Weekend Agenda: Taste of Chinatown

21st Apr 2006

Tastechinatown4_1 This Saturday over fifty restaurants will be offering $1 or $2 tasting plates, usually of their signature dish, from 1pm to 6pm in Chinatown.  The event will happen, rain or shine (it looks like rain at this point), and we will be attending and reporting from the field, camera in tow. Mott, Mulberry, Baxter, Bayard, Pell, Doyers and Mosco Streets are the locations. Here is a pdf with all t...

Roast Chicken: Getting Dirty With the Bird

You know exactly where it came from. This thing used to be an animal. You’ll want to name it.

18th Apr 2006

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Hello, there.  The first step to perfectly roasting a chicken is to get acquainted with the subject.  At first I hid it underneath the wrapping when chopping and prepping, like I was ashamed that it might see me.  But the only way to really get the chicken to do what you want is to get personal.  You'll be shoving lemons and such inside its cavity short enough.  Don't get squeamish.

First,...

Mussels a la Portuguese, OR: "Hey man, that''s a lot of mussels." "Yeah, that''s what she said."

A chorizo-laden recipe deglazed with champagne

15th Apr 2006

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When’s the last time you went to a butcher or fish guy and ordered six pounds of anything?  “Hey, I was wondering if you can give me six pounds of salmon.”  “Sure thing, bub.  That’ll be a hundred and eight dollars.”  “Um, thanks.” With mussels, you can.  They're like $2.50 a pound.  Three of us devoured (and I mean devoured : mussels are a sensual, hands-on affair) two pounds each of thes...

The Paupered Chefs Attend an Art Brut Concert at Bowery Ballroom and Make Beer Shakes and Gourmet Cheeseburgers Before the Show

Yes, you read right: beer shakes

9th Apr 2006

We asked Schnack what the beer shake recipe was, and they said they use 3 oz. of ice cream mixed with 3 oz. of dark beer.  We went with the cheapest vanilla we could find and a six pack of McSorley's ale, which is pretty cheap and basically tasty.  On second thought, a dark stout might have been the better choice--Guiness is practically a milkshake anyway.  The carbonation in our version made i...

How to Throw a Successful Tapas Party II: Paying Handsomely at Casa Mono

In which our minds are blown by the food

5th Apr 2006

Founded by Mario Battali and Joe Bastianich, Casa Mono is no culinary secret, nor is it hidden in some trendy outpost like Red Hook or Bushwick.  It sits in stately Gramercy amongst the trees of Irving Place, which hush the hustle of neighboring Union Square. I'd never stepped foot in a Battali-affiliated place before, and I felt nervous and ready. It's not that his restaurants are exceedingly ex...

Jacques Pepin''s Corn Chowder

Possibly the easiest corn chowder recipe on the planet

4th Apr 2006

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A warm comfort food that, in this case, is remarkably easy to make. Generally chowder is thick and hearty with bacon and potatoes and thick creamy base, but this version instead goes for elegant. It’s almost (but not) too thin, almost silky, surprisingly tasty considering the lack of any complicated seasoning.
By Blake Royer

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On a Sunday afternoon, corn chowder is the idea.  A soup bot...

How to Throw a Successful Tapas Party

In which we find a wildly handsome Spanish man

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Step 1: Find a Spanish Man.

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Step 2: Find a Spanish Ham.

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Preferably, a wildly handsome Spanish friend with a hunk of Spanish ham that his mother sent him.  Jorge had looks.  And he had the ham.   What follows is an evening of many, many stages that included overcoming fears of anchovies, quail eggs, and two romantic party members who ate their share, doted on each other, and c...

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Sauce

Based on the potato, gnocchi is the ultimate pauper's meal--but it sure doesn't taste like it

28th Mar 2006

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Gnocchi.  No idea. For years this has been the unpronounceable dish on the menu that starred me down and begged to be blurted out to the uproarious laughter of the seasoned waiter.  "Did you hear what he just said?" Hell, I didn't have any idea what it was.  Was it a type of pasta?  Dumpling?  Did it have a filling?  This feeling of inadequacy kept the recognizable dish on the menu page...

Joe (who knows coffee is an art) holds a “Single-Origin Coffee Tasting”

New York's famed coffee shop teaches us about the world's beans

26th Mar 2006

I was into good coffee before I was into good food, since I was drinking it every day of my life, and I figured I might as well make it the best it could be.  (Though I was discouraged by Balzac's warning : " When you have reached the point of consuming this kind of coffee, then become exhausted and decide that you really must have more, even though you make it of the finest ingredients and t...

Cold Day at the Shake Shack

Braving the early season weather

22nd Mar 2006

Shake_front The thunder-stealer was that they actually were open the day before with no line, doing a “test run.” I would have been happy with a “test run” Shack burger. This would not have been a problem for me. The combination of freshly ground sirloin and brisket, their signature; the secret Shack sauce; the frozen custard shakes. Hailing from north of Chicago and therefore a temptingly clos...