Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 3, 2008 at 6:30 PM
I don't believe Bavaria officially approved of this message, but how could they object to brats and streudel-flavored frozen custard.
The special Shacktoberfest menu at Shake Shack starts today and will last until October 17th. If you can pry yourself away from your normal Shake Burger order, the old country food includes Polish sausages, "Shackmeister" braised red cabbage, celery root slaw, and seasonal concretes like cran-apple strudel and German chocolate cake. And, if concretes don't taste enough like beer for you, they'll have Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale and Bluepoint Oktoberfest.
Shake Shack
Madison Square Park at 23rd Street, New York NY 10022 (between 5th and Madison Aves; map)
11 AM to 11 PM, 7 days a week
shakeshack.com.
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Stepping out of the Roosevelt Avenue subway stop in Jackson Heights for the first time is similar to what I imagine those kids must have felt like stepping into the giant candy room of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Walk in one direction and the street is packed with Indian food and grocery stores, another direction and you'll be surrounded by Latin food, yet another there is Korean and Chinese food, and of course, there are great looking street carts everywhere you look. On a recent trip, we headed west on Roosevelt into Woodside to hit up Renee's Kitchenette, a Filipino restaurant recommended by a friend for its Filipino style BBQ.
Renee's BBQ chicken was good, as were some of the other dishes we had, like the char grilled pork belly, or the Lumpiang Sariwa, two large crepes filled with veggies and meat, then smothered in peanut sauce. But my favorite dish was hands down the Filipino sausage. While some are sour or heavy on the garlic depending on the region they come from, the version at Renee's were sweet-- a characteristic of the sausages from Pampanga. Similar to chinese sausage, but in a thicker chorizo-like form, the homemade longanisa, as they're known in the Phillipines, were cheap, incredibly tasty, and easily stole the show from the BBQ chicken that brought us out there. If this is what Filipino home cooking tastes like, I may need to find a family in the Phillipines to adopt me.
Renee's Kitchenette
6914 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside NY 11377 (nr. 69th Street; map)
718-476-9002
Posted by Barbara Hanson, July 3, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Or, "Why Did We Want Independence from This?"
Myers of Keswick feels as though it has been looking out on Hudson Street forever, which, in Manhattan terms is true; the self-styled “Bastion of Albion in Manhattan,” opened its doors 23 years ago tomorrow, on July 4, 1985. I’m guessing that Peter Myers has a sense of humor, raising the Union Jack in the West Village as he did on the anniversary of the day that the thirteen colonies cocked a collective snook at Mother England and struck out on their own.
The store carries a wide enough range of English foods—Heinz Baked Beanz (most often served on toast), mushy peas, Branston Pickle, Lucozade, crisps, sweets, and twenty or more varities of tea—to satisfy any expat or send any Masterpiece Theatre-watching anglophile into squeals of delight. There’s also a selection of Brit-themed mugs, tea towels, and so on. Myers is nonetheless cozy without being twee; it feels like a store, not a tourist destination.
But the best of Myers of Keswick sits plumply behind the counter.
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Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Tempted by last month's post about merguez frites, the Moroccan-inspired French street food, my dad and I decided to celebrate Father's Day by trying the authentic item. We followed a glowing review from the New York Times to Little Morocco, a café in Astoria, Queens, where we shared a sandwich merguez au harissa.
This was a Casablanca-style sandwich, as opposed to the french-fry laden version apparently sold in Paris. The soft, crusty petit pain (aka Italian roll) was spread with garlicky harissa and stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and a few pieces of sausages. It completely lived up to our expectations—though I'm curious to compare it to merguez frites when I'm in Paris next month.
Little Morocco
2439 Steinway Street, Astoria, NY 11103; (map)
(718) 204-8118
Posted by Ed Levine, June 29, 2007 at 7:57 AM
This just came in yesterday:
"Hi there! I'm putting together a memorial to the sausage icons that recently passed away this Saturday in Brooklyn. Can you please mention this on your site?"
"The sausage world lost two pioneers this month: Bob Evans and Ralph F. Stayer, founder of Johnsonville Sausage. For many of us, particularly those with roots in the Midwest, these men were not just sausage makers, they were, and are, icons.
This Saturday, June 30th please join us as we give tribute to both men by grilling up some of the delicious foods they created. Moonshine has graciously offered up their back patio and grills for the event. Starting at 5 PM, we will provide Johnsonville Brats and Bob Evans Sausages as long as supplies last."
In a related note, Al Langer, the man who brought great pastrami to Los Angeles when he opened Langer's in 1947, died this week at the ripe (or perhaps I should say cured) old age of 93.
Three cured and/or smoked meat giants pass on in the same week. Even if you don't go the memorial mentioned above, have a sausage, hot dog, or a pastrami sandwich in their honor.
