After running some errands and visiting folks in town, my friend Katie and I stopped by Jacob Wirth to take a load off and to down some German nibbles.
1) A bucket of mini soft pretzels with mustard dippin' sauce. 2) Fried pickles with dill dippin' sauce. Not necessarily German but oh-so tasty. 3) Knockwurst with potatoes and sauerkraut. 4) Wiener schnitzel with Jaegermesiter sauce, dill speatzel, and peas.
Katie and I went out for a night on the town in Plymouth on Thursday and stopped by Sabor (Spanish for flavor and taste) for some tasty tapas. Whodathunk a place with New York-style menu items, decor, and plating would open in this neck of the woods? I guess all the talk of "Hollywood East" and Plymouth Rock Studios has upped the game for local businesses. Hooray!
1) A shot of gazpacho, the amuse bouche. 2) Calamari, "Rhode Island-style," with pepperoncini rings. 3) Figs with cheese, ham, and balsamic vinegar.
4) Fried goat cheese with jam and micro greens. 5) Seared tuna with heirloom tomato salsa. 6) Spicy crab and corn bisque.
The food was delicious, and the prices were pretty good. I have a soft spot for the sweet/salty flavor pairings in the figs and fried goat cheese. And I loved the spiciness of the calamari and bisque.
Though our plan to have a bite at the birthplace of the hamburger was foiled, Katie and I decided to stay in New Haven and find a place to have a relaxing lunch. Just a short walk away, we found Istanbul Cafe, where we happily swapped grilled beef for grilled lamb.
1) Nohut ezme: humus and flatbread. 2) Yogurtlu kebab: grilled chunks of lamb with soft croutons and spicy tomato and cool yogurt sauces. 3) Adana kebab: grilled spicy lamb with rice and a carrot salad.
Anybody who's done the drive from New York to Boston on Route 95 knows that the stretch of highway from Stamford to New Haven, Connecticut, makes or breaks your your ETA. Between the bumper-to-bumper traffic and constant construction, a four-hour trip can easily disintegrate into seven, especially on a holiday weekend.
In anticipation of monster delays during my sojourn back to Massachusetts on Labor Day, I planned a little lunch stop on the way so that Katie and I could fill our bellies, recharge our patience, and let some of the traffic subside.
I had seen Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, featured on Food Network a couple times because the place claims to have created the hamburger back in 1900. We were going to be in the neighborhood, so I figured we should give the mother of all burgers a try. But, of course, Louis' was shuttered for the holiday. Food destination denied...again!
I guess I'll just have to make another trip...
When you're craving something sweet and undoubtedly bad for you, a street fair is sure to deliver. Enter the deep-fried Oreo.
It's like a zeppole, or small ball of fried dough, stuffed with a cookie. The outside is soft and chewy, and the inside is sweet and chocolaty and still has a bit of a crunch.
Surprisingly good!
Boy, oh boy. When they named the holiday labor day, they weren't kidding.
Katie and I wandered through the East Village and Lower East Side on Sunday. The plan was to end up at Doughnut Plant so that Katie could sample the goodies I constantly rave about. Unfortunately, Doughnut Plant's doors were shuttered for the holiday.
I'm glad the hardworking folks at Doughnut Plant got a few days off, but did they need to shut down shop for the whole weekend? Food destination denied!
For my final Friday in the city (for a while, at least), Gary and Alan took me to Coney Island to ride The Cyclone. Oh...and to chow down on some hot dogs from Nathan's.
1) Bacon cheese dog. 2) Chili dog and cheese fries. Because why not, right?
Here's some advice: Unless you want to re-taste your hot dogs, hold off on the food until after you've ridden the rides.
On Sunday night, Gary, Alan, and I met down at Acqua to enjoy some pizza under the stars in the beautiful end-of-summer weather before heading back to watch True Blood.
1) Pizza with potatoes, onions, and Italian ham. 2) Pizza Margherita. 3) Pizza alla Caprese.
I got the potato pizza. As you could probably guess, I was able to polish off only two pieces, so the leftovers will feed me for the rest of the week!
After a night on the town, you need a little something in your belly to lift you up. Enter the sausage roll from Myers of Keswick.
It might look like a pig in a blanket, but it's so much better than a standard cocktail weenie wrapped in puff pastry. It's a big breakfast sausage wrapped in puffed pastry. I'm surprised McDonald's hasn't jumped on this yet...
Gary and Alan took me and Katie to Brick Lane Saturday night for some authentic British curry. It was a tasty start to a night of debauchery in the East Village. I'll remember this for a long, long time.
1) Lamb madras. 2) Lamb bhuna. 3) Fish saag. 4) Tandoori chicken and lamb.
On Friday night, my friend Katie, who was in town for the weekend, and I went out to Tue for some tasty Thai food. After a day of walking all over the city, this is just what the doctor ordered.
1) Crab Rangoon. And I thought you could only get these guys at Chinese restaurants on the South Shore of Massachusetts. These weren't as cream cheesy as the ones I know and love from home, but they were pretty good. Dense and savory and with just a hint of crunch from some celery or maybe even water chestnuts. Katie said they tasted a little bit like Thanksgiving stuffing. I have to agree. And I loved the sweet/spicy dippin' sauce. 2) Fried tofu. Deep fry anything, and I'm all over it. Crispy stuff + spicy peanut dippin' sauce = yummy. 3) Pad Thai--Katie's favorite. 4) Stir fried chicken and noodles.
On my way to pub trivia in the East Village tonight, I passed by The Smith and couldn't resist picking up an ice cream sandwich, or "Smith'wich," to cool off as I headed down Third Avenue. It was a little pricey, but I deserved a cold treat for walking around the city in such nasty, humid weather.
Chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream...what could be better? Well, I'll tell you: a cookie ice cream sandwich made using my recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
For some tips on how to make your own cookie ice cream sandwiches, check out I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream.
We really picked the right theater to see Julie & Julia. Before the show, we got free, albeit rather bland and bad, cookies. On the way out, we got free goodie bags filled with all sorts of stuff, including coffee, hibiscus and lime soda, PopChips, nuts, and a little basket. I have to admit that the hibiscus and lime soda kind of scares me. I'll have to report back on that. Who knows...maybe it's a flavor combo to consider for a cookie.
Seeing a foodie movie in a foodie town has its benefits!
On Friday night, Gary, Alan, and I went to Gascogne for pre-movie prix-fixe dinner. We went to see Julie & Julia, so of course we had French. I think Julia would be proud.
Appetizers: 1) Leek mousse, tomato confit, and goat cheese. 2) Vichyssoise. 3) Mesclun salad with champagne-shallot vinaigrette.
Entrees: 1) Chicken breast with sauternes sauce and mushrooms. 2) Roast loin of pork with white bean ragout and garden vegetables. 3) Seared tilapia with garden vegetables and saffron sauce.
Desserts: 1 and 3) Pear clafoutis with sorbet. 2) Crème caramel.
For dinner Tuesday night, I met up with my friend John and his friend Bill for some sandwiches at Peanut Butter & Co. Yup...that's right. There's a restaurant devoted entirely to the peanut butter sandwich.
Sure. You can get PB&J on white bread, but why not try the Elvis (PB, bananas, bacon, and honey) or the Pregnant Lady (PB and pickles)?
I was tempted by the Fluffernutter, but I went with PB, maple, and bacon. Good...and filling!
It's not summertime in New England until you've had your first clam roll of the season.
The crummy weather--with all the rain and cool temps--may be making it feel like fall, but yesterday truly felt like July, thanks to the clam roll fry-ups Mumma and I had for lunch that also doubled as dinner.
For the uninitiated, a clam roll consists of a butter-toasted hot dog roll filled to overflowing with fried clams and served with a mountain of fries or onion rings and a ton of tartar sauce on the side.
You have two options for the clams: strips or with bellies. If you're a newbie to the clam-roll culinary experience, you'll probably want to go with the strips option, which are just the fried muscly part of the clam. They look a little like fried rubber bands, but they taste good. (They're fried, after all...how could they not be good?) If you're an experienced clam roller or feeling brave, go for the clams with bellies, which are just what they sound like: clam strips with the bellies attached. The bellies look like little balloons, and they're filled with...well...stuff you'd find in a clam's belly. When you bite down on them, the bellies pop gently and release the taste of the sea.
I went home to visit Mumma for the July 4 weekend, and I met up with Katie, who's been a friend since all the way back in third grade. (Holy cow we're old!) We did some catching up at the British Beer Company in downtown Plymouth on Thursday night and then did some late-night snacking at Happy Garden--because nothing goes better with beer than Chinese take-out.
1) It being Plymouth and all, how fitting for the bill to be 1620! 2) Chicken fingers. A classic. 3) Crab Rangoon: crab meat and cream cheese-filled fried guys. So good...and so totally inauthentic.
For the second Friday in a row, Jon and I had dinner at Scuderia, a brand new Italian restaurant on 6th between Downing and Bedford Streets. I think I see a pattern forming here...
1) Fried stuffed zucchini blossoms. 2) Bronzino with olives and roasted cherry tomatoes. 3) Fresh pasta with peas, sausage, and cream sauce.
The zucchini blossoms were good, but the portion was a tad small to share as an appetizer. We both loved our entrees, but I needed a little help finishing my pasta. On second thought, the appetizer wasn't too small after all.
For dinner on Wednesday, Jon and I set out for B Bar. This time we found it! After a tasty meal of fish tacos and grilled salmon, we headed up to Momofuku for some dessert. Because you've got to balance the healthy with the junky.
1) Fish tacos. 2) Grilled salmon with tomatillo salsa and roasted corn on the cob. 3) Candy bar pie, strawberry milk, and a doughnut ice cream/cereal milk shake.
After a week of cold, rainy days, Friday was a bright and shiny welcomed sight. To celebrate the sunlight, Jon and I had a light dinner at Scuderia, a new Italian restaurant just a short walk away in the Village.
1) Baccala (salted cod) spread and toast points. 2) Arancini (fried risotto balls) with beef ragu. 3) White pizza with black truffles.
Sometimes all you need to cure a case of the Sunday Blahs is a short walk and some snacks, but it gets a little more complicated when the weather stinks. On Sunday, Jon and I donned our raincoats, went for a longish walk, and had a hot, filling lunch at Risotteria that also doubled as dinner. The risotto was among the best I've tasted. Perfectly cooked--not too al dente, not too mushy--and very flavorful. Blahs be banished!
The neato part? Pretty much everything on the menu is gluten free. And you can get vegetarian versions (vegetable stock instead of chicken stock in the risotto, for example) of pretty much everything...well, except for the meatballs.
1) Meatballs and sauce. 2) Risotto with mozzarella, mushrooms, and truffle oil. 3) Marinara and mozzarella pizza.
On Friday, Jon and I went a few blocks north to El Cocotero for a South American dinner. I've noticed a few Venezuelan restaurants recently, fueled by the popularity of arepas, I'm sure. The food was very tasty and very filling for the price. Save the chicha de arroz, a liquefied rice pudding drink, for dessert. That thing is sweet!
1 and 2) The "degustacion" appetizer: fried plantains, yucca, and mini arepas with bowls of spicy chicken, guacamole chicken, black beans, and stewed beef. 3 and 4) Sandwiches made with fried plantain chips as the bread.
The boardwalk connects Coney Island and Brighton Beach. If you want Russian food, Brighton Beach is the place to go, but I'm not sure how authentic our lunch from The Winter Garden was. Borscht and stroganoff, sure. But lobster salad and calamari?
1) Lobster salad. 2) Calamari. 3) Lamb kabobs. 4) Shrimp and rice.
The food was really good, and the leisurely pace of the meal matched the setting perfectly. Watching the matronly Russian woman dressed to the nines and in spiky stilettos maneuvering the rickety, uneven boardwalk, with its gaps, loose boards, and half sticking-out nails, was great fun. I think those ladies are worthy of an Olympic sport designation: high heel danger walking.
On Saturday, Jon and I took full advantage of the 70º weather and walked over the bridge to Brooklyn. We stopped at Pacifico for some lunch before continuing on to Prospect Park.
I was on a fish taco jag last week, and this was my third order in as many days.
1) Really, really good fish tacos and grilled corn on the cob. 2) Chicken and avocado salad.
Happy Easter! Jon and I celebrated by heading over to A Salt & Battery for some deep-fried Cadbury Creme Eggs.
If fried Creme Eggs aren't your thing, give my Hot Cross Bun Cookies a try.
For dinner on Friday night, Jon and I wandered around the West Village until we came across Braeburn, you know...like the apple.
I'd had brisket on the brain since my second-ever Passover seder. Lucky for me, the prix fixe dinner special was a three-course Passover-inspired meal, with brisket as the entree. Yay!
1) Cod dumpling with braised red cabbage. Kind of like gefilte fish. 2) Smoked brisket with spring vegetable stew. This cured my brisket jones, but it wasn't as good as Lorraine's version. 3) Pineapple consomme with matzo balls.
Jon, having attended his sixty-fourth Passover seder, was ready for some non-kosher food, namely bacon and lobster.
1) Pasta with peas and bacon. 2) Lobster with razor clam gravy. 3) Banana pudding.
I turned two on Wednesday night. Two in Passover years, that is.
For my second Passover, Jon and I went to his mom Lorraine's house for the seder. Lorraine (a real-life reader and cookie taster) fed us a soup-to-nuts feast, including matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, chicken and artichoke hearts in a white wine sauce, cookies, cakes, brownies, and an assortment of other Passover sweets. The highlight for me was her homemade beef brisket. (Yay, brisket!) Thanks for hosting--and cooking--Lorraine!
1) The Passover tablescape. 2) The haggadah, which tells the story of Passover and guides you through the seder. 3) Matzo ball soup (A.K.A. Jewish penicillin).
4) Gefilte fish with red horseradish. 5) Brisket; chicken with artichoke hearts, potatoes, and carrots; potato kugel. 6) Chocolate chip meringues and kosher-for-Passover brownies.
Happy Passover!
Last Saturday, Jon and I went for a walk in the East Village and got lost trying to find B Bar, a cool place to sit, rest, and have a light lunch. We've been there a handful of times but always have trouble finding it. Hungry and tired from our walk, we settled for Gemma. Because when you ask Jon what time it is, and he says it's time for lunch...it's time for lunch.
1) Arancini (fried risotto balls) in tomato sauce. 2) Baked eggs in tomato sauce with prosciutto and avocado. 3) Salmon with braised escarole.
Jon wanted to try the Compost Cookie from Momofuku, so we stopped by on Saturday to pick up a few for samplin'. The place was packed! But we did get a chance to try three of the more unique cookies.
1) Corn Flake and Marshmallow Cookie, which tasted very much like a Rice Krispies Treat, only flatter and round. Very good. 2) Corn Cookie. A sugar cookie with a very corny taste...as in really corny. Like nibblets of corn corny. Unexpected, but I wasn't really a fan of this one. 3) Compost Cookie. Very tasty and worthy of my very own copycat version.
Update: Check out my Copycat Momofuku Compost Cookies.
A little while ago, Lauren emailed me to see if I had any ideas for coming up with a copycat version of Momofuku's famous "Compost Cookie," which includes pretzel pieces, potato chip crumbs, chocolate and butterscotch chips, and some other stuff...like flour. I thought it would be good to start with a standard cookie recipe and then substitute a measure of an ingredient for an equal measure of something off the wall.
I have some pretty good ideas for my own version of this type of cookie, but I needed to check out the original to get a sense of the texture and the sweet-savory balance. So off to Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar to pick up some source material.
These are by no means delicate cookies. They've got some heft and are bumpy and lumpy, but they taste pretty good. There's the salty/sweet, chewy/crunchy thing going on. The main thing missing, in my humble opinion, is oatmeal--of course! Stay tuned for a version from the Oatmeal Cookie Guy.
Update: Check out my Copycat Momofuku Compost Cookies.
On our final morning in Cranberryland, Jon and I had a big old breakfast at D's Omelet Shoppe in the center of town. I've written about D's before. It's the kind of place, were it in Iowa or New Hampshire, presidential candidates would visit to press the flesh and kiss babies during the primaries. But D's is in Massachusetts, so you don't have to worry about having a politician get between you and your home fries.
Before Francine Segan's tea talk and tasting Wednesday night, Jon and I had dinner at Sfoglia, a little Italian restaurant right across the street from the 92nd Street Y.
1) Cheese course--served first. 2) Pasta with watercress pesto. 3) Pappardelle alla Bolognese. 4) Bread pudding.
Eggplant parmesan is more a process than a specific recipe. Here's the process...in process.
Because Holland eggplants include very few seeds and don't need to be salted and drained to remove extra moisture, I prefer them over standard American or "globe eggplants" for parmesan. (I used 7 Holland eggplants in this parmesan.) I find eggplant skins bitter, so I skin mine. If you like your eggplant with the skin on, go ahead and leave the skin on. I use a mandolin to make nice, even 1/4"-thick slices of eggplant.
After slicing comes breading. Dip a few slices of eggplant in scrambled egg. Then dredge the egg-coated slices in breadcrumbs. I always use Progresso Italian breadcrumbs because that's what Mumma always uses. (Eggplant parmesan just doesn't taste like eggplant parmesan if you use other breadcrumbs.) Fry the slices, a few at a time, in olive oil.
Drain the fried eggplant on paper towels or brown paper grocery bags. After the eggplant has drained and cooled, you can start assembling. You'll need shredded mozzarella and your favorite jarred marinara sauce. (Rao's is my favorite jarred sauce.) Start with a very light layer of sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish. This will keep the eggplant from sticking and make it easier to serve. Next, add a layer of eggplant, making sure to cover any gaps or openings.
Top your first layer of eggplant with an even layer of sauce. Next, add an even layer of shredded mozzarella. Repeat these steps, building layer upon layer, until you end with a layer of cheese. (Depending on the size of your casserole, you might need two jars of sauce and two bags of cheese.) Pop the casserole in the oven and bake at 350º for about an hour, or until the cheese has melted and browned. Mangia!
For dinner on Thursday night, Jon and I headed a few blocks north to Le Singe Vert, which means "the green monkey" in French. (Thanks for the translation, Kim!)
1) Frisee salad with bacon and a poached egg. 2) Scallops and shrimp over asparagus risotto. 3) Tuna tartar.
