NYC Hurriquake Week, Eat

OK, OK, finally to the good stuff. The pic above is from a Japanese butcher shop we passed by. First night SB and I headed off to one of my personal favorites, Russ & Daughters for a real bagel, schmear, pastrami cured salmon and sour pickles. Also, they had a delicious lemonade/beet "shrub." A shrub is supposed to be a vinegar based fruit drink, but I have to say I was surprised to find this out. I could have just eaten there all week and been happy, but of course, no. On to Jimmy's #43 for a sparkly beverage and more snacks. Among others, we had the shishito peppers – a big bowl, blistered and dusted with salt.

Next, off to Kajitsu, for a kaiseki-style 8-course (our menu above) Japanese dinner. Here's the twist – they "serve Shojin cuisine, an ancient Japanese cuisine developed in Zen Buddhist monasteries. Following the Buddhist principle of not taking life, Shojin cuisine does not use meat or fish." But they do use something called a finger lime which is an Aboriginal Australian fruit. Can I say I did not miss meat? Do you believe me? Would you believe me if I told you the price is really way less than you think? Oh yeah, and they have a couple Michelin stars.

OK, now for the meat course. Porchetta is a small joint with just a few stools and counter. That means there's more room for the giant ovens to cook tender pork with a cracklin outer shell. Have it on a sandwich or get it on a plate with beans and greens. Either way, it doesn't need much in the way of extraneous sauces or crap like that. Here's a little history of this traditional Italian street food. We cap off the meal with some ice cream from Van Leeuwen.

Special shout out to Ground Support who provided me my morning fuel.

NYC Hurriquake Week, Shop

So, I was working in NYC last week, surviving the earthquake and flying out just before hurricane Irene. But there was still plenty of time for fun. I'm divvying things up this time, shop first, eat second, because I'm still digesting.

My new favorite store is Kiosk – the entrance pictured above. It's a wonderfully curated selection of items from around the world. Almost as if I picked them out myself – everything from German nun tonic to Japanese powder coated steel toolboxes. I picked up a Kaweco Sport Pen as my expandable Rotring finally fell apart.

To go with my pen, SB picked up a Whitelines notebook for me at Sam Flax. White grid lines (or ruled lines) on a light gray paper instead of dark lines on white. Genius!

For some reason, I had never been to the Strand bookstore – "18 miles of books." The entire second floor is the art section. I picked up Luc Sante's Folk Photography: The American Real Photo Postcard 1905-1930. Now that I know they have a website, I might have to pick up the other books I put down in the store that day.

Needing a friendly neighborhood drug store, I wandered into Thompson Chemists just down the street from my hotel where I was able to find both generic Claritin and Marvis toothpaste.

Lastly, a great store called Love, Adorned that carries beautiful handmade items – especially jewelry. And they had a shoe-maker in-residence making custom moccasins.

Back in NYC, Part II

Ahh, SB's photos transported me back to the many other fine foods I ate in NYC. So finally here's part deux.

Peels – Started the day off right with breakfast from Peels. I had the "Ironsides" which is cheese grits, greens and two eggs cooked in a little cast iron dish. As I remember, SB had the succotash with poached eggs. Both were awesome. And good coffee.


Sugiyama – This hit the holy trinity of a great meal: great company, great atmosphere, great food. We both got the Chef's choice 6-course kaiseki dinner which "beautifully presents the finest seasonal ingredients to emphasize the elements of color, shape, flavor and texture. Each dish of this multicourse meal is carefully chosen and arranged to enhance your dining pleasure." I can't deside if I should try to list everything we ate. Maybe that would just be annoying. The style of dining seems fairly formal, but the waitstaff and the general atmosphere were really relaxed and fun. Homerun.


This 'n' That Vintage Jewelry – OK, not food, but worth stopping in. They advertise a little bit of everything, but the whole front of the store is stuffed with great vintage jewelry and that's the reason to go. Here's the Bakelite bracelet case. Drool.

Back In NYC

I recently travled to NYC for some business, but I also had to include some eating as well. Luckily, SB was more than willing to join me and show me some great new places. Hopefully, he'll add some pics because I was way too busy chewing.

Russ & Daughters – The holy grail of smoked fish. So hard to decide which one, but we both tried the Pastrami Cured Salmon on a bagel with a schmear of scallion cream cheese. Heaven. I could have stopped here and been quite happy. But noooo.

Yakitori Taisho – Super happy fun food and best menus ever. Monkfish liver is always a highlight. Also the fried frog. There was something else but now I can't remember. Lastly, you get a small cup of flavored sugar with your check. It's for the self-serve cotton candy machine out front. Yep.

Black Hound NY – Lots of good looking sweets, but we stocked up on the cookies. Specifically the anise bones (like a dog treat for people). And they did not last long.

Momofuku Milk Bar – Had to try the Cereal Milk soft serve. Yes, it tastes just like you ate Frosted Flakes and then turned the resultant milk into ice cream.

I think that covers Day 1. More tomorrow. By the way, the image is from MOMA's show, "The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture 1839 to Today."

NYT top 10 eats

here are some numbers about eating in NYC:

Eating establishments: 18,696
Average cost of a dinner in 2006 (drink, tax, tip included – Zagat Survey): $39.43
New restaurants in 2006 (Zagat Survey): 222

crap, that means it'd take over 50 years to eat at them all if you had one a day. better get started.

anyway, the NYT has the tops list today. Number one was MOMOFUKU SSAM BAR. haven't been there yet, but looking forward to it. Have been to the noodle bar and it's delicious.

so here's the article, many good wishes for the new year and may all your bellies be full.

NYT TOP 10 2007

video wall video wall (gehry too)

frank gehry designs a LOT O' Buildings... they sprout up like mushrooms. some work: Disney Concert hall some don't. way of the world.

Gehry also has a project on the Gulf Coast, the george ohr museum and campus.

Here in NYC Gehry has a couple of buildings, one monstrosity is the IAC building in Chelsea. I am definitely no expert when it comes to buildings and structures and design, but the IAC building feels very intrusive and forced. Like it hopes to be a spearhead for the look of the neighborhood in the future. admittedly, a lot of the NEW construction buildings in chelsea have that 21st century MOD/INTERNATIONAL style.grey, glass and some crazy angles.

IAC is an interactive conglomerate consisting of 60 brands (including ask.com,HSN, match.com) so it makes sense that they use gehry, who will definitely work for food ;-)

Anyway, the IAC building has lots of video walls, some are HUGE, they are set aside for ad space I suppose, but I'm thinking that they will be open to artists, designers programmers, etc. One cool example is Daniel Shiffman's RUN LOLA RUN LOLA.... check it out:

Pantone Ts

I'm a little guy so I need little clothes. One of my favorite places to get stuff is UNIQLO... a sort of Japanese gap.
Found these little gems recently (click for larger image)



For a view of their offerings check this out:
www.uniqlo.com/us/
No mail order just one gigantic store in SOHO. A lot of their clothes are limited editions and go pretty fast.

dumplin'

I've been invited to add to this fine blog! Thanks, Mrs. Loaf!


New York City is a bit pricey. Transport is a lot, taxes on all levels (except shoes and clothes under $107) are very high... I have to pay a tax to WORK in Manhattan WTF?

The big saving grace is that I can get just about any food at almost anytime (except blue bell ice cream and blue plate mayo). And a lot of it is pretty affordable. One of my faorite joints is Dumpling Man. Located on the edge of st. marks, dumpling man serves up cheap, tasty, fresh pockets of goodness. They've even got a blog: http://dumplingman.blogspot.com/

There's a bar where you can view your dumplings being made fresh and a webcam so you can taunt all your friends with steamy, doughy goodness. Yes, sir, all this fine entertainment for 5 bucks a pop (for 6 dumplings).

good stuff indeed.