Eat, Sleep, New York

Vacation is a time for rest, relaxation, and eating. When J told me she'd be heading to New York for some meetings earlier this year, I took a week off from work to accompany (chauffeur) her and planned my own little eating adventure. Armed with a healthy appetite and some cold hard cash, I was prepared to eat until I could eat no more, and then have some dessert.

We stayed at the Distrikt Hotel in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood which was centrally located and near the 42nd Street subway station making it a perfect location for me to eat my way around the city. It was also conveniently located a few short blocks from one of my favorite restaurants in New York, Hell's Kitchen Restaurant, a modern Mexican spot that I estimate I've eaten at close to thirty times. Anyway, as soon as we checked in the tour began. J had some meetings to attend to so I headed straight to Shake Shack. There are always long lines at Shake Shack no matter the location; there are five in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn and one in Queens at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. There are also Shake Shacks in Washington, D.C., Westport, CT, Miami, FL, Kuwait City, Kuwait and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. There are also Boston locations in the works!

I'll be honest with you, my relationship with Shake Shack started off rather cool and I'm not referring to the fact that my first visit was in the middle of winter nearly two years ago, which it was. No, I'm referring to the fact that I simply did not think Shake Shack was all that great, especially after waiting in line, in the cold, windy expanse of Madison Square Park, for more than thirty minutes. Sure it was good, the fries were crispy, the burger fresh, but it was just a fast food burger after all, right? Wrong. Shake Shack is to New York as In-N-Out is to Southern California, seriously. They use 100% all-natural Angus beef that is free of hormones and antibiotics, humanely raised and source verified. All, yes 100%, of Shake Shack's electric usage is offset through wind power and renewable energy certificates. Each Shack is also constructed from recycled and sustainable materials; tabletops are sourced from reclaimed bowling alley lanes! Shake. I'm happy to wait in line now whenever I'm in New York, and am ecstatic about the opening of Boston's first Shake Shake!

On this most recent trip I paid a visit to the Theater District Location on 8th Avenue at 44th Street, and of course there was a long line out the door. From the time I stepped in line to the time I received my burger and fries, I waited thirty minutes. And yes, I do believe the wait was worth it. Tasty burger, tasty fries, stop one on my eating tour of Manhattan complete.

From Shake Shack I headed to dinner with J and and some of her business colleagues; I didn't pick the restaurant and I'll simply say it wasn't very noteworthy, I don't even remember the name of the place OR what I ate. Like I said, not very noteworthy. I almost considered heading back to Shake Shack for a late night burger, but I didn't, there would be plenty more eating the next day.

Day two of my epic 2012 New York City eating tour began with a run in Central Park and a a stop into Stumptown Coffee Roasters in the Ace Hotel for a cappuccino. Just like Shake Shack, there was a long line of people waiting to order, winding into the hotel lobby. I don't remember where I first heard about Stumptown - they are a coffee roaster and cafe chain based in Portland, OR - but this was my first of many visits. Once ordering and receiving my beautiful cappuccino, I understood why the line was so long. Perfectly creamy, homogenous foam, rich, strong espresso, an absolutely perfect start to my day and quite possibly the best cappuccino I'd ever had. I returned to Stumptown each of the next three days to be begin my feeding frenzy.

Fully caffeinated, I walked across town to Pulino's Pizzeria for some breakfast pizza. I did my research ahead of time and knew that I'd be able to eat early at Pulino's. If I was going to fit in my entire agenda I would have to have breakfast at Pulino's. The restaurant was empty when I arrived, having opened only a few moments earlier. I sat down with a view of the open pizza kitchen and ordered a cup of coffee. I was having breakfast after all, and what's breakfast without coffee? Pulino's has six breakfast pizzas on the menu but just one really caught my eye. I ordered a small Pere e Miele, a honey roasted pear, ricotta and almond pizza. The crust was crispy and chewy, the pears sweet and tender, the ricotta spread generously and the almonds perfectly sliced with just the right amount of crunchy bite. This pizza would be great for dessert too, but on this day, it was the perfect breakfast pie.

Now overly caffeinated with some food in my stomach it was time to move on. Just before 12 noon I headed over to Momofuku Noodle Bar and what a surprise, there was a line to get in. Momofuku opened at 12 noon and there was a short line of people in front of me waiting to eat. 

It was a short wait for the doors to open and once inside I was promptly seated at the bar with a nice view down the line of the open kitchen. By the time I ordered a few minutes later, the place was almost completely full. Momofuku Noodle Bar is busy for a reason, the food...is...amazing.

I had a hard time making a decision between the famous pork buns and the grilled octopus. I wish I had tried the pork buns but am so so glad I ordered the grilled octopus. The octopus was cooked absolutely perfectly, like blow your mind perfect. Served with scallion kimchee, salsify, California carrot foam, arugula, Chinese sausage and cara cara orange. Wow. This dish left me nearly speechless.

I also ordered a hot bowl of Prawn Ramen, one of the daily specials. This ramen was made with red miso and served charred arugula, napa cabbage, a soft boiled soy egg and nice, big, head-on prawns. This was as fine a bowl of ramen as I've ever head but seriously, I wish I had another plate of the grilled octopus. I also tried their soft-serve flavor of the day, beet-lime, with a vanilla twist. The soft serve came in a small dish with pistachio crumble at the bottom. The beet-lime soft serve was quite tangy, with a hint of sweetness, like beets and limes. The sweet vanilla twist, ordered upon recommendation, offered a nice foil to the tartness of the beet-lime. The pistachio crumble offered a nice textural contrast and infusion of salty goodness.

Totally satisfied with my Momofuku experience, I was on a mission to keep this amazing euphoric food high going. Staying in the East Village neighborhood, I headed to Crif Dogs, a place I learned of while watching an episode of The Layover with Anthony Bourdain hanging out with David Chang (of Momofuku). They visited Crif Dogs and PDT and I immediately wanted to go. Unfortunately PDT didn't open until later in the day but I did get a change to try a Crif Dog, and wouldn't you know it, there was a line when I got there. A short line, yes, but a line nonetheless.

After a thorough review of the many hot dog choices, I opted for the Spicy Red Neck, a house made hot dog, bacon wrapped and smothered in chili, jalapenos and coleslaw. Had I been drunk I might have proclaimed this to be the best hot dog I've ever had, but in a totally sober state, coming down from a Momofuku high, I was underwhelmed. Not one flavor stood out in the piled high hot dog. Flat on flavor, I moved on, only slightly disappointed that a place touted by Bourdain AND David Chang left me wanting something else. The day was still young though, and I had plans to meet friends in Brooklyn for some more good eating.

After a much needed nap I hopped on the Q train in Times Square and headed to Brooklyn to meet my friends at the Atlantic Terminal;  they were coming in from Long Beach on the Long Island Rail Road. Before heading to dinner we stopped into Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope for a quick caffeine fix. I've been a fan of Gorilla Coffee for a few years and always pay them a visit when I'm in Brooklyn visiting J's family. They sell a great cold brew and are quite skilled with their latte art.

Fully caffeinated, we headed to Chavela's in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. I don't remember how I found this place but the food was great and the margaritas cold. I ordered some grilled street corn, Elotes Callejeros, served with chipotle mayonnaise and cotija cheese, and a few tacos. I ordered a few margaritas, rocks and salt, to wash it all down and that about cooked me for the day. I headed back to Manhattan to sleep off my food coma and prepare myself for another day of eating.

Day 3 began just as day 2 with a run through Central Park and, you guessed it, a cappuccino at Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

Still in a mild food coma from day 2's feeding frenzy, I was hopeful that a little runner's high and some Stumptown caffeine would power me through another day of eating. With high hopes I headed to Motorino in the East Village, a wood-fired pizza joint known for what I can now attest to, absolutely amazing Neapolitan-style pizza. Oh, and there was no line and no waiting. It was also 11am.

I ordered the superb Soppressata Piccante pizza with fior di latte, chili flakes, garlic and oregano, and it came with a nice fresh mixed green salad with red onion, parsley, mint, balsamic vinegar and sea salt. As good as the breakfast pizza was at Pulino's the day before, this pizza at Motorino was that much better. Perfectly charred crust, high quality, fresh ingredients, an amazing pizza that made me forget how much I ate the day before. I ate it all. Oh yeah, I ordered some tiramisu as well which was pretty freaking awesome.

Thoroughly stuffed at this pointed, I walked across the city from Motorino in the East Village to the High Line over in Chelsea. The High Line is an old elevated freight line that was converted into a public park. The High Line runs along the Hudson River from Gansevoort Street to West 30th with some really stunning views of the city. I walked the length of the boardwalk hoping to burn some calories and continue my eating tour of New York. Which I did when I found myself heading to Eatalyon Fifth Avenue, six long city blocks from the High Line.

When I turned the corner onto Fifth Avenue, I saw something that until now had eluded my on my trips to New York, the Calexico Food Cart! Calexico has four carts with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn and sell gourmet Mexican street food. I love me some Mexican street food and ordered up a couple tacos before heading into to Eataly.

Eataly is like a big Italian Marketplace with a bakery, a deli, a grocery, and several restaurants. I've been a few times for charcuterie, crudo and pizza but never up the rooftop beer garden, Birreria, which is where I was headed on this day. Up to the roof top I went and grabbed a seat at the bar. Since this was a weekday, in the middle of the day, it was not busy. I ordered a couple beers and got into some pretty interesting Twitter conversations. Bierreria brews a few of their own beers, unfiltered, unpasteurized and cask conditioned, and I ordered two. In one of the casks at the time was the Barista robust porter brewed with cold extracted Guatemalan coffee, it was rich, smooth and delicious. I also tried the Gina American pale ale which they brew with fresh Italian thyme. It was a unique beer, hoppy, herbal, refreshing, and currently available. I believe this is one of the beers that they regularly brew.

On my way out of Eataly, the gelato bar called out to me like a Siren's song. Unlike Homer, this burnt caramel gelato did not spell trouble for me; it was, however, enough to put me back into a food coma that I knew I had to sleep off if I was going to make it to dinner with J in a couple hours.

After a quick snooze I headed to Hell's Kitchen Restaurant, a place I used to eat at every week when I was working in Manhattan, a place where I've eaten just about everything on the menu, a place that has outstanding modern Mexican food and the best sangria I've ever had - a secret recipe that I may or may not have. My favorite meal at Hell's Kitchen is their pan seared Chilean sea bass served with grilled chayote, sweet plantain puree and a deliciously spicy salsa verde. Nearly thirty visits to the restaurant and never a bad meal. Always consistent and of high quality, I went with a special on this night, trusting Chef Jorge Pareja. I ordered the Posole with pork, hominy, chilies and avocado. Pleased I was, satisfied with another fantastic day of eating that ended with an amazing meal at one of my favorite restaurants.

Two and a half days of solid eating and one more sleep before heading home. Our plan was to leave the city around noon once J finished up with her meetings. So, while she was working I headed to Stumptown one more time for another perfect cappuccino and a triple chocolate donut, chocolate cake, chocolate chips, chocolate frosting. Chocolate love.

We picked up a couple sandwiches at Bierkraft in Brooklyn before hitting the road. A favorite spot of ours in Park Slope, Bierkraft sells great craft beers to go, and also pours many on draft. They've also got a great deli with sandwiches like this one, our favorite, the Serrano with manchego, arugula, balsamic vinegar and fig jam.

Goodbye New York. Until next time.

Whole Grain Oatmeal Pancakes: Take 3

The third times a charm, as they say. I've been making these pancakes in one way, shape or form for the last three and a half years making slight adjustments here and there and experimenting with different flavor combinations. My most recent modification to the recipe makes these pancakes completely dairy free. Well I guess they were always dairy free since I usually used hemp milk to make my them, but now I use no milk at all, from a cow or alternative sources like hemp, soy, or almond. That's right, there is NO MILK in these pancakes and they are amazing.

The last time I wrote about these pancakes I shared a tip I learned from watching an episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown in which they whipped their egg whites to add loft (fluffy airiness) to the pancakes. I still recommend this technique for larger batches of pancakes that include two or more eggs, but I'm usually just making these pancakes for my me and my wife so I just whisk the egg vigorously before incorporating the other wet ingredients.

And now, the newest tip I want to share with you for making amazing, light and delicious pancakes, replace the milk/milk alternative with soda water. Yes, that's right, soda water! The carbonation will add some loft and lightness to the pancake batter and its neutral flavor will allow the other ingredients in this pancake recipe to shine. My favorite add-ins include bananas and chopped walnuts, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, and fresh or thawed, frozen peaches and crystallized ginger. I also like to top my pancakes with more fresh berries, like raspberries or blackberries, and a handful of granola along with real butter and 100% Vermont maple syrup.

I've also tried the recipe with rolled oats and all whole wheat flour. They came out great this way too if you want to skip the all-purpose flour but you'll likely need to add a little more soda water. The recipe below is the one I use when I'm cooking just for me and J but it can easily be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, whatever. If you double or triple the recipe, I highly recommend separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites before incorporating all the wet ingredients. You can also adjust the add-in proportions to suit your tastes, or skip them all together. Enjoy!

Whole Grain Oatmeal Pancakes
Serves 2 (makes approximately six 4.5" pancakes)
Base ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (Quaker Old Fashioned oats)
  
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1-2 tbsp. honey or agave syrup
• 1 cup soda water 

Add-in suggestions:

• 1 to 1 1/2 bananas, sliced
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

OR

• 1/2 to 1 cup strawberries, cored and roughly chopped

OR

• 1 cup blueberries

OR

• 1/2 cup peaches, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

 
Directions

1. Preheat a griddle over medium heat
2. Whisk together the oats, flours, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt
3. Using the same whisk in a second bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, , oil, egg yolks, vanilla, and honey
4. Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir until just combined
5. Mix in any add-ins like bananas and walnuts, or blueberries, or any other fruit you like
6. Pour batter into skillet using about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake, the batter will be thick
   
7. Once bubbles form on the outside of the pancake and do not fill in again - it is time to flip them over
   
8. Flip once, finish cooking, then serve with butter and pure Vermont maple syrup

Mayonnaise - The Condiment You Love to Hate

I want to hate you, mayonnaise, really I do. You are pure fat. Sometimes when I see you in a gallon jar, or worse, a five-gallon bucket, it makes me a little sick. But then you show up on a BLT and you're quite tasty. But on a turkey sandwich, yeah, you're pretty gross. Corned beef, yeah, you're pretty disgusting on a corned beef sandwich too. But if you add a little horseradish to yourself, wow, you're pretty tasty on a roast beef sandwich.

How is it possible to hate you, mayonnaise, when you are the binding in potato salad, tuna salad and chicken salad. You try to disguise yourself as remoulade and tartar sauce and let me say you've done a nice job with your costume. Remoulade is practically required with crab cakes and fish and chips with OUT tartar sauce, that would be blasphemy. Even aioli, a close cousin of yours, is delicious on paninis and French fries. You're even pretty tasty on French fries all by yourself. But let's be honest, remoulade and aioli are just you, mayonnaise, dressed up for the Prom.

Sure, you clog arteries, probably cause heart disease, certainly add to the obesity epidemic, and to that I'm sure you say loudly, "EAT ME IN MODERATION! And please, don't put me on a salami sandwich, that's what mustard is for."

Service can make or break a meal.

When a professional kitchen puts out good food on a consistent basis, the success of every meal becomes the responsibility of front-of-house staff. A great bartender, a knowledgeable server, efficient service, all these make for a memorable meal. When bartenders give a little attitude about a drink they don’t know how to make, when a cold dessert spoon is brought to the table for a hot soup, when a cocktail is placed on the table and the glass is chipped, these things obviously have a negative impact on a meal. On the other hand, when a bartender is not familiar with a drink but still says, “sure, we can figure that out” and asks questions about the ingredients or looks it up on a smart phone, when table service is so efficient and flawless you hardly recognize the presence of wait staff, when small mistakes are acknowledged and corrected quickly, these are signs of a great restaurant that pays attention to detail.

After eating out twice this weekend I experienced both ends of the spectrum. A fantastic meal with stellar service from the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left, and a meal rife with service gaffes from start to finish with some pretty good food in the middle.

While I don’t ordinarily write negative reviews I know this restaurant can do better, and has done better during several of the previous times I’ve dined there. I’ll first tell you about the less than favorable experience I had at Sel de la Terre Natick. My wife and I arrived early; we were meeting friends, so we went to the bar for a drink and an order of SDLT’s famous rosemary fries. It was at least a few minutes before either bartender acknowledged our presence and when one finally did, she was certainly friendly, waving from halfway across the bar like we were old friends as she came over to talk to us.

I asked if she could make an Old Cuban, my favorite cocktail at the moment and one I was introduced to at Eastern Standard. The bartender said she had no idea what it was and when I mentioned that I’ve had it at a few places in Boston and maybe it’s a Boston thing, she responded with what I perceived to be an attitude saying, “well I’m from Boston and I’ve never heard of it.” She made no effort to inquire about its ingredients and that was that. So, I asked for a cocktail menu and asked her to put in an order of fries. J and I order a couple drinks, and waited for our friends to arrive, the fries never did and we settled the bill, no fries, to move to a table in the dining room.

Our server at the table was nice, telling us about the specials and taking orders for another round of drinks. I ordered a martini, when my drink arrived I noticed the rim of the glass was chipped, after I took a sip. I informed our server and he replaced the drink right away with a fresh one. That’s great but the glass should have never made it to the table – the service bartender or the server should have noticed the chip. The next gaff came when the soup I order arrived at the table, without a spoon. I asked the server for a spoon and he disappeared for a couple minutes. He finally returned to the table from the kitchen with a spoon, an ice cold spoon which I presume he grabbed from a reach-in cooler where spoons intended for dessert are stored. There were a couple other issues with the meal that can be chalked up to miscommunication but I feel like a more attentive server would have cleared things up with questions before it go that point. At the end of meal the food was good, very good even, and we enjoyed a side of the rosemary fries that we ordered at our table. With better service this would have been a very enjoyable evening, instead, we talk about how the food was good but the service really fell short. With that said I would still go back to Sel de la Terre Natick because I know from personal experience they can do better, they have done better, and the food is quite good. Although I must say they outsource their bread service now and the quality has really suffered.

Now on to the better dining experience of the weekend, dinner at The Regal Beagle in Brookline. I’ve heard good things about the Beagle since they opened two years ago. Arriving around 7:30pm, our party of four was told the wait would be about an hour so we headed to the back where the small bar was crowded. One of the two bartenders saw us right away and handed us cocktail menus. After looking at the menu for a moment I asked the bartender if he knew how to make an Old Cuban, he said, “no but we can figure it out, we’ll make you whatever you want.” I think he overheard me describe the drink to one of my friends and I also think he looked up a recipe on his iPhone. Either way, he figured out it, recommended making the cocktail with a 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala and managed to make a fantastic Old Cuban. I was very impressed by his willingness to make something new to him and at how great it was. Score 1 Regal Beagle bar, 0 SDLT bar. After a couple more cocktails our table was finally ready. Once seated, we were greeted right away by our server; she was friendly, knowledgeable of the menu, and willing to make suggestions and help us make decisions when we asked. All four of our meals were excellent, appetizers and entrees were great. And, we were having such a great time we had some desserts too, equally as good. The one slip up that our server made was that she forgot to bring a green tea we had ordered with the rest of our dessert, and when reminded she quickly returned with the tea saying that since she forgot the tea was on her. She acknowledged the mistake, took responsibility, and made it right. Well done!

So two different restaurants, both with very good food and clearly very qualified kitchen staff, however one meal was okay and the other was outstanding. Service can make or break a meal but can never make up for bad food. Do you agree?

Are you in the restaurant business? How do you make sure your staff is ready for anything? Do you empower them to make decisions that could impact the restaurants bottom line?

A Tale of Two Burritos

I've been a fiercely loyal fan of Anna's Taqueria for as long as I can remember. My first taste was many years ago at the Harvard Street location in Brookline, long before they expanded not only the size of that location but their footprint in the city. Super chicken with black beans, sour cream and jalapenos was my go to burrito. I'd mix it up occasionally with a super steak, but that was rare. Going to Anna's has always been about the experience, at peak periods it's akin to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. From the tortilla steamer on down the line, your burrito, taco or quesadilla is built right in front of you. Watch your burrito built up and expertly rolled before taking a seat to eat.

I've never lived very close to any of the Anna's locations so stopping in was always a treat. It was almost always on a weekend, until I started working in Cambridge, a mere ten minute walk from the MGH/Beacon Hill location. Anna's is now an almost weekly staple in my lunch diet, and I am fiercely loyal. I've been vocal about my lack of love for Boloco, Qdoba will do when there is no Anna's around, and Chipotle, well, they are a former McDonald's start up, don't get me going on how I feel about McDonalds. I've also moved on from chicken and almost exclusively order the carnitas, its the best I've had, anywhere, until recently.

There are many other independently owned and operated taquerias in Boston. La Verdad turns out some of the best, no, the best tacos in the city and incredibly reasonable prices, $1 a piece on Tuesday's when the Red Sox are out of town during the baseball season. There is also El Pelon, an institution with a following as fiercely loyal as those that love Anna's. Unfortunately their Fens location suffered a great fire shutting it down some time ago. I hear they are about to open back up in the very near future but they also opened a new location on Comm Ave across from Boston College. I never visited El Pelon in the city before the fire, and never visited the Boston College location, until last night.

On my way home from the city, having forgone dinner for a couple after work cocktails at Eastern Standard, I decided to detour onto Comm Ave and stop in for a burrito at El Pelon. Let me first by stating that there is no experience at El Pelon, I don't know what it was like at the Fens spot pre-fire, but at the Boston College location, the burritos are rolled behind a high counter top. There is no watching the assembly of your burrito, there is no experience. However, the carnitas burrito, with hot sauce, no sour cream, was great. Seriously. I felt like I was cheating on Anna's because I enjoyed it so much. The carnitas was tender, not a dry piece to be found. It was big, spicy, and delicious. But again, no burrito experience.

In this tale of two burritos, Anna's wins. I have only this one El Pelon experience so I can't speak to the consistency of their flavors, texture and rolling, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that since they too have very loyal followers, they're doing something right. The edge goes to Anna's though, for the great burritos AND the great burrito experience.

Stop in to any one of Anna's locations and see for yourself. You won't be disappointed. For comparisons sake, head over to El Pelon too. When you've tried both, let's talk.