GASTRONORMOUS

Sorry folks, I went upstate on Friday and was not able to post the feeder until Sunday night:

Cook, Eat, Fret has a story on why she prefers veal stock, but why she made chicken stock. While the post is assuredly a good read, I admit that I am mostly posting this for the arresting photos. All I can say is that I had no idea that chicken feet looked so much like slightly mutant humanoid hands.

Ok, this is not technically a story from the last week, but these pumpkin swirl brownies look totally ah-mazing, not to mention seasonal. [via Smitten Kitchen]

And speaking of pumpkin sweet treats: How about pumpkin maple rum cupcakes at Batch. Whoo! Them look good! I have been meaning to go there… [from Serious Eats]

I love Grub Street‘s guide for waitpeople. I agree with most everything here, especially the be “friendly, but don’t try to be friend” from the title. And, puhlease! if I pay cash and leave $60 on a $41 bill, don’t ask if I need change, just bring me the change, thanks. You have to kiss my ring to get 50% at dinner. The one thing I disagree with is that waiters ask if you want a new drink before you reach 1/3 glass. I think that is a little pushy. Whatever, read the story, it is a good one!

This goes out to a certain someone I know who believes his vote doesn’t matter on account of the electoral college system (you know who you are!): Ben & Jerry’s will give you a free scoop on election day if you show them proof that you voted. Yea! [via Midtown Lunch]

Ok, folks. I am going leaf peeping up the Hudson Valley this weekend and expect to be eatin’ some good food whilst there, so stay tuned next week!

The Predicate just returned from a visit to Ohio, and she couldn’t wait to call me and rub in, er, rave about, the fact that she had had the best ice cream of her life at Jeni’s. Perhaps, she hated to say it, even better than Tara’s organic, a Santa Fe ice cream purveyor that I adore. I had a hard time believing that, as Tara’s is phenomenal. But then she excitedly told me about Jeni’s unusually delicious flavors, such as: Goat cheese and cognac-fig, salty caramel, crème fraiche with Amarena cherries, and Thai chili ice creams! Or how about pear and riesling or apple cider and five spice sorbet? Only to name a few. Oh my. I must try.

They deliver country-wide, but it is hella expensive, like $70 to have six pints sent to your door. But hey, that’s cheaper than a trip to Ohio. And really, you don’t want to go to Ohio, anyway. (Joke! Don’t get all up on your Ohio horse, now. I was kidding. I have never been to Ohio, but the state has produced some very lovely people, so who am I to badmouth?). It might be too expensive to order for yourself, but this would be a great indulgent gift for the ice cream lover in your life!

Say what? Oh! I totally forgot my birthday is coming up!

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
To order call (614) 488-3224 or go to their website.

Obama beats McCain! In a “hotly” contested battle, 60% of 7-11 coffee customers chose the Obama cup in their quadrennial 7-Election. You laugh, and sure there are no 7-11 stores in 20 of our 50 states, but the 7-Election has correctly predicted the results of the last two presidential elections (Bush cups beating Gore’s in 2000 by a mere 1%).

Oh. My. Gawd. Spicy white chocolate. I don’t fancy myself a baker or sweet-maker. I don’t own a food thermometer. But I need to try this recipe. Need to. Thanks, Food Mayhem!

“Chris Chen looks like the freakin’ Mona Lisa…” It almost dosn’t matter who Chris Chen is (but he’s the propieter fo the Dessert Truck if you must know), but that opener, paired with the photo, is priceless. According to this post by Midtown Lunch, the Dessert Truck shot an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay in Union Square this week. I used to not like Bobby Flay, but after watching him be so graciously annihilated episode after episode on this show, my admiration for him has grown. Just putting that out there.

Hey, have you heard about Vegetarian Restaurant Week? Nobody else has either. Apparently vegetarians aren’t good with marketing. But it ain’t over yet. You have until October 25th to dine green. [via Grub Street]

I bought a bottle of chenin blanc last week. I don’t know what possessed me. I am not a fan of wines that are sweet, as chenin blanc has a reputation for being. And I hadn’t had tried a chenin blanc in, I don’t even know how long. Years, maybe a decade. But it was great. Definitely off-dry, but not too sweet; incredibly fruity nose; full-bodied; and smooth. It was a very enjoyable white wine, though I felt almost ashamed to admit it. Chenin blanc just somehow conjures up the worst of ’80′s taste, doesn’t it? It feels mere steps from the insult to wine that is Bartles & Jaymes. I felt vindicated when I read Eric Asimov’s defense of the varietal. If the NY Times wine critic can like it, so can I. I suggest you celebrate the end of summer by popping Journey’s Greatest Hits into the 8-track and drinking some yourself.

I have previously reported on our window box’s bounty of two yellow tomatoes and two jalapeños. Well, we were terribly surprised recently, after a month of more or less neglecting the white-fly-and-aphid-ravaged plants, to find a late summer yield of a three, count-em, three(!), habañeros emerging! We have already picked one, a bit before its time (it was still pale celadon in color), and it had plenty of heat. We know this because the Hubs brazenly took a small bite of it–and paid the price. The part he didn’t chomp I minced fine and tossed it with some fresh tomatoes and green onions to make a lazy-man’s salsa to go on some burritos we made for dinner one night.

We have should have a few more days this week before the mercury falls below 70, so I will let the little hotties hang on until then. Stay tuned to find what fate awaits the two remaining peppers!

Please join me in welcoming Esteban Rodriguez, whose first story is posted below. Esteban lives in the Sunset Park/Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. He will report for Gastornormous on restaurants, specialty food stores, and food events from that and other areas of Brooklyn, as well as Manhattan, where he works. I don’t know if any of you have been to Bay Ridge, but opportunities for good eatin’ abound there, so look for much more good food reporting to come!

As I exited my lower Manhattan office building and crossed the street to Zucotti Park, a whistle from the World Trade Center construction site keened. It was lunchtime. A rumble in my belly, along with an advancing army of hardhats and suits in search of sustenance, told me I’d better plan my lunch strategy quickly.

However, looking at the wall of colorful food carts that lined the far end of the park, I was unexpectedly flummoxed. I had never eaten in the park before and had no clue what was good. I did a quick scan. There were a bunch of Halal carts offering chicken and gyro platters, a few fruit vendors, a farm stand selling pies and bread, and another cart obscured by a line of at least twenty people. I peered past the line to the sign on the cart which read “Sam’s Falafel.” A spicy aroma wafted by, triggering a reflexive “mmmmm.” I quickly ran to the back of the growing line that snaked through the park.

Sharp-looking office workers, camera-toting tourists, and massive construction workers waited on line patiently. I, on the other hand, with my stomach growling and my lunch break ticking away, fidgeted and surveyed the other stalls. None of them had a line like this. Others were getting their food quickly and happily devouring it within my sight.

“Why is this line so long?” I asked the guy in front of me.

“Sam’s is the best falafel.” he said matter-of-factly.

I waited two minutes more and looked ahead. There were still at least fifteen people before me. With my senses swimming in heady falafel smoke, I bailed on pita-wrapped chickpea nirvana and ran like a madman across Broadway to some more carts clustered around Noguchi’s red cube.

Once again, there were a bunch of carts but only one with an enormous line. I approached a man on the line. “Can you get good falafel here?”

The man shook his head, “No my friend, this one is good for chicken. That is where you get the best falafel.” My eyes followed his outstretched arm to a cart with a line only about five deep, Alan’s Falafel. I gave my thanks, joined the line and soon a man whom I assumed was Alan poked his head out of the cart and asked for my order.

“Hey, I heard you had the best falafel.”

Alan beamed, “You better believe it. Seventeen years around here.”

I ordered a falafel sandwich with everything. Alan smiled as he worked, proudly showing me each item as he tossed it in the pita: hummus, baba ghanoush, tzatski, ripe tomato, a big juicy hot pepper, hot sauce, and of course lots of plump falafel patties.

He wrapped it in foil and put it in a brown bag along with a crispy homemade pita chip. “You’re gonna to be back,” he said with a wink as I handed him three dollars.

I walked back to the park, plopped down and hauled out my sandwich. It was colossal. I unwrapped it and breathed in all the falafel goodness. The falafel was pungent and crispy with the perfect amount of herbs and heat. The fresh pepper exploded. The tomatoes were sweet. The hummus was savory. The smoky baba ghanoush, which featured big chunks of eggplant rather than the familiar mush, was a delicious addition.

I looked over at the long line for Sam’s Falafel and noticed that the people were staring jealously at me. “Alan’s,” I said and dreamily took another bite.

The 28th annual Atlantic Antic took place last Sunday, and the Hubs and I attended with empty bellies. We took the pooch along–we couldn’t let him pass up a mile-long carpet of dropped people-food scraps!

The food offerings ranged from your standard street fair zeppole and shawarma booths, to some more local Brooklyn specialties, from Caribbean curry goat to Lebanese baklava. The hubs and I shared food from many of the booths. The Hubs can’t pass by a street fair without getting a Mozzarepa (a corn patty stuffed with mozzarella), so he had one of those, of which I took a few bites. We split and sandwich from Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches. The Hubs liked it, but I thought the bites without Siracha lacked flavor. We also split a mini key lime pie from Steve’s Authentic in Red Hook. It was just a delicious as I heard they were. I only wish they were selling their famous frozen, chocolate-dipped key lime pies at the Antic. I love that his pies aren’t bright green as so many places feel they need to be.

The biggest culinary highlight of all was (unexpectedly) the pizza fresh from the portable brick oven at Lunetta‘s booth. I ate at their restaurant once and didn’t remember pizza being on the menu, but this pizza was among the better pies I have had in my life. Simple flavors, precicely balanced, on a flavorful, perfectly crispy-chewy crust (not burnt! I am not a fan of the so-called “charred” crusts of many a popular pizza place).

Some other neat things spied: pulled pork on pretzel sandwiches at Building on Bond; a fruit punch purveyor rockin’ an Isaac Hayes look; frisbee-sized fish cakes; “Obama burgers”; and a new gyro poster girl!

See photos of all we ate, and a bunch of other food offerings from the Antic below.

Saganaki means fried cheese. More or less. But the type of cheese used, and how is is prepared, varies across the Mediterranean. At many places in Athens, for example, saganaki means deep-fried feta. In other places it is pan-fried kefalotyri or kasseri. Although in Cyprus grilled halloumi is not usually listed on the menu by the name saganaki, that is technically what it is.

When my friend Karen and her husband came over Saturday night, I decided to make an unusual form of saganaki that she would likely appreciate. It is based on saganaki I ordered at a little taverna in the harbor town of Kamariotissa on Samothrace, during one of two summers I spent working at the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods (you are probably familiar with one object found there). Karen had also worked there for a summer, and I thought she may have visited this taverna, where they wrapped a hunk of feta in foil along with some oregano, thin strips of small red and yellow peppers, and a splash of olive oil. It was served still wrapped in the foil, and what a delight it was to unfold it and indulge at that little outdoor table.

So this was approximately what I made for my guests Saturday night, with a few modifications:

Serving food wrapped in foil may be charming on the veranda of a little taverna next to the ferry landing, but I didn’t think it would quite work in my Brooklyn living room. So, I filled a low shallow ceramic dish with a thick layer of feta, drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled on a bit of oregano and black pepper (no salt!), and some paper-thin slices of jalapeno. (I was going to do strips of pepper, as in the original, but I thought the round slices looked pretty, so I left them that way.)

I covered the dish with foil and baked it in 350 degree oven until bubbly, then I uncovered and baked it for five minutes. I let is sit on the counter for a few minutes more before serving so as not to scald my guests!

When they arrived I asked Karen if she remembered the unusual saganaki in Samothrace. She responded excitedly that not only did she remember it, but that she still dreamt about it. I asked her what she remembered it being like, because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t forgetting any little authentic detail, and she went on to explain a totally different dish. It sounded more like the pan-fried kefolatyri type. She said she had eaten it at “you know, that place with the tree….”

Oh, yes, the place with the tree. I never had the saganaki there, so this is a bit of a digression, but this restaurant called Sotiros is located high above the main town of Samothrace, or Chora, and is a truly magical place. The seating is mostly if not all outdoors, on a cobbled terrace dominated by a huge, ancient tree. There are lights strung, there are locals drinking beer and being merry, there is their famous chicken in paper being eaten, and if you go at the right time, there is the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen. If you ever find yourself on Samothrace, be sure to stop by Sotiros. You’ll have to ask a local how to get there, it isn’t very straightforward.

In the end, the saganaki iteration I made was not the same as the one Karen had dreamt of, but that didn’t keep everyone from raving about it. On top of being tasty, it is really simple to prepare, and would be a great addition to your appetizer spread (it is great alongside hummus!). I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it!

Last Saturday evening we went out with a couple friends to the new restaurant called No. 7 (named for its location at 7 Greene Avenue in Brooklyn). We didn’t order any apps as we had snacked at home (more to come on that), so we went straight for the entrees. The menu is quite small, and we had four of the five selections, all pretty good.

Both the cod with cockles and chicken were both served au jus (though on the menu the jus for the cod was called “fumet”) that was poured at the table. The chicken was stuffed and rolled and served with asparagus and carrot puree. Purees are big on the menu—an asparagus puree accompanied the lasagna as well. The lasagna wasn’t the standard red-sauce type, but very creamy and covered in melted gruyere. It was delicious, and accompanied by a salad with a very bright citrusy dressing. The dressing would have been too acidic on it’s own, but was a perfect complement to the creamy lasagna. The salmon was tasty enough and served with a scallion latke that was more the shape and size of crab cake than a latke, but a good accompaniment to the salmon in any case.

For dessert, the four of us split two, one a special: a blue cheesecake with champagne grapes. The other was a chocolate sesame cake with peanut butter, chocolate ganache, and a side of homemade ginger beer. I suspect we should have taken our waitress’ persistent urging for us to order the vanilla and banana pudding to heart: both desserts were losers. The blue cheese cake just tasted like fluffy, diluted Maytag. The only sweetness in the dish was injected by the grapes, and that just wasn’t enough. And it didn’t work as a cheese course either, as the flavor of the blue cheese was diluted by another flavorless cheese (or cream, or something). The dish, as my disappointment, is hard to describe. One dining companion observed that the chocolate sesame cake tasted just like sesame noodles. Which is good if you want sesame noodles, not good if you want chocolate cake. The ginger beer was tasty and refreshing, however. Both desserts were just a little strange, and not terribly enjoyable, which if anything, dessert should be.

As to the service: No. 7 is newish, so they are clearly still working things out. I am a little annoyed after reading other reviews online that we were supposed to have been served a complimentary bean dip and pickles at the beginning of the meal. We weren’t offered anything except water (oh, except we asked for that). Our waitress was very sort of familiar with us, in a chatty, “Hey, let’s act like we’re friends!” way. After telling us the specials, she went away and came back promptly; one of us ordered the pork chop special, to which she responded that they were all out. In the two minutes that lapsed, they ran out of pork chops? Anyway, as I said, they are new and figuring stuff out still.

All in all, it was definitely good enough that I would go back there, but maybe after they have expanded their menu a bit and worked out the service kinks.

No. 7
7 Greene Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
[no phone listing]

P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos. I forgot my camera! Bad Gastronormous!

Photo courtesy yelp.com

With the Hubs working late, I spent a lonely Friday night at home with only a quesadilla, my dog, and multiple episodes of Dog Whisperer to keep me company. Not healthy on so many levels.

On Saturday evening, we went to dinner and a movie. The movie was at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, so we planned on going to Noodle Pudding, a nearby Italian restaurant we went to ages ago and thought was just ok, but have since met so many people that are devoted to that place that we thought we’d give it another try. Unfortunately, there was such a mass of people waiting outside to get in, that we knew we wouldn’t make it out before our 9:15pm movie started. We considered going to the endearingly old school Chinese joint, Fortune House, but thought better of it once we remembered that Siggy’s was also in the area.

Siggy’s is a great little neighborhood cafe and restaurant with an eclectic, all-organic menu. The counter up front lets you know that it is unequivocally part juice bar, but don’t let that fool you. Siggy’s offers a full dinner menu and now serves (organic) beer and wine as well. I had the pesto pasta, which was chock full of firm grilled baby artichokes and kale. It was a bit too oily, but had great flavor.  I didn’t leave a bite on my plate (though had some help from the Hubs). Unfortunately, The Hubs veggie burger was a little lackluster. It looked beautiful, but Hubs thought it was little too black-beany. I thought it just wasn’t very flavorful. It might have been helped by the addition of salt and/or other seasonings. It was the single disappointment to the meal. To drink we chose the Frey cabernet sauvignon. Despite its being organic, biodynamic, and sulfite free, it was really quite enjoyable, especially after it was given a chance to breath. It was rich, fruity, and spicy, almost in the vein of a California zinfandel, and with a not unpleasant hint of chalk (yes, chalk.  distinctly chalk).

As the dessert selection consisted of apple pie or brownie (the latter of which were wrapped in cellophane on the counter at the front), we decided to get a little something sweet at the movie theater. Something cool about Brooklyn Heights Cinema is that in addition to the obligatory goobers and sour patch kids, the snack concession also offers cookies, brownies, and hot coffee and tea. We opted to share a chocolate chip cookie from Baked. I’d say it was an average chocolate chip cookie. It is probably better fresh from the bakery, and since I have no idea how long the cookie had been sitting in the lobby of this theater, I will not make a pronouncement about Baked’s cookie quality. I would like to try their oatmeal cookie next time I am in Red Hook. (By the way, the movie we saw was The Pool. It was a pretty cute movie, and I would recommend it, though you can wait for video–it isn’t one of those movies that must be seen on the big screen.)

On Sunday, we met friends for Sunday Brunch at Frankies 457 Spuntino. I finally had the french toast and it was all I hoped it would be. Unlike other brunch spots, they really know how french toast should be done. The Hubs noted afterward that he didn’t like the fact that the only egg dish offered was frittata (and an unimaginative frittata sandwich). While this fact might actually be weird, I put my fingers in my ears and refused to hear it, and kept dreaming about the french toast.

Siggy’s
76 Henry St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-237-3199