Taste Taste: Ice-Cream Sandwiches. I would get all excited about New York Magazine's round-up of the city's eight best ice cream sandwiches except that a) the one from Otto doesn't count because it involves brioche instead of a cookie (and yes, I know this is traditional in Italy), and b) I'm already in love with the one the deli on the next block sells for 35 cents. I'm sure I'll enjoy the listed treats once I get around to trying them but I doubt they'll ever be the remedy I think of when I feel an ice cream sandwich-shaped hole in my heart! Sometimes cheap and simple is all you really want.
August 23, 2006
dash dogs does sliders
Dash Dogs on Rivington (between Norfolk and Essex) is one of my favorite cheap eats in the city, $5 for two hotdogs with your choice of toppings and a drink, plus the guys who run it are really nice. They recently added sliders to their menu, so I asked the proprietors why and they said it was basically because, after a year in business, none of them could eat hotdogs anymore. Ha!
$6 buys you three little hamburgers with any toppings (the same fancy things that go on their hotdogs; try the cilantro salsa and garlic aoili or the avocado salsa, cheese and bacon) and a drink. Pretty good deal, and the sliders are fairly tasty, although my current favorites are still the ones at Burke in the Box. Read about those and more in A Hamburger Today's tiny hamburgers archives.
August 19, 2006
July 12, 2006
July 10, 2006
NYC LES Greenmarket
The Greenmarket is now in the Lower East Side, on Orchard Street between Delancey and Broome. Market hours are Sundays, 10am - 5pm. Anyone make it down there this weekend?
June 29, 2006
Grand Sichuan St Mark's, I Love You
The first time I ever tasted the sweet, sweet nectar of soup dumplings was at the Chelsea branch of Grand Sichuan, three or more years ago with Alaina. Grand Sichuan St Mark's has been open for over a year now and while I was slightly disappointed with them during their first few months, I'm happy to report that the food has gotten better and better every time I've visited. In fact, after my most recent meal there this past week, I can finally say that Grand Sichuan St Mark's has now replaced New Green Bo as my number one Chinese spot—the only way I could love it more is if the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory opened up a branch on St Mark's too!
Soup dumplings aside, my current favorite items on the menu are the Sichuan Wontons in red oil, the Sichuan Dan Dan noodles, and the cold cucumber in scallion sauce. Thank you to Donny for making me try the latter dish despite my anti-cucumber bias, it's so delicious and refreshing that I now order them with every meal, and so should you.
June 27, 2006
Batali, Bourdain and Buford, live at the NYPL
I had a great time seeing Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain and Bill Buford chat at the NYPL last week—if you didn't get tickets before it sold out, don't blame me, 'cause it's not like I didn't tell you about it in advance. I wanted to write a long piece except that I was mostly too busy laughing to take lots of notes. $15 well spent! Here are four of the things I managed to scribble down that I think you'll appreciate:
- Batali, on Charlie Trotter's anti-foie gras stance: "At some point you have to realize you're on the top of the food chain, and that's all there is to it."
- Bourdain, on Rachel Ray: "40 dollars a day? Tip, bitch!"
- Audience: "Is [getting] fat an occupational hazard?" Bourdain: "They just don't smoke enough." (He should know, as he's supposed to smoke like a chimney and is a beanpole compared to the rotund Batali and Buford.)
- Audience: "What's your favorite fat to cook with?" Batali: "Lard, olive oil." Bourdain: "Pork."
My favorite discussion, i.e. the one that made me wish I was taping the entire thing, was Bourdain discussing the culinary tipping point he calls the "sushi barrier". He posted about it on eGullet early last year:
My theory, for some time, has been that the most significant point in modern North American culinary history was that moment when Westerners decided it was alright--even desirable--to eat sushi. That barrier-crossing raised all boats for all chefs of every stripe. Suddenly it was permissable to serve mackerel, octopus, fish roes, sardines and other traditional European seafood that were once largely shunned. What chefs found to be acceptable quality in seafood lept--as there was always a Japanese restaurant willing to pay for the good stuff (hence creating reliable demand for more variety and better quality). And once the bone-deep aversion to eating raw fish disappeared, other barriers fell as well. The dining public became more daring and willing to experiment.
Did you see the three Bs talk? Did you enjoy Bill Buford's new book Heat or Anthony Bourdain's latest The Nasty Bits? Let us know in the comments!