Cookin' out

We took a trip to Pennsylvania for a family birthday and enjoyed some simple and simply delicious barbecue. Perfectly seasoned burgers and roasted potatoes sprinkled with what was probably crack. And the weather was cool and sunny and perfect.

Cafes

Since we've been in the neighborhood here at the south end of Park Slope, two cafés have opened nearby, Kahawa a little more than a month ago, and Slope Cafe just about a week ago.

Kahawa I've reviewed here briefly before. Located on 5th avenue at the corner of 15th street, it has some good pastries and acceptable, if not memorable coffee. They have long hours but they have that feel of a place that was put together with a few of the pieces missing. And lately, they've just been closed all the time.

Slope cafe, on 4th avenue at the corner of 10th street, right by the F/G stop, claims in their menu to use pretty much every type of grass-fed, fair trade, hormone free, organic and homeschooled coffee bean, egg, vegetable, and meat you can find. On three quick morning stops so far, they've made pretty great breakfast sandwiches, but with your basic orange American cheese. Croissants in the case were individually wrapped in plastic from a mass-market bakery, and the first time I made the mistake of ordering an iced coffee, the girl at the counter just put hot coffee straight from the machine into a plastic cup of ice, leaving me with lukewarm, ice-free and diluted coffee.

I'm not sure if Kahawa is closed for good, and I hope that Slope Cafe gets their act together. Kahawa was the closest place for coffee open past 8, and Slope cafe is right by the train. But you can't open a new place like this without planning on losing money for a certain amount of months or years, so I hope they're both ready to weather whatever bumps they are going through. And I'm looking forward to Slope Cafe learning what to do with their coffee. (The hot coffee is actually pretty good, from Unique Roasters, who I never heard of before.) stop into both of these places (if Kahawa opens its doors again,) and offer some encouragement and voice your opinions about what they are getting right and what needs to be improved.

-SdJ

Master Chef

It took me until season 3 to finally watch this show, and the recent finale was great. You've got to wonder if the timing is played with a bit by the editing team, as some of the changes you see in dishes couldn't possibly happen in the 5 seconds to go that the chefs are yelling to the contestants. Anyway, some of the creativity displayed in the contestants' hurried dishes can be very inspiring. Just sayin'.

-SdJ

Effort

Sometimes the amount of enjoyment I get from a dish is directly proportionate to the amount of work involved in eating it. Something as simple to prep as an artichoke can take more than a half hour to eat. I decided to cook some the other night.

First, I trimmed the leaves of their points. I filled a pot with water, added salt, garlic cloves, a slice of lemon and a bay leaf, and set it to boil. I placed the artichokes in and put a lid on it for about a half hour. So simple! Some people prefer to steam them, but this works just fine if you drain them well when they're done.

While they were cooking, I made an aioli. Egg yolks beaten with a little lemon and mustard, a few drops of olive oil, then a few more, followed by a steady stream amounting to a little over a cup. Vinegar and salt and pepper. Crushed garlic, then in the fridge. Again, incredibly easy.

Twenty-five minutes later, we sat down to watch tv (the series finale of Star Trek TNG, in case you were wondering,) and enjoyed the ritual: Plucking one leaf at a time. Dipping them into the aioli. Scraping the soft flesh from the hard fibers with our teeth. Discarding the remains into a grocery bag (or large bowl, or trash bin, etc.) At a certain point, the leaves became translucent at the bottom. We bit off the entire lower portions. Then the entire leaf except for the pointy tip was edible. Finally, the leaves had shrunk into the fibrous and aptly named 'choke,' a mound of sharp-tipped hairs cradled in the heart of the artichoke. We scooped it out with a spoon and sliced the stem and heart into quarters which were entirely edible and begging for more of the garlicky mayonnaise.

Think about the flavor of an artichoke. It's texture is buttery, but what does it really taste like? If a vegetable could taste khaki, the artichoke does. It's mild and soft and way more work than pretty much anything else in the produce aisle. It's not a flavor unique enough that people make beverages or extracts out of it, and the closest thing to a popular artichoke byproduct in the supermarket is the marinated artichoke heart, which pretty much tastes like whatever liquid it has been suspended in. So why cook one?

There's an immense satisfaction in working at a task over time, seeing progress, and ultimately achieving a goal. If the taste of an artichoke was available with as little effort as a pear or a grape, some globular fruit easily plucked and swallowed, I don't think many people would even eat them. Enough of this world's bounty is that accessible and far more intensely delicious. But there's a satisfaction in the ritual of an artichoke.

-SdJ

Format.

We are skipping our entry tonight and in general on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from now through the holidays. Posts will continue to go up on Tuesday and Thursday, along with weekends. Our schedule is becoming more hectic and rather than post poor quality daily, readers should look forward to good quality on a still regular, though less frequent basis.

On these nights, you may still get to look forward to little recommendations like the following: Korzo's Wednesday night special is delicious, and ultimate comfort food heading into fall. Try it for yourself.

-SdJ

HBH gourmet sandwiches, Smith street

We ordered delivery from HBH through Seamless one night and were somewhat optimistic. Some good yelp reviews and descriptive menu choices bodes well. We chose the Smith Street Cheese Steak, the Big MacDougal, and the Jalapeño Mac n Cheese.

A half hour later, our food arrived. The sandwiches were wrapped in butcher's paper and yet they had soaked it through with oil. Not necessarily a bad sign, but certainly not a healthy one. For a Philadelphia native to order a cheesesteak might sound like a recipe for disappointment, but I try to keep an open mind.

Smith Street Cheese Steak? 

This sandwich, while having no physical resemblance to an actual cheesesteak, still looked awfully tempting. The short rib was soft and succulent, and the shallots were a sweeter replacement for the fried onions you expect on a steak wit'. The onion ciabatta held up pretty well under the grease from this sandwich's contents, including the aioli which had begun to break down into its component parts. (Oil being the main one.) Other than the greasiness, though, this was a delicious sandwich. Not even close to a cheesesteak by any purists definition, but something I'd be more than happy to order again. Rich and meaty and flavorful, I'd even go so far as to say it was as good as some more authentic specimens I've tried in Philly. The $12 price is a bit steep, though.

Pulled Pork sammy.

The Big MacDougal was closer to what you might expect when you ask for a pulled pork sandwich. The name made me think they were going for a McDonalds flavor combination, but it's basically (extremely tender and flavorful) pulled pork topped with coleslaw. Only in this instance, it's a more vinegar flavor profile to the kimchee rather than the usual mayonnaise-y slaw you'd get at a roadside BBQ. It's a pretty good sandwich, and better priced at $9, but not as impressive.

Mac n Cheese. With green bits.

The let down here was the Mac n Cheese. We could see green bits of jalapeño, but could barely taste it or the cheese, for that matter. Buttered noodles with Kraft parmesan sprinkled on top would have tasted as interesting. Maybe this dish is better when you eat it in the restaurant, but it certainly didn't survive the trip to our apartment. Skip it if you're getting delivery.

Maybe this place is worth a visit in person. I'll post again when I make it over there.

-SdJ

For next summer...

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs, Ideas in Food, and can't wait to try it. I'm sure I will before the weather gets hot again, but it seems destined for a summer drink. And maybe some gin... Here.

I took this photo from their website, too. They have great photos

-SdJ

Korzo, South Slope

While walking down 5th avenue one day recently heading towards the Greenwood Cemetery, we got caught in a sudden rainstorm. We ducked into the Eastern European themed Korzo between 19th and 20th streets and cozied into the nook in the hall between the front bar area and the dining room with the piano in the back. (This is yet another of New York's 2-location chains, the other being at Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan.)

The decor here is cozy and the furnishings all have a real weight to them; it would be easy to imagine this place has been around for a few decades or more, rather than just a few years. The bartender who also waited on us was helpful and patient. It's tempting to make this into a regular weekly hangout.

Heavy furniture, medium beer

The cooler days and the rain made hot soup sound like a good idea, and the Soup du Jour was a hearty cream of red potato and dill soup with a spicy chili oil floated on top. Grilled house baked bread alongside it was perfect for sopping up the leftovers.

Creamy potato soup. And plenty of grilled bread.

Korzo practically makes it's own everything. Bread, mustard, pickles, (beet!) ketchup, noodles, cures it's own sausages. They even have their own beer in conjunction with Peak Organic Brewery out of Portland, Maine. Don't click if you're under 21. (The house beer is delicious, btw, and on another visit, when the $3 good cheap rotating draft was kicked, they served the house Korzo Ale for $3. It was a great all-night special. The beer menu is pretty solid, too, with most beers available by the pitcher or in 1 liter glasses too.)

The Hausbrau

We also tried the Slav burger and the Spicy Hungarian Goulash. The Goulash was a thick stew of beef brisket, paprika, and red pepper over what were described as "crispy" spatzle, but which actually turned out to be simply thick and delicious, if slightly soft spatzle. There were caramelized onions in here too somewhere, and a piece of home made Langoš (Hungarian flatbread) which was lighter and softer than a pita, and warm from the oven or pan or wherever it came from. Again, the assumption here is that you'll want to eat every last drop of food from your bowl. This assumption is accurate.

Goulash over Spatzle. And flatbread

The burgers here were called the best burger in NYC by the Village Voice last year. The patties and their respective toppings are wrapped in Langoš dough and deep fried. The Slav burger had slow cooked pork, house made sauerkraut, and Bryndza, a sheep-milk variation on Feta. The deep frying process leaves a delightfully golden and crispy outer pastry and a perfectly medium-rare patty. This burger is also ridiculously easy to hold with none of the messiness associated with most bar sandwiches. The Bryndza has enough bite to stay interesting over the rich combination of meats, and the sauerkraut is authentic, though in short supply in this dish. The accompanying fries were a combination of sweet potatoes and hand-cut chips, and both were tasty with the beet ketchup that came with them.

Korzo burer: The Slav

There are "jazz nights" on Tuesdays in the dining room, but there's a divider curtain which somehow keeps the sound from entering the bar area, so if you want to drink and don't like jazz, don't worry. And if you do like jazz, they've got a couple of regulars apparently who know their stuff. Two televisions do play some sports but with no volume, although you shouldn't worry that it's a super sporty crowd. And when the weather is nice, the front wall opens up to let the night breeze in. The menu is so full of delicious sounding meals that we want to go back again and again until we've tried them all. So far, everything we've had here has been as solid as the heavy antique furniture.

-SdJ

Quiet lunchtime in the rain.

Red Hook Summer (the movie, not a lame title for a post)

We went to see Red Hook Summer at BAM. Before I say anything else, let me just take a moment to talk about the coffee. At the concession stand. It's terrible. And for $2.25 for 8oz in a 12oz cup, it's extra bad. I know, I know. You don't expect good coffee at the same place you pay $5.50 for a soda the size of a fishbowl, but my experience before coming to New York was that "art house" theaters tend to offer a higher grade of snacks and beverages. Illy should be the standard, and nobody should drop below a Starbucks level. You've obviously got a more discerning viewer than the person who sees Expendables 2 multiple times and considers it the film of the decade. A more discerning palate wouldn't be a shock. I think we'd all agree that if we have the choice, we'd pay an extra fifty cents or even a dollar for a regular sized and well made cuppa joe while we enjoy a Wes Anderson film or a documentary about a font.

Two please

So the movie... It was good. Some great camera shots. The guy from The Wire is amazing. The big twist halfway through was a shocker. There are a couple "Dawwww" scenes, and some good laughs. Worth watching, but you could wait till it comes to tv or Netflix or something.

Absentee

This is the last night this week that I won't be posting on my regular schedule. This week got away from me and tomorrow will be a regular weekend post. More reviews will resume on Monday.

Here's a bird from the Zoo:

-SdJ

Crisp cool morning, warm breakfast

Couleur Cafe is currently offering what might just be the most satisfying little breakfast dish a person could have on a cool September morning.

It's well below 70 before work now, and they open at 7AM, so you'll just have time to sit down and enjoy a delicious but hastily made cappuccino or a latte while they make you an order of baked eggs.

Hot Cap

From the specials menu, you can add any three ingredients from a very short list, and choose a side of either toast, garlicky potatoes, or salad. I felt like I scored a win with Gruyere, bacon, and caramelized onions. Layered in a small ceramic tartine dish with two eggs cracked on top and baked for ten minutes, this was like a little delicious oven in my tummy for the rest of my morning.

Baked Eggs!

The the eggs maintain a mostly runny yolk, at the expense of also having a slightly runny white, but there's enough deliciousness below them to soak it all up, and the potatoes I chose on the side were there to help and be tasty while they were at it. The nest of onions and bacon held together by one of my favorite melting cheeses could have stood on its own, but runny egg yolk always makes a breakfast dish that much better.

If you're up early and can't quite shake the chill, head over and treat yourself.

-SdJ

So I did this today:

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire was totally worth the two and a half hour drive in order to enjoy the amazing weather, delicious but cliche faire food, cheesy but enthusiastic actors, and total unabashed fun I got to have with a bunch of really good friends. Happy Sunday.

Seriously perfect weather

-SdJ

Off to the Faire...

Tomorrow I am heading down to Pennsylvania for the Renaissance Faire with a bunch of friends. I'm keeping this short, because it's a long drive and we have to be up early. In 13 hours my lovely companion and I should be enjoying the traditional prehistoric sized turkey leg of all good faires. Plus beer from the Pirate brewery. Avast.

Hopefully mine is a little bigger...

Until tomorrow,

-SdJ

Manhattan tourist lunch: Bill's Burgers

I've eaten at this tourist destination in Rockefeller Center before but I never reviewed it here.

Bill's has a wall of "reviews" from different magazines and critics all claiming they make a mind blowing burger. And it's good, considering that they only serve their burgers at medium temperature, which is usually code for pre-frozen. All of their patties have a lovely crusty chat at the edges from whatever metal surface they are fried in. They usually use a pretty good cheese. But the rolls are a bit too fluffy and can become fragile.

On this trip, I was told by our server that the special of the day, a Reuben burger, "may sound crazy, but is actually very good." you have to feel for a person that deals with enough people actually shocked by combinations like this that they feel the need to preface the description with a disclaimer.

It sounds crazy...

A thick slab of mediocre corned beef and a little bit of sauerkraut don't exactly justify the $3 premium over one of their other cheeseburger combinations on the menu, but it was good and met my expectations. Lots of melted Swiss held the other toppings to the beef patty. Next time I'm just getting the standard cheeseburger with Swiss cheese.

My lovely companion ordered the Mahi tacos, which are a go to dish here for me when I'm on lunch break from work. Three soft flour tortillas hold wonderful grilled hunks of spiced fish, and fresh limes on the side add some tangy fresh bite when squeezed on top There's a spicy sauce and some avocado, and fresh jalapeños can kick it up a notch.

Mahi Tacos

You'll find more creative dishes elsewhere, or similar dishes for cheaper, but if you're in midtown and want something pretty solid and dependable, you should keep this on the radar.

-SdJ

Roots cafe

We've been venturing south of Prospect Avenue/Parkway lately on 5th Avenue. It's funny how that part of town has always been off of my radar, even though it's certainly closer than some of the other areas we have explored recently. (Until recently, the only reason we would cross Prospect was to get to Eagle Provisions for their unlimited beer selection.)

If it weren't for the sandwich board, you's never know

This week we went to Roots Cafe one morning for coffee and a breakfast pastry from someplace other than our regular haunt at cafe 474. The cafe itself is adorable, but might be trying a little too hard with their plethora of quirky objects on the wall. Some comfy chairs and a bookshelf with a few board games were signs that it's just fine to stay a while.

Comfy Adorable Interior

The baristas are friendly and the patrons were all relatively young and cool and babyless. In the 40 minutes we stayed about a dozen people came and went and they all seemed to know the guys behind the counter, so there's clearly a regular crowd.

Iced coffee isn't the best indicator of a quality cafe, but it's pretty good here. The bagel with cream cheese and tomato I ordered took about 15 minutes to hit the counter, but it was delicious with flavorful fresh tomato slices that could have easily been skimped on. My everything bagel turned out to be whole wheat, which was actually kindof a nice surprise.

Everything bagel, Cream cheese and tomato

I'm not getting all food critic on this place. Just enjoying the little details. I can see why so many people come here, despite the faded storefront that's almost invisible from across the street. If you can find this place, it's a nice comfortable spot to spend an hour or two.

SdJ

Referral

In lieu of a review here tonight, I am sharing an article in the Red Hook Star Revue. Check out their PDF view and look for page 17 at an article called "Van Brunch Street."

It's a great local paper, based right on union street near the water, and distributing over 8,000 free papers about every two weeks. They stand out by keeping most of their advertisement local and tasteful. Their articles are well written too.

I was lucky enough to have something published there under a nom de plume. It's a longer and slightly less informal article than you'll usually see here, but I hope you like it. And with luck, you'll be able to look forward to more of the same.

-SdJ

Zito's part two, the revenge. (the delivery, actually)

We changed dinner plans tonight and ordered in from Zito's via Seamless. (Yes, I know that Seamless cuts down on the profit a restaurant makes on its meals, and yes, I know that it can take a little longer. I'm sorry. Sorry, Zito!)

Trying to eat as healthy as possible after a week of junk food from trucks, we ordered the Sicilian Tuna and the Panelle. Unfortunately, they were out of the latter, so it was replaced with the Meatless. (I should point out that this is the second time that we've tried Zito's, and the second time they've been out of a sandwich.) we also remembered that we could choose our rolls and skipped the default Rustico in favor of the wheat.

An hour and change later, the sandwiches arrived. The tuna was a dark brown, which was a little bit of a turn off at first, considering that Tongol and similar are usually a blondish gold at their darkest. this sandwich also comes with balsamic vinegar and olive tapenade, though, which explain the color. Pretty tasty and tangy from caper berries, and kept somewhat fresh with the addition of cherry tomatoes and arugula, it was a good sandwich. For $8.50, though, a person could do better.

The Meatless had plump and meaty grilled portobello mushrooms, bright green and spicy broccoli rabe, and roasted red peppers. The mushrooms were great, and the rabe and peppers were the best of a classic Italian combination of tastes. The artichoke spread listed on the menu, however, was barely perceptible on this sandwich. Again, the price was high for what we got.

Half and Half - the Meatless and the Sicilian Tuna

I should point out here that the bread was excellent. Most while wheat variations of a sub roll can get to be too dense and heavy. These, while certainly substantial, were chewy and light enough to allow the flavors of most of the sandwich fillings to be enjoyed. (although possibly responsible for the artichoke spread disappearing...)

Once more, Zito's is pretty good, but there's gotta be a better sandwich out there for the same price. But i suppose that convenience is a big draw in New York.

-SdJ

Holiday break

While I may have to work today, I can at least take off from my second job, even if I do enjoy it as much or more.

Thank You, Todd Rundgren

Like you didn't expect to hear this song at least once today...

-SdJ

That Little Lady

One of the surprises when I first visited New York city in my youth was that the Statue of Liberty didn't tower over everything, like the Jesus statue in Sao Paolo. But when we took a field trip out to the island one time, she was at least as big as I imagined. However, from 95% of Manhattan, you can't even see her.

Living in Philadelphia for years, our version of this was the Liberty Bell. Visitors always expected it to be enormous, or perched high in the air in some old colonial era tower. (It's no bigger than a small round person, and it's right at street level, easy to see if you want to. I got to see it just walking around town about once a week, which was nice.)

When I moved to my temporary housing in Manhattan around this time past year, I remember thinking how odd it was that I was on the 19th floor with a view over the roofs of most of the buildings around my apartment, and yet I couldn't see that statue. I had kindof secretly looked forward to having this grand symbol of hope to tell me I'd made a good decision in coming here. Instead, I mostly got to see steam coming out of parking garages and scaffolding covering office buildings.

When I found my first floor apartment here in Park Slope a couple months later, after speaking with the super and deciding to take it, and as I was walking out the front door and turning downhill towards the subway, there she was. Small in the distance, but visible straight down my street and out in the bay. Not every decision I've made has been the right one, but for the first time in New York, I felt welcome.

-SdJ

The Funk

I don't now when I first noticed the pattern, but most of my favorite things for a long time have been those that are less than perfect. No one would ever say that Tom Waits has a beautiful voice, or that Goya was a perfectionist as a painter. But to some people, the more raw and rough, the more flawed and jagged a thing, the more appealing.

I find this to be especially true in the things I eat and drink. I love the barn-y animal taste of certain funky sheep cheeses. I get excited to eat things that are described on menus as "musty" or in one exceptional case "like a dirty horse blanket."

When I'm offered scotch, I'll usually skip right over the smooth blended Macallan and choose a briny Oban, or a super peaty Laphroaig, which tastes like someone replaced the coffee in my French press with campfire ashes and the water with gasoline. In the best possible way.

If I am grabbing a quick beverage at a deli, I'd never take a cola if there's a sour bubbling fermented kombucha. If I'm ordering a beer I'll pass on the Guinness with its upwardly mobile bubbles in favor of an unblended Lambic with its wild, uncultivated yeasts.

There's a philosophy in art that basically says that beauty can't really exist without imperfection to compare it to. (There's also that particular type of semi-attractive person who's always surrounding themselves with less attractive people for the same reason...) Well maybe the imperfection is whats also the most fascinating. Maybe deep down, we all need a little funk.

-SdJ

Crisp on Wheels (yes, another food truck)

I've seen this truck on my twitter feed from time to time but was never really sure what they served. I honestly thought they made fries and other fried foods, maybe like a British fish and chips type of thing based on the name. I was wrong. They even have a couple of restaurant locations too. Who knew?

The truck

Falafel is the name of the game here. Not the most original idea in New York city, I know, but they've put some effort into making it stand out from the crowd. The packaging, first and foremost, is a little over the top. Tear away boxes with the company logo obviously aren't as cheap as some foil and waxed paper, and I'm sure I'm absorbing that cost at $8.50 for a sandwich.

There's at least $0.50 of your meal right there

What's inside, at least, is a bit more interesting than your average street falafel pita. Choices of toppings you won't find anywhere else are the main draw here. There are plenty of other combinations but I chose the "Crisp Africa" with peanut sauce, bean and corn salad, sliced cherry tomatoes, and soft cooked sweet potato schmeared inside of the pita, (I was hoping for whole wheat, but they were out, and ended up with white,) that held my fresh falafel balls. Iceberg lettuce has a cheap connotation, but it's crisper and lighter than romaine or something and I liked it in here. "Habanero harissa" sauce was listed and I'm guessing that's what the green stuff was in the little cup on the side, but I'm used to habaneros being yellow to orange, and Harissa being red. Maybe I was inadvertently subbed something else, which would explain the wonderful flavor of cilantro in that sauce... Anyway, the falafel was a deep, (and yes, crisp,) chestnut brown on the outside and a fragrant sea green on the inside. Good combination with that green mystery sauce. Top notch.

Overflowing pita!

The "guacho mint" iced tea isn't worth the $2.25 listed on the menu for the little 12oz cup if you order it a la carte, but you might as well throw one onto your meal for a dollar. It's basic but refreshing, without any nasty sweeteners.

There are certainly cheaper falafel carts and trucks, (even brick-and-mortar stores,) but the falafel here is spot-on and the choices of toppings are unique. Try them at least once.

-SdJ