Featured Brunch: DBGB
Arthur Bovino — August 27, 2010
Mussels “Poulette” and Pommes Mousseline at DBGB Kitchen & Bar.
When you think DBGB, seafood isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But, if it’s still not cool enough for Jim’s Matzoh Ball Soup, and you need something lighter than the brunch menu’s burgers, brats, or more traditional French toast and waffle fare, there’s a do-it-yourself seafood brunch combination that’s satisfying. (And filling if you supplement it with the restaurant’s great potatoes.)
AlwaysPartying: Tater Day
Arthur Bovino — March 31, 2010
Tater tots. Fried, salty, cylindrical, grated perfection.
Today, March 31, is National Tater Day, which gives reason to celebrate Tater Tots. Whether eaten as bar food or breakfast, while creating a hangover or recovering from one, there’s something comforting about Tater Tots. Fried, salty, cylindrical, grated potatoes — perfection.
Not too long ago, we sought out the City’s best rendition. In honor of this taterific day, check out Always Hungry’s Top 5 Tater Tots.
AlwaysInvestigating: Meat and Potatoes Sandwich-Style
Arthur Bovino — January 26, 2010
Tabla’s Lamb Sandwich with Mustard Mashed Potatoes, Lime and Cucumber Raita.
Meat and potatoes may be a standard combination on a plate, but you don’t always see potatoes as a condiment. Sure, there’s the classic cafeteria move of piling potato chips on a sandwich, and some people spread leftover mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving sandwiches. But when dining out you don’t usually get to eat them both on a sandwich in one bite. While looking through Tabla’s menu, we were reminded about their Lamb Sandwich with mashed potatoes, which made the cut with their revamp. We realized that we’ve been eating potatoes on sandwiches in different forms quite a bit. Consider three sandwiches from Tabla, Rye House, and Bobby’s Burger Palace.
Tabla’s Lamb Sandwich features Mustard Mashed Potatoes, Lime and Cucumber Raita ($26). It’s samosa as sandwich. There’s great lamb flavor, mashed potato texture, tangy lime, and creamy yogurt. It’s impressive that the bread holds up to all the stuff going on inside, especially when you start ladling on the raita. This is a surprisingly messy, heavy sandwich for a power lunch place, but it’s tasty and good for sharing. It takes using potato as condiment to the next level, mixing a condiment, mustard, into it. It’s also served at dinner, but as the “Pulled Lamb ‘Naanini.’
Click here for photographs of meat and potatoes sandwich-style >>
AlwaysHolidays: The Latke Recipe
Jeff Zalaznick — December 15, 2009
AlwaysHungry’s latkes being fried.
It is very important that you have a good latke recipe to accompany your Hannukah candlelighting. Everyone has their grandma’s recipe that they love, but if you are looking to hone your craft a little bit further, this should be of assistance.
There are many different ways to make latkes, but after a variety of attempts I think that we have found perfection. The variables that we looked at included onions, eggs, oil type, grate/purée, size, matzoh meal inclusion, and potato drying technique. Our conclusion was to caramelize the onions in chicken fat, go half and half with the potatoes in the grater and food processor, dry the hell out of the potatoes (first through a strainer and then by utilizing the “jelly roll towel” technique), and finally, to fry the pancakes in a combination of chicken fat and peanut oil.
Nothing groundbreaking, but a few minor tweaks that can take your pancakes to the next level. And of course, you should listen to this while you make them.
AlwaysInformed: Seasonal Gnocchi Dishes
November 18, 2009
Seasonal Gnocchi from Il Bagatto, Enoteca Barbone, and Basta Pasta.
Even the most avid gnocchi eaters tire of the same preparations. The fall harvest lets restaurants feature new seasonal varieties. Here are three particularly good seasonal variations that you might enjoy.
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.
Top 5: Tater Tots
October 01, 2009
Tater tots. Fried, salty, cylindrical, grated perfection.
Whether eaten as bar food or breakfast, while creating a hangover or recovering from one, there’s something comforting about Tater Tots. Fried, salty, cylindrical, grated potatoes — perfection. Inspired by a heated alcohol-induced debate, AlwaysHungryNY.com set out to discover who serves the city’s best.
Some “tater tots” fell outside of our parameters and no matter how good they were, were not included. Take for example, the “Tater Tots” on the menus at davidburke’s townhouse and BLT Prime, which must be considered together. Both are excellent, but BLT Prime’s aren’t so much tots as fantastic potato croquettes with smooth, whipped potato centers and bold, tangy, blue cheese flavor. Similarly, the half-moon shaped tots at davidburke’s townhouse have a candied outer texture and are served with an Aji Amarillo Aioli (a Peruvian yellow chili pepper). Both are called tots, but they stray far enough from the traditional idea that we decided they belonged in their own category. Basically, we are judging on the traditional while still allowing restaurants some creative interpretation.
Click here to find out AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Top 5 Tater Tots.
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.
Featured Desserts: Porterhouse Cake & Baked Potato Ice Cream
The Gluttoness — September 30, 2009
Dylan Prime’s Chocolate “Porterhouse” for Two: Red Velvet “N.Y. Strip,” Frozen Mousse “Filet,” and White Chocolate Bone, $24.00.
Porterhouse and a baked potato are a classic steakhouse combination. The steak’s bloody juices mix with the melted butter used to cook it, creating an obvious dipping sauce for the potatoes. Things don’t get more savory than this. But this classic combination of steak and potatoes is now getting even sweeter. Two restaurants have cleverly turned them into decadent desserts made to satisfy even the most demanding sweet tooth.
Dylan Prime’s (view) clever Chocolate Porterhouse is just as big as the real thing. The dessert even mimics the steak’s proportion of N.Y. Strip to filet: a white chocolate “bone” separates Red Velvet Cake and Chocolate Mousse Cake. Both are covered with a dark chocolate shell as if they had been seared on a flaming griddle, and raspberry purée replicates the natural juices that seep from a freshly cooked steak. A cross-section reveals how the red velvet cake emulates a rare steak, while the chocolate mousse appears more well-done. This cake can’t compete with what you’ll find in the best bakery, but whipped cream and raspberry sauce make everything better, and you won’t have to worry about taking your Lipitor.
HungryChefs: StarChefs.com’s International Chefs Congress (Day One)
Arthur Bovino — September 21, 2009
Norman Van Aken, Charlie Trotter, Emeril Lagasse and panel moderator Clark Wolf.
AlwaysHungryNY.com attended Day One of StarChefs.com’s International Chefs Congress at the Park Avenue Armory on Sunday. Aside from tasty delights like “The Egg” by Le Bernadin’s pastry chef Michael Laiskonis, Rougié‘s seared foie gras, and a Leffe beer milkshake, there were noteworthy presentations. Events included panel discussions about food trucks and American cuisine, Chris Young and Dr. Nathan Myhrvold’s entrancing presentation of their upcoming book on modernist cooking techniques, and demonstrations by David Bouley (Sea Urchin Terrine), April Bloomfield (Pork Belly Roulade), and Pierre Gagnaire (Iron Chef-esque cooking challenge) among others.
Click for chef & food pictures from Sunday's StarChefs.com International Chefs Congress >>
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.
AlwaysFresh: Lower East Side/Grand Street Greenmarket (7/22)
Michelle Kiefer — July 22, 2009
The AlwaysHungryNY.com Team is hitting the streets and heading to farmers markets throughout the city to scope out the fresh, seasonal ingredients that are inspiring the culinary genius of locavore chefs and amateur gourmets alike.
This week, we were in the Lower East Side at the Lower East Side/Grand Street Greenmarket. Click on the thumbnails below to see pictures from our farmers’ market tour. Remember, you can always use AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Seasonal Calendar Page to find out more about the foods that are currently in season.
AlwaysFresh: Union Square & Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets (6/24/09)
Michelle Kiefer — June 24, 2009
The AlwaysHungryNY.com Team is hitting the streets and heading to farmers markets throughout the city to scope out the fresh seasonal produce that is inspiring the culinary genius of locavore chefs and amateur gourmets alike.
This week, we were in Union Square and Grand Army Plaza at the Union Square and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets. Click on the thumbnails below to see pictures from our farmers’ market tour. Remember, you can always use the AlwaysHungryNY.com Seasonal Calendar Page to find out more about the foods that are currently in season.
AlwaysCooking: Free Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner
Arthur Bovino — June 11, 2009
One of the free samples we received recently was Main Street Meats’ premium chopped meat sent by Lee Selig, grandson of the company’s founder, Julius Selig. Their 1946 Blend combines Kobe Brisket, Angus Rib Cap and Boneless Short Ribs with an Angus Chuck base. Main Street says their blend is made daily to order, using a coarse blade so as not to make it too delicate. The number, 1946, refers to the year the company was founded. Three members of AlwaysHungryNY.com took samples to their test kitchens to try the blend in a few of their favorite dishes.
Click for AlwaysHungryNY.com staffer comments about Main Street Meats' "1946 Blend" >>
FirstLook: SHO Shaun Hergatt
The Gluttoness — June 08, 2009
It’s rare that I’m speechless, but last Thursday night’s preview dinner at SHO Shaun Hergatt stunned me into my first satisfied oblivion of 2009. Executive Chef Sean Hergatt has spent two years turning the concrete canvas within The Setai New York into a modern Asian masterpiece with simple elegance and ruby red accents. An expansive glass wall separates diners from the theatrics of the grand kitchen and many of the tables face Hergatt’s “stage” where he commands his dutiful “players.” You witness meticulousness then taste it.
The striking décor is matched by the drama of SHO’s impeccable food, which the chef described as “Asian-accented, modern French cuisine.” Hergatt is a brawny Australian with a sweet smile—the unexpected artist behind brilliantly feminine dishes that are as artistically inclined as they are sophisticated in flavor. There’s a continual dance between delicacy and decadence. Riveting taste always wins, but it’s the manner in which it’s achieved that is so interesting.
Duo of Canapes: Crêpe w/ Tobiko & Sour Cream over Lime & Sesame Seed Tuille w/ Whitefish Tartare
Two velvety crêpes were filled with tobiko and sour cream, then tied in purses, served over thin slices of lime and topped with gold leaf. Two sesame seed tuilles were rolled like cigars and stuffed with whitefish tartare. There was an impressive equilibrium between the rich insides and the subtle exteriors.
Click here for AlwaysHungry's full First Look at Sho Shaun Hergatt >>
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