Featured Restaurant: Banjara

Katie Reisert — March 09, 2010

Clockwise from top: Banjara, Lamb Dumpakht, Chicken Samosas, and Shahi Korma.

Banjara, which sits confidently on the corner of E. 6th Street, is more upscale than the low-ceilinged Indian restaurants nearby, which everyone jokes about sharing a kitchen. As noted, Banjara serves Dumpakht, a sweet, creamy stew in a dome of fluffy naan, which is one of our favorite Indian dishes. But there are other things at this spacious East Village restaurant that are worth checking out.

More About Banjara >>

Featured Restaurant: Carteles at Cienfuegos

GutterGourmet — March 08, 2010

The Cubano Cristo at Carteles.

Carteles at Cienfuegos just opened, but it’s already serving one of New York’s best new sandwiches.

That’s right, there is a new authentic Cubano for New Yorkers to celebrate. Carteles (E. 6th St, just west of Ave. A) is named for a Cuban magazine whose covers are the Havana equivalent of The New Yorker. It is a serious Cuban coffee shop that sells Café Cubanos, Cortaditos, Espumitas, and Chino Latinos (a Café Cubano with salt) made with Café Bustelo, the unrivaled king of Cuban coffee. There are five sandwiches including a Sloppy Joe, and the Pechuga (grilled chicken). But the stars are the Cubanos.

More About Carteles' Cubanos >>

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.

AlwaysInvestigating: Sunny & Annie Deli Sandwiches

Arthur Bovino — March 03, 2010

Clockwise from top: Mr. Bloomberga, The Louis 649, Kimchee Sandwich, and the P.H.O. Real.

Even if you don’t live in the East Village, you’ve probably heard about the deli sandwiches at Sunny & Annie Deli on Avenue B. It’s a veritable Yelper’s delight, that place your friend keeps telling you about that supposedly has “thousands” of sandwiches on their menu, many written in magic marker on scraps of paper taped to the glass shield. He’s always stopping off there for a sandwich after a night of drinking, or ducking in between sessions at Alphabet City bars. “You know, that place on the corner! They’re open all night!”

The sandwiches have numbers that sporadically climb to 1,005, then jump to 10,000. But they really serve the same function as the names— there aren’t actually thousands. The folks there put the count at “about a hundred.” Still not a number to scoff at. A few, like Joe-Bama, John Kerry, P.H.O. Real, and the Biden, have even garnered press. While it’s not new to the scene, we recently visited to sample some of the most popular, more interesting sandwiches.

Photographs of Sunny and Annie's Sandwiches >>

AlwaysHungry: Best of Sunburnt Cow & Bondi Road

Arthur Bovino — March 02, 2010

Bondi Road’s Fried Calamri and The Sunburnt Cow’s Kangaroo Shepherd’s Pie.

Plans seem to be on target for the April 1st opening of The Sunburnt Calf (W. 79th St), Heath St. Claire’s third Australian-themed restaurant in New York. We hear the menu is going to be a combination of dishes from The Sunburnt Cow and Bondi Road. Having been invited recently to eat at both places, here are the dishes that we most enjoyed, a diverse, but representative grouping that we’re hoping to see on the new menu uptown. If you’re looking to do your own survey, the best way is to visit for the Monday night special at either place: all you can eat and drink for two hours at $20.00/per person.

Favorite Dishes from The Sunburnt Cow and Bondi Road >>

Featured Cocktail: Ghost of Mary

Arthur Bovino — February 25, 2010

Prune’s Ghost of Mary.

New York has no dearth of Bloody Mary’s, but some of the most renowned are served (of course) during brunch at Prune. One of the pleasures of brunch there, is observing which one your companion selects— it’s one of those telling cues. As good as the ten brunch Bloody’s are (especially the Chicago Matchbox), Prune’s best Bloody Mary is served at dinner: The Ghost of Mary.

More About Prune's Ghost of Mary >>

Featured Dish: This Way, This Way

Arthur Bovino — February 22, 2010

This Little Piggy’s This Way Sandwich: Roast Beef, Cheez Whiz, and Au Jus on an Egg Roll.

Good News/Bad News on This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef brought word of an unlisted mash-up called the “F&*^ It” rounding out the effectively brief menu. But a few things went unmentioned.

This Way, That Way, and The Other Thing >>

Featured Cocktail: The Situation

Maryse Chevrière — February 18, 2010

Summit Bar’s The Situation.

No reality TV junkies, not that Situation.

The East Village bar, The Summit, actually created The Situation before the fist-pumping, juice-head guido from “Jersey Shore,” appeared on the scene. The cocktail is on the “Alchemist” menu, which includes eight other creatively-named concoctions.

The focus is on interesting ingredients and unexpected pairings. The Situation exemplifies this philosophy with golden raisins as garnish, and a blend of Afghani Raisin-infused Rittenhouse Rye, Caraway-infused Agave, fresh lemon and Summit orange bitters. It makes you wonder what, besides standard sweet and savory garnishes, would do well in drink application.

Equally intriguing is the Ground to Glass, the bar’s nod to the farm to table movement. With each sip, the hickory-smoked salt on the edge smells like the air at a hot summer barbecue. For a cocktail with heat, try The Diamond Club and The Darkness, which benefits from the addition of Jamaican peppercorn-spiced cranberry agave, and a smoked chili infusion.

The Shu Jam Fizz is light and bubbly, but don’t expect a Madam Geneva’s jam cocktail. If you can avoid the seduction of Summit’s exotic ingredients, try the elegant French 75 from the “Classic” menu.

Featured Dessert: Momofuku Milk Bar

Arthur Bovino — February 16, 2010

Clockwise from top: Self-constructed soft serve and cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Momofuku Milk Bar, Carrot Cake, PB & J Soft Serve, Candy Bar Pie.

We rejoiced in the English Muffin breakfast sandwich and mourned its move to the special board, got ourselves out of bed on weekends to get a Volcano before they disappeared, tasted the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie and lied to Mom that her cookies are the best.

We’ve made soft serve-and-cookie ice cream sandwiches, put coffee milk in our coffee, and debated the use of Crack Pie as the base for a potential power portmanteau dessert. We’ve eaten the menu item-by-item with girded determination, our challenge being not eating favorites over and over. Yes, along with many New Yorkers, we learned long ago that Momofuku Milk Bar may be one of the City’s best snack spots.

A visit to taste the Carrot Cake, Cinnamon Bun Pie, PB & J Soft Serve (looks like jelly, tastes like peanut butter), and Salt and Pepper Soft Serve, added several photographs to our collection. With recent news of a Milk Bar cookbook in 2011, it seemed like time to enjoy all these desserts. And because we also enjoy eating savory snacks after dinner, we’ve thrown in a few of those too for good measure. Feast your eyes.

Click for Full Slideshow of Momofuku Milk Bar >>

Featured Cocktail: The Hot Obama

Arthur Bovino — January 25, 2010

The Hot Obama at JoeDoe.

Yesterday’s hot cocktail feature from Robin Raisfeld & Rob Patronite mentioned eight great cocktails to keep you warm. Not surprisingly, two drinks featured apple: Dutch Kills’s Bear Trap, and Fort Defiance’s Hot Apple Toddy. It got us thinking about another favorite hot apple cocktail, one whose name might be even cooler than the Bear Trap. It’s served at JoeDoe, and it’s called the Hot Obama.

The drink ($11.00) is served in a mason jar, and contains Rum Clement, Apple Cider, Fresh Lemon, and Cinnamon Stick. Why’s it named after Obama? And wait, wouldn’t most people say that’s redundant? These are questions you’re welcome to ponder while sipping this warm, tart drink with freshly grated cinnamon on top. The question we’re pondering today is what time can you start drinking on a Monday when your umbrella breaks and you arrive at work completely soaked?

Featured Restaurant: Graffiti

Maryse Chevrière — January 18, 2010

Green Mango Paneer at Graffiti.

Newly crowned Iron Chef Jose Garces made his debut in Kitchen Stadium last night, and as much as we love the food at Tinto in Philadelphia, we’re reminded of the runner-up for his new title, Chef Jehangir Mehta, whose restaurant Graffiti keeps turning out creative fare in the East Village.

Cooking on hot plates in a hallway of a kitchen, in a restaurant smaller than most East Village apartments, Chef Mehta demonstrates an ability to make unexpected combinations work. The plates are small, but the detailed description you get of the components in each dish reveals that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Texture is a major player. Note the cornflake-like crisps topping juicy Braised Pork Buns that are as deserving of attention as those at the nearby Momofukus. Or the puffed rice scattered over silky Pickled Ginger Scallops, and the crunchy noodles that blanket Chili Pork Dumplings. Start with a Prosecco Lychee Martini—an adult version of an ICEE that goes down almost too easily—and finish with the Hazelnut Chocolate Caviar Cupcake.

For more information and new photographs, check out Graffiti’s restaurant page.

AlwaysInformed: Wechsler’s Leberkäse

GutterGourmet and Arthur Bovino — January 06, 2010

Wechsler’s Leberkäse.

Want exciting sausages in the East Village? Try Wechsler’s on 1st Ave and 7th. Their signature dish is the well-documented currywurst. Even if you don’t love the taste (what’s wrong with you?) currywurst deserves your respect. After all, how many dishes have museums? But there’s another cultural food landmark from Germany at Wechsler’s that hasn’t gotten much attention: Leberkäse.

Click Here for Beautiful Pictures of Wechsler's Currywurst >>

Always Hungry: Veselka

Maryse Chevrière — January 06, 2010

Artist Arnie Charnick installing Veselkhiarascuro at the Always Hungry Headquarters

In The Times’ Dining Section today, Julia Moskin spotlights East Village cult favorite, Veselka, the perennial go-to for late-night dining and Temple of Pirogi and Kielbasa.

Always Hungry has been a fan of the spot for quite some time. Last July, we professed our love with a grand gesture: buying and installing at Always Hungry Headquarters the iconic Veselkhiarascuro mural that had long graced the restaurant’s walls.

For more of Always Hungry’s Veslka-related content, see where it placed in a list of the Top 5: Latkes in New York and check out the video of Josh Ozersky, who proclaimed Veselka’s burger the best during a blind taste-test.

DishDoppelgängers: Farinella & Momofuku Milk Bar

The Gluttoness & The Hungry Goat — November 05, 2009

You know you’ve been caught looking at celebrity look-alike features in tabloids on the supermarket line or when surfing online. Well, we’re applying the concept to well-known dishes and others that resemble them. And why not, for those of us interested in food, Thomas Keller’s Oysters and Pearls dish is just as iconic as Jay Leno’s chin. As soon as a doppelgänger dish emerges, you better believe we’ll spot it.

We know, we know. doppelgängers are supposed to look alike. But this edition of DishDoppelgänger is switching things up a little, featuring two potato dishes with matching flavor profiles: Farinella’s (view) Panzerotto and Momofuku Milk Bar’s (view) Volcano.

Continue Reading >>

SEARCH: Marathon Pasta Bender

The Gluttoness — October 30, 2009

Clockwise from top left: Penne Bolognese from Vinny Vincenz, Enoteca Barbone’s Spaghetti Carbonara, Il Bagatto’s Gnocchetti Verdie Blu, and Max’s Lasagna Fatta in Casa.

Every experienced marathoner knows that the night before the big race the best thing to do is load up on carbs. While the sponsored Barilla Marathon Eve Dinner may be satisfactory to some, if anyone at AlwaysHungryNY.com were going to run in the ING New York City Marathon, industrial vats of pasta just wouldn’t cut it. We’d prefer to shake things up with some variety, a little Bolognese, some Carbonara, maybe some Lasagna and Gnocchi.

Keeping in mind the Barilla Dinner’s $15 price, we used AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Advanced Search Engine to create a Marathon pasta bender using good, but moderately priced pasta dishes from four conveniently located cheap eats restaurants. The East Village was the perfect neighborhood for a budgeted excursion.

For the sake of finishing the marathon we’d recommend skipping wine, but the following four restaurants should help you build the perfect starchy base for your 26.2- mile run.

1st Stop: Vinny Vincenz for Penne Bolognese ($9.75)

2nd Stop: Enoteca Barbone for Spaghetti Carbonara ($11.00)

3rd Stop: Max for Lasagna Fatta in Casa ($10.95)

4th Stop: Il Bagatto for Gnocchetti Verdie Blu ($12.50)