First Look: US Open Eats
Arthur Bovino — August 23, 2010
From left: Moon ‘n Doggies Shrimp Hot Dog, Char-grilled Ahi Tuna with Pickled Ginger and Mango Salsa, and Prime Rib Sandwich with White Cheddar and Horseradish Cream.
The US Open qualifying starts tomorrow through Friday, August 27th, before the main draw on Sunday. Courtesy of a tasting preview earlier today we have a first look at the food in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that will be served through September 12th.
Michael Lockard has returned for a fourth year as the Open’s executive chef. But, several other well-known chefs are participating. Masaharu Morimoto’s sushi will be being served, and the new South Plaza Master Chef Café will feature food by: Tony Mantuano (Spiaggia), Susan Feniger (Street), Carmen Gonzalez, Rick Moonen (RM Seafood), and Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto).
Included for your pre, post, rain delay, and inter-match eating, is a preview of the café and restaurant dishes as well as the menus of for the kiosks in the Food Village. For more food details from the US Open check out the official venue descriptions.
Featured Dessert: Manducatis’ “Italian Cone” Sandwich
Arthur Bovino — April 20, 2010
Clockwise from top: Caramel and Chocolate Gelato “Italian Cone” Sandwich, and the gelato display at Manducatis Rustica in Long Island City.
There’s more to Manducatis Rustica than pizza, saucy calzones, and a fireplace-filled alcove. The case up front typically holds 12 homemade gelatos, and next to it is a glass container filled with components that make this a home to one of the less-frequently seen versions of the ice cream sandwich.
Blogger Bites: The Foodista’s Astoria Picks
Maryse Chevrière — April 14, 2010
Blogger Bites is Always Hungry’s occasional feature that introduces you to interesting and noteworthy members of the City’s food blog community. This edition is with Judith Klein Rich.
Koliba’s Haluski with Sheep’s Milk and Bacon.
Ask an Astoria resident what’s to love about the neighborhood, and they will often wax poetic. The value! The diversity! The food! The not Manhattan-ness of it all! We recently met up with Forbes marketer Judith Klein Rich, whose blog The Foodista, is dedicated to the discovery of all things delicious in Astoria.
Where else to meet Judith but in her favorite neighborhood for a two-part dinner at Mundo Café (read her review) and Bahari Estitorio. From the most hyped restaurant to her top five spots, from the Baby Jesus Cake to the best delivery deal, Judith gave us her rundown on Astoria’s food scene.
Featured Dish: Nick’s Calzone (Forest Hills, NY)
GutterGourmet — April 05, 2010
Prosciutto Calzone at Nick’s Pizza in Forest Hills.
Let’s review some general guidelines for finding great pizza in New York:
1. Location: Brooklyn or Manhattan
2. History: minimum of 50 years
3. Family: founded by Italian immigrants
4. Equipment: coal or wood burning oven
Now, forget the rules. Let’s talk about Nick’s Pizza (left). Two Greek brothers started Nick’s in 1993. Though Greek, Nick and John Angelis, have pizza in their veins— their father was a pizza man who learned his craft in Naples. They and their family members are responsible for Adrienne’s, and a few Angelo’s and Dean’s pizzerias (as well as the Patsy’s licensees). That’s a lot of respectable pizza. Nick’s Pizza on Ascan Avenue just off Austin Street in Forest Hills, paved the way. It’s just out from under a trestle of the Long Island Railroad.
Always Hungry: Opening Day at Citi Field
Maryse Chevrière — April 05, 2010
Inside Citi Field.
Last year, the buzz surrounding the fare from the likes of Shake Shack and Blue Smoke at the Mets’ new Citi Field practically outshone the games being played there. With all the misfortune they faced last year, fans could definitely justify waiting on the Shack lines away from the action on the field. With first pitch of the new season at 1:10pm this afternoon, it is once again time to start thinking about the best food the stadium has to offer.
Though the Rabbi Dog is reportedly no longer available, there is still plenty to choose from. If you’re heading over to the stadium check out Always Hungry’s food rundown from 2009 to get ready. There’s a dish by dish at the swanky Acela Club, and a breakdown of the food from all the top-notch vendors.
Hopefully Jason Bay, and a healthy Mets team will send the Mets to the World Series this year to face the Yanks, for a rematch of 2000. Let’s go Mets!
Featured Restaurant: Chalet Alpina
GutterGourmet — March 12, 2010
Clockwise from top: Potato Pancake with Sour Cream and Apple Sauce, the Bavarian Platter, Pints of Spaten, and the Chalet Alpina coat of arms.
Metropolitan Avenue near Woodhaven Blvd and Forest Hills Gardens was once home to a large German immigrant population in the mid-50’s and 60’s. Chalet Alpina caters to the original, now elderly, residents, and those pining for a taste of Bavaria. As you walk in, an older German woman plays the accordion, flashing you back to those sixth grade auditions for “The Sound of Music.”
More Photographs of Food at Chalet Alpina >>
Featured Dish: Rustica Pizza
Arthur Bovino — March 08, 2010
Clockwise from top: Manducatis Rustica’s Rustica Pizza. The fireplace at the back of the dining room.
Manducatis has been a Long Island City stalwart almost uninterrupted since 1959. No one is saying it’s the City’s best Italian. But there is still something fun about walking through its non-descript door and into the cascading dining rooms that each feel like secrets. Development may have infiltrated Long Island City, but Manducatis’ owners, the Cerbones, have made their own progress in the past two years. Namely, when their daughter, Chef Gianna Cerbone opened her Italian café nearby: Manducatis Rustica.
There is a doll-house, but thrown together quality to Rustica’s decor. An old oven. Mismatching chairs. Brick walls. There’s a large open doorway to the kitchen. The layout takes a cue from Manducatis, with a working fireplace in the back of the first dining room.
You may have heard about their celebrated calzone, a sauce-covered $15.00 behemoth described as “a pizza folded over on itself.” But there’s also a list of brick oven, Neapolitan-style pizzas. The eponymous pizza pie, the Rustica ($13.00), is dressed with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, and a healthy pile of fresh arugula. The dough is chewy and pliable, if not necessarily very crisp. You could see how it would make for a good calzone. For dessert, there’s fresh gelato, and cannolis done the right way— plain or chocolate-dipped, but filled to order. Now that’s Italian…American.
Restaurant: Manducatis Rustica
Address: 46-33 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, NY 11101
Contact: (718) 937-1312
Hours: Mon-Thur, 12:00pm-9:00pm; Fri-Sat, 12:00pm-10:30pm; Sun, 12:00pm-8:30pm.
AlwaysInvestigating: X-Tudo Burger
Arthur Bovino — March 08, 2010
Cross-section of the X-Tudo Burger at New York Pão de Queijo in Astoria, Queens.
Any sandwich whose name begins with an ‘X,’ especially a sandwich that is Brazilian, deserves attention. That goes double when that X is followed by ‘tudo,’ which means ‘everything’ in Portuguese. Many of Brazil’s snack bars serve a version of the X-Tudo, which is a cheeseburger with many toppings. While New York has its own non-Brazilian, topping-towering burgers (the Sunburnt Cow’s Burger with the Lot for one), finding one with South American flare is more difficult. One place where you can find the X-Tudo is New York Pão de Queijo (left) in Astoria.
AlwaysInvestigating: Mozzarella from Factory to Plate
Arthur Bovino — January 29, 2010
Franco Spatola uses his own fresh mozzarella on his pizzas at Da Franco in Queens.
You can find great mozzarella and great pizza in New York. But restaurants that make mozzarella from scratch to put on their pizza? That’s another story. When Franco Spatola offered a factory to plate demonstration in Queens, we couldn’t resist.
Mozzarella from Factory to Table >>
Always Hungry: The Perfect Chocolate Malted
GutterGourmet — January 28, 2010
A Banana Chocolate Malted at Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills, Queens.
Growing up in Queens, little league baseball was life and death. To lose a game invoked serious thoughts of suicide. Fortunately, the coach, who was the father of one of my teammates, knew the perfect way to get us over our shame and mentally prepare us for next week’s game: chocolate malteds! As we only got to go for malteds when we lost, I must confess I might have looked at a few too many strikes.
The thing about the perfect malted is that to construct one, you need specific ingredients and even more specific equipment. The places that have these things are soda fountains like Lexington Candy Shop, Hildebrandt’s in Williston Park, and Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills, which has been around since 1909. Never drive through Queens without stopping for one (for a great variation, try their banana chocolate malted).
Of course, you could always make yourself a malted at home. If you do, keep in mind the following:
AlwaysInvestigating: New York’s Best Pão de Queijo
Arthur Bovino — January 08, 2010
Cross-section from Churrascaria Plataforma’s Pão de Queijo.
If you’ve visited Brazil you know about Brasileiros’ love for Pão de Queijo (learn more), the addictive, gluten-free cheese gougère made with tapioca starch. Like arancini in Italy, doubles in Trinidad, pizza in New York or pan con tomate in Spain, pão de queijo is one of Brazil’s most iconic snacks.
Natives of Minas Gerais may contend this, but some of the Brazil’s best pão can be found at São Paulo’s Pão de Queijo Haddock Lobo. There is nothing in New York that approaches Haddock Lobo, but a few places go a long way to giving you a fix. We set out on a mission through three boroughs to find the City’s best, eating pão de queijo at a total of 14 places in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, and keeping in mind the following criteria.
- Size: Domed and about three inches in diameter.
- Exterior: Slightly crispy and without a gummy coating.
- Interior: Light and airy with holes, semi-hollow and slightly gummy.
- Flavor: Savory and cheesy. Adding salt should be unnecessary.
- Temperature: They don’t have to be piping hot but at their best they’re at least a little warm.
We discovered a few things about the state of New York’s pão de queijo. One, it’s easy to mess up. Two, the City’s renditions are smaller by almost two thirds on average, and often, heavier. Three, for the number of Brazilians living in Astoria, we were surprised that so few of the pão de queijo in that area ranked near the top. Lastly, New York’s best pão de queijo are free…with drinks. You’re welcome!
Without further ado, New York’s best pão de queijo, worst to first.
Click Here for a Search for New York's Best Pão de Queijo >>
Always Hungry: Queens Hot Dog Trucks
GutterGourmet — January 08, 2010
Top, D’Angelos Italian Sausage with peppers and onions. Left, D’Angelos. Right, Angel Bonilla.
Long before the advent of trucks selling gourmet desserts, mini-cupcakes, waffles and even schnitzel, the D’Angelo family was selling life-affirming hot dogs in two very different regional styles alongside St. John’s Cemetery on Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens. The styles are miles apart in taste profile, but the two different trucks selling them are separated by only several hundred yards. Both were owned by the D’Angelo family, who have been doing this for about 40 years, but the Dominick’s truck was recently sold to a family friend.
Why St. Johns Cemetery? Angel Bonilla, one of the family members who runs the D’Angelos cart, laughed and said, “My uncle started it here many years ago, for no particular reason. He thought it was a good location. It seems to have worked out well for us though.” They’re hoping for similar fortune with their new Huntington location (918 E. Jericho Turnpike), which opened about a year ago.
Continue Reading About Dominick's and D'Angelos Hot Dogs and Sausages >>
AlwaysHungryOlympics: Queens
Arthur Bovino and Maryse Chevrière — December 08, 2009
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Top left: the ’7.’ Restaurant exteriors, clockwise: stops #1-7 below.
You’ve seen AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Olympics-style eating before, most recently in a New Haven pizza quest with I Dream of Pizza’s Jason Feirman and company. From one Olympics another was born: Destination Queens. It was organized by fellow New Haven pizza-questers and Queens residents, Jason and Deb Scher.
With Sam Sifton’s recent review of Imperial Palace in mind, the timing couldn’t have been better. While we didn’t storm the Palace this time, it was only because we really couldn’t eat anymore.
Mission: Determine recommended dish worthy bites at seven significant Queens’ destinations in one day.
Click Here for Pictures from a Day of Olympic-Style Eating in Queens >>
Featured Restaurant: Taverna Kyclades
AlwaysHungry — November 11, 2009
Small Peasant Salad with Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Onions, Cucumber and Feta.
When it comes to authentic Greek cuisine, we all know Astoria is the place to go. Not only does the neighborhood boast a Greek population, and awesome Greek cuisine, but these restaurants are also easy on the wallet. The AlwaysHungryNY.com favorite has for a long time been Elias Corner, but Taverna Kyclades is also a delicious experience that’s worth the trip.
Read the Full Review of Taverna Kyclades here.
AlwaysPartying: 2009 Vendy Awards
The Hungry Goat — September 28, 2009
New York City’s love affair with street vendors was on full display at Saturday’s 2009 Vendy Awards. A crowd of over 1,000 hungry New Yorkers—a record high for the event—filed into historic Corona Park to sample and support the eleven contenders by way of an hours-long eat and repeat marathon.
Highlights included: Biryani Cart’s kick-ass Kati Roll, the chorizo huaraches by Vendy’s winner, Country Boys/Martinez Taco Truck, Big Gay Ice Cream Truck’s Caramelized Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich, and “Freddy” The King of Falafel’s unforgettable performance with two lovely belly dancers.
Top, Country Boys/Martinez Taco Trucks’ Chorizo Huaraches. Bottom left, Chicken Tacos.
2009 VENDY CUP WINNER
Country Boys/Martinez Taco Truck – Fernando & Jolanda Martinez
Served: Fernando said he selected his clients’ favorites, Huaraches, Quesadillas or Tacos with a choice of chicken, beef, or vegetarian filling.
AlwaysHungry For: Anything with seafood.
AHNY Notes: Fernando said his favorite restaurants are El Viejo Yayo, and Barzola.
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