Featured Dish: Faustina’s Strozzapreti
Maryse Chevrière — May 10, 2010
Faustina’s Strozzapreti with Suckling Pig Ragu.
Anticipation for the opening of Porchetta master Sara Jenkins’ forthcoming East Village pasta house has been running high. And while the chef has only spoken of plans to include simple favorites like spaghetti with tomato sauce, one neighborhood restaurant is already serving a dish that meets the porchetta pasta bill: Faustina’s Strozzapreti with Suckling Pig Ragu.
Fresh, handmade pasta, loosely twisted, slicked and glistening with salty pork fat. Fans familiar with Scott Conant’s pomodoro pedigree might expect a tomato-based ragù— not so, and with this, the chef proves himself equally adept. Besides, anything but the hunks of moist, shredded suckling pig would be a distraction. Focus, and search for the crunchy morsels of crackling, as those make the best bites.
AlwaysPartying: National Cheese Lovers Day
January 20, 2010
A few of our favorite cheesy dishes.
Today, January 20th, is National Cheese Lovers Day. From our favorite breads and sandwiches to multi-borough quests and cheese cave internships, Always Hungry’s love for all things fromage has certainly been well-documented. For your viewing pleasure, we have organized by category some of the best and most interesting cheese dishes we’ve enjoyed recently.
AlwaysPartying: 2010 International Day of Italian Cuisines
January 15, 2010
Clockwise from top left: Del Posto’s Garganelli Verdi al Ragu Bolognese, dell’anima’s Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, Vinny Vincenz’s Penne Bolognese, Il Mulino’s Pappardelle Bolognese.
This Sunday, January 17th, is the 2010 International Day of Italian Cuisines. The global event is intended to help promote the preservation of authentic Italian cuisine and defend against the improper use of Italian products. This year’s official dish is Taglietelle al Ragu alla Bolognese.
Hundreds of chefs worldwide will be preparing the dish according to the authentic recipe, and below is a list of Always Hungry Approved restaurants participating in the event:
Salumeria Rosi
SD26
Four Seasons
I Trulli
Osteria del Circo
Beppe
Porter House New York
Testaccio
Bellavitae
Vai
Naples 45 Ristorante e Pizzeria
Etcetera etcetera
Best of 2009: A Few Dishes
December 22, 2009
A few of AlwaysHungry’s favorite dishes of 2009.
There is no question that a lot of eating has gone down this year. Rookies have introduced new favorites and standbys have reminded us that oldies can still be goodies. To celebrate the conclusion of the ninth year of the aughts, we’ve compiled a little photo tour of a few of our favorite dishes and organized them into nine of our favorite food groups.
Click Here for a few of AlwaysHungry's Favorite Dishes of 2009 >>
AlwaysHolidays: On the First Day of Christmas
Arthur Bovino and Maryse Chevrière — December 12, 2009
Technically, the Twelve Days of Christmas don’t start until Christmas Day, but we’re already in the spirit. To celebrate over the next eleven days, here’s the carol, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ AlwaysHungry-style, featuring some dishes we tasted in 2009 that we’d be willing to sing about.
A Partridge in a Pear Tree. While you can eat partridge at several New York City restaurants, dishes including partridge and pear are harder to find. Instead, we’ve highlighted one favorite pear application.
Our Christmas food carol would begin:
On the first day of Christmas, my waiter brought to me… Felidia’s pear ravioli.
Felidia’s Il Cacio e Pere.
To be continued…
How To: The Waverly Inn’s Pumpkin-Filled Ravioli
November 30, 2009
Top, Pumpkin-Filled Ravioli. Right, Chef John DeLucie making a finishing touch.
After having a delicious plate of Pumpkin-Filled Ravioli at The Waverly Inn (view), and knowing that most people won’t be able to eat it in the restaurant, we tapped John DeLucie, executive chef and the author of ‘The Hunger,’ to demonstrate his easy to execute recipe.
Click Here for John DeLucie's Pumpkin-Filled Ravioli Recipe and Photos >> >>
Top 5: Uni Pasta
AlwaysHungry — November 12, 2009
Sea Urchin and Pasta, the perfect combination.
Uni. Pasta. Two of our favorite things. Their marriage? Brilliance. The warmth of the pasta. The light, sweet, creamy smoothness of the uni. Their combination is enough to send us into panegyric hyperbole. We often ask chefs what they’re Always Hungry for. Here’s a dish that if it’s made well, no matter how many times we’ve eaten it, we can’t help ourselves. If we see it on the menu we have to order it.
Inspired by another bowl of the Uni Carbonara at Tocqueville, we recently set out to rank New York City’s best renditions. The factors that went into judging them? First and foremost is obviously the quality of the uni. Then there’s the amount of it and how it’s implemented.
Click here to find out AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Top 5 Uni Pastas.
Have an idea for a Top 5? We’d love to hear from you. Go to the bottom of a Top 5 page and enter your suggestion into the “Suggest a Top 5” field along with your rankings and your email address.
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)
How To: Cesare Casella’s Spaghetti Carbonara
The Gluttoness — October 29, 2009
Cesare Casella’s Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
Some people are all about lasagna, others love gnocchi or vongole. I’m all about Carbonara. Endless attempts at finding worthy replicas of this classic Roman dish have ended with disappointment. That was until Secession opened, and Cesare Casella, who was consulting on the Italian portion of the menu, brought his incredible Carbonara recipe to TriBeCa. Alas, Frank Bruni trashed the restaurant, the pastas were taken off the menu, and in a few months Secession was closed. I dreamed about the Carbonara, and every time I ran into Cesare Casella at an industry event, I essentially begged him for his recipe.
At Salumeria Rosi, Cesare Casella finally demonstrates his secret Carbonara recipe.
Recently, Cesare’s recipe finally landed in my inbox. But I wanted to learn from the master, so I met Cesare in the kitchen at Salumeria Rosi. His secret to perfect Carbonara? “Simplicity,” he said. “You’ve got to respect the traditional recipe and good ingredients—organic eggs, the best guanciale.”
Classic Carbonara uses eggs, pecorino Romano, guanciale, and black pepper, yet Cesare doesn’t have a problem with including cream (“Cream lets you make a mistake”) or blending meats and cheeses for more complex flavors. I’ve ruined many Carbonaras, but Cesare’s recipe was remarkably simple and the results were unparalleled. For anyone who loves Carbonara, this will be the ultimate rendition.
AlwaysInformed: Scuderia
AlwaysHungry — October 22, 2009
Arancino di Riso at Scuderia.
Leyla Marchetto recently invited us to an enjoyable tasting at Scuderia, which AlwaysHungryNY.com reviewed in April. Since then, the West Village trattoria added outdoor café seating and, more notably, replaced Claudio Cristofoli with Chef Carlo Apolloni. Some old menu favorites remain, for instance the still tasty Arancini di Riso and their tangy accompanying sauce, the Occhio di Bue Pizza, Raffetto’s Peppered Pappardelle and the Pizzetta con Nutella e Mascarpone. There are also new dishes to tempt those who may have settled in across the street at Da Silvano.
We found poppable Olive all’Ascolana, and an avowed eggplant-resister went against type, scarfing down Pizza Siciliana with Eggplant, Ricotta Salata and Oven-Dried Tomatoes. The Costa Brasata (Braised Beef Short Rib with Polenta) and Pappardelle Fiesolana (with Bacon, Mushrooms and Pink Sauce) went down very easy too. But the night belonged to the simple and delicious Gamberoni alla Griglia (Grilled Colossal Fresh-Water Shrimp with Frisée, Cannellini Beans, Olive Oil and Herbs).
AlwaysInvestigating: Hangover Cures
The Hungry Goat — October 16, 2009
Left, Resto’s Belgian Hangover Pasta. Right, Chef Sebastiaan’s Hangover Cure from Bar Blanc Bistro.
Unless you’re an 18-year-old college frat boy, chances are you don’t go out drinking with the intention of getting a massive hangover the next morning. However, in honor of Fergus Henderson’s hangover brunch at The Breslin tomorrow (part of FergusStock ’09), we thought it appropriate to do exactly that. The goal? To see whether Resto’s Belgian Hangover Pasta and Chef Sebastiaan’s Hangover Cure at Bar Blanc Bistro could actually deliver on curing a hangover. A friend’s birthday dinner on a recent Saturday night was the perfect set-up for putting these dishes to the test.
Seasonal Spotlight: Figs
The Gluttoness — September 29, 2009
Figs are in season, and they’re inspiring chefs throughout the city to feature them prominently on their menus. They have, in turn inspired us to compose the following fig-themed meal.
APPETIZER: A Voce’s Pancetta — Pork Belly with Figs, Balsamic & Pistachio ($12).
A Voce’s (restaurant page) pork belly is marinated overnight with coriander seed, fennel seed, onion, garlic and orange zest, then slow-cooked for six hours and crisped to order. The thick-cut slab of pancetta is topped beautifully with sliced figs. Fragrant from the penetrating marinade, the warm silky fat melts on the tongue while meatier bits are tender and succulent. The sweetness of the figs accentuates the scents of orange and licorice, their gritty seeds collaborating with the crushed pistachio for intriguing flecks of contrasting texture. A simple dressing of reduced balsamic mimics the natural caramelization of the pan-fried pork belly.
Featured Brunch: Spina’s Lox & Pasta
The Gluttoness — September 25, 2009
Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Cream, $12.
It’s becoming more and more common for carbonara to appear on brunch menus. Since bacon and eggs are commonplace for breakfast anyway, it makes sense to skip the toast and serve them with pasta instead. Prune was one of the first restaurants to serve this traditional Roman dish in the morning, and innumerable restaurants have since followed suit.
Spina (restaurant page), the East Village’s new (and fantastic) fresh pasta house, is the latest to offer carbonara for brunch. Between Blanca’s (formerly of I Trulli) impeccable pastas and Chef Roberto Patriarca’s (right) sensational sauces, it’s no surprise that their Orecchiette Carbonara is spot-on. The al dente ears cup the creamy sauce and thin, crisp slabs of salty guanciale. Subtly seasoned with pepper and nutmeg, the decadent flavors deepen in intensity as the sauce settles, making each bite more delicious as you get to the bottom.
While the carbonara is a success, and a surefire hangover cure, the real star of the brunch pastas is the Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Cream, Spina’s clever twist on two other classic breakfast ingredients: lox and cream cheese. Not only is the presentation incredibly beautiful, but it’s revelatory in other ways. First, the farfalle, a pasta that’s hardly ever handcrafted, is like twisted shards of velvety pappardelle. The silken cream sauce lusciously lacquers the delicate, unstructured bowties. It’s heavy in taste yet remarkably airy on the palate, accented by the meaty bits of smoked salmon that saunter amongst the pasta. The sumptuous execution of this classic flavor is reminiscent of Sarabeth’s Goldie Lox omelette, a favorite here at AlwaysHungryNY.com, although Sarabeth’s eggs can’t really hold a candle to Blanca’s farfalle. If you’re looking for something familiar but different, Spina’s lox and pasta beats a bagel any day.
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)
AlwaysFresh: Slow Food NYC Harvest Time Pot Luck Lunch
Michelle Kiefer — September 14, 2009
Walnut Pesto Pasta Salad.
If there’s one thing we’re not AlwaysHungry for, it’s school cafeteria lunches— slimy pizzas with cardboard crusts and mystery meat specials hardly conjure Proustian food memories. School lunches are the focus of Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch campaign advocating for healthier food in schools. This past week featured a series of Time for Lunch events, like nationwide Eat-Ins on Labor Day. On the heels of these events, Automotive High School (view site) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, hosted a slowfood potluck last weekend to celebrate the cause of healthy, sustainable food in schools and communities.
A determined group braving the elements on Saturday for a slow food potluck in Williamsburg.
Dishes were prepared by students during class using produce grown in the Auto High Victory Garden, and guests were invited to bring a side dish made from local, seasonal ingredients. The rainy Saturday afternoon discouraged attendance, but a small group of teachers, students, and Slow Food members were there nonetheless to share delicious homemade food, like a walnut pesto pasta salad, cold tomato soup, arugula and goat cheese salad with a tomato, strawberry, and lemon dressing, or freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies.
Slow Food NYC has provided funding for Auto High’s garden and cooking activities as a part of their Harvest Time Program, which works with schools to promote good food education. Teachers mentioned some of the obstacles they face, like budget cuts and student disinterest, but it was clear that this small band of teacher-gardeners has had an impact educating students on how food is produced. The event reinforced that sometimes change starts small. For example, one student who attended had tasted goat cheese in class the previous day for the first time.
Maybe the days of reheated chicken patties aren’t so far away from coming to end.
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