My food list

Places to try....

UWS
-Patisserie Margot , 2109 Broadway on 74th St, apple turnovers
-Soutine, 104 West 70th St, btw Columbus/Amsterdam Aves, blueberry scone

UES
-Yura & Company, 1650 Third Ave near 92nd St, pies
-Two Little Red Hens , 1652 2nd Ave at 85th St, pies
-Land NorthEast Thai, 1565 Second Ave btw 81st and 82nd St
-Teodora, 141 E. 57th St at Lexington, tuna salad, Italian

Midtown
-Bouchon Bakery, Time Warner Center, jelly donuts
-Five Guys Burgers, 43 West 55th Street, 5th/6th Ave
-Goodburger,Lexington at 54th St
-Gyro cart, 53rd St and Sixth Ave
-Fukumatsu,
212 E 52nd St, 3rd Ave and 2nd Ave, ramen
-Norwegian Seamen's Church, 317 East 52nd St. at 1st/2nd Ave, buffet Wednesday
-Hummus Kitchen, falafel, fresh lemonade, 768 Ninth Avenue (51st Street)
-Kyotofu, 705 Ninth Ave near 48th St, dessert
-Pearl on the Sushi, 695 Ninth Ave at 48th Street, lobster sushi
-Taam Tov, 41 West 47th St at 5th/6th Ave, 3rd floor, central asian
-Becco, 355 W. 46th St between 8th/9th Ave, all-you-can-eat 3 pastas
-Lattanzi, 361 46th St between 8th/9th Ave, Italian-Jewish
-Akdeniz, 19 W. 46th near 5th Ave, Turkish
-Sukhadia's, 17 West 45th St between 5th and 6th Ave, Gujarat
-Sakegura, 211 East 43rd Street, udon and small dishes
-Ceriello's, Grand Central Terminal, good butcher
-Darna, 633 Second Ave, 34th/35th Streets, moroccan
-Dae Dong, 17 West 32nd, Hamhung naeng myun noodles
-Kang Suh, 1250 Broadway at 32nd St, Hamhung naeng myun noodles
-Goodburger,2nd Ave at 43rd St
-Bon Chon Chicken, 314 Fifth Ave at 32nd St, 2nd floor, Korean fried chicken
-Pizza Suprema, 413 Eighth Avenue at 31st Street

Chelsea
-Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company, 286 Eighth Ave bt 24/25th St, sandwiches
-BBQ Chicken, Korean fried chicken, 232 Seventh Ave, 23rd and 24th Streets
-patisserie des ambassades, senegalese, 161 West 22nd St, lamb, stews
-Havana-Chelsea Luncheonette, 190 Eighth Ave at 20th St, Cuban sandwich
-Swich, 104 8th Ave at 15th St, Trojan Horse and tuna sandwich

Grammercy
-Baoguette, 61 Lexington between 25th/26th, vietnameese sandwiches, catfish sandwich
-Johnny's, egg sandwich, 124 West 25th and 6th and 7th Ave
-Bgr, 287 Seventh Ave near 26th street, burgers
-Great Burrito, 100 West 23rd Street at 6th Ave, carnitas taco, huarache

West Village
-Pardo's, 92 Seventh Ave at Grove St, rotisserie chicken
-Patisserie Claude , 187 West 4th St between Sixth and Seventh Aves, apple turnovers
-Duane Park Patisserie, 179 Duane St between Hudson and Greenwich Streets, apple turnovers (by 10 a.m.)
-Little Owl, 90 Bedford St at Grove St, Mediterranean
-BarFry, seafood po-boys, tomato salad, wasabi pickles, 50 Carmine Street at Bedford Street
-Market Table, hamburger and hoagie, 54 Carmine Street at Bedford
-Hakata Tonton, pig's feet, 61 Grove Street/Bleecker Street
-Perry Street, warm molten chocolate cake, 176 Perry Street at West street

East Village
-Molly's Pub, 287 3rd Ave between 22nd 23rd, onion rings
-Rosa Mexicano, 9 East 18th St at 5th Ave
-Boqueria, 53 W. 19th St off Sixth Ave, tapas
-Tebaya, 144 W 19th St off 7th Ave, japanese wings
-La Nacional,
239 West 14th St, Seventh and Eighth Ave, paella
-Momofuku Ssam Bar, 207 Second Ave and 13th St, Berkshire pork rice bowl; pickles; country hams, grilled rice cakes
-BLT Burger, 460 Sixth Ave and 12th St
-Philly Slim's Cheesesteak, 106 University Pl near 12th St
-Tokyo La Men, 90 University Place
-Stand, 24 East 12th St between University/5th Ave, burgers
-Westville East, 173 Ave A at 11th St, americana
-Sundaes and Cones, 95 E 10th St near 3rd Ave, asian ice cream
-Persimmon, 277 E 10th St, korean, raw fluke
-Dieci, 228 E 10th St, 1st/2nd Ave, japanese-owned italian
-Max Brenner chocolate, 141 2nd Ave at 9th St
-Spoon's Asian tapas, Malaysian, sweet potato pudding,141 First Ave between St. Marks Pl and 9th St
-Soba Koh, 309 E 5th
-Prune, egg/cheese/bacon sandwich at lunch, 54 E. 1st St between First and Second Ave

Alphabet City
-Barbone, 186 Avenue B between 11th and 12th, pasta--fettuccine with lamb
-Bodeguita Cubana, Cuban, 271 E. 10th Street between 1st/Ave A
-Snack Dragon, tacos, 199 E. 3rd St between Ave A & B

LESish
-Balthazar ,80 Spring Street between Broadway and Crosby Streets, apple turnovers
-Bondi Road, 153 Rivington St near Suffolk St, Aussie-style fish-and-chips shop
-BroomeDoggs, 250 Broome St at Orchard St, black angus dog
-Cronkite Pizzeria & Wine Bar, 133 Norfolk Street at Rivington
-Centovini, 25 W. Houston St at Greene St, Italian, polenta, across from Angelika
-Dash Dogs, 127 Rivington St near Norfolk St, stoned dogs
-La Conquita, 236 Lafayette St near Spring St, Rice and beans with pork, barbecued chicken or goat stew
-Barbouche, 92 Prince St near Mercer, French-Moroccan
-Kampuchea Noodle Bar, 78-84 Rivington St near Allen

Chinatown
-Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food, 190 Hester Street and Hua Ji Pork Chop Fast Food, 7 Allen Street, taiwanese
-Jobees, 3 Howard between Centre/Lafayette, Taiwanese
-New Malaysia, 46-48 Bowery, oyster pancake, Hainanese chicken rice
-Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich, 369 Broome Street
-Vanessa's Dumpling House, 118 Eldridge St btw Grand/Broome, fried pork and chive
-Fu Zhou Cuisine, dumplings, 15 Eldridge Street
-Hong Kong Station, noodles, 45 Bayard off Elizabeth
-Bánh Mì Saigon BakeryVietnamese sandwiches, 138-01 Mott off Grand St
-Grand Italian Food Center, create-your-own sandwiches, 'new yorker', 186 Grand at Mulberry
-Il Palazzo, pappardelle alla casalinga, 138 Mulberry off Hester
-Sheng Wang, 27 Eldridge St, hand-pulled noodles
-Papatzul, 55 Grand Street, at West Broadway, Aztec, Strong Buzz 12/25
-Bahn Mi Sau Voi Cafe, 101-105 Lafayette St between White/Walker, vietnamese sandwiches

Tribeca/NoLita
-American Diner, Mulberry between Price and Spring
-Tribeca Treats, 94 Reade St at Church, cupcakes
-Bon Chon Chicken, 98 Chambers St at Church, Korean fried chicken

Brooklyn
-Yun Nan Flavour Snack, 775A 49th Street pork and beef noodle soup
-Lunetta, 116 Smith St near Pacific, Boerum Hill, italian
-Sparky's, egg breakfast sandwich, 135A N. 5th St at Bedford, Williamsburg
-Two Little Red Hens , 1112 8th Ave at 11th St, Park Slope, pies
-Baked, mini caramel apples, 359 Van Brunt Street at Wolcott Street, Red Hook
-Lucali's, sausage, mushroom pizza, 575 Henry Street, Carroll Gardens

Queens
-Sheng Jian Muslim Little Kitchen, halal, 41-40 Main St. (41st Rd.-Sanford Ave., inside "Oriental Express Food"), Flushing
-Cedars Meat House, 41-08 30th Ave., Astoria, eggplant sandwich
-Renee's Kitchenette, 6914 Roosevelt Ave nr. 69th Street, Woodside, Filipino sausage
-Dhaka Kabob, 37-11 73rd Street, Jackson Heights, goat curry, cardamom/beef rice
-Spicy and Tasty, 39-07 Prince St and 39th Ave, Flushing, taiwanese
-Arzu, 101-05 67th Road, Rego Park
-Waterfront International Enterprises, 40-09 Prince St at Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, northeast chinese
-Unidentified Flying Chickens, 71-22 Roosevelt Ave at 71st St, Korean fried chicken
-Zabb Queens, 71-28 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights, Isaan Thai
-Pollo Campero, 103-16 Roosevelt Ave, Corona, Guatamalan chicken

Misc
-Hand-pulled noodle places
-Caribbean restaurants in Brooklyn
-Flushing Golden Shopping Mall and Beijing in Flushing
-All the pizza spots in one post
-Top 10 ice cream sandwiches
-Apple Turnovers
-Southern Food
-Tacos to go
-Jjajangmyun in Queens

NJ
-White Manna, Jersey City, burgers

Sources
-Amateur Gourmet
-amNewYork
-Eating in Translation
-Ed Levine
-Food in Mouth
-Gothamist Food
-Grub Street
-A Hamburger Today
-New York Post
-New York Times
-Slice
-Strong Buzz
-Time Out New York
-Village Voice
-Wandering Eater

Not mincing words

There's an interesting Times article that, unwittingly, does a good job of capturing some of the issues that are roiling, and will ultimately change, Europe.

Immigrants Capture Italian Flavor: Last month, Gambero Rosso, the prestigious reviewer of restaurants and wine, sought out Rome’s best carbonara, a dish of pasta, eggs, pecorino cheese and guanciale (which is smoked pig cheek; pancetta, for aficionados, is not done) that defines tradition here.

In second place was L’Arcangelo, a restaurant with an Indian head chef. The winner: Antico Forno Roscioli, a bakery and innovative restaurant whose chef, Nabil Hadj Hassen, arrived from Tunisia at 17 and washed dishes for a year and a half before he cooked his first pot of pasta.

“To cook is a passion,” said Mr. Hassen, now 43, who went on to train with some of Italy’s top chefs. “Food is a beautiful thing.”

Spoken like an Italian. But while the world learned about pasta and pizza from poor Italian immigrants, now it is foreigners, many of them also poor, who make some of the best Italian food in Italy (as well as some of the worst and everything between).

With Italians increasingly shunning sweaty and underpaid kitchen work, it can be hard now to find a restaurant where at least one foreigner does not wash dishes, help in the kitchen or, as is often the case, actually cook. Egyptians have done well as pizza makers, but restaurant kitchens are now a snapshot of Italy’s relatively recent immigrant experience, with Moroccans, Tunisians, Romanians and Bangladeshis all doing the work.

The fact itself may not be surprising: On one level, restaurants in Italy, a country that even into the 1970s exported more workers than it brought in, now more closely mirror immigrant-staffed kitchens in much of Europe.

But Italians take their food very seriously, not just as nourishment and pleasure but as a chief component of national and regional identity. And so any change is not taken lightly here, especially when the questions it raises are uncomfortable: Will Italy’s food change — and if so, for the worse or, even more disconcertingly, for the better? Most Italian food is defined by its good ingredients and simple preparation, but does it become less distinct — or less Italian — if anyone can prepare it to restaurant standards? Does that come at some cost to national pride?

Wow--these foreigners sometimes actually cook! And yes--top immigrant chefs are just 'anyone'.

There is, of course, more.

But in a debate likely to grow in the coming years, others argue that foreign chefs can mimic Italian food but not really understand it.

“Tradition is needed to go forward with Italian youngsters, not foreigners,” said Loriana Bianchi, co-owner of La Canonica, a restaurant also in Trastevere, which hires several Bangladeshis, though she does the cooking. “It’s not racism, but culture.”

Yeah, and the Confederacy was all about culture, too.

And then, of course, there's this:

Despite this success — and thousands of loyal Italian customers — he said he never felt fully accepted. “Italians say they aren’t racist but then they say to me that in Milan I have found America,” he said, referring to a slightly insulting expression for finding success without really working for it. “It makes me feel lousy.”

Qunfeng Zhu, 30, a Chinese immigrant who opened a coffee bar in Rome’s center, has had a similar experience even though he makes an authentic espresso in a classic Italian atmosphere (overlooking a few bottles of Chinese liquor).

“Some people come in, see we are Chinese and go away,” he said.

But in the last few years, he said, that happens less frequently, one sign that Italy is opening up — if slowly — to other kinds of food. Twenty years ago it was hard to find anything beyond the odd Chinese restaurant. Now the choices are broader, especially for Asian food like Japanese or Indian.

“We live in a globalized society — there are so many people represented in our city,” said Maria Coscia, the commissioner of Rome’s public schools. So much so that last year the city began a program of serving a meal from different countries once a month. But many parents complained loudly.

“The first time we did it, the menu was Bangladeshi,” she said. “That was a problem.”

As a result of the complaints, the program was tweaked slightly and now at least one dish in four on those days — even grade-school students eat well here — will remain Italian. Now it is largely accepted, though the program’s Web site includes this reminder for the still wary, “In the total of the 210 school days, when lunches are served, only eight days are dedicated to the menus from other countries.”

It's pretty astonishing how openly racist Europe can be--the best part about the article is it continues the trend of writing about non-white Italians as foreigners, as if the definition of an Italian is limited to those whose grandparents marched under Mussolini.

Habla hysteria

The sign tells you right away Pizza Patron's not your normal fast-food chain. Just how special it is comes out in Texas-based pizza chain accepts pesos, takes heat.

It's startling to me that people who are bigoted against immigrants care so much that they'll spend time and energy going after an entrepeneur like this. What the hell do they care how a fast-food joint accepts payment?

Maybe these haters should instead try and contribute to this country.

Chicago Tribune: A pizza chain has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, becoming another flash point in the nation's debate over immigrants.

"This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one e-mail read. "Quit catering to the ... illegal Mexicans," another said.

Dallas-based Pizza Patron said it was not trying to inject itself into a larger political debate about illegal immigration when it posted signs this week saying "Aceptamos pesos"--or "We accept pesos"--at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California.

Pizza Patron spokesman Andy Gamm said the company was just trying to sell more pizza to its customers, 60 percent of whom are Hispanic.

Wal-Mart, H-E-B supermarkets and other American businesses in towns along the Mexican border accept pesos. Some businesses in New York and Minnesota along the northern border accept Canadian dollars. ...

The company said it has received hundreds of e-mails, some supportive, most critical.

While praising the pesos plan as an innovative way to appeal to Hispanics, a partner in the nation's largest Hispanic public-relations firm said a backlash was inevitable.

"Right now there's a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric going around that could make them a lightning rod," said Patricia Perez, a partner at Valencia, Perez & Echeveste in Los Angeles.

Pizza Patron proclaims on its Web site that "to serve the Hispanic community is our passion." Its restaurants are in mostly Hispanic neighborhoods, and each manager must be bilingual and live nearby, said Pizza Patron founder Antonio Swad, who is part-Italian, part-Lebanese.

Is this the American dream, or what?! Immigrant starts an innovative small business which fulfills a need and becomes a national chain; comes up with a twist, draws fire, perseveres, and before you know it everyone else is copying the idea.

At least that's how I hope this story ends.

Pizza Patron sign photo via Austin Chronicle

Jimmy (and) Deen

If I could only watch one tv channel, I might very well pick the Food Network. Even though or maybe because I don't really cook I love watching Good Eats, Iron Chef (the Japanese original is waaay better than the American wanna-be) Ham on the Street, The Hungry Detective, Unwrapped, Emeril Lagasse and of course Rachel Ray.

Granted, the channel's usually on in the background, and every host save one is white (some extremely so--it's got to be part of a deliberate demographic decision). But the network's done a good job of putting together a mix of easy-to-experience programming.

One person I've never liked much is Paula Deen--she's always struck me as a little too much Southern hokey. And her sons, now with their own show, are just spoiled good-old-boys.

But I like Paula now, after watching her with Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. Yup, the ex-president of the United States was on her show, cooking and making easy small talk.

She was appropriately respectful--even if she oddly called him Mr. Jimmy--yet obviously was having a ball with her fellow Georgian. They finished the show holding hands, eating a meal on the Carters' couch, as she delivered an emotional tribute, calling him the greatest humanitarian in the world today.

As for President Carter... what a great guy. He seemed totally at ease rolling out dough for biscuits; seems to know his way around the kitchen. But then again, he's always been a down-to-earth, hands-on person, sometimes to his detriment (i.e., his personal involvement in who was scheduled to play when on the White House tennis court; for a fascinating look at this anecdote and Carter's personality, see Match Point to the Media).

Like his nemesis Ronald Reagan, Carter is definitely a much more complicated and thus interesting guy than the caricature most people carry around of him. He was not only deeply religious--in an absolutely appropriate way--but also, as reflected in his days as a Navy nuclear submarine commander, a steely, stubborn man who stuck by his principles and expected others to hold themselves to similarly high, professional standards.

In some ways he was let down by the less-exceptional people around him, in particular the foreign leaders whom he trusted to care about their people's interests as much as he did.

As for his legacy with the American people, it's too bad he didn't take a page from Bill Moyers, his fellow Southern liberal Baptist, and learn the supreme importance of image and communication in politics. Americans want a president who seems presidential. Carter, post-Watergate, purposefully tried to strip the office of its pomp and hauteur, but in the process lost his bully pulpit and made himself seem a mere technocrat.

Oh well; history will remember him more kindly than many of us do, he may well have been the most decent man to hold the job since Abraham Lincoln.

And heck, not too many other countries where you can turn on the tube and see your ex-supremeo leader wearing an apron, with flour on his hands.






Photos of Jimmy Carter from PBS' American Experience's telling photo album.

Amateur writer

B
One of my favorite blogs to pop in on every now and then is The Amateur Gourmet, a theater grad student's account of eating in NYC. It's not great literature, but is consistently entertaining; and even though I don't share the blogger's food taste at all it sometimes points me to restaurants worth a visit.

The other day the blogger mentioned he has a quotation from Vladimir Nabokov, one of my favorite writers, posted on his wall: "Great ideas are hogwash, style and structure are the essence of a work."

I've never heard the quote before, but it fits my view of Nabokov. He's one of those gruff Russian geniuses, a classic hedgehog to borrow Isiah Berlin's term in that he has life philosophies that he applies to his writing in a disciplined, hard-working manner and someone who as a result hates dilettantes/dabblers/sloppy thinkers above all.

The genius of his writing stems from exact and telling description, whether of character or situations, along with inventive plots that unfurl in unexpected--to the reader--ways, stirred with a deep psychological understanding of the human condition. He's all concrete--what happens matters in his books, it's not about mood or talk. Even his love of butterflies was as a collector rather than as a head-in-the-clouds poet. And his letters to Edmund Wilson (Bunny) reveal not great minds communing, but rather are filled with pithy comments and revolve around money.

So maybe it's not surprising that he'd value style and structure--things that can be learned and worked at--over great ideas, which seem to just come to you (although in reality they require the foundation of a lifetime of awareness). It fits the Russian mentality of head-down, straight at 'em, an attitude that compensates for inferior materials, whether in sending waves of soldiers at the Nazis in WWII or in stockpiling nuclear warheads during the Cold War.

I actually disagree with Nabokov (for one thing I like science fiction, which is nothing if not great ideas wrapped in bad style inside bad structure) although I can see his point that having great ideas means nothing unless one also does the hard work of making the most out of them, a process that in writing requires structure and style. It's why Russians love poetry, where every word is absolutely necessary and one idea is enough to inform an entire work (too many indeed leave it bloated).

It was unexpected to see the quote on the Amateur Gourmet's website--he's pretty slapdash--and my guess is Nabokov would've detested the blog as a format ('you must be disciplined in your writing; you must spend time to revise and revise and revise; and you must receive money for your work.').

It's especially ironic that the Amateur Gourmet misquotes Nabovkov... the actual quote from Lectures on Literature appears in the foreword and reads:

Style and structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.

Inscription by Nabokov via the Times.

King of the hill

Mmmm....

Photo of offerings at Egg Custard Cafe by Tien Mao, from his blog.