City - Thursday, January 29, 2009 13:31 - 0 Comments
Stanton Social
Not only has the recent spell of despicably cold weather nipped at my already chapped extremities, but it’s also induced a paralyzing idleness when it comes to eating. I’ve become an Atkins nightmare. I’ll settle for instant polenta and peanut butter Puffins any day if it saves me from leaving my apartment to be consumed by the howling winds.
My parents offered to take me out to a belated birthday dinner this past Wednesday. Free food and wine? Yes, please. Keeping the above-mentioned agoraphobia in mind, I booked a table at The Stanton Social since it’s located on my block. And no, Whitney Port’s dinner date there a couple weeks ago on MTV’s The City did not influence this decision (though I am embarrassed to have seen a full episode of that show).
City, Featured - Monday, January 26, 2009 6:00 - 6 Comments
Sugar Coating Racism With “Drunken Negro Face” Cookies
Though New York City food vendors have invoked a sense of solidarity by dubbing French fries after our new and widely-celebrated president, one notorious baker received his fifteen minutes of shame by creating the racist “Drunken Negro Face” cookie. The culprit and Lafayette French Pastry Bakery worker, Ted Kefalinos, was recently featured in Fox News’ addictive and humiliating “Shame, Shame, Shame” clip in which he spouted flagrant remarks regarding Barack Obama and African Americans in general. Kefalinos even went so far as to overtly suggest the president’s imminent assassination, comparing him to Abraham Lincoln: “He’s following in the same path as Abraham Lincoln. He will get his.” Continue…
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, December 8, 2008 17:08 - 1 Comment
Go to Raj Mahal for Food and Hilarity
Despite my theory that the string of E. 6th St. Indian restaurants questionably shares one large papadum and curry-churning kitchen, Raj Mahal still retains its position as the hokiest and most hilarious place to celebrate a birthday. It’s sort of like the Friday’s of Indian restaurants – even if it’s not someone’s birthday, the spectacle merits lying to one of the sweet-faced waiters. And luckily, since it isn’t Friday’s, no obnoxious “sound-off” chants are sung by depressed forty-year olds in button-sprinkled suspenders. Also, you lie for the celebration, not for the free Oreo Madness.
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, November 24, 2008 12:11 - 2 Comments
Caracas
Any restaurant that can upstage arrogant celebrity chef Bobby Flay is worthy of praise. I stopped by Caracas tonight to sample the arepa that took the man down on his newest Food Network show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay. There’s usually a throng of people waiting outside the red vestibule at the 7th St. eatery. Lucky for me, 9:15 pm on a Sunday night is a pretty dead time to dine out. Other than me, the cooks, and the iconic Virgin María protruding from the wall, Caracas To-Go was empty. Its sister restaurant, Caracas Arepa Bar, is located next door and accommodates diners who want to stay a while and enjoy table service.
I ordered the arepa de pabellón ($6.75), which is a fried cornmeal pouch stuffed with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains, and cotija cheese. The food was delivered to me immediately (I really was the only one there). The arepa appears small but is stuffed to the brim and leaves you in a similar state. The beef was tender, the plantains subtly sweet, and the cheese salty and tangy. I’ve had the arepa de pollo ($5.75) in the past and would definitely suggest the pabellón instead. Its various flavors and textures add depth to the meal yet work harmoniously.
Photo by Allix Geneslaw
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, November 17, 2008 11:20 - 3 Comments
Sunburnt Cow: Boozy Brunch Spot
Waking up on a weekend morning (and by morning I mean afternoon) with a throat like sandpaper and a heavy case of alcohol-induced dizzies hardly welcomes the notion of inserting vodka into your a.m. Tropicana. When my coworkers invited me to an all-you-can-drink Aussie Saturday brunch at The Sunburnt Cow, needless to say I was a bit hesitant to attend. After all, their motto is “get wet or get burnt.”
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, November 10, 2008 12:05 - 2 Comments
Ramen Wars
Thin, wavy noodles and basic pork broth from Kambi
If I don’t eat ramen at least once a week, my body enters a dangerous state of sodium deficiency-induced paralysis. With every saline spoonful of piping hot broth, I feel my limbs gradually engorging like basketballs overfilled with air. I crave the tender pork and resilient noodles that glisten beneath their soupy blanket, and I long to hear emphatic shouts of “irasshaimase!” and communal noodle slurping. In light of Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s recent East Village ramen rating, I’ve also decided to compare some of the purveyors of this typical Japanese street food. Unfortunately, unlike Morimoto, I don’t get paid to eat and consequently did not stop by his top pick, Momofuku Noodle Bar. At $16 a bowl, I’ll leave it to the salaried food bloggers to verify Morimoto’s assessment.
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, November 3, 2008 9:49 - 2 Comments
Porchetta Will Stick To Your Gut
Slow-roasting is the cooking method of the gods. Anything that sits in an oven for hours, seeping in its own juices and fat is destined for greatness. Exhibit A: the porchetta sandwich (pronounced pork-etta, which sounds like it could be an Italianism for a hunchbacked, barrel-chested matron), whose namesake is shared by the newly-opened East Village restaurant that specializes in this meaty, fatty Italian rendition of pork roast. After reading positive reviews of the sandwich in both the New York Times and Serious Eats: New York, I decided to head over to Porchetta to try this tasty little morsel.
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, October 27, 2008 9:20 - 1 Comment
Halloween Treats Without Turning Tricks
For the vertically-challenged who are forced to derive entertainment from staring at the backs of strangers’ heads at the Halloween Parade (I speak from experience), imbibing pre-festivities is essential. Instead of heading out to the Pour House to fist-pump with washed-up frat boys, I recommend some of these tasty, fall-inspired booze options from Liqurious: Liqurious: pumpkin & gingerbread cocktail and spiked apple cider.
As for munchies, here’s a list of sugary and/or pumpkin-infused goodies featured at restaurants throughout the city:
City, Recommended Restaurants - Monday, October 20, 2008 7:57 - 4 Comments
A Salt & Battery Might Be Violently Delicious
Entering A Salt & Battery in the West Village, I half-expected (and desperately hoped) to be taken down by the Poppins and ruthlessly mocked by a crowd of burly Cockneys, just like in Arrested Development’s Wee Britain. The atmosphere, which is colored by groups of angry, British construction workers slinging expressions like “bloody Hell” and “‘ello love”, makes the experience, though the crispy fried fish definitely pulls its weight, too. For a fish & chips joint, I’d expect nothing less than this dangerously-close approach to Wee Britain.
City - Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:26 - 1 Comment
Pets Can Be Tasty: Art in the West Village
In Banksy’s world, you and Fluffy the pet rabbit can sweep pink blush against your porcelain cheekbones (and, er, fur) as you get ready for a night of wild club hopping together. The enigmatic British street artist has designed a mock-pet store in the West Village in which animals adopt human mannerisms and are displayed as manufactured edible and material goods. Titled “The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill”, the art exhibition bridges animal and human behaviors and habitats into a trippy world of encaged frat boy chimps and makeup-applying Peter (or Patty, more accurately) Cottontails. A monkey sits behind an episode of mating chimpanzees on the Discovery Channel, a crushed beer can under his foot and headphones perched on his ears. The white rabbit perfects her appearance in a vanity mirror complete with used nail polish bottles and eye shadows.
