NYC Weekly Blog - 2.28.2013

I swear the last seven days have been some of the best food I've had in NYC.  I feel like I hit some kind of jackpot!

BROOKLYN
I'm lumping Brooklyn together because on Sunday I spent the full day making my way over to Brooklyn and wandering throughout its neighborhoods.

It all started with a walk down the East River.  It was a fairly nice day out for February in New York.  Just crisp enough to keep you cool while briskly walking.  So nice in fact that we reached the Brooklyn Bridge and decided to walk over it into Brooklyn.  The weather wasn't quite nice enough to capture the view of Manhattan in it's glory but here is a little taste!

By the time we made it up Bedford to the "Williamsburg" area we were famished.  I had my heart set on Fette Sau but we passed Extra Fancy along the way and my "Maine" friend couldn't stop herself from checking out this place known for their seafood.

Photo Credit: timeout.com

Since we already had our hearts set on Fette Say for dinner we decided to turn our night into a food crawl of Williamsburg and just stuck with appetizers and cider.  The Extra Fancy Deviled Eggs with pickled onions and fingerling chips were large and tasty.  The kale salad with artichoke was a lot of kale and not much artichoke... or dressing... or toppings for that matter.  Didn't really taste like anything.  We sat at the bar and the bartender wandered past us multiple times until I finally was like "Hi can we order??"  And then he calmly took our order like nothing was out of place.  Weird.  The cider was SO good.  I would come back just for that.  And the restaurant itself is really cozy especially on a cold day.
 

 

Feeling a little less "starvy" we made it to Fette Sau where we were lucky enough to jump in line right before a huge crush of people arrived.  Usually the wait here is outrageous and they don't take reservations so we totally lucked out!  We took full advantage of the menu ordering the brisket, pork ribs, pickles and coleslaw.  I also had to order a Cheerwine since this southern cult drink is hard to find in the Northeast. The overall review is that the BBQ was incredible, the BBQ sauce was even better (I slathered my beef in it) and the pickles/coleslaw were okay.  Oh and the Cheerwine was just as refreshing and sweet as always!

We thought the gorging would end at Fette Sau but we made friends with the guys at our table.  They asked if I was from Salisbury, South Carolina, because I was drinking Cheerwine (that's where they were from and super impressed I'd even heard of it).  This evolved into a long conversation about food resulting in them inviting us to try the best fried chicken in Brooklyn.

Five minutes later we were down the street at Commodore eating what I would agree was some pretty amazing fried chicken - heavy on chicken, medium on the fry, for some perfect crunch.  And the itty bitty toasty biscuits with honey butter really do melt in your mouth!  It took forever for them to serve it to us... and then offered us some nachos we didn't order ...but the food more than made up for the disorganized, albeit friendly service.

Photo Credit: nycgo.com

So that ends my little food trip through Brooklyn.  It has convinced me of only one thing.  I need to go back next Sunday.  On to more amazing food on the other side of the bridge back in Manhattan.


CHELSEA

Willow Road
It's a little embarrassing that this place is literally across the street from work and I have never heard of it.  And even more embarrassing that it is TOTALLY my type of place!  It's a cozy little gastropub RIGHT next to Del Posto.  I started my evening with the Cinnamon Gimlet cocktail which lands in my top three cocktails of all time.  The limey-ness of the gimlet paired with the fire of the cinnamon did some crazy sh*t to my mouth.. and I liked it.

Dinner was a smorgasbord of flavors and plates from a jar o pickled vegetables to braised artichoke with fregola sarda and fava beans to wild black bass "en papillote" with leeks and minnesota wild rice.  And topped with a fried homemade "Snickers" bar with ice cream.

The veggies were, well, pickled.  The artichoke fregola sarda (a Sardinian pasta that looks like a larger version of couscous but tastes more toasted) was SO good.  The artichoke was soft but not mushy and the fregola sarda was so much fun to eat!  We were sharing our plates but I'm pretty sure I took far more than my share of this one!  The black bass was also good although not as memorable as the artichoke.

The fried "snickers" was also unique in that it is not really a Snickers bar, it's a homemade candy bar made with the same ingredients as a Snickers.  Then when it is deep fried it gets super melty and nutty on the inside while still staying crunchy on the outside.  Pair that hot with a little ice cream and you have a winner!  To top it off the ambiance of the restaurant is so nice as was our waiter.  I have already told three people about this place and plan on going back many times over!

Photo Credit: Willow Road Website

 

 

 

EAST VILLAGE

Horus Cafe
I'm huge into hookah and live near Ave A so I often switch between Horus and Kakuza.  Kakuza is my favorite in terms of the service, the atmosphere and the quality of the hookah but I really like the port they serve at Horus (and the hummus).  So I struggle some times with what is more important and then that's where I go.  But yeah, if you are a weirdo like me and like port with your hookah try this place out!

Photo Credit: Horus Cafe Website

Mehanata
I've never met the owner of this place but I imagine that he and I would make great friends.  After a quick tour of this place I came to the conclusion that he must have made a checklist of all the things he would love to have in a bar (stripper poles, hookah, swing sets, ice box vodka bar, Bulgarian dance music) then opened one and put them all in it.  Even though they don't make ANY thematic sense together.  AND I LOVE IT.  I was here for maybe an hour on Saturday and I have already insisted that my friends and I all go back this Saturday.  So many activities, all fun.  My only comment is come after 1:30am because that's when the real party starts.  See ya there!!

 Photo Credit: guestofaguest.com

WEST VILLAGE

Empellon Taqueria
I've already written a full report of this place before but just wanted to mention it's still great.  This time I had the queso fundido with shishito peppers, the shortrib pastrami tacos with pickled cabbage and mustard seed salsa and the octopus with parsnip and salsa papanteca.  The queso was drippy, peppery yumminess and the tacos were the perfect combo of salty pastrami, hot mustard and pickledness but the octopus was frankly kind of weird.  It tasted like rubber in salsa.   Not my favorite and I've been big into octopus lately.  Anyways still a top spot.

 

 

My NYC Cultural Weekend

So it may not be from just the last week due to the plethora of Los Angeles and Croatia-based blogs these past few weeks but I'm finally back on track with new activities, restaurants and bars in NYC.

This particular blog outlines some of the top summer activities that I managed to squeeze in RIGHT before they ended for the summer.  However they come back every year so check out their websites next summer for more information on how you can participate!

BROOKLYN
 
PS1: Warm Up
First up is PS1 which is an extension of MoMA that occurs every summer.  Here is a quick excerpt from their website explaining the event:

"MoMA PS1 presents Warm Up 2012, beginning July 7 and taking place every Saturday this summer through September 8. Now celebrating its 15th year, the museum's highly anticipated outdoor series will continue its tradition of introducing audiences to the best in experimental live music, sound, performance, and DJs. The annual series is held in MoMA PS1's courtyard, which this year will feature a temporary urban landscape by HWKN called Wendy, the winning design of MoMA PS1's 13th annual Young Architects Program. M. Wells will be cooking in the courtyard all summer long."

In a nutshell, it's a huge outside dance party within the walls of the MoMA extension building which also features a bunch of art exhibits inside the building itself.  Additionally each year a new installation is erected outside built by the winner of the Young Architects Program initiative.  This year was a giant blue star while past years have featured everything from bounce balls to light displays. 

 

 

My favorite indoor exhibit was an installation series called "Just Knocked Out" by Lara Favaretto whose works echo the ways in which things decay over time only to be rebirthed as pieces of new exhibits.

Overall I really liked the art exhibits and the general concept however the music that day and the outdoor sculpture weren't all that interesting to me.  However, I definitely plan on coming back next year if only to see what new things they've created in my absence.

Smorgasburg
Every Saturday through November 18th, Smorgasburg pops up on the "shore" of the East River in Williamsburg to delight the taste buds of New York foodies (one of two locations) from 11am to 6pm, rain or shine.  We happened to pick a very "shine" day (aka hot as hell) so I think I mostly selected places selling interesting drinks that I could continue to gulp down while standing in the shade.

This method meant that I started my foodie journey at La Casa de Camba where I selected one of their four soda-based drinks, the Marcuya-Lemonade which from what I could tell was a mixture of lemonade, passion fruit and soda.  It was sadly gone far too quickly.  Also in a gametime decision I ordered salteñas because, well, everyone else was and I came down with a bad case of food envy.  The salteñas was okay...I felt like the dough around the meat was too thick and rubbery and the pocket was mostly filled with sauce instead of meat.  It tasted fine - maybe it just wasn't what I expected a Bolivian "empanada" to taste like.  However, I'm glad I was adventurous and tried it!  Chuck Norris on the other hand is a HUGE fan (see photo below).

Somewhat full, I then passed Brooklyn Piggies and had no choice but to try them (pigs in a blanket rank as one of my top favorite foods).  Each order is three "piggies" and you can choose from original, spicy, chicken and tofu.  I really wanted spicy but couldn't be bothered to wait 15 minutes for the new batch so I just went with original.  They were SO good.  The dough around the hotdog was light and crispy and they were piping hot.  I'm salivating a little just thinking about it. 

At this point all the dough and meat and sun had made me a little wobbly so it was time to retire to SmorgasBar where I tried the Brooklyn Soda Works’ grapefruit-jalapeno-honey soda with Kings County’s Moonshine mixed in.  Let me say that for approximately $11 it seems like a pricey drink until you realize it's about 2/3 whiskey.  Talk about 5:00 somewhere... it was about 2pm and I was definitely enjoying myself!

BACK IN NYC....

The Whitney
So embarrassingly of all the museums in New York I've only yet made it to the Met and now PS1 (if it can count as a museum).  So when I found out that Yayoi Kusama was going to be at the Whitney my roommate and I jumped at the chance to go and see her.  I had already seen her exhibit in Madrid last summer so I was eager to see how this new exhibit might be different.  Turns out it was MUCH bigger and featured a lot of her sketches, letters, and other "side" art outside of the popular stuff that she is most known for.  The other exhibits in the building were pretty lame but I highly recommend going to see hers!  Also her most famous installation "Fireflies on Water" is separate from the regular entry fee - you have to get there early the day of to grab one of the finite number they give out each day.  The cool thing I didn't realize is that each museum's "Fireflies on Water" is unique so this one is completely different then the version I saw in Madrid.  Had I known I would've gotten a ticket!

Beekman Beer Garden
So the last event of my weekend was probably the least "cultural" but one of my favorites and still involved music so I felt like it counted.  I went to a DJ event at the Beekman Beer Garden on the East River.  The beer garden is also a "beach club" in the sense that outside the DJ tent it was all sand and picnic tables.  I have NEVER heard of this place until this night and it is SO cool.  I plan on coming here a ton at least until winter sets in.  I wish I'd heard of it earlier in the summer so I could've taken advantage more!  Not sure what it's like when there isn't an event going on but the views of the river and the bridges are amazing at night.