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z911empire's Profile

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Location: NYC

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Favorite foods: salt, ditalini, broth, sausage, squid, basil, fresh tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, shitake mushrooms, asparagus, peas, white beans, eggs

Last bite on earth: crispy, piping hot, extra salty, salted squid with 2 sliced hot pepper rings from Hop Kee - 21 Mott Street, NYC

The Ten Most Recent Posts By z911empire

From Talk

Blue Crab Pizza

My friend and I are going to get some blue crabs today in Chinatown and clean/cook them up for pizza. I've seen the first few recipes on google searches and they seem fine, but I was wondering if anyone on this board had any suggestions or imaginative ideas.

We're making a standard margerita pie as a backup, but crabs are cheap and I'm feeling adventureous this afternoon.

From Talk

Food markets in Chinatown, good stuff?

In a few cookbooks I've flipped through recently, the introduction to the Seafood section always contains some preface about fishmongers and fish markets. They warn, "if a fish market smells fishy, they're carrying old fish." I walk down Grand St. almost every day and I see (and smell) a whole lotta fish. There are plenty of people shopping, so what gives?

What is the quality of food at markets in Chinatown?

The Ten Most Recent Comments By z911empire

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

so difficult....gonna go with white clam sauce though

From Talk

Anyone watching the Batali/Paltrow show on PBS?

it's a little awkward, the faux-deprecation of "Bitty," Mario's ginormous ego, and the fact that mario is an enormous red-haired man in shorts, mark is an older guy, and claudia is young, hip and absolutely gorgeous.

still, as far as food programming goes these days, i think it's a must-watch...for all their abrasiveness (both are not tv personalities first and foremost), batali and bittman really do know their stuff and it really is all about food in a beautiful country.

the wine appraisal is waaaaay over my head, but i did try a tempranillo this week in response to hearing bittman dumb down the critique for us!

it was delicious.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Warm Chanterelle and Pancetta Salad

what a first sentence!

From Serious Eats: New York

Campo: Does Morningside Heights Finally Have A Good Contemporary Italian Restaurant?

by the way, your reviews rock Ed.

From Serious Eats: New York

Campo: Does Morningside Heights Finally Have A Good Contemporary Italian Restaurant?

recent CU grad here...listen, as far as I'm concerned, that spot, previously occupied by Pertutti, is eternally cursed by the aforementioned restaurant's undescribable badness.

Anyway, I've been to all the Italian places in the area and Sezz Medi is easily, EASILY the best one around. It's a good bit better than Pisticci, which is 2 steps up from Max SoHa, which is a step up from V&T, which is a step up from Famous Famiglia, which is a step up from Dominos, which is a step up from the worst food imaginable, which is a step up from Pertutti.

It sounds like Campo settles in somewhere between Max SoHa and Pisticci, but I've heard from friends who are still there that it is, "much better than [Pertutti]," which is not very informative.

The ingredients look great on paper, so I'm sure there's a crowd.

From Talk

Blue Crab Pizza

@bitchencamero: we took your suggestion...it was ridiculously good. got the meat from 8 sm-med blue crabs, mixed it up with old bay then sauteed with garlic, onion, fennel, salt and pepper. loaded it on some fresh dough brushed in olive oil then topped with mozzarella. GOOD. night.

From Serious Eats

Starbucks Introduces a New Line of 'Healthier' Breakfast Foods

the protein plate looks like airplane food

From Talk

Irrational (or rational) food prejudices you have had or have

i dislike crepes, sweet or savory, with all my soul.

From Slice

In Videos: Picking Up the Pizza Pace

i don't get it

From Serious Eats

Serious Eats City Guide Premiere: New York (How to Leave Here Pleasantly Full)

Ed you nailed it - as usual an earnest, informative, thorough post.

I couldn't agree more on Absolute Bagels, Blue Ribbon, and Totonno's.

I dislike Una Pizza Napolatana and would rank many other pies higher. To me UPN suffers from doing parts of its pizza TOO well. Pies there have a perfect crust, incredible cheese (I'm going to assume they justify the astronomical prices with the top-quality cheese), and great toppings - yet often, the flavor of the tomato sauce doesn't come through and create the glorious harmony of a true NYC pie.

Anyway, awesome list, I have a lot to try now.

Responses to Comments by z911empire