paul’s da burger joint

paul’s “da burger” joint was into burgers before they were cool. since 1989, paul’s has had its cozy, family run, no frills burger joint near st. marks place in the east village, and there is no sign of slowing down.

the burgers here at paul’s are thick and juicy, with 1/2 lb. of beef (or turkey) grilled and placed on a classic sesame seed bun. we ordered the cheeseburger deluxe, which comes with fries and a drink – a mere bargain at $7.90 ($4.90 without the combo)! the burgers are not quite my favorite, although they did satisfy the craving. (the grease-soaked bun and overload of toppings sort of made me  panic when more grease and tomatoes were landing on my lap than in my mouth, but richard saw the fatty drippings and extra goodies on top as a major perk.) the cheeseburger was topped with a simple slice of american cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and caramelized onions. there is, of course the option to add tons of other toppings (mushrooms, various cheeses, a fried egg), or order something other than a burger (chicken sandwich, tuna salad, an omelette), but we stuck to the basics. i will, however, note that the fries were the flat, uncrispy diner fries that i’m not crazy about, so next time i might opt for the sweet potato or shoestring fries instead.

all in all, i like paul’s. i love the simple, unpretentious, red-checkered tablecloth and basic approach that paul’s takes to its burger place. it’s much unchanged since its opening, and that’s a good thing. it hits the spot, fills you up, and you’re in and out pretty quickly..and sometimes, that’s exactly what you need.

paul’s da burger joint: 131 2nd ave. between 7th st. and st. mark’s place

back to basis 2010: will wait (for good food)

if there still exists an idea that new yorkers are testy and impatient and demanding, well you wouldn’t have known it on sunday’s back to basis good food festival.

the event was in full swing by the time i arrived at 1pm, but it was possible to do a drive-by of all the tents, see who was serving what, before committing. within the hour, i started to feel the heat–literally. coincidentally, the line for ample hills creamery ice cream (brilliant name) was growing by twos and fours, and starting to block the free flow of traffic between colicchio and sons and minetta tavern on one side, maplebrook farms and rouge tomate on the opposite. (i did a lot of touching and squeezing and smiling all afternoon–and i don’t mean at the wonderful  katchkie farm stand. you know, a girl’s gotta get by…) but still, spirits were still high. i kept an eye on the line the entire time i was at the event–did anyone get discouraged, and leave? if it happened, then there were many other willing to fall in.

no one would have mistaken the scene on gansevoort square as a small town gathering. how could it be, all asses and elbows like that. and, really, unless you had all afternoon and a bottomless belly,  you kind of needed a strategy–do i spend my 4th ticket on the simple kitchen’s apple spice cake, or do i buy 4 more tickets and load up on minetta’s oysters and pork crepinettes…and hope there’s ice cream left? do i want dinosaur bar b que’s pulled pork mini AND lowcountry’s carolina bbq slider? do i eat ALL the beets that dirty-bird-to-go gave or do i try to take the rest home with me? but still–the small town spirit was there.

it was,  in basis.

basis is an organization that forges connections: between farmers and chefs, farms and restaurants…between people. regular-folk, like me. it’s not industry-exclusive. they offer food deliveries, via a subscription service. it’s for anyone in nyc (and limited areas of westchester, nj, and ct) who shares an interest in food that is traditionally made, fully traceable, locally grown and harvested, and…affordable. but the idea isn’t just about brokering good goods, it’s also about honoring work, valuing a way of life. the basis model offers a different immediacy. and it proves that convenience doesn’t require you to give up quality or tradition. or the idea of something “new.” this event represented another opportunity for food frenzied new yorkers to think about not the food itself, but where it came from, and who all are sharing it with us.

was back to basis a success? if you can judge purely on mass and intensity? most definitely.  i think they already outgrew gansevoort square with this maiden event. here’s hoping for an even stronger basis (yes–i said it) next year.

i never got a salted crack caramel cone (sigh),  but enjoyed many other treats (see below).

i now have a new list of restaurants that i want to visit. and now i know a few farmers…

in the coming days, i will invite them into my own little kitchen.

***

dirty bird to go…

marinated beets, with goat cheese and red onion

beets and red onions from  j. glebocki farms

goat cheese from four brothers dairy

***

benchmark

i recently noted that one of my favorite things about swoon kitchenbar‘s website is that they list all the farmers and purveyors they partner with–seems to me they are as necessary to the success of a dish or establishment, as the imagination and skill of the chef and kitchen. it’s becoming more and more common for restaurants to acknowledge their sources. at the back to basis event, everyone got their due–signs detailing restaurant, dish, and source, were prominently displayed at every table.

pastrami-style  (padgett farm beef brisket) with truffled sauerkraut on tom cat bakery rye.

this was one of my favorite dishes at the event: i overheard that this is brined for a month? if this is true, every day is worth it. so tender and juicy–i fell to pieces, just the way this did….

***

lowcountry

this “north carolina, lightly smoked pork shoulder” was a terrific surprise. this flavoring was refined–i wanted to eat three.

this carolina bbq slider will be on lowcountry’s bar menu. while this screams summer to me, with a good lemony hoegaarden, i bet this will hit the spot, year round.

***

minetta tavern

what is the male equivalent of “sassy”? whatever it is, the fella who served the widow’s hole oyster & berkshire pork crepinette, was.

he basically told me he was going to change my life with that little tasting. he was confident for good reason. i liked the combination of flavors, they mixed well on the plate,  and on the palate. this was land and sea, salt and sweet. it was, like the server, “sassy.”

american oyster–crassostrea virginica– from…widow’s hole oyster company, long island, ny.

***

rouge tomate

“cream cheese and jelly”: quark cheesecake, concord grape gelee, whole wheat crumb

i met a lovely woman named jill who told me this dessert reminded her of her childhood…while this is made of quark cheese, she said that it was like the cream cheese and jelly sandwiches her mom made. only better.

cheese from argyle cheese farmer, argyle new york.

farmstead milk from meadow creek farm, interlaken, ny.

***

highlands

left: mushroom shepherd’s pie
right: scotch butter cake with drambuie whipped cream, pear and apple compote

i’m going to use an exclamation point: i loved the scotch butter cake!!

i don’t even love butter–but i loved the deep flavor here.

i am newly intrigued with scottish desserts: check out their menu

and, how we not love these guys?! hello, john and will.

***

the simple kitchen

butternut squash, from the simple kitchen garden
apple, from satur farms
and…
evans farmhouse creamery butter.

the final “taste” of the day for me was the first thing that really caught my eye upon arrival. butternut squash mousse and apple spice cake with an apple chip and roasted walnuts. the first bite was terrific–the roasted walnuts really seemed to make the difference here. i decided to taste the components separately: the butternut squash mousse had wonderful “thanksgiving” spice to it, the apple cake was dense–neither was terribly sweet. the contrast of the cake, with the light mousse, and the crunch of the apple chip and walnuts was perfect. did i want a little more sweetness? maybe. but given all that i’d eaten during the day, this lighter touch, in retrospect, was probably the perfect ending.

the hamptons/montauk: road trip

my boyfriend and i both took the day off for his birthday and we decided to do something besides sleep in and watch tv (although, that sounds great right now). we took the perfect 70 degree-not a cloud in the sky weather as a sign for us to take a mini road trip! we drove out to the hamptons and montauk, and after some research (thank you, ina garten’s cookbooks and nytimes’ “36 hours“), we found some places we couldn’t wait to try.

i can’t decide if richard possibly loves this banana ice cream cone more than me or not. his obsession with finding true (not artificially flavored and not too sweet) banana ice cream brought him to bridgehampton candy kitchen. the ice cream was super hard (took a solid 20 minutes to soften up!), very smooth (no ice crystals or lumps) and very thick and creamy. the flavor was the purest of bananas, with a touch of vanilla and little banana chunks.

ina garten had said that one of the best meals she had ever eaten was the meatloaf and mashed potatoes at  1770 house. as soon as we decided to take this trip, i knew we were going to make the pilgrimage. we started with the sweet corn soup with crab meat. the soup was thin and pureed, with jumbo lumps of fresh, soft crab meat. next came our entrees, the roasted organic chicken with green beans, pancetta, potato puree & rosemary jus and the meatloaf with roasted garlic, spinach and mashed potatoes. the chicken was a fantastic roast chicken; crisped and browned skin, moist meat and nice pan drippings, but i didn’t realize that the “potato puree” was the same as the mashed potatoes we’d be getting in our other dish.  the meatloaf was as good as promised. it was a large slice of the most tender meatloaf i’ve ever had. i could taste the fresh juices running through it, and it was so moist and flavorful from all of the fresh vegetables that must have been minced and added to the mixture. the accompaniments of garlic spinach (so garlicky) and mashed potatoes (so buttery) were superb, as well.

another pick from ina garten. we traveled to the tip of montauk for these lobster rolls at duryea’s lobster deck and THEY WERE WORTH IT. not the usual buttered hot dog bun, these rolls were on a sesame seed coated, thicker bun, and jam packed with mounds of heaping lobster salad (mayo, salt, pepper, dill and teensy bits of celery). ridge potato chips and homemade coleslaw were served on the side. we also got a bowl of the creamy new england clam chowder, which had with large lumps of crab meat, cubed potatoes and was a perfectly executed version of this comfort soup.  i can’t mention duryea’s without saying what a beautiful view the place has – set off on a small road, the deck overlooks the crashing waves and has some of the most scenic views in montauk.

there is nothing tastier than a warm, homemade donut for breakfast. dreesen’s donuts were the best start to our day! we tried maple, vanilla and plain sugar. the maple coating was my favorite (and richard’s) but they were all fantastic.

between the lobster roll and donut photos, i think i’m ready to re-do this trip sooner than i thought.

locations:

bridgehampton candy kitchen: main st/montauk highway, bridgehampton, ny 11932

1770 house: 143 Main Street, East Hampton, NY 11937

duryea’s lobster deck: 65 tutill road, montauk, ny 11954

morandi (let’s move)

i want to move.

i want to move to morandi.

yeah, morandi, the restaurant.

it’s a perfect plan—pretty west village spot, right there on waverly and 7th avenue south. (i used to live a few blocks away, i know it will be easy to fall back into a routine…reunite with the dry cleaners on 8th, the guys at the magazine store on hudson. i could start running again, by the water…)

if I lived at morandi, when the weather is nice, i could start the day with breakfast at 8–or ease into the brunch hour– at a table outside, like i did today.

i could have a skim latte and something simple—a selection from the basket of sweet breads. everything in it has a distinct and delicious ring, and indeed there are enough for each day of the week: brioche with chocolate and hazelnuts to make the monday less mopey; cherry spirals on tuesday; a simple cornetti, midweek; sweet pistachio bread on thursday; the panetti al forno-–a bit more savory, with prosciutto and raisins–for the friday morning after the night before; bombolini –little italian donuts!–as the precursor to a more luxurious weekend brunch; and, ricotta fritters to celebrate the 7th day.

is it working for you?

there are eggs, served with salt cod or skirt steak or more simply, with grilled tomatoes and country bread.

there’s salad: arugula or escarole, seafood, or spelt.

a more serious commitment can be made–meatballs with pine nuts and raisins, or an egg pasta with a classic meat sauce. (i’m not sure i could make that my first meal of the day—but i wouldn’t dream of messing with you, if you could. in fact, you could wind up being…my hero.)

but that is how a day could start at morandi. imagine where we could go from there?

sounds like a nice little life, ay?

ok, then.

let’s move.

***

maserazi–what a cool, sporty name for pistachio bread. as if pistachio bread didn’t sound enticing enough in english.

for a sweet bread, this is quite light. is it an olive oil cake, with pistachios? the color makes me think so.

i love that the crust and top is chewy–it has the springiness of good cake.

uova in camicia–egg in a shirt? i love it, yolk enrobed in its own white.

one of these eggs was a touch overdone–the yolk was almost a paste–but still delicious.

anyway, this dish for me was all about the fava beans.

i think i must hold fava beans in high regard–whenever i imagine them, they are a pert green color, as they are after a quick blanch. so when these arrived looking well-cooked, the color faded, i was disappointed. but everything changed with the first bite. yes, these were well-cooked, but perfectly so. they kept their body and flavor, as if they’d splashed around in the bath, but jumped out before they got wrinkly.

the peas were mushier–i like mushy. there was something else with terrific bite, from the onion family? or escarole?  i couldn’t tell. and i loved the vinegar splash.

bounty from the sea, with white beans, citrus, and gorgeous olive oil. a perfect late summer salad.

latte. hooray.

bonus pic: l’orange bike? i like.

***

morandi is at 211 waverly place. between 7th ave south and charles street.

phone: 212.627.7575

breakfast is served: mon-fri, 8am-11:30am

lunch: mon-fri, noon-3pm

brunch: sat-sun, 10am-4pm

dinner: mon-sat, 5:30pm-midnight; sun, 5:30pm-11pm

and oh my, they deliver. if only they would, to murray hill…

cafe habana

it was a dreary day in new york city last monday. raining, dark, cloudy and just plain old depressing. i had plans to meet up with one of my greatest friends for her birthday, and we knew we needed something that would be lively, uplifting and most importantly, DELICIOUS. we needed a no-fail option to bring us back to life. we needed…cafe habana!

cafe habana usually has obscene waits for tables, but when i called i discovered that there would be no wait (well, we ended up waiting about 10 minutes, but that’s negligible). we rushed down there and got seated at a small (but intimate) table at the back of the restaurant, with the loud buzz of the still-growing crowd in our ears. our rumbling stomachs caused us to possibly over order (i was stuffed afterwords, in the greatest of ways), but we decided to get two appetizers and two entrees. (also, the birthday girl got a delicious, and not too sweet homemade pomegranate shirley temple – the perfect birthday drink!!)

we started with the sincronizada, which are small black bean & sun dried tomato tortillas and mozzarella cheese and avocado, and the sopesitos, which is a sampler of corn cakes topped with black beans, cotija cheese and 3 different salsas. the sincronizada was good, but not a complete standout. it certainly satisfied my cheese craving and the sun dried tomatoes made it a little different from the standard order. the sopesitos came next, and they truly hit the spot. Three crisped corn cakes about the size of a coaster arrived piping hot at our table, topped with various flavorful salsas (i think my favorite was the salsa verde) and the crumbliest, most cooling cojita cheese.

next on tap, our entrees! we ordered the enchiladas suizas and the tiacoyos tres marias. the enchiladas suizas were packed with cheese and grilled chicken in a creamy green tomatillo sauce with rice & beans.  the sauce is a dream come true; you can taste the freshness of the tomatillos, nicely offset by the cream in the sauce and the crunchy red onions on top. the tiyacoyos tres marias was a corn masa “boat” stuffed with goat cheese, black beans & sun dried tomatoes served with rice & beans. this was just the perfect entree for a rainy night. just like the corn cakes we had to start, the tiyacoyos was crispy and had that truly mexican corn texture and flavor, and the goat cheese/sun dried tomato filling was at once comforting and innovative. 

this meal leads me to a question. can one ever have too much cheese?

cafe habana: 17 Prince St, New York NY10012 40.722933 -73.994193 (At Elizabeth St)

zucchini cake

zucchini cake: recipe

the end of summer is always a sad time for my favorite veggies and fruits. i hate waving goodbye to strawberries, watermelon, cherries, corn, tomatoes, and especially zucchini. what better way to use up the last bounties of summer than by making a delicious cake!

i was inspired by bon appetit’s august issue’s recipe for zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting. i lightened it up a bit by not making the frosting, which made it the perfect cake to enjoy for breakfast (with a cup of coffee) or dessert (warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream). the cake got its incredible flavor from the freshness of the zucchini paired with the olive oil and brown sugar. it was light, not too sweet, and crisped up on top, while remaining cakey and very moist on the inside. an ideal treat to bid adieu to summer!

ingredients

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

swoon (under the stars)

when we arrived at swoon kitchenbar at the noon hour a few saturdays ago, the energy of the room came entirely from the sunshine, bright wild bouquets, and luscious still life and nude paintings. there was no one in the place aside from 2 servers, my mom, my sister and me, leaving us to peruse the brunch menus in idyllic peace. an empty restaurant isn’t always a comforting sign, but we were the early-bird tourists invading hudson for the day; it would make sense that everyone else was rousing at a more leisurely pace.

coincidentally, things picked up once this cascade of shoestring fries arrived at the table: our conversation got a little more lively, other patrons started arriving.

these are perfectly crisp salty treats. i love diving into a dish like this, everything spilling over the sides, onto the table.

i studied the menu (several times) prior to our arrival and was set to order the short rib hash. but swoon relies on local, seasonal produce–they emphasize on their website that the menu changes according to what is available. on that day, no short ribs. of all the appealing alternatives–grilled lamb sausage, house cured gravlax, smoke salmon cake, duck confit hash (which my mom ordered), and the steamed P.E.I. mussels (which my sister chose)–i opted for the house cured pastrami reuben.

this is unlike any reuben i’ve had before. the pastrami is delicately seasoned and very tender. if you’re craving the aggressive salt and smokiness of a traditional pastrami reuben from your favorite diner, you won’t find it here. i missed that at first–the sharpness of the meat– but there’s no arguing with the quality of the beef they serve. theirs doesn’t need to be overpowered by curing spices. and the balance of sauerkraut and dressing–perfect. but there was one, true egregious thing about the sandwich–someone neglected to drain the beef from its bath or something, and the bottom layer of the sandwich was soaked through. it was a positive mess to handle. (upside: they have the most fragrant olive oil soap in the loo.)

there was one other slight disappointment, which i bring up only as a note to those of you who might seek something sweet to end the midday meal. the dessert chef may not be there until dinnertime, so don’t get to attached to the idea of crispy sugared churros, vanilla thyme honey panna cotta, or (sigh) dark chocolate pistachio fondant after your brunch.

but again, on the bright side, we were offered a fresh plum tart (on the house) and the opportunity to share an excellent chocolate chip cookie…

they are generous with the chocolate,  hazelnuts and pecans. this cookie made me hopeful for dessert on a future trip.

***

have a look at the menu (note that they kindly introduce you to their “sources”) and dream the promise of meals where the ingredients are the stars, and the chefs, the producer/directors. the purveyors are the folks behind the scenes who should rightly be thanked in the credits. they are as much a key to swoon’s very good performance.

***

swoon kitchenbar: 340 warren street, hudson, ny

they are open, thursday to monday.  (closed: tuesday and wednesday.)

lunch is served only on friday, saturday, and sunday.

dinner is served: 5pm-10pm monday, thursday, sunday; 5pm-11pm friday, saturday

reservations by telephone only: 518.822.8938

(got that?)

lick (it’s real good)

ok, i’m not really a bossy girl, but…

if you are ever in hudson, new york, you must, you must, you must…

go to lick…

and…

order the fig and sweet cream ice cream. (what did you think i was going to say?)

even if you think you’re not a fig person, order it. one scoop. or make it a swing scoop (that you share with someone you want to love you forever. it’s that magical.)

the first, best thing you will discover is gently sweet, fully fresh, cream. (consider: is it not what ice cream is truly meant to be?)

and then what? not chunks of dried fig, violently thrown into the mix, a chewy reminder of the flavor i made you order, but fruit so delicately blended, it’s practically an end note.

ok, ok. there are other flavors, equally tempting and probably very good. if you go and order something else, like the “killer chocolate,” “butter pecan,” or “coffee brickle” and you think they might even be better, send an email. boss me around right back.

a final note: you won’t have to go all the way to hudson for a good lick–the shop’s ice cream is supplied by jane’s ice cream of kingston, new york. for a full list of all the fine establishments in the state of new york–and new jersey– that serve jane’s ice cream, click here.

***

lick is at 253 warren street, hudson, ny.

they’re open from 1-10pm, 7 days a week.

a southern feast

planning for a recent family birthday party quickly turned into a “what recipes have we been dying to try” gathering, as my sister-in-law and i reviewed all of the recent magazine clippings and dvr’d food network segments that we had stored. we settled on a southern theme and decided we’d need amped up versions of the classics: baked beans, pulled pork sliders, cole slaw, peach pie and a lemon pavlova (ok, that’s not southern, but we were all salivating at the thought of it).

all of the recipes were a success on their own, but together, they resulted in a divine southern feast. nothing hits the spot like a tangy, sweet, slow-cooked pulled pork, and tyler florence’s easy recipe certainly didn’t fail. we topped each toasted potato roll with a mound of pulled pork and a thin slice of cheddar cheese. also, i’ve never made pulled pork before, and i couldn’t believe how economical it was! the 7-lb shoulder only cost $8, and it easily fed 6 (plus leftovers)! 

the root beer baked beans from bon appetit were a little plain, but definitely hit the spot; however, next time i would use only half of the root beer, since the dish wasn’t as thick as i would have liked. the sweet and spicy cole slaw, on the other hand, took the sometimes too-mayonnaisey dish to an entirely new level! the recipe came from the blackberry farm cookbook, which was developed on the blackberry farm estate, a beautiful farm in tennessee famous for it’s award-winning food, cooking classes, and almost unimaginable picturesque setting.  their sweet and spicy foothills coleslaw carried far more flavor than it did mayo, and the kick from the spicy mustard, the sweetness from the brown sugar, and the tanginess from the malt vinegar just gave this dish so much life. and using both kinds of cabbage just made it look so beautiful!

as stuffed as we were from this feast, we all must have saved some space for dessert, since we each seemingly pretty decent sized slices of the lemon pavlova and the peach pie. the peach pie is a family recipe from my sister-in-law, jen, and the crust is just perfect! it’s salty, sweet and crumbly all at once, and can really be paired with any fruit. the lemon pavlova recipe she made, though, looked like it has been bought for sixty euros at a french bakery or something — it was gorgeous, and equally delicious! thin layers of lemon meringue over creamy lemon curd custard. the best dessert for any lemon lover. this photo does not even do the dessert justice.

now, i’m just wondering what the text themed dinner should be! any suggestions? greek? indian?

the best chocolate cake in the world (part 2)

after my first trip to “the best chocolate cake in the world” I consulted the joy of cooking to find out the definition of “cake.”

seems silly, yes? how could one slice call into question decades of real life experience?

but when i think of cake—particularly what i might envision as “the best”—my mind immediately pictures layers of a discernable thickness—a leavened cake, if you will–intersected neatly by generous cream filling or icing.

i wondered if i could give “the best chocolate cake in the world” –a low-rise layered affair of meringue and mousse–a “pass” of sorts simply by disqualification?

but the joy of cooking reminded me that “cakes” is indeed a broad category that can be broken down: foam cakes, sponge cakes, butter cakes, genoise….and then, praise be, hundreds of variations. baked meringue is definitely used as a cake layer.

so maybe the thing to do is consider this particular cake in the context of a baked meringue variety? there’s not a lot of competition out there it seems, so maybe they’ve really got something? maybe this is the one that chocoholics would choose as the best? certainly, this cake win points for inventiveness. the recipe, created by carlos lopes and adriano lucas, is a version of a dacquoise made by fauchon in paris. i’m not sure which cake—i’m guessing the famous megeve cake, which is composed of traditional white meringue, layered with chocolate mousse, covered with ganache, and chocolate curls. other versions i’ve seen online aren’t made of “all chocolate.” the lopes/lucas version is an admirable pure chocolate celebration, with two varieties: the traditional (50 %) cocoa and the bittersweet (70%) cocoa. while my personal preference is for the bittersweet, there is same lusciousness to the mousse in both, and the crunchy meringue gives it necessary “bite.” it is sweet, yes, but not overbearingly so. it’s an intense chocolate experience, but there’s lightness and elegance to it that is sets it apart from other “cakes.”

now, is this the cake you’re going to order for your nine-year old’s birthday party? even your 39 -year old birthday party? maybe this is what would be traditional in paris, or portugal, or brazil or spain? perhaps judging the best chocolate cake in the world is not only a matter of opinion, it may also involve a wider world view. but i’m going to venture that folks stateside might vote for some celebration cake that is more common to our tradition, as my friend teresa did, when she declared that ladybird bakery’s brooklyn blackout cake was better.  i suggest you head down to nolita to judge for yourself. it seems to me this is kind of glorious battle where there really can be no losers.

good friend/chocolate fiend/actor richard short …and lots of caffeinated drinks.

the traditional (50 % cocoa)

the bittersweet (70 %)

***

the best chocolate cake in the world is at 55a spring street (between lafayette and mulberry streets. (212) 343-2253.