We arrived early with CT’s parents to help setup (and get a head start on eating and drinking). With seventeen people, it is everyone for themselves! Haha.

CT’s Mom made a crudité with what I believe was a ranch-based dip. I guess we have to try to be somewhat healthy on this gluttonous day.

She also cut up some pita to serve with garlic hummus and baba ganoush. Yes, it was store bought, but still delicious. She was busy with other things so don’t knock her for that!

CT’s many contributions included some apps were two kinds of spring rolls; spinach & feta and sausage & mozzarella. She picked up some wonton wrappers from Chinatown after a recent dim sum outing(post pending) and made the fillings from scratch. Since there were some children there(in age, not maturity like me), she wanted to make a “pizza” roll as she was worried there would be too much “fancy” food that they wouldn’t like. I helped to roll these little suckers, which was not easy. We baked them instead of frying to be healthier. This worked out well since they still got crisp and stayed intact (they probably would have burst if deep fried).

Using some Hot Italian sausage from our local butcher, the rolls reminded us of the Totino’s pizza rolls that we both ate growing up.

The spinach and feta were even more delicious as I have grown quite fond of those flavors. Well worth the effort!

CT says: They are surprisingly good, even baked, and I like how both fillings came out (although I would blotted the grease from the sausage filling a bit more next time to avoid leakage). However, I also learned that they don’t re-heat very well. Immediately out of the oven the second time, they were still nice and crispy, however, the wonton shells quickly became stale and hard. Lesson learned: Bake, Serve and Eat immediately.

The Panama newlyweds brought a wide selection of Murray’s Cheese. I didn’t write down what they all were, but they were delicious as always. Last year we had almost as much cheese for a third of the people, haha.

Onto the feast!

We started with some mushroom parsnip soup. Not something I would usually eat, but it was quite tasty with the “meatiness” that comes from the fungi.

Since regular old rolls would not do, ML & TL made Chinese Bao buns from scratch and filled them with roasted mushrooms. Many, including me, used them to dip in the soup for a mushroom mouth explosion. Quite impressive culinary skills by our hosts!

CT’s Mom continued the health kick with an arugula and fennel salad. It was a very good salad and a good palate cleanser.

ML made more of her world famous jalapeno cornbread. It was good as always and extra spicy!

She was worried that some of the spice averse guests might die if they ate the jalapeno cornbread, so CT made a quick supermarket run to buy a box of cornbread mix. Here is her extra plain cornbread.

Jack Daniels cranberry sauce. I am a fan of cranberry sauce and this was quite good. I had no idea there was Jack Daniels in it while I was eating, but maybe that is why I liked it so much?

TL made some sausage & sage stuffing. He wasn’t too happy with the bread he used as the stuffing ending up being quite mushy. The sausage was quite delicious though!

He also made a cranberry walnut stuffing for the non-meat eaters. I didn’t have room to try this. It looked really good though.

My main contribution was brussels sprouts two ways.

First, bacon with a little brussels sprouts mixed in. Always a crowd pleaser! You can’t go wrong with cooking veggies in pig fat.

Since I had to cook something vegetarian, I found a great recipe from a James Beard newsletter for Lime & Pepper Brussels Sprouts. These were actually pretty great. They were simply roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper then tossed with lime zest and red chili flakes. Most of the diners missed out on this because they naturally gravitated to the bacon. I will be making this again.

Scalloped potatoes with fennel and goat cheese. This was cheesy carby goodness!

GL and his girlfriend made a sweet potato marshmallow casserole.

Since TL hates cooking turkey due to the massive amount of leftovers (although he cooks a great one), he decided he wanted to make a lasagna this year too. They actually made the pasta from scratch! Quite an impressive undertaking. It was cooked perfectly and I really enjoyed the al dente pasta. Top that with meat sauce and I am a happy boy! Thank God for leftovers!

CT says: I hope this becomes a new Thanksgiving tradition…it was great!!

He also made a vegetarian friendly pasta. This pasta wasn’t homemade, but the sauce was.

Here is the beautiful turkey!

Once cut, you can see it came out perfectly. Nice and juicy! Impressive for what was probably the first time cooking a bird in that oven.

There was also some bread that was brought. I’m not sure what bakery it came from.

Dessert was also quite the sugary feast!

CT made pumpkin whoopie pies with maple cream filling. These were delicious! Maybe she will share the recipe with you if you ask nicely.

CT says: I wasn’t thrilled with my first attempt at making whoopie pies, but I know I wanted to give it another shot. So when I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie pies, I thought it was be a nice twist on the traditional pumpkin pie. I really liked the recipe, though a tweaked it a bit to make the filling a little less sweet. I’ll definitely be experimenting more with whoopie pies; so many flavor possibilities and I like the individually sized portions!

Chocolate torte. I believe this was homemade, but not sure by who. This looked way too rich for me so I passed on a taste.

CT says: Made my Mrs. L and delicious!! Super rich and chocolatey, but not overly sweet nor heavy.

A wide selection of ice creams from local ice cream maker, Blue Marble.

There was also a plethora of pies.

Two Salted Caramel Apple Pies from pie shop of the moment; Four & Twenty Blackbirds. Since I am a salted caramel fiend, of course I had a slice. While the caramel wasn’t super present(probably cause my palate was shot and I was a little drunk), it was an excellent apple pie. Good crust and not mushy!

Pies were also picked up from Sweet Melissa, but I am pretty sure they went untouched since everyone was BEYOND stuffed.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Fresh Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie

As CT is always quick to point out, one of her favorite things about Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving Sandwich the next day.

Here is my creation! Only fair since hers got the spotlight last year. It was pretty great but unfortunately we didn’t have leftover cranberry sauce which would have made it better.

CT says: Your creation???

Once again, it was a GREAT Thanksgiving! Even if we had to go to Brooklyn It was nice seeing TL’s family again after spending time with them in Panama over the Summer. I hope all of you also had a great holiday!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Carroll Gardens, Thanksgiving

You know, last year was the birthday of Michelin stars, but this year I wanted to make it the birthday of fried chicken.  I REALLY like fried chicken.  Hungry asked me to give her a list of places I’d like to celebrate my birthday, so I picked a bunch of fried chicken focused meals, and eventually the list was culled down to Brooklyn Star, where for $20/person, they were offering fried chicken dinners.  Hello, lovely!  I made my darling KC go to Brooklyn

Though we didn’t really need the menu, Hungry and I looked it over while we waited for Beer Boor and KC to show up.  (It was his fault they were late, I’m told.)  I couldn’t stop laughing at the notation on the bottom of the menu: “All animals are killed humanely with five point exploding heart punch.  All vegetables are yanked from the earth with extreme prejudice.  Fritos sourced from Plano, Texas.”  Five point exploding heart punch!!!  

As it was my birthday, I ordered a sparkly drink.  I like drinking bubbles for celebration.  Actually… who’m I kidding?  I drink bubbles all the time.  That’s just who I am.  In any case, this was prosecco with bitters, aperol and a cube of sugar on the bottom of the glass.  I’ve had this exact drink elsewhere, I forget where, but I know I’ve had the same combination.  I like it just fine, but there are better ways to make sparkling cocktails in my humblest opinion.   

After KC and Beer Boor finally arrived, we quickly chose our sides and the food shortly started arriving.  I admit here that I am a pig, and my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so we probably didn’t need to add on extra sides.  But we did… In any case, first to arrive was piping hot, freshly baked jalapeno bacon cornbread with butter and honey on the side.  So good – the texture was cake-like, and a drizzle of honey made it taste like the best damn pancakes I’ll ever eat.  Love.  Some bits were spicy with fresh jalapenos, and some bits were meaty with the bacon… so good.  Oh my. 

Cheesy grits served in another screaming hot cast iron pan.  If you’d made me pick less sides, this is the first one I’d have ditched because I’m not a grits fan.  However, Beer Boor likes his grits – his face lit up when the server told us that was the 5th side available – and I’m never going to tell someone they can’t order something because I’ve greedily ordered everything else again.  (True story, because if we don’t finish everything, just take it to go, that’s my philosophy.)  I thought these were OK but at the end of the day, they’re still grits, so easily my least favorite side. 

Bacon mac & cheese, which surprisingly was pretty good – I say that because a lot of times, I find places somehow make mac&cheese in a manner that I just don’t like.  Cheese too sharp, or they try to be fancy with the cheeses, or they just… do something that makes me bleh on it.  The pasta here was cooked perfectly, the crunchy top was great, the cheese was just right and the bacon made its presence known without being overwhelming.  My only personal preference is that there be more cheese sauce, some gooey creamy cheese on the pasta, but that’s a personal preference and I certainly still enjoyed this without the extra cheesiness. 

Another item that surprised me: before I tasted it, I commented that I don’t often have collards that are excellent in restaurants.  They either overcook the crap out of them, or they undercook them and I’m eating something almost raw.  But these were seriously the perfect shade of done: they retained their texture but they were completely soft enough to stuff into my happy mouth.  The flavor was spot-on; not too salty, not too bland.  A little tomato, a bit of ham (it was cooked with ham hocks), and just fantastic.  I could have happily eaten the whole bowl, but there were other things on the table to eat! 

When this tray appeared, I got really excited because I get irrationally happy and excited over things like this.  Cole slaw, buttermilk ranch dressing, a jar of pickled items (pickles, fennel, watermelon rind, Italian peppers, and green beans), and a small jar of ‘spicy chow chow’ which is like a cabbage relish type thing.  There was nothing on this tray that I didn’t like.  The cole slaw was great, the pickled items – oh my stars, I loved everything in there and now I understand the fantastic taste of pickled watermelon rind, which means next year I’m not going to stare at my watermelon rinds and decide eff it, and throw them away, nope I’m going to save them and pickle the love out of them! these were so good!!! – the green beans, even the fennel – and I don’t actually like fennel – just great.  The chow chow’s appeal was lost on me, but I guess some people like that stuff… and the buttermilk ranch was so good – I love ranch dressing in general – but I wanted to drink it.  The chicken didn’t need it though.  At all.  But we’ll get to that in a second. 

Our fifth and final side: mashed potatoes with gravy.  A few people around the table said that these were just mashed potatoes, big whoop, but as someone who loves potatoes more than is healthy (well, ACTUALLY, potatoes are super healthy and good for you, but my love of them is just… a little weird – and no, not like that!), these were very good.  Not completely smooth, which sometimes gives me the feel of fake potatoes, but with texture and body to the potatoes… and a very peppery, lovely gravy adorning it.  I could also happily eat the whole bowl of this and not blink twice.  (I AM the girl whose sister once made FIVE POUNDS OF MASHED POTATOES for Thanksgiving one year… because I said I wanted mashed potatoes, hahaha.)  (She also loves potatoes a bit much.) 

And the main attraction: the fried chicken.  Two pieces per person. 

Knowing me as he does, Beer Boor quickly handed over a thigh.  Look at the crunch on the outside of that.  The skin was almost impossibly crunchy, while the meat was juicy to a fault and stayed hot a very, very long time.  I nommed on this with abandon; holy crap, THAT IS GOOD FRIED CHICKEN.  I might even… I might even dare say that this is easily the best fried chicken I’ve had in a very long time.  That might scare some people, because I’ve long looked for a fried chicken to give this title.  But the seasonings were all ON, the skin stayed crispy, and the meat was just that tender and juicy.  And… I didn’t finish both my pieces of chicken, so I took one piece home to eat a few days later.  Three full days later, the chicken was still tender, and a quick spin in the toaster oven to crisp up the skin did no harm to the chicken – it would have been good cold, too, but I chose to eat it warm.  So effing good. 

Our entire table as the feast began. 

And my first plate.  Yep.  I chowed down on all that, then set about eating more of the sides I’d liked best.  Which was just about all of them except the grits – and that’s no fault of the grits, just that I don’t prefer grits. 

Then we rolled out into the night, the lucky birthday girl clutching all the leftovers, happy as people stuffed with truly excellent fried chicken can be… and headed home.  I went straight to my couch to cuddle with the dog who licked all the chicken grease off my happy face… just kidding!  I licked it off my own face.  Duh. 

A big thank you to Hungry for planning this, and thank you to all of you for taking me out for fried chicken for my birthday!  You guys are the bestest!!  

Yvo says: Excellent fried chicken, very well executed side dishes, a sense of humor, a lovely atmosphere and a gorgeous, comfy space all mean I’ll be back at Brooklyn Star before you know it.  (Plus it’s only like a 15 minute drive from me, no joke.)  Note that you must make reservations ahead of time for the fried chicken dinner, there is a minimum of 3 people, and it’s only available certain nights of the week… and that they recently started doing a Dr. Pepper rib dinner as well, which I look forward to enjoying very, very soon… yum.
highly recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fried chicken, grits

So amazingly enough we offered to come to the wilds of Brooklyn to visit ML and get a bite to eat. As we walked from the subway, we were exposed to the gastronomic wonders that is Smith Street. There were a ton of interesting bars and restaurants that we will have to check out in the future.

The Blackboard Eats deal was $38 for three courses including a drink with each course. There was a special menu so we only had three options for each course(except dessert), but that was more than acceptable for us. ML decided to go a la carte.

We had a choice of any bourbon cocktail to go with our appetizer. ML joined the fun and got one too. From left to right: Noreaster- Ginger beer, lime, maple syrup. Bourbon Bonnet- Fresh pineapple juice, habanero, cherry, brown sugar. Bourbon Insider- Hard apple cider, honey, lemon, baking spices.

I had the Noreaster. It was a nice refreshing cocktail with a bit of spice from the ginger. I believe the ladies enjoyed their cocktails too.

ML started with one of the restaurant’s signature dishes; House-cured lamb pastrami with coriander aioli, pickled onions & grilled rye-caraway bread. It was quite a generous portion so CT & I were forced to eat some too. It was quite delicious. The meat had a very delicate pastrami flavor unlike what you would get at a traditional deli like Sarge’s. Since the restaurant was dark, it was hard to see the difference between the pastrami and onions, but it was a great combination along with the creaminess of the aioli. This was definitely a must order appetizer.

Surprising no one, CT started with the Chicken liver mousse with fig-bourbon mostarda and grilled sourdough. This was a huge portion of chicken liver, so much so that she ended taking some home much to the delight of her Mom the next day.

CT says: This was perfect! Not too rich, nor heavy. But a smooth, creamy texture that was just perfect on the toast. Definitely enough to share among a few friends, though I think I did pretty good justice to it on my own.

Since the other option was a salad, I went with the French onion soup with vidalia onions, bacon-chicken broth, and cheese crouton. Quite unlike me to order this soup, but it was delicious. The crouton was a bit too large so it soaked up way too much of that yummy broth. The soup also wasn’t hot enough to melt the cheese which was a little disappointing.

Our entrees came with a beer. Mine came with the Lagunitas Pils and CT’s with the Full Sail Session Black lager. Both were quite good beers. I had to comfort CT in the fact that the Full Sail was actually a relatively light beer despite its ebony appearance.

She had the Mole pork sausage with cumin-spiced chicharrones, corn, queso fresco, peanuts, and lime. This consisted of two sizeable sausage links. It was a good porky sausage with a lot of interesting textures from the other items on the plate. Fortunately for me, CT was getting full so I was able to help her finish it.

CT says: Another winner with lots of flavors and textures. I would happily eat this again.

Like the appetizers, the third option of entrees was no option at all. Potato dumplings? Pass! I went with the Chile-marinated shrimp with sweet corn-hominy grits, scallions, and baby cilantro. This was a good choice. Although the shrimp could have used a bit more heat, they were cooked perfectly. The grits were also good especially since there were bits of corn and hominy mixed throughout. It wasn’t just a fine puree that is usually the case.

ML had the chopped pork with Char No. 4 mustard barbecue sauce & side of baked beans. She also shared some of this with us. It was very good. The roll held up nicely to all of that pork and sauce. I am a big fan of mustard based bbq sauces. I may have to get this sandwich next time.

We also ordered a couple sides/small bites for good measure.

Smoked & fried pork nuggets with Char No. 4 hot sauce. These were very good nuggets that were made even better by the extra spicy hot sauce. Crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. They were 10x better than the similar dish we had at Back Forty.

CT says: Agreed! Incomparable to Back Forty, really. There was actual pork flavor in this little things!

Cheddar polenta fries with ancho chile sauce. These were amazing super light and not greasy at all. They were definitely one of the better presentations of polenta fries that I have ever had.

CT says: “Pillowy” is the one word that comes to mind. These were like little polenta clouds. I’ve never had polenta like this and feel like I’ve been missing out. So good.

There were no options for dessert. Simply some homemade salted caramel ice cream. No complaints there as this is one of my favorite ice cream flavors(along with the rest of the country). This was a very good preparation with the perfect balance of salt and sweet caramel flavor.

Dessert was paired with a pour of Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The whisky had a nice bite to aid in the digestion process.

All in all, Char No. 4 was great. Service was good and the food was delicious. Prices were very reasonable, not considering the BBE special, so I would definitely return. Don’t worry ML, we’ll be visiting you and TL often in Brooklyn.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blackboard Eats, bourbon, Carroll Gardens

So it was recently, when I was in the middle of a particularly bad spot, I was Tweeting miserably and the lovely Allison (yes, Robicelli) suggested coming to visit their new storefront in DeKalb Market.  I hadn’t yet been, so I jumped in the car and headed over to see her.  Once I got there, she closed up shop and, along with two other supporters, we hit up Junior’s a block away. 

Since my appetite was still wonky – as I’ve mentioned in a few posts, and honestly, what good is a food writer who can’t eat? – I satisfied myself by just ordering my first ever egg cream.  Allison shared stories of her father teaching her how to make them as a kid, and when the waiter asked “What flavor?” the “CHOCOLATE?!” that escaped her mouth said it all: there is no egg cream but a chocolate one.  I love how the cup shows exactly how to make one, too, with measurement lines for each ingredient.  How do I get one of these cups…

The rest of my companions wanted food, so they ordered Thai ginger wings.  They seemed to enjoy them. 

They also ordered a sandwich that has, instead of bread, potato pancakes… filled with brisket, and served with sour cream and gravy on the side.  Everyone seemed to enjoy this, too, and I almost wished my appetite wasn’t so screwed so I could enjoy it too! 

I felt much better after hanging out with everyone, chatting about whatever came to mind.  Then I went to see Beer Boor and my mood plummeted right back into the toilet. 

Yvo says: I’m going to have to hit up Junior’s again when my appetite fully returns, because the menu proved that I’ve been missing out!  I really wish I’d been able to eat… though I did discover that I’m not a fan of egg creams, aka chocolate sodas, haha. 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: soda

Recently CT’s Sister and Brother-in-Law(ML & TL) closed on their first apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Congrats! As such, along with CT’s parents, we graciously offered to help them with the move and setting the new place up. CT and I were responsible for waiting for the various handymen coming to the place to fix a couple things, while CT’s parents got a head start with their car, bringing some of the more fragile things. Lucky for us the handymen arrived early, so we basically arrived and it was already time for lunch. ML & TL suggested a nearby bar with a “beer garden” called P.J. Hanley’s. Not only is it one of the oldest bars in NYC (est. 1874), they also serve pizza from the next door neighbor, South Brooklyn Pizza.

As you can see below, they have quite a large outdoor space. Fortunately, August has been relatively cool here in NYC unlike our previous months, so we enjoyed the weather and sat outside.

We started with some chips and salsa. Each of the salsas had good flavors, but none were very hot.

CT’s Mom had a craving for potato skins. I had half of one. While there was a lot of bacon on each, I would have preferred it to be crispier. It was pretty bland overall. The skins were accompanied with some ranch sauce.

With all of the calories burned running around, we also got some cheese fries for good measure. The fries were nice and crisp and held up well against the gooey cheese.

CT says: I really enjoyed these – super crispy under a perfectly gooey melted cheese whiz

We ordered three of South Brooklyn Pizza’s speciality pies($10-12 each). They also offer a “NY Style” pizza for $25, which was HUGE. The specialties were more “bar-style” pizza.

Margarita. The best measure of any pizza place. The sauce was nice and tangy. The crust was excellent. While it wasn’t as charred as some other artisanal pizza places, the dough used was quite special. The perfect mix of salty and crunchy.

CT says: WOW. This was a really really good pizza! The sauce had such great flavor; so fresh tasting! And the crust was so crisp on the bottom, while soft on top. Really just perfection in a pizza.

Upskirt.

The special of the day was mushroom and sausage. Another tasty pizza, but I don’t remember the toppings adding that much to an already good pizza underneath.

CT says: This is my favorite pizza topping-combo, so when I saw it as the special, I knew we had to get it. Again, a great pizza. Not too greasy either.

Finally, the quattro formagi. I have really begun to enjoy ricotta on my pizzas. It brings such a great cool creaminess to the pizza.

CT says: Also good, but I couldn’t stop eating the other two to really get a proper taste.

All in all, P.J. Hanley’s was a good bar that I am sure ML & TL will be frequenting often. Add on the fact that you can order some great pizzas from South Brooklyn Pizza next door makes it a great bar! I foresee this being our go-to place on the off chance we go back to Brooklyn to visit, hehe. Congrats to ML & TL on the new place and thanks for lunch!!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Carroll Gardens, pub grub