Posted by Ed Levine, November 14, 2006 at 6:45 AM
WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR THANKSGIVING PIES THIS YEAR?
I once wrote a piece for the New York Observer advocating the nation skip the turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes, and opt for an all pie Thanksgiving meal. A meal consisting of, say, half a dozen pies would indeed be one that serious eaters would be thankful for.
To encourage serious eaters everywhere to take up my all pie Thanksgiving cause I am going to try to guide readers and users to the best pies available, both in New York, via mail order, and elsewhere (later this week)...
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, November 12, 2006 at 8:24 AM
A BY CITY GUIDE TO THANKSGIVING PIES
I once wrote a piece for the New York Observer advocating the nation skip the turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes, and opt for an all pie Thanksgiving meal. A meal consisting of, say, half a dozen pies would indeed be one that serious eaters would be thankful for.
To encourage serious eaters everywhere to take up my all pie Thanksgiving cause I am going to try to guide readers and users to the best pies available, both in New York and elsewhere.
First New York:
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, November 10, 2006 at 7:07 AM
The election is over, and we have gotten rid of quite a few turkeys. We have a new governor, Eliot Spitzer, and though he is a New Yorker he doesn't seem like he's the type of guy who cares about food. In fact I'd be willing to bet money (if Spitzer wouldn't throw me in jail for illegal gambling) that he's an "eat to live" kind of guy.
So I thought I'd give him a hand by offering him a list of five places to eat that might inject a little pleasure and fun into his life. The man looks like he could use all the help he can get in the fun department...
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, October 26, 2006 at 9:47 AM
If you haven't already checked out the piece on the world's foremost baguettologist in New York Magazine, you must. This is all you need to know about Steven L. Kaplan: When he speaks of baguettes he says things like "a global sense of the moment of penetration" in describing mouthfeel; or that baguettes have "had intercourse" when they're packed too tightly in the oven; or, finally, "It's as if the female crumb has completely reduced the male crust to helpless impotence" when he describes a soggy bread.
The problem with the story is that we never learn the exact criteria he uses in judging baguettes. We learn he has a 21-point grading stystem, but we never find out how he applies it.
But the story did start me thinking about baguettes in New York and around the country, and in the last three days I have bought ten baguettes to sample. What have I learned? One is that a baguette from the same bakery can vary greatly from day to day. The baguette from Pain D'Avignon was great one day, and pretty awful the next. This makes sense in a certain way. Bread baking is affected by outside temperature and humidity and changes in both from day to day. It's like pizza. Also, mass-baking baguettes is the ultimate challenge for any bread baker. Any one of six bakers in New York can make ten great baguettes a day. The real question is whether they can make thousands of very good baguettes in a day. Also, a baguette is an extremely perishable food item. It varies in taste and texture according to how many hours it's been out of the oven. A baguette that's one hour old tastes very different from a six hour-old baguette.
This is a long-winded way of asking all of you to vote for your favorite baguette, either in New York or out.
Here are the candidates I know about:
New York:
Eli's
Pain d'Avignon
Sullivan Street Bakery
Balthazar
Tomcat
Le Pain Quotidien
Outside New York:
La Brea Bakery: (originally LA, now nationwide)
Acme Bread: Bay Area
Bread Line (D.C.)
So cast your vote and tell me what you like about your favorite baguette. We're talking about regular baguettes here, not sourdough.
Vote early and often.
Posted by Ed Levine, October 9, 2006 at 9:18 AM
I don't even like espresso 
(in fact, I don't drink hot coffee of any kind.), but reading Peter Meehan's terrific story in the Times a few weeks ago made me think I should start downing double espressos at every opportunity. Meehan reported that a few New York-based baristas are markedly improving the New York coffeescape:
Ninth Street Espresso: 700 E. 9th Street (Avenue C), 212-358-9225
Gimme Coffee!: 495 Lorimer St. (at Powers), Williamsburg, 718-388-7771
Cafe Grumpy: 193 Meserole Ave. (at Diamond), Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 718-349-7623
Oslo Coffee Company: 133-B Roebling St. (N. Fourth), and 328 Bedford Ave. (S. Third St.), 718-782-0332
It's not surprising that all the serious espresso joints are in hipster havens. Read the whole story
Posted by Ed Levine, October 4, 2006 at 8:25 AM
For years we Upper West Siders 
have lamented that there's no place to eat around in their neighborhood. So when I sat down to list my favorite places on the UWS to grab a reasonably priced meal (main courses less than $20) without a reservation and advance planning, I was surprised at how many good places there are. Before I embark on this series of neighborhood guides I need to spell out our rating system:
1 star: Pretty Awful
2 stars: Doesn't really suck
3 stars: Pretty Good Eats
4 stars: Good Eats
5 stars: Serious Eats
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, October 3, 2006 at 10:08 AM
Is there anything better on this earth than the Chinese-style spare ribs that many of us grew up on? I don't think so. The good ones are tender, porky, and just sweet enough. The late Jerry Nachtman once wrote something to the effect that "I used to think that I could never get enough spare ribs." I'm that guy. I never think that I'll get enough spare ribs, especially now that a small order usually is less than six ribs.
Anyway, here's my top five list for Chinese-style spare ribs in NYC, in no particular order:
- Chinatown Brasserie: 380 Lafayette St. (Great Jones), 212-533-7000. They hired away the long-time barbecue guy at one of the Shun Lees. The ribs and duck here are amazing.
- Big Wong: 67 Mott Street (bet. Bayard and Canal), 212-964-0540: Big Wong ribs make a great Chinatown walking lunch, though you will need an entire roll of paper towels. The ribs are small, sticky, sweet four bite jobbies, served the traditional Chinese way, at room temperature.
- Pig Heaven: 1540 Second Ave. (80th and 81st Sts). 212-744-4333: Love the name, and they back it up with great ribs and even better suckling pig. The ribs here are long, lean, and incredibly meaty.
- Greater NY Noodletown: 28 1/2 Bowery (Bayard), 212-349-0923: Yeah, they're rude, but the barbecue, soups, and a few other dishes are outrageously good.
- Tang Tang: 1328 Third Avenue (76th St. 212-279-2102, 243 Third Ave. (20th St.) 212-477-0460: The crisper, crunchier ribs
There are holes on this list. Brooklyn or Queens Chinese ribs joints, anyone?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 29, 2006 at 8:02 AM
I'm glad that so many of you share my concern for the state of the pizza slice in Manhattan, but as a number of you pointed out, there are still a few spots serving slices worth eating:
- Patsy's: (East Harlem) The only coal-fired slice I know of in NYC.
- Sal and Carmine's: (Upper West Side) Solid slice, canned mushrooms, no delivery.
- Mimi's: (Upper East Side) Too much cheese, but that's true all over (pun intended)
- Maffei: (Chelsea) Best grandma slice in Manhattan
- Joe's: (West Village) As a reader pointed out, it seems unfair that the original Joe's location is now an Abitino's, one of those less than mediocre mini-chains spreading like pizza cheese.
- Bleecker St. Pizza: (West Village) Crisp-crusted Long Island-style slice transplanted to Manhattan
- Vinny Vincenz: (East Village) Unheralded but noteworthy thin-crusted Sicilian haven
- Famous Ben's: (Soho) I particularly like the Palermo Pizza, made with seasoned breadcrumbs and a sweet onion sauce.
- Pizza Suprema: (Midtown West) Fine sliceria that's good to know about when you're going to the Garden.
DeMarco's is okay, but it pales in comparison to DiFara.
Stromboli is no longer what it once was.
I can't think of a good slice in Tribeca.
Any other noteworthy slices?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 21, 2006 at 11:20 AM
Soup dumplings from Goodies
I have to say that I've been disappointed by my last few forays to Chinatown, both for dim sum and regular meals. That said, when I started to think about where I would send friends in Chinatown, I came up with a surprisingly long list:
New Chow Chao
Address: 111 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013 (b/n Canal and Hester; map)
Phone: 212-226-2590
Best wonton soup I've ever tasted and one of the great bargains of NY eating: $3.00 for a quart, a meal for two.
Chanoodle
Address: 79 Mulberry Street, New York, NY 10013 (b/n Bayard and Canal; map)
Phone: 212-349-1495
Lots of really fine cheap dishes, including great fried rice, fried fish and chicken, and a pork and clams dish that is scary good.
Big Wong
Address: 67 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013 (b/n Bayard and Canal; map)
Phone: 212-964-0540
Moist, meaty spare ribs that end up on my shirt as I wander around Chinatown.
Goodies
Address: 1 East Broadway, New York, NY 10038 (near Chatham Square; map)
Phone: 212-577-2922
Extraordinary soup dumplings, might be better than Joe's.
Great NY Noodletown
Address: 28 1/2 Bowery, New York, NY 10013 (near Bayard; map)
Phone: 212-349-0923
Salt-baked fish, wonton soup, and Chinese barbecue worth the wait (if it's not too long).
Posted by Ed Levine, September 18, 2006 at 7:27 AM
A number of ELE users commented, and rightly so, that all the places on my Best Italian restaurant list were all pretty damned pricey. So I thought I should take a stab at a list of potential top five neighborhood Italian restaurants. How do I define a neighborhood Italian restaurant?
A restaurant where you can eat two courses and a glass of wine and spend $25. Neighborhood restaurants that don't require as much of a financial commitment and advance planning. You might wait on line because in many cases these restaurants don't take reservations.
The trouble with most neighborhood Italian restaurants is that most often they serve food that is well-meaning but mediocre at best. That said, there are a number of wonderful neighborhood Italian restaurants sprinkled all over NY. The over-all experience at these neighborhood spots will not likely be as satisfying (service and space can often be lacking), but the food can be delicious.
Here is my list of contenders:
Anthony's: Park Slope
Bianca: Noho
Biricchino: Chelsea
Celeste: Upper West Side
Cono & Sons: Williamsburg
Da Andrea: West Village
Frankies 457 Spuntino: Carroll Gardens
Frankies Clinton St. Spuntino: Lower East Side
Franny's: Park Slope
Gennaro: Upper West Side
Il Bagatto: East Village
Inoteca: Lower East Side
Joe's of Avenue U: Gravesend, Brooklyn
Manducatis: Long Island City
Nick's: Upper East Side
Sapori D'Ischia: Woodside, Queens
Sette Medi: Morningside Heights
Tommaso's: Bensonhurst
Via Emilia: Flatiron District
Have I missed any?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 15, 2006 at 7:02 AM
After a couple of days of not so quiet contemplation, as well as some serious Italian restaurant eating, I have decided that Babbo 
is my favorite Italian restaurant in NYC. Why? Because of how I feel when I eat there. Babbo has the greatest vibe and the best energy of any restaurant I know, Italian or not. I feel great as soon as I walk in the door, even when I'm confronted by a crush of people at the bar and on occasion a less than warm and gracious welcome. I feel I'm smack dab in the middle of something both energizing and transportive. I have eaten at Babbo dozens of times, and the food is full of gusto and energy and panache as well. The pastas, the sweetbreads, the skirt steak (is it still on the menu?), the lamb chops, and even the desserts (not normally the strongest suit of an Italian restaurant) are almost always satisfying, earthy, a little bit showy, and extremely delicious. I don't even mind the music, though it can get way too loud late at night, because Mario generally has very good taste in jazz and rock. Though it's never quiet in Babbo, you can almost always carry on a conversation with your tablemates without raising your voice. I have heard people complain about their meal at Babbo (the food and the overall experience), but for my money it defines what contemporary Italian dining is in NYC right now. 110 Waverly Pl. (just east of sixth avenue) 212-777-0303.
My other top four:
Esca fantastic raw seafood creations (called crudo), exemplary pastas (I'm partial to the one with sea urchin and crabmeat), and deceptively simple, fresher than fresh, grilled, sauteed and baked fish main courses. 402 W. 43rd St. (just west of ninth avenue) 212-562-7272.
Teodora: Chef Giancarlo Quaddalti is from Bologna, so when you go to Teodora have the lasagna. It's the real thing. Teodora really feels Italian, from the cooking to the vibe to the Italian being spoken at many tables. 141 E.57th St. (just east of Lexington Ave.) 212-826-7101
Del Posto Inoteca The casual side of Del Posto, the Inoteca's cooking is a little more soulful and significantly cheaper than its big brother. They even have chicken cacciatoria on the menu. Great nibbles, pastas, salads, meat dishes like a pork loin with fig salad, juicy skirt steak, just food you want to eat. They only take reservations there the same day, and when I went the other night, there were a number of empty tables, In other words, you can get in without speed-dialing. 85 Tenth Ave. (between 15th and 16th streets, 212-497-8090)
L'Impero Scott Conant's cabrito (goat) is reason enough to go to L'Impero, and he has a fantastic way with pastas and starters as well. 45 Tudor City Pl., 212-599-5045.
Posted by Ed Levine, September 12, 2006 at 6:54 AM
Yes, Absolute Bagels (2788 Broadway, New York NY 10025; 212-932-2052) is my choice for New York's best bagel. A Thai family–run bakery, Absolute's bagels are chewy, crunchy, and, blessedly, not too sweet. They also do not suffer from bagel elephantiasis, which has made many New York bagels into dirigibles with holes.
Absolute's mini bagels are my snack of choice—they're even crunchier than the regular-size versions.
And how could I forget Absolute's $1.85 bagel with cream cheese when I listed my $2 and Under New York City Eating Pleasures?
H & H's bagels are too sweet, too big, and have no crunch or chew whatsoever.
I think the reasons everyone loves them is that they're most often warm when you buy them and the shop's proximity to Zabar's (which actually carries a superior bagel, from Columbia Hot Bagels).
Are there really any other contenders in New York or anywhere else?
My bagel silver medalist is The Bagelry, 429 Third Avenue, New York NY 10016; 212-679-9845.
My bronze goes to Bagel Oasis, 183-12 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows NY 11365; 888-BAGELOASIS.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 28, 2006 at 9:24 AM
I'm on the lookout for the best chocolate chip cookie in the tri-state area. Once I've located that I will expand my search nationwide.
What do I want my chocolate chip cookies to be? Moist and light, crisp and yet slightly chewy, even pliant. There should be enough high quality chocolate in the cookie so that you get some chocolate in every bite. I don't want any chocolateless bites when I eat a chocolate chip cookie. They should be buttery without being greasy.
All right, those are my criteria. Here are the contenders I have come across to date:
Bouchon Bakery: I know ELE readers are sick of hearing me extoll the virtues of the baked goods at Bouchon Bakery. And I will in a future post explain my disappointment when I actually had a sit-down meal there. But now we are talking about chocolate chip cookies, and BB makes a phenomenal one, with Valhrona chocolate, plenty of French butter, and just enough brown sugar. The chocolate chip cookie here is the ideal combination of crispy, chewy, and pliant. 10 Columbus Circle, 212-823-9366
Levain: The Levain chocolate chip cookie, beloved by many, weighs as much as a hockey puck. It is moist and dense. It has no crisp veneer whatsoever. When you finish a Levain chocolate chip cookie, you feel bloated and satisfied. You have indeed swallowed a mouthful. 167 W. 74th St. 212-874-6080, 354 Montauk Highway,Wainscott, LI, 631-537-8570
Balthazar: Balthzar Bakery founder Paula Oleand is the best bread baker and pastry chef you've never heard of. Her chocolate chip cookie are small, light, intensely chocolatey, and are just crisp enough. 80 Spring St. 212-965-1780
Tate's Bakery: These cookies, made by Kathleen Tate (formerly of Kathleen's Cookies, which are now horrendous by the way), have achieved cult status on the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan. They are extremely crispy (in fact they often come broken in the bag) and have the proper ratio of brown sugar to butter to chocolate. They come plain or with walnuts. They are available at Citarella's and a lot of Korean produce markets. Available at Citarella, Balducci's, Barney Greengrass, Garden of Eden, and a ton of other places.
I have had good chocolate chip cookies from Ruby et Violette, but the one I had last week was a little greasy and not up to their usual standards. crispy. I'll try to get back there this week and report. 457 W. 50th St., 877-353-9099.
Again, this is not my list of the best. It's just the ones I have tried and liked. What have I missed?
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.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 23, 2006 at 7:29 AM
For the September Details Magazine (on newsstands now) I wrote a story on 22 sandwiches that will change your life. It's worth buying the magazine for Anthony Cotsifas' pictures alone. Here's some of the story cut for space reasons:
There are the thousands of sandwiches we eat out of habit and for sustenance, like the soggy, brown-tinged tuna sandwich I get from my local convenience store. And then there are the sandwiches that are so cosmically correct, so intrinsically perfect, that eating one becomes a lifechanging experience. These are the sandwiches worth writing about.
What elevates a sandwich to life-altering status? Fantastic fillings, the appropriate bread, and the proper condiments, all coming together in some
The bread does not have to be a fancy-pants baguette made by a former hippie or monk. It just has to be right for the filling that goes into it. It could be a perfectly toasted hot dog bun for a lobster roll, or two pieces of crusty, seeded rye bread for a pastrami sandwich. Condiments are the grace note of a sandwich. A caper vinaigrette, a dab of whole grain mustard, or just the right amount of Hellman's mayonnaise can make any good sandwich great.
That was the intro cut for space reasons.
Because I had such a good time writing the story for my editor there, and because Details doesn't put its articles on-line, I can't list the sandwiches described in the piece here. But there were quite a few sandwiches that were cut for space and geographic diversity reasons. These sandwich outtakes I can share with you. I'll tell you about five sandwiches today, and five more on Friday.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, August 18, 2006 at 10:48 AM
When I woke up this morning I had a deep yearning for a piece of fried chicken.
I'm actually not that particular about which piece. Thighs, wings, drumsticks and even the frequently dry breast, are all all right with me, because in the end I love fried chicken because of the crispy, crunchy, greaseless exterior coating, in which the breading and the skin become a cosmic one.
So where can I go for my fried chicken fix today?
Three places immediately come to mind:
1) Rack and Soul/Charles' Southern Style Kitchen: Charles Gabriel is perhaps NYC's greatest fried chicken cook. If he used just a little more salt in his batter he would be inducted into the International Fried Chicken Hall of Fame. One note: Last time I was in Rack and Soul for lunch, our chicken arrived two minutes after we ordered it. It had obviously been made well before we ordered it. So if you go at lunch, tell them you'll wait until your chicken is cooked to order.
Rack and Soul: 2818 Broadway (109th St.) 212-222-4800
Charles' Southern Kitchen: 2837 Eighth Avenue (152nd St.) 212-926-4313
2) Blue Smoke: Kenny Callaghan's fried chicken was inspired by an unscheduled stop I forced him to make at Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken , when we were driving back to the Memphis airport after spending two days eating barbecue at the Southern Foodways Barbecue Conference. Though nobody at Gus' let him get too close to the kitchen, he must have picked up something he put to use. The fried chicken here is amazing, crispy and crunchy on the outside, moist and delicious on the inside. Note: It's only served at dinner. I've begged them to serve it at lunch, but they wouldn't do it.
You can order it when you are listening to music at the Jazz Standard downstairs. It is the best thing I've ever tasted in a club.
Blue Smoke: 116 E. 27th St. (between Park Ave. South and Lexington Avenue) 212-447-7733
3) Jacque-Imo's NYC: Jacque-Imo founder Jacques Leonardi had the wisdom to hire the late, great Austin Leslie when he opened his Jacque-Imo's in New Orleans. Austin Leslie passed on recently, but you can eat a reasonable facsimile of his wondrous fried chicken at the Jacque-Imo's NYC on Columbus Avenue. There it's cooked to order. At the branch in Grand Central, the fried chicken has obviously been sitting around too long.
Jacques-Imo's NYC: 366 Columbus Ave. (77th St.) 212-799-0150
Posted by Ed Levine, August 17, 2006 at 7:26 AM
Yesterday I posted my ten favorite fancy-pants burgers in New York City. They all cost more than ten bucks and aspire to hamburger greatness. They were:
1. Cafe D'Alsace
2. Telepan
3. Union Square Cafe (only available at lunch)
4. Spotted Pig
5. Cookshop
6. Country
7. Burger Bar at Grand Central
8. Nice Matin
9. Bar Americain
10. David Burke Sliders at Bloomingdale's
For addresses and phone numbers go to Menupages.
An ELE reader commended me on the list and mentioned Home's burger as one I should consider for the list. Adam Kuban, founder of A Hamburger Today, the nation's leading hamburger website, liked the list but wondered aloud about whether the fries should make a difference if what you're trying to judge is the burger.
Josh Ozersky, Mr. Cutlets, newly installed online Food Editor for New York Magazine and a serious burger maven, then weighed in with the force of twenty double quarter pounders with cheese. He said, and I quote, "The fact is Fancy Pants burgers are nearly indistinguishable...Eating them is just eating a meatloaf between two slices of obtrusive bread. All character in hamburgers exists in the lower realms, where the inside is an afterthought, and the surface speaks volumes."
Is Mr. Cutlets right when he suggests that fancy-pants burgers all suck?
Is any burger bigger than Shake Shack's doomed to failure? Do fries not matter? Is any roll other than a generic white bun a pretentious exercise in Foodiedom? Or is Josh a reverse burger snob, a purist who is ignoring the inherent deliciousness of a burger made with high-quality meat, cheese, bun and fries?
Posted by Ed Levine, August 16, 2006 at 7:57 AM
I don't know why, but lately I find myself eating fancy-pants burgers at every turn. Perhaps I'm coming under the influence of Adam Kuban, who really does order a hamburger in every restaurant that has one on the menu. Whatever the reason, I have discovered a handful of terrific fancy-pants burgers lately, enough so that if I updated my New York Times piece on burgers I would have a very different "best of" list.
Let's define our terms.
Qualities of a Fancy-Pants Burger
ound beef and ground beef only. Burgers with foie gras in them like the new Robuchon restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel or the DB burger are burgers in name only. They
What is a fancy-pants burger? It's a burger that:
- Costs more than ten dollars and less than twenty.
- Comes with excellent french fries.
- Is served by a waiter in a comfortable, white tablecloth setting.
- Is made from fresh, high-quality ingredients.
Moreover, because it's so pricey every element of a fancy-pants burger must be nearly perfect. That is:
- The bun must be a high quality piece of bread either grilled or toasted.
- The cheese must be fully melted: no unmelted cheese blankets allowed.
- High quality, freshly ground meat with enough fat to make the burger moist, beefy and juicy.
- Lettuce must not be shredded and brown. Actually, lettuce should be banned from burgers, fancy-pants or otherwise.
- Onions should not be raw; they should be grilled, fried, and/or sauteed.
- Relish or pickles would in a perfect world be housemade.
- Should be cooked as ordered the first time around (this is really hard, but at the very least they should get it right the second time around).
- No mustard or mayo should be put on the burger unless they are specifically requested (see below).
A bad fancy-pants burger is cause for fury and revolt, because who wants to pay all that money for a lousy burger that comes off as a pretentious exercise in populist food.
Lastly, a fancy-pants burger must still be made from high quality, freshly grmay taste great (the DB burger most assuredly does; I haven't had the Robuchon creation yet), but they are serious dishes created by world-class chefs that have been inspired by true burgers.
Anyway, here's my list of the Top Ten Fancy-Pants Burgers in New York City:
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, August 15, 2006 at 10:28 AM
Why do most birthcake cakes suck?
I'd really like to know. While everybody else is singing "Happy Birthday," I'm thinking about how that first forkful of cake is going to be dry, virtually tasteless, and inedibly sweet, with grainy icing. Birthday cakes are often so bad I welcome the taste of the melted wax from the candles. I know I'm going to be seen as a killjoy and a curmudgeon, but I'm willing to take one for the team (of passionate eaters) here.
But on Saturday night, at a friend's 50th birthday, we had a killer chocolate mocha cake that could have been served as a dessert at a great New American restaurant like Craft or the Union Square Cafe. That the cake was great was no surprise to me. I told my friends to get the cake from Two Little Red Hens. I've had at least ten different kinds of cake from TLRH, everything from yellow to white to chocolate cake, with every kind of frosting and filling imaginable, and I've never been disappointed.
There are a few other neighborhood bakeries that make very good birthday cakes: Soutine, and Amy's Bread.
I used to love Cupcake Cafe cakes, and while they are indeed beautiful, I have found that over the years they have gotten so buttery that's all they taste of. The Cupcake Cafe cakes prove that in fact food can suffer from butter overload, and I didn't think that was possible.
So maybe birthday cakes don't have to suck. We just have such low expectations for them that we accept bad birthday cakes as a given, and we convince ourselves that they're not all that bad (my very polite wife's solution).
As a result we suffer in silence. Not any more. Join me in my "Birthday cakes don't have to suck" crusade.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 4, 2006 at 9:21 AM
These last few days have almost done me in. So I've been treating myself to one scoop of ice cream a day (no more, no less, given my "eat less" diet, which has me down 40 pounds). Here are my NYC faves:
1. Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory: Old-fashioned American, not particularly high in butterfat, ice cream.
2. Otto cart in Washington Square Park: The cheapest way to sample Meredith Kurtzman's amazing gelato.
3. Shake Shack: I know it's a cliché, but the frozen custard here rocks, and the ice cream and shake only line is consistently short.
4. Il Laboratio de Gelato: Where Ciao Bella (see below) founder Jon Snyder now plies his trade.
5. Ciao Bella: It's still pretty damned fine, even without Snyder, especially the malted milk ball.
6. Cones: I love the fruit-based gelati and sorbetti here. Bleecker Street, just east of Seventh Avenue South.
7. Eli's: Eli is a ganef, but the man knows how to make great food.
8. Creme Cremaillere: Try the Mission Fig. Sold by the scoop at Manhattan Fruitier, 29th Street, between Park and Lex.
9. Emack & Bolio: I know they're from Boston, but the ice cream is really good.
10. Eddie's (Maspeth): For old time's sake.
Have I missed any?
Häagen-Dazs is by far my favorite mass-produced ice cream, a rare example of a formerly boutique brand that's maintained its quality standards after being bought.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 1, 2006 at 3:29 PM
By popular demand, here's a list of my top ten pizza slices in NYC:
1) DiFara (you all know where it is)
2) Adrienne's (Old Stone St., Wall Street)
3) Patsy's (117th and First Avenue)
4) Joe and Pat's (Staten Island)
5) Nunzio's (Staten Island)
6) Sullivan Street Bakery
7) Sal and Carmine's (102nd and Broadway)
8) Joe's (Carmine Street and Park Slope)
9) Grandma Slices at Maffei (22nd and Sixth)
10) Louie and Ernie's (Bronx)
Anybody beg to differ?
Posted by Ed Levine, July 28, 2006 at 11:05 AM
In theory, the turkey club sandwich is a great idea. Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and toast; what's not to like? Yet every element of a club sandwich, except perhaps the mayo, is fraught with peril. Dry turkey or turkey roll, rigormortis-ridden bacon that was cooked and left for dead hours before it makes it into your sandwich, iceberg lettuce browned to a not-very-crisp, and woody, cardboard tomatoes that taste more like potatoes than tomatoes, often lead to a turkey club sandwich gone horribly wrong.
That's why I am thrilled to report that there's finally a great turkey club sandwich in NY, at Cookshop. There chef Joel Hough constructs his club sandwich with gently house-smoked turkey, smokey and just sweet enough Hatfield Farms bacon from New Hampshire, ripe avocados, baby lettuces, housemade mayo, and Balthazar toasted potato batard. Each bite of this sandwich gives you smokey, sweet, creamy, tender, crisp, fresh-tasting pleasure. And isn't that what we're all looking for?
The Times take on Cookshop.
NYM's take by Hal Rubenstein.
Cookshop is at 156 10th Avenue (20th St.) 212-924-4440
Posted by Ed Levine, July 25, 2006 at 3:48 PM
New York Magazine has just published its 101 Best Cheap Eats in NYC. Like NY Mag's Top 101 restaurants, it is a brilliant marketing move by Adam Moss & Co. Full disclosure: I know and like NY Mag cheap eats writers Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld. We frequently chat at parties, but have never broken bread together.
What I love about these kinds of lists are the arguments that inevitably ensue about who was left out and the rankings themselves. The rankings are totally arbitrary and are there solely to spark conversation. What regular folks can quarrel with is what places made the list and what places didn't. And that's where I have quite a few problems with Rob and Robin's list.
For example, how their list could be compiled without either Celeste or Bianca being on it is unfathomable to me. I have eaten at Celeste three times in the last month, and I defy anyone to tell me a better cheap Italian restaurant in NY. Entrees are $13-15 for cryin' out loud, as my dad would have said.
Let's move to Chinese food. Grand Szechuan Eastern is clearly one of the best Sichuan restaurants in this country, and yet it's nowhere to be found on NY Mag's list.
I'll have more to say in other posts, but I love these lists and being able to argue about them.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 14, 2006 at 6:36 AM
Wednesday's New York Post had this really cool Latin Hot Dog round-up
in their Tempo section. The piece was uncredited, but the entire section was compiled by Juana Guichardo, Mercedes Sanchez and Eneida Del Valle.
Their five favorites:
Mazorca: 83-17 Northern Boulevard, bet. 83rd and 84th sts., 718-205-2484. The perro mixto features ham, bacon, melted cheese and crushed potato chips.
La Perrada de Chaio: 83-12 Northern Boulevard between 83rd and 84th Sts. Jackson Heights 718-639-6677. The Mexican hot dogs feature guacamole and chiles. The Iraqi(?) hot dog features boiled eggs and pineapple sauce. Both come with mayonnaise and a potato chip dusting.
San Antonio Bakery #2: 36-20 Astoria Blvd. at 37th St., Astoria 718-478-1199: A Chilean Completo features creamed avocado, diced tomatoes, onion and mayo.
The condiment of choice is pebre, cilantro-spiked salsa.
JC & Family: 68-14 Roosevelt Ave. between 68th and 69th Sts., Woodside Queens 718-478-1199. Its version features an all beef hot dog, sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes, mashed avocado, and stripes of mayo.
Cositas Ricas: 79-19 Roosevelt Ave. at 89th St., Jackson Hts. 718-478-1500
Here the dog, called a perro caliente con salchicha, features potatoes, Parmesan cheese, potato chip bits, cheese, mayo and pineapple sauce.
My hot dog round-up in the Times only feature Los Chuzos Y Algo Mas on Roosevelt Avenue. Their Columbian Lucky Dogs feature cheese, pineapple, mustard, crumbled potato chip, and Thousand Island dressing.
And here we New Yorkers thought we knew all about hot dogs. It's time for a Latino hot dog excursion this weekend.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 4, 2006 at 11:15 AM
When it's July 4th weekend and it's this hot, a man's thoughts turn to ice cream.
With the temperature and humidity levels ridiculously high this weekend, I am pleased to report that the Otto ice cream cart is back at the NW corner of Washington Square Park. I ordered a half lemon, half coconut cup last week and got a half lemon, half vanilla instead, but it didn't matter. This is truly great ice cream, made by Meredith Kurtzman at Otto, where the gelati and sorbetti are almost uniformly sublime. Otto is definitely one of the great NY ice cream spots.
Here are my other favorites:
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, June 16, 2006 at 5:27 PM
A reader has asked me for my list of top five barbecue joints in NYC.
What are yours? This is one everyone has an opinion on.
The more pertinent question is whether there are even five barbecue joints in NY with the hunger, passion and knowledge to do right by 'cue. I ended up writing about seven.
In alphabetical order (almost):
Blue Smoke: Danny Meyer, Kenny Callahan and Mark Parisi-Maynard are trying to do right by cue' lovers in NYC, and most of the time they succeed, although inconsistency continues to plague the 'cue here. The ribs are consistently excellent, the brisket less so, and the fried chicken at dinner rocks. On average I would give Blue Smoke a 90.
Daisy May's BBQ USA: Adam Perry Lang has hung up his fancy-pants toque in favor of the pursuit of the ultimate 'cue. I haven't had his barbecue recently enough, so I'll give it an incomplete for now. But I know Adam has been faring well on the competition barbecue circuit, so he's still got the smoke in his veins. In general I find he tries a little too hard with his barbecue sauces. His meat is generally far superior to his sauces.
Dinosaur Barbecue:John Stage took a lickin' from the critics when he first opened, and based on my recent experiences there, the critics were dead wrong. Stage knows his barbecue, uses plenty of real wood, and again has a passion for doing 'cue right. I'll give the it a 90.
Rack and Soul: I went early to Rack and Soul, and I found the barbecue hard to judge as it was slathered with very sweet barbecue sauce. So I'll give it an incomplete until I return. Charles Gabriel's fried chicken was way good, however. The chicken gets a 93.
RUB: Paul Kirk and his partner have done a pretty good job with RUB. The brisket is dry, the burnt ends rock, the ribs are generally damn fine, and I don't ever order barbecue chicken, but the duck was surprisingly good the one time I had it here. Burnt Ends: 92,Brisket: 70, Ribs: 88
Virgil's: You can't expect great barbecue in Times Square, but Virgil's serves up a creditable plate of ribs. I give it an 82.
One final entry not in alphabetical order:
Pies N Thighs Many writers I know and respect speak very highly of the pork shoulder here. The only time I had it, it was so smoky it tasted of nothing but smoke and vinegar. I'll be back, so for now it's an incomplete.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 13, 2006 at 8:24 AM
Wandering home from the office yesterday trying to recover my eating equilibrium after 48 hours of dawn to dusk barbecue eating at the BABBP, I decided to flush my system with an order of six ($4.95) pork and chive dumplings at the Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. To please the nutrition gods I was going to order an entree salad with the dumplings, but somehow I forgot. But because my order took longer than usual the friendly counterman at RDB threw in an order of edamame. Take that, nutrition police! The edamame were good (especially after I discovered the little dish in the salt in the edamame box), but the dumplings rocked. Thin, crisp, delicate dumpling wrappers surrounded a flavorful porky filling that could have been a little juicier. I know the romantic dumpling mavens around town think five bucks is too much to pay for six dumplings, but these dumplings are far superior to the leaden, greasy hand grenades that too often pass for dumplings, even in Chinatown. 61 W. 23rd Street (between fifth and sixth avenues). 212-924-9220.
Serious dumpling rating: 92
Other great dumpling spots (non-soup dumplings):
- Sweet-n-Tart Restaurant: {20 Mott Street, NY, NY}
- Chinese American: {106 W. 32nd St., NY, NY}
What are your favorite dumpling spots? Steamed, Boiled or Fried (your choice)
Posted by Ed Levine, April 20, 2006 at 6:25 PM
A reader requested a pocket guide to eating on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Here goes, and I'm sure I missed a couple of places.
I like Celeste on 84th and Amsterdam for cheap Italian food, the bagels at Absolute Bagels (as you yourself mentioned) at 107th and Broadway, the turkey schwarma at Ali Baba on 85th and Amsterdam, the baked goods (birthday cakes, muffins, danish, assorted cakes and tarts), at Soutine, 70th and Columbus, the Grandma slices at New Pizza Town (78th and Broadway) the roast pork egg foo young (sauce on the side), the ropa vieja, and the fried pork chops at La Caridad (78th and Broadway), Thai food at Land (83rd and Amsterdam), Vietnamese at Saigon Grill (90th and Amsterdam) if you order carefully, the regular slices at T and R (80th and Amsterdam), in general the food at Nice Matin (79th and Amsterdam) at breakfast, lunch and dinner, the cream puffs, the mango ice showers and little chocolate cakes at Beard Papa (76th and Broadway), the burgers and fries at the Fairway Cafe (74th and Broadway), the hot dogs, matzo ball soup on occasion and the pastrami if it's been steaming long enough at Artie's (82nd and Broadway), the consistently delicious food at Ouest (84th and Broadway).
I agree with you wholeheartedly about Onera. It is a damned good restaurant. For Chinese food I go down to the Grand Szechuan International at 50th and Ninth. Hope this helps
Posted by Ed Levine, February 24, 2006 at 1:01 PM
Three months in the slurping, my chicken soup piece came out Wednesday in the NYTimes. For those of you who don't read the Times, I am going to list my ten favorite chicken soups (I sampled a hundred) here, along with a few others I really liked that just failed to crack the top ten:
- Blue Ribbon Bakery 33 Downing Street (Bedford Street), (212) 337-0404. Matzo ball soup, $7.75.
- Cubana Café 110 Thompson Street (Prince Street), (212) 966-5366. Chicken soup with avocado, tomato, cilantro and yuca (cassava), $5.
- Fred's at Barneys New York 660 Madison Avenue (60th Street), ninth floor, (212) 833-2200.
- Estelle's chicken soup $8.
- Grand Sichuan International 229 Ninth Avenue (24th Street), (212) 620-5200. Chicken and pea shoots, $8.95; chicken with pickled cabbage, $7.95.
- Hearth 403 East 12th Street (First Avenue), (646) 602-1300. Chicken soup with escarole, chicken dumplings and pastina, $12.
- Momofuku Noodle Bar 163 First Avenue (10th Street), (212) 475-7899. Chicken noodle soup with Shanghai thick noodles, onions and scallions, $11.
- New Chao Chow Restaurant 111 Mott Street (between Canal and Hester Streets), (212) 226-2590. Chao Chow wonton soup, $3.50.
- Perry St. 176 Perry Street (West Street), (212) 352-1900. Chicken soup with vegetables, avocado and dill, $13.50.
- Pio Maya 40 West Eighth Street (Avenue of the Americas), (212) 254-2277. Chicken soup, $3.25.
- Sripraphai 64-13 39th Avenue, Woodside, Queens, (718) 899-9599. Chicken soup with mushrooms, coconut milk and galangal; Cornish hen in hot and sour soup (tom-zap), both $7.
A few others I really enjoyed:
- Akdeniz 19 W. 46th Street (bet. Fifth and Sixth Aves.) 212-575-2307; Slightly creamy chicken soup that comes to life with a squeeze of the lemon they serve it with.
- Al Bustan 827 Third Avenue (bet. 50th and 51st Sts.) 212-759-5933 Lebanese Chicken soup enlivened with the same lemon squeeze and, surprisingly, a touch of cinnamon.
- Azuri Cafe 465 W.51st (between 9th and 10th Aves.) 212-265-2920; I was lovin' the chicken soup here until I put the first piece of matzo ball in my mouth. It was ice cold. So I cut up the matzo balls into little pieces and let them sit in the soup for a minute or two to heat them up. Brilliant!
- Brooklyn Diner USA: 212 W. 57th Street (between Broadway and Seventh Ave.) 212-977-2280; Fine classic chicken soup with moist chicken and a toothsome broth.
- Teresa's 103 First Avenue (between 6th and 7th Sts.) 212-228-0604; If the noodles were al dente at this Polish coffee shop, this bargain chicken soup ($2.75) would have cracked the top ten.
Posted by Ed Levine, February 17, 2006 at 1:10 PM
Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone chocolate lovers can return to their posts without the rest of the country getting in their way. Now that I'm eating and living vicariously through my blog (I'm down 25 pounds, in case you're wondering) I'm going to talk about chocolate. Consumer Reports just came out with their chocolate ratings in their February issue. I must admit that generally I have been underwhelmed by the magazine's food ratings. I'm often struck by how antiseptic and clinical its approach is. It seems to me that CR never answers the essential food lover's question; namely, is something delicious or not? So for those people interested in DELICIOUS here are two of my favorite American chocolatiers that Consumer Reports somehow missed.
Michael Recchiuti and Larry Burdick are two Americans who have mastered European chocolate-making techniques without losing their sense of humor. Their sometimes whimsical creations invariably feature great ingredients used in the right proportions. I'm particularly fond of Recchiutti's homemade s'mores (available May-Oct.), bitter chocolate and caramel sauces, key lime apples (available all year) and pears (available August-Oct.), and Burdick's chocolate mice, hot chocolate, and assorted chocolates. And come June I'm going to order some of Recchiuti's burnt caramel almonds, which I've never tried. Don't those sound outrageously good?
