AlwaysPartying: National Blueberry Pancake Day

January 28, 2010

Clinton Street Baking Co.‘s Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes.

Today, January 28th, is National Blueberry Pancake Day and that immediately got us thinking about the City’s best flapjacks. Back in April of last year, Bubby’s chef and owner, Ron Silver, challenged a restaurant of our choice, Clinton Street Baking Co., to a blueberry pancake throwdown. Check out the results to see where you should go for the best blueberry stack.

AlwaysPartying: National French Fries Day

The Gluttoness — July 13, 2009

Happy National French Fries Day! The occasion got us thinking about Rare’s French Fry Tasting Basket (which combines cottage, shoestring, and sweet potato fries with four sauces) and inspired us to consider which New York City restaurants’ French fries would be found in AlwaysHungryNY.com’s ideal Fry Tasting Basket. They follow from left to right:

The John Dory’s Chips & Vinegar, $8.00 (left) — The edges and tips crunch tightly between your teeth, but in the center, they’re almost creamy.

BLT Burger’s Waffle Fries, $4.00 (center) — BLT’s waffle fries taste as perfect as they look. Aside from the fun shape and generous sprinkle of salt, each fry has a hearty crunch and a soft, airy center.

Benoit’s French Fries, $6.00 — Served in a giant intertwined mound, much like the shoestrings at The Spotted Pig, Benoit’s fries are uniquely flat and spaghetti-like. These softer, skinny fries have a delicate crispness and are best eaten by the handful.

As for our four ideal sauces, we’d love the Truffle Mayo at The Kingswood, Blue Smoke’s Maple Dip, Strip House’s Sweet Chili Sauce and Bubby’s Chicken Gravy.

AlwaysHungryNY: Battle of the Blueberry Pancakes

JZ & The Gluttoness — April 30, 2009

vs.

We know, we know, National Blueberry Pancake Day was January 28 not April 28 (National Blueberry Pie Day). But who made up these days anyway? Blueberries aren’t really even in season until mid-May so whoever decided anything blueberry-related should happen in January or April didn’t play fair. Either way, it put blueberries on the brain, and led to a conversation with Chef Ron Silver of Bubby’s, in which, he challenged any restaurant of our choosing to a blueberry pancake throwdown. It seemed obvious to look to the flapjacks of New York’s famous breakfast spot, Clinton St. Baking Co., to see who turns out the better product.

Let the Battle of the Blueberry Pancakes begin!

Click to read about the Battle of the Blueberry Pancakes >>

First Look: Bubby’s Midnight Brunch Menu

The Gluttoness — April 16, 2009

Bubby’s Midnight Brunch offers a saving grace in the form of Cheese Fries, Fried Chicken & Waffles and Pibil “Pork” Tacos. From midnight-to-8am, stacks of pancakes will be stuffed with blueberries, chocolate chips or caramelized bananas and walnuts, and I ask you, what’s better than a trifecta of Benedicts to help subdue that one drink too many?

Owner, Ron Silver, was once a working chef, and for years could only turn to the same after hours “slop” when his own kitchen closed. While Blue Ribbon is a well-known and respected hangout amongst industry insiders, the packed crowds aren’t exactly relaxing. As an alternative downtown destination, Bubby’s will be offering special discounts to those who work in the biz, the bar will be open until four in the morning, and the breakfast-based menu is sure to be a hit amongst off-the-clock employees and drunken revelers alike. Diners will get to play DJ with the Mac computer behind the bar. The monitor will be displayed on a brand new 42’ monitor and packed with 12,000 songs, which can be selected using the wireless mouse.

Click here for the FIRST LOOK at the Full Midnight Brunch menu >>

AHNY: Top 5 Matzoh Balls? Nope, Just Three

Jeff Zalaznick & Arthur Bovino — April 07, 2009

In honor of Passover, AlwaysHungry set out to find New York’s top five matzoh balls. What we discovered surprised us: there is no Top 5. New York City, despite having the world’s second largest Jewish population outside Tel Aviv, has only three knaidlech contenders. Sure, it was close between the top two but for the most part, outside these top three contenders, everything else was for the birds.

Noodles and dill, carrots and celery—we decided not to consider these varying soup ingredients as determining factors. This is about matzoh balls. After all, competing philosophies on how best to construct them are distracting enough (seltzer or water? oil or schmaltz? how long should the eggs be beaten? seasoned inside or out? boiled in salt water or chicken broth?). For Top 5 purposes, we judged based on three criteria: texture, flavor and appearance.

Continue Reading About Matzoh Ball Mania… >>