Hungry Chefs: Scott Smith of RUB BBQ
Arthur Bovino — March 16, 2010
Pit Master Scott Smith.
Burgers, burgers, burgers. Burgers topped with butter, stuffed with cheese, sandwiched with chicken, spread with peanut butter, and topped with fried egg. The Monday night burger special cooked up by pit master, Scott Smith at RUB BBQ, has been a big success. Always Hungry featured two of them, the Butter, and Goober burgers, and A Hamburger Today has gotten into the habit of sending out a weekly alert detailing the night’s featured burger (Scott decides them day-of).
This Monday’s burger eschewed a regional style for the burger that Scott wanted to make— just so he could eat it. What was it? Read the Q&A.
AHNY: What’s the special burger for tonight [Monday]?
Scott Smith: A Bacon and Roaring Forties Blue Cheese Burger served with a horseradish aioli. This one’s for me.
First Look: Pulino’s Bar and Pizzeria
Arthur Bovino — March 15, 2010
Sausage Egg Breakfast Pizza.
Funny how things work. Frank Pepe’s opened its first New York location in Yonkers last November. Last week, Eddie’s of New Hyde Park announced it would soon make its first inroads into Manhattan since they opened in 1941. Now both styles of pizza have met on Bowery and Houston in Pulino’s Bar and Pizzeria, Keith McNally and Nate Appleman’s much-awaited pizzeria. The kicker? As Eater has well-documented with its first looks at the decor, the place looks like it has been there on the corner forever.
Of course, Neapolitan-style was a New York staple long before Frank Pepe’s left the confines of New Haven. But Pulino’s combines the crust texture and taste of Pepe’s with an even thinner pie, one that’s just about 2½ times the thickness of what you’d expect from Eddie’s. Not to say it’s cracker-like, it’s not at all. But it is not a doughy pie. Do not think Kesté, Co., or Motorino. Nor are pizzas as charred as the ones pictured by Zagat. What we have here folks, as was the intention – is an idiosyncratic style of pizza. A standardized amoeba shape, a thin crust, and square cuts.
Featured Restaurant: Five Leaves
Arthur Bovino — March 15, 2010
Grilled Sardines with Caramelized Cauliflower, Eggplant, Pine nuts, and Curried Date Dressing, and Affogato with an Intelligentsia Organic Espresso Shot at Five Leaves in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
There was a time not long ago, when those walking from the Bedford L toward McGuinness had already filled their bellies, or well knew the contents of their fridge. It was a hike past the Turkey’s Nest, the concrete baseball field, and the benches near the Automotive High School, to their vinyl-sided homes. Unless they planned to eat Polish, Thai, or at Wasabi, passing N 12th without having eaten was a no-no. But change comes fast in Williamsburg, and this energy has spread to Greenpoint. So it is that Five Leaves, a neighborhood joint, provides this hipster trail of tears a place to feast on the way.
AlwaysTraveling: Nagycsarnok (Budapest, Hungary)
Arthur Bovino — March 15, 2010
The sign above this market entrance in Budapest, “Isamu Vásárcsarnok,” means Isamu Market Hall.
Market: Nagycsarnok, Great Market Hall
Address: 1056 Budapest, V. kerület, Fővám tér 1, Hungary
Highlights: Paprika, Strudel, Tokaji, Unicum, Pálinka
Hours: Mon 6am-5pm, Tue-Fri 6am-5pm, Sat 6am-2pm, Sun closed.
Nagycsarnok, also known as the Great Market Hall, is Budapest’s largest indoor market. It supposedly came about at the turn of the 19tth century, after the unification of Pest and Óbuda, when outdoor markets were unable to supply the growing city with fresh produce. Leaders decided to build a covered market hall similar to those elsewhere in Europe at the time. Nagycsarnok was designed by Samu Pecz, and completed in 1894, but caught fire and had to be repaired before it could reopen in 1897. The market was reconstructed between 1991 and 1994.
More Photographs of the Great Market Hall >>
AlwaysStrong: Bonanza’s (Oyster Bay, Long Island)
Arthur Bovino — March 12, 2010
Bonanza Fries at Bonanza’s in Oyster Bay on Long Island.
Location: Bonanza’s
Address: 25 Shore Ave, Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Contact: (516) 922-7796
Hours: Winter, daily, 11:00am-4:00pm; Summer, 11:00am-close (usually around 8:00pm).
Grade: A-
Always Hungry Recommends: Bonanza Dog, Bonanza Fries, and Raspberry and Peach Ices Combined.
Long before the Western, the name Bonanza on Long Island has been associated with homemade Italian ices. Given that Bonanza’s was started by John “Chick” Bonanza 115 years ago, this family-run business almost stretches back to a time when the Old West existed. These days, their little red shack is just as associated with dogs and fries doused with great, messy, piles of dripping chili and cheese. They’re made the way you would have made them for yourself when you were a kid if someone had let you.
AlwaysJoking: GutterGourmet-Style
Arthur Bovino — March 12, 2010
The inimitable GutterGourmet. An indefatigable eater and a seeker of New York’s best eats. But his love for food overflows into another realm, that of aspiring comedian. So we’re sharing the most recent yuks he’s come up with. Waka-Waka, folks, he’ll be here all week.
What do you get when you cross a jazz club with a Korean restaurant? Be bim bop be bop.
A woman served the chef’s complimentary lobster bisque noticed a fly with its wings pulled off swimming in the bowl, “Garçon, there’s an abused mouche in my amuse bouche!”
If Bobby Flay challenged Veselka to a blintz throwdown they’d call it a “Blintzkrieg.”
If someone says they don’t like uni, especially because they don’t know what it is, just tell them, “Uni is your friend, not your anemone.”
Why did the carrot seek a restraining order against the celery? The celery was a “stalker.”
Not enough? Eater’s Ten Best Headlines About Booby Cheese inspired one last joke: “Forget About Tetilla Cheese, This is the Real McCoy.” He swears, they just come to him.
Have any good food jokes? We want to hear them. Send them to .
AlwaysInvestigating: Chicken Beak-to-Tailfeather
Arthur Bovino — March 11, 2010
The Always Hungry approach to chicken beak-to-tailfeather eating.
From FergusStock and Cabrito to Hakata Tonton, there was a time last year when there seemed to be nose-to-tail eating going on every which way you turned. It involved hearts, tongues, and heads of oxen, pigs, duck, goat and the like, but no chicken. Then someone on the interwebs wrote a post about eating balut (fetal duck embryo), inspiring beak-to-tailfeather eating. Okay, so no one ate any beaks. But we did gather an impressive résumé of tasty chicken offal from restaurants around the City.
AlwaysStrong: Eddie’s Pizza (New Hyde Park, Long Island)
Arthur Bovino — March 10, 2010
Plain Thin Crust Pizza at Eddie’s in New Hyde Park on Long Island, “Home of the Bar Pie.”
It is exciting news that Eddie’s is planning to plant a flag in Manhattan with a food truck that will sell pizza featuring par-baked versions of their signature cracker-thin crusts. Bar pizza goes mobile! Can you get a tumbler of Jack on the rocks with that?
Look, it’s not that Eddie’s is the world’s best pizza, but there is something about the quasi-matzoh crust that makes it a great pace-changer between typical New York slices. Given how thin it is, it will be interesting to see how everyone adapts to eating it on the run in the city. At the New Hyde Park location, the slices are foldable, so you could technically do the two-fold move, and walk with them. The fact that they’re not very filling may mean that the lunch move is the 16-incher.
In honor of the news, here are photographs of a meal at the original location.
AlwaysInformed: Dim Sum Deal at Jing Fong
Arthur Bovino — March 09, 2010
Clockwise from top: Jing Fong in Chinatown, Beef and Shrimp Shao Mai, food carts, Tapioca Dessert.
An escalator up a passageway lit by crystal chandeliers spills you out into a vast, gilded dining room filled with blue neon, and table after table. There is a constant chatter in Cantonese, and different smells rising in clouds of steam from carts as they pass through the crowd.
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So it is at Jing Fong Restaurant on Elizabeth Street, the Chinatown dim sum hotspot with an enticing weekday special (left) that should not be forgotten. Just be wary of the small print: “All promotions are subject to change without notice.” A meal can end with haggling the bill as if you had been transported to a market in Hong Kong. Even if you think you may have paid a few extra dollars for being a gweilo (foreigner), you can still walk out feeling as if you are about to burst with dim sum without having spent a fortune. It’s especially fun for a long lunch, if you can get away from the office.
For those who haven’t been, the more adventurous rites of passage include: Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce, Boiled Pig Stomach, and Honeycomb Tripe. Everyone seems to find at least one of these dishes enjoyable— at Always Hungry that’s the Tripe (chicken feet involve too much work for too little payoff). It may not be as pretty as some of the versions we love around town, but it’s still good.
AlwaysTraveling: Copenhagen Pastries
Arthur Bovino — March 09, 2010
Chocolate Croissant from Sankt Peder’s Bageri in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Pastries to make the birds cry,” a stranger confided to me on one cold, wet night on an otherwise empty bus as it pulled away from Central Station. “Copenhagen has pastries that can make the birds sing,” he restated.
How could anyone interested in pastries, in food at all, resist that setup? If a stranger gives you pastry advice in the dead of night, it’s likely to be good—that’s a universal rule or something. And, Simon’s two bakery recommendations didn’t disappoint. Hey, these things are called Danishes for a reason. As for the birds, who knows if they liked them or not. Why share?
Featured Dish: Rustica Pizza
Arthur Bovino — March 08, 2010
Clockwise from top: Manducatis Rustica’s Rustica Pizza. The fireplace at the back of the dining room.
Manducatis has been a Long Island City stalwart almost uninterrupted since 1959. No one is saying it’s the City’s best Italian. But there is still something fun about walking through its non-descript door and into the cascading dining rooms that each feel like secrets. Development may have infiltrated Long Island City, but Manducatis’ owners, the Cerbones, have made their own progress in the past two years. Namely, when their daughter, Chef Gianna Cerbone opened her Italian café nearby: Manducatis Rustica.
There is a doll-house, but thrown together quality to Rustica’s decor. An old oven. Mismatching chairs. Brick walls. There’s a large open doorway to the kitchen. The layout takes a cue from Manducatis, with a working fireplace in the back of the first dining room.
You may have heard about their celebrated calzone, a sauce-covered $15.00 behemoth described as “a pizza folded over on itself.” But there’s also a list of brick oven, Neapolitan-style pizzas. The eponymous pizza pie, the Rustica ($13.00), is dressed with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, and a healthy pile of fresh arugula. The dough is chewy and pliable, if not necessarily very crisp. You could see how it would make for a good calzone. For dessert, there’s fresh gelato, and cannolis done the right way— plain or chocolate-dipped, but filled to order. Now that’s Italian…American.
Restaurant: Manducatis Rustica
Address: 46-33 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, NY 11101
Contact: (718) 937-1312
Hours: Mon-Thur, 12:00pm-9:00pm; Fri-Sat, 12:00pm-10:30pm; Sun, 12:00pm-8:30pm.
AlwaysInvestigating: X-Tudo Burger
Arthur Bovino — March 08, 2010
Cross-section of the X-Tudo Burger at New York Pão de Queijo in Astoria, Queens.
Any sandwich whose name begins with an ‘X,’ especially a sandwich that is Brazilian, deserves attention. That goes double when that X is followed by ‘tudo,’ which means ‘everything’ in Portuguese. Many of Brazil’s snack bars serve a version of the X-Tudo, which is a cheeseburger with many toppings. While New York has its own non-Brazilian, topping-towering burgers (the Sunburnt Cow’s Burger with the Lot for one), finding one with South American flare is more difficult. One place where you can find the X-Tudo is New York Pão de Queijo (left) in Astoria.
Featured Brunch: Momofuku Ssäm Bar
Arthur Bovino — March 05, 2010
From top clockwise: English Muffin French Toast with Thyme Rum Sabayon and Benton’s Ham, English Muffin with deep-fried soft poached egg, and Pork Scrapple.
Momofuku Ssäm Bar may not be the first place you would think of for brunch, but it kind of makes sense for a few different reasons. First off, their menu is filled with plenty of pork to help cure your hangover. There are four different types of country ham (Broadbent’s, Benton’s, Edward’s Wigwam, and Col. Newsom’s), and by ordering steamed pork buns you can do things dim sum style. The lunch prix fixe is offered every day— you get to choose three dishes for $25. And of course, there’s an obvious breakfast move, the Pork Scrapple with fried egg, Benton’s bacon, and fig mustard.
There is a different special every Saturday and Sunday, but the Holy Grail is one that we tasted at the end of January, which they made no promises to repeat: English Muffin French Toast with Thyme Rum Sabayon and Benton’s Ham. It was as if someone packed the savory flavors from the best Monte Cristo into French Toast squares just a bit smaller than tea sandwiches or conventionally cut squares of pork belly, then accented it with concentrated sweetness. As good as Buttermilk Channel’s Pecan Pie French Toast with Bourbon, Molasses, and Toasted Pecans is, this is even better.
If you need to console yourself for not being able to taste it, you could always swing through the Milk Bar for the famed Saturday and Sunday only special, the housemade English Muffin sandwich with deep-fried poached egg, caramelized onions, and lardons.
AlwaysPartying: Fatty Crab UWS Turns One
Arthur Bovino — March 04, 2010
Clockwise from top: Lamb Breast Sandwich with Lemon-Garlic Emulsion from Fatty ‘Cue, the scene at the bar at Fatty Crab UWS, T-Shirt from the upcoming Fatty ‘Cue.
Last night the Fatty boys celebrated the one year anniversary of Fatty Crab UWS in full-flavored fashion. Among the bites and booze flowing there were previews of two Fatty ‘Cue cocktails (The ‘Cue and the Hunter S) and three dishes. The bartenders worked furiously to send out Fatty cocktails like the Chupacabra, the Dark & Stormy, and the Fat & Dirty, with champagne bottles at the ready. “Maybe save those for later?” someone suggested. “When’s later?” flew back the response with a smile.
Speaking of later, what about the ever-elusive Fatty ‘Cue opening date? Three days? Three weeks? Three months? Rumors floated among the packed revelers in the dining room, but in the VIP room (the doorway to the kitchen) the guys could be overheard being more concerned (at least for the night) with the next round of Malpeque oyster shooters, and making sure that drinks were being distributed en masse to party-goers who were having trouble bellying up to the bar. Whenever the opening is, we’ll be there to get some more of that lamb breast sandwich.
More Fatty 'Cue Preview Photographs >>
AlwaysInvestigating: Testing the Dos Toros Quesadilla
Arthur Bovino — March 04, 2010
The Steak Quesadilla at Dos Toros Taqueria.
People have been talking about how good the quesadillas are at Dos Toros Taqueria. In early January, Oliver Strand called them “a marquee player.” Soon after, Ed Levine said, “I don’t think there is a better quesadilla to be had in all New York City.” We thought the same thing last November. But all this talk inspired the question: what are the City’s other great contenders?
Menupages puts the number of New York restaurants with ‘quesadilla’ on their menus at 860 (that only 468 are labeled Mexican may cause concern). Even crossing off Applebee’s and the like, determining the City’s best quesadilla would be daunting. After due diligence, we pitted seven steak renditions at well-regarded places against Dos Toros to see who might topple the quesadilla that would-be king.
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