heavy pot into the 500 degree oven. I used Ted's Le Creuset pot. I don't have a big one, but when I get home, I'm going to try using my little mini one and halving the amount of dough. Because the recipe uses so little yeast and I just bought a 5lb bag of flour, this recipe is going to save me money. I'm going to replace a cup of whole wheat flour for the white and maybe add flax or something to add more health.
The part that I messed up was plopping the dough into the pot. I had planned to just throw the dough on the parchment paper into the hot pot, but I feared the hot pot and the dough flipped itself over. The parchment was on the top instead at the bottom. So I had to peel it off, thus losing a little bit of height on the bread. I should have also put the bread it a smaller container during the second rising so that the dough would have created more height. Also, my dough was in more of a blog than a ball. Better shaping would have helped. The bread baked with the lid on for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. I only put it up to 500 in the preheat stage because I figured I'd screw around with the potting. After the half hour, remove the lid carefully, the knob on the top will be red hot, so use a pot holder! Bake for 15 to 30 more minutes. I was practicing my knot tying, so I wasn't really paying attention. It took about 30 minutes to burn it a little bit on top, so don't wait that long. The bread actually develops its crunchy crust as it cools, you can hear it crackle as the cooler air surrounds it. Do not cut into it for another half an hour. Some people report a gumminess to the dough if you don't wait. It's really worth it! I made a fantastic egg salad and cucumber sandwich with this bread. It's so good I can't wait to finish it and make another loaf.

2008-04-16T19:57:00.002-04:00

Since I've been in an allergy ridden haze, I went to the library to borrow some movies to watch inside. The best find was the set of Oliver's Twist dvds. I watched all of the episodes and knew that I had to make something from that old Jamie Oliver cookbook I got ages ago when I worked at Esquire. Bread kneading is good upper arm exercise as is walking home with heavy groceries, so I skipped working out and instead bought a 5 lb bag of bread flour (2.49), 1 lb of semolina flour (2.49) and three packets of yeast (2.29) from Fairway. The Red Star active dried yeast package says that approximately 2 1/4 tsp equals one 1/4 oz packet of Red Star. Three 1/4 oz packets equal the activity of one 2 oz yeast cake. This confused me. Jamie's recipe for basic bread calls for 1 oz fresh yeast or 3/4 oz active dried yeast. So if one packet is 1/4 oz, does three packets equal 3/4 oz or since three packets equals 2 oz, should I just use one packet and then split a second in half?
I didn't know what to do, so I just used 2 packets. Then the other part that worried me is that Jamie says use just over 2 cups of tepid water. To the uneducated me, tepid means warm water, but the internet says that tepid is two parts cold water to one part boiling water. The 2 cups part was easy, but then I ended up needing more water because the first kneading resulted in a very dry crumbly dough. Jamie says not to get scared and to add more water, but I ended up adding another cup warm from the tap. It still seemed too dry, but then I didn't want it to wet. I'm not sure why because Jamie even says that it's a moist dough. I lost my confidence, even thought Jamie says in stage 8 not to lose it.
But hey! The bread turned out fine. I ended up making two loaves as there was a ton of dough, next time I'll freeze one ball of dough straight away for baking later.
Here's the recipe. Oh man. I just read the online recipe and the amounts are smaller than the book's measurements. Oh right. This internet version is from his first tv show, The Naked Chef. As is my book. Interesting that it differs, but the book calls for 1 lb of durum semolina flour in addition to the 1 lb of bread flour. Oh and it calls for 3 packets of the active dry yeast! Well, like I said the bread was fine. Now that I think about it, it might be considered a bit dense, but like my bread, so am I!

Famous Fish and Salad

2008-03-27T09:59:00.013-04:00

Jenny made me a really nice dinner one Friday. Some kind of white fish, roasted carrots with parsley and goat cheese and a salad of red leaf lettuce, cucumber, red onion and walnuts. A long time ago we had this conversation about how she likes food on the plainer side and I prefer stronger flavors. She remembered this and pulled out some pesto for the fish. I only took some because she offered it because I've matured! I like subtle tasting food. I've been thinking about Jenny's delicious and light meal. It inspired me to eat more fish and salad.
So I made miso salmon then put it over a watercress and orange salad. It's super easy to do. You just get some fish, thin some miso with water and spread it onto the fish. Then cook it. I once saw an Oprah show where Gwyenth Paltrow made miso fish because she was macrobiotic and Oprah made stink faces as they prepared it. For some stupid reason I always think of that show when I make fish with miso. Maybe Oprah would have liked the dish more if Gwennie chopped up some ginger and garlic and mixed that in for more flavors like I do. One day Brian and I were walking under the East Broadway bridge to get hand pulled noodles, and I accidentally bought like 5 lbs of ginger for a buck. We put them in our coat sleeves and pretended they were our hands all day. The point is, I put ginger in everything now and found it's easier to handle it if it's been frozen, it kind of slices off, just use a sharp knife and use more, the flavor seems weaker when frozen. Usually I wrap the fish in foil and throw it in the toaster oven, but I had a beer in the fridge that I never finished, so I cooked the fish in a pan with the beer. It made a nice sauce that served as a dressing for the salad.
Still, my favorite fish is fried fish, and there's nowhere better to get that than Famous Fish Market on 145th St. and St. Nicholas. I try to avoid taking the 145th St. express train because it stops right in front of Famous Fish and if that hole in the wall is empty, I'm so tempted to get fish and chips. It's only $5.50, and the portion is big about 6 pieces of fish. While the fries are on the soggy side, it's because they don't have time to double fry them since there's always a line. Especially on Good Friday. I think I waited 30-40 minutes that night! While in line, I asked the people in front and in back of me if they had ever tried Devin Fried Fish, just up the street on 147th and St. Nich's. Both women said no, this one is the best. The batter is just flour, salt and lots of pepper. The cook simply dredges it and dumps it into the fryer basket. In a few minutes, perfect fried fish is offered up onto the bar so you can put your tartar sauce, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce or lemon juice. I can't remember if there's malt vinegar, I don't think so. Then they wrap the the package in white paper, stick it in a brown bag and then a black plastic bag to keep the heat in. Paired with a salad to even out the fat content, it's a perfect meal. I know, it's fried it can't be that light, but it really tastes light. It's not greasy and because it's fried so quickly, there's not as much fat. Right?

Easter Eggs, Fierce Food, and Maple Sap

2008-03-24T10:24:00.001-04:00

I'm reading a fun little book called Fierce Food by Christa Weil. It's an alphabetized list of exotic foods like armadillo, blubber, and yuba (some kind of tofu? I haven't gotten that far) At first I was wondering why there weren't any photos, then I realized it's better with the classy half tone illustrations. It would be full of wacky images like the one I snapped a couple of weeks ago somewhere in Chinatown. Those yolks could be Balut, 16 day old duck embryos, as described in Fierce Food.
Weil matter-of-factly delivers food facts like, “Gelatin is, essentially, the glue that holds the skin and bones together.” Regarding corn smut(huitlacoche—a mushroom tasting fungus that grows on corn)the closing passage on p62 cracked me up:
“In an attempt to deflect attention from huitlachoche's dubious appearance and smutty origins, promoters have dubbed it Mexican truffle, Aztec caviar, or maize mushroom. Please. If we must use nicknames let's stick to black excrement, in honor of pre-Hispanic farmers who knew good shit when they saw it.”
While reading it on the subway, I missed two stops. It's perfect for the subway or Sunday morning on the can. Happy Easter, Dad!
Here's my entry for Fierce Food: while running errands, I saw that one of the maple syrup farmers at the Green Market was selling an item that I've never seen before. Maple sap! For a buck, I got a small cup of what looked like water. Surprisingly, or not, it actually tasted like water, too. You would think that it would be sweet, but no. Without concentrating the tree juice with heat, you can't taste the sweet. When I said it was the blood of the maple tree, Ted corrected me and said it was more likely the pee of the tree.
Perhaps, but blood has more nutrients and sap must have minerals and obviously sugars that feed the tree. If I were a marketing person, I'd call them electrolytes. Let's note it now, maple sap will be the next sports drink. Right now, the Coconut Water people are shaking in their shells.

Frank & Beans, but not at The Smith

2008-03-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

After veggie dimsum with the Moxie Firecrackers on Saturday, CP and I paired off to check out the Michel Gondry stuff at Deitch Projects. There were tons of people playing with the sets and props from Be Kind Rewind. We always have fun at that gallery. Remember this?
Apparently, I've never blogged about veggie dim sum. I know I have pictures from there, but eh, the time has passed. If you've never eaten there, then call me and we'll go. Instead, here are some pictures of brunch the last time we ate together at the Smith. Not be confused with Smith's. It's a newish bistro place like Schiller's or about a million other places in the East Village, but this place is right across from the Loews movie theater and sort of near the Union Square subway stop.So it's a good place to meet up when you're hankering for an East Village brunch. Typical EV brunch is pretty decent food, a watery drink, watery coffee, nice decor and a loud atmosphere for 15 bucks or so. The Smith is no different. The food was generally good. I ordered the country breakfast which was cheese grits, ham, biscuit and gravy. I could have done without the gravy—it didn't add anything in flavor to the food. It just sat thick and beige as it sogged up the bottom of my biscuit. Maybe it was that pasty so it would be easier to wipe off of the ham. This was heavy hang over food, but I wasn't hung over so I just felt bloated with all those grits and champagne bubbles in me. CP got the Potato waffle which didn't contain potato chunks or shreds like a potato pancake, but was a nice savory change of pace. JP got the eggs benedict. I have to say, service was fine, we got a bunch of bottles of tap water without even asking, that's unusual. But I remember feeling kind of rushed, which isn't unusual at such a busy place. It was so loud in there, I didn't want to stay that long. That's it regarding the Smith.
Back to Saturday. We also hit the other Deitch Projects at 76 Grand St. The main installation by Tim Noble and Sue Webster was um, you know. I really like the flyer for the show — great use of metallic ink! This piece was actually very exciting to watch because Carissa didn't believe me that I thought I saw something coming out of the can.

Tofu Lady at Grand St.

2008-03-17T10:51:00.007-04:00

Without the subway, I would be so out of it. Due to the advertising everywhere, I see what's being pushed by the networks on tv (the new animal planet logo is stupid!), or release dates for movies (can't wait to see Stop Loss on March 28). This morning on the subway, there was a huge swarm of kids wearing green mad hatter caps and teeshirts that said "I shamrock beer." I forgot that it was St. Patrick's Day. All I could think about was, I wish I could eat dinner at mom's because she'll make corned beef and cabbage tonight. Then I struggled with the metro card machine. Not only have the prices increased, but my credit card wasn't swiping.
Anyway, without the subway, I never would have noticed my current food obsession. Outside of the D train stop at Grand St, there's a woman literally wearing several hats (well, in the winter) who sells hot fresh tofu. Cut into long rectangles, the firmer stuff sells for a buck for 2 long blocks. It's great because it's fresh and it's not stored in that gross water like at the grocery store. But what I'm crazy about is the silken tofu that she sells from a huge pot in a grocery cart. When she slides off the lid, the steam hits your face as she quickly spoons out either a small (1.25) or large (2.00) soup tub size, dumps a little container of sugar syrup and a spoon into a plastic bag and shoves you away. Seriously, she's really fast and kind of stern. I haven't bothered taking her picture because I know she'd get pissed. Her daughter has a more gentle disposition, but I've only seen her twice on the weekend.
Martha Stewart went to another soft tofu place on Mott St. years ago and I remember her saying something like, "Oh, it's like creme caramel" or something fancy like that. I got the impression she didn't really like it, but who can tell. I'm sure she craved it when she was in the slammer. The consistency is sort of creamy like flan, but the taste is really plain. Some people complain soybean products are beany, but with the syrup, it's not an issue. It's simply comfort food. On a cold day, there's nothing better than the smooth warmth going down. It'd be great on a sore throat because you don't even have to chew it, you can just kind of inhale it and it's got to be so nutritious. Check out the link for the other tofu place. The photos are great. I prefer the tofu lady's product, though. She is able to sell for cheaper (no rent!) and I've been reusing the same tub. The tofu man on Mott St. uses styrofoam, but he also sells soymilk which is great in coffee.

Free as a Bird

2008-03-12T19:30:00.003-04:00

So I'm done with the last job and here's my parting shot. There are lots of things to blog, but I'm in tax hell, so you, my anonymous reader will just have to wait. Or just call me and we can get together. Since I'm not working, I'm all about catch up socializing.

Real Genius

2008-03-01T17:00:00.003-05:00

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

Have you seen this short film that reenacts war using food? It's awesome! The sound design is great, the animation terrific. I like it so much, I want to eat it.

Menchanko-Tei

2008-02-24T17:21:00.007-05:00

On a cold and dreary Saturday, I went to the Walter Reade theater to get tickets for Edge of Heaven, the new Fatih Akin film. It was sold out by 2pm. Who knew that the Turkish-German director was that popular? So then I had to decide what to eat for my entertainment. Should I go to the old staple, Burger Joint at the Parker Meridian Hotel or Japanese noodle soup? I called Carol and she said ramen because the last time she ate at Burger Joint, her fingers smelled like meat all day. Because I was going to see Crispin Glover at the 7 o'clock screening of Rubin and Ed, it would be wrong to smell like meat. He's vegan.
So I walked over to 55th Street to get my ramen on at Men Kui Tei. I'd eaten there in midtown once a long time ago, and used to eat at the one in the East Village quite a bit. But, I soon discovered it's not on 55th St. The new branch of Five Guys is, but at that point, I didn't want burgers. Then I saw the sign for Menchanko-Tei. Bingo!
The place was packed with mostly Asian people, always a good sign. Is that racist? I don't care. Is that racist to say that I don't care if I made a racist comment?
Ordering was hard because I wanted to be wacky and order the oden. I've never had it before. It's described in the menu as a traditional Japanese dish that dates back more than 300 years ago. "It is a very simple and healthy stew made by simmering a bountiful harvest of ingredients from the sea and the countryside in a kelp-based stock for several hours." It was simmering away in front of me at the counter. It just looked like boiled Japanese stuff like fried tofu, potatoes, eggs. I didn't get any even though they only cost a buck or so because I knew the noodle soup would more than fill me up. I finally chose the Hakata Ramen($7.75). It came with thin ramen noodles topped with 3 pork slices, black mushrooms, red ginger and scallions. I really enjoyed the pork broth. It didn't have the salty intensity (saltensity?) of the Momofuko ramen, rather it was gentle but it still had richness. Not in a creamy way, though it's cloudy as if it had miso in it, but I don't think it did. It is the perfect example of that foodie term, umami.
The noodles were fresh, they had that nice give to tooth when you bit in. I like the thinner variety which is why I got the ramen, but next time, I'm going to try the menchanko. It's the specialty noodle, thicker like udon and they are cooked in a cast iron bowl. The lady next to me got one and it looked really good.
If you've seen Tampopo, you'll know that you have to finish every drop of your soup or else you're insulting the chef. At Menchanko-Tei, if you finish your bowl, you'll see this guy.
Menchanko-Tei 43-45 W.55th St.(5/6th Ave) 212-247-1585.

Hooray, the strike is over!

2008-02-21T20:04:00.005-05:00

Well, I'm hoping to be done with this job next week. We've reached a point of no return. My friend made a poem out of Necco sweethearts candy. Did you know that Necco stands for New England Candy Company? I also learned a new food related expression. Cheese on rice. One of the art directors says it instead of cursing because it rhymes with Jesus Christ. Clever, right? EK said that in Barbados, people say, "Cheese on bread!" Instead.

Baby Don't

2008-02-14T23:24:00.001-05:00

I thought this was funny. Happy Valentine's Day.

Dog Days

2008-01-21T17:31:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I was running around the city making bad choices when I decided to treat myself to a Grey's Papaya (6th Ave & 8th St.) dog. I hadn't eaten one in ages and there was barely a line. Alas, I realized that it was dumb of me to get the dog when it wasn't crowded because the normally succulent tube steak sported a dried layer where it had been sitting on the grill too long. It was also a bummer to learn that the price had gone up to $1.25. The other hot dog place a couple blocks down on 6th Ave. also sold them at that price. Is that the new price everywhere? When I first moved to the City, Grey's P was selling their Recession Special, two dogs and a drink for a little more than half of what they're selling it for now. Oh well, I still love that skinny snappy hot dog. Increasing price, burnt bottom and all.

If you like a bigger weiner, Jumbo Hot Dogs (149 Canal St.) sells fat juicy dogs for a buck after tax. Ten cents more for relish or those tomato-y onions. Robert Siestema from the Village Voice says that the hot dogs are from Newark. It's practically local food, points for the environment; plus it's much more filling than your typical Grey's Papaya or Papaya King for less!

Thoughts on Butter Chips

2008-01-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for the fancy stores on Madison Ave to open at ten, so I can return thousands of dollars of briefcases. Life has been pretty weird lately. So my thoughts turn to warm and comforting foods like enchiladas. The last time I had good enchiladas was in Texas, of course. We went to El Fenix. Food was good. Service was fast and polite. A model example of a chain restaurant. The weird part was being served the chips and salsa. In Texas, it's as it should be. Chips and salsa are free. So are the refills. For 5 adults and 2 kids, we got 4 baskets of chips and the waiter gave us two more when they emptied. They were served to us with little packages of butter. My sister was like, "What is that for?"
And I was like, "They must be for spreading on corn tortillas like bread and butter." She said, "But there are no tortillas, only chips. I think they're for the chips."
And I was like, "NO way! That's crazy talk!"
But sure enough, there was a table of two a couple feet away who were buttering their chips and crunching away.

Merry Belated Christmas

2008-01-09T23:10:00.000-05:00

I miss the holidays. The cheer of looking forward to something, the smell of trees for sale on the street, the constant eating, the not working. Here's a picture of the 20lb turkey my mom made for Christmas. The secret to getting the turkey so nice and brown is baking the bird in a brown paper bag. I kept on asking my mom if she rubbed it with soy sauce or butter or something to get such a nice brown color and she said "No, nothing!" Well, I just googled brown bag turkey and there was a site that said that cooking the turkey in a grocery bag isn't safe because the paper could have been treated with some chemicals. Plus the glue or dye could be harmful because a grocery store bag isn't designed for food cooking. It suggested using a plastic oven bag. Whatever. In the picture of my dad's hands and the bag, I don't see any words on the it, so I think I'll live. We're a family that likes to live dangerously. Can you tell by how the turkey is stuffed?

Gotta Make the Donuts

2007-12-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

I won't mention which movie I'm on now because it's a girly movie, and I'm slightly offended by the themes and plot. But beggars can't be choosers and things are slow because of the season and the strike. The best part about the movie is the crew includes a lot of my favorite people, including my desk mate. We share a desk since I'm just a dayplayer, and she's running around Connecticut as the Production Designer's Assistant. Yep, we're in CT. It kinda sucks, but there are some perks. Namely these donuts that said PDA pick up from the Lakeside Diner in the morning if they come into the office. Because they are freshly fried, the donuts are often still warm. Since PDA is a VIP, she asks to get these delicious babies hot out of the fryer. When bitten into, the cake interior has a soft crumb that feels like sinking your tired and achey head into a memory foam pillow that magically relieves the fatigue of life. This sensation contrasts subtly with the gentle crunch of the golden exterior that reminds you that life isn't all that bad. Crunch because of the sugar and tiny bit of cinnamon, but mellowed by the heat of the freshly fried status. They are sublime and oh so addictive. The smaller size makes it feel guilt free and the wisp of oil on your lips not only moisturizes dry winter lips, but serves as a beautiful memory of a lovely donut experience.
The video was supposed to be about the experience of ordering the donuts (50 cents for 1 ; $6 per dozen) as she had just told me the story, but PDA was delirious from picking up the PD at the crack of dawn and I forgot to direct her. Plus we were supposed to be working.

Wontons at Deluxe Food Market

2007-12-13T20:55:00.000-05:00

Dumpling houses are a dime a dozen in Chinatown, but these days Deluxe Food Market (79 Elizabeth St.) is my go to place for dumplings. I like Deluxe's dumplings because they use thin wonton wrappers, just like my mom does. Don't they look like flappy brains in the picture? They are filled with pork, green onion, and I suspect a bit of sugar in the mix. Though pork does indeed have its own natural sweetness, so maybe I'm wrong. Of course, I prefer my mom's mandoo because she uses a mix of meats and/or tofu, those tiny noodle threads, bean sprouts, green onions and sometimes carrot. And they're free for me, but in a pinch, Deluxe does the job. At five for five quarters, it's not literally a dime a dozen, but it's close.
Deluxe is a unique one stop shop that's all about choice and convenience. They should rename it Deluxe Food Center though. Sure, it's a grocery store where you can buy the wonton wrappers to make your own. But you can also buy dumplings freshly made in the store but not cooked; they also have them then frozen, either made by the staff, or a commercial brand. If you need to eat dumplings right there, you can just eat them hot off the dimsum counter. The dimsum counter isn't alone, it's part of a food court that includes sushi which is ridiculously cheap, and fresh because the grocery sells fish with high turn over. In the summer, I often buy fish here since it's in a building, the place is air conditioned. Deluxe also sells freshly roasted Peking ducks, soy sauce chicken and all your favorite Chinatown meats displayed in the window. There's so much great food here, I often run through the store because it's a shortcut from the middle of the block of Mott St. to mid block of Bowery between Grand and Hester, but then I'll get a pork bun for 70 cents if I'm in a hurry and the dumplings if I can stop. Eel roll if I need a bigger snack. I'll tell you about another snack from Deluxe Food Market the next time I post.

Old Mother Hubbard Cornbread

2007-12-06T00:11:00.000-05:00

Doesn't this cornbread look pretty? Wish I could say it tasted as good as it looks, but it was tasted like cardboard. I made cranberry sauce with some cranberries and Trader Joes ginger spread and needed something to put it on. So, I thought cornbread. It will match my table and big mug. Of course, I didn't have any eggs. And not much milk. And no butter. No problem, I'll make it vegan! All the vegan recipes called for maple syrup, for some reason. I didn't have any of that or any soy milk for that matter. So I used honey, olive oil and milk mixed with yogurt as substitutions. Seriously, it didn't taste terrible if I dipped it into olive oil and sea salt. This little snack of farmer's cheese and cranberry sauce wasn't terrible either because the other elements turn the bread into just a vehicle for the cheese and sauce, though the texture was kind of rubbery and overly dense. The half loaf ended up in the freezer. Maybe I'll make cornbread stuffing someday. Or maybe I'll just pitch it when my frugal self isn't looking.

Treats Truck

2007-12-02T22:35:00.001-05:00

When I went to see Margot at the Wedding, I really wanted a home made Rice Krispie treat, but I wasn’t going to pay $4.75 for a not very marshmallowy looking one from the movie theater. I settled for a $3 fig bar. It sported a tasteless pie like crust and surprisingly tasty fig filling. Still, it didn’t fulfill my craving.
The next day as I was walking to the main library, I saw the Treats Truck. Have you seen Treats Truck Lady and her truck named Sugar? I’ve only seen her in at night in the Lower East Side, so I was excited to see her during the day at 5th ave and 38th St. on Tuesday. She’s really nice and gives out loads of samples. As I was perusing my choices, some guy came up in front of me and started babbling about something while eating all the samples of butterscotch and chocolate brownies. When he left (after dropping the napkins on the ground) she said to me. “I had no idea what that guy was saying; something about lunch?”
I replied, “Maybe he thought you were a hot dog vendor.”
She said, “I’ve actually had that happen!”
We laughed and I got the cran almond crispy for 2.75. It seems healthier than the classic crispy treat $2 with all its almonds and dried cranberries. The website says there were flax seeds and wheat cereal in that marshmallowy treat, too. I didn’t even notice the health because it tasted so good. No picture because I ate it despite it being cold outside. But I did get a picture of this baking related Christmas window at Lord and Taylor. That creepy doll is squeezing a pastry bag and the man is giving out samples!
To find out the daily locations for the Treats Truck call (212) 691-5226 or check their website. It's worth it.

Bangers & Mash

2007-11-26T20:04:00.000-05:00

When the skies are misty and the air is chilly, New York could almost be London. When I went to London five years ago, one of my favorite meals was at Sausage and Mash in Knotting Hill. Simple, fattening, and oh so yummy. Since then, sausage and mashed potatoes has been a staple meal for me.
It's really easy to make, cheap and you'll have leftovers that you can reheat or turn into something else. All you have to do is buy some fat sausages, onions, potatoes and some kind of vegetable for health. Trader Joe's and Fairway have pre cooked sausages that are good if you're short on time. I also like the fat sausage you can get at the the farmer's market. They are pricier than the fresh sausage at the Whole Foods, but they're often a little bigger and the vendors often give out samples, so you can taste before you buy. So throw the bangers in a pan with some sliced onions. I like to get one side browned for looks before I dump water in to speed up the cooking and prevent burning. Cover the pan and put potatoes in a pot of water for mashed potatoes. If you have green beans for a green, you can steam them while the potatoes boil. Push on the sausage, if it feels like the cartilage on your nose, then it's done. If the onions are the color you like, and the pan's bottom is browning, and you're drinking a beer, pour some of the beer in the pan for a nice pan dripping sauce. Add butter if you want it to be richer. Mash potatoes, add butter, milk and salt and you should be good to go.
Tonight, I made sweet potato mash and then braised some red cabbage with onions and apples for the healthy part.

Stricha or Streecha

2007-11-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning, Brian and I met up at noon for the comfort food of his people. Varenyky!
That's Ukrainian for boiled thing, but I kept on calling them pierogi before Brian schooled me on the pronunciation. This New York Times article alerted us that the ladies who make the dumplings were back in business after a summer off. There's also a fantastic video that interviews the feisty ladies that make varenyky to support the church.
We were confused momentarily about the new underground location, it had moved to the south side of East 7th St (bw 2nd&3rd Ave), but once we saw the handwritten sign we hit comfort food gold. Again, this is the best kind of a food — humble ingredients worked into something delicious by someone's mom and bought for a couple of bucks. We ordered every dish offered. Ten potato varenyky served with buttery onions (50 cents each); a cup of hot borscht ($1); a cabbage roll filled with rice and meat ($2). We had to try all the desserts, a beautiful powdered donut ($1.25) filled with berry jam that I swear had rose water in the filling. A piece of apple cake and a piece of honey cake. Yeah, we ate like pigs, but since we were eating for Jesus, I have a feeling our gluttony will be forgiven.

Cheap tip # whatever

2007-11-10T11:01:00.001-05:00

The best time to go to the Greenmarket is a little bit before it closes for the day, around 5:30, when the farmers pack up for the day. That's when you're gonna get the deals. Here we got a dollar off of the Ronnybrook rice pudding for 2 bucks.
The only problem is the Lower East Side Ecology people sometimes pack it in early and you're stuck throwing away bags of compost that you've collected in your freezer for weeks on end. That part sucks. The pudding helps the guilt of adding to landfill matter.

Shrimp Soup

2007-11-10T10:39:00.001-05:00

So I've decided I must lay off the fried pastelitos. They are delish, but the left side of my face looks like a slice of pepperoni pizza.
Seriously. Ed and Erin take fish oil capsules for skin health, so I was thinking if I ate seafood that the guy on 135th St. and Broadway sells, then my skin would clear up. He and his mom have a shopping cart each filled with those orange drink coolers. She takes the corner on 145th and he's 10 blocks down on Broadway. They both sell the soup and ceviche that she makes in their kitchen everyday. Not sure about the times, but I caught up with the duo around 2pm.
I haven't had the ceviche yet, but if it's as good as her shrimp soup, then I won't be disappointed. Here is another delicious case of taking humble ingredients—shrimp (24 in my serving!), carrots, potatoes, spaghetti and making something wonderful. At only 5 bucks, this is comfort in a plastic tub. And it came with half a lime and a pack of crackers.

Empanada or Pastelito?

2007-11-01T23:38:00.000-04:00

Ed told me a couple of months ago that he ate the most delicious chicken empanada from the man on the southwest corner of 136th St. and Broadway. The man started to give him the chicken and an additional beef empanada, but then Ed corrected him and only got one. Once he tasted it, he wished that he had gotten a beef, too. When I see this man, I try to walk to the other side of the street because I know that once I try one, it will become a habit. Since I ran around the track yesterday, I finally earned the right to eat a yummy fried meat treat.
I've tried his kipe, the Dominican version of kibbeh, those pointy fried balls of bulgar wheat dough stuffed with meat. The one I ate had seen fresher times, but those empanadas, man were they good! The crust isn't bready, it has a texture and yellow color, so maybe it was made with cornmeal or some other kind of masa. The man has a little fryer right in the cart, so they were still hot and the crust is crispy on the edges, but nicely chewy around the filling. The shredded chicken filling had bits of green olive adding a subtle bite of vinegar. I also spurged on the queso version which was less revelatory, it's filling was straight up white cheese. Empanada means to wrap or coat in bread, so these might be called pastelitos, little pies.
Whatever you call it, these babies are going on the list of best snacks for a dollar.
When I was taking the picture of the cart, there was a group of kids that started talking about me taking pictures, so I crossed the street without getting a clearer picture from behind the plexiglass that shows how the pastelitos are strung up on metal skewers which hang from a wooden dowel. The bubbly oil from the frying tray keeps the pies warm. As I was crossing the intersection, I saw a scene like this, so I went back to the middle of the street to the benches. Those benches in the middle of the street always remind me of "Panic in Needle Park" because that's essentially where the characters in Panic would hang out, although sixty blocks down and in the 1970s. The guy sitting a bench over looked like he could have been an extra in Panic, so I ate my snacks and took the snapshots quickly.
There was some trouble up here a couple of weeks ago, but bad stuff happens everywhere. Upper Manhattan gets such a bad rap. Someone has to make a really good movie set in over here that's a definate positive. If it were up to me, Breakin' 3, set in NYC! We need something to balance out the lack of moral center on stuff like American Gangster. Don't get me wrong, I worked on AG, it's a terrific looking movie—all the props look real; the sets look great; the womb to tomb montage is fantastic. We did a great job. The story basically shows how drugs make you rich and you'll kill along the way. You might go to jail, but get a good lawyer, you'll get out eventually and have a movie made about how you ruined many a life. Don't worry, though, those folks are probably long dead.
If you like French Connection and The Godfather or Scarface, AG tries to be like those movies. I know it's morally wrong, but I couldn't help it. I got a kick out of it. Just like I know eating fried meat pies is bad for my cholesteral and waistline. Is that so wrong?

Halloween Candy

2007-10-31T23:27:00.000-04:00

Halloween is almost over, and I guess I should confess that I fell off of the health and fitness wagon. Last weekend, Brian and I found a Costco sized bag of peanut m&m's at his parent's house and we at them while watching All About My Mother. Peanut m&m's, make me think of my friend who couldn't stomach anything while in the hospital other than peanut m&m's. It seems like the perfect food. They have calcium from the chocolate, protein in the peanut and there's probably chlorophyll in the green dye.

While in Queens, we stopped into Candy Shop USA (38-03 Main St. There are more stores in Manhattan Chinatown, too) store for some of my favorite Chinese candies, White Rabbit. I first had a White Rabbit a couple years ago when I was visiting Britt in Paris. We were at a farmer's market, and there was a Chinese food vendor with a perm there. I just consulted my photo album and there are summer rolls on the counter, so maybe it was Vietnamese. Honestly, I don't remember what I ate there or why. Anyway, the guy gave me a White Rabbit, and I kept the wrapper because I just think it's lovely. Maybe I could wallpaper my bathroom with them. The White Rabbit is basically a vanilla tootsie roll, but what makes it stand out is the thin rice paper film that melts on your tongue when you pop the sweet. There are new fangled flavors like red bean, chocolate, strawberry and lots more fruity flavors, but I find the plain old vanilla the best.
Carol brought me the best caramels that I've ever tasted from her vacation in Portland. They're buttery, sweet, chewy and then spicy! These big soft pieces of caramel contain habanero chili and cayenne pepper. The little chocolate skeleton which she calls a milagro is also from Alma Chocolate. A nice dark chocolate with an iridescent coating this candy is very healthy with all those antioxidiants and it's perfect to eat tomorrow to the Day of the Dead.

Thank you for being my friend, Charles Fried Chicken

2007-10-25T21:05:00.000-04:00

I got some really sad news today and needed some Fried Chicken therapy. Of course, I had no cash, so I had to go to the bank. A short walk from said bank, I became mesmerized by the ribs cooking at Sherman's BarBQ (2507 Frederick Douglas Blvd. bw 145th&146th St.). Can you see them in the window? I've always loved the looks of this storefront, but I like my bbq cooked in a smoker and Sherman's aren't smoked. So I've never eaten there. Eating In Translation has a much nicer picture of the exterior in case you're interested. But once I saw the lady behind the counter peek her head out at me, I felt obliged to go inside. Faced with a bulletproof plexiglass window in front and wood paneling on the walls behind me, I ordered the ribs with cole slaw and potato salad ($11.75). I loved the simple cole slaw. The light sweetness in the mayo dressing was offset by the slight heat of the ground black pepper. The potato salad was too sweet for my liking, and the ribs were just ok. The sauce was thin in flavor and body. The actual ribs were quite fatty, but there were a lot of them. So I took the meat off the bones and will add it to rice for a nice fried rice lunch tomorrow.
To hell with health and fitness! Like a Golden Girl drawn to cheesecake, in times of trouble, I need fried chicken, not ribs. In my opinion, Charles'(2841 Frederick Douglass Blvd. at W. 151st St) is the best Southern fried chicken in Manhattan. There weren't any drumsticks, so I ordered two thighs and a side of collard greens (less than 6 bux) I've learned that unless the pan of mac and cheese on the steam table is new, it's better to skip it because it's going to be greasy, not creamy. The chicken's crust and meat are perfectly seasoned. Look at the huge heap of collards. The juice from the greens reminds me of this great scene in the movie Hal Ashby directed before Harold and Maude, The Landlord. In it, rich white Lee Grant gets drunk with her son's black tenant Pearl Bailey while drinking regular liquor, then they switch to collard green pot likker in glasses. It's the kind of movie that my old friend Patrick would have loved. Full of color, music and the vibrant energy of New York in the Seventies. If only he was here in NYC to drink pot likker with me right now.

NY Dosas Revisited

2007-10-20T15:12:00.001-04:00

Thiru of NY Dosas won the first place award for best street food vendor for 2007. The awards are a fund raiser for The Street Vendor Project which helps defend and preserve the rights of street vendors. If you saw the first episode of I EAT NY on MNN, we interviewed Thiru back in 2004. I thought it would be fun to revisit that footage and shortened it by a few minutes. I know I could have shortened the new video by at least a minute by removing the part with the lady looking for orange juice, but I just love that moment. I especially love how she's wearing a Dennis Kucinich button. I can't help but wonder if she's wearing it now three years later.
These days, Thiru's dosas are just a buck more ($6) and he has an assistant who helps with the money and ordering. The food is still terrific. Brian got the rava dosa and I got the special pondicherry dosa. Both come with the coconut chutney and the lentil and tomato soup, sambhar.
Even though things change so quickly here in the big city, it's nice to know that some things don't.

The trouble with organics

2007-10-14T12:45:00.000-04:00

What's that saying about stuff happening in threes?
This worm was in the cauliflower I bought from the farmer's market on Monday. I felt bad about smooshing him, so I stuck him in with my used coffee filters in the freezer. I'll dump him out at the composting stall at the market tomorrow. The lettuce I've had for two weeks is miraculously still good and when I made a salad for lunch today, it had a couple of bugs in there, too. Oh, and that stupid yellow mushroom is back in my mint plant with the addition of annoying aphids. Where do those things come from? Aphids, not mushrooms. They are eating up my basil and the eucalyptus plant is suffering now, too. The aloe is fine. In fact, it's growing out of its pot. Does anyone want some aloe?

Greek Yogurt craving

2007-10-11T18:19:00.000-04:00

I like it when people reuse items for purposes other than their original design. For example, as I left Fairway today, I saw a lady put an extra grocery bag on her head as a hat to protect her hair. My mom always uses newspaper to clean a mirror. Yesterday when I was at the Bronx Zoo, there was a little squirrel monkey that used an old sock as a toy. You get the idea.

I like to use my one cup coffee filter holder as a Greek yogurt maker, but you could also use a coffee filter in a sieve. Just fill up the filter with some yogurt and stick it in the fridge overnight and voila! Greek yogurt. Well, sort of.

Remember, I'm dedicating my life to health and fitness, so instead of yogurt with some fat which I love, I've been eating the no fat stuff, but I've been craving the richness of Greek yogurt. I'm never going to calculate it, but I think this process is cheaper than just buying no fat Total Greek yogurt. On the FreshDirect website, they have 17.6 oz priced at $4.89 and the little 5 oz at $1.89. Meanwhile, I got some stuff at Fairway called Axelrod. It's 32 oz for $2.29. Granted, there's some shrinkage in the product as the whey drains out, but whatever. I've been drizzling honey and nuts on the yogurt but I've also added cucumber and green onion to make a raita or tzatziki type of spread for bread. Like I said, it's not delicious like the Greek yogurt dessert from Kefi that's pictured, but it does the trick. Now if I could just figure out some kind new use for all these darn yogurt tubs.

Diet & Budget Tip #1 — Kiddie Cones!

2007-10-08T20:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, seriously. I'm dedicating my life to health and fitness, but it's really hot outside. I don't want to use my AC because it costs too much, and I'm on a budget. So I need ice cream. I've read that when it comes to eating ice cream, if you want health and fitness, you shouldn't buy it from the grocery store. If you buy that pint, then you might eat the entire thing in one sitting (I'm talking to you, Brian!). That's why it's better to buy ice cream at places that offer a kid sized scoop. It's smaller and cheaper. And in this case, that's better! Two places that provide this virtuous size are the Cupcake Cafe at Books of Wonder(18 W 18th St bw 5th/6th Ave.) and Ronnybrook Milk Bar (75 9th Ave bw 15th/16th St.).
Don't be tempted by the cupcakes at Cupcake Cafe housed at the children's bookstore, Books of Wonder. They are beautiful, but ultimately, it's just butter flavored flowers on top of dry cupcakes. Really. You don't need them. Instead, opt for the Nelson's ice cream. I did an internet search, though I should have just asked the woman at the counter where Nelson's is from. The first google entry said it's an ice cream parlor in Pennsylvania. So it's almost local. No matter, the taste is quite good. Creamy, sweet, cold. Everything you want ice cream to be. And the price? A yummy $1.50. I got the flavor of the day, blackberry and the cream mellows the tanginess of blackberry quite nicely.
The kids cone at Ronnybrook Milk Bar is listed at a $1.75, a quarter more, but Ronnybrook has more flavors and the stuff is made in house. Plus, they just renovated their space at the Chelsea Market and something has to pay the bills. If you haven't been to the new Milk Bar, check it out. It's a really nice example of new retro design. The walls are covered with wooden milkcrates and the menu is written on a long chalkboard. There's a round shaped bar complete with 1950's stools. I haven't had any of their food yet, but it's at the top of my list. I can't wait to try their eggs in a hole with Applewood Smoked Bacon and melted Grafton Cheddar on Rye. Check out the rest of their menu, and let me know when you want to meet up there for lunch. Pictured is the ginger creme brulee. The first taste is an almost egg nog flavored cream, then tiny flecks of ginger heat up the back of your throat as you swallow. I can't wait to try all of their flavors!

The Place in Guilford, CT

2007-10-04T23:36:00.000-04:00

My mom saw a commercial for Red Lobster and decided she wanted to go there for her birthday because the ad made the food look so good. My sister warned her it wasn't going to be good, but for some reason, mom really wanted to go. So they went, and it wasn't that good. What are you going to do? There aren't that many lobster places in McKinney, TX.
Anyway, I felt bad that my mom ate lame seafood for her birthday, when I recently feasted on lobster out in Guilford, CT. My pal Carol live in Connecticut and she's part mermaid. She swims laps in the ocean, has long blonde hair and loves to eat clams. I find this very interesting not because she uses the shells to make bikini tops, but because she doesn't like fresh tomatoes. They are squishy and what's squishier than a clam? No matter, The Place doesn't serve tomatoes, but you're welcome to bring your own sides if you like. We saw that people brought cole slaws and potato salads.
This is a good idea because the only sides are corn on the cob and veggie kabobs. We both ordered the roasted lobster, roasted clams, and corn. We debated getting the house special clams, but we realized they were just the roasted clams with some kind of ketchup sauce squirted on them. We wanted the unhindered flavor of the sea. And that's what we got. Delivered to us on a hot wire grill, the clams were briny and fresh. Perfection. The corn was dunked in butter by a cute teenaged boy and brought to us on a soaked paper plate. I believe the the way you eat corn indicates the kind of person you are. Here's my ear. I'm tidy.
We should have ordered one roasted and one boiled, but the sight of the lobsters roasting on the rickety concrete block spit is pretty exciting. See video for excitement.
The boilers bubble in big black pots set to the side of the grill. We should have ordered one because as the roasted lobster cools, the juices dry up, especially in the meaty claws where you want it to be really moist. We had a bit of trouble opening the claws because there were no nut crackers. Then we saw the waitress give another table a foil covered rock. This helped, but also hindered because the shell shards smashed into the meat and they were hard to pick out. At that point, you are kind of annoyed because there's so much labor involved with dwindling returns. I whined to Carol that I missed my mom because she would have picked out the meat for me. Yep, I'm a baby when it comes to crab and lobster picking. My mom is a pro and must be a mermaid, too. She eats shellfish like Daryl Hannah in "Splash." It's a sight both embarrassing and impressive.
But the dry claws didn't matter because the setting was beautiful. You sit on old wood stumps under a trees and the sky. The staff is almost all teenagers with the boys manning the grills and the girls waiting the tables. It was fun to try to figure out who was dating who and to make up stories about the other diners. We didn't order dessert because we didn't have enough cash and at that point the smoke was starting to get in my eyes and give me a headache. Carol said that it was the suburbs that gave me the headache, but I can't wait to go back.

The Place (901 Boston Post Rd) is located in Guilford, CT on Rte. 1 right across from a Walmart. It's about 2 hours from NYC. Cash only and they are only open from June to October.

News for the Day

2007-09-23T14:33:00.000-04:00

Alright, alright I'll blog already. I've had some interesting meals, but there was a week when I was traveling bag free so I didn't have my camera. It's a liberating feeling, this bag free lifestyle. Ultimately, it's limiting, so I don't recommend it.
Anyway, this little mushroom popped up in my mint plant. Poor minty, I left it at the office on a weekend and it dried out. Since then, it's been struggling to grow. It probably doesn't help that it has to share the pot with a robust basil plant. Greedy basil must take all the soil's nutrients. And now this little parasite rears its ugly head. I have a window fan that must have blown some crazy mushroom spore and it planted itself right next to my little mint.
Last night Greg had his birthday at the soon to be crowded hipster bowling alley The Gutter. As we were walking to the next venue, I came upon this truck with LED screens behind plexiglass on the sides and back. Also bungy corded to the back were big coolers filled with ice and this new energy drink, Howling Monkey. We helped ourselves to the Red Bull like liquid. One was Red Bull flavored, I don't know what the flavor was really supposed to be and the one I had was Cola flavored. It tasted like Coke and Red Bull mixed together. I thought it was kind of gross, but if you're having a party and you don't have much money, look around for that truck because the company is trying to get you hooked for free. The cans are really big and it would be a good mixer with vodka or rum. Personally, I think it gave me nightmares. I dreamt last night that I was driving into a huge pot hole that engulfed our car. Then I was in a huge bathroom line at a museum.
What does it all mean?!!

Indian Food in Jackson Heights

2007-09-01T01:54:00.000-04:00

I know this video actually has very little video in it;it's mostly photos that have the iMovie Ken Burns effect on them. It's messy, but I wanted to get something up quickly with the photos I took yesterday at lunch with Carol and Melissa in Queens. I'll add more to this entry and explain a little more what you're seeing some day, just not today!

The Beginning and the End of the Road

2007-08-17T13:25:00.000-04:00

Today is the last day of work for me on Revolutionary Road. It's been rocky, but not terrible, especially when I've been in charge of the craft service for the Art Department. Back on the Departed, we were spoiled and got egg sandwiches for breakfast every Friday, so I've tried to keep that tradition alive. Luckily, our office is near Trio Bakery. All the breads are freshly baked right at the store on 476 9th Ave. between West 36th and 37th St. The guys that work there are really nice, if a little hasty, but their egg and cheese sandwiches are tops! This one has ham.
I'd write more later, but I've got to wrap it up!

The Gleaners & I

2007-08-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

You know that column in Us Weekly, "Celebrities, They're Just Like Us." It's pretty much an ad for whatever the celeb is holding because it's almost always some picture of drinking Starbucks or Red Bull. Well, here's my version!
Someone had to go to the movie star's apartment that was rented for him here in New York to clear out the stuff he left behind. When you and your girlfriend are jet set, you just buy stuff and leave it. So here's what they left. Can you see the stuff in the boxes? By the time I took the picture, it was a bit picked over. Shower to Shower, Listerine, hotel samples, baby wipes. There was some other scandalous stuff, but I'm selling that on ebay for when I'm really broke. Just kidding! I took the Shiseido sunscreen and a bottle of minty conditioner, though I could really use some new toothpaste. I couldn't help myself; it's expensive stuff that would have been tossed otherwise! I swear I'm not turning into one of those freegans, scoring stuff off the street.

In addition to the beauty products in his pad was a beautiful flourless chocolate cake from one of the best bakeries in New York, Bouchon Bakery located in the Time Warner mall. I took my visiting sister there recently at the end of a long Saturday and she thought there wasn't enough selection. I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything, especially when we ended up going downstairs to the Whole Foods to get some boring dessert bar that she said wasn't that great. Anyway, I had a piece of the cake yesterday and it was like eating a piece of fudgy butter. I only felt a little dirty that I was basically eating the movie star's trash. So what's worse? Consuming junk, or letting good junk go to waste?

Cupcakes are so 2002

2007-08-01T23:20:00.000-04:00

I've been toying with turning I EAT NY into a celebrity blog because of the fun gossip I hear from my jobs, but I post so infrequently it wouldn't be worth it. The director of the film I'm currently on has the same birth date as me, and his wife and I are the same age. Originally, I thought this was a good sign to take the job, but it's been a rocky production. Oh, well.
Today the production staff sent a PA to Magnolia Bakery in the West Village to pick up 150 cupcakes and drive them up to Connecticut for the shooting crew. That's 2 bucks a cupcake, plus at least a half a tank of gas. What? There's no bakery in Connecticut that makes cupcakes? Don't get me started on carbon footprints! The director and his wife are on diets, so who knows if they even eat the cupcakes. If anything, I hope it helped the morale of the crew after such long hot days of shooting.
Back in New York, I requested root beer floats for my birthday. Nothing says fun like the creamy head created by getting vanilla ice cream and root beer together! But who knew that it would be nearly impossible to find the two ingredients with real food ingredients? I told my boss to try to get get vanilla ice cream without any corn syrup. He came back with Bryers in the black carton. Tasty stuff, no corn syrup, but strangely, in the ingredients list, there's no vanilla. Just natural flavors. On the front side of the carton it touts real vanilla bean specks. Is it just for show or are those specks flavoring? As for the root beer, I told Erik to get something in a glass bottle. We agreed Boylans would be good because they use real sugar, not corn syrup, but the overpriced Gristede's closest to our office only had Stewarts in a bottle. Didn't matter, they still tasted good.
When's the last time you treated yourself to an ice cream float?

Buttery Biscuits and Radish

2007-07-15T23:09:00.000-04:00

I promised Suzanne that I would post something, but it's almost midnight and I have to get to work by 7:30 tomorrow. So it's not going to be my thesis on Korean Fried Chicken as planned. Instead, here's a photo of yesterday's breakfast. I love the color of radishes more than the tasted of the root itself, but I keep buying them at the Farmer's market. Usually I just eat them on salads and on top of buttered bread with salt. But ever since Suzanne's daughter taught me to make biscuits back in March, I've been making biscuits instead of buying bread for weekend breakfast. I half her recipe to make 2 big fat biscuits and I use the toaster oven to bake them because it's too hot to use the real oven. I added chives in this batch. The sausage I baked in the toaster isn't pictured because it just wasn't pretty.

Back from the BCN

2007-03-26T09:41:00.000-04:00

"In Spain nothing, from a meal to a battle, ever happens at the appointed time."

from Homage To Catalonia, George Orwell

I'll blog about the food adventures in Barcelona soon. Really. Just as soon as I dedicate myself to health and fitness. And get over this annoying cold.

Hearst Magazines Cafeteria

2007-03-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I had lunch in the future while visiting my past. I had visited my friends Bob and Kevin at the shiny new Hearst Tower. When I worked at Esquire Magazine in 1999, our offices were on W. 55th St right across from the soup Nazi (from Seinfeld) storefront. We had the coolest office that used to be a parking garage. There were two floors with high industrial ceilings and tons of space. Bob’s office in the research department was in the library that held stacks and stacks of amazing vintage Esquires filled with those famous Vargas illustrations and the writing of legends like Hemingway and Fitzgerald. The magazine stacks were the best place to take a nap, especially once that red bean bag chair was sent to the office. But like all good things, my time there came to an end in 2001 for another magazine for more money and better hours. Esquire moved offices first to 57th St. and now to the Tower where all the Hearst rags are published.

Like most new architecture in NYC, the skyscraper is at first hideous, then you just get used to the damn thing. The sun’s glare on the beehive looking building was blinding, so I didn’t snap a picture, but you get the idea. It’s a bright vision of the future. Part mall, part campus, part torture chamber. Just kidding, it’s nice. To visit. Esquire’s floor is nice. Lots of glass, lots of light, very tidy. I missed the funk of the old place, but I’m trying to get over nostalgia.
As for the cafeteria, well, it was crowded. Once we got our food, we stood around with our trays like junior high nerds looking for a table. At least there were a lot of food choices — sandwich bar, sushi bar, stir fry station, burger area. But the shortest lines were at the main steam table where a huge salad bar is laid out with a couple of hot entrees. There was some sort of creamy mushroom casserole and chicken breast. We all got the chicken. The chicken was only a little dry. I liked the nutty wheatberry salad and how can you go wrong with bagged greens? All in all, it was pretty good for 40 cents a pound. The novelty would wear off if I worked at Hearst, but the food was much better than at CondeNast where there’s no garlic allowed because the CEO hates garlic.

Peter Luger Steakhouse

2007-02-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

My 9th Grade World Geography teacher, Mrs. Kotheimer used to say that she was a pantyhose teacher, No Nonsense. She also said that if you weren’t careful, you’d learn something everyday. Yesterday I learned that if you have a gift certificate to Peter Luger Steak House , you can apply the left over money not spent on food, to the tip. I thought that since we had a gift certificate, the tip would come out of our pocket because it’s a service fee separate from the cost of the certificate. Matt, Diana and I debated over this issue, but he won. Hell, we all won by me being wrong! For a few bucks, we were able to enjoy what people say is the best meat in town.

Diana is a lover of food; however, she’s not eating meat these days. So she ordered the tuna salad. Our waiter, John, who could have played a cop on the Law and Order beat, informed her that she was the first customer to order the dish and it would most likely be a can of tuna on a piece of lettuce. She quickly decided to get the grilled salmon and the creamed spinach. She said the fish was good, but I didn’t feel like trying it. For me and Matt, it was all about the meat. We split the ½ lb cheeseburger and steak for one (37.95). We jumped on the burger because it’s only served at lunch time which is until 3pm, and and ten bucks, it’s also one of the cheapest items on the menu. I’ve heard it’s one of the best in town because of the quality of the meat. This is a good thing because the medium-well, was actually rare, as you can see in the picture. The bottom bun was like a maxed out pantyliner. I didn’t eat it, which is fine because I had already loaded up on carbs with the free breadbasket. My favorite roll was the seeded rye with rock salt on top slathered with butter. The golden fries were also awesome, especially dipped in the dreamy creamed spinach.

When John brought out the steak, the sputtering of the hot grease on the plate reminded me of the entrance applause when I saw Liev Shreiber step out on the Talk Radio stage on Broadway. The supporting dishes are all great, but the steak is the star of the show. When the steak for two came out for another table, the meat was actually on fire! I wish I had filmed the way the steak is served because it was another reminder of how eating at Peter Luger is an Old New York experience. I imagine the way John served the steak pieces was the way it was done over 100 years ago when the place opened. Using two spoons like tongs to place the meat on my plate, he carefully spooned some of the butter juice onto two chunks. Diana asked what makes the steak taste so good. I should have said something about the dry aging process is like cheese aging, it adds flavor or something smart. I think I just said something like, steak good. I rarely eat them, but eating steak, really anything on the bone like ribs or a drumstick just feels primal. The broiler makes a slight char on the outside that contrasts with the tender inside, so when you chew, there’s a light crunch as your incisors slide into the meat. Matt said that if he wasn’t facing some loverly Brazilian girls at the next table, he would have gnawed at the bone. He also liked the steak sauce. I thought it was too sweet and overpowered the meat flavor.

We agreed that the hot fudge sundae seemed like a good idea, but once we got it, I could have done without it. I thought their famous Schlag, German for whipped cream tasted funny, like Cool Whip mixed with cream so stiff that it’s almost butter.
But it didn’t matter. It was such a treat, literally and figuratively to experience Peter Luger. I’ve only been to fake ranch steakhouses near the highway in Plano, TX. They don’t have the history or authenticity that you feel sitting at those weathered farmhouse wood tables. The seats have rickety bentwood backs and dark beams cross white plaster walls decorated with huge German beer steins. The service has been reported as gruff, but it’s like Mrs. K, full of character and no nonsense. Just the way I like it.

178 Broadway @ Driggs Ave
Williamsburg Brooklyn

Notes on Dinner and a Movie

2007-02-14T16:18:00.000-05:00

What do people do on a day like today? It’s snowing outside, so it’s hard to think of anything interesting. Dinner and a movie? That’s so original! If you’re going out to see a movie I suggest Notes on Scandal. I love the scene where Cate Blanchett goes screaming into a throng of press. Amour fou is so much more fun than romantic love, but if you’re looking for some kind of romantic comedy thing, Music & Lyrics wants your date money. My friend did the fun 80s graphics in that flick and my mom’s picture might have been used for background set decorating in a record shop. Let me know if it made the final cut if you see it. If you’re renting, NY Daily News published some long list of romantic NYC movies. When Harry Met Sally, blahblahblah. Just looking at the list was boring—You’ve Got Mail? Hitch? Maid in Manhattan? Gross. I think if you’re renting something, it should have some sexy mexy Gael Garcia Bernal in it. How about that sexy priest movie he did, The Crime of Padre Amaro? I never saw it, but it could be good. Seriously, here are some duh rental choices— anything with love in the title In the Mood for Love, Love Story, the Lover; anything with Sex in the title: Sex and Lucia, Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Sex Lies and Videotape. Or something funny: Karate Kid 2, Revenge of the Nerds, American Splendor (hey-who did I lend my DVD out to? I can’t find it.)
So that takes care of the movie part. As for dinner, as I told my buddy Greg, it’s all about Ethiopian. I speak from the girls’ pov as I am a girl, I don’t know where you’d take a guy. Hooters? Lucky Chang’s? Hawaiian Tropic Zone? Ethiopian food says, hey, I’m in the know. Movie star handsome chef Marcus Samuelsson just wrote a book on African cuisine. African food is hot right now. Ethiopian swings both ways. It says, I care that you’re a vegetarian because an Ethiopian veggie platter with its mysterious spices livening up boring old lentils is always delicious. Or it says I love raw meat, get the tartare! But most of all, Ethiopian food says, I’m sexy because I’m going to make you eat with your hands and it’s so damn tasty that you’ll lick your fingers. Between the sweet honey wine or a Castel Queen of Beers, you’ll be getting busy between the sheets right after dinner. Just make sure you wash your hands before and after. dinner.
I’ve only been to two NYC Ethiopian restaurants, Meskerem (468 W.47th St. bw 10th&11th) and Ghenet (284 Mulberry). I thought Meskerem was a little bit on the salty side, but I was fine with it. They have a terrific take out menu that’s a keeper because of the general descriptions of the dishes. When I went there with Karen, we got a veggie platter and an order of doro wat. According to the menu, doro wat is chicken pieces with onion, garlic, ginger, butter and red wine finished with berbere sauce which is ground red pepper. They didn’t say anything about the hardboiled egg, which was perfect to cut the salty but still yummy sauce. Ghenet is quite good and the décor is nicer than most Ethiopian restaurants without their prices being over the top. I haven’t had a chance to go to Meskel, but it got a great NY Times review and Chris said it was terrific.
There’s also Awash in two locations and Queen of Sheba, but I haven’t tried them yet. Regarding the picture from Meskerem above, I realize it is almost identical to the one I posted about Lalibela in DC and I still dont' really know which is what other than they are delicious and made of lentils or chickpeas. Someday I will take notes when I'm eating and I'll label the dishes on the photo.

Mul Kimchee Video

2007-02-13T14:51:00.000-05:00

It takes me a long time to do these little videos, but I finally finished one. I had an idea that I would do a bunch of these instructional videos starring my mom so that my sisters and I could learn to cook some of the Korean foods we grew up with. I wanted to get the theme song from John Lurie's tv show, Fishing with John and change it to Cooking with Mom, but I didn't see it on itunes. In this piece, my mom shows me how to make mul kimchee. It's Daikon radish, though you can also use cucumbers in a salt water brine.

Corporal Chicken

2007-02-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

It was really fun to read the article in the times about the Korean style fried chicken I can’t wait to try it. In fact, I was toying with the idea of making a fried chicken blog, I’ve nixed that idea as 3 out of 5 Donatelli’s are on Lipitor. Fried chicken diet is probably a bad idea. But sometimes, it just can’t be avoided. I had to go to a bunch of hardware stores recently for my latest project, and I stumbled upon Corporal Chicken on Broadway and 156th.
I just did a google search to find the exact street and plate of the day Plate of the Day posted pictures very similiar to mine in Nov. 2005, but their chicken looks better. And they got a shot of the long carport sign thing. I didn’t snap one of those because there was a doorman/panhandler guy and I didn’t feel like paying him again for the photo. The interior of Corporal is typical Harlem take out service—a counter and bullet proof glass. But there are benches in the middle of Broadway that you can sit and eat your chicken box. It's a little sad and windy, but it only costs 2 bux for two pieces and a mess of fries. I was hoping for a little spice in the crust because the NY Post review on the window said the chicken was marinated in hot sauce and lime or something sort of Latino in flava. Unfortunately, I couldn’t taste any spice and I gave the fries to the doorman/homeless guy, but I do love the box. If it hadn’t been covered in grease spots, I would have kept it and put pencils in it. Can you see it? It's a chick in cowboy clothes shooting a gun and twirling a rope at the same time!

Burgers & Art

2007-02-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

Carol and I met up for lunch at Burger Joint yesterday. They’ve raised their prices but they’re still good. This hidden gem in the Parker Meridian Hotel has gotten so much press, what is there to say? Minor celebs like Daisy Fuentes sign their walls—everyone goes. I was surprised to see that the burger was now 6 bux, but it’s still the best place if you’re on 57th St. to get a good burger. Lunch wasn’t the high point though, we met up to see the Martin Ramirez show at the American Folk Art Museum. It was awesome! Ramirez was a regular guy, farming in Mexico until he went to Cali to help build the railroads and send money back home to his family. He was put in jail for something, probably being Mexican, then into a mental hospital in the 1930s because they thought he was crazy. Turns out he probably had manic depression and didn't speak because he only knew Spanish. The hospital labeled him mute. It’s a sad story that makes you wonder among other things would he have drawn so much if he wasn’t stuck in a state hospital? He drew these amazing pictures by melting crayons in a bowl made of dried oatmeal using a matchstick as a brush. For paper he patched pieces with old bread mixed with spit until he discovered that he could draw on the long sheets of medical exam table paper. There were also two pieces done on shopping bags. He has a couple of subjects that he repeats a lot—trains, guys on horses, cars, animals, but his patterns, lines and shadow are amazing. The sweeping lines of pattern reminded me of old movie house architecture and the curator said that there was indeed a movie palace nearby where Martin could have gone. If you haven't seen it already, I think you'd really enjoy it. It closes April 29 and the museum has free hours on Friday.

Note to Self #287

2007-02-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

Do go to fun birthday party of sangria princess Diana because there are lovely snacks to soak up that fabulous white sangria. Too bad I forgot the secret recipe. I know it involves simmering cinnamon sticks in a simple syrup...

Do not go to Ralph Nader documentary party at IFC Waverly Center where there is no food, only drink. I regret going to this party without eating dinner, but we all make mistakes. If you voted for Nader, do you think it was a mistake? I remember being conflicted about voting for Gore or Nader. In the end, I voted Gore. Yeah, he was status quo, but he really wanted the job, not just to make a point. Nader is a great consumer advocate, but is he one of the reason's Bush is in power? I guess we'll never really know.

Super Taste

2007-02-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

It’s freezing outside. You just got out of jury duty for the next five years, and you only have 5 bucks? No problem, it’s time to celebrate! Walk a couple of blocks over into Chinatown until your ass is completely frozen. It’s better that way because the hot noodle soup that you’re going to eat is going to melt your buns and make you feel happy. Seriously. I don’t know if it was MSG or the blood liquefying again in my veins, but I felt a tingling rush as I drank in the broth at Super Taste Restaurant (26 N. Eldridge St.).
The very knowledgeable Village Voice writer Robert Sietsema wrote about Super Taste ages ago and I’ve been carrying the menu around in my bag for years. It’s really a fun read that’s perfect to peruse while you’re waiting for the # 2—Hand-pull Noodles with Beef in Hot and Spicy soup. I like to pretend that I’m as cool as Harrison Ford in BladeRunner because these noodles shops secretly made me feel very out of place at first. By all appearances, I blend in with the rest of the customers, but since I don’t speak Chinese, I feel confused like I did when I was 14 working at Hunan Chinese Restaurant back in Roanoke. The kitchen was a loud cacophony of yelling, clanging and sizzling. Busboys with long pinky fingernails that I thought were for playing guitar ran in and out of the kitchen fighting with wait staff for tips. Cooks constantly shaking and scraping woks with long cigarette butts hanging out of their mouths. Owners yelling for me to buy cigarettes at the gas station and make them some iced coffee. By the time I’m done reminiscing, I’m used to the noise and activity and the soup comes fast, even though the noodles are actually being pulled as you wait. It’s absolutely mesmerizing to watch the process of one lump of dough being pulled into hundreds of strands.
The fresh noodles make such a difference in the soup, they are tender and seemingly endless. The broth is rich without being like gravy and there’s a nice slick of hot chili oil that combines with the steam and really makes your nose run. There are lots of napkins on the table and there’s a tub of pickled greens if you want more flavor, but the soup is really all you need. The beef is tender with a high fat content, but the bok choy evens it out and adds health.
All along lower Eldridge St. you’ll find noodle shops like SuperTaste. It’s important though to figure out if the noodles are fresh. It really makes a difference. Under the Manhattan Bridge on 28 Forsyth, there’s another place I really enjoyed called Eastern Noodles. It’s family run and the Dad pulls the noodles and his daughters run the rest of the show. The beef bone soup is definitely next on my list. It’s a metal bowl full of soup and noodles complete with bones to suck on. Between the slurping and the sucking, these joints are noisy and not prim, but a definately a good time.

Tasty Tubers 2...Not!

2007-01-30T23:47:00.000-05:00

Lotus root looks really cool, but the taste of steamed lotus is sort of like slimy potato. I've decided it should only be used sparingly as a decorative garnish or a minor element. Fried lotus root is stunning, but plain old steamed lotus with this sesame wasabi vinaigrette is boring on a texture and flavor level. Plus the sauce contains too much sugar, but I guess the recipe author likes it sweet. His sauce for the canna noodle recipe is also much too sweet. Canna is a mysterious root from Vietnam. Canna starch noodles are impossible to find, so I substituted potato starch noodles. There's a Korean dish called japchae that uses the clear potato noodles, so I figure it's fine. I would prefer a soy based sauce similar to japchae than the hoisin and lime juice that he came up with. Luckily the dishes don't have to taste good, just look good. I think with a contrasting colored dish the lotus will look better and I'll get some black sesame seeds instead of roasting white ones. Hmmmm, maybe lotus would taste better roasted as well. As for the noodles, they need some oil to add gloss and I think a shallower plate with a bit of a lip would look better, too.

il Laboratorio at Whole Foods

2007-01-26T09:53:00.000-05:00

If I was a celebrity, I’d request a list of items to be wherever I was working. It would be fun for me and eventually it would be fun for the assistants because they could make fun of me. I am developing my list of food request, and so far, I’ve come up with two. The assistant would have to find me freshly made Dominican pasteles wrapped in banana leaf. I can just imagine the Mommy Dearest moments. “This isn’t Dominican, it’s Puerto Rican. I said wrapped in banana leaf, not waxed paper. Can’t you hear me? NO WAXED PAPER !!!”
Next on my diva food list would be Il Laboratorio Del Gelato gelato. Jon Snyder makes the best damn gelato. He’s really a gelato magician. The inventive flavors and texture are absolute heaven on the tongue. When you taste the earl grey gelato, it seriously tastes like a cup of tea with cream and sugar, just in a solid form. The texture is like a miracle. It’s not just creamy; it’s like silk. It’s almost confusing to eat the sorbets. Because they taste so much like the fruit it’s made with, it’s hard to understand that you’re not eating a red frozen grape, you’re eating something even tastier because it contains sugar.
However, I recently went to the Whole Foods at Union Square because they opened a bar featuring a selection of Il Laboratorio gelato and sorbet. I chose the wackiest flavors offered, one scoop of tarragon with pink pepper and the other scoop was black mission fig. Both were good, but the tarragon pink pepper flavor overpowered the fig. The rule of thumb when ordering 2 scoops of different flavors is to get one creamy gelato and then a scoop of a sorbet to use as a palette cleanser.
The problem with the WF gelato bar is that I could taste the difference in texture between gelato served at the Whole Foods and gelato from the Lab on Orchard St. The gelato at the Lab is ultra smooth. The stuff at Whole Foods had a little bit of ice crytallization from the tub! The texture isn’t so important for sorbet, but the gelato wasn’t perfect. So it’s unacceptable! My assistants would have to go to the actual store. Of course, they would have had to call ahead to see what flavors were in the store that day. They have so many mysterious flavors, like cajeta, mastic, cheddar cheese.
Since I’m only a celebrity in my head, I’m planning a trip to the Lab today because it’s only 9 degrees outside. There can’t possibly be a line out the door. Plus, I can’t remember how much it costs for the 4 oz small sized cup. At Whole Foods, they charged 3.25, so there's some important fact checking to be done.
Il Laboratorio
95 Orchard St.(Broome & Delancey)
212.343.9922
Open 7 days a week 10am—6pm

Tasty Tubers of the World

2007-01-25T22:58:00.000-05:00

Today I made an attempt at food styling with root vegetables. So I went down to Chinatown and bought a pound of fresh water chestnuts for a buck and 3 segments of a lotus root, also for a dollar. Amazing. If you want to know why the prices are so cheap in Chinatown, here's a good story that explains from WNYC.
I've only had water chestnuts from a can, but now that I've had the real thing, I don't think I can go back. Once you peel off the skin, (a little softer than a regular chestnut) the meat tastes like a less dense version of coconut. But some raw pieces I nibbled on were almost woody in texture after a few chews. I think those pieces were a little old. Compost bag for them. The rest of the tuber was lightly sweet and crunchy. I recently tried sunchokes from the farmer's market and the tastes are very similiar.
I didn't feel like making and buying white rice for the fried rice with water chestnuts recipe, so I just bought a huge styrofoam container of fried rice for 2 bucks from a street vendor. It was a very Sandra Lee Semi Homemade moment, but it's good to support your local fried rice vendor.
After picking out the carrots and peas and heating the rice, the pan was already slicked with oil for scrambing the egg. So conveniant! Heating up the waterchestnut took no time at all. Then I just threw some green onion in the bowl for color. They might not be available everywhere, but fresh waterchestnuts are definately a nice addition to liven up a standard fried rice recipe.

Silvered Almonds

2007-01-18T08:28:00.000-05:00

If you ever need to find silver and gold Jordan almonds, you can find them at Kalustyan’s. They’re really expensive, like $29.99 a pound, perhaps because it’s a French product. Titanium dioxide was listed as an ingrediant, maybe that’s what makes them metallic. But aren’t they beautiful? I stopped by Kalustyan’s for a snack after my dentist appointment. No cavities, so I treated myself with the almonds. The healthy proteins and omega 3s cancel out the naughty sugars, right?
Kalustyan's is a really fun store to explore. They stock tons of spices, grains, nuts, and dried fruit. Then in the back of the store there's a refrigerated area with all kinds of Indian snacks and prepared foods. Upstairs there's cookware, olives, cheese and prepared foods. My favorite part of the store is the hidden cafe area with four tables where they serve a really filling and tasty bean soup, hummus, falafel, samosas and other Middle Eastern fare.
Kalustyan's
123 Lexington Ave.
212.685.3451
www.kalustyans.com

I resolve to only eat breakfast at Charles'

2007-01-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

How can I eat healthier when my favorite fried chicken shop Charles’ Southern Style Kitchen is now a mere twelve blocks away? And not only there, but Charles is spreading his chicken wings to other spots. He’s lent his name to Slice of Harlem where they have a steam table with comfort food (and pizza!) sold by the pound. And he’s a consultant on the food at Rack and Soul, a bbq and soul food place near Columbia University (Broadway & 109 St). Carol told me about the joint about five years ago during my fried chicken addiction. I had been treating my problem with Mama’s fried chicken on Ave B & 3rd. Mama’s has wonderful mashed potatoes and veggie sides and their portions are huge. It’s a great place to go, but I’ve always thought their fried chicken was lacking in flavor. Not so at Charles.
Take the A train to 145th St, walk east till you hit Bradhurst Ave, that’s a block east from Edgecombe. With the park to your left, walk north to 151st St and turn onto 8th Ave (the old name for FDBlvd) to Charles. You’ll see an all you can eat buffet restaurant first, but pass it, the danger of overeating there is too great. Opt for the no frills take out counter. There’s a red formica counter with stools where you can dig in, and it’s stocked with hot sauce and napkin which you will need to wipe your greasy lips. The fried chicken ($7.50 with 2 vegs and corn bread) is awesome. The skin is crunchy and the salty flavor is infused into the meat. I'm a thigh girl because it's the juiciest. This is the gold standard of fried chicken. The collard greens are very good. Not mushy, but definitely cooked through with a slight smoked turkey flavor. I took a bite out of the cornbread, but didn’t eat it until later. It was slightly sweet, and I prefer mine on the salty side. The mac and cheese didn’t really please. As you can see in the photo, the last time I ate dinner there, the woman at the counter wouldn’t give me a portion from the fresh pan, even though I asked for it. The lady who came after me however, did get the new stuff. Racial preference? Disgruntled worker? Kitchen rules? It don’t really care when the chicken is that delicious.
I only bring it up to point out that the next time I went for chicken and waffles for breakfast, another girl behind the counter was really thoughtful. She had overcooked my waffle, said it was too brown and started making another one. I didn’t even see it, but took her word for it. I’m sure the first was fine, but the second waffle was great. I don’t know if they use a mix or what. Again, doesn’t matter, because this Belgian baby was fluffy on the inside and toasty on the outside. It’s important that the exterior has a bit of crust so it can stand up to the butter and syrup.
Breakfast is served from 6 am to 8 pm seven days a week, and it’s truly a bargain. The waffles and chicken is $3.50 and the eggs with bacon and grits is 3.25. The prices are so cheap that I almost don’t feel bad about eating like a pig so early in the day. I have tomorrow to dedicate my life to health and fitness.
Charles' Southern Style Kitchen
2837 Frederick Douglass Blvd. bw 151st & 152nd St.

Just one more

2007-01-16T13:25:00.000-05:00

When I moved out of the East Village apartment, Ed said that I shouldn't let my nostalgia for old stuff get in the way of the present and the future. Or something like that. I know I've been blogging about old stuff, but I just have to get it out of my system, so I can start posting new stuff.
This last picture from 2006 is my family's Christmas meal. Every year we have pretty much the same meal, and I love it. In fact, I think I would request it to be my death row last meal.
Turkey and gravy, stuffing (my mom uses Pepperidge Farms and adds celery and onions and maybe chestnuts or something sweet like dried cranberries), mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, cranberry sauce, and the jello mold. The jello mold is the hold out from the seventies. We have this green Tupperware jello mold that only gets used twice a year, on Thanksgiving and Christmas. One time, mom put vegetables in the jello mold, some stupid suggestion from the box or Ladie's Home Journal and we were horrified. Now she sticks to the can of fruit cocktail in the two layers of jello madness that is a jello mold. This year it was lemon and strawberry jello.
I know my readership is down from 5 to 2 because of my blogging coma, but I want to know what you, my dear sweet two, ate for the holidays.

Love and War in Texas

2007-01-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

When I’m in TX for Christmas I want three things: BBQ, Tex-Mex and mom’s Korean food. However, this year I didn’t feel like I needed Mexican. Harlem has some really good Mexican shops and taco trucks. So scratch that. My mom made bulgogi one night and we went out for Korean noodles when my folks picked me up from the airport. Check. But when it came to Texas bbq, my mom said she wouldn’t take us to Sonny Bryant’s! I was pissed, why not? Apparently she saw on the news how smoked meat causes cancer. This makes no sense as my Dad has been burning the bulgogi and kalbi for 30 years. Whatever.
So we ended up going to Love and War in Texas. Lena had her wedding rehearsal dinner there, and it’s a pretty good place to bring kids because it’s big and loud. It’s also at the site of the Blockbuster Music where I worked for a semester when I first moved to Texas. Oh the memories.
It’s cliché, but just like the state, the portions are huge at LAW. Check out the size of the stein my mom is tasting the Shiner Heiffeweisen from. Dad wanted a beer, so I made him order the Shiner. He drinks Coors Lite and Miller Highlife, so I figured the wheat beer would be to his liking. He said it tasted like lemonade, and I drank most of it because I didn’t want him to kill us all in the car.
Since we had 2 kids, and they needed to eat immediately or suffer a melt down, we ordered the fried green bean appetizer. The crust made the green beans taste just like hush puppies and worked wonders on the nephews. They quit whining because they got to dip the fried beans into the creamy sauce. Then we ordered the family style meat dinner called the Governor’s Feast for $75. The menu says it feeds four, but that’s just silly, look how much food! Beef and chicken fajitas, shrimp, smoked venison sausage and venison bratwurst are hiding under that rack of babyback ribs. Rice, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, flour tortillas and Shiner Bock beer beans accompanied the meat platter. Shiner Bock is like the Brooklyn Lager of TX, but I couldn’t taste any discernable beer flavor in that side of refried beans. However the beans were a nice glue for the tacos you made with all that meat. All the meats were quite good, you know meaty, but I missed that authentically smoked through taste of a Sonny Bryant’s rib. Maybe next time.

Gangster Wrapping: part 2

2007-01-10T08:18:00.000-05:00

Something else I miss from the old ‘hood is the plethora of great Japanese food. Harlem has plenty of fish and chip shops and fried chicken, but sushi? Might as well go to Westchester. So I did. According to my boss, there’s one good Japanese restaurant in Westchester and he took us there before the end of Gangster. Sushi Mike's is located in Hastings on Hudson, NY near Peter’s house and the shop in Yonkers where we were unpacking the prop truck. Sushi Mike’s wasn’t as fancy as Poke sushi, but it was still pretty good. All the guys got the bento boxes for $8.95, but I got the Tempura Udon for a buck more and they didn’t charge extra for the egg that I request. Pretty straightforward food here, but nicely done. The veggies and shrimp were perfectly fried; the panko bread crumbs were crispy and not at all greasy. Unfortunately, the soup broth was so hot, I burned my tongue, so I wasn’t able to taste much of my udon. Isn’t the dessert hilarious? It’s a fried banana covered in whipped cream being attacked by forks.
But the real treat was the left over bottles of Dom Perignon that we toasted to at the end of the day! I’m like everyone else, I avoid champagne because of the headache factor, but like they say, good bubbly doesn’t cause a pain in the head. Although, I couldn’t taste the opening notes of red-fleshed peaches, which according to the booklet enclosed in the box, rapidly evolve into cashew nuts and dried herbs. My nose didn’t smell the notes of lightly toasted brioche or the long finish of glazed fruit. But, I think I sensed the initial creamy density. That means bubbles, right?

Gangster Wrapping: part 1

2007-01-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven’t written you in a while. I got tied up with the end of the job, apartment hunting, and the holidays. But there's tons of stuff I want to tell you. Let’s catch up.
Wrapping American Gangster took a while, but we also had some really fun days. Two highlights were the day Wilson’s Catering brought lunch in for the office and then when the prop master took the property department out for lunch.
Wilson was the craft service company for the shooting crew on American Gangster. Yes, craft service is that table of snacks under the pop up tent blocking the sidewalks of New York. Shooting crew gets a catered meal or a walk away lunch (every 6 hours according to union rules) depending on what’s cheaper or convenient but craft service is always provided, so Wilson’s staff was always working. As a thank you, one day during wrap, a couple of trays of sushi, dumplings, empanadas, tamales and cookies arrived.

My favorite items were the tamales. They were the type wrapped in banana leaves. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some corn husk tamales, but I dig the leaf type because they’re generally bigger and filled with more than just meat and sauce. You can see the carrot in the picture. The green olives are hidden in the corn masa, but they add a nice saltiness to the pork. I also love Puerto Rican & Dominican pasteles — tamales made with starchy roots like green banana instead of corn masa and then wrapped in banana leaves. A husband and wife team used to sell them at the Ave A flea market on Saturdays, but they haven’t been there in months. In fact, before I moved from the East Village to Harlem, I looked for them three weekends in a row. I even walked through Tompkins Square Park because one time I caught up with the husband walking his metal shopping cart with the big pastele pot in that direction. Now that I’m in Harlem, there are plenty of the Mexican tamale sellers, but one of my new missions is to find someone that sells the pasteles.

Poke, mon!

2006-11-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

Wendy and David planned to eat at Poke (343 E. 85th St. bw 1st & 2nd Ave.) one night before she moved to Brooklyn, so I invited myself to her goodbye to the Upper East Side dinner date. Unfortunately, they got out of work late and I am always late, so we didn't get to Poke until 8. A terrible fate! Poke doesn't accept reservations, so we had a 45 minute wait.

Luckily, Dave lives nearby and Wendy bought 2 bottles of wine since Poke is BYOB. Dave only had Mike's Hard Lemonade and 2 bottles of Coke in his fridge so after a bottle of Louis Jadot we were starving by the time Poke phoned.
We ordered edamame 3.50 and shumai 4.50 straight away. You can't go wrong with edamame. I guess you could if you ate the whole pod, but it's probably edible, albeit a bit hairy. Personally, I think shumai is kind of boring and mushy and doesn't really taste like shrimp, but the kids wanted it. Poke's shumai was okay, but the real star was the beef tataki! It reminds me of the Asian guy on Star Trek. Ooops. His name isn't tataki, it's Takei. And he was gay! who knew! And if the tataki was not sliced, who would know it was raw inside? Tataki means beaten or pounded according to the interet. Does tartare means finely chopped? The wikipedia says no, but it's another word for the Mongols.

Back to the sushi. We ordered the Sushi regular w. spicy tuna instead of a California roll. One piece is missing in the picture or maybe we got the sushi irregular because you're supposed to have 8 pieces. Every piece was firm fresh with clean flavors. The simple garnishes like lemon or chive topping the fish added a really nice zing. David wanted to get the bagel sushi or whatever that cream cheese roll is, but Wendy and I ignored him and went for the Pearl Roll for 7 bucks. This one was my favorite because it was warm and crunchy on the inside. Rolled in masago on the outside, the inside had deep fried oysters, cucumber, and scallions. The Ninja roll ($13) was fine, spicy tuna on the outside and eel and avocado in the inside. I think Wendy liked the truffle roll ($13) the best tempura flakes on the outside and salmon with spicy truffle sauce on the inside.

Okay, I can't remember if Wendy liked the truffle roll the best, but I do remember getting the fried ice cream and being underwhelmed. Or was it Mochi ice cream? This entry really was written in November. I've been away from the internet, I'll explain shortly...

Frenzy season

2006-10-25T09:24:00.000-04:00

Hi there,
I'm visiting Crazytown this month. Herky jerking work during the day and living it up in the evening. Last night there was a fire at our office and I was worried sick. When faced with saving stuff from my office, I didn't know if I should choose the $5,000 dead dog or the 10 pistols on my desk. I just grabbed the computer and ran out like a bandit. Luckily, everything is fine, though I'm fighting a cold and the orange juice just isn't working.
Depression is setting in due to the lack of sun and the realization that there's no more corn at the farmers market. Every Saturday I'd been buying 5 ears for 2 bucks, then throwing it husk and all in the toaster oven for an afternoon snack. I even bought cojita cheese to duplicate the Red Hook ball field corn. I've been hooked on the ball field street food and now that soccer season is over, I guess it's back up to Spanish Harlem for my Latin food.

I did it!

2006-10-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

Did you help Martin Scorcese's box office this weekend by going to see The Departed? Did you see me? Or are you like Matt & Matt and Nancy and you missed my cameo. Although I didn't get a credit, at least I've been immortalized on film and not in a porno way!
This flyer is based on actual research. Our fabulous graphic designer saw that there was a flyer in the pictures in the location folders of the Massachusetts Police Dept. The flyer had some other girl's photo and name, so he just stuck my picture and name instead. It's pretty funny, most people wouldn't notice it, but if you haven't seen me in a while or ever, well, now you can.
Everyone asks if I liked the movie. The truth is, it was impossible for me to judge it as a piece of cinema. I enjoyed working on the film. I've met the cream of the crop in NYC film production. Driving to Marty's townhouse to deliver a model in the snow; handing Michael Ballhaus a director's plan, watching Thelma Schoonmaker walked out to introduce the crew screening, what I felt those times was more thrilling to me than watching the film. That said, I'll watch it in a couple more years, then ask me.

Brunch at Supper

2006-10-02T18:36:00.000-04:00

Everyone is freaking out because of the e coli in the spinach. It's a bummer that the popularity of spinach will decrease and affect the small farmers that rely on spinach sales. I barely buy fresh spinach but when I do, it's generally from the farmer's market where it's got dirt on it, so I have to wash it several times anyway. I like to think it's clean dirty rather than covered in industrial agriculture poop.
When Miryam's croquet birthday party was cancelled yet again due to rain, we ate brunch at Supper this Sunday. Carissa asked about the Florentine omelette and our server said the spinach had been replaced with zuccini. She ordered the red eggs, that's not what it's really called, but that's what it looked like. Eggs cooked with tomato sauce and toast. Yummy! No picture because I forgot my camera, and the photo would have looked a red mess anyway. These photos are from another brunch visit. I just love their French toast with berries and real maple syrup. Miryam ordered it this time, and I think she liked it, though she almost got stabbed by the cook's kitchen knife. They have an open kitchen and at one point, this big knife fell out of its storage bin and hurtled toward M's leg! I got the poached eggs on grilled polenta cakes with fennel and Parmigiano cheese. Pictured, you'll see their Eggs Benedict (with arugula, not spinach!), but the eggs on polenta was kind of a healthier version of the Eggs Benny. Instead of a Hollandaise, the fennel was drizzled with Balsamic vinegar. It adds a sweetness and acidity that I really dug with the richness of the yolk and refreshing fennel. The cheese tops this fine dish, thus contributing that crucial bit of salt. Speaking of salty, the bacon is divine. Thick and a little bit sweet, it's the applewood smoked and a big pile of it is perfect for sharing.
Does it seem odd to go to a place called Supper for brunch? Well, it's not because it's delicious at any hour of the day. Located on E. 2nd between A&B, there's a black awning but no visible sign, but step inside and you will be happy you found the place. Brunch starts at 11am. It's conveniantly near a Citibank because Supper only takes cash. 156 E. 2nd St. 212-477-7600

No Transfatties allowed

2006-09-27T10:20:00.000-04:00

NYC Board of Health is setting a limit to the amount of transfats restaurant food is allowed to contain. I don't care for transfats, but I don't want someone to tell me what to do when it comes to eating. Then again, everything is complicated when it comes to food issues. For example, I'm conflicted about outlawing foie gras production. I've read that ducks and geese don't have gag reflexes, I've also heard that they do. Some of the birds (the free range ones obviously) waddle up to their feeders because they like overeating other birds are probably caged and prodded with dirty metal tubes until their livers explode with disease. I really don't know, but I'm not really into banning anything except maybe for littering and public masturbation. If I had to take a stand on the situation, I'd say that the industry has to be regulated, but at the end of the day, it's all about personal choice.
This weekend I was talking to my friend, Matt, the owner of Baked in Red Hook. I ordered the delicious Coke cake, but wanted to know what happened to their other famous chocolate cake. The one that made the head manager break out in sweats, the one that had out of this world flavor. Yes, the one made with lard. He said it had to go because people would order it, asking, "What's in this cake? It's so delicious!" When he told them, people stopped buying it. Oh well.
The Coke cake is terrific however and made with delicious European butter. The fat content is higher in European butter so it must be better! You can't taste the soda in the cake, I think it's more of a texture thing, maybe the bubbles give it a lighter texture? The icing is absolutely perfect-not too sweet, it's a deep chocolate ganache that should really be sold as a skin cream, it's so rich and delicious.
I'll post a picture of it later, until then, enjoy these delicious transfat free donuts from Donut Plant. They fry with 100 percent pure corn oil. No transfatties here, these are healthy doughnuts. The ingredients are organic and oh my god is that square coconut cream donut delicious.

Peace out, Ann

2006-09-26T11:16:00.000-04:00

Ann-Richards-Senate-photo
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

This is only somewhat food related, but I was sad to hear that Ann Richards passed away two weeks ago. When I worked at the Dobie Theater in Austin during college, Ann was one of our celebrity regulars. Because she was a celebrity, she didn't have to pay for admission, but she always did. And actually insisted that she pay, she was no better than anyone else. I remember she loved the John Sayles film, "The Secret of Roan Inish". She saw it twice and even took her grandkids to see it the second time. I wonder if she and Sayles were friends. We didn't play Sayles' follow up film, Lone Star, but I bet she saw it and enjoyed it. Ann and I had a little run in once after she saw one of my favorite food movies, "Big Night." After the show, Ann came out and said in her loud Southern Drawl, "I'D RATHER WATCH PAINT DRY ON A FENCE THAN WATCH THAT MOVIE AGAIN!!!"
I was shocked! "Big Night" was about family and food, the stuff of life and someone bigger than life like her didn't like it? She probably wasn't much of a cook, public service and all, but at least she sat through the whole thing. A couple of years later, I remember being annoyed that she did a Doritos commercial, or maybe it was Pizza Hutt, but I've made peace with that. Sometimes you just need to make a buck.

Jen and some dummies

2006-09-23T11:52:00.000-04:00

CIMG0312
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

So it's been a month since I've written; time flies when you're an American Gangster. Thursday morning was insane, so it was great to get to set after two hours of Long Island traffic. Luckily Jen was driving with Hakim in the back amusing himself with songs and impersonations. The location was the Nassau colliseum where the 1971 Madison Square Garden fight between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frasier was being recreated for the movie. We had rented 600 dummies and 300 extras to fill up the huge arena. Of course, I forgot my camera, but Hakim was nice enough to shoot these photos. It was a hoot to see the dummy handler pick up five dummies with one hand and throw them on the floor. Because the dummies were all men, our set decorator said being in the seats was like being in a gay men's club. These men reminded me of the Bionic woman doll my sisters had whose face came off to expose a head painted with wires and machinery. Some of the dummies' faces and wigs were falling off, but all this can be fixed in post. It will be interesting to see what the CGI people do as far as motion and filling in the gaps.
On a food note, we had just missed lunch, so we only saw the craft service table which was stuff from Costco. But we rode the freight elevator up with one of the TomKats catering guys, he looked absolutely exhausted. I asked him what time he had to wake up to make the donuts and he said 12. Twelve midnite to make the 7am call. Seriously, the catering department has the hardest job. They have to be the first ones at the location ready to work and they're always the last ones to leave. Hats off to them.

Hey buddy!

2006-09-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

Hey buddy!
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Things have been really hectic the last few weeks. It doesn't mean that I haven't had food adventures! I just haven't had the time to type any of them up. My days and part of the night have been spent working on American Gangster and dealing with the homestead. One of my projects at work was making some prop beer circa 1970. The Budweiser peeps finally responded to our requests and sent us some vintage beer labels. The actors can't get drunk while working, so I bought non alcoholic Kaliber by Guinness and Buckler Beer by Heineken. They both have brown bottles like Bud. However, my favorite version has been the bottles of Reed's Raspberry Ginger Beer. It's soda, but I love the graceful looking bottles. The necks seem longer than the fake beers. I painted the bottle caps with a silver paint pen to cover up the twist tops and learned in the process that the twist off cap was introduced in the late 1960s. Anheuser-Busch started testing the twist off in 1964, but didn't use it in mass quantities until around 1967. They must have been drunk, why would it take 3 years to test a bottle cap?!

Food related, sort of...

2006-08-27T01:00:00.000-04:00

Just got back from seeing Half Nelson, the best film of the summer. My old company, THINKFilm is distributing the film, and I hope that my friends there get big fat raises when the film is a hit. Half Nelson is the kind of film that I want to work on. It's the kind of film that I wish I helped distribute. It's about story, character, emotions. The stuff that makes you feel. It's not about the stars, the production design, or the director. Please go see it.
I couldn't help but think about the product placement situation in the film. They had very few noticable brands. When the credits rolled, there were a few clothing companies thanked. I can only think of one visible brand name, Blow Pops. Because I've only worked on studio films, I don't know how clearances are handled on smaller films that are acquired. In my daily experience on this new film, American Gangster, I've had a hell of a time trying to get name brands cleared because it's a drug related film. In fact, the only brands that I've been helpful in clearing are all smaller local companies. Luckily, they both have great products. Boylan sodas and Manhattan Special espresso sodas have signed clearance releases. Manhattan Special even gave us a free case of sodas. As a result, if I drink a soda, it's only going to be those kinds. I will never willingly pay for a Coke, Pepsi or Cadbury Schwepps product again. They suck! Pictured above are the Indian sodas I bought in Curry Hill. Thums Up is Indian Coke, so I wonder if there are pesticides in the soda.
On other films, Coke and Pepsi are used freely because they probably have a product placement deal with the studio. In fact, the crew is probably provided with free sodas and water if there's a product placement deal with the company. This helps out a lot when you've got a 300 person crew and the movie stars are taking up 20 million bucks of the budget.
On the last movie I worked on, the remake of Mostly Martha (it will be called No Reservations when it comes out), Catherine Zeta Jones starred. She is a huge mogul not because of her acting or even her marriage, but because of her advertising deals. There was a photo shoot for some prop food magazines and in every photo, her hand with her watch was noticable. She's being paid to wear that watch, folks. Ironically even though she's paid to advertise Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, we couldn't get any freebies, set dec had to buy all the make up in her bathroom. CZJ also wouldn't hold a certain store's bag in a scene where her character goes shopping because it wasn't in her deal. That kind of sucked because set dec saved a lot of money by creating a deal where items from the store were free if she held a bag.
I also heard a funny story on that last J. Lo/Marc Anthony movie. One of them is sponsored by Coke and the other one advertised Pepsi, so neither of them could be near the other's soda. Or something like that.
I'm kind of torn about product placement, sometimes I don't even notice it, other times it bugs me. What's your opinion?
One more story before I call it a night. As I was walking home, a neon "Chinese Food" sign on a silver street food cart caught my eye outside of the old Tower Video store. So I walked over there and checked out the menu. Fried chicken wings, egg rolls, teriyaki bowls, dumplings, and TACOS?!! I asked the guy, why tacos? And he said because lots of people like tacos. And I said, but that's not Chinese food. Why would I eat a taco at your cart instead of going to the Taco Bell up the street? Why not make them Chinese taco, do like a Mooshu chicken, or teriyaki in a tortilla?
He just kind of stared at me so I bought a pork bun. It was smaller than what I've gotten in Chinatown, but it did hit the spot.
And I realized that just like in Half Nelson, you really can't help others if you can't help yourself. And sleep would help me very much.
Time to hit the hay,
Liza

Westfair Fish and Chips at Camp Carol

2006-08-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

Presidents may visit Camp David for R&R, but I go someplace much more exclusive, Camp Carol. Visiting my friend Carol in Connecticut is one of my favorite day trips. Not only does she live in the same town as Paul Newman, but she's always got some adventure in store, generally including food. I've been lucky to visit twice this summer for terrific company, swimming and seafood lunches at Westfair Fish and Chips.
Both times we went for the fried clams and the lobster roll. Now some people prefer clam strips because they are cleaner tasting, but we prefer the whole body. The bellies and whatever else they dredge in flour haven't been gritty yet and while some might consider the mushy bellies gross, we prefer to call it creamy.
The lobster roll is as fresh as can be because they're pulled from the tank right after you order it. I didn't hear any screaming from the pot or when the cook dips the warm pieces into clarified butter than stuffs it into a hotdog bun, so I'm sure they used the knife method if you're worried about my morals. Last weekend we got the steamers which I've actually never had. Let's say we were comparing clam eating to porn, fried clam strips is to Skinemax as fried whole clams is to Playboy as clam steamers is to Hustler. Eating steamers is hardcore! There's this little tube with a dark skin covering it that looks like an uncircumcised penis. I hear it's really called a siphon, but it's another reminder that you're eating a bottom feeder which is why you have to dip it in the provided clam juice in case there's any left over grit.
Then you can dip it into the butter or spritz with lemon. It's a bit of an aquired taste and feels kinda dirty but it's kinda delicious!

Westfair Fish & Chips
1781 Post Rd. E. (Rte. 1)
Westport; 203.255.3184
Check out clam love if you're enjoy New England seafood shacks.

Bing a ling

2006-08-17T19:43:00.000-04:00

bing
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

This is a picture of my new obsession. Actually, I've been obsessed with bing for an entire year. Carol introduced me to her friend Melissa who lives in Chinatown and is a fabulous designer. Long story short, Melissa told us about these awesome Chinese treats called bing. This is from an email from July 11, 2005: If you are anxious to give the Bings a try, the bakery (if one can call it that) is located downstairs in the Triple Eight Mall underneath the Manhattan bridge. As for my favorites, there are only three varieties available -- cabbage, spicy mustard greens and pork. The number of black sesame dots on the Bing indicates what's inside. There is a sister bakery in Flushing which has a couple of additional combinations like spicy chicken and spicy pork. I have yet to try either. Keep in mind that there is no English menu. The Bing, which look like sesame studded donuts, are on a tray on the counter.
Marvelous Melissa goes on to tell me the heating directions and other tips in the email, but when I tried going to the hidden restaurant in that mall under the bridge, I was confused, because all I saw was noodle soup, so maybe that place was just always out of them. Later, I read a piece in the NYTimes about the bakery in Flushing that makes them, and a new location in Manhattan that had yet to open. Well, they've opened and everyone is talking about them on the new Chowhound.com.
Last night Melissa had a tasting party, and I was lucky enough to finally eat bing! Imagine the yummy sesame bread from the Eldridge St. Dumpling House stuffed with delicious fillings of savory pork and cabbage, spicy chicken, beef, all kinds of goodness that you'll just have to try.
I'm addicted. In fact, I'm leaving the office now so I can get a bing for dinner. The store is right across from the IFC Center at West 3rd and 6th Ave and the chowhounders said that they're giving a free bing for every one you buy. See you there!

This bothers me

2006-08-15T10:50:00.000-04:00

budlight
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Can anyone tell me what this means? I don't understand it at all. What are those rings around the bottle and the people? Does it mean that Bud Light is watery? What's worth it in New York City? In other towns is it worth it?

Just Can't Get Enough

2006-08-12T23:55:00.000-04:00

Pies and Thighs is so damn good, I know my days are numbered before it gets so crowed or they run out of food and I won't be able to go. They opened in April, so I think by October, I'll have to find another place to go for awesome Southern food. That's why I had to visit for breakfast to get my fill. Ted and I started with a donut to stave off the hunger. Generally, I like a doughy Krispy Kreme style donut better than that cake variety, but now I'm confused. Pies and Thighs donut is so brown and crispy on the outside and the cake inside is tender and delicious, maybe I like cake donuts more now. I also love that they save the donut holes and sell them, too. Waste not, want not!

I actually wanted to get the fried fish and grits, but they were out of fish, so I got the gravy and biscuits. My order was piled high with sausage chunks. They were spicy and delicious on top of their wonderful biscuit. The gravy was just the way I like it. Thinner that the way it's served in Texas or Virginia, so it soaks into the biscuit. Now the biscuits and gravy was good, but it was a little much. I could feel my blood thickening with cholesterol and it felt good.
But I had to soldier on, and I'm glad I did. Ted ordered the hash with eggs and potatoes. Their version is the best I've ever eaten. When I think hash, I think of dog foody mystery meat with potato cubes from a can. I used to love that stuff as a kid, but I wonder if I'd still like it after the tv dinner experience.
The pork was the left over stuff of their pulled pork sandwiches. Smoky and moist, the taste is out of this world. Their potatoes are roasted and their skins are sweet and the starch is almost creamy. I can't tell you how good this place is, you just have to try it.

Times change

2006-08-10T20:10:00.000-04:00

IMG_0155
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Work has been crazy busy, and it's starting to get to me. I'm breaking out and this was my lunch today. One of my challenges today was looking for the 1970s tv dinners with the aluminum foil tray. They don't exist anymore because everyone uses a microwave. I didn't have time to stop for lunch, so I just ate one of the turkey dinners I bought to slip into the boxes the graphics department made. Was the food better when I was a kid? I used to love these things. I don't have to tell you that the dinner was really salty except for the green beans and the brownie dessert.. The brownie was the best thing, then the green beans. The potatoes were awful, they didn't heat up well and they tasted like sawdust. The meat, gravy and stuffing were way too salty. Yuck!

Baby melons

2006-08-06T15:13:00.000-04:00

The Greenmarket is one of the places that makes me love New York, but I also love hearing about the dark side of the market. You can read about some of the controversies on Nina Planck's website . She used to be the director of the Greenmarket, but got fired. Some of her ideas are that smaller farmers should be able to sell at the Greenmarket and that everything should be local, including the butter that goes into the baked good, for example. She a purist and an idealist. As a result, she has started up her own farmers markets called the Real Food Markets. I went to the one on Lafayette at Petrosino Square, but it was rainy and the second week that it was open, so it was basically 3 vendors and a bit pricey. I'm on her email list though and every week it sounds like it's getting bigger. Personally, I just want stuff to taste good and wish it was cheaper, but I appreciate the Nina Planck's of the world.
This morning I went to the Greenmarket at Tomkins Square Park and bought the usual summer staples: corn, lettuce, tomatoes, peaches... Then I saw the watermelon and knew I had to have one. I was going to get a yellow on the inside, stripey on the outside melon, but this group of 3 Chinese men were thumping all of those melons and I didn't feel like butting in. So I went with the red "sweet baby". I did some thumping and I know it's supposed to sound hollow, but they all sounded the same to me. Is the thump supposed to be in the key of C? B minor?
So I asked the Chinese guy next to me. His response to my thump was Maybe. So I called my mom and she wasn't home. My dad was like, huh? what? Mommy will be home in an hour. We talked about about when mom was sick and dad bought a watermelon to cheer us up. He cut into it and out poured red liquid because it was rotten inside. That sucked as well as symbolized everything that was going wrong at the time.
I just cut into my little melon and while the disappointment wasn't as profound as when Dad cut that rotten one, it sorta sucked because the flesh isn't sweet on this baby. The taste is well, watered down, and it doesn't have that distinctive sugary taste. It's okay, I'll make watermelonade with my lemon of a watermelon, but it's not good enough for my watermelon, cilantro, feta salad.
I just spoke to my mom and she said that the thump should sound like a "pung!" I have no idea what she's talking about, but she also said that the vine should have fallen off cleanly. My vine was still attached. I picked a melon before it was ready.
Dammit!

2006-08-06T00:35:00.000-04:00

Sweet Red Bean Fish

I finally did another video. This is a sneak peak of episode 3. Who knows when it will be finished!

Crazycakes

2006-08-01T22:47:00.000-04:00

Friday was my boss' birthday, but he didn't didn't tell me until late in the day when I was running around town like a headless chicken trying to fetch the actor's prop wedding rings. So I ignored the boss' declaration and decided that his birthday would be on Monday.
On Sunday I was eating ice cream (I had watermelon sherbet; Ted had black sesame ice cream) at Sundaes and Cones (95 E. 10th St. bw 3rd & 4th Ave.) and spied the perfect present. An ice cream cake, of course! There's a computer on the counter with a slideshow of the ice cream cakes styles. I really wanted to get the "Poop on grass" motif, but I really wanted people to try the ice cream. So I went with the "Balls". Little balls of ice cream formed a circle on the top surrounding the Happy Birthday phrase.
Sundaes and Cones used to be in Brooklyn, but the owner who happens to be Chinese decided to bring his fun flavors to Manhattan. Similar to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, S&C makes the Asian classics: green tea, ginger and red bean ice creams. But they also make more. Much more.
My second new favorite flavor is corn! Wouldn't that be funny in a poop on grass cake? It's quite tasty actually. Think about it. Corn on the cob is sweet. You put butter on corn. Butter is made of cream. Ice cream has cream in it.
But like I said, I really wanted the office people to try the stuff, so I chose the my #1 new favorite, black sesame, ginger, and mocha chip for the cake layers. The sesame lends a nuttyness and natural saltiness to the sweet cream, while the ground up seeds add a bit of flavorful grit that's yummy. The ginger is mostly sweet cream, but every now and again you hit a spicy piece of candied ginger. The mocha chip I threw in there for the mainstream peeps. Derrick doesn't like chocolate, but I still had them add chocolate crunchies in between the ice cream layers. It turned out really good, I thought. Reaction was mixed, but I had fun watching people think about the flavors. And the boss liked it, so he said.
Sundaes and Cones asks for cake orders (8"cake $28) a week in advance but they said they could do it for Tuesday August 1. That's MY birthday. So we had an early afternoon cake and an tea time cake. I told Erik when I started this job that I wanted this heart shaped cream puff cake from Choux, the other creampuff factory. I was fascinated by the mixture of cream, chocolate and puff pastry that I saw on their postcard. I have to say, I enjoyed the ice cream cake just a little bit more. I mean, there were surprises with the choux cake. Namely it was much smaller in real life than the picture; it was hard to cut; there was a fresh strawberry layer; and they misspelled my name! I loved this little cake, but I found the pastry part a little stale and the chocolate layer a bit rubbery. I wonder if that's because you have to order it a week in advance. Do they make it a week in advance?
Either way, I still enjoyed it and it was so pretty.

Shake Shack

2006-07-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

So much has been written about the Shake Shack in Madison Park that I didn't feel like writing about it. Then I read this
essay about the boring industrial design of the Shack and why would you want to take your out of town friends there. Tourists might wonder why you just didn't take them to Wendy's across the street. But I don't think that's the point. It's a centrally located place to enjoy the outdoors and get a cheap(for NY) and yummy meal. Simple formula that's wildly popular.
It's such a mob scene that they've installed a webcam to moniter the line all the time. The hype is true, Shake Shack is really good. So is it worth the wait? Definately not when you're dining alone. But if you're meeting friends and they can get in line while you're running late, it's great! I recently met up with Matt and Diana at Shake Shack and as Diana pointed out, the nature of fast food is that it's fast to make and fast to eat. Because the line is so long (everything is made to order), you're forced to wait and it gives friends the opportunity to catch up and socialize in line. Just don't go too hungry because you'll over order!
The food is simple grub — burgers, hotdogs, French fries, milk shakes, and sundaes.
Actually, the milk shakes are made with their frozen custard. Reminds me of the stuff I used to eat at Sandy's Frozen Custard (Sandy's is in Austin and they served a cone for 65cents!). The kiddie cup at the Shack is a buck fifteen, so the price is nice. The Shack also offers different flavors besides chocolate and vanilla. In fact, they are so organized that on the website, they have a calendar of the flavor of the day. Today's flavor is summer peach. Ooooh! Every Thursday this month, they're serving sour cherry. I'm going to have to bookmark that page.
I dig the burgers there (Prices vary from 3.23 for a single hamburger to 6.46 for a double Shack burger), but I also really like the mushroom burger ($4.15). It's actually a fried portobello mushroom cap with special sauce (mayo&ketchup), cheese and lettuce and tomato. I like to believe that this deep fried yummy is healthier than it's beefy counterpart. I'm probably wrong, but it tastes so right! I haven't tasted their hotdogs and Matt didn't give me a bite of his Chicago dog, but it looks good, doesn't it? I forgot to take a picture of the French fries, but they're just your run of the mill crinkle cuts. Save the calories and get a burger with the custard if you're debating between the fries and dessert. But if you like to live a little, then by all means, order it all!

Pies and Thighs

2006-07-19T08:22:00.000-04:00

Isn't this a gorgeous sight? There aren't many places that I know of with good fried chicken under ten bucks. Charles' Chicken in Harlem is my favorite in the city, and luckily it's far from my apartment, so I haven't been up there in a long while. Closer to home, I love me some Mama's fried chicken with their cream drenched mashed potatoes. But it's the combination of the chicken and biscuit that I miss from growing up in the South. That's why I've been dying to try, Pies and Thighs. The NYTimes reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, but every time I've tried to go there (next to the Williamsburg Bridge at S.5th St. & Kent Ave.), Sunday after 4, it's been closed. So I smartened up and dragged Josh over there for an early Saturday supper.
As you can see, the fried chicken box ($8 including biscuit and side!) was 2 big pieces, one white, one dark, then a little wing tucked in the back of the basket. If you get it to go, you get a box. The meat was piping hot fresh from the fryer with a couple of shakes of tabasco on top. Nice crispy skin, not too much coating, but just enough to be satisfying. The white meat was amazingly juicy and I gave Josh my dark meat, so I could get half of his pulled pork sandwich, but I'm sure it was delicious.
And the biscuit! That biscuit was super buttery and hugely fluffy without being overly doughy. It was crispy on the outside, not hard like a hockey puck.
the only thing missing was honey to drizzle over the biscuit, but I didn't think about it until later. I was too excited.
Even though it took me three outings to finally eat here (They close when they run out of food?), it was sooo much better than my 2 attempts and final tasting of the much anticipated Dirty Bird, the organic fried chicken joint on 14th St. bw 7th & 8th. I should try it again because I've heard it's gotten better, but when I know that Pies and Thighs is so damn good, why would I go to a place that has good ideals, but the food is mediocre?

One of my problems with Dirty Bird is I didn't crave any of their sides. Corn bread, maybe, dirty rice, no. They have some other stuff, but not that much. When I eat chicken and biscuits, I want collards. And collards I had at Pies and Thighs!
The greens were delicious, flavored with a bit of the pulled pork that was cooking in the smoker in the concrete garden we were sitting in. Josh's pulled pork was quite good as well. Smokey and quite spicy with a vinegar based sauce. The bun melted under the sauce and the heft of the chopped coleslaw, but it seemed more homey with that wonder bread kind of bun. We shared his huge side order of potato salad. Mayo, mustard, dill, little red potatoes, and the same yummy pickles that topped the sandwich were sprinkled in the excellent salad.
Oh yeah, we splurged on the key lime pie. It was good, but was a little too fresh, it was still warm! It was still good, but creamier than tangy.

hambun

2006-07-15T11:54:00.000-04:00

hambun
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

There have been some minor annoyances at work lately. Solace has been mostly food related. After the rat incident at the 34th St. subway stairs, I started taking the stairs on the east side of the street. It was serendipitous because I stumbled upon a tiny Chinese bakery that serves yummy cheap treat. I think the lady thought I was Chinese the first time I went there as I was wearing my Departed tee shirt. The bloody character covering my chest says, "dead." I'm holding a half eaten ham bun with cheese. I tried not to eat it while walking to work, but I'm weak when it comes to cheese. This ain't a fancy treat, it's literally a white bread bun stuffed with a slice of ham lunch meat and a piece of American cheese melted (a little burned) on top. This yummy breakfast cost 75 cents and the accompanying watermelon milkshake coast only $1.50. The milkshake isn't pictured, because it's just a pink drink, but I have to divulge that it wasn't really a milkshake. It was watermelon (seedless) sweetened with simple syrup then blended with ice. I know I ranted about seedless watermelons recently, but when a treat is that cheap, I don't care!!!

Another Salad Day

2006-07-13T00:20:00.000-04:00

salad
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Today was filled with bad luck. While I was running up the stairs at the 34th St. subway stop to get to work, a huge black rat ran down the stairs. The guy in front of me screamed like a woman, then of course I screamed. I could hear the dirty rat's talons tapping on the concrete. It was an omen of bad things to come. I'll spare you the bloody details of my visit to the dentist, but long story short I was tortured mentally and physically then paid $300 for it!
As a result, I'll be putting myself on the frugality plan again. Adios cocktails before dinner and popcorn at the movies. Hello budgeting and babysitting.
I really wanted a watermelon juice from Mexican Bakery on East 4th St. and 1st Ave to cheer me up, but I decided buying my own watermelon was the way to go. For $2.75, I get one juice, but for about 4bucks, I'll get a slice of watermelon that will last me at least 3 servings. (Such a rip off when you're from Texas, but I've gotten over this.) So I went to three different bodegas in my neighborhood looking for watermelon with seeds. Everyone has gone seedless it seems! Have people become so lazy that we can't even be bothered to spit out seeds? I refuse to buy seedless melon, there's just something wrong about them and they aren't as sweet. I finally found them at the deli bodega on East 7th St. on the east side of 1st Ave. I remember a couple of years ago, people were handing out flyers not to shop there because they weren't union or something, but life's about choice. And I needed that seedy watermelon for my feta, cilantro, snow pea and lettuce salad. There's just something about the feta, melon, cilantro combination. I heard that the combination was from the times of Mesopotamia. Or maybe it's the Mediterranean. Whatever. The cilantro really brightens up greens, the salt of the cheese and juicy sweetness of the watermelon rock together. A splash of lime juice and a few grinds of pepper are all that's needed for dressing and now I'm looking foward to tomorrow.

Salad Days

2006-07-12T22:54:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it’s so hot here in the city, one doesn’t really feel like eating. Who are those nutjobs? There’s so much great stuff to eat right now!
Summer is the best time to buy fruit at the farmer’s market and blend them into smoothies. Don’t waste your money on stupid Starbucks and Jamba Juice, make that shit yourself. Save the dregs of your morning coffee and throw it into the freezer for a mocha milkshake later. Now is the time to buy tons of blueberries (Chances are they’re on sale and grown in New Jersey. Since they’re local, you don’t have to feel guilty about those Chilean bananas. They cancel each other out.) Freeze those babies for winter when the farmer’s market it only selling apples. As far as veggies, I’ve been pretty satiated with the sugar snap peas, but I’m really lusting for corn on the cob and tomatoes.
While I’m waiting, let's talk about one of my favorite salads that’s available and delicious all year round. When a chopped salad contains meat, is it a called a chopped meat salad? At New Saigon on 1st Ave. (bw East 3rd&4th St.), it’s the #27 Shredded Chicken Salad with Lime Juice. I’m not so lazy that I’ll have this salad delivered, but I will call the order in to pick up. When I’m tired after a day of sitting in front of the computer eating Doritos at the office, this salad seems healthy. It’s made of cabbage, carrot, iceberg, cilantro (and sometime parsley), red onion and chicken. I think the dressing is actually lemon rather than lime juice, but I only think that because the cooks garnish the salad with extra slices of lemon. It’s fresh, cheap and so much faster to have someone else do all that chopping!
When I need that salad, but I have company, I don’t take them to New Saigon because it’s a take out joint and verges on depressing. Instead, I’ll take them to Chinatown, as I did when my Godmother visited last month.
On the way to Nhå Hång (73 Mulberry St.), we passed a Hare Krishna parade on 5th Ave while catching up on the past fifteen years. Nhå Hång is even better when you have a large group because the food is consistently good so you can order a lot of dishes. It’s a little exotic for food adventurers, but safe enough for the picky. It’s also great when you have jury duty, they serve cheap ban mi sandwiches and lunch specials. The first and last time I went to the World Trade Center before 9/11, I had dinner at Nhå Hång with a bunch of friends. Marsha had an open studio art show on the 98th floor, and we went out for a big dinner afterwards. This was the first time I went to NH, but it certainly has not been the last. The salt and pepper calamari, #73 Goi gå xé phay (Viet Style Shredded Chicken Salad with Mint and Lime Leaves) and the 7 treasures ice (jello and beans is weird, but fun) are dishes I love ordering. The salad is especially good because they serve it with those crispy chips that stick to your tongue. They remind me of those pastel colored egg cartons.
Pho Bang (157 Mott between Broome & Grand) serves this same shredded chicken salad, but the atmosphere at NH is a little better and I don’t think that Pho Bang has lime leaves in their version of the dish. I’ll just have to go back there and refresh my memory and my palate with this terrific salad.

A Provocative Act

2006-07-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

I've been dying to try Pies and Thighs because I love me some fried chicken and biscuits, but when Josh and I went there, it was closed. Luckily, I had passed by Dana and Chris on the Williamsburg campus and they recommended what I thought was some kind of reggae Carribean restaurant, Marley and Sons. Bob had a bunch of sons, right? When we got the restaurant, I realized Marlow and Sons is owned by the same folks that gave us Diner and is more of a wine bar seafood shacky type place. No jerk chicken in sight.
There was an article in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago about oysters that schooled me on that rule regarding oysters. You're not supposed to eat them on months without r's. For some reason, oysters know what months don't have r's in them and they have sex during that time, so you shouldn't eat them because they taste like their gonads. Or something like that.
Oysters are very sexy—they're wet, salty, and can be a little bit funky. I should write about oysters using some kind of sexy metaphors, but that seems kind of overdone. Besides, I was with my number one gay boyfriend. Josh and I were a bit apprehensive at first because it was a hot day and we're neurotic about getting sick, but after a stiff Mint Julip and Moscow Mule (ginger beer, lime and rum), we had no fears. Plus each oyster was only $1.25, it was happy hour(Mon-Fri 5-7 & Sat&Sun 2-6)! I wrote down the names of the oysters, but I lost the paper. You'll never remember the names anyway. All I remember is that the big ones were from the West Coast and the little ones were from the East. Or the other way around. Never you mind, all you need to know is that the big ones were funkier. The big ones were fleshier and creamier if you like oysters. Or phlegmier if you don't. The little ones were nice and briny and tasted fresh like the sea. I dug the little ones which goes along with what the New Yorker article mentions. Women like the smaller oysters. That article harped on whether or not people chewed the oyster. One farmer kind of kneaded it with his tongue, while another just bit it once. A chef said he learned as a kid that you had to chew it or else it would go down your gullet alive! Whatever the case, we had four of each oyster and it was the perfect amount. We then shared a nice, but not as interesting as the oysters, mozzarella and salami panini.
Marlow & Sons 81 Broadway, Williamsburg. Call for hours at 718.384.1441.

Little is Better

2006-06-30T16:43:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-24T11:29:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-06-21T08:39:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-19T21:30:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-10T10:20:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

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.

Who cares what I think!

2006-05-26T09:02:00.000-04:00

Hi K8, When you visit NYC, we can discuss the Top Chef season finale further. You know I wanted LeeAnn Wong to win. But the white man always wins! Just kidding, you know I like Harold. He's cute, likes Asian girls, and he doesn't talk too much. He's a regular dreamboat. I'm curious though what did Tiffany mean when she said as she walked away, "Harold, my heart." She had said that she walked her BACK into his knife. So what gives? I would have voted for Harold. It's great to have a risky menu and all, but the judges said that some of the food didn't taste good and she was so catty about Dave's dessert.
To bring it home, Kirsten told me that she saw Dave and Harold at our wrap party for the Untitled Scott Hicks Film (name that stupid thing, Warner Brothers!). I had emailed LeeAnne to come, but she was a no show. I was late to the party because I had to change bags to accomodate flat shoes in case dancing occurred and Derrick's cab driver was quite hilariously the slowest driver in the city. Needless to say, the snacks at the party were average. The mini burgers were ok, the fries were fine until they got cold, but the rest of the food—stringy chicken on a stick and so dry it was practically beef jerky on a stick and salty pigs in a blanket were not so good. And there were no sweets. This is a common mistake that happens at parties. Whatever, I still had a good time.
So I never got to meet Harold, but rumor has it that he and LeeAnn are doing it. They went to Mexico together and the Bravo website said she's one of his best friends. That's cool. He seems nice and it just goes to show you that nice guys can end up on top. The website also says that he's opening up his own restaurant called Perilla this Fall or Winter. I'm sure someone will want to film it and put it on tv. If so, I hope it's better than that doc about Moto that came out a few years ago. And when they have an opening party, I'm sure they'll serve mini desserts!

It was all a burger blur

2006-05-23T23:04:00.000-04:00

The new movie has started up, and I'm still adjusting to it. So there hasn't been enough time for play.
It wasn't until this weekend that I read last week's review of Dumont Burger in the NYTimes. If you missedIt's the Year of the Burger in Brooklyn too, click it. I ate there about a month ago and I meant to write about it, but the momentum died. In fact, I meant to write about Sweet Water in Williamsburger and this is the perfect opportunity to talk about them.
First things first. Dumont Burger. I went with Ted and Brian after we had drinks and party bombs at Bozu. I love Bozu, but that particular Saturday night we all just really wanted some red meat. So we stumbled over to Dumont Burger on Bedford and miraculously there were three seats available. We ordered beers and burgers and checked everyone out. Stylish and well dressed, just like the design of the restaurant and the burgers themselves. The bread and butter pickle chips were a nice touch, but that spear sucked. It was a boring salty wet wedge. My salad greens were a bit overdressed thus wilty and the burger a bit overcooked but it still hit the spot. The fries were fine, but the biggest dissappointment was the brioche bun. It was a bit much and I'm a lover of carbs, so this is serious. This large fluffy bun went way over the preferred meat to bun ratio. In fact, I didn't even eat the top half. I know it was a sin to waste that lovely bread, but one should always remember the bread is just a vehicle for the burger.
The folks at Sweetwater know this. Sweetwater (105 N.6th St. bw Berry and Wythe)used to be a bar and bands use to play there, but now it's a posh little bistro with a nice garden out back. Josh and I ate there another night after drinks at Bozu. There's just something about those wonderful mojitos that make me crave burgers. I dunno what it is, but it certainly made for a blurry picture. Can you make out the bread in the photo? IT'S AN ENGLISH MUFFIN!!! This may be a controversial statement, but I think this is genius. The bread is flatter, so it's not hard to get that meat in your mouth. With the huge rounded Dumont bun, I felt like I was causing my laugh lines to go deeper into my face. The muffin is also a little sturdier, so it absorbs the yummy juices from the perfectly pink meat. And those fries! Chips, really. They were crispy and delicious. I love that I got the salad too. If you're paying ten bucks for a burger, I don't want to have to choose between fries and a salad.
But if I had to choose between Dumont Burger and SweetWater, I'd choose SweetWater in a heartbeat.