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.
Featured Restaurant: T-Poutine
GutterGourmet — February 23, 2010
Clockwise from top: Classic Poutine, Cochonnet Sandwich, Exterior.
New York’s poutine scene. Always Hungry has done a poutine tasting in Brooklyn, covered the fabulous smoky meat version at Mile End, and sampled Hotel Griffou’s duck confit-covered gourmet rendition. Of course, the ultimate is the foie gras-covered poutine at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. But French fries covered with cheese curds, all smothered with brown gravy, “Classic” poutine, that’s the best bet at T-Poutine on Ludlow.
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.
First Look: Lunch at The Breslin Bar & Dining Room
Arthur Bovino — November 13, 2009
Chargrilled Beef Tongue Sandwich with Lentil Soup.
The action in The Breslin’s dining room is impressive. It’s jumping, and with a good vibe. Feels as if you’ve been transported into a cool, cleaned up version of the Edmont Hotel in The Catcher in the Rye.
After several meals we’ve sampled most of the menu. Beef Tongue Sandwich. Bubble and Squeak. Onion and Bone Marrow Soup. This is what we envisioned when we heard April Bloomfield was opening her next restaurant, The Breslin Bar & Dining Room (view) in the ACE Hotel (site). These dishes mostly hit the mark. Others were uneven.
The Beef Tongue Sandwich may currently be the strongest dish. The accompanying lentil soup has the overly-flavorful profile associated with the chef. While good, it’s salty— helpful seasoning in which to dip the sandwich. The better soup is the Onion and Bone Marrow. Thick, rich and full of thin onions.
Click Here for a First Look at Pictures of Lunch at The Breslin Bar & Dining Room >>
Seasonal Spotlight: Sweet Potatoes
The Gluttoness — November 10, 2009
A sweet potato-centric meal from: Yerba Buena Perry, Blue Water Grill, Gansevoort 69, & Kyotofu.
Sweet potatoes don’t require much more than baking and butter to be tasty. And while some chefs do keep things simple, other restaurants use them in more exotic dishes from ceviches to Japanese desserts.
Click Here for a Sweet Potato-Centric Meal from Four Restaurants >>
AlwaysInvestigating: Faux Fries
The Gluttoness — October 22, 2009
From left to right, “Fries” from Yerba Buena Perry, Bar Artisanal and Bill’s Bar & Burger.
Nothing beats a great batch of French fries, preferably extra crispy. Sweet potato fries are common substitutions, and actually, I enjoy them even more (the whole sweet/salty thing). Beyond sweet potato, yucca and even avocado, some Manhattan restaurants are attempting more uncommon, even outrageous ingredients— in one instance, appropriating the term French fries where hardly applicable.
Yerba Buena Perry (view) has a line of YB Fries (all $6.00), none made with potatoes. Julian Medina’s “Latino Fries” consist of: cactus, red jalapeño, hearts of palm and avocado. I was most enthralled with the Watermelon Fries. Sticks of watermelon are breaded and deep-fried for a crispy French fry facade that gives way to sweet juiciness inside. An accompanying mate ketchup adds extra sweetness.
Bar Artisanal (view) fuses “frites” and “fritters” to describe their jumbo “Chickpea Friters” ($8.50). The gritty texture of the crisp semolina coating offsets the luscious chickpea purée inside. Once bitten, the warm insides swarm the palate with rich flavor. They’re served with a salty, chunky tapenade, which contrasts this luscious mouthfeel.
The brand-new Bill’s Bar & Burger (view) also serves a side of non-potato fries. But these don’t even attempt to mask their composition. Bills’ basket of Crispy Veggie Fries ($4.50) includes lightly battered and deep-fried cauliflower, broccoli, string beans and carrots rounds. They’re like Americanized vegetable tempura. The crisp, transparent coating allows the vegetables’ natural flavor to shine through, but each one also goes marvelously with ketchup.
FirstLook: MARK Burger
The Hungry Goat — October 20, 2009
MARK Burger’s Beef Slider, $2.00.
With everyone obsessing over Bill’s Bar & Burger there is a sleeper that is going under the radar that may just be serving the best sliders in New York. It was hard to imagine that something could have been missing from the already cramped restaurant row that is St. Mark’s Place. But with last week’s opening of MARK Burger (view), it became alarmingly clear that what it was missing—craving, even—was a good, cheap burger (or in this case slider) joint.
Featured Restaurant: The Harrison
The Gluttoness — October 20, 2009
All-Natural Chicken with Roasted Lemon, Garlic and Potato Purée, $24.00.
When I first moved to Manhattan, I lived in Chelsea, and before I was immersed in the restaurant business, my instant go-to spot was The Red Cat. From the rustic decor reminiscent of the Hamptons, to the thoughtful American cuisine that was simple with refined subtleties, it was perfection. And the tempura green beans got me every time. When I moved to TriBeCa, I was thrilled to have a Jimmy Bradley stalwart in my neighborhood again, even if the fast-paced world of culinary journalism had me rushing around to newer restaurants rather than just enjoying a meal at The Harrison (view).
The bustling ambiance makes The Harrison feel like a grown-up version of The Red Cat, grander in size, but with the same homey sensibility. The eclectic American menu is more expansive than the one uptown, and executive chef, Amanda Freitag’s impressively composed cuisine speaks for itself. Her thick-cut pork chop is just as stellar as The Red Cat’s. And just look at that beautiful chicken. Every bite from every dish had me kicking myself that I hadn’t visited sooner.
Julienned beets and toasted pistachios composed a mountainous salad over a bed of creamy robiolina cheese. Lamb ragu was tossed with soft, house-made chitarra, which was enhanced by a dollop of ricotta and a fresh sprinkle of mint. Skate strayed from American cuisine— the cauliflower was seasoned with curry and paired with sweet golden raisins. And that chicken. It’s the kind of preparation that demonstrates chicken doesn’t need more than crisp skin, moist flesh and good seasoning to be insanely delicious. Sure a few slices of roasted lemon and a luxuriously silky pomme purée don’t hurt either.
And my favorite tempura string beans? Well, I’ve got three new favorite words: Duck Fat Fries.
See new pictures of food at The Harrison on its restaurant page here.
AlwaysStrong: All American Drive-In (Massapequa)
Arthur Bovino — October 15, 2009
All American Drive-In, a classic fast-food joint on Merrick Road in Massapequa, Long Island.
Restaurant: All American Drive-In
Address: 4286 Merrick Road, Massapequa, NY 11758
Contact: (516) 798-9574
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-10pm; Sun, 11am-9:30pm.
Grade: B+
Recommended Dishes: Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Butterfly Shrimp, and Knish.
Ask someone on the South Shore of Long Island where to get a burger and they’ll ask if you’ve been to All American Drive-In. Like Bigelow’s in Rockville Center, and Bonanza in Oyster Bay, it’s a roadside institution— some Islanders have even called it their In-N-Out. These aren’t In-N-Out burgers, but they’re a fresh and tasty rite of passage.
Click here for more pictures of burgers at All American Drive-In. >>
AlwaysInvestigating: Burger Square-Off (Philly vs. New York)
The Gluttoness — October 06, 2009
SquareBurger’s Classic Hamburger.
Restaurant: SquareBurger
Address: 200 N 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (map)
Hours: Through October 31st, Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm; Sat-Sun 11am-7pm.
AlwaysHungry Grade: A
AlwaysHungry Recommends: SquareBurger, The Cake Shake, Classic French Fries
The proliferation of Philadelphia’s restaurant scene can be partly attributed to Stephen Starr. After tackling New York City and Atlantic City, he seems to have found himself back in the City of Brotherly Love. As his empire grows to encompass everything from soul food to steakhouses, he unabashedly draws inspiration from his most revered peers. His recent venture, Parc, a French bistro on Rittenhouse Square, is an obvious interpretation of Keith McNally’s Pastis or Balthazar. Starr openly toured the top pizzerias in New York and New Haven for his own Neapolitan pizza joint, Stella. This summer, in an obvious replication of Danny Meyer’s celebrated Shake Shack, he opened SquareBurger (view), a burger stand in Philadelphia’s Franklin Square just off I-95.
The small SquareBurger shack is nearby the Franklin Square Fountain.
SquareBurger is next to a beautiful fountain, but it’s in an area devoid of local foot traffic, which may explain why there were only five people there on a sunny Saturday. While there are differences between Shake Shack and SquareBurger, both pay their due to burgers and frozen sweets. Ultimately, it comes down to a direct comparison between Starr’s Classic Cheeseburger and Meyer’s ShackBurger, between a SquareBurger’s Classic Shake and Shake Shack’s Hand-Spun Shakes and Concretes. The question is, can Starr top Meyer?
FirstLook: Ed’s Chowder House
The Gluttoness — October 05, 2009
The exterior of Ed’s Chowder House, and the raw bar, inside.
When news broke about Center Cut’s transformation into Ed’s Chowder House (view), I instantly had confidence in Jeffrey Chodorow’s new direction with Eighty-One’s Chef Ed Brown. After City Harvest’s Street & Savory Event in June, I named Brown’s Crispy Fried Clam Roll the evening’s best savory bite. Considering that Center Cut was bad and remarkably over-priced, a sophisticated clam shack seemed worth a shot (though said Clam Roll is nowhere to be found). The stately decor and older crowd hasn’t changed much, but both the bar (with it’s own menu) and dining room are crowded with diners now that buttery Lobster Rolls are flying out of the kitchen a la Pearl Oyster Bar.
OnlyLook: Mother Burger
Arthur Bovino — September 30, 2009
Mother Burger’s Bacon Cheeseburger w/Applegate Farms’ Organic Sunday Bacon $8.50.
You know you should be suspicious when servers at a restaurant with ‘burger’ in the name suggest everything except the burger. That happened at Mother Burger (view site) in the plaza behind One Worldwide Plaza in Midtown when we were recently invited for dinner.
The large, open courtyard should be an ideal setting for drawing office coworkers when the whistle blows. Blockheads Burritos co-owners (and brothers), Don and Ken Sofer, must have had a similar thought when they recently signed their 10-year lease. With outdoor seating, $2.00 beer specials, blue skies, recession-friendly prices and hormone-free and organic meats, there’s reason to be hopeful, albeit skeptical when sitting down to the free peanuts.
AlwaysInformed: The Losses and Gains of Summer ‘09
The Hungry Goat — September 15, 2009
Dubbed by some as the Summer of Death, the 2009 summer season has certainly experienced its fair share of losses. Joining the dearly departed of the celebrity world are several beloved and well-respected, recently shuttered New York City restaurants. In their honor, AlwaysHungryNY.com has compiled a list of the dishes we’ll miss and why miss them. Of course, where something is lost there’s generally something gained. So with that in mind we included and annotated our favorite new crave-worthy dishes from restaurants that opened during the summer.
What We Lost
Clockwise from top: The John Dory’s Hangtown Fry, French Fries, and Oyster Pan Roast.
Restaurant: The John Dory, closed 8/29/09
The Hangtown Fry “The John Dory’s rendition has to rank up there with the city’s best egg dishes. Eggs are creamy. Bacon is substituted with a thick prosciutto that has the texture of tender corned beef. Slices of pickled jalapeño add bursts of a light vinegary flavor and heat also spread throughout the dish. The oysters are only slightly cooked. The pooled flavors lining the plate’s bottom when you finish are worth wiping up with the delicious Parker House rolls.” (read more)
Oyster Pan Roast & French Fries “Plump, warm, bathed in cream, I needn’t more than a bite to know this classic would be my favorite dish at The John Dory. A perfect bite is to dip a fry in the oyster pan roast. Incidentally, if crisp is an overused word by food writers, this is its definition.” (read more)
AlwaysPartying: National Julienne Fries Day
The Gluttoness — August 12, 2009
(Photo courtesy Wined & Dined) Chargrilled Burger w/Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings $17.
It’s National Julienne Fries Day (aka another reason to celebrate French fries of any shape and size) and to celebrate this food holiday, we encourage you to brave the crowds at that favorite Manhattan gastropub, The Spotted Pig (restaurant page) for some of the best shoestring fries New York City has to offer. The mountainous, intertwined heap of long, thin crispy matchstick potatoes are seasoned with rosemary. They manage to upstage what is arguably one of the most enjoyable burgers in town, especially if you’re a fan of stinky Roquefort.
It’s difficult not to devour handfuls of these fries by themselves, but they also make for the ultimate burger topping. Take a cue from Bobby Flay’s “crunchied” burger option at Bobby’s Burger Palace and make the ultimate Spotted Pig burger maneuver: “Frenchify” your Spotted Pig patty with these skinny spuds. When it comes to shoestring fries, it doesn’t get any better than this.
AlwaysLateNight: The Candlelight Inn (Scarsdale, NY)
Katie Reisert — August 11, 2009
Restaurant: The Candlelight Inn (view map)
Address: 519 Central Park Avenue, Scarsdale NY
AlwaysHungry Grade: A-
AlwaysHungry Recommends: Buffalo Wings, Seasoned Waffle Fries
For more than fifty years, the tiny red house with a green roof on Scarsdale’s hectic Central Ave., has been home to one of Westchester’s most beloved resaurants.
The Candlelight Inn is infamous for a “no reservations” policy and long lines. But don’t let the name fool you, it’s little more than a biker bar with a small dinning room, a full bar and a dozen tables. The maître d’ is a clipboard nailed to the wall.
If you don’t order a basket of the famed wings, you’ve missed the point. They’re moist and meaty inside and are served swimming in sauce, but still have crispy exteriors. Instead of a pile of wings and drumsticks, The Candlelight’s wings remain connected— the joint broken, skin intact, supposedly to seal in moisture. Customers can choose between three sauces: teriyaki, barbecue and buffalo.
Buffalo wings at The Candlelight Inn, in Scarsdale, NY.
Barbecue sauce is sweet and mild, but with a tangy quality appropriate for wings. The buffalo sauce varies in intensity of heat. Options include: mild, hot, extra hot or the feared “Chernobyl.” Extra hot, while a delicious balance of flavor and heat, leaves many diners icing their lips. Customers are encouraged to mix the sauces as they please, take the recommended “hotiyaki,” a combination of hot buffalo and teriyaki sauces. It’s a good compromise. The Asian element makes the heat more bearable by delaying its onset, and the heat lends a spicy spin on the traditionally mild sweet and sour sauce.
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