UPDATE: I am becoming a blogging machine, so I will also be reporting on Thursday afternoons for you.
CT has been traveling a lot lately for work. During one of her visits back to the city, we were able to go out for dinner. I suggested we use one of my BlackBoard Eats coupons, since we were so happy with previous experiences with them. Veloce Pizzeria’s 30% off coupon was expiring the next day, so we decided to check it out. I heard mixed reviews about the pizza, so I was keen to try it out myself.

The first thing I noticed when we sat down was a picture of Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve on the ledge above the table. I found this quite odd in a funny way.

CT chose the wine. The Nero D’Avola 2008. She chose it from the description of full, rose petals, blackberries and earth. It was a good choice and complemented the food nicely.

We weren’t sure if we should order 1 or 2 pizzas since they are 12 inch Sicilian, so we decided to get a couple appetizers and share 1 pizza.

The first choice was no choice at all, Fried Porchetta Meatballs. How could we not order those? They were deep fried and had a ton of flavor. It was topped with parsley and onion which cut the richness of the porchetta nicely. The restaurant was pretty dark, so it was hard to get a good pic of this.

innards

We also got the Ricotta di Palo- fresh cows’ milk, cracked black pepper, toasted bread. There was a ton of ricotta piled up on the crostini. It was so creamy and refreshing. A great dish.

As if that wasn’t enough to start with, I decided we should get a salad. I gotta get my vitamins somehow. We went with the arugula with parmigiano-reggiano, olive oil, and lemon. We received a huge pile of arugula. It was very lightly dressed. The best part was that we got some ruffage out of the meal, so that’s not saying much about this salad.

For pizza, we went with white clam. It had garlic, oregano, and parmigiano-reggiano along with the clams. I wanted to see how it compared to the clam pizza we got at ABC Kitchen a couple months ago. Veloce’s pizzas are not typical NY pizza. They are square and very thin crust with hardly any outer crust. It was a very tasty pizza, but I barely noticed the clams. I couldn’t tell if they chopped up canned or fresh clams. If I am paying $22 for a pizza(before discount), I want to see whole clams.

Some upskirt action for you.

It was a good dinner and nice to see CT in between her travels. Would I return without a discount? Probably not.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blackboard Eats, TT

Fair warning: these pictures are awful.  This was the third “appointment” I had that night – first two separate press events, then dinner with a friend, and I semi-foolishly drove into the city to make things easier on me.  The night was disgustingly muggy and hot – much like the weather has been in New York – and the first two events I attended had little or no food of which to speak, so I was starving by the time I arrived at Bourgeois Pig, plus I’m not sure their air conditioning was working.  I had to ask my friend if we should leave because I was really uncomfortable without much air of which to speak in the fairly small space, and ordering hot, melting, gooey cheese seemed like overkill on such a disgusting night.  I actually had to get up and leave before the end of the meal (with my friend’s full permission and understanding) because I was so overheated, aggravated and claustrophobic by the end of the meal (I was sitting on the inside).  You can mock me all you want, but honestly, this is where I am eternally grateful to my friends for being so understanding and for having friends who can understand that I occasionally have severe panic attacks and need to leave a small, confined space.  (The table next to me was so close that when I tried to go to the bathroom, my derriere knocked into their table… kind of embarrassing, but even worse was being able to hear – no, being forced to listen to their entire simpering conversation.)  So, my point, which ties into the pictures being horrible?  The lighting was terrible inside, I was super uncomfortable and unable to really focus, and I needed to eat, so I took the pictures very quickly so I could start eating.  Not that even having an extra hour would have helped matters much – it was really dark inside, so I apologize in advance since you won’t be able to tell what you’re even seeing in these pictures…

My friend Chris and I have very different opinions on food.  It’s fun talking to him about food because invariably, we seem to differ on what we like and don’t like… with some common ground, of course.  In any case, I recently asked him for a quick rec, and he pointed me to Bourgeois Pig.  It was a Monday night, and he said “Half price wine!” which… well… how can you go wrong? 

(Note: the maitre’d was blocking the door when we tried to go in.  There were three people ahead of us trying to go into the not-very-full restaurant, and he was carding them, but they just stood there while one of them dug through her bag looking for her ID.  People, move out of the way.  Let us go through first.  Geez.  He didn’t seem too concerned though and I was very tempted to act out in a more-than-feisty way… I blame the heat.) 

Of course, since I’d foolishly driven into the city that night, I didn’t imbibe, but my friend totally drank an entire bottle of wine (minus one glass) herself. 

When I looked through the menu myself at home, I’d already known what I wanted, though I took Chris’s recs into consideration… unfortunately, my dining companion was less interested in items with mushrooms.  Ah well!  We started with a sampler platter of bruschetta – two orders of the prosciutto and tallegio, and one fuji apple and cheddar.   

The prosciutto was shredded and kept falling off my bites, while the tallegio tasted like tallegio… which I don’t like.  Hah.  No fault of anyone’s but mine for forgetting – I had a sneaking suspicion when I read the name, but ah well!  As for the fuji apple and cheddar, I adore this combination and had no complaints with this… love, love, love!

Next up was the raclette – soft cheese scooped onto a hot plate with potatoes and onions.  It was served with bread.  Conceptually: awesome.  Taste: pretty damn good.  Sitting in a barely air conditioned room on a very hot & muggy day eating this?  Not so much awesome or good.  The potatoes were crisp in parts, cooked properly, and the cheese was nice and gooey; the taste was similar to a good Swiss or Gruyere for me, with that sharp edge that some may not appreciate.  I would love to make this at home or try it somewhere when it’s cold out… or when there’s air conditioning. 

A closer up shot of the potatoes. 

Next up was the charcuterie plate.  Very yummy meat options, and a lot more bread to continue stuffing face.  Point to note: see the toasted baguette on the bottom of the picture?  See the glistening butter?  Don’t be like me and bite into one and have it leak all over the dress you’re wearing for maybe the 2nd time.  Well, even if I was wearing it for the 100th time, I’d have been just as upset as I wound up being, getting oil on my dress.  Be warned… there’s an excess of butter/oil here.  (No… it didn’t come out, though the waitress happily obliged and brought me a cup of seltzer… and a white rag since their paper napkins are black.) 

But the platter itself was lovely… this is the kind of stuff I can eat for an entire meal.  (Once, twice, three posts)  I was quite happy with the selection and accompaniments – gherkins, roasted red peppers, olives, mustard. 

Onwards to our fondue, the whole reason I was even there to begin wtih!  I chose the rarebit fondue, which was delicious.  The combination was yummy, and plenty of cheese for all our dipping accoutrements:

Herbed potatoes, fruits,

a big bowl of bread products (pretzels, puffy bread pieces, baguette slices, etc.), and

a plate of sharply pickled veggies (a little spicy). 

Our bottle of wine had originally been $80, marked down to $40… not bad (it retails for $25).  The entire meal wasn’t super expensive – without the wine, all of this would have been less than $100 for two people – and I emphasize that the food was not bad.  I just had a lot of trouble enjoying such hot/warming foods when there was no air conditioning of which to speak, and I was crammed in, surrounded by people talking way too loudly for my tastes. 

***Please note that while I do not deny the notion that I’m a bit of a princess, I do not have air conditioning at home but nor do I eat melted cheese and hot potatoes at home in this weather either.  So you may think this is a pointless review with crappy pictures where I just complain repeatedly about the lack of air conditioning, but honestly, if you read, I did like the food.  I just made a poor choice of going for fondue and hot potatoes with cheese on a disgustingly hot day… since I presumed there’d be some sort of temperature control in the restaurant!  (Ok, there must have been some, else it’d have been completely unbearable inside, and I’d have left.)  I just believe firmly that meals should be eaten in comfort, particularly when you’re paying an outside establishment to create those meals for you (ie, I’m okay eating at home without air conditioning, that’s my choice, but I also know that going in…). 

Yvo says: There is no way I could advocate returning to this place in this horrible summer weather we’re having – oppressively humid and hot – but I liked the food enough to consider returning in the winter.  The atmosphere wasn’t to my liking, either – surrounded by people talking way too loudly over not-very-loud (or nonexistent) music – but hell, good food trumps all.  Right? 
avoid this place in the hot weather

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: charcuterie, Cheese, fondue

Ben’s Best and I have an odd relationship.  Since I moved back to Forest Hills, I’ve eaten their food three times – twice in one month about 2 years ago, and then I got so mad, but not at them, that I gave up firmly for the past two years.  I finally decided to give it another go right before I left for Peru, but am going to include all of the pictures. 

The first time I walked in was on a rainy day after work.  I was tired and hungry, but I got off the bus one stop early, close to Ben’s, and decided to pop in and walk home with the food.  I’d been passing by Ben’s every day on the bus home and wondering about it; Google searches for food in Forest Hills had turned it up a few times (and at some point, it even showed up on Serious Eats).  After perusing the menu for a bit, I asked about delivery, which wasn’t free – the charge was something like $5, outrageous!  I finally settled on ordering a platter of some sort, which included potato salad, cole slaw, pickles, mustard,

four slices of rye bread, and whatever meats I chose.  Stupidly, two years ago, I didn’t take a picture of the meats (but I managed to take a picture of the lid of the soup – which I won’t share here!), so I can’t tell you what I had (undoubtedly corned beef or pastrami), but I do recall there was enough to make two good-sized sandwiches, and I ate this happily for several meals.  The soup was chicken noodle, which I know I liked a lot because:

On my next visit, when I actually stayed to eat, I ordered it again.  I remember distinctly thinking to myself that there was a certain taste to soups I’ve had from kosher delis that I really enjoy – a certain clear sweetness that shines through.  I really appreciated that they chopped some fresh dill to sprinkle on top while I ate in the restaurant.  Something I didn’t appreciate was the waitress, who I am positive meant well! but it was not appreciated nonetheless, hovering over me and asking me 5 million questions about me taking pictures of the food.  She kept asking me and then mumbling “That’s so weeeeeeeeeird! I’ve never heard of that before, people taking pictures of their food!”  It didn’t help that the place was empty, but she just kept talking to me as I ate – or tried to eat – and I became more and more uncomfortable. 

Standard pickles and cole slaw – tasty enough, but not really amazing like I’ve had some cole slaw. 

The menu lists their fried chicken as famous!  And sometimes I just get a hankering for fried chicken once I see it on the menu.  This was one of those times. 

A giant basket of fried chicken!  It was piping hot, and I remember taking one piece – maybe the drumstick – and just nomming away on it.  It was juicy, but not seasoned enough, a dash of salt would have helped matters quite a bit.  But with the waitress hovering over me so much, I decided I would go home and finish my meal in peace, so I asked for her to wrap things up.  I took the rest to go. 

This is where things turn squicky. 

As I walked the 10 minutes along Queens Boulevard (ie, a very large, busy HUGE avenue, for those not familiar) towards my apartment, lost in my thoughts, I was approached by an older man who looked normal.  I mean, he was clean, not scruffy or homeless-looking, and I thought he just wanted directions.  I live in a good neighborhood – there’s no question about that – and there was no reason for me to be alarmed.  He looked like your grandfather.  So I paused and he asked me if I had any money so he could buy something to eat. 

I’m not ashamed to admit that I do not give money to people on the street (it’s a very rare occasion that I do, in any case).  But he asked me for money for food.  I had about $15 dollars worth of food in my hand.  I guess I was feeling generous, or sympathetic, or something.  So I handed over my dinner and told him there was fried chicken in there, I hadn’t touched it, enjoy.  He tried to give it back to me, asking me what I would eat, and I said I would think of something, to not worry about it.  I walked away, feeling kind of good about myself, feeling pretty, well, generous, because that’s not really my personality type – I’m generous, but not with strangers.  Not like that. 

After I’d walked a short bit, I turned around and saw the man, hand to god, he was pushing the bag of food I’d just given him into the mailbox that was near where he’d approached me.  I can’t even explain to you how enraged I became.  I almost ran over there, screaming, but I didn’t for a lot of reasons that I’m sure you can think of on your own.  If he really didn’t want it- I told him what it was!  He could have told me he’s a vegetarian for all I care!  I would have happily eaten my own food!  OMG!!! 

So although this had nothing to do with Ben’s Best, I couldn’t bring myself to return until just before I headed to Peru.

I generally find Dr. Brown’s cream soda or cherry soda, but was ecstatic to find they have ROOT BEER!  It was tasty. 

Double the pickles with double the diners! 

We started off with an order of stuffed cabbage hungroise. 

It was tasty as I expected – thought I definitely liked it more than my dining companion did.  We both ruminated on making our own versions to see if we could cater this more to our own personal, specific tastes.  This will definitely be done in the near future. 

We then opted to split two dishes, first a corned beef sandwich. 

Look at that glorious, freshly sliced meat!

It’s stacked high.  For comparison, check out this: I put my finger next to another sandwich and you can see the size there.  Ben’s Best has flavorful corned beef, very juicy and tender.  I was very happy nomming on this. 

Ah, the fried chicken.  I had to!  Don’t you see?  I just had to. 

Piping hot basket of fried chicken arrived quickly.  It was juicy, fried perfectly, crisp on the outside.  But unfortunately, it did suffer a bit from the same issue – lack of seasoning/salt.  My dining companion suggested that since the neighborhood is filled with older people, this might be done intentionally such that we can add our own salt.  Which is a valid point, but if you’re that concerned with your health, you should probably not be ordering fried chicken…

Finally, because we can, we ordered noodle pudding.  I once ate a noodle pudding at BF’s family’s something or other gathering, and really enjoyed it, until I found out what was in it.  I couldn’t imagine this being the same, but I wondered, so… 

It wasn’t quite the same, but very tasty.  I imagined it was egg noodles layered with an egg-custard mixture, a can of fruit cocktail, and baked till golden and crunchy on top.  I liked it, but not enough to order it again.  Enough to try my hand at making my own at home, though (soon). 

Yvo says: Strangeness aside, it was a waste to not return for two years!  The corned beef is solidly delicious and much closer than any of the famous delis in Manhattan for my corned beef needs, and quite a bit cheaper (though not THAT much).  There’s a lot more to the menu that I’d like to keep exploring, and will do so!  Mmm, pastrami… you are next! 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: corned beef, fried chicken, kosher, sandwiches, soup/stew

Before I left for Peru, I was hungry and didn’t want to (really, couldn’t, with the empty fridge) cook, so I headed over to Corfu Grill to nom on some goodies.  First up: the taramasalata, or cod roe dip, which is sufficient though still not the best I’ve ever had (in all fairness, the best I ever had was in Greece).  Nice chew wedges of pita to dip in it; I’m a fan. 

With my main course came grilled/toasted pita and yummy tzatziki sauce,

a ginormous, tasty salad.  Yum!

My main course: lamb kebabs, which came with the above plus potato wedges, rice, and some large beans that have been cooked down (I like these, but am not sure what’s in it, exactly, besides beans, oregano and maybe onions).  Yum!  Dipped into the tzatziki and layered onto a wedge of pita… so good! 

Yvo says: I really like having Corfu near enough to me that on nights when I just don’t want to cook, I can easily walk over and grab something yummy to eat! 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lamb, taramasalata

UPDATE: I am becoming a blogging machine, so I will also be reporting on Thursday afternoons for you.

CT’s sister and her brother-in-law are not only high school sweethearts, their birthdays are a week apart. Isn’t that cute? I was invited to the dual-family brunch to celebrate both of their birthdays at DBGB Kitchen & Bar. It is one of the newer restaurants in the building Daniel Boulud empire. The restaurant’s name is a homage to CBGB, the pioneering music club that used to be a few doors up on Bowery. It is quite amazing how this neighborhood is changing. Bowery used to be one of the most rundown streets in Manhattan, but with DBGB, Whole Foods, and now Pulino’s, it has become quite gentrified. Is that a good thing? It remains to be seen. There ended up being 10 of us, so it was quite a large brunch crew, so I wasn’t able to document all of the food, but I got most of it.

Since it was brunch afterall, we started with some cocktails.

CT got the blood orange spritzer with gin. She could have gotten it with vodka, but I think gin was the better choice.

I got the Aztec. It had tequila, jalapeno, and cucumber slices. Quite strong, but quite tasty.

One of the stars of the menu is the selection of sausages, nine to choose from. The birthday girl decided it would be best to order a whole bunch for the table to share as appetizers.

Chipolata- pork sausage link, pommes mousseline, burgundy truffle. (below center, with truffle on top)

Espagnole-fresh chorizo sausage with piperade, basil oil. As expected from a chorizo, this had some nice heat to it. (below, right, red)

Boudin Basque- spicy blood & pigs head sausage, scallion mashed potatoes. One of the most unique sausages on the menu. I haven’t had blood sausage in a long time. It was quite good. The black blood was nice and creamy and worked well with the chunks of pigs head.

Tunisienne- spicy lamb & mint merguez, lemon braised spinach & chickpeas.

Vermont- smoked pork & cheddar link, hash browns, red onion crème frache. This was also very good. Pork + cheddar = WIN. I really like the hash browns too.

As if this wasn’t enough to start with, we got some other appetizers too.

Charcuterie plate- tasting of pâté, saucisson, rillette, & fromage de tête with sourdough toast. All of the items here were very good. I think I might have a heart attack before the end of the meal.

Housemade blintzes- ricotta cream, poached rhubarb. I had a taste of this and it was pretty amazing. So rich and creamy. Quite better than the frozen blitzes I am used to.

The Viennoiserie was also ordered for the table. It is a basket of fresh baked pain aux raisins croissant, pain au chocolat, & madeleines with butter & jam. Fortunately for CT & I, the other end of the table grabbed most of these items, so we were able to hold off. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture.

For mains, CT & I decided to get two of the burgers on the menu and share them. Daniel’s Piggie & Frenchie burgers have gotten some good press since the restaurant opened. He even gave out the Frenchie back in January in a food truck as part of a NBC contest.

The Piggie- 6 oz beef patty topped with Daisy May’s bbq pulled pork, jalapeno mayonnaise & boston lettuce on a cheddar bun with mustard-vinegar slaw & fries. I like Daisy May’s pulled pork a lot and used it get it from their cart when I used to work near there. To have it on top of a burger? Yes please. The burgers are pretty small, but the flavor is big. Very tasty and all the ingredients work quite well together.

inside shot

The Frenchie- 6 oz beef patty with confit pork belly, arugula, tomato-onion compote & morbier cheese on a peppered brioche bun with cornichon, mustard & fries. WOW! Pork belly on a burger! Basically it is the most decadent bacon cheese burger you ever had. I think I liked it even more than the Piggie. Take note too that the fries were amazing. Perfectly crisp and then give you a ton of them. I am so glad CT & I decided to share these burgers.

inside shot

Since it was a birthday celebration, we were getting dessert. I was pretty full and used this opportunity to get something light since I probably ingested enough salt to kill a small dog. Their sorbet of the day was grapefruit. I got a scoop. Boring for some, but perfect for me. It was nice and tart- very grapefruity.

CT got the strawberry sundae. Unfortunately the DGBG website has an old menu listed, so I can’t give you an exact description. The ice cream was basically strawberry cheesecake in ice cream form. There were also marshmallows, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream. CT was quite happy with her dessert. I thought I took a picture, but I guess I accidentally deleted it.

CT’s sister got Mymi’s Rhubarb Tart- italian meringue, rhubarb ice cream. She liked it a lot. Her husband got the cheese plate and was also quite happy with it.

The design of the restaurant is very cool. It is a slightly open kitchen, but the star is the copper cookware that lines the shelves. Each item was donated by a world-renowned chef. There is a tag above each one to show where it came from. Here is shot of the pot donated by one of my favorites, Anthony Bourdain.

All in all a great meal to celebrate a special occasion. Everything was delicious. It was very generous of CT’s father to treat us. I would definitely recommend this if you have a special occasion coming up, but not if you have a doctor’s appointment. They also have a great beer list, so The Beer Boor may have to make a visit.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: TT