Yesterday Gothamist launched a new food section that will feature a weekly column/recipe from Joe DeSalazar, founder and chef of foodie. Using Thomas Keller's Butter Poached Lobster recipe as a starting point, Joe's created Butter Poached Lobster & Peach Salad Avocado, Mint, Frisee. It sounds delicious and like something I might have to try and create. I'm sure I'll be checking in weekly to see what else Joe concocts.
A rather disheartening article in the week's New York magazine, The Death of the Diner: What's killing the cheeseburger deluxe?
Sad but true: The classic New York coffee shop is fading fast. The recession is part of the problem; according to Pan Gregorian Enterprises, a purchasing co-op for coffee shops and diners that has 475 local members, revenues were down 20 percent last year. But there are other forces at work, from skyrocketing rents to Starbucks hegemony, that are forcing coffee-shop owners...into retirement.
Some of my favorite Manhattan places to eat are diners: in Tribeca I frequently had lunch at the Square Diner (at the intersection of Leonard and West Broadway), closer to my hood I like Joe Jr's on Sixth Avenue and the Bonbonniere on Eighth Avenue. And whenever I go to the movies up on 34th Street, I like to have a pre-theatre meal at the Cheyenne, at Ninth Avenue and 33rd Street.
One of the things I missed most about the east coast during my tenure in San Francisco were diners, and one of the highlights of my first return to New York City after an absence of many years was our trip to the now-demolished Jones Diner. It might have been the final push I needed to move back east. I've never tasted a better grilled cheese, or a worse cup of coffee, or had a nicer time on a cold winter's afternoon with the light fading into a cruddy January grey. There's a lot I could do without in this world, but I can't say that I want to live a life without my diners.
In the midst of lively recounting of Canada Day, Maciej enjoys his first dish of the Canadian delight, poutine (cheese curds, brown gravy, and french fries).
The brown gravy was turpid and dark, with a sturdy tannin structure supporting notes of oak, wood smoke, spice, aniseed and musk. There was the faintest hint of chocolate and raspberry in the finish, though that may have reflected a previous use of the serving dish. In the nose, the poutine was beefy and slightly insolent - I detected an almost wanton playfulness, the evanescent flavors frolicking together like young beavers in a Gaspˇ pond at dusk - but in the mouth it opened to reveal a velvety (or perhaps Velveeta-like) smoothness that tenaciously clung to every membrane in my mouth, esophagus, and stomach for the next three hours.
Now who wouldn't want to eat that?
New York has a review of the new restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, located 30 miles north of New York City in Pocantico Hills, New York. I'm a big fan of Blue Hill in Greenwich Village, and when I first heard about the new spot, I added it to my list of restaurants to investigate, it sounds delicious. Also if you're interested in Blue Hill, be sure and check out the article (not available online), "Back on the Farm" in the July 2004 Gourmet by Blue Hill chef Dan Barber. It's all about going to his family farm with his staff to plant and pick veggies. Sounds wonderful. And yummy!
Megnut is a site about food written by Meg Hourihan. She lives in NYC. More...
Summer drinks should be like summer evenings: long, light and cool. Guest writer A.D. introduces some less common ones to enliven our senses during these wonderful long hot days.
Food traditions bind my family; I'm reminded of that every year when I drive to north-central Massachusetts to pick strawberries with my grandparents.
My mother swears by frozen fish. I was unconvinced, and decided to put her statements to the test: could flash-frozen fish taste as good as fresh local fish from the Greenmarket or even fresh fish from a local supermarket?
