Featured Dish: Corsino’s Spiedini

Arthur Bovino — January 28, 2010

Tuna And Sweetbreads Spiedini with Capers and Lemon.

Spiedini, the Italian word for skewered, grilled foods, have long been a popular item at Jason Denton’s ‘inoteca’s, and at his new restaurant, Corsino, he has taken things to the next level. It’s surf and turf spiedini: Tuna And Sweetbreads.

There’s a big red center in each large cube of tuna, and a sweetbread that has been cut in half. They sit on a light zig-zag-drizzled sauce with charred capers (a tad bitter) and lemon. Somewhere between bites of sweetbread and tuna, the light, flaky texture of the sweetbread creates a little flavor disorientation— “Wait, am I eating fish?” — but there’s nothing confusing about wanting a second plate ($16.00).

More On Corsino's Spiedini >>

First Look: Lunch at 8st Kitchen

Arthur Bovino — January 25, 2010

Ar Bap: Flying Fish Roe with Pickled Daikon, Cucumbers, and Carrot over Rice.

Always Hungry brought you the first look at K-Town moving downtown, when 8st Kitchen opened in November. Well, now they’ve started serving lunch. Familiar dishes from the regular menu have made the roster, like the Bi Bim Bap ($8) and the Yook Hwe Bi Bim Bap. Other dishes, like the addictive, spicy, chicken— Dahk Gui— have been reinterpreted slightly: Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap with Spicy Chicken and Melted Cheese ($8.00). But the two dishes that deserve the most attention are the new ones: the colorful Ar Bap, and a cheesy Rice Gratin.

If you haven’t had Ar Bap, but you like roe, you’ll enjoy this ($10). As the hot bowl is set down, rice crackles and the scent of flying fish roe reminds you of that ocean smell that sneaks up on you as you approach the water. The rice is also covered with an immaculately portioned pinwheel of chopped vegetables: pickled daikons, cucumbers, and carrots. It’s almost too pretty to eat. Once tossed, each bite is soft and crunchy, with little bursts of roe. It’s taken up a notch by adding in the side of kimchee.

As for the Rice Gratin ($8), think Korean risotto with shrimp, marinated cod roe, mozzarella, and chopped onions and peppers. It’s a very easy dish to eat at the window bar while watching people trudge through the winter day outside. You’ll polish it off before you know it.

Click here for more photographs of lunch dishes at 8st Kitchen >>

Featured Dish: August’s Lamb Belly

Maryse Chevrière — January 21, 2010

Kleftiko of Lamb Belly: Grilled Lamb Belly, Tzatziki, and Black Sesame from August.

Pork belly has had its time—we’re ready for a new belly. Call it a hunch, but we think the next belly to make a flop is going to be lamb belly.

The surge has yet to begin, but if you want a sneak preview of a trend in the making, head over to August, where they are already celebrating this great ingredient. The restaurant’s Kleftiko of Lamb Belly is a most welcome alternative for those suffering from pork belly exhaustion.

The tender, fall-off-the-bone meat is at turns creamy and shredded like pulled pork. A crust of black sesame seeds (warning: potential date dish nightmare) adds powerful toasted notes and texture. A cool tzatziki acts as a loose sauce for the bed of vegetable spaghetti that props up the piece of belly. The flavor of the meat strikes a Goldie Locks-like balance of being pronounced without being overwhelming.

First Look: Choptank’s Fried Chicken

Arthur Bovino — January 14, 2010

Choptank’s Fried Chicken with Black Pepper Honey.

Back in May, we told you about the Fried Chicken that Chef Matthew Schaefer was serving at Mermaid Inn in the East Village. It was the restaurant’s obligatory non-seafood item, and for what it was, it was quite good. Schaefer, who left Mermaid Inn last July, is now at the helm of the just opened Choptank, and he took his recipe for fried chicken with him.

Fried Chicken ($20) isn’t the only meat item on the menu at Choptank. It’s joined by several others, including the Virginia Ham Plate, a tasty Steak with Sweetbread Gravy, and of course, the obligatory burger. But Schaefer has reassembled the dish and he seems to have fine-tuned its preparation. The Mermaid Inn served three large, incredibly moist and juicy pieces. There are a few more pieces on this plate and while it’s still juicy, it’s not quite as wet, so the fried exterior seems to adhere better. The crumbly corn bread is gone, and the oversalted collard greens are now something to finish eating. There’s also a small saucer of black pepper honey, for dipping.

First Look: 10 Downing’s New Lunch Menu

Samantha Zalaznick — December 17, 2009

The 10 Downing Burger with Cheddar Cheese, Shoestring Fries and Homemade Pickles.

As reported, 10 Downing started lunch this week. If you’re curious about what they’re doing now that Jason Neroni’s replacement, Jonnatan Leiva has taken over, here’s the menu and pictures from a meal.

We also hear that a private dining room and lounge are set to open in the next few months and that the restaurant (view) has also brought on pastry chef, Shuna Lydon.

Click Here to view the menu and view pictures >>

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).

Click Here for Pictures of New Dishes at Scuderia >>

Featured Restaurant: Yerba Buena Perry

The Gluttoness — October 14, 2009

Grilled Black Cod with Pepian-Peruvian Corn Purée, Miso and Chipotle-Pomegranate Sauce.

Yerba Buena was Robin Raisfeld’s pick for The Best Restaurants to Open in the Past Year, and it’s always busy, so it’s no surprise that the new Perry Street outpost is already packed too.

Julian Medina has invaded the West Village with Yerba Buena Perry (view) and a succinct menu featuring his celebrated fusion of Latin American and Spanish cuisines. Aside from a bowl of spicy, chunky guacamole, any meal at Yerba Buena Perry is best begun with a selection of Medina’s refreshing ceviches. Similarly sized cubes of ruby red tuna and pickled watermelon are given an Asian twist with a sweet, soy-based dressing, while thin slices of flounder are topped with a brunoise of sweet potatoes and roasted bits of dried Peruvian corn.

Peruvian corn graces a few of the dishes in different forms. For example, it’s there with spinach and manchego inside the crispy empanada, then jumbo kernels in a spicy aji amarillo butter show up in a side of “choclo,” and finally, the Grilled Black Cod is served over a pepian-Peruvian corn puree.

Steaks are done “A La Parilla,” or barbecued, and served with a choice of salsa: chimichurri horseradish or aji panca (Peruvian red peppers). Composed dishes feature refined, sometimes retooled renditions of Latin favorites. Take the arepas, which are dressed up with shiny slabs of coffee-glazed pork belly. The Ropa Vieja is another perfect example. Medina has newly outfitted this classic Cuban dish, accessorizing it with a runny duck egg. Sweet plantains are mashed instead of fried and shredded flank steak is replaced with tamarind-glazed duck confit.

“YB Fries” forgo potato or yucca for red jalapeño and watermelon. Sticks of juicy watermelon are breaded with panko, deep-fried, and served with sweet yerba mate ketchup. Even sweeter are the few selections of postres. Churros are just like you’d find them on the street. And while the Tres Leches parfait is topped with decadent chocolate mousse, when you dig to the bottom, the taste of the cool, milky cake is as authentic as it gets.

See new pictures of food at Yerba Buena Perry on its restaurant page here.

AlwaysPartying: Taste of the West Village 2009

Katie Reisert — September 21, 2009

Bobo’s Fried Oyster with Tartar and Celery Stalk.

Yesterday, New Yorkers took advantage of the beautiful weather and flocked to the yard at P.S. 41 for Taste of the West Village (view site) to experience great food from some of the West Village’s most popular restaurants. Neighborhood staples including August, Bobo, Centro Vinoteca and Little Owl were all serving up some of their favorite dishes to benefit West Village public schools: P.S. 3 and P.S. 41.

Check out our great pictures of the event.

Gusto’s Tonno con Melagrone with Yellowfin Tuna, Pomegranate, Arugula and Saba on Crostini.

The Famous LaFrieda Burger a la Johnny Utah’s.

Click here for more pictures of dishes from Taste of the West Village >>

AlwaysLearning: Pão de Queijo

Arthur Bovino — September 04, 2009

Pão de Queijo in Astoria at New York Pão de Queijo, $1.75.

Pão de Queijo (pronounced, pow de KAY-ju, with a nasal ‘ow’) is an addictive, gluten-free, South American salgadinho.

Where it’s from: Pão de Queijo is one of many different salgadhinos (snacks), like Coxinha and Pastels, which you can find everywhere in Brazil. It is most often sold at cafés, where it’s eaten with espresso for breakfast while standing at a counter— though it can be found all day. Variations are said to be found in Bolivia, where they’re known as Cuñapé, and in Paraguay and Northern Argentina where they’re known as Chipás.

What it is: In Portuguese Pão de Queijo means ‘cheese bread.’ Bread isn’t quite accurate— gougère or cheese profiterole is more apt. Basically, it’s a domed cheese puff one to three inches wide, made using Povilho Azedo, cassava flour (tapioca starch) usually with Queijo de Minas cheese inside. Origins are murky, but it’s thought to have been created by slaves who harvested the yucca crops and gathered the starch leftover after processing. Starch was rolled into balls and baked. Later, when cattle-farming became widespread, cheese was introduced. One Brazilian chain that specializes in it, Casa do Pão de Queijo (founded in 1967 in São Paulo), attributes it to the 18th century in the state of Minas Gerais, a region in the Southeast of Brazil, a little less than 300 miles from Rio.

How it’s made: Recipes vary, but generally, milk, oil and butter are first mixed over heat. Then tapioca flour, eggs and cheese are added. After the mixture cools, balls of dough are formed and cooked for about twenty minutes. The combination of tapioca starch and cheese creates a slightly gummy, chewy consistency inside, like a palatable rubber cement. When done right, they are crisp on the outside and light, airy, warm and slightly chewy on the inside with full, cheesy flavor. One of Brazil’s best places for pão de queijo is in São Paulo— Pão de Queijo Haddock Lobo —a little shop in a neighborhood called Jardins Paulista.

Where to get it in New York: There are pockets of Brazilian restaurants downtown (like Casa and Cafe La Palette in the West Village, and one place in the East Village, Esperanto) that serve pão de queijo, as well as a few in Midtown (Emporium Brasil) on what’s left of Little Brazil on 46th Street (“Little Brazil Street”) and also in Newark, and Astoria, Queens.

One AlwaysHungryNY.com favorite spot for pão is New York Pão de Queijo (right), a small café in Astoria. It has other treats including açai na tigela and a bevy of Brazilian fruit juices. Fair warning: once you’ve eaten one, it’s difficult to stop.

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: Abingdon Square Greenmarket (8/12/09)

Michelle Kiefer — August 12, 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 West Village at the Abingdon Square Greenmarket. Click on the thumbnails below for pictures from our farmers’ market tour. Remember, you can always use AlwaysHungryNY.com’s Seasonal Calendar Page to find out what is currently in season.

AlwaysInvestigating: Texas “Desserts”

Katie Reisert — August 06, 2009

Cowgirl’s Frito Pie, Fritos with beef brisket or veggie chili, cheddar, onions, sour cream & jalapeños (small $7.95, large $9.95).

Sundaes and pies are dessert menu fare, but some New York City restaurants are shaking things up with savory interpretations of these dessert words: Frito Pie and the Truck-Stop Sundae. Frito Pie is a Texan classic served at Cowgirl and the Truck-Stop Sundae is served at the East Village restaurant named for the Texan town, Marfa, so we’ve been calling them Texas “Desserts”.

Frito Pie is made with chili, cheese, onions and corn chips. Its origins are murky but point to the South and the Southwest, specifically Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. There are two common preparations: 1) a casserole and 2) a small bag of ingredient-topped, crunchy chips. Cowgirl’s Frito Pie is the latter— it nearly explodes out of the bag. The giant reddish lump of chili contains hefty pieces of brisket superior to the ground beef you would expect. It’s piled with sour cream, onions, jalapeños and cheddar.

The “pie” is good, but reminiscent of a bowl of chili that would have been more satisfying on a ski slope than in the West Village on a muggy July day. One flaw was the execution of the Fritos. It wasn’t until halfway through the dish that an actual Frito could be found— they had almost all completely disintegrated. If only Cowgirl’s generous toppings and flavor were combined with Fat Annie’s crunchy chip layer, you’d have the city’s best Frito Pie.

Marfa’s Truck-Stop Sundae features beans, pork and “slaw,” $6

The Truck-Stop Sundae at Marfa is less elaborately presented than Cowgirl’s Frito Pie, but its deep red chili undertones and the purple of the red cabbage make it visually appealing. And what it lacks presentation-wise it makes up for with taste. It’s served with beans, slaw and pork that settles to the bottom of the dish. The beans were in a sweet and tangy sauce and the red cabbage (not weighed down with mayo or seasoning) provided the crunch missing in the Frito Pie.

AlwaysInvestigating: Native Tongues

The Gluttoness — August 03, 2009

Growing up Jewish, tongue was often part of my deli experience (especially when Nanny ordered it). But not until I moved to New York did I realize it was an globally respected ingredient. Recently, I tried four international preparations, starting at Katz’s Deli, which specializes in my native tongue.

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Making the Grade: Hakata Tonton

GutterGourmet — July 28, 2009

Grilled Pork Tonsoku

“I have a fetish for eating pigs’ feet.

My favorite restaurant on the continent is Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. I remember vividly my last foie gras-stuffed Pied de Cochon at the now defunct, La Cote Basque. And I recently enjoyed Chef David Schuttenberg’s rendition, A Pata de Cerdo, at Cabrito. So I could hardly contain my excitement upon entering the temple to tonsoku (Japanese for ‘pig’s foot’): Hakata Tonton in the old Taka Sushi space in the West Village.”

CLICK FOR AHNY’S FULL REVIEW OF HAKATA TONTON

AlwaysInformed: Shanks for the Memories

GutterGourmet — July 24, 2009

Cabrito’s A Pata de Cerdo

There is no question that Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal is one of North America’s greatest restaurants. As its name indicates, there are a lot of piggy amputees limping around Canada who have sacrificed limbs for our dining pleasure. The chef/owner of that restaurant is a lunatic named Martin Picard whose pig, duck and foie gras induced creations are gorgeously illustrated in the Au pied de Cochon Album Cookbook, which I highly recommend (spring for the hardcover with DVD so you don’t miss Picard and his cronies dining naked at the restaurant and their drunken attempts to reassemble an entire pig by placing the preparations of its various anatomical parts on a feasting table).

David Schuttenberg, the chef at Cabrito (formerly of Fatty Crab, which also owns Cabrito), admitted to me that he has never been to Au Pied de Cochon, but he was so inspired by the album’s recipe for Foie Gras Stuffed Pigs’ Feet that he had to adapt it to Mexican cuisine.

The original recipe is an involved process. First, the shank portion of an entire trotter is partially deboned with a hacksaw. The shank meat is browned with mushrooms and onions to make a stuffing, which is packed into the deboned shank and threaded shut. The whole trotter is then slowly cooked sous vide over several hours. Next, the cooked, stuffed trotter is brushed with egg and mustard, coated with breadcrumbs and cooked in a buttered skillet. Picard then throws layers of seared foie gras on top (as he tends to do with everything) for effect.

Cabrito’s plated “A Pata de Cerdo” and cross-section

Schuttenberg said he was faithful to Picard’s recipe and preparation (down to the hacksaw), but to bring the dish south of the border and make it “A Pata de Cerdo,” he added housemade chorizo to the stuffing. Sautéed chorizo and cubed leg meat are cooked separately with onion, garlic and Serrano peppers, then mixed with almonds, cilantro, chipotle chilies, panko breadcrumbs and mescal-soaked raisins. The stuffed trotter is braised in stock for 12 hours, refrigerated for 12 hours to set, then breaded, fried, baked and plated on shredded lettuce with tortillas and a side of cotija-topped Soupy Beans. Instead of foie gras, Schuttenberg piles on housemade pickled jalapeños, which cut the dish’s unctuous fattiness.

I recommend you get to Cabrito fast. The dish is a special this Saturday but they only serve four a night (unless they can find a hog bred with more than four legs). By the way, Cabrito (restaurant page) has some great happy hour deals on booze and tacos: “The Fatty Fix” (beer and bourbon, $12) got me in the proper frame of mind and the Taco Lengua ($3) blew away its counterpart at my standby, Tehuitzingo in Hell’s Kitchen. The eponymous Goat Belly Taco ($3), however, was the evening’s only disappointment.

Perhaps they should change the name of the place to “A Pata de Cerdo.”