AlwaysInformed: Where to Eat the 10-Most Googled Recipes

January 19, 2010

Yesterday, Serious Eats posted a link to Restaurant & Institution’s Top 10 Most-Googled Recipes of 2009. Cooking at home for yourself or for friends can be a lot of fun, but you can also participate in the trend by tasting these popular dishes at these great New York restaurants.

1) Chili

From Wildwood Barbecue: Jailhouse Chili.

Click here to view pictures of the 10 most-Googled dishes >>

AlwaysOpinionated: The DiFara Slice Contention

Arthur Bovino — November 23, 2009

Upskirt of a single plain cheese pizza slice from a ‘slice’ pie at DiFara.

How many chances do you have to give a pizzeria’s slice, any pizzeria’s, before passing judgment?

Once? Twice? Four times, à la The Times? There are enough bad slices in a two block radius of the Empire State Building to not to have to try each more than once to know it tastes like cardboard. How about when there’s a one or two hour wait for a pie, you’re at the counter watching every slice and you notice the same thing about each? They’re burned. Enough empirical evidence to form an opinion?

Inconsistent pizza at DiFara (view) is not news. But consistently burned $5 slices? During a post-$5 slice DiFara visit on August 1st to sample the eponymous special (sausage, peppers, mushrooms and onions), having been fifteen spots behind the first person, and heeding Adam Kuban’s ‘Hold Your Ground’ advice for once you get inside, I staked out a counter spot. Didn’t budge until the pie was ready. It was a prime vantage point to watch every ‘slice’ pie that left the oven and each slice served.

Two ‘slice’ pies were made, and overcooked. The oil separated (before Dom’s signature drizzle), the cheese turned orange, and two-thirds of the crust’s rim was charred. The final scattering of grated cheese resembled a masking, not the pleasant accent it can be. Worse, when three patrons lifted slices plate to mouth, the upskirt was black as the coal used in Frank Pepe’s ovens. But you can’t just go on sight. Right? This was once. Right? What about when pies are made? Is the end of service a valid excuse?

A visit on Sunday (11/15) was another prime vantage point. The night’s last service. First spot on line. The order: a full plain cheese pie and one plain slice.

Click Here for More About DiFara's Burned Slices >>

AlwaysTraveling: La Tana dei Golosi’s Chocolate Eggplant

Arthur Bovino — October 26, 2009

Melanzane Al Cioccolato di Amalfi.

Restaurant: La Tana dei Golosi
Address: Via di San Giovanni in Laterano, 220, Rome, Italy (Eggplant for Dessert? posed the question: “Have you ever had a dessert involving eggplant?” It recalls a dish that was part of a six-course tasting menu, themed, “Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,” which I ate in Rome with my sister at La Tana dei Golosi in 2007.

La Tana dei Golosi seems to have changed chefs and owners, but back then it was an unpretentious slow food restaurant near the Colosseum that used excellent local and organic ingredients. It changed menus every two months and focused on a region of Italy and an historic moment of that region. The waiter told the story of each plate brought out. Thinking about that meal makes me happy. But I digress.

“Caramelle Del Goloso,” (Pasta Filled with Fossa Cheese and Pears) served with fried spaghetti was crazy good, inspiring several attempts to recreate it. To answer Robyn’s question, the most memorable dish was the last one, a wonderful surprise: Melanzane Al Cioccolato di Amalfi (Fried Eggplant with Chocolate). There was no limit to my skepticism, but the thin layers of chocolate-covered fried eggplant were delicate and delicious— accompanied by candied orange peels, pine nuts, drizzled chocolate and powdered chocolate and sugar.

My Neapolitan is remedial, but as far as I can tell, the dish is called, E’ Mulagnane c’a’ Ciucculata, and it’s supposedly an ancient tradition of Salerno. Proof positive that you can dip anything in chocolate and it will taste fantastic. Check out the slideshow for pictures of the rest of the meal.

AlwaysPartying: Hapa Kitchen Luau at Brooklyn Yard

Arthur Bovino & The Hungry Goat — August 31, 2009

Top, $10 Roast Suckling Pig Plate with Kahuna Kohlrabi, Apple & Carrot Slaw and Basil-infused Rice. Bottom left, rain-defying Brooklyn Yarders. Spit-roasted suckling pig from Tamarack Hollow Farm.

It may have rained on Friday evening but it was still a great night for outdoor eating at Brooklyn Yard (view site) on the Gowanus Canal. The event was a luau hosted by Hapa Kitchen (view site), the supper club co-founded by Akiko Moorman and Cathy Erway (author of the food blog, Not Eating Out in New York). The club is named for the Hawaiian word for “mixed-race,” which is generally used to describe anyone of part-Asian descent. “We’re trying to give our what ups to Hawaii,” noted Moorman.

Pete Freeman and Akiko Moorman preparing suckling pig. Right, a “Hapa Tai.”

They were also trying to use only local, sustainable produce. Drinks included beer from Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Craft Ales, and “Hapa Tai’s,” Hapa Kitchen’s Mai Tai rendition, complete with pink umbrellas. Organic vegetables, like the heirloom cherry tomatoes included in a Pepper Macaroni Salad, were from Garden of Eve Farm. But the luau’s highlights were the two 40lb pasture-raised, suckling pigs and pork butts from Tamarack Hollow Farm, which were cooked on a spit and in La Caja China boxes.

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Featured Dessert: Magnolia’s “Whoopi” Cookie

The Gluttoness — May 07, 2009

As of late, the Whoopie Pie has been to cookies what bahn mi was for New York sandwich trends. They were discussed on Serious Eats back in February, then The New York Times wrote a feature discussing their components (two rounded, chocolate cake halves separated by a generous layer of creamy frosting), origins (probably Pennsylvania) and the trouble with classifying these portable cake sandwiches as pies, cakes or cookies. Since then they’ve also been written about on Blondie and Brownie and Slashfood. One of the places mentioned in the Times article was Magnolia Bakery, where Whoopie Pies were said to have cracked the esteemed cupcake lineup. Defining Magnolia’s current “whoopie” incarnation is a matter much more black and white.

The two halves that form the outer layers of Magnolia’s dessert sandwich, the “Whoopi Cookie” are actually two soft, brown sugar cookies, not cakes. A heavy dose of brown sugar makes these cookies easy to confuse with molded patties of rich caramel cookie dough. The filling between the two cookie halves is maple cream cheese frosting— a distinctive layer of candied richness. This inspired, sinfully sweet adaptation is a welcome complication to the difficulties of Whoopie Pie classification, even though Magnolia further confuses things by dropping the ‘e,’ at the end of the word. Big whoop indeed.