Posted by Ed Levine, April 20, 2008 at 7:21 PM
I've already been to two seders and this evening I'll be hitting my third. There have been a number of outstanding take-out dishes:
Dark chocolate-covered matzo with sea salt from City Bakery: This just knocked me out. I'm sure it's not kosher for passover, but it sure was delicious.
Gefilte Fish from Citarella: I'm still not a gefilte fish convert, but Citarella's gefilte fish actually tastes like fish and not jellied seafood matter. My sister-in-law served it with real balsamic vinegar, which kind of worked.
Matzo ball soup from Yura: Phenomenal matzo soup featuring light and fluffy matzo balls and flavorful, well-seasoned broth that tasted like a chicken had actually been used in making the soup.
This is probably not useful information for this year unless you hold a seder on the third night of Passover, but there's always next year in New York or Jerusalem.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 25, 2006 at 8:33 AM
With local berries and stone fruit appearing at farmer's markets all over the tri-state area, a man's attention turns to pie.
Real pie, doublecrusted pie, the crust made with some combination of shortening, lard, and butter. The mark of a great pie maker is his or her ability to make a great doublecrusted fruit pie. Don't get me wrong, I love crumb pies and meringue pies and cream pies as well. It's just that a perfectly flaky doublecrusted pie, with the bottom crust golden brown instead of gummy, the fruit tender and not goopy or too runny, is a thing of beauty, and mighty delicious as well.
So without further adieu my top five NYC pie bakers:
Yura: Yura goes by one name, like a rock star or a supermodel. She can get away with that because her pies are so damn good. I serve her ready to bake apple pie at Thanksgiving, and unless you're one of those persons who insist on making their own pies, you should, too.
Sweet Melissa's: Melissa Murphy Hagenbart first became known for her delicious butterscotcch pudding when she was the pastry chef at Home on Cornelia Street a zillion years ago. She started selling extraordinary Thanksgiving pies outside the side door of the restaurant around that time, and she's just kept on going. She's got two bakeries now, one on Houston Street and the other on Court Street in Carroll Gardens (it takes guts to open a bakery in Carroll Gardens and not sell cannolis), and her pies are still very serious indeed.
Two Little Red Hens: I know I kvelled over their cheesecake in the Times and their birthday cakes on my blog, but Christina Winkler and her partner Mary Louise Clemens just flat out know how to make great homey baked goods using terrific ingredients and ferocious culinary curiousity and passion.
Mitchel London Foods: Mitchel London is an eccentric to be sure, but the man flat out knows how to make great food. His apple pies are towering beauties, filled with firm fruit and just enough cinammon and sugar. Sometimes his all butter crust isn't quite as flaky as I would like.
Little Pie Company : The place has gone a bit corporate in recent years, and the sour cream apple streusel pie, while still being pretty good, has become a cliche, but these guys still make a mean double-crusted pie. The crust is flaky and light, the fruit doesn't drip out of pie like a waterfall, and the bottom crust is usually just as brown as the top.
I know I've probably missed somebody, but I gotta go.
P.S. I know we all like to think of all these farmer mothers and grandmothers making great pies that their sons and daughters schlep to the city farmer's markets, but invariably I have been disappointed by pies I've bought at farmer's markets. That's why I always say let farmers grow and bakers bake.
