AlwaysHolidays: On the Seventh Day of Christmas
Arthur Bovino and Maryse Chevrière — December 18, 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 five 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.
Seven Swans a Swimming. Swans. Swimming. We’re going with chicken soup on this one.
Today, our Christmas food carol would begin:
On the seventh day of Christmas, my waiter brought to me… seven soups worth sipping,
From Eleven Madison Park, Chicken Velouté with Sweetbreads & Black Truffles.
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: Meatball Madness Preview
Arthur Bovino — October 08, 2009
Meatball Sliders at The Little Owl.
It’s finally here this weekend: New York City Wine & Food Festival’s Meatball Madness hosted by Giada De Laurentiis. The GutterGourmet has been waiting for this moment for months. He’ll be at the event covering it for us on Sunday. To bone up:
-To learn about participants, visit relevant sites and AlwaysHungryNY.com’s restaurant pages below.
-For great meatball pictures, revisit our Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs roundup.
-For who else it might have been interesting to see compete and in which categories, read the Meatball Madness preview that GutterGourmet wrote after Meatball Melee of the Boroughs.
Top 5: Porchetta
July 09, 2009
Porchetta (restaurant page) put the slow-roasted pork sandwich of the same name on our radar last fall. Italian tradition dictates that boneless pig be arranged with layers of seasoning, meat, fat and skin before being spit-roasted for hours. A heavy hand of salt, garlic and aromatic herbs like rosemary and fennel adds considerable flavor. Since the success of this tiny East Village pork bar, it seems this popular Italian street food has been showing up on more and more menus across the city.
So it wasn’t a surprise when Cesare Casella served Salumeria Rosi’s Porchetta Toscana at last month’s Street & Savory event. Just a quarter of a sandwich from Salumeria was good enough to get us thinking, “maybe Porchetta isn’t the king after all.”
It inspired us to find out if they really serve the city’s best. If you’re going to name your restaurant after a single dish, you better be sure you’ve nailed it, right? Click here to find out AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Top 5 Porchetta Sandwiches.
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 Dish: Salumeria Rosi’s Amatriciana
Jeff Zalaznick — July 08, 2009
Salumeria Rosi’s Mezzi Rigatoni All’amatriciana
The definition of a classic Amatriciana all depends on the person with whom you are speaking. In my mind, it starts with guanciale, sauteéd in olive oil. You remove the guanciale, sauté the onions and red pepper flakes with tomato paste, add San Marzano canned tomatoes, reintroduce the guanciale and serve it all with perfectly cooked Bucatini, Spaghetti, Rigatoni or Mezzemani (short rigatoni).
There are other ways to make it though. Some people add cheese, Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano, and some people (usually those from the town of Amatrice) do not even use onions. The point being that there is really one core value in an amatriciana, the meat, and that meat is guanciale. I give this background because we have encountered a rendition that does not violate the holy cured pork jowl, but builds upon it in a way that is not only in line with tradition (no one ever said you couldn’t add more meat), but also game-changing.
At Cesare Casella’s Salumeria Rosi (restaurant page), the dish is Mezzi Rigatoni all’Amatriciana, and it is described as nothing more than, “Artisanal pasta with cured pork, red onions and tomatoes.” One would think that this “cured pork” refererred to is guanciale, but there are eight other meats featured in the dish. Here is a list of everything else ‘cured pork’ refers to (for your pleasure, we have also included what part of the pig it comes from):
Guanciale unsmoked Italian bacon, pig’s jowl and cheek
Prosciutto di Parma – cured ham from Parma, hind leg of pig
Prosciutto San Daniele – cured ham from San Daniele, hind leg of pig
Speck – cured ham flavored with juniper and other spices, thigh of pig
Coppa – aged cured ham in intestine, shoulder to rib piece of pig
Pancetta – Italian Bacon, cured pork belly
Prosciutto Cotto – cooked prosciutto
Prosciutto Grigliatto – grilled prosciutto
Mortadella – Italian bologna, ground pork & sliced neck lard sausage
This is a killer amatriciana that should be attacked immediately. And, at $7.00 a serving, you are paying less than a dollar per meat.
AlwaysInvestigating: Tasting Salumeria Rosi’s Porchetta
The Gluttoness — June 18, 2009
I immediately knew Cesare Casella’s Porchetta was special when I tasted it at last week’s Street & Savory event. As if his array of branded, Italian charcuterie didn’t make it obvious enough that he’s passionate about his pork you might get the idea from the 500-pound Stonewall crossbreed hog that he developed in partnership with The Center for Discovery, a charitable organization with a farm in upstate New York. Turns out Cesare has more than one porchetta up his sleeve. His salami-centric restaurant, Salumeria Rosi, actually serves three variations of roasted pork.
Continue reading AlwaysHungryNY.com's tasting of Salumeria Rosi's three versions of Porchetta >>
HungryChefs: Chefs Love Lupa, Mixed on Hot Dogs
The Gluttoness — June 11, 2009
Roasted Pork Shoulder “Gyro” with Pickled Cucumber & Yogurt from Anthos at Street & Savory
Some of the country’s best chefs attended Citymeals-on-Wheels’ Street & Savory Tasting Event. We’ve already brought you pictures of all the dishes and rounded up our favorite plates, but we were also able to speak with the chefs.
Our questions were obvious: What are you AlwaysHungry for? Which New York City restaurant do you crave? And in keeping with the night’s theme: what would you serve if you opened your own street cart? Some chefs took the easy route, promoting dishes they had prepared for the evening, others were quite creative with their responses.
AlwaysPartying: Top 5 Sweet & Savory at Street & Savory
The Gluttoness — June 10, 2009
“Street and Savory— A Global Street Food Festival for the Benefit of Citymeals-on-Wheels” was one of the most successful tasting events I’ve ever attended, and not because Kelly Choi was hosting. Rather than trying to outdo the next guy with fancier foie gras, the mission at Street & Savory was much simpler: a legion of legendary chefs set out to creatively interpret their favorite street foods. While the dishes weren’t necessarily low-brow, the majority of them kept with the theme, and the most delicious bites were those which could easily be served on the street.
Street cart veterans, like Roy Choi of the famed Los Angeles Kogi BBQ Truck, served Kimchi Quesadillas alongside Jean Georges, Daniel Boulud and Charlie Palmer, who took on the format with impressive results. With a little under forty booths, there was much to be eaten. Our award for creativity goes to Park Avenue Summer’s “3-Minute Picnic.” Of course, this wasn’t a contest, and ultimately, the real winner was Citymeals-on-Wheels, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help feed the homeless, but of course we had our favorites among the many stands.
A quick round-up of the best of the bunch follows.
AlwaysPartying: Joe & Mario’s 4th Annual Wine & Swine
Jeff Zalaznick — May 12, 2009
from left to right, Cesare Casella, Billy Gallagher, Mario Batali & Dave Gallagher slicing up the Whole Roasted Pig
Yesterday, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali hosted their 4th Annual Springtime Wine & Swine event, at the Bastianich home in Greenwich. In addition to Mario, Michael Schlow (Radius), Cesare Casella (Salumeria Rosi), William Gallagher (Becco), Dave Pasternack (Esca), Fortunato Nicotra (Felidia), and Andy Nusser (Casa Mono & Tarry Lodge) were all making it happen in the kitchen.
The surprise guest was Schlow, who was in from Boston making his award-winning Radius Burger. Topped with cheddar, horseradish mayo and fried onions, this is unquestionably one of the finest burgers in the world. Pasternack’s Balsamic Octopus is also a gift to humanity, as it truly defines what tender octopus should taste like. The Ribeye was immaculately tender and served perfectly rare. The Pig, cooked overnight and served whole, was a revelation as well. The party was phenomenal—the weather was beautiful, the band was rocking, and excellent Wine and Swine was served all-around. Perfect Monday.
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