Day 2: Everything revolves around eating

On Day 2, my buddy and I executed a meticulous eating plan with absolute perfection.  We began the day by leaving my apartment a little after 10 AM and grabbing the express train downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge.  We then walked across said bridge on a beautiful September day, arriving in Brooklyn at 11AM.  Our first stop was Grimaldi's, perhaps one of the most famous pizza places in the five boroughs, and located right under the Brooklyn Bridge.  Grimaldi's opens at 11:30, so we had about 15 minutes to kill. We took a quick walk down to the water, where I found what looked like a great taco stand. Unfortunately, they weren't ready to serve, though I was ready to eat - this was the only mishap of the day.

We sauntered back to Grimaldi's where a small line was forming, and after waiting 5 minutes, we were let inside.  The atmosphere was perfect: red checkered table clothes, Sinatra paintings on one wall and the Chairman of the Board on the speakers, and the coal oven fired up.

We ordered a large regular pie: fresh mozzarella, san marzano tomatoes, basil. That's it. WOW. WOW. Just a tremendous pizza.  The smoky flavor of the crust from the coal, and absolutely some of the freshest ingredients you can have on a pizza. The crust also had these charred bubbles of dough that crumpled when you ate them, and the cheese just oozed with flavor.  We polished off the pie in less than 20 minutes . . .






. . .  which brought us to our next stop of the day:  The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The place opens at 12 and we were there by 12:05. Like I said, we executed this plan perfectly.  I went with a scoop of the chocolate chocolate chunk.  Here are some words that come to mind: whole milk, slow churned, thick, creamy, awesome.  It's the type of ice cream that when you scoop up too big a portion and you try to "cut" it against the side of the bowl with your spoon, it simply won't.  Not because its too frozen, but because its so thick.

With pizza and ice cream in our stomachs, and right on schedule, we grabbed a water taxi back to lower Manhattan and walked up to the lower east side to check out the Tenement Museum, which was cool and a great way to digest.  Then came lunch part 2 at The Breslin (the first Michelin star rated restaurant that I've been too) in the Ace Hotel. We had one thing on our minds: the lamb burger.[FN1]

Apologies for the darkness of the picture

The burger was absolutely outstanding.  Chargrilled and medium rare, it was juicy and seasoned with just salt and pepper on top, and some grilled red onions (I ordered mine without the feta).  The sourdough role was top notch, and tasted great with a little of the cumin mayo spread on.  The burger also comes with "thrice cooked chips" which, as Sam Sifton of the New York Times notes, tastes like mashed potatoes in the middle and the crunchy exterior "shatters under the teeth."[FN2] Great description for these great fries.

The inside: medium rare. You can see the juices!!

On a day where we ate like kings, and weren't hungry for the next 24 hours, we had some of the best pizza in the city, some of the best ice cream we'd tasted, and a truly remarkable lamb burger that I would gladly pick over any beef burger.

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FN1: The lamb burger is really what they are known for.  When the waiter came to take our drink order about 2 minutes after we sat down, we told him we already knew what we wanted. He knew right away, and said, "Let me guess, the lamb burger." 

FN2: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/dining/reviews/13rest.html

Burgers, Beers, Sushi (not all at once)

A good buddy from college came to visit for two days, and eating, or more accurately overeating, promptly ensued.  Now this buddy currently goes to grad school in Cali, so he has at his disposal In-n-Out Burger.[FN1]  I decided we needed to pit that west coast power against the beast of the east, Shake Shack.[FN2] We each had Shack Burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes.  The burgers are so fresh and the meat is so good.  If you let yourself, you could eat the burger in three quick and large bites.  It takes every ounce of self control not to.  The shakes are rich and thick, and the fries are clean tasting (not too greasy).  After dining and discussion (and a second trip to the Shack two days later), we concluded that the burgers are better at the Shack, but the sauce on the burgers is better at In-n-Out.  Plain fries go to Shack (but if we are dressing them up, then In-n-Out's animal style wins hands down). Finally, shakes are also better at the Shack.

After some sightseeing in the city, we met a former roommate for drinks at a nice rooftop bar in midtown.  A few Brooklyn lagers later and we found ourselves at Poke with the fiancee.  Poke is a sushi bar on the upper east side that happens to also be BYOB, which is a great idea.  Some sapporo, some edamame, some salad with the ginger dressing: the night was off to a good start.  Now, I am a sushi rookie and I am working very very slowly (practically crawling) to expand my comfort zone.  So I stuck with my usual: 2 pieces of ebi (shrimp) sushi and a ebi tempura roll.  Outstanding.  But, then again, I'm eating cooked "fish."  But my buddy loves sushi and he had some more adventurous stuff, and had nothing but good things to say.  The fiancee also had a crab tempura roll that had some spicy tuna in it. I gave it a taste - delicious.  Granted, I ate it in one bite and quickly washed it down with some beer, but hey, it's a start!

A final note about Day 1 of this eating trip: While heading to the subway, we saw Anthony Bourdain just having a bite to eat in the window of the Papaya King three blocks from apartment. My first NYC celebrity sighting, and a food-related one too!

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FN1: Whenever I am in California, which is rare, I do my best to eat multiple times at In-n-Out.  Its magical what they do with fast food.

FN2: My top 3 burger places goes likes this: Shake Shack, In-n-Out, Five Guys. Though they are third on the list, Five Guys has the best fries and I love what they do with the sauteed onions on the burger. In a weaker conference, they would run away with the title. But burger places have become like the AL East - you could have the 3rd best record in all of baseball and miss the playoffs.

Roast Beef Sandwich at Dickson's Farmstand

The fiancee wanted to see the Chelsea Market and I was happy to oblige.  Its a pretty cool place with a collection of restaurants and food stands.  Plenty of good options, but it was lunch time and I only wanted something quick, so I chose a sandwich at Dickson's Farmstand, a nice meat market that sells locally raised meat.  I was initially disappointed when I learned that the sandwiches are pre-made and already wrapped, which I assumed would mean that the food would not taste fresh.  I was wrong.  The roast beef sandwich was fresh and delicious, and the sesame bun wasn't soggy.  Rare pieces of meat, covered in a horseradish mayo, and some kind of pickled vegetables.   The place obviously prides itself on putting out high quality meat, and it was, but the mayo stole the show.  It did not overpower and it lingered long after the sandwich was gone.

Not Your Regular Bruschetta

Artu in the North End is a very solid restaurant, but one of the best things they do is run a take-out kitchen right next door.  It's reasonably priced for the area, and its quick - orders usually ready within 15 minutes.  Plus, the portions are a good size.  The other night I enjoyed this little feast:

The pasta, which I had ordered before, was very good (with broccoli rabe, grilled chicken, red pepper flakes, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil).  But I also had the Bruschetta (left dish in the picture).  Traditionally, Bruschetta is toasted bread topped with olive oil and garlic.  In many restaurants, the bread is topped with diced tomatoes, onions, and basil (and sometimes mozzarella).  But at Artu, they do it differently: broccoli rabe, cannellini beans, garlic, olive oil, and grana padano.  The beans and cheese mixed together produced this creamy spread for the bread, that was then accentuated by the bitterness of the broccoli rabe.  A great antipasti, and it held together on better than the tomato toppings, which usually soak through the bread.

Enchilada Food Coma!

The other night I had dinner at Cilantro on the Upper East Side and went with the chicken and blue corn tortilla enchiladas.  But before I get to that, a quick word on the chips basket.  A few years ago, I started trying to abstain from the chips basket at Mexican restaurants.  Now, there was no real reason for doing this, considering that I usually move through a bread basket like a hot knife through butter. But I quickly found that it wasn't really a problem to watch the chips disappear without partaking.  Until Cilantro.  This is no ordinary chips basket - fresh salsa, deliciously warm and salty chips, and the real winner of the bunch: sweet potato chips, shaped for easy scooping of the salsa.

After I had taken care of the basket, it was main course time.  I love soft corn tortillas, and these blue corn ones were fantastic.  The dish had three or four enchiladas - tough to tell under the thick blanket of cheese.  The green chile sauce was spicy and when it blended in with the cheese, or the nearby rice, it really hit the spot.  The enchiladas were overstuffed with chicken and cheese and each bite was dense and heavy, but that is exactly what I was looking for.[FN1] In the end, I had to leave some of the cheese blanket on the plate, but it was all that remained.  I don't think I made it 15 minutes on the couch that night before I fell into a deep, food-induced sleep.  Perfect.

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FN1: Does anyone really want light Mexican food?