Posted by Nick Solares, August 6, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Ice Cream
Having grown up in England I have been subjected to a fair amount of stogy and uninspired bread pudding. I wonder if Francis Drake would have repelled the Spanish Armada with quite as much vigor if he had known what a Spanish spin on the dish might have tasted like. Such is the case with the bread pudding served at Casa Mono, Mario Batali's Gramercy Park Spanish restaurant.
Served with cinnamon ice cream, macerated raisins and an orange (naranja) compote the bread pudding is buttery and tender. A puff of steam escapes when you crack the exterior crust, revealing a delicate and moist interior infused with orange zest. The acidity of the orange compote balances the sweetness of the pudding and richness of the ice cream, while the raisins add a nice textural balance to the dish.
Casa Mono
52 Irving, New York NY 10003 (nr. 17th Street; map)
212-253-2773
Posted by Zach Brooks, June 9, 2008 at 9:30 AM
The food porn from this weekend's Big Apple Barbecue Block Party has been pouring in since early Saturday afternoon, and if you missed it (or you just want to stare lovingly at your favorite plates of 'cue), there are plenty of options. Gothamist was one of the first to post a slideshow, as did Eater. Jason Perlow has photo and video coverage on Off the Broiler, Dave Cook from Eating in Translation was there, as was Food in Mouth; plus new Serious Eats grillmaster Josh Bousel has a great round up of the event on his blog The Meatwave.
But our totally biased favorite is this video put together by the CW11, featuring our very own Ed Levine talking about how great it is that one weekend a year these pit masters get to be treated like rock stars.
Were you there? What did you think?
Posted by Ed Levine, May 13, 2008 at 11:00 PM
The gentleman exiting the building is not Ed Levine. (Photographs: Robyn Lee)
With barbecue joints seemingly sprouting up on every corner these days in New York, it's easy to forget what a barbecue wilderness Gotham was for so many years.
When I arrived in New York in 1973, there was precious little real barbecue, slow-smoked meat cooked with indirect heat. Even by the late '80s our barbecue options here were limited to Smokey's on Ninth Avenue (for North Carolina barbecue), Stick to Your Ribs in Queens, and Tennessee Mountain Home in SoHo.
Wildwood BBQ
225 Park Avenue South, New York NY 10003 (at 18th Street; map)
212-533-2500
Website
Must-Haves: Brisket, short ribs, beans, cornbread, salt and vinegar potato chips
What You'll Spend: $30 and up (not including alcohol) for dinner
Grade: B
The barbecue game-changers in our town were Virgil's in Times Square and Blue Smoke in the Flatiron District, both opened by respected restaurateurs (the late Artie Cutler, and Danny Meyer, respectively). Following those in short order were Daisy May's, the first chef-driven barbecue joint in New York (Daniel and Le Cirque veteran Adam Perry Lang), R.U.B. (Paul Kirk), with its Kansas City–influenced style; and Hill Country, which harkened to Smokey's with its dedication to a single regional barbecue style (in its case, central Texas's German butcher–derived 'cue). Hill Country (Robbie Richter and Big Lou Elrose) and Daisy May's were also the first barbecue joints manned by competition pit masters who honed their barbecue skills on the national 'cue competition circuit.
Now comes Wildwood BBQ, which brings together the talents of an interesting trio: megasuccessful, commercially oriented restaurateur Steve Hanson, the aforementioned pit master Elrose, and uber restaurant designer David Rockwell. Hanson has made it clear that he hopes to roll out Wildwood nationally in the next year, bringing his pan-regional, urbane-but-not-fancy-pants barbecue concept to a city near you. But barbecue is tricky business, serious eaters, and does not easily translate to multiple locations, so I was curious as to what I would find at Wildwood.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 17, 2007 at 3:58 PM
Adam Platt disses Wakiya big-time in New York magazine this week. He asks: "So when, exactly, did the glamour and mystery of Chinese cuisine disappear from New York?"
A valid question, but I feel compelled to report that Platt gave a less-than-stellar review to Chinatown Brasserie, a credible and would-be Chinese food glamour spot, when it opened. Its dumpling chef, Joe Ng, is certainly the greatest dim sum chef in New York. The stir-fry dishes have been hit and miss at Chinatown Brasserie, but I must admit that I actually haven't been there since management put Ng in charge of all aspects of the kitchen. BTW, the Chinese barbecue has been excellent as well. I'm going to eat there next week, so I'll keep you posted.
But I digress.
Two people whose taste buds I have profound respect for especially when it comes to Chinese food told me last week that the food at Wakiya was awful. Three strikes and you might be out, Wakiya.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 4, 2006 at 11:15 AM
When it's July 4th weekend and it's this hot, a man's thoughts turn to ice cream.
With the temperature and humidity levels ridiculously high this weekend, I am pleased to report that the Otto ice cream cart is back at the NW corner of Washington Square Park. I ordered a half lemon, half coconut cup last week and got a half lemon, half vanilla instead, but it didn't matter. This is truly great ice cream, made by Meredith Kurtzman at Otto, where the gelati and sorbetti are almost uniformly sublime. Otto is definitely one of the great NY ice cream spots.
Here are my other favorites:
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