‘documenting the decade’
This doesn’t pertain to food, but it’s a nice NYT compilation of photos, cataloging the last ten years of the world’s events. Documenting the Decade. Happy New Year’s Eve.
September 2001, photo by Troy Chatterton
March 2003, photo by David J. Gilman
August 2005, photo courtesy of Paul Harris
January 2009, photo by Lindsay Karcher
the fish makes it funky
One of my favorite NYT pieces is One in Eight Million. It’s a series of weekly audio slide shows, snapshotting the lives of New Yorkers on black and white film. This particular vignette was posted back in September of this year. Eliza Smith, a retired woman who serves Liberian food out of her home, narrates.
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html#/eliza_smith
Photo courtesy of Todd Heisler with NYT
feliz navidad
“I am a neat hand at cookery, and I’ll tell you what I knocked up for my Christmas-eve dinner in the Library Cart. I knocked up a beefsteak-pudding for one, with two kidneys, a dozen oysters, and a couple of mushrooms thrown in. It’s a pudding to put a man in good humour with everything, except the two bottom buttons of his waistcoat.”
– Charles Dickens, Doctor Marigold (1865)
caracas arepas
Genre: Venezuelan
Neighborhood: East Village
Wallet: $
Comida:
Arepas 101: An arepa is a cornmeal-based bread originating from the South American Andes. It’s a flat, unleavened patty that’s grilled, baked, fried and is often stuffed with various fillings. It’s the South American version of a crepe, tortilla or pita.
La Batatua Arepa – Arepa filled with shredded pork, jalapeno, plantains, undisclosed “white cheese” and their secret sauce ($7). Sweet Jesus, this was good. The arepa cake itself is best described as a cornbread pancake. The Batatua was about 5” in diameter and was piping hot. Making sure each bite got some secret sauce love, the best way to eat this thing is to stop between each bite and drizzle more sauce on the filling. It’s deliciously messy. At one point I heard someone say “I don’t really know what I’m eating, but it’s real good.”
Empanada with black beans and cheese – Too much fried crust that overpowered the filling ($4.50). I wouldn’t order it again.
$2.50 for drip coffee? Ridiculous.
Place: Tight quarters for a packed house of late Sunday brunchers. Nativity scenes and shelves of candles of the Virgin Mary and random Catholic saints line the walls. Tacky? Yes. Does it really matter? No, you’re too busy making a mess of yourself to notice.
Reservation: No
93 ½ East 7th Street, NYC
212.529.2314
Brooklyn location as well
giano
both images courtesy of gianonyc.com
Genre: Italian
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Wallet: $$
Comida: Orecchiete al ragu di coniglio, porcini e mirtilli ($16) – Orecchiette pasta (buttom-shaped pasta) in a white ragout of rabbit, porchini mushrooms, truffle oil and blueberries. The sweetness of the blueberries threw off the dish, and it was an ill-fated attempt to modernize a pasta dish by adding in a random fruit. The dish was a great portion size and the light sauce didn’t leave me feeling heavy with carbs.
Place: Nice juxtaposition between modern and traditional Italian. This concept translated not only to food, but design of the menu and the restaurant itself. I liked the sense of symmetry and balance between the modern and traditional. For every antipasti/insalate, primi, secondi course, there were booth classic and contemporary options. The front of the house had bar-height tables lacquered in white while rustic, wooden tables occupied the back. Americanos are served in these bulbous ceramic mugs, and their pasta dishes were served on teardrop/egg-shaped white plates.
My friends and I told the waiter it was our friend Gerrie’s birthday. We ordered a tiramisu, and we received a crème brulee on the house, too. The waiter turned off the dining area lights and played Dean Martin’s rendition of “Happy Birthday” followed by “La Bomba” over the speakers as he brought out the desserts. Already fuzzy from wine, we erupted in laughter. Most of my favorite and vivid memories involve food, and our night at Giano was one of those great dinners: good food, company, conversation and hospitality.
Reservation: No
126 E 7th St, NYC
212.673.7200
roberta’s
–
Beastmaster:
Genre: Pizzeria
Neighborhood: Bushwick
Wallet: $-$$
Comida: They don’t mess around. I ordered The Beastmaster with tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, capers, red onions, Berkshire pork sausage, jalapenos and garlic. ($17) The flavors worked perfectly. I especially loved the capers, gorgonzola and chunks of garlic. Their 12” Neapolitan-style pizzas are cooked in a red wood-burning oven.
Place: Roberta’s was highlighted in NYT in the Next Generation of Pizza’s I posted back in July. The restaurant is an unassuming building in an industrial area in Brooklyn. It’s a humble spot with a brass tacks mentality. The pizza station is completely exposed to the dining area. For a cold exterior, it’s toasty inside. Random Christmas lights, po-go sticks and red wood logs cover the walls.
Reservation: No
Tips:
- Cash only
- Delivery available
- Follow their blog for happenings: http://robertas.tumblr.com/
261 Moore Street, Brooklyn, NY
718.417.1118
http://robertaspizza.com/
in season
Try cooking with produce in season this early December:
Find more seasonal produce by state here.
la esquina (brasserie)
Genre: Mexican
Neighborhood: NoLita
Wallet: $$
Comida: It’s uppity Mexican food…
Sopa de tortilla: Hearty, healthy chunks of shredded chicken, tomato, onion, avocado, ancho chile and cotija cheese ($7). Cotija cheese is a cow’s milk cheese and usually grated or crumbled. 3-4″ long and a red-brown pepper, ancho chiles are the sweetest of the dried chiles and are often referred to as poblanos. Good flavor and the broth was suprisingly thicker than most tortilla soups. Fun presentation in a mini cauldron. A garnish of cilantro would have finished off the dish.
Taquitos pescados: Two petite tacos served on 4” corn tortillas filled with char-grilled fish, red onions and salsa verde ($10). Good flavor, but I’d say the tacos served upstairs feel more authentic.
Place: La Esquina encompasses three different restaurant concepts: There’s the street-level taqueria serving cheap tacos, tortas and other authentic Mexican with bar-style seating. Around the corner, there’s a casual cafe with standard seating and a more expansive menu. Behind a door marked ‘employees only’ in the taqueria, you’ll find a flight of stairs that leads down to their subterranean brasserie. It appears to have an entertaining identity crisis due to its wonky mash up of genres: Mexican food, medieval décor of stoned walls and candelabras, Motown music…..and it’s deemed a brasserie. There’s great dim lighting and dark leather booths – very much like an underground lair. They have these fantastic, sliding bathroom doors made of horizontal, dark-wood planks stacked on top of each other. Good vibes all around.
Reservation: Yes – Book 2-4 weeks ahead of time. Be humble and wait in the taqueria until staff from the brasserie come to bring you downstairs.
114 Kenmare St, New York, NY
646.613.7100
brasserie (photo courtesy of la esquina)
the aftertaste 
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