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| Dave, Pam & Me @ Momofuku Noodle Bar |
So this wonderful entry is going to be mainly about the food I ingested this week. I honestly apologize in advance to the food lovers out there! I was on the other side of this coin recently, when Jay posted an amazing looking pizza pie from Lombardi's in Little Italy while I was working, and it made me incredibly envious (and hungry!) So, I'm sorry, really, but it's not gonna stop me from showcasing my culinary conquests.
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| homemade Egg & Cheese |
It began with a homemade breakfast sammie... not just any breakfast sammie, mind you, but one NY-bodega-inspired egg and cheese sandwich (since it was homemade i had no bacon or sausage to add). I bought the roll nearby and of course it was beautiful looking. Shout-out to Mr. Adam Tesler for always showing his love for the 'kaiser roll'... i have a new found appreciation for them since eating their fluffy and delectable east coast cousins every day.
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| Fried oyster sams from The Dutch |
Then Mr. Robert Schmidt (aka bob, aka jays' roomie in my absence) came into town for work and I met him at The Dutch in Soho. I guess it borders the southern west village... I absolutely love these manhattan neighborhooditas and how I have such a better grasp on them... of course it helps that i'm obsessed with maps, but it's fun to navigate! This restaurant was recommended to me from Laura awhile ago and I finally made it. Delicious stuff, great drinks and fun atmosphere. Featured here are the fried oyster sliders... delectable! Bob and I wined and dined then I guided him over to the East Village where we slummed it at the Horse Box, with Dave, in classic EV fashion!
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| pork belly buns! we each got one! |
I'll move on to the next night, Momofuku special treatment night! I know I know, I already had a post about momofuku noodle bar on here, but this is different, trust me. Back then I barely stumbled upon the legacy, ate solo at the bar, chose my entree conservatively (classic ramen noodle soup) and had a solitary yet deep experience. This time around, we were with Pam! Pam is Dave Moore's good friend from traveling abroad (i think) during their architecture undergrad... They stayed friends in NY & now Pam's fiance is the sous chef for Momofuku noodle bar. Tim is an incredible guy! Not only is he uber generous, but he's fascinated by all the ways to cook eggs... which totally fascinates me! Soy sauce egg anyone?? So although i was so proud of dining solo the last time around, walking right through the crowd of hungry people waiting and sitting at the bar with excellent service, this time around we were royalty! The wait was going to be 40 minutes; as soon as Pam showed up, we walked in, the hostess and waitresses recognized her, parted the ways and seated us immediately. Dave and I were super impressed!!!
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| Potatoes w pancetta & bonito flakes |
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| ginger scallion noodles! |
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| Soft shell crab delight |
To
wrap up my incredible week of yummy goodness, my producer at work,
Drew, and I ventured out to a two hour lunch on Friday in search of the
New York jewish mecca. DELI. We trekked it to the Upper West Side,
which isn't that far from us since we work on 57th and 10th. When we
emerged on 79th and Broadway, I saw sandy-colored parisian buildings,
green trees lining the center of the boulevard and way less traffic then
I was used to thus far. Ahh, this place is pleasant! I think I like
the upper west side! I had a couple delis written down in the
neighborhood but we finally decided on Zabar's. The counter in their
small store is pretty limited with mostly breakfast items and
prepackaged sandwiches. Then I poke my head into their actual
supermarket to see if we could score quality deli and I was pleasantly
surprised...(after we had to fight the jewish elderly just to get down
the aisles!) They had an enormous cheese counter, take a number!, then
in another room the meat counter, take a number! and on the opposite
wall the fish counter, TAKE A NUMBER!
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| Roast beef, tongue & pastrami |
Fresh
cut, ready to package or make a sandwich to go. We both went for
typical sky-high meat sandwiches, in all their glory! There was a guy
giving out samples of salmon & when he saw me eying the containers
of smoked white fish salad he opened one up and gave me a sample right
then and there! He was awesome. I walked out with my mile-high
sandwich on rye, a container of white fish pate, a container of chopped
chicken liver pate & a bag of crackers! P.S. it was the best damn
chopped liver I've ever had next to my Grandma Babs' homemade stuff!
Insano.
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| coleslaw in the center of the meats so bread doesn't get soggy! |
We walked back to work that afternoon, because otherwise we might have
keeled over and died... (don't worry, I only ate half of this
sandwich!) Drew raved about his favorite chocolate chip cookie spot in
the city that we just happened to be walking by so we just happen to
stop in.
I
honestly didn't believe him when he described how incredible these
fresh baked cookies were, until I started down the Levain Bakery
basement stairs and the familiar whiff hit me like a factory of
childhood memories. COOKIES!!! Then i saw them. They were softball
size mounds of dough, placed neatly on trays upon trays upon trays.
Could this just be one cookie!?
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| Levain choco chip cookies pre-baked |
Drew
assured me that 1 was all we needed and i assured him that we could
split it. After we got our ginormous cookie that could have been easily
mistaken for a large scone, we walked with it warm on the wax paper,
down Amsterdam Ave. I took the first bite because Drew is a gentleman,
and because I think he couldn't wait to see my reaction. Hands down,
the most delicious chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted! And
because it was so tall and thick a good part of the inside was half
cooked and damn scrumptious! I was immediately energized by the
happiness this cookie provided, or maybe it was the sugar. Regardless,
I'll never forget Levain bakery!
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| In all it's baked glory (half-baked inside!!) |
The next day, I attempted to get broadway tickets at the TKTS booth down in South St Seaport (they sell next-day matinees), but alas they didn't have the play I wanted to see, Once. I learned that the Taurus boys were chilling at a German restaurant right in my neighborhood, Zum Schneider. So I met the lasses and had a nice Bavarian delight. I wanted to make the most of my weekend, as per usual, so while they left for a bar to go watch the basketball game, I shot over to Williamsburg to meet Julie Duffield and peanut for a little dog park action! Peanut is such a nut! We hung out in McCadden Park, then walked around in Greenpoint a little. We went into a couple vintage stores and I bought a shirt. It's totally my hipster androgynous plaid button down I needed to bring home as a souvenir from Brooklyn! Score! After shopping, I left Julie and headed back to Manhattan... I met the boys at the sports bar in Alphabet City and began the rest of our night. I was pretty tired from waking up to early (trying to get tickets) that I knew if I went home that would be it. So why not just keep going until I'm done for the evening. And that's what I did. Many others gathered there, including Meryl, at the request of Mr. Catanese! Budding romance continues... 
It was a quick trip but couldn't have asked for better weather to see the gardens in. It was gorgeous out with hardly any humidity. They had the Cherry Blossoms festival going on with a huge tent of performers and food, but I was more interested in the flowers.
It was nice to get out of the city and see so many
different types of foliage.
I ran through the garden on my way back to get to the
train back to times square… I made
it to the theater with no seconds to spare and met Emily.
“Once” the play, was awesome! If you liked the movie, have listened
to the soundtrack, you won’t be disappointed! And if you’ve never heard of the story, you’ll love it
also. The stage was set as the bar
and it never changes and doesn’t have too! We thoroughly enjoyed it. Great music and singing and acting.
That night, after the play, this insane person went back to Brooklyn! Well Emily deemed me legally insane. I had a mission... to cross off an amazing historical NY pizza parlour from my list. And Meryl knew all about DiFara's in deep brooklyn... She agreed to go with me and Joe. So, once again, I got on the Q train to Brooklyn, crossing over the river for the 2nd time today. I met them at Meryl's house in Prospect Heights and she drove us. It was a memorable experience, lemme tell ya. Gotta be one of the best damn pizza's I've ever had, EVER! We arrived on J street and found ourselves in a Hasidic neighborhood. In fact, two doors down from DiFara's was a "kosher" pizza joint; poor lads have to have that substitute! We walk into Difara's and there's two people behind the tiled counter, an old man very concentrated on his work at hand and a younger middle-aged man doing most of the talking. The place is small, seats about 12-15 ppl, and all the tables are taken. We ordered our pizza pie for the three of us with sausage and yellow peppers. It will take about 45 minutes, but we don't mind. The smell was incredible inside, but we were feeling a lil overcrowded so we took a walk. 
A jewish bakery across the street called out to us and we selected a couple cookies and rugula's to munch on. There wasn't much else to do on the block so we moseyed back into the pizza place, slowly. While we stood in the corner and stalked patrons to nab their tables as soon as they got up I started photographing the pizza making process. 
So apparently this old guy has been there since the 50s, every day, hand making every pie. He rolls out the dough, hand slices big thick pieces of cheese, sprinkles them on... ladles chunky tomato sauce onto the dough, more cheese chunks, and then any other toppings you might have requested. Slides the delicious looking pie into the pizza oven... 20 minutes later he pulls it out, drizzles it with olive oil generously and rips apart fresh basil leaves and sprinkles them over the pie. The last thing he does is add more cheese and seal it up in a pizza box. Within a minute all of the fresh cheese and basil has melted into the pizza and it's ready to eat! Fantastico! Increible! This experience was definitely worth the entire hour it took me to get home on the Q that evening. I didn't even mind the cold that night on the outdoor platform.
