This time, I did get the Monkey Milk Shake I wanted last time – vanilla ice cream, milk, bananas and honey. It was really good – and when I couldn’t finish it but we wanted to leave for our next activity (mini golf, finally!), they put it in a to-go cup for me. The honey flavor was pronounced though the overall effect wasn’t cloyingly sweet, and the banana made the whole thing very filling.

Having learned his lesson, DLS opted for the classic poutine and was rewarded with crisp fries, squeaky curds and savory gravy. I think he liked this, though when I asked him to rank his favorites of the poutines we’ve tried, this ranked pretty low. I guess the trip to Brooklyn won’t be necessary next time…

I didn’t feel like eating a messy burger, so I chose the chili poutine – listed under “American style poutine” – and was rewarded with basically chili cheese fries. I was only able to eat about half of this before I had to give up – between the shake and the heavy dish, it was just too much.

Yvo says: I’m glad I was able to go back and try the classic poutine, but now I honestly feel that I have no reason to return. If I were in the area – it would be Chip Shop next door, no question. Ah well.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, milk shakes, poutine

There’s no denying that when I approached the restaurant, I grew rather concerned based on the demographic being served already. I was surprised that it was so busy on a Wednesday afternoon, but I shrugged it off and was seated immediately. The menu actually had a number of items I’d have liked to try, but I was on a mission: the burger. Not the Five Leaves burger – which adds a fried pineapple ring, beets and a sunny side up egg (leading me to believe there’s some Australian influence here, perhaps?) to the regular burger, which boasts harissa mayo and grass-fed beef for $13.

When I ordered the burger, my server asked me what I’d like with it- salad, fries or truffle fries. I’d just assumed fries, but because she asked, I decided to be healthy, I should have a salad – and hoped that it would be interesting at least, much like my salad from Brindle Room. Not so much- just a pile of spring mix, meh. I was a little surprised when the pickle turned out to be spicy, too – possibly a McClure’s spicy pickle spear – but you really want to know about the burger.

It was juicy, and cooked properly to my specification of medium rare. Tasty, no question about it, and the harissa mayo took it in a new direction for my palate, quite good. But it’s not a destination burger – I would not tell anyone to go out of their way for this burger, it was simply good but not excellent. If this was in my neighborhood, I might visit more frequently… but alas. It did not knock my socks off.

Yvo says: Good burger and interesting menu; if I were going to be in the area, I might visit again. Unfortunately, their clientele was made up of almost entirely the types of people I don’t have any interest in being surrounded by: hipsters, older folks reliving their glory days by discussing what movie deals they’d declined in the past (yes, that was seriously the conversation of the two older gentlemen to my right when I left), and young moms with their strollers socializing with other young moms. BUT that may appeal to you… I’m not you.
solidly good burger

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Burgers

Of course I started with sweet tea, which was not too super sweet as I’ve had occasionally – some Yanks think they know what sweet tea is, and trust me, it’s not overloaded with sugar. It’s just sweetened iced tea! Great refresher for between bites of everything.

Andrea started with the grilled portobello salad, which she enjoyed.

Being the pig I am, I went with the fried green tomato salad which was FANTASTIC. Perfectly fried green tomatoes topped with a slightly tangy remoulade, pieces of crisp bacon, pickled red onions and peppery arugula, every bite was just absolutely delicious. I was sad when I finished this plate, though I knew next was something even more delicious…

My platter, in all its glory!

My side of black eyed peas and sweet corn didn’t appear to have any black eyed peas in it, but it was absolutely delicious, slightly vinegary, and the perfect foil to everything else I was eating. I would happily eat this any time it was nearby- the vinegar really cut through the fat of what else I was eating.

As for my fried chicken – three pieces of dark meat – absolutely perfect. Piping hot but I couldn’t help trying to dig right in – seasoned excellently, with juicy meat that just oozed with its happy chicken juices as I bit into each piece… oh my oh my. I’m pretty picky about fried chicken and have been seeking the best in the city for purchase, and have yet to find my fried chicken nirvana… until now. I think this may just be the best fried chicken I’ve had in NYC so far – crisp, crunchy exterior that stayed (mostly) crisp to the end, flavorful, seasoned well, with juicy meat that was definitely not overcooked – oh my stars. I was literally in heaven as I nommed each piece and I quite piggily ate my entire platter, but I went home and didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day… so good.

Yvo says: Were you not reading? Well, okay then, I would be distracted by those awesome pictures too, haha – this is some of the finest – if not THE finest – fried chicken I’ve had in the 5 boroughs. I am already planning my return trip with other fried chicken afficionados (holla!)… it was that good. *big grin*
highly recommended fried chicken

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fried chicken

You all know how I love baseball, but the past few months has seen me watching more football than I’ve watched in my entire life, for one simple reason: fantasy football.  This year was my inaugural fantasy football season, and I think I dig it… What’s this got to do with Peter Luger, you ask?  Well, the winner (not me) received a lunch at Peter Luger, courtesy of the losers (one of which was me).  I would finally get to try this burger everyone’s raving about! 

The bread basket was so monstrous, someone requested I take a photo of it.  I mean, there WERE 7 of us (one of us had to bow out due to prior obligations). 

My medium rare burger with a slab of bacon on top – I wanted nothing else.  Actually, I ate the bacon alone.  It was tasty. 

Cheese’s vibrantly green broccoli.  It was sufficient. 

As for my burger… cooked to my request of medium rare.  I don’t see the appeal.  Was it an off day?  I find it hard to believe that people rave about what I received: the bread overwhelmed the patty at times, and parts of my burger were incredibly salty.  I added nothing but a slick of mayo, and I just wasn’t wow’d.  The meat was OK, but didn’t stand out; the crust on the outside was barely noticeable, and just… meh.  I eventually began eating just the burger patty, to see if removing the offensive bread would help, but it still needed a lot of help.  I wasn’t impressed.  I would seriously pass on this next time – and just get steak!  (I can’t be mad about a decision like that.) 

TC had enough room afterwards for the Mad Cow sundae… I didn’t try any, but I did think the little cow chocolate on top was adorable.

Yvo says: I went to Peter Luger once upon a time, long before I began taking photographs of what I ate, and found it fine but nothing amazing.  This time, I was just seriously disappointed by the burger that everyone says is life changing.  It was OK.  Nothing that special.  I may give it another try just because I feel it must’ve been an off-day, although everyone else at my table enjoyed their burgers (and steak… the winner chose steak, of course) and I was the only one unhappy.  Ah well. 
meh

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bacon, Burgers, football

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