Posted by Robyn Lee, November 18, 2008 at 3:05 PM
As a testament to my lack of a social life, I had no idea that half of Williamsburg went out drinking on Friday nights until I found myself roaming around the area in the wee hours of the morning—stepping around bar-goers in the process. I was headed towards Bonjin, a roving Williamsburg Japanese restaurant concept that just found a new home inside the Korean restaurant Dokebi. It only operates on Friday nights from midnight to 4 a.m. (after Dokebi closes), and the food clearly caters to the late-night drinking crowd. So what was I, a non-drinker, doing there? To get Japanese comfort food—specifically ramen.
But there's more to Bonjin than ramen. The menu for last Friday night also featured zousui (rice porridge), kakuni (stewed pork belly), edamame, and carrot salad. My friend and I started with the carrot salad ($3) made of long, thin strands of raw carrot dressed with Japanese sea salt, olive oil, white wine vinegar, and a bit of garlic and pepper. Simple and surprisingly delicious, this dish quickly went into our bellies.
Continue reading »
Posted by Tam Ngo, November 14, 2008 at 6:00 PM
A Mast Brothers chocolate bar with almonds and sea salt.
While upending the shelves at Stone Barns for new treasure, I stumbled across a Mast Brothers chocolate bar flecked with almonds. And sea salt! I have an underdeveloped sweet-tooth but an overdeveloped salt-tooth, so this discovery thrilled me to the core. (What an ideal snack for a lazy Friday autumn-birthday afternoon!)
As revealed in our prior interview with the Mast brothers, the brothers pride themselves on their handmade chocolates, with beans sourced from farms throughout the southern latitudes. The brothers clean, sort, roast, and refine the cacao beans in small batches themselves. They also develop the flavor profiles, making the bars from a tiny kitchen in Brooklyn. Finally, they hand-wrap and Scotch-tape the pretty bars shut. The whole operation is charmingly understated. And the clean geometries of their patterned papers hold exquisite appeal.
But the taste? What about the taste? The shingles of salt are crisp and fun, but the almonds are more decorative than delicious.
Moreover, the chocolate is wooden in flavor and reveals little when warmed on the tongue. Like the mouth-drying I feel when eating Scharffen Berger, the sensation is slightly astringent. The Mast Brothers' chocolate is a more Germanic take; it doesn't bloom nor linger in the mouth the way a French or Belgian indulgence might.
The bar would make a good gift for a friend with aesthetic leanings and will please those who prefer straightforward flavors. While I didn't find it especially tasty, it is tasteful. It is, appreciably, a smart-looking bar.
Mast Brothers Chocolate
mastbrotherschocolate.com
Available at the following locations:
Marlow & Sons; 81 Broadway, Brooklyn NY 11211
Spuyten Duyvil Grocery; 218 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211
Stone Barns; 630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills NY 10591
Urban Rustic; 236 North 12th Street, Brooklyn NY 11211
Artists & Fleas; 129 N 6th St, Brooklyn NY 11211
Rubiner's Cheesemongers; 264 Main Road, Great Barrington MA 01230
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 31, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Photographs from Bonjin Cafe's blog
Bonjin is a "movable restaurant concept" that has been serving Japanese food in different parts of Brooklyn since 2006. Starting this November, they'll serve ramen (tonkotsu and miso) on Friday nights from midnight to 4 a.m. at Korean restaurant Dokebi in Williamsburg. Opening night is on November 14, but they're having an opening party on the 7th from midnight to 2 a.m. RSVP to bonjincafe@gmail.com or 347-429-0329. [via Umami Mart] 199 Grand Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 (b/n Bedford Ave and Driggs Ave; map)
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 29, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Serious Eater Robyn stopped by my place Sunday afternoon, brown paper bag in hand. "I have a surprise for you!" she declared, before promptly handing over the bag with much care. Curious, I lifted the heavy, chilled bag and slid the contents out onto a glass plate. "Cheesecake?" "Pumpkin!" "Oh goodness, is that a nut crust?" We eagerly grabbed a pair of forks from the kitchen and then sunk them deep, all the way down the gently spiced airy light cheesecake—a creamy tower of sweet pumpkin. At the base rested a crust composed of little more than chopped pecans, bound in a toothsome moist mass, a fantastic departure from the usual crushed graham cracker number. Heavy in weight, though surprisingly light on the mouth and in the stomach, it's the ideal closer to a hearty October meal.
Cheeks Bakery
378 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (nr. Havemeyer Street; map)
718-599-3583
http://www.cheeksbakery.com/
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
When I told the waiter that my friend and I were going to share a bunch of arepas—Venezuelan sandwich-like cornmeal patties stuffed with meats, cheese, and more—he looked at us like we were crazy. "Uh, how many do you want?" After taking into consideration the waiter's fear of us overeating arepas, we ended up sharing three arepas, each one about the size of a really fat, kid's-sized burger, and an order of guacamole and tortilla chips (in addition to the complimentary bowl of plantain chips). As I underestimated the size of an arepa (or overestimated my hunger), we were completely stuffed by the end of the meal.
My favorite arepa is the pabellon filled with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains, and grated cheese. Each hearty bite through the crisp and soft cornmeal "buns" is full of tender, juicy beef. Accompanied by the creamy beans and starchy plantain, this arepa should fill you up, although the first time I ate one I remember wanting to eat another right afterwards.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 15, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Or, 'Chicken-Fried Eggs, Uncaged'
We were all pleasantly surprised to open the New York Times Magazine last weekend and read that the notorious Kenny Shopsin was inspired to create his State Fair Plate (corn-dog sausage, s’mores pancakes, and chicken-fried eggs) by a post he saw here on the site. I'm guessing it was one of the many posts we've done on state fairs, maybe even this one that mentions a "not-so-typical chocolate-covered chicken stick."
Probably around the same time we were reading that article, Tina "The Wandering Eater" Wong and her friend visited Shopsin's for brunch and had ... the State Fair Plate! ("Helen’s favorite part of the dish was the s’more cakes since it’s very sweet. When I tried a wedge, I felt like I’m eating little pancakes that’s made with a pound of sugar.") Shopsins: Essex Street Market, Stall No. 16, 120 Essex Street, New York NY 10002 (b/n Delancey and Rivington streets; map); shopsins.com
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 3, 2008 at 6:00 PM
South Williamsburg isn't known for being a dessert haven, but if you ever find yourself by the Hewes Street stop on the J train, head to Moto for their warm date cake with toffee sauce and fresh whipped cream. Although the cake is perfectly moist and soft with a medium-light crumb, the buttery toffee sauce is what I remember best. I'd eat it by the spoonful if they'd let me (not that I asked; maybe they would've given me a bowl if I did) or, better yet, carry a flask everywhere I go if that were socially acceptable. My friends I sponged up every last bit of the sauce with the cake, just stopping short of licking the plate clean.
Moto
394 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (at Hooper Street; map)
(718) 599-6895
cafe-moto.com
Posted by Carey Jones, September 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Little red velvet cupcake from Penny Licks
Today, The L Magazine's website gives us a charming cartoon roundup/checklist of New York's best red velvet cupcakes. 9 cupcakes make the list, from the usual suspects Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Batch to the non-Magnolia-knockoffs like Daisy May's BBQ and Amy's Bread.
I'd like to throw the little red velvets from Penny Licks into the mix, out in L Mag territory Williamsburg. They're kiddy-looking but amazing-tasting, with a still-gooey interior and impossibly buttery buttercream frosting. (And isn't the whole point of the cupcake fetish to indulge our childish sides?) Plus, they come in both vegan and non-vegan versions: a huge plus in Williamsburg, when any gathering of more than 1.5 people is likely to have a vegan in the group.
Any Red Velvets out there that deserve a shout-out? Let us know.
Penny Licks
158 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 (near 8th Street; map)
718-384-0158
Related:
Sugar Rush: Vegan Strawberry Vanilla Mousse Cake from Penny Licks
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 15, 2008 at 6:00 PM
While I find vegan restaurants to be disappointing about 50 percent of the time (I like to accommodate my vegan friends when I eat, alright?), I have much better luck with vegan baked goods and sometimes even prefer them to the "real" thing. When I went to Penny Licks—a candy, ice cream, and vegan bake shop in Williamsburg—the beautiful and pristine strawberry vanilla mousse cake jumped out at me. I devoured about a third of the ginormous $6 quadruple-layer cake wedge before fullness kicked in. But I kept going—the fluffy, lightly sweetened and strawberry-flavored mousse went down a lot easier than conventional frosting, and the cake, while a bit dense, was satisfyingly moist and not too sweet. Maybe I'll just meet my vegan friends at Penny Licks from now on.
Penny Licks
158 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 (b/n N 8th and N 9th; map)
718-384-0158
Posted by Alaina Browne, September 10, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Butcher Tom Mylan removing the tenderloin
What better way to celebrate a birthday than by attending a pig butchering class? At least that's what I thought when I reserved two spots at last night's class at The Brooklyn Kitchen as a birthday present for my husband (he agrees!). The official class description:
Butcher Tom Mylan (Marlow and Sons/Diner/Bonita) will take us through how to cut up a half a pig, while explaining where common and some uncommon cuts come from on the animal. We will be using a farm-raised pig from Fleisher's meats in Kingston, NY. Each attendee will receive a portion (approx 6-8lbs) of meat to take home. This will be a demonstration with ample time for questions but will not be hands on.
Continue reading »
Posted by Jenn Sit, August 25, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Like all of you serious eaters out there, not only do I love food, I love reading about food. So it's not always easy to read reviews of restaurants way out of my price range; places that fall on the side of aspirational, rather than attainable. NYC Restaurant Week seems to be a way to help out those more frugal, yet it still gets mixed reviews on the whole. For me, shelling out at least $25 for lunch feels like a stretch, but at the same time special occasions call for special measures. It seemed a little too fortuitous that my boyfriend was visiting me for the same two weeks of this summer's Restaurant Week. We could have blown our budget, but careful planning makes timed splurges possible: we ended up eating two RW meals—one at Cafe Boulud and the other at Zenkichi, which could very well be the best date place in the city.
Continue reading »
Patron: What do you suggest if I don't want red meat?
Luger's waiter: Another restaurant.
[via Overheard in New York]
Posted by Jenn Sit, July 23, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Meeting up with friends for food and drinks in the city always seems to end with me bemoaning the state of my ATM balance the next morning. Last weekend, my solution to going out without going broke was to skip the wine bars and take advantage of the beautiful weather by having a wine and cheese outing in Central Park. With wine from Trader Joe's and cheese and bread from East Village Cheese, it was a great way to catch up with friends, people watch, and most of all, relax.
Trader Joe's love is not an unknown sentiment on the pages of Serious Eats, but you can never sound enough praise for their three-buck-chuck. If you've never had it before, go out and buy a case—now. It goes for cheap, but doesn't taste like it, and will put your $10 Barefoot wine to shame. I met my friend in front of the NYU dorms on 14th Street, conveniently located next to the Trader Joe's Wine Shop. After picking up a bottle or two, we turned the corner at 3rd Ave and headed down to East Village Cheese to complete our Friday afternoon picnic.
Continue reading »
... after reporting that its delivery boys were cute: "When I called, the woman who answered the phone had to ask the delivery guy if he was still delivering, because that night they 'had about 30 more delivery orders than usual.'"
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 21, 2008 at 10:00 AM
As Brooklyn bands played in the backyard of East Williamsburg's 3rd Ward on Sunday, the real rock star was making music by taking a big, serrated knife to a 200 pound roast pig. Butcher Tom Mylan of Diner, Bonita, and Marlow & Sons fathered the pig roasting part of the 1st Annual Pig Roast & Dance Party, and all eyes were on him. Watching Mylan is like watching an indie rock band on the cusp of stardom. He'll be big soon enough, but for now, it's mostly just hip Brooklynites fawning over him—the Ray-Ban-protected ones willing to trek out to Morgan Street yesterday for his meat. Whether you're stalking him at the Un-Fancy Food Show (he was one of the organizers), watching him spread pate at the Taste of Brooklyn, or attending one of his many butchering demos at The Brooklyn Kitchen, here are some tidbits of info from yesterday's event that every card-carrying-fan-club-member will want to know:
- Mylan's guest of honor weighed 197-pound and came from Mario and Son's Italian butcher in Williamsburg (Mario himself delivered the animal.)
- As a Southern California native, he misses his good, dirt-cheap Mexican food, hence the taco interpretation of a pig roast. He basted the animal with a salsa roja made from Mexican chilis like cassia, garlic, onion, and cilantro.
- Other garnishes for the tacos included a salsa verde made of roasted tomatillos, cilantro and lime juice, and a dressing with onion, lime, and cilantro. So good, the salsa stock depleted early, but Mylan threw together more onions with salsa roja for a wing-it replacement. (Nobody seemed to notice.)
- Mylan was exhausted by 6:15 p.m. taco scarfing time. He first got his hands on the fresh pig at 9 a.m. Sunday morning, roasted it from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and didn't stop all day—except for a few sample bites of crispy skin between cuts.
Warning: Giant roasted pig after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 9, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Two surprises welcomed hipster attendees of the McCarren Park Pool's free showing of Wet Hot American Summer last night: actors Paul Rudd and Michael Showalter showing up to introduce their 2001 flick, and across the way, the Taste of Williamsburg, a hardly publicized event going on at the same time.
Continue reading »
Posted by Jenn Sit, July 1, 2008 at 3:00 PM
This weekend, I was on the prowl around the neighborhood in Williamsburg looking for delicious late night eats. The idea of late night dining may conjure up the sights and smells of greasy pizza, hot dogs, Halal trucks, and kebabs, but sometimes even a piglet like me needs to class it up a bit. A few too many indulgences at Artichoke the night before had left me wanting to decrease the grease for once. I ended up at Bozu, a Japanese tapas lounge inconspicuously hidden behind sleek wooden slats amid Williamsburg's otherwise abandoned-factory-turned-hipster-apartment landscape.
I took a seat at the bar, passed on the drink menu, which included a wide range of cocktails, shochu, and sake—from Wabi-sake (wasabi, sake, and vodka) to kumquat shochu—and went straight for the dinner menu, which was lined with cocktail napkin drawings by past patrons. The menu featured what you might find at other Japanese joints, but with a Bozu twist— the tuna tataki is topped with grape and plum sorbet, while the tuna tartar gets lemon-infused shochu sorbet.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 27, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Clockwise from top left: Like many places, Egg provides crayons for you to color on the white paper tablecloths; I drew an egg whose color comes from a thin wash of coffee. If you're not an early bird, you'll wait for 40 minutes to an hour with the rest of the worms. My breakfast—two eggs scrambled, toast, a hash brown, and bacon.
Until a couple weeks ago, I had never been to Egg, the famed breakfast-brunch spot in Williamsburg. I live in Park Slope, so it's a little out of my way for the morning meal. Usually I'm hungry and cranky and just want to get something in my stomach to take the grouch off. But the girlfriend and I were in the Valley of the Hipster for the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair, so we decided to try Egg while we were in the neighborhood.
It was awesome. And the breakfast I had there is still in my dreams. I hope that blogging it here will keep it from haunting me. Egg's chef-partner, George Weld, really knows how to do up eggs, as you'd damn well expect from the name of his joint. I was lured by the breakfast sandwich but tried the "two eggs any way" plate, opting for scrambled. It's a seemingly simple dish, but it's a true indicator of an eggslinger's worth, because scrambleds are so easy to screw up. Mine were creamy, moist, and perfect, as befitting the heart-shaped pile they made on my plate, which I'm sure was a bit of an accidental Rorschach.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 25, 2008 at 2:30 PM
In response to the Fancy Food Show, setting up this weekend as it has annually since 1955, the Unfancy Food Show will bypass the dehydrated foie gras chocolate-caliber fanciness for its second year to showcase handmade delicacies produced right here in small-scale batches.
Vendors such as Bronx Bee Honey, Jasper Hill Farm cheeses, McClure’s Pickles, Sixpoint Craft Ales and twelve other inspiring artisans will meet, rain or shine, at the East River Bar, a former paint factory and Billyburg institution. Skip the frenetic 675,000-square foot Javits Convention Center to meet passionate bean roasters, cheese mongers and pickle briners eager to feed you samples and stories. Unfanciness will take place Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
Unfancy Food Show at the East River Bar
97 South 6th Street, Brooklyn New York 11211 (map)
718-302-0511
Posted by Ed Levine, June 24, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Fiore
284 Grand Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 (near Roebling; map); 718-782-8222
Must-Haves: Lardo pizza; cavatelli with broccoli rabe and sausage; skirt steak with salsa verde; fried calamari and zucchini
What You'll Spend: $30 for two courses, a glass of wine, tax, and tip
Grade: B+
Remember back in the day, when going out to eat an Italian meal in New York was not an extravagance or much of a financial commitment? Those were the days of red sauce; chicken, veal, and eggplant parm; lasagna and baked ziti; baked clams and fried zucchini; of an Italian meal that cost less than $25 a head.
Then real authentic fancy-pants northern Italian food appeared in New York when Lidia and Felix Bastianich opened Felidia in 1981. Ten years ago Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich opened Babbo, and now the city is awash with first-rate expensive Italian restaurants. Don't get me wrong. I love the food at Del Posto, Scarpetta, Alto, Fiamma, and the like, but, oh how I long for the first-rate, authentically Italian, seriously delicious Italian repast that doesn't dent the wallet quite so heavily.
Enter Giancarlo Quadalti. Quadalti, the chef-partner at the fine, unheralded Teodora on East 57th Street, is a well-seasoned, incredibly talented Italian chef (from Emilia Romagna) who wants all of us serious eaters to eat terrific Italian food and not pay through the nose for it. He has done that at Celeste on the Upper West Side, Bianca in the East Village, and now he has even raised his game with Fiore in Williamsburg, which he opened with the equally talented chef-partner Roberto Aita (Roc) in a building that Quadalti lives in, above the restaurant. Fiore might be the best Italian food bargain in town.
Continue reading »
Posted by Zach Brooks, May 14, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Basil and chocolate cupcakes get the runner-up prize.
On Monday, the Brooklyn Kitchen held its second annual Cupcake Cookoff at Union Pool in Williamsburg. With the irresistible bait of free homemade cupcakes, the place was packed with competing bakers, their supporters, and cupcake freeloaders (like me). The crowd favorite was probably by no coincidence the cupcake that paired best with beer—the very excellent Rogue Porter Chocolate Cake with Salted-Caramel Icing. Money was raised, cupcakes were judged, photos were taken, and various prizes were given out. Luckily, cupcake obsessed bloggers were out in full effect, making my job much easier. Here are some good links for those of you who can't get enough cupcakes.
Full Official Results [The Brooklyn Kitchen Blog]
Second Annual Cupcake Cookoff Recap [Cupcakes Take the Cake]
Brooklyn Kitchen Cupcake Cookoff [Blondie & Brownie]
Posted by Ed Levine, January 1, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Bonita, owned by the same folks that own Marlowe & Sons and Diner, had terrific fish tacos, a fine heritage pork burrito, and creamy, well-spiced guacamole. The chicken in the chicken taco was a little dry, and I wish the house-made tortillas were a little flakier, but all I can tell you is that I wish I had a taqueria in my neighborhood this good.
Bonita
Address: 338 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Phone: 718-384-9500
Website: bonitanyc.com
Also at:
Address: 243 DeKalb Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY
Phone: 718-622-5300
Late this morning I'm headed to Williamsburg with my brother for a little food exploration. I know for sure we's going to hit Bonita and Dumont Burger. I wanted to go to Fette Sau, but it doesn't open until five. Any other must stops?
