Featured Cocktail: Which Buck for Your Bucks?
Arthur Bovino — March 04, 2010
Left to right: Char no.4’s Spicy Buck, and Clover Club’s Uncle Buck.
Long in the face, buckaroo? Tired of the buckrakers in this crazy jungle of a city tearing you down as they try to make a fast buck? Buck up. If you’re in Carroll Gardens, there’s a way to buck the trend— two great bars within a block where you can throw down a few bucks for two good renditions of Buck cocktails. Okay, the buck (puns) stop here. But first, a little history. According to Clover Club’s menu:
The Buck is said to have been created at the Buck’s Club in London, while the mule goes back to 1940’s Hollywood. Bucks are built in highball glasses out of liquor, citrus juice, and a healthy squirt of ginger ale. Mules are virtually the same but with a spicy ginger beer in lieu of the ginger ale. The refreshing and invigorating character of ginger makes these drinks a class apart.
First Look: Pies ‘n’ Thighs
Arthur Bovino — March 02, 2010
From top clockwise: Literally, Pies (Key Lime and Tarheel) and Thighs (Chicken Box with Biscuit), inside, and outside.
It is one of the reassuring quirks of a city that is constantly changing that occasionally it returns something once given up for lost. So it is with Pies-n-Thighs, Williamsburg’s own Mary Mac’s.
The original (literally under a bridge down by the river), by Sarah Buck and Stephen Tanner, was a place that people felt they had discovered even after it was trendy. You couldn’t be mad at it for becoming popular. And when it closed, you felt as if a good friend who knew how to perform miracles in a kitchen smaller than yours, had moved.
Everyone knew it would be a hit when it reopened. The question was, “When?”
Featured Brunch: Buttermilk Channel
Maryse Chevrière — February 26, 2010
Fried Pork Chop with Cheddar Waffles.
That Buttermilk Channel is a great brunch spot is no secret— the not insignificant number of people hovering outside on Sunday at noon is an obvious reminder. You’d think there was no other place else nearby to get poached eggs or a plate of decent flapjacks! Then you see a tall stack of fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes at the adjacent table, glistening with thick, drizzled maple syrup, and you know that the hour you spent waiting wasn’t for nothing.
At dinner, the Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Cheddar Waffles is not to be missed. But at brunch, the move is its cousin— the Fried Pork Chop. It’s served with the same chewy, cheese-crusted waffles, and a side of maple syrup. Try the syrup if you want that salty-sweet effect, but you don’t actually need it and you won’t want to soften the crust. It’s like the kind on great coconut shrimp— light, not greasy, and audibly crunchy. Combined with the chop’s thinness, it really makes for an enjoyable dish.
More About Buttermilk Channel >>
AlwaysHungry: The Brooklyn Star
Arthur Bovino — February 17, 2010
Clockwise from top: Tripe Chili with Fritos, Jalapeño and Bacon Cornbread, looking onto Havemeyer Street, Country Fried Steak with White Gravy and Slaw.
It’s shocking to learn that just hours after we left last night, a disastrous fire struck The Brooklyn Star.
There we were, preparing to post a reminder about how the biscuits fill the restaurant with the smell of butter and pleasantly return to dough form in your mouth. How you could slather butter and honey on the cast-iron cooked, jalapeño and bacon cornbread, drop ice cream on it and call it dessert. How the Tripe Chili with Fritos is a great winter meal, and that the Fried Pig Tails are Williamsburg’s offal wings. The Country Fried Steak even had us pondering the order of our Top 5 Chicken Fried Steak.
It was the second consecutive meal in two weeks that we had enjoyed, with plans to return for the enticing brunch dishes (Biscuits and Sausage Gravy with Eggs, Apple Johnny Cakes, Fried Chicken and Waffles, and Shrimp and Grits). Thankfully, no one was hurt. In the interim months before they plan to reopen, here are some photographs of the food that will be missed.
Click Here for the Full Slideshow >>
First Look: Totonno’s Reopens
Arthur Bovino — February 12, 2010
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Cheese Pizza.
Frank Ciminieri filled the fridge with small bottles of wine while talking about how much he loves Cash Cab, “I watch it for two hours in the morning when I wake up and two hours at night.”
His sister, Cookie, bemoaned the lack of mirrors in the restaurant and said, “We need some music in here.” So a customer obliged by singing Louis Prima in between taking pictures on his iPhone. Eleven months after a fire shut it down, Totonno’s is back.
The large cheese pie ($19.50) was delicious. The center crust was as thin as the styrofoam plate it sat on, the edge’s crust was light, airy, and delicate, and the upskirt was covered with wonderful, large raised flecks. That thinness created a ratio of cheese and sauce that even makes sauce-monkeys happy. And with the opening, making New Yorkers happy with pizza will be routine once again in Coney Island.
Good luck, Totonno’s. Welcome back.
Click Here for the Totonno's Pizza Porn >>
AlwaysInvestigating: Bunny Chow
Sampurna Satpathy — February 11, 2010
Bunny Chow from left to right: Madiba, Xai Xai, and Bunny Chow.
Pop quiz. What’s bunny chow?
A. Minced bunnies?
B. Chow mien with rabbit?
C.The stage name of your favorite Asian stripper?
D. South Africa’s national dish?
If you guessed D you’re ahead of the crowd (C, and you may be on the wrong site). Actually, South Africa’s national dish has nothing to do with rabbits or strippers— though it does have a virgin. It’s a hollowed-out quarter loaf of white bread, filled with curry that is topped by the removed bread (the ‘virgin’), and sometimes chutneys and sambals. In South Africa, it’s often just called ‘bunnies.’
The name’s origin is ambiguous even in Durban where bunnies are said to originate. Under apartheid, when Indians weren’t allowed in restaurants, bunnies were a convenient meal to carry to work in the fields. One theory is that ‘bunny’ comes from Banias, the name for the Indian business class, with ‘chow’ being slang for food. New Yorkers have three places to eat bunnies: Madiba, Xai Xai, and the four-month-old Bunny Chow. We recently set out to discover whose is best.
AlwaysInvestigating: Trini-Gul’s Bake ‘n Shark
Arthur Bovino — February 08, 2010
Trini-Gul makes Bake ‘n Shark that has inspired references to renditions in Trinidad (left, Richard’s).
Just before the end of the year, Trini-Gul, the new Trinidadian eatery on Nostrand Ave, got some love for its bake and shark, roti, and doubles. Any place that inspires references to Maracas Beach had to be checked out. So we visited Crown Heights to taste the bake ‘n shark, and to see where Trini-Gul’s doubles might place among the City’s best.
First Look: Mile End
GutterGourmet — February 01, 2010
Top: Mile End’s Smoked Meat Sandwich Bottom left, Exterior. Right, Jars of pickled cabbage.
Like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton introducing traditional American blues to a new generation in the 60’s, sometimes it takes a foreigner to make you appreciate your own culture. So, maybe it’s not crazy that a French Canadian can make New Yorkers remember what the soul of a great Jewish deli is all about. Mile End (named after a neighborhood in Montreal) in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill is faithfully recreating Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen much the same way that Hill Country recreated Lockhart’s Kreuz Market barbecue.
AlwaysPartying: Brooklyn Taco Experiment
Arthur Bovino — February 01, 2010
Clockwise from top: Mike McGowan’s Shredded Beef Rib, John Schnapp’s “Serious Business,” and Andrey Ayrapetov’s Carnitas.
Brooklyn Experiment founders, Nick Suarez and Theo Peck, were at it again this weekend, hosting a group of amateur chefs who competed in The Brooklyn Taco Experiment at The Bell House.
Tortilleria Chinanttla provided tortillas for the cooks, but some teams forewent them altogether, choosing instead to use flour tortillas, and the case of Lisa Koo, to make their own. For teams that used the sponsored tortillas, a not-insignificant hurdle was how they were prepared. Several entries seemed to have been served straight out of the plastic bag. Warming the tortillas made a difference, be they softened by steam, heated in a pan, or in some cases, submerged in the stewed juices of their topping.
The judges (Andrew Knowlton, Cesar Fuentes, and Dave Vendley of Calexico among them) gave top honors to Andrey Ayrapetov’s Carnitas. But the event’s attendants deemed that John Schnapp’s “Serious Business Taco” was worthy of the two tickets to Mexico (courtesy, AeroMexico). Our favorite was Mike McGowan’s meticulously-layered, Shredded Beef Rib Tacos. He served them with avocado mousse and Calabrian hot peppers.
AlwaysInvestigating: Dokebi’s Korean Tacos
Arthur Bovino — January 21, 2010
Dokebi’s Braised Berkshire Pork Belly Taco with Sesame Leaf.
In October, Eater reported that Dokebi was serving Korean tacos. The more thought given to this, the more they needed to be checked out. Consider the following. Experts noted Williamsburg as one of 2009’s best dining neighborhoods. The trending of Korean food and tacos. Then there’s everyone’s hankering for the Kogi Truck. It’s a convergence of trends that could unlock the universe.
Click here for photographs of Korean Tacos at Williamsburg's Dokebi >>
AlwaysInvestigating: New York’s Best Pão de Queijo
Arthur Bovino — January 08, 2010
Cross-section from Churrascaria Plataforma’s Pão de Queijo.
If you’ve visited Brazil you know about Brasileiros’ love for Pão de Queijo (learn more), the addictive, gluten-free cheese gougère made with tapioca starch. Like arancini in Italy, doubles in Trinidad, pizza in New York or pan con tomate in Spain, pão de queijo is one of Brazil’s most iconic snacks.
Natives of Minas Gerais may contend this, but some of the Brazil’s best pão can be found at São Paulo’s Pão de Queijo Haddock Lobo. There is nothing in New York that approaches Haddock Lobo, but a few places go a long way to giving you a fix. We set out on a mission through three boroughs to find the City’s best, eating pão de queijo at a total of 14 places in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, and keeping in mind the following criteria.
- Size: Domed and about three inches in diameter.
- Exterior: Slightly crispy and without a gummy coating.
- Interior: Light and airy with holes, semi-hollow and slightly gummy.
- Flavor: Savory and cheesy. Adding salt should be unnecessary.
- Temperature: They don’t have to be piping hot but at their best they’re at least a little warm.
We discovered a few things about the state of New York’s pão de queijo. One, it’s easy to mess up. Two, the City’s renditions are smaller by almost two thirds on average, and often, heavier. Three, for the number of Brazilians living in Astoria, we were surprised that so few of the pão de queijo in that area ranked near the top. Lastly, New York’s best pão de queijo are free…with drinks. You’re welcome!
Without further ado, New York’s best pão de queijo, worst to first.
Click Here for a Search for New York's Best Pão de Queijo >>
Featured Dish: The Gargiulo
Arthur Bovino — November 23, 2009
Top, the Gargiulo, Brennan & Carr’s Burger Smothered w/Roast Beef and Cheese, in a “half-cup” of broth. Left, back in the day (courtesy, brennanandcarr.kpsearch.com). Right, Brennan & Carr, presently.
“Hot Beef.”
There’s little new about Brennan & Carr in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The squat, roadside beefeteria has been doing its thing since 1938: roast beef in a setting where if you squint, it could be a Revolutionary War era tavern. The roof’s sign says most of what you need to know. The rest is application: hot beef broth, hot beef burger, hot roast beef, hot beef burger topped with hot roast beef and cheese.
The roast beef is cheap and tasty, the fries are fine, and the frank tastes like the kind of dog you’d get at a beer hall. Of the other items, the onion rings are the most notable (a Burger King like exterior, but they’re bigger). But it’s all about the Gargiulo ($5.90), a “burger smothered in roast beef” and cheese. With all the burger newcomers to New York City, it pays to remember a classic. The Gargiulo, waiters explain, was named for the employees of the Coney Island Italian stalwart, Gargiulo’s Restaurant, frequent customers who concocted the sandwich.
If you haven’t been, don’t be confused, while the Gargiulo is on the take-out window menu, it’s not on the placemat menu. Don’t be deceived by its appearance either. Like most sandwiches (most everything actually) at Brennan & Carr (view), the Gargiulo requires dipping in a “half-cup” of the blister-your-mouthroof-hot-jus, which doubles as an incredibly tasty, very beefy Beef Broth Soup.
The process goes like this. Cut burger in half. Dunk. Pause. Soak. Wait. Wait. Okay, eat. There’s an infusion of flavor, the meat goes soft and juicy, the onions seem sweeter, the cheese gets all melty Kraft Single-like, and the bread turns into a moist kaiser sponge filled with flavor. It’s like a riff on French Onion Soup, American-style, with a burger sitting in it.
Remember, if you don’t do the dunk, you’ve missed the point.
Click Here for More Beautiful Pictures of the Food at Brennan & Carr >>
AlwaysInformed: Jive Turkey
November 23, 2009
From left: Jive Turkey’s Honey Pecan Turkey, Peking Turkey, and BBQ Fried Turkey (www.thejiveturkey.com, images).
You keep meaning to do the whole fried turkey experience, but another Thanksgiving is passing by without you tasting one for lack of forethought and the complicated process. Enter Jive Turkey (site).
The Brooklyn restaurant fries 10 to 12lb turkeys that you can order online for delivery. There are about fifteen different preparations staring with its basic “Jive” model ($55.50/$75.50 holiday price, salt and pepper) and including Cajun, Jerk, BBQ, Peking, Mexican Mole, Orange Zinfandel and Honey Pecan. It’s too late to place an order for delivery or pick-up. But there are a few things you can do.
You can take your chances and visit the store to see if they have fried turkeys in stock. Jive Turkey’s website notes that turkeys and other holiday menu items are available for pick up without placing an order, first come, first served. Even better, place your Christmas order now, and if you don’t get turkeyed out from this week’s conventional preparations, stop in at the restaurant for the fried turkey plate with mashed potatoes and vegetables, or a fried turkey sandwich. The basic sandwich is served with Havarti on Challah Bread, while “The Gobbler” comes with Bleu Cheese and Cranberry Chutney on Brioche.
Other fried turkey options include a Turkey Cobb Salad, a “BLT with T,” and hot turkey sandwiches: with Cheddar, with Provolone, Jamaican Jerk Turkey, or a sandwich with gravy and cranberry sauce.
As the tagline says, “Grab. Gobble, Go!”
Featured Brunch: Mesa Coyoacan
Arthur Bovino — November 20, 2009
Top, Azteca Soup. Left, Chilaquiles with Poached Eggs. Right, Molletes.
If you haven’t visited Mesa Coyoacan (view) for Ivan Garcia’s Grilled Cactus, Enchiladas Verdes, and Spiced Lamb in Avocado Leaves, you’ve missed out. If you have, you know this is some of New York City’s best Mexican food. For those who prefer their Mexican with margaritas, there’s new inspiration to visit— a full liquor license was recently approved and in addition to Micheladas, Mesa now serves more than 100 Tequilas and Mezcales, as well as seven different margaritas.
What you may not know is that Mesa also does a mean brunch. The menu features the addictive Esquites (corn kernels, epazote, chile, mayo and lime juice with cotija) from dinner, a strong Huevos Rancheros, a sweet Mexican spin on pancakes with cajeta (goat milk caramel spread), and the occasional Hallah Bread ‘Pan Frances’ covering standard brunch fare.
But there are three dishes to focus on at Mesa. The first is the Molletes, Mexican grilled bread with Black Beans, Oaxaca cheese, Chorizo and Pico de Gallo. It’s like a giant Mexican bruschetta. It would be a great appetizer to share before diving into the real move at Mesa: the Chilaquiles with Poached Eggs and Salsa Ranchera, followed by the Azteca Soup with Ancho Chile, Chile Guajillo, Queso Fresco and Avocado. They’re warm and spicy, but soft on the stomach and extremely satisfying.
For more pictures of dishes at Mesa Coyoacan check out its restaurant page here.
AlwaysPartying: The Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment
Arthur Bovino and Maryse Chevrière — November 16, 2009
Top, Denise Smith’s Chocolate Chip Cookie. Bottom left judging panel. Right, The Bell House.
Coming off The Brooklyn Cheese Experiment (also hosted by Nick Suarez and Theo Peck) we had high expectations for The Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment (site), their next event at The Bell House.
The event was fun (judges’ and audience awards follow), but several contestants tried to make things a little too interesting. Many savory dishes weren’t chocolate enough, and in some it wasn’t even perceptible. The strongest savory representative was Lei Takahashi’s “Pig in Drag,” which featured a flavorful spice mix, a sauce that was like a smoky chocolate jam, and meat almost as good as some of what we tasted at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. The other two best savory dishes were Jill Strominger’s Ole! Mole, and BH Squared’s Savory Chocolate Tamales.
The most successful desserts were simple, take the chocolate chip cookie. It had delicious raw cookie dough taste and a cross-section revealed impressive brick-like layering of chips. And while it wasn’t part of the competition, the other notable interpretation of chocolate was Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.
Click Here for Pictures of the Food at The Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment >>
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