Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 5, 2008 at 6:45 PM
Photographs by roboppy on Flickr
Earlier this summer, the Peoples Popsicle booth was a huge hit at the New Amsterdam Market (we were there). But unlike the other vendors, this was a thrown-together brainchild of a few friends, one of which was Nathalie Jordi, a former Serious Eats blogger. Somehow the gang was so organized they not only made delicious, refreshing blends from organic fruits and herbs, but on Peoples Popsicle-logoed sticks no less. They even had matching shirts. Though they couldn't promise a future—one friend had to get back to London—it was obvious the people loved popsicles and wanted more. Peoples Popsicle has since arranged a deal with Brooklyn Flea, but this weekend might be their last. The popsicle gods must retire for the fall soon.
The Brooklyn Flea is every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain or shine) at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene on Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues. Anyone else up for celebrating the popsicle? What else is happening this weekend?
Posted by Allison Hemler, September 4, 2008 at 6:00 PM
On Labor Day, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for none other than my favorite food: ice cream. Having once visited the Blue Marble Ice Cream stand at the Brooklyn Flea, I thought it was time to visit the store on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. Two flavors immediately caught my attention for a "double" served in a compostable cup: peach sorbet, a seasonal offering, and culture real frozen yogurt, which beats Pinkberry by a mile. This version is made with Ronnybrook Farm Dairy yogurt and sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice. While any flavor would work with the frozen yogurt, I'd give more weight to the fruit options to create a refreshing treat that won't ruin your dinner (for those afternoons when you just can't wait).
It's difficult to finish ice cream and have room for more—especially when this is your second ice cream store visit of the day, but I could've eaten another serving.
Blue Marble Ice Cream
420 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11217 (nr. Bond; map)
718.858.1100
bluemarbleicecream.com
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 29, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Although I didn't get a cake on my birthday this past Wednesday, Erin gave me the next best thing: a plate piled high with a dozen birthday doughnuts! More specifically, apple cider doughnuts from her local Windsor Terrace Greenmarket. The light, cinnamon and sugar-coated cake doughnuts were gone by the end of the day, into the stomachs of the Serious Eats crew. I'll have to figure out a way to one-up Erin when her birthday comes around. Maybe with...two dozen doughnuts.
Windsor Terrace Greenmarket
Prospect Park West & 15th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215 (map)
Open Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Posted by Joe DiStefano, August 29, 2008 at 12:30 PM
During the summer, the stretch of Roosevelt Avenue running through Jackson Heights is lined with vendors selling slices of mango and papaya. Tropical fruits spiked with hot sauce and salt help me cool off, but when it gets real hot I crave something much colder: a paleta. These Mexican popsicles come in much the same flavors as the fruit sold on the street: tamarind, mango, pineapple, cherry, guava, watermelon, etc. In my hood I most often find the Sley brand, which are made in Brooklyn. Until recently my faves were mango and chili, tamarind and chili, and, you guessed it, pineapple and chili. There’s nothing quite like sucking on a pepper-spiked popsicle on a sweltering summer day. I didn’t think it could get any more delicious or weird until yesterday.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, August 28, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Cesar Fuentes gave us the word in late July that the Red Hook ball field vendors were considering holiday action, and so the word has come to pass. From an email from Fuentes:
I wanted to share some last-minute good news with you in advance of our broad public announcement later on. The food vendors have decided to extend their operation through Labor Day, Monday, September 1.
Related: Red Hook Vendors: A Quick Guide for the Uninitiated
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 27, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Of all the New York City lines I've waited in, Nathan's, in Coney Island, has to be the worst.
The line at the Shake Shack is long but efficient, though in the end, you get a damn fine burger.
Di Fara's "line" (which is really more of a "crush") is long and inefficient, but at least you get the Dom DeMarco Show while waiting and some damn fine pizza as a result.
Lines at Magnolia? Whatever. For all its charms, Sex and the City never held that much sway with me, and I refuse to wait even two minutes for a cupcake.
Lines at Nathan's are something else entirely. There are multiple queues, and you never seem to pick the right one. Some are long, and some are short. They are all inefficient. The view is unremarkable at best (a dirty and shuttered Surf Avenue) and unpleasant at worst (a shirtless guy's sweaty back). And in the end, you get a nothing-special hot dog that costs $3.25.
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Posted by Jenn Sit, August 25, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Like all of you serious eaters out there, not only do I love food, I love reading about food. So it's not always easy to read reviews of restaurants way out of my price range; places that fall on the side of aspirational, rather than attainable. NYC Restaurant Week seems to be a way to help out those more frugal, yet it still gets mixed reviews on the whole. For me, shelling out at least $25 for lunch feels like a stretch, but at the same time special occasions call for special measures. It seemed a little too fortuitous that my boyfriend was visiting me for the same two weeks of this summer's Restaurant Week. We could have blown our budget, but careful planning makes timed splurges possible: we ended up eating two RW meals—one at Cafe Boulud and the other at Zenkichi, which could very well be the best date place in the city.
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Posted by Allison Hemler, August 22, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Please welcome fall intern Allison Hemler to the Serious Eats team. We're excited to have her working with us. She's a barista by morning, a blogger, now, by afternoon, and an aspiring baker at night. I don't know how she fits it all in. She must be siphoning off coffee before she comes in to the SE offices. Glad to have you aboard, Allison! —Adam
Last night I attended a ricotta-making workshop run by the lovely owners of Salvatore Bklyn, Rachel Mark and Betsy Devine (who you may remember from this Serious Eats Q&A a few months ago). The class, which featured a demonstration of the cheese-making process, was full of laughter, questions, pairing recommendations, and plenty of Salvatore Bklyn ricotta with black pepper and a shot of honey on olive oil and garlic toasts. The class is one of many in a series that the soon to be launched publication Edible Manhattan is bringing to the Culinary Center inside the Bowery Whole Foods. 95 East Houston Street, New York NY 10002 (on Bowery; map).
You can visit the Salvatore Bklyn stand at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene on Sundays from 10am-5pm, where they also sell cannolis, and this weekend, tomato sandwiches. Their website lists a few other locations to find the goods, but don't pass up an opportunity to visit them in person at the Flea.
Related
Sugar Rush: Brooklyn Flea Market
Posted by Barbara Hanson, August 21, 2008 at 1:00 PM
When people think of Bay Ridge, they most likely think of Saturday Night Fever, Tony Manero strutting along 86th Street scarfing down two slices of pizza folded atop each other, or later rehearsing disco moves in a mirrored studio. I don’t quite think of it that way, myself, even though my parents practiced in that same Phillips Dance Studio before Tony Manero was a glimmer in writer Nik Cohn’s overheated imagination. The Bay Ridge I think of is the one in which Scandinavians so predominated that it was once known as Little Norway. The one in which my father’s own Norwegian roots go back generations.
Even into the 1980s, the Scandinavian presence was still strong enough that, when the sole remaining Norwegian restaurant was sold to a Chinese couple, the outcry was so overwhelming that the couple agreed to take lessons in Norse cooking from the previous owners. Thus was born Wee Kee’s, Brooklyn’s first and only Norwegian-Chinese restaurant. It remained open for about ten years. In trying to track down its name (I had only been there once), I came across several articles claiming the restaurant served Norwegian-Chinese fusion. Nope. No fusing. Each cuisine had a menu page to itself. Alas, no sweet-and-sour venison, or even a herring stir-fry.
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Sarah DiGregorio, over at the Village Voice, is quickly becoming one of our new favorite people. This week she recommends four taco trucks in Brooklyn's Sunset Park, two of which are open all night long—for those of you with late-night taco and chimichurri cravings.
Posted by Joe DiStefano, August 20, 2008 at 1:30 PM
As hard as it may be for SE:New York readers to believe, I don’t subsist solely upon on bizarre ethnic eats from Asia and South America. Every now and then I need a Sicilian soul food fix. My dad is Sicilian, but I cut my teeth on red sauce fare and only started eating true blue Sicilian specialties as an adult. One of my favorite places to get in touch with my culinary heritage is Joe’s of Avenue U and not just because of the name. With its steam table of dozens of dishes, it is like Disneyworld for Sicilians who crave grandma’s home cooking. Not only is the menu filled with Sicilian treats, reading it is a great way to pick up a little Sicilian dialect.
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Patron: What do you suggest if I don't want red meat?
Luger's waiter: Another restaurant.
[via Overheard in New York]
In honor of the current tomato season, Brooklyn based lists three of Brooklyn's best BLTs along with some of the best tomato dishes and recipes from Brooklyn chefs.
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 5, 2008 at 2:30 PM
It's hard to believe that my life was pupusa-less up until I tried one at the Red Hook ball fields last summer. During a recent visit to the ball fields, it was the first food vendor I hit (after getting a cup of horchata from another stand; I needed sweet, rice-flavored hydration right away). For $5 you get can two thick, flattened, corn dough patties—crisp on the outside, soft on the inside—filled with your choice of cheese, vegetable, or meat matter. They come with a side of crunchy pickled cabbage and you can grab as much sliced pickled jalapeño pepper as you want from a bucket on the truck's ledge. My favorite fillings were the pork and cheese—gooey and meaty at the same time—and the jalapeño and cheese—gooey with bits of spicy mixed in. Basically, anything filled with melted cheese is going to taste good. Bay Street and Clinton Street, Brooklyn NY 11231 (map)
Related:
Red Hook Vendors: A Quick Guide for the Uninitiated
Posted by Ed Levine, July 28, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photograph by Gordon Mark
How much did the serious eaters want to try a Swingle, the frozen chocolate-covered mini-key lime pie on a stick at the Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie shop? (Can you call a ramshackle hut on a pier a "shop"?) Enough to risk life and limb walking there in a violent, windy, and lightning-laden post-meet-up thunderstorm. And you know what? It was damn well worth it. The spicy tartness of the key lime pie filling, the crunch of the graham cracker crust, and the perfectly balanced bittersweet chocolate, all come together perfectly on the little wooden popsicle stick. Oh yeah, you'll have to take the same risks we did, because the only way to get one of these babies is to head to Red Hook. Steve wholesales the pies but not the swingles.
Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies
204 Van Dyke Street, Red Hook Brooklyn, NY 11231 (Pier 41; map)
888-450-5463
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 28, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Never content with just hitting up one locale on a Sunday eating excursion, most of the Serious Eats meet-up crew was already planning their next move mid-huarache. While Ed and much of the group set off towards chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick, I was pulled in a different direction; tracking down a supposed $9 lobster roll at the Fairway Red Hook location.
Lucy Baker mentioned it casually in her Cook the Book post last week but I needed visual (and gustatory) confirmation. So even with an empanada and horchata-filled belly, I headed over to the Red Hook Fairway for this very important research. You know... "for professional purposes."
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Cookies are nice, but waffles are also pretty magical when sandwiching ice cream. Blondie and Brownie have the skinny on this fat dessert. I was lucky enough to join and watched the Louie G staffer in action, pulling down on that waffle iron. Orders require ten minutes for waffle heating time, but you'll need that long to decide among the uncle's forty flavors.
Uncle Louie G's
157 Prospect Park SW, Brooklyn NY 11218 (near Vanderbilt Street; map)
718-438-9282
... after reporting that its delivery boys were cute: "When I called, the woman who answered the phone had to ask the delivery guy if he was still delivering, because that night they 'had about 30 more delivery orders than usual.'"
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 21, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Let's Get to Know Each Other Over Huaraches and Pupusas
As you may know, the Red Hook ball field vendors are back, and we thought this weekend would be a great time for a Serious Eats eating expedition and meet-up. This Sunday, July 27, at 12:30 p.m., join Ed Levine and the Serious Eats gang at the ball fields in Red Hook, Brooklyn, for some pupusas, huaraches, soccer tacos, ceviche, elote, and more. It's the perfect place for a gathering of serious eaters. And you'll be helping the vendors pay off the debts they racked up bringing their operation up to code.
Let's meet at 12:30 p.m. just inside the soccer grounds at the southeast corner of Bay and Clinton streets (see map, above). You can sign up to receive the most up-to-date information on our Meetup.com page. Need more information about the ball fields? Check out the Serious Eats Red Hook Vendors Guide.
Comestiblog is reporting that Applewares in Park Slope is closing and that the owners—Dave and Laura Shea of neighborhood favorite Applewood—are getting rid of the stock. "We're selling everything from locally made pottery to Mac knives; we're even selling some of our highly prized antiques, including two fully working cast-iron gas stoves!" 548 10th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215 (between Seventh and Eighth avenues); 718-576-2484
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 21, 2008 at 10:00 AM
As Brooklyn bands played in the backyard of East Williamsburg's 3rd Ward on Sunday, the real rock star was making music by taking a big, serrated knife to a 200 pound roast pig. Butcher Tom Mylan of Diner, Bonita, and Marlow & Sons fathered the pig roasting part of the 1st Annual Pig Roast & Dance Party, and all eyes were on him. Watching Mylan is like watching an indie rock band on the cusp of stardom. He'll be big soon enough, but for now, it's mostly just hip Brooklynites fawning over him—the Ray-Ban-protected ones willing to trek out to Morgan Street yesterday for his meat. Whether you're stalking him at the Un-Fancy Food Show (he was one of the organizers), watching him spread pate at the Taste of Brooklyn, or attending one of his many butchering demos at The Brooklyn Kitchen, here are some tidbits of info from yesterday's event that every card-carrying-fan-club-member will want to know:
- Mylan's guest of honor weighed 197-pound and came from Mario and Son's Italian butcher in Williamsburg (Mario himself delivered the animal.)
- As a Southern California native, he misses his good, dirt-cheap Mexican food, hence the taco interpretation of a pig roast. He basted the animal with a salsa roja made from Mexican chilis like cassia, garlic, onion, and cilantro.
- Other garnishes for the tacos included a salsa verde made of roasted tomatillos, cilantro and lime juice, and a dressing with onion, lime, and cilantro. So good, the salsa stock depleted early, but Mylan threw together more onions with salsa roja for a wing-it replacement. (Nobody seemed to notice.)
- Mylan was exhausted by 6:15 p.m. taco scarfing time. He first got his hands on the fresh pig at 9 a.m. Sunday morning, roasted it from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and didn't stop all day—except for a few sample bites of crispy skin between cuts.
Warning: Giant roasted pig after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, July 19, 2008 at 8:00 PM
The Red Hook vendors—some of them—were indeed back today. Six of the dozen or so merchants who make up the full contingent were on hand earlier this afternoon when Serious Eats: New York visited to scope the scene.
Who was back:
- Martinez huaraches
- Vaquero fruits
- Lainez Salvadoran pupusas
- Ceron Columbian
- One of the Guatemalan vendors
- Rojas Ecuadorian ceviche
As we mentioned yesterday, the city forced the vendors to buy trucks or carts to serve from. Photos of those trucks, and a tasty video, after the jump. Or, for quick-and-dirty visitors info, see our Red Hook Vendors Guide.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, July 18, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Photographs by Peter Cunningham
The Red Hook vendors are slated to open this weekend—almost three months behind their typical schedule, all due to more stringent oversight from the city health department.
What to Expect
New and/or Refurbished Carts or Trucks: The casual tabletop setups for cooking tortillas and pupusas and what not will be replaced by food carts or trucks, as mandated by the city. That stipulation has some vendors in debt up to $50,000 on new equipment expenses. [Brooklyn Paper]
Higher Prices? Roy Edroso makes the not-too-distant leap of logic that food prices may go up to pay for those new carts—and make up for the weeks vendors spent forcibly idle. [Village Voice]
Huge Crowds: Every last blog is blogging about the opening. Every last person who fancies himself a foodie will be on hand. Agoraphobics, this is not your scene.
Hot Weather: Forecasts say 94-degree high on Saturday, 89 on Sunday. And NY1 this morning said humidity will make it feel like it's in the 100s. Bring sunscreen and stay hydrated, eaters! [weather.com]
Perhaps Some Tension: Longtime patrons may be harboring some resentment against gentrifying interlopers. [Eater comments]
How to Get There
View Larger Map
Vendors set up at the Red Hook Recreational Area, near the corner of Bay and Clinton streets.
By Subway: Closest station is the F/G at Smith & 9th Street Station. It's roughly a nine-block walk (map).
By Bus: The B61 bus in Brooklyn will take you to "Ikea Station," just a few blocks away. Head away from the water down Halleck Street; follow Halleck, taking a left as it turns into Columbia Street; bang a right on Bay, and walk until you get to Clinton (map).
By Hacking Ikea: We came up with an Ikea ferry and shuttle bus "hack." Ride the furniture store's shuttle bus or ferry out to Red Hook. But be warned; actual paying Ikea customers get preferential treatment.
What You Might Eat
The word is that not all the vendors may show up this weekend—and the Brooklyn Paper has it that at least three have called it quits. But here's generally what's on offer.
Tacos: Not the crunchy U-shape kind you get at Taco Bell. Think fresh, floppy corn tortillas, warm from the grill, topped with carne asada or barbacoa and chopped onion, cilantro, lettuce, and salsa.
Huaraches: "A tasty treat hailing from South-Central Mexico, this flat, oblong cake of masa (moist cornmeal dough) is rolled, pressed, stuffed with a thin layer of black bean, pressed again, and thrown on a griddle until nice and crisp. You can top them with a bit of salsa picante and grated queso anejo, or go the whole hog and pile on meats, chilies, onions, sour cream, and whatever else lies within reach." [Porkchop Express]
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Posted by Adam Kuban, July 18, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Those 600 stores that Starbucks is closing? Ten are in New York City. So sayeth the Times.
Is your Starbucks closing? Here's the list.
Manhattan
All in Midtown:
- 340 Madison Avenue (at 44th Street)
- 400 Madison Avenue (near 48th Street)
- 1600 Broadway (near 48th Street)
- 1675 Broadway (near 52nd Street)
- 565 Fifth Avenue (near 46th Street)
- The one on the fifth floor of Macy’s in Herald Square
Queens
All in Glendale:
- Atlas Park shopping center location
- 8989 Union Turnpike
Brooklyn
Bay Ridge, 8414 Third Avenue (at 84th Street)
Additionally, one Starbucks in Newark is closing, 744 Broad Street.
Metromix's Joshua Bernstein has been quietly amassing a whole list of tasty looking $1 grub guides to New York City. He's already tackled Jackson Heights, Sunset Park, Nostrand Avenue, Flushing and Spanish Harlem. Not everything he eats looks tasty, but lucky for us, he acts as guinea pig. The latest is his tour of Brighton Beach, where Josh samples some pretty delicious looking blintzes, pickles, and chocolate covered cheesecake all for under a buck.
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 15, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photograph by Front Studio
I read about this perfect-for-summer fruit eclair from the Almondine Bakery in Dumbo, on the Front Studio Lunch blog. According to them, "the barely present cream filling lets the fruit really fill every bite, with some crunchy almonds for textural contrast." Sounds good to me. 85 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY; (nr. Main Street; map)
Posted by Jenn Sit, July 14, 2008 at 1:30 PM
When I bought a ticket for the 3rd annual Great Hot Dog Cookoff in Brooklyn held this past weekend, I never thought I would end up eating hot dogs like it was my job. Well, it turned out it was my job that day: Hot Dog Destiny chose me to be a judge of this tubular meat marathon. I anxiously prepared myself for the fourteen variations by recalling all of my newly gained wisdom from writing last week's guide to America's regional hot dog styles. From tequila-spiked alligator chili to paratha-wrapped masala dogs, by the end of the day I realized I should have been channeling Kobayashi instead.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 11, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Red Hook ball field vendors got the thumbs-up yesterday to start normal operations again on Saturday, July 19. Talk about relief! Despite the major delay and temporary "satellite" home at the Brooklyn Flea, New Yorkers will soon be rewarded for their patience.
Who else is jumping on the Ikea water taxi for huaraches and cheese-dusted corn next weekend? [Via Porkchop Express]
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 10, 2008 at 6:30 PM
7-Eleven is giving out free Slurpees tomorrow in honor of it being "7-11 Day"—July 11. (Find a location near you, but call ahead, as not all are participating.)
People outside New York can stop reading this post now. You all are not Slurpee-challenged. You see, one thing I've noticed is that New Yorkers don't know how to pull a proper Slurpee.
I'm a child of the Kansas City suburbs, where 7-Elevens are at every intersection, so this stuff is second nature to me. But as I went to the 7-Eleven today to make a training video for my clueless New York friends out there, I watched as the guy ahead of me did everything wrong. First, he didn't cap his cup prepour. Then he pulled the dispenser lever slowly, guaranteeing an anemic dribble of syrup instead of a full-on rush of ice-cold Slurpness. No, no, no. I'm sure this comes from the lack of 7-Elevens in the area, but this is no excuse. After the jump, I'll teach you all how to pull a Slurpee, in pictures and video. With a (small) list of participating 7-Elevens in New York.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 9, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we like to post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. —Zach
Melissa of Sweet Melissa Patisserie isn't from Philly, but she's scooping the city's fifth-generation ice cream tradition from her Carroll Gardens shop. Bassetts, a super rich and butterfatty brand available inside Reading Terminal and many Pennsylvania parlors, is an institution right up there with cheesesteaks, but not commonly spotted in New York. Other than a few high-end markets, the Little Pie Company in Manhattan, and formerly FAO Schwarz, it's a road trip away.
Trust Melissa, a woman known for pies and cakes, she would have churned her own ice cream if she had the space, and given recent remodeling at 276 Court Street, this should be a reality by next year. But after taste-testing ten brands from all over, Bassetts finally read her mind. "You can't always match what you taste in your head, and this one did."
She's regularly stocking six flavors (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, pistachio, coffee and a raspberry sorbet) and a rotating seventh (like cookies and cream, black cherry, or peaches and cream), but the focus here is on Melissa's original toppings.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 9, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Two surprises welcomed hipster attendees of the McCarren Park Pool's free showing of Wet Hot American Summer last night: actors Paul Rudd and Michael Showalter showing up to introduce their 2001 flick, and across the way, the Taste of Williamsburg, a hardly publicized event going on at the same time.
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Posted by Jenn Sit, July 1, 2008 at 3:00 PM
This weekend, I was on the prowl around the neighborhood in Williamsburg looking for delicious late night eats. The idea of late night dining may conjure up the sights and smells of greasy pizza, hot dogs, Halal trucks, and kebabs, but sometimes even a piglet like me needs to class it up a bit. A few too many indulgences at Artichoke the night before had left me wanting to decrease the grease for once. I ended up at Bozu, a Japanese tapas lounge inconspicuously hidden behind sleek wooden slats amid Williamsburg's otherwise abandoned-factory-turned-hipster-apartment landscape.
I took a seat at the bar, passed on the drink menu, which included a wide range of cocktails, shochu, and sake—from Wabi-sake (wasabi, sake, and vodka) to kumquat shochu—and went straight for the dinner menu, which was lined with cocktail napkin drawings by past patrons. The menu featured what you might find at other Japanese joints, but with a Bozu twist— the tuna tataki is topped with grape and plum sorbet, while the tuna tartar gets lemon-infused shochu sorbet.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photographs by Raphael
Planning ahead is important at Toby's Public House. While the brick-oven pizzas are tasty, don't you dare fill up prematurely. And don't go alone. Sweet tooths should plan around the $13 calzone dessert, stuffed with Nutella and fresh ricotta. Adam purposely left this monster out of his Toby's review on Slice today, sending me on special assignment.
Dusted with powdered sugar, the smile-shaped pocket "serves two," but that's two stomachs deliberately saving room. So massive, the calzone needs a metallic pizza round instead of a normal plate, and doesn't even merit the normal fork-and-knife routine; it's a hands-only food. Stumped, our own Ed Levine didn't even recognize the curious combo, but instantly wanted one.
What other cheese is soft enough to handle the brick oven heat without melting? And calm enough to let the Nutella do its rich, hazlenutty thing?
A chef at Toby's Public House birthed the combo, but according to a Frank Bruni review, a similar one exists at Gemma. Toby's waitstaff recommends washing it down with Frangelico, the Northern Italian hazlenut liqueur. Serious Eats New York editor Zach Brooks said it best: "this is a gross abomination in the best possible way." Another seductive photo after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 30, 2008 at 11:15 AM
At the New Amsterdam Market: pistachio rhubarb bread from Bouchon Bakery, sweet basil ice cream from The Bent Spoon, and a blueberry and yogurt popsicle from The People's Popsicle.
If you didn't substitute lunch in New York yesterday with bites of artisan breads and broken hunks of 80% cocoa dark chocolate, you missed out. Here are some of the tasty things we sampled at New Amsterdam Market on the South Street Seaport and the much more cramped Unfancy Food Show in Williamsburg. (A few things, we did pay for however, and they were totally worth it.)
Besides the gourmet flavors at these temporarily rained-on events, each had a grassroots community spirit. At the New Amsterdam Market, long pieces of butcher paper, or the market's "petition," filled up with signatures in an effort to persuade the city that these stalls should be permanently moved into the empty Fulton Fish Market behind them. Across the river at the second-annual Unfancy Food Show, organizer Tom Mylan of Diner and Marlow & Sons said yesterday's attendance doubled last year's, and he expects the third annual to easily double that. Peruse photos after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, June 27, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Clockwise from top left: Like many places, Egg provides crayons for you to color on the white paper tablecloths; I drew an egg whose color comes from a thin wash of coffee. If you're not an early bird, you'll wait for 40 minutes to an hour with the rest of the worms. My breakfast—two eggs scrambled, toast, a hash brown, and bacon.
Until a couple weeks ago, I had never been to Egg, the famed breakfast-brunch spot in Williamsburg. I live in Park Slope, so it's a little out of my way for the morning meal. Usually I'm hungry and cranky and just want to get something in my stomach to take the grouch off. But the girlfriend and I were in the Valley of the Hipster for the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair, so we decided to try Egg while we were in the neighborhood.
It was awesome. And the breakfast I had there is still in my dreams. I hope that blogging it here will keep it from haunting me. Egg's chef-partner, George Weld, really knows how to do up eggs, as you'd damn well expect from the name of his joint. I was lured by the breakfast sandwich but tried the "two eggs any way" plate, opting for scrambled. It's a seemingly simple dish, but it's a true indicator of an eggslinger's worth, because scrambleds are so easy to screw up. Mine were creamy, moist, and perfect, as befitting the heart-shaped pile they made on my plate, which I'm sure was a bit of an accidental Rorschach.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 24, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Fiore
284 Grand Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 (near Roebling; map); 718-782-8222
Must-Haves: Lardo pizza; cavatelli with broccoli rabe and sausage; skirt steak with salsa verde; fried calamari and zucchini
What You'll Spend: $30 for two courses, a glass of wine, tax, and tip
Grade: B+
Remember back in the day, when going out to eat an Italian meal in New York was not an extravagance or much of a financial commitment? Those were the days of red sauce; chicken, veal, and eggplant parm; lasagna and baked ziti; baked clams and fried zucchini; of an Italian meal that cost less than $25 a head.
Then real authentic fancy-pants northern Italian food appeared in New York when Lidia and Felix Bastianich opened Felidia in 1981. Ten years ago Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich opened Babbo, and now the city is awash with first-rate expensive Italian restaurants. Don't get me wrong. I love the food at Del Posto, Scarpetta, Alto, Fiamma, and the like, but, oh how I long for the first-rate, authentically Italian, seriously delicious Italian repast that doesn't dent the wallet quite so heavily.
Enter Giancarlo Quadalti. Quadalti, the chef-partner at the fine, unheralded Teodora on East 57th Street, is a well-seasoned, incredibly talented Italian chef (from Emilia Romagna) who wants all of us serious eaters to eat terrific Italian food and not pay through the nose for it. He has done that at Celeste on the Upper West Side, Bianca in the East Village, and now he has even raised his game with Fiore in Williamsburg, which he opened with the equally talented chef-partner Roberto Aita (Roc) in a building that Quadalti lives in, above the restaurant. Fiore might be the best Italian food bargain in town.
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Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 24, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Editor's note: In 2006 New York magazine published an indispensable guide to ice cream sandwiches in New York City. While that guide set a solid bar, much has changed in the last two years. To update that list for the summer of 2008, we sent Sugar Rush correspondent Kathy YL Chan out to find the best ice cream sandwiches in New York City. Here is her report. —Zach
In the last seven days I've eaten more ice cream sandwiches than I care to confess, all in an attempt to find our city's ten best ice cream sandwiches. I searched and I ate—from the Lower East Side to the West Village, from DUMBO to Park Slope, from market to restaurant to ice cream shop, even at a department store. Oh man, did I eat. Chocolate-flecked vanilla sandwiched between brownies, crisp chocolate chip cookies packed with strawberry ice cream, creamy scoops of gelato tucked into brioche buns: Nothing was left untouched. Some were bigger than my fist, while others were just about the size of a silver dollar. This city offers ice cream sandwiches in more forms than you dare imagine, but it's for the best—there's something for everyone. After the jump, our ten favorites, in no particular order.
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Posted by Gordon Mark, June 20, 2008 at 6:00 PM
First, I'm sure there are some of you that are sick of hearing about the new Ikea in Red Hook. You've heard about the people who lined up for free stuff, you heard about locals' reactions to having the store in their neighborhoods. But you haven't really heard about the food at Ikea. Granted, that might not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Ikea, but I had heard the food was good, cheap and worthwhile. That said, I went yesterday to check out what they had to offer.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, June 19, 2008 at 12:15 PM
The Village Voice has a nice roundup of Brooklyn banh mi sandwiches. Yeah. I know. Everyone thinks of the various holes-in-the-wall in Manhattan when it comes to these inexpensive Vietnamese subs, but Sarah DiGregorio digs up four places in the BK: Tan Thanh, Thanh Da I, Thanh Da II, and Ba Xuyen, all in the Brooklyn Chinatown out Sunset Park way.
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 12, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Because the first thing you think of when you think Ikea is food (What's that? You think hex-head wrenches?), Eater has a sneak peek at some of the Swedish smörgåsbord that will be on offer at the Red Hook store when it opens next Wednesday.
It's a bit hard to tell what's going on in some of the photos, but die-hard Ikeaheads will find it worth a gander anyway, I'm sure. Me, I'm more excited about the Ikea Ferry Hack that will allow you to access the Red Hook Vendors—once they finally open.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 10, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Roberta's
261 Moore Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206 (near Bogart Street; map); 718-417-1118; robertaspizza.com
Must-Haves: Paige's Breakfast Burrito, Calzone, Guanciale and Egg Pizza, Porchetta and Fontina Sandwich
What You'll Spend: $25 per person for salad, pizza, soft drink, tax, and tip. Roberta's is BYO on beer and wine
Grade: B
There are three kinds of people in the pizza-making universe. There are the to-the-oven-born, old-school types like Lawrence Ciminieri of Totonno's, whose great uncle Anthony Pero (nicknamed "Totonno") introduced pizza to the family gene pool almost a hundred years ago. Then there are the obsessive, perfectionist, chef/bread baker types, like Anthony Mangieri of Una Pizza Napoletana, Andrew Feinberg of Franny's, and Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Then there is the third school, what I call the "We're good cooks who love pizza, so let's open a pizzeria" contingent, where a can-do attitude, enthusiasm, some cooking chops, and economic necessity are the forces driving the people involved.
Wall of logs and the pizza oven.
The partners at the very fine Bushwick, Brooklyn, pizzeria Roberta's definitely fall into the latter camp. Musician and bar-owner Chris Parachini and his partners Brandon Hoy, Carlo Mirarchi, and Mauro Soggio decided to open a pizzeria because they love pizza. They found a practically unfinished space with high beams and poured-concrete floors in a hard-core commercial section adjoining an auto-repair shop in Bushwick, went to Italy to apprentice with an Italian pizzaiolo, found a fire-engine-red wood-burning pizza oven in a bankrupt Italian pizzeria (yes, pizzerias do go bankrupt in Italy), and came back to Brooklyn, put in the pizza oven in the front and waited for the city to install the gas line in the kitchen in the back. They waited and waited until they were about to run out of money, so they were forced to open Roberta's with the aforementioned pizza oven and three pans and three propane burners in lieu of a kitchen.
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The Great Hot Dog Cookoff: "Come as a chef and compete ... or just hang out with us and eat! Our winning 'chefs' in the past were a hit with their Pesto Dogs, Crawfish Dogs, Buffalo Wing Style Dogs and more." Space is limited to 100 attendees and we hear it's almost sold out. Fort Greene; Saturday, July 12; Tickets, $15; all proceeds go to the Food Bank for NYC
Posted by Zach Brooks, June 4, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Posted to the Serious Eats Flickr Pool by Food in Mouth
Danny from Food in Mouth says the peanut butter buttercream frosting on this chocolate cupcake, from the Sweet Melissa Patisserie in Carroll Gardens, is the best he's ever had. I might have to see for myself....
Sweet Melissa Patisserie
276 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 (map)
718-855-3410
Pork Chop Express gets the exclusive Barbara Walters-esque sit down with Executive Director of the Red Hook Ballfield Vendors, Cesar Fuentes, who not only gives us the latest huarache and pupusa update, but also dishes on where to find the vendors during the week, and his favorite tacos in the city (outside of the Ballfields of course).
Posted by Lucy Baker, May 29, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Please don't let this be the end of Red Hook Rye. Photograph by cocktailian
LeNell Smothers is "dazed and bitchy beyond normal." The lease on her Wine & Spirit Boutique is up at the end of May, and she has yet to find another suitable storefront in Brooklyn. Is this the end of Red Hook Rye?
This morning, a sad email went out to her customers where she dishes about landlords, liquor licenses, and vacant lots. Excerpted after the jump.
"Everything I've worked so hard for is hanging in the gallows."
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Posted by Zach Brooks, May 27, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I guess we weren't the only ones with this Memorial Day weekend idea
As promised, pupusas, tacos, and huaraches made their first appearance of the season on Sunday alongside the grilled corn and fruit at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. The pupusa line was out of control (a 30-minute-plus wait at peak times), but for those who were paying attention, huaraches and tacos were being sold on a different side of the table and had little to no line for much of the day.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, May 23, 2008 at 6:00 PM
I don't know where you'll be this weekend, but I will be on pupusa patrol at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, where according to Brownstoner, the Salvadorean snack (yes, I consider it a snack!) will be sold by vendors from the Red Hook Ballfields. Last weekend the Flea teased us with corn and fruit, but supposedly this week the "big guns" are coming out (there are huarache rumors as well). The pupusa will be immediately followed by a cannoli chaser, from Salvatore Farms Ricotta. See you there...
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, May 21, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but in the late afternoon, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to some sweet something—so you can rush out and get your fix. Today, you'll have to make do satisfying your virtual sweet tooth, as Brooklyn Flea is open only on Sundays. Until the weekend, you can use this post as a guide to your Brooklyn Flea visit. —Zach
Perhaps the only thing in the world that delights me more than a bakery, is, many bakeries clustered together. Enter the Brooklyn Flea Market, a weekly Sunday event featuring dozens of local vendors with plenty to offer: bikes, jewelry, vintage clothing, antiques—anything you could imagine. The vendor list sounded fascinating, but the only thing that caught my attention was a category most properly titled, "Tasty Treats." Edible treats? At the Flea Market? With a list of three particular bakeries in mind, I made it top priority to visit the Market the following Sunday.
At Salvatore Brooklyn Ricotta they were selling fresh ricotta by the pound, the luxuriously thick and creamy cheese a tempting siren. As to not to be lured by the possibility of consuming pounds of ricotta for lunch, I dived straight for the filled-to-order cannoli ($3/piece). I wasn't sure what to expect, though honestly did not anticipate biting into doubtlessly the most delicious cannoli my tongue has ever welcomed. A perfect three bites in length, the crispy powdered sugar dusted shell shattered into a expertly piped mass of ricotta tangled with sharps hints of lemon, marsala and little chocolate bits. The first bite left me in awe, the second clamoring for more, and the third and final, in utter bliss. Nothing wrong, and everything right, so very right, be it the visual contrast between the yellow zest and chocolate speckled ricotta tucked in golden brown fried pastry, or the sweet flavor combustion rewarded by silky light mouthfuls alongside the sharp crackling shell.
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Brick Oven Bar Be Cue, we hardly knew ye. I'd been eager to try the pizza offerings at this unlikeliest of barbecue joints, housed in a gritty former warehouse on the corner of Third Avenue and 6th Street in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood. But in the last couple of weeks, the place never seemed to be open. After a quick phone call to confirm hours, the owner, Emmanuel Maropakis said he'd given it two months and decided to close. "Not enough interest," he said. And as for the pizza, that never happened. "I couldn't find the right guy to do it," he said.
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 16, 2008 at 3:00 PM
The food-related buzz about the Red Hook Ikea in Brooklyn so far has been that the cafe there will serve "unspecified New York specialties" in addition to the usual meatball fare.
But the real story is this, ladies and gents: The Red Hook vendors will now be easily accessible from Manhattan via the Ikea Ferry.
Take the New York Water Taxi–Ikea Ferry to Red Hook; the soccer taco vendors are an easy couple blocks away.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, May 14, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Basil and chocolate cupcakes get the runner-up prize.
On Monday, the Brooklyn Kitchen held its second annual Cupcake Cookoff at Union Pool in Williamsburg. With the irresistible bait of free homemade cupcakes, the place was packed with competing bakers, their supporters, and cupcake freeloaders (like me). The crowd favorite was probably by no coincidence the cupcake that paired best with beer—the very excellent Rogue Porter Chocolate Cake with Salted-Caramel Icing. Money was raised, cupcakes were judged, photos were taken, and various prizes were given out. Luckily, cupcake obsessed bloggers were out in full effect, making my job much easier. Here are some good links for those of you who can't get enough cupcakes.
Full Official Results [The Brooklyn Kitchen Blog]
Second Annual Cupcake Cookoff Recap [Cupcakes Take the Cake]
Brooklyn Kitchen Cupcake Cookoff [Blondie & Brownie]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 13, 2008 at 9:00 AM
