Food & Drink Prime Meats To Offer Ultimate Titanic Fetishist's Fantasy

Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:58 AM

• "Hey, you gonna eat that?"

Interest in the sinking of the Titanic hasn't been this feverish since the first time since Kate Winslet wiped her hand down a steamed up car window for movie theater audiences nationwide. The shipwreck will reach its 100th anniversary this April 17, and as a special treat, Carroll Garden's Prime Meats is offering a a replica of the Titanic's first class menu two days ahead of time.

It seems like kind of a morbid last supper theme, but a rich one from the looks of it. For $115, the Titanic enthusiast in black tie attire will be treated to a full 10 courses featuring items like oysters, filet mignon, lamb, foie gras and pickled quail eggs. The meal is then topped off with a mysterious, expensive-sounding "Waldorf" pudding, but from a cursory glance at internet recipes, it appears that it's actually just pudding.

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Tags: Titanic, Prime Meats, quail eggs, filet mignon, foie gras, waldorf pudding, cabin biscuits, first class, steerage

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Food & Drink Easter Ham How-To

Posted by Cathy Erway on Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Throwing an Easter party this year? A classic roast ham is an easy and crowd-pleasing option, as far as meat-eating crowds go. It's much less fussy to pull off than the holiday's other go-to roast, lamb. And who doesn't love a smoked piece of swine? So let's say you lugged back a few pounds of a bone-in, smoked ham from the butcher shop, and not sure what to do next. There is actually no right or wrong way to bake and glaze a ham. Smoked ham is already cured and fully-cooked, so unlike with a turkey, you don't have to worry about serving it raw. You do want to make sure that you don't dry it out, but gently bring it to a juicy, crisp and gleaming centerpiece that'll have the neighbors drooling in the hall. Here's the quick run-through of how to ham it up.

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Tags: ham, flying pigs farm, heritage meat shop, dickson farmstand meats, paisano's meat market, the meat hook, fleisher's meats, easter

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Food & Drink Today Is Free Cone Day

Posted by Mark Asch on Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:45 AM

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Tags: Free Cone Day, I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream, Not Afraid to Be Service-y, Video

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Food & Drink 5 April Fool's Day Prix-Fixe Menus (Not From New York's Finest Restaurants)

Posted by Cathy Erway on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 11:30 AM

• http://yesteachercrafts.blogspot.com

Repeat, these are NOT the real menus of any restaurant in New York City, least of all those mentioned below. But, if we were to play April Fool's Day and mess up their menus, here's how some of them might read. Just a little farce for the foodie soul.

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Tags: Momofuku, Roberta's, Fette Sau, Back Forty, Eataly, April Fool's

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Food & Drink How to Rate A Seafood's Sustainability? Don't Ask FreshDirect!

Posted by Cathy Erway on Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 10:32 AM

There's a petition going around urging a boycott of the home-delivered grocery service, in response to their plan to move their operation, which includes a lot of trucks and all the harmful exhaust they bring with them, to a part of the South Bronx which already rates highest in the country for asthma cases. But another cause for concern about FreshDirect? Honking noise and underpaid workers aside, the company boasts one of the lamest “Seafood Sustainability” ratings on the Internet.

It's something of a riddle being instructed to “enjoy only once in a while” a fillet of farm-raised Atlantic Salmon on FreshDirect's website, as indicated by a red Swedish fish-looking icon, when right next to it is a three-star rating for its “quality” from the vendor, as well as gushing copy extolling the fish's culinary charms. This friendly-sounding rating is the lowest of the low for FreshDirect's sustainability ratings, denoting that the fish “could use significant improvement” in its sustainability. This rating is also given to to Chilean Seabass, and twelve other seafood options available to purchase, although several of them (such as the overfished red snapper), do not yet feature a rating at all.

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Tags: Fresh Direct, Sustainability, Salmon

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Food & Drink Dine Out Irene Raises $50K For Local Family Farms

Posted by Cathy Erway on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:50 AM

While New York City was spared the wrath of last summer's hurricane (and you got a cool parka in the closet to remember it by), it was no Belinda Carlisle version of “Summer Rain” for Upstate farms. In September, a bunch of foodies, led by Gabriella Gershenson of Saveur, beseeched the public to Dine Out for Irene on September 25, 2011. Many of you did, and those profits from all participating New York City restaurants have just been appropriated to the affected farms. In total, the effort from one day's worth of dining out amounted to nearly $50,000 for hurricane relief at the farms most affected, many of which supply food to such restaurants,and NYC's Greenmarkets. You can pat your back for taking part in that, but the greater lesson learned might just be to participate in fair and foul weather with your local food system. We spoke with Gabriella about that and about how the campaign got started.

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Tags: Dine Out Irene, Local Farms

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Food & Drink Interview: Allison Robicelli on Her Upcoming Cookbook/Memoir

Posted by Henry Stewart on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 8:58 AM

Last week, Allison Robicelli, of local cupcake favorite Robicelli's, announced she and her husband Matt will publish a cookbook with Viking Studio, a Penguin imprint. It's set for publication in the fall of 2013. We caught up with Allison to see if she was writing just another fucking cupcake cookbook.

How long have you and Matt been planning a cookbook?
This is honestly something I've been daydreaming about since I learned how to read; I read cookbooks like other girls read Sweet Valley High, and to this day my nightstand contains nothing but cookbooks. We've always talked about writing one in theory, but as well known as we are for our recipes and flavors, we really just didn't see a need for another cupcake book. We joked about writing a book called Robicelli's: Yes, More Fucking Cupcakes.

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Tags: robicelli's, allison robicelli, cookbooks, bay ridge, cupcakes

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Food & Drink One Corny Way to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day: Brine Your Own Brisket

Posted by Cathy Erway on Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 3:23 PM

• Vegetarians, shield your eyes.

Ever wanted to make your own corned beef? No, not take a wet, reddish lump out of meat from a vacuum-packed package — actually “corn” the beef yourself? This is less difficult than it may sound. Corned beef, the traditional protein boiled with potatoes and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, is just a wet-brined brisket. This tough, generally inexpensive cut becomes flaky and flavorful from sitting in spices a few days before. We spoke with Jessica Applestone, co-owner of Fleisher's Meats in Park Slope to take us through the steps. She and her husband and co-owner Josh keep a copy of River Cottage Meat Book handy like the Irish might a volume of Yeats. They've been making an adaptation of a recipe in it for a classic, pickly-tasting corned beef for years. Here's how it goes:

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Tags: corned beef, brisket, Fleisher's Meats, River Cottage Meat Book, St. Patrick's Day, Jessica Applestone

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Food & Drink Forget Them Not: The 10 Most Underrated Foods

Posted by Cathy Erway on Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 2:28 PM

Have you become a creature of mono-eating habit? Or are you just sick of the food trends in last week's Most Overrated list? This similarly biased list of ingredients instead uncovers those that don't seem to get enough respect. For health or sustainability-seeking purposes, or just plain clever ideas to entertain the palate, here's our list of the 10 most underrated foods at this particular moment.

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Tags: Food and Drink, Top 10 Lists

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Food & Drink Three Easy Ways to Grow Your Own Food in Brooklyn

Posted by Cathy Erway on Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 2:50 PM

If the recent May-like weather has you out on the roof deck, wondering if you'll ever get around to growing plants this year, you can stop scratching your head about how to do it. There are several practical, low-commitment methods that other folks have gotten all figured out. You don't need to have an acre of raised beds on a rooftop, like Brooklyn Grange Farm, to grow some of your own food this summer, and now's a great time to start thinking about it. Whether you're just growing decorative plants or want to eat as much as you can from your own plot, hydroponics and similar contained soil systems are a good fit for cramped, urban places. In fact, you don't even need to have any outdoor space for one of these systems. And you won't need to worry about soil quality or its possible contamination when using containers like these, which is good news if you live in Brooklyn. They'll also fit your lifestyle better than having to water plants all the time, as these systems require very little watering thanks to their smart set-ups. Read more about each one to decide what works best for you.

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Tags: Earth Box, Urban Farming, Tower Garden, Window Farms

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Food & Drink Really Expensive Ice Cream Imported to Brooklyn

Posted by Kara Zuaro on Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 10:31 AM

Remember when we made a list of the ten restaurants Brooklyn is desperately missing in hopes that their owners would open outposts here? Well, we haven't got our own Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream yet, but we just spotted some in the freezer at Stinky on Smith Street. As the cashier rang up our Roxbury Road and Gooey Butter Cake ice cream at a whopping 11 bucks per pint, she said, "It's expensive, but it's really the best ice cream I've ever had." Though we hesistate to call this a good deal, the only other way to try it is via mail-order, which costs $12 per pint plus shipping. According to the Ohio ice cream shop's website, their pints are also available at Forager's Market, Brooklyn Fare and Green Grape Provisions.

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Food & Drink Harry Boland's to Be a Bar Again

Posted by Henry Stewart on Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 3:33 PM

• The classic red-and-black facade

About a year ago, the taxman seized Harry Boland's, a dark Irish pub on Ninth Street near Fifth Avenue known for its darts; thanks to the support of regular customers, it was able to reopen briefly before shuttering for good in April. "There was nothing wrong with the bar in particular; it just didn't really differentiate itself from the pack and never drew huge crowds," the blog Here's Park Slope reported at the time. "Combine that with tax evasion, and it's a recipe for disaster." After the Timboo's tragedy, it was our least favorite Park Slope bar closure of 2011.

The space has sat empty since, but was recently sold to the owners of the popular bars Mission Dolores (in Gowanus) and Bar Great Harry (in Carroll Gardens), Here's Park Slope reports. "The owners plan to serve beer from small American breweries as well as some rare German and Belgian beers. There will be a small food menu that will have similar offerings as the other two bars," Brownstoner reports. The community board approved the liquor license earlier this week.

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Tags: park slope, fifth avenue, bars, harry boland's, bar great harry, mission dolores, park slope bars

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Food & Drink Visiting a Williamsburg Bar That's Been Closed Since 1993

Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 2:15 PM

Scouting NY recently gained access to the boarded up building on the corner of Berry and N. 5th, which turns out to have been Gallagher's Ship's Mast, a dive popular with middle-aged artists in the 80s; it closed in the early 90s following a dispute with the landlord about rent. (The owner's wife told the Times it was personal—the owner's landlady was his ex.) It was sealed up and largely untouched: the big old wooden bar is still there, as are old posters, decorations, kitchen stuff, a Post-It note (still stuck to the wall!), a free calendar from 1987, and a marker-board declaring where and when the next court date would be. That court date didn't go so well; the Ship's Mast was evicted in 1993, but not before nine people were arrested trying to prevent city marshals from enforcing the eviction order.

Check out the copious photos at Scouting NY.

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Tags: williamsburg, ship's mast, pharaoh's tomb bar

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Food & Drink The Double Life Q&A: Mel Flannery, Bartender at the Crown Inn, Jazz Singer and Leader of a Hipster-Friendly Wedding Band

Posted by Kara Zuaro on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:36 AM

It's a special moment when a classically trained singer finds herself covering MIA to the delight of drunken bridesmaids. Mel Flannery, a Wisconsin-born Manhattan School of Music graduate, shares some inspiring words about starting her career working the day shift at an Irish pub, climbing her way into soul singing gigs, and heroically starting her own wedding band business to save brides and grooms from bad disco.

The L: Where in Brooklyn do you live and how long have you been here?

Mel Flannery: I live in Crown Heights, and I've been in the city for 9 and half years. I moved here to go to Manhattan School of Music — which is a good place to get into if you're trying to convince your parents that you can leave Wisconsin when you're 18!

The L: Did you always plan on studying jazz singing?

Flannery: I took classical singing all through middle school and high school, but I'm really, really happy that I went with jazz when I went to college. I learned so much about general musicianship — writing and arranging — and I got so much personal attention because there were only two people in my program in my grade.

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Food & Drink L TV: How To Make A Badass, Healthy Meal From Your Bodega

Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 3:05 PM

There's no way that a diet of well-advertised beer, cigarettes and candy should sustain a person, but many people rely on bodegas for their primary sources of food. In some Brooklyn neighborhoods, bodegas make up more than 80 percent of the available food options, especially where supermarkets are absent.

Because rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in these areas were so disproportionately high, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene started an initiative in 2006 to get bodegas to start stocking healthier items. Only, change is a slow and painful process, and most bodegas still lack the basics. That's why, for our DIY feature, we called on Brooklyn personality Ella Nemcova, nutritional consultant, founder of vegan catering company The Regal Vegan, and maker of hit spread faux gras™, to show us how to make something reasonably healthy under these limitations.

What Nemcova came up with was nothing short of badass bodega gourmet: A bean, beet and plantain stew in coconut milk sauce, served with tortillas and an surprisingly fresh-tasting salad for stuff that came out of a can. You can watch Nemcova's tips for shopping and cooking healthy from a bodega and consult the recipe after the jump.

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Tags: Ella Nemcova, Regal Vegan, bodega, badass, healthy, NYC Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, Video

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