July 20, 2008
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 19, 2008 at 8:00 PM
The Red Hook vendors—some of them—were indeed back today. Six of the dozen or so merchants who make up the full contingent were on hand earlier this afternoon when Serious Eats: New York visited to scope the scene.
Who was back:
- Martinez huaraches
- Vaquero fruits
- Lainez Salvadoran pupusas
- Ceron Columbian
- One of the Guatemalan vendors
- Rojas Ecuadorian ceviche
As we mentioned yesterday, the city forced the vendors to buy trucks or carts to serve from. Photos of those trucks, and a tasty video, after the jump.
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From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 18, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Photographs by Peter Cunningham
The Red Hook vendors are slated to open this weekend—almost three months behind their typical schedule, all due to more stringent oversight from the city health department.
What to Expect
New and/or Refurbished Carts or Trucks: The casual tabletop setups for cooking tortillas and pupusas and what not will be replaced by food carts or trucks, as mandated by the city. That stipulation has some vendors in debt up to $50,000 on new equipment expenses. [Brooklyn Paper]
Higher Prices? Roy Edroso makes the not-too-distant leap of logic that food prices may go up to pay for those new carts—and make up for the weeks vendors spent forcibly idle. [Village Voice]
Huge Crowds: Every last blog is blogging about the opening. Every last person who fancies himself a foodie will be on hand. Agoraphobics, this is not your scene.
Hot Weather: Forecasts say 94-degree high on Saturday, 89 on Sunday. And NY1 this morning said humidity will make it feel like it's in the 100s. Bring sunscreen and stay hydrated, eaters! [weather.com]
Perhaps Some Tension: Longtime patrons may be harboring some resentment against gentrifying interlopers. [Eater comments]
How to Get There
View Larger Map
Vendors set up at the Red Hook Recreational Area, near the corner of Bay and Clinton streets.
By Subway: Closest station is the F/G at Smith & 9th Street Station. It's roughly a nine-block walk (map).
By Bus: The B61 bus in Brooklyn will take you to "Ikea Station," just a few blocks away. Head away from the water down Halleck Street; follow Halleck, taking a left as it turns into Columbia Street; bang a right on Bay, and walk until you get to Clinton (map).
By Hacking Ikea: We came up with an Ikea ferry and shuttle bus "hack." Ride the furniture store's shuttle bus or ferry out to Red Hook. But be warned; actual paying Ikea customers get preferential treatment.
What You Might Eat
The word is that not all the vendors may show up this weekend—and the Brooklyn Paper has it that at least three have called it quits. But here's generally what's on offer.
Tacos: Not the crunchy U-shape kind you get at Taco Bell. Think fresh, floppy corn tortillas, warm from the grill, topped with carne asada or barbacoa and chopped onion, cilantro, lettuce, and salsa.
Huaraches: "A tasty treat hailing from South-Central Mexico, this flat, oblong cake of masa (moist cornmeal dough) is rolled, pressed, stuffed with a thin layer of black bean, pressed again, and thrown on a griddle until nice and crisp. You can top them with a bit of salsa picante and grated queso anejo, or go the whole hog and pile on meats, chilies, onions, sour cream, and whatever else lies within reach." [Porkchop Express]
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From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 18, 2008 at 6:00 PM
In the right corner, wearing blue and white striped trunks, Duane Park!
Earlier today, Grub St. posted a great round up of restaurants offering ice cream to go this summer. The list includes Quality Meats, Seymour Burton, Kyotofu and the two competing Tribeca ice cream stands, Duane Park and Odeon. Oddly they picked Odeon for "Best Taste" which directly conflicts with findings from the side by side taste testing we conducted last month. We do however agree that mochi and mugi-choko make for some pretty great toppings.
From Serious Eats: New York
- Tomorrow the city can start fining restaurants over their calorie postings [Gothamist]
- Peaches Market, the new place from the owners of Smoke Joint, opens in Bed-Stuy tonight [Eater]
- The manager of the Blue Pig Ice Cream in Brooklyn Heights was caught double charging customers' credit cards [NYP]
- Maoz is hoping to open 10 or 11 more locations in the next few years [TONY]
- The FDA declares tomatoes safe again, but not hot peppers [Serious Eats]
From A Hamburger Today
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 18, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Fifth Avenue. In the space that was recently Mediterra, which before that was some kind of Turkish restaurant, which before that was the Curry Shop extension of next-door Chip Shop. In that space now: Corner Burger. Eight-ounce burgers on big, sesame seed white bread buns. We're told that flame-grilling is the modus cookerandi. An array of "signature burgers," including the Paris Burger (mushroom and Swiss), the Texan Burger (fried egg), the English Burger (on English muffin)—you get the picture. Been open a week. Reserving judgment until the place gets on its feet. Good fried sides, though. The onion rings are delicious. [via Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
Corner Burger
381 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215 (at 6th Street; map)
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Brian Halweil, July 18, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Editor's note: You may already be familiar with Brian Halweil, of Edible Communities, from previous posts on Serious Eats. But this entry marks his debut on SE:NY. Brian is the publisher of Edible East End, Edible Brooklyn, and the soon-to-debut Edible Manhattan. He'll be joining us from time to time as part of a Serious Eats partnership with Edible Communities. —Zach
With the commercial striped bass fishing season now open, Bay Burger in Sag Harbor has introduced perhaps the most interesting item on its menu—the striped bass burger. Complementing its standard offerings of burgers ground on site, parmesan-bread grilled cheese, homemade ice cream, and not so standard local wines and beer, the fish burger is particularly fitting for a burger joint in an old whaling village. (The original burger house at this site in the 1970s was actually called Whalerburger.)
In fact, owner Joe Tremblay, a former grill man at Burger Joint in Le Parker Meridien Hotel and manager of ‘wichcraft, both in Manhattan, has taken a particular interest in water-related issues in Sag Harbor, and would eventually like to devote some share of the restaurant’s profits to reducing chemical use on lawns, restoring wetlands and generally preserving the village’s working waterfront. Frankly, it’s surprising that more East End restaurants don’t serve bass burgers, considering what a stupendous recovery Morone saxatilis has made in recent years.
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From Slice
Craig Nelson of Not for Tourists emails with some intel that's new to Slice: "Patsy’s [East Harlem] slices went up to a $1.75—finally." And I say, well, they still haven't broken the $2 price point—at a time when $2.25 seems to be the average in the city. Still a great deal—if the slice is good that day! Thanks, Craig.
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Ed Levine, July 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The kati roll is quickly becoming a ubiquitous fixture of the New York fast food scene, but who would have thought that fancypants starred New York Times chefs would jump on the bandwagon. Tabla's Floyd Cardoz is getting into the kati act with a cart parked outside his restaurant from 11:30 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Though Serious Eats New York chief eater Zach Brooks could barely contain his disdain for the $8 price tag, when he took a bite he was all smiles. With good reason. Cardoz' Frankie (kati roll) puts every other kati roll specimen in this town that I've tasted to shame. The housemade egg-washed roti wrapper houses tender chunks of Bread Bar chicken tikka, fresh herbs, and mint chutney. Why Zach didn't bring the rest of the menu into Serious Eats World HQ I'll never know. Surely he knew that we would want to taste the Bhel Puri ($6), a Bombay street salad of local apples, green mango, and puffed rice dressed with tamarind chutney, the vanilla kulfi pop dipped in chocolate ($4), and the sparkling pomegranate limeade alluringly called a Pomgupani ($4). C'mon Zach. You've got some serious eaters in this office.
Tabla
11 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010 (on 24th Street; map)
212-889-0667
From Serious Eats: New York
Wagyu beef sandwich from Bouchon Bakery. Photograph by Phoebe.
- The grits are one of the must have dishes at Pink Tea Cup in the West Village [Cheap Ass Food]
- The fresh corn soup with lobster and pancetta was good at L'Ecole, the restaurant at the French Culinary Institute [Food in Mouth]
- The spicy pork jerky at K.L. Malaysia Beef Jerky is "sweet-spicy and porky, like meat candy" [Fork in the Road]
- The pizza bianca from Grandaisy Bakery is "still as delicious as ever" [A Passion for Food]
- You can get ostrich eggs at the new Whole Foods in Tribeca [Chowhound]
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 18, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Those 600 stores that Starbucks is closing? Ten are in New York City. So sayeth the Times.
Is your Starbucks closing? Here's the list.
Manhattan
All in Midtown:
- 340 Madison Avenue (at 44th Street)
- 400 Madison Avenue (near 48th Street)
- 1600 Broadway (near 48th Street)
- 1675 Broadway (near 52nd Street)
- 565 Fifth Avenue (near 46th Street)
- The one on the fifth floor of Macy’s in Herald Square
Queens
All in Glendale:
- Atlas Park shopping center location
- 8989 Union Turnpike
Brooklyn
Bay Ridge, 8414 Third Avenue (at 84th Street)
Additionally, one Starbucks in Newark is closing, 744 Broad Street.
