As I've mentioned here several times before, I have a soft spot for one of the DC area's unique food items. Indeed, you can read my previous treatise on DC's most notable item, the half-smoke. But, after reading that and some of the comments I received from both my readers here and on flickr, I realized I've been amiss in visiting the mother of all half-smoke joints: Ben's Chili Bowl.
Ben's Chili Bowl is an institution. Located on U Street right across from the U St/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Metro Stop (indeed, it predates the Green Line, and spent multiple years with a gaping hole in the street in front of the place as they built the Green Line), Ben's has been serving half-smokes, chili dogs, fries, and such to hungry area residents through good years and bad. It is, quite simply, a landmark.
Enough so that the first thing most people experience at Ben's is the line. When we went (and most previous visits as well), the line was spilling out the door and down the alley adjacent to the restaurant. Inside was packed solid with people, with all the seats taken, requiring folks to get their orders "to go" just in case there wasn't an open seat when your order came up (we got lucky and scored a booth, however). But aside from the crowd's, it's pure diner. The staff is friendly but busy, slaving over two separate grills as they assemble everyone's burgers, hot dogs, chili bowls, and half smokes. The music is going strong (and loud), with a nice selection of everything from the '50s through fairly recent hip hop. And the signage can be fun... Bill Cosby gets to eat for free. As do the Obamas, except for Barack himself ("'Cause Bill Cosby says so!" according to the sign).
As far as the food? As far as I've been concerned, there's one thing to order at Ben's, and despite it being called Ben's Chili Bowl, that's not what you order. You order a half-smoke with chili. Although virtually every little street cart in DC carries half smokes, Ben's has a half-smoke that's a grade above most of the carts, with an even coarser grind, more spice, and just a little more heft. Topped with the chili, it's a good, solid, version of the DC classic with just a bit more bite and flavor. The chili is also good, as are the fries (and, due to a miscommunication, ours came with chili and cheese on them, making this trip a complete chili overload), but if you don't do the half-smoke, you're missing out.
Alas, the founder of Ben's Chili Bowl, Ben Ali, died back in October. His memory lives on, however.
Ben's Chili Bowl
1213 U St. NW
Washington, District of Columbia
03 December 2009
30 October 2009
Stan's Grocery (Yuma, Arizona)
Sometimes it pays off to take the back roads and shortcuts.
I've always found Yuma to be a bit challenging when it comes to finding a righteous breakfast. Actually, on my previous trips, my best breakfasts have all been out at the Proving Ground, that being the breakfast burritos from the bowling alley, and Sidewinder Cafe (the food truck across from Luguna Airfield and the Free Fall School). And in town, I've done all right at Brownie's Cafe, and found that Arizona Donut has a surprisingly good breakfast burrito, but in general, I haven't been wowed.
However, on last June's trip to Yuma, I took a shortcut from Burger's n' Beer on 20th street back to my hotel on Hwy 95, which took me through the residential area east of 4th Ave. Heading north on 1st Ave, between 19th and 20th Street I saw this little unassuming neighborhood grocery store call "Stan's Grocery", and I noticed their sign said "Voted Best Breakfast Burritos in Yuma." I put it on my Hit List as a place to check out the next time I'm in town.
Doing a little bit of web searching, and I discovered that the sign had some merit to it. Several review sites have given their breakfast burrito really high marks. Several locals I asked gave it good marks as well, and the Yuma Sun has given it "Best Burrito" awards going back at least 10 years. So, while my usual schedule when in Yuma requires me to be at YPG at a ridiculously early hour of the morning, this trip I had two mornings where I found myself in town instead out at the airfield. So I gave Stan's a try.
I'm glad I did. While the ambiance is your basic mom-and-pop mini-store, they've got quite an impressive list of breakfast burritos, with most any combination of eggs, beans, potatoes, and various meats (chorizo, bacon, sausage, machaca, and asada), with a few tables in back for those people dining in (the vast majority of the business is takeout, and I easily saw 50 burritos go out the door while I was eating mine).
I opted for the chorizo, egg, and potato burrito. Burritos don't photograph well, but this was a seriously good breakfast burrito. They started with a nice, fresh, soft tortilla from one of the local bakeries. Inside were some nicely crisped fine-diced potatoes that weren't starchy. Add in some perfectly scrambled eggs and some crisp, spicy, and non-greasy Chorizo, and you've got a solid burrito that was both more flavorful and heftier than most of the other burritos I've had around town. Top it off with a selection of good fresh salsas, and you've got a real winner.
As far as I was concerned, this place is indeed a winner. It's got it's downfalls, namely little seating, and sometimes big crowds (they've got only a simple range with 2-3 people working it). On the other hand, the quality is good and the staff friendly (the owner, JoAnn, is really friendly and outgoing).
I enjoyed it so much, I hit them up again on my way out of town last Friday).
Stan's Grocery
1920 S. 1st Ave
Yuma, AZ
Yes, this was a good breakfast.
I've always found Yuma to be a bit challenging when it comes to finding a righteous breakfast. Actually, on my previous trips, my best breakfasts have all been out at the Proving Ground, that being the breakfast burritos from the bowling alley, and Sidewinder Cafe (the food truck across from Luguna Airfield and the Free Fall School). And in town, I've done all right at Brownie's Cafe, and found that Arizona Donut has a surprisingly good breakfast burrito, but in general, I haven't been wowed.
However, on last June's trip to Yuma, I took a shortcut from Burger's n' Beer on 20th street back to my hotel on Hwy 95, which took me through the residential area east of 4th Ave. Heading north on 1st Ave, between 19th and 20th Street I saw this little unassuming neighborhood grocery store call "Stan's Grocery", and I noticed their sign said "Voted Best Breakfast Burritos in Yuma." I put it on my Hit List as a place to check out the next time I'm in town.
Doing a little bit of web searching, and I discovered that the sign had some merit to it. Several review sites have given their breakfast burrito really high marks. Several locals I asked gave it good marks as well, and the Yuma Sun has given it "Best Burrito" awards going back at least 10 years. So, while my usual schedule when in Yuma requires me to be at YPG at a ridiculously early hour of the morning, this trip I had two mornings where I found myself in town instead out at the airfield. So I gave Stan's a try.
I'm glad I did. While the ambiance is your basic mom-and-pop mini-store, they've got quite an impressive list of breakfast burritos, with most any combination of eggs, beans, potatoes, and various meats (chorizo, bacon, sausage, machaca, and asada), with a few tables in back for those people dining in (the vast majority of the business is takeout, and I easily saw 50 burritos go out the door while I was eating mine).
I opted for the chorizo, egg, and potato burrito. Burritos don't photograph well, but this was a seriously good breakfast burrito. They started with a nice, fresh, soft tortilla from one of the local bakeries. Inside were some nicely crisped fine-diced potatoes that weren't starchy. Add in some perfectly scrambled eggs and some crisp, spicy, and non-greasy Chorizo, and you've got a solid burrito that was both more flavorful and heftier than most of the other burritos I've had around town. Top it off with a selection of good fresh salsas, and you've got a real winner.
As far as I was concerned, this place is indeed a winner. It's got it's downfalls, namely little seating, and sometimes big crowds (they've got only a simple range with 2-3 people working it). On the other hand, the quality is good and the staff friendly (the owner, JoAnn, is really friendly and outgoing).
I enjoyed it so much, I hit them up again on my way out of town last Friday).
Stan's Grocery
1920 S. 1st Ave
Yuma, AZ
Yes, this was a good breakfast.
24 October 2009
Greenhouse Tavern (Cleveland, OH)
Two weeks ago, I had a free evening in Cleveland during a business trip. Coming to Cleveland after a huge bender in NYC (including Scott's Pizza Tour), I continued the heavy eating with a trip to Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse (part of the conference) and Wonton Gourmet earlier in the day. So, while I needed dinner, I decided to go someplace light. Greenhouse Tavern has been on my list for a while, so I decided that a burger at Greenhouse was just what I needed.
However, it turned into a most interesting evening (in a good way), almost as interesting as the infamous Willie Mae's Scotch House Adventure). Why? Two different (but related) reasons:
1. I gave the staff one of my photography business cards (the ones that say "Professional Bacon Photographer", with one of my, well, bacon photos on it).
2. Channel 3 was there filming a piece on Cleveland restaurants becoming foodie destinations, and there I am with the Big Honkin' Camera[tm], taking pictures of my food. This resulted in the unusual situation of the TV guys taking photos of me taking photos of my food. An unusual experience for me (although I didn't end up making the news segment...).
I started off ordering a beef tartare and a simple burger. However, once he found out I was taking pictures of my food and was a bacon photographer, the chef/owner, Jonathon Sawyer, really outdid himself, bringing out several extra dishes for me to photograph. So while I started off searching for a light dinner, I ended up with several courses of deliciousness.
My first course, the beef tartare, was served with a cold perfectly poached egg, spring onion, and some cornichon relish. This was a great start to the meal, being a perfectly done tartare (on par with my other favorite tartare: The Wolseley in London), focusing nicely on the beef without a lot of unnecessary additives. The sides were all perfect. I'd get this any day, and probably will get it again next time.
Next, the chef declared that a bacon lover like myself obviously needed some country ham to photograph, and brought out some of it. This was a really good ham, with nice earthy notes, and not overly salty either. It was nicely paired with a pear, mustard, and chili flake compote.
Next, the kitchen brought out a pork shoulder, which was coupled with a nicely-seared cippollini onion, mushrooms, and a homemade vinegar sauce made from Belgian beer. I'd order this any day, this was really hitting on all cylinders, even if it was weird to have the TV crew from Channel 3 filming me as I was eating and photograohing this. In general, food photography is always a bit difficult due to the lighting, but for this one dish, the guy from the TV station was shining the klieg lights at me.
Finally, we got to the actual item I had come for, my Ohio Beef Burger. This was a perfectly cooked burger with some nice raclette cheese and cornichon relish. Nothing fancy, but an extremely well-executed burger, with a good sear on the outside of the patty, and a nice, juicy uniform pink throughout. Flavorful, juicy, and just the right amount of crisp.
If I was a bit hungrier, I would've done the same as the folks down the counter and ordered the off-the-menu Shaq Burger, which also had pickled green tomato, garlic aioli, mozzarella cheese curd, and some other stuff I didn't write down. Looked seriously good. But my basic Ohio Beef Burger was damn fine as well.
So thanks, Jonathon. I hope to be back soon (well, as soon as an NH engineer can... although I do visit Cleveland for work pretty often). Cleveland is definitely on the repeat visit list.
Greenhouse Tavern
2038 E 4th Street
Cleveland, OH
However, it turned into a most interesting evening (in a good way), almost as interesting as the infamous Willie Mae's Scotch House Adventure). Why? Two different (but related) reasons:
1. I gave the staff one of my photography business cards (the ones that say "Professional Bacon Photographer", with one of my, well, bacon photos on it).
2. Channel 3 was there filming a piece on Cleveland restaurants becoming foodie destinations, and there I am with the Big Honkin' Camera[tm], taking pictures of my food. This resulted in the unusual situation of the TV guys taking photos of me taking photos of my food. An unusual experience for me (although I didn't end up making the news segment...).
I started off ordering a beef tartare and a simple burger. However, once he found out I was taking pictures of my food and was a bacon photographer, the chef/owner, Jonathon Sawyer, really outdid himself, bringing out several extra dishes for me to photograph. So while I started off searching for a light dinner, I ended up with several courses of deliciousness.
My first course, the beef tartare, was served with a cold perfectly poached egg, spring onion, and some cornichon relish. This was a great start to the meal, being a perfectly done tartare (on par with my other favorite tartare: The Wolseley in London), focusing nicely on the beef without a lot of unnecessary additives. The sides were all perfect. I'd get this any day, and probably will get it again next time.
Next, the chef declared that a bacon lover like myself obviously needed some country ham to photograph, and brought out some of it. This was a really good ham, with nice earthy notes, and not overly salty either. It was nicely paired with a pear, mustard, and chili flake compote.
Next, the kitchen brought out a pork shoulder, which was coupled with a nicely-seared cippollini onion, mushrooms, and a homemade vinegar sauce made from Belgian beer. I'd order this any day, this was really hitting on all cylinders, even if it was weird to have the TV crew from Channel 3 filming me as I was eating and photograohing this. In general, food photography is always a bit difficult due to the lighting, but for this one dish, the guy from the TV station was shining the klieg lights at me.
Finally, we got to the actual item I had come for, my Ohio Beef Burger. This was a perfectly cooked burger with some nice raclette cheese and cornichon relish. Nothing fancy, but an extremely well-executed burger, with a good sear on the outside of the patty, and a nice, juicy uniform pink throughout. Flavorful, juicy, and just the right amount of crisp.
If I was a bit hungrier, I would've done the same as the folks down the counter and ordered the off-the-menu Shaq Burger, which also had pickled green tomato, garlic aioli, mozzarella cheese curd, and some other stuff I didn't write down. Looked seriously good. But my basic Ohio Beef Burger was damn fine as well.
So thanks, Jonathon. I hope to be back soon (well, as soon as an NH engineer can... although I do visit Cleveland for work pretty often). Cleveland is definitely on the repeat visit list.
Greenhouse Tavern
2038 E 4th Street
Cleveland, OH
Wonton Gourmet & BBQ (Cleveland, OH)
Many people outside the region don't realize it, but Cleveland has a very vibrant and active Asian community, and several of my trips to Cleveland (usually to NASA Glenn) have involved trips to Asiatown for some good Chinese food. Looking to try someplace new, this time I decided to check up on some of the local blogs (Fun Playing With Food, in particular), and found that several sources recommended Wonton Gourment and BBQ.
Located on Payne Avenue, Wonton Gourmet is located in one of those fairly generic storefronts, that, if not for the big "Wonton Gourmet & BBQ" banner, you might mistake for a dry cleaner or office supply store. Inside, however, it's definitely one of those Chinese places that caters to natives, with big colorful pictures of food and banners (mostly in Chinese, with short English translations below) covering the walls. Like a lot of these little Chinese places from other cities (like my favorite Shuang Cheng in Minneapolis), there's a very noticeable difference between the food items pictured on the wall, and those in the menu (which seems to cater to Americanized dishes and interests). In short, you seem to be better ordering off the wall instead of the menu.
I ended up ordering some steamed beef rice rolls and some Chinese steak with black bean sauce, hot peppers, and ginger. Immediately I ran into one of the problems of going to a family-style place by yourself: to sample things you end up with a huge amount of excess food. I ended up solving this on this trip by being friendly to the next table over, and bartered two of my rice rolls and some Chinese steak for some dumplings, a turnip cake, and some duck. (all of which were good, but not photogenic after the slicing and dicing involved in the portioning for the barter...)
However, even if I had stayed strictly with the food I ordered, I would have been very pleased. The rice rolls were delicious, delicate, tangy, and nicely spiced. The Chinese steak with black bean sauce, hot peppers, and ginger was very tasty and the meat perfectly spiced. I rather liked this dish, but did feel that I could have done better with a different entree. For the record, I did try to order the "Frog with Bitter Melon", but they were out of frog that day. C'est la vie!
In any case, Wonton Gourmet & BBQ really shined for me. I had so much food I was stuffed silly, all of it being excellently prepared. And I was out of there for a mere $10. Definitely one of the better stops in Asiatown.
Wonton Gourmet
3211 Payne Avenue
Cleveland, OH
Located on Payne Avenue, Wonton Gourmet is located in one of those fairly generic storefronts, that, if not for the big "Wonton Gourmet & BBQ" banner, you might mistake for a dry cleaner or office supply store. Inside, however, it's definitely one of those Chinese places that caters to natives, with big colorful pictures of food and banners (mostly in Chinese, with short English translations below) covering the walls. Like a lot of these little Chinese places from other cities (like my favorite Shuang Cheng in Minneapolis), there's a very noticeable difference between the food items pictured on the wall, and those in the menu (which seems to cater to Americanized dishes and interests). In short, you seem to be better ordering off the wall instead of the menu.
I ended up ordering some steamed beef rice rolls and some Chinese steak with black bean sauce, hot peppers, and ginger. Immediately I ran into one of the problems of going to a family-style place by yourself: to sample things you end up with a huge amount of excess food. I ended up solving this on this trip by being friendly to the next table over, and bartered two of my rice rolls and some Chinese steak for some dumplings, a turnip cake, and some duck. (all of which were good, but not photogenic after the slicing and dicing involved in the portioning for the barter...)
However, even if I had stayed strictly with the food I ordered, I would have been very pleased. The rice rolls were delicious, delicate, tangy, and nicely spiced. The Chinese steak with black bean sauce, hot peppers, and ginger was very tasty and the meat perfectly spiced. I rather liked this dish, but did feel that I could have done better with a different entree. For the record, I did try to order the "Frog with Bitter Melon", but they were out of frog that day. C'est la vie!
In any case, Wonton Gourmet & BBQ really shined for me. I had so much food I was stuffed silly, all of it being excellently prepared. And I was out of there for a mere $10. Definitely one of the better stops in Asiatown.
Wonton Gourmet
3211 Payne Avenue
Cleveland, OH
23 October 2009
Shake Shack (New York, NY)
In this modern world of web review sites, twitter, facebook, and the like, it's not uncommon for places to get a lot of hype these days. Sometimes the hype is warranted. Sometimes it isn't. On our recent trip to NYC, we decided to meet up with my friend Roy and give it a shot.
In the case of Shake Shack, the modestly-sized, well, shack in Madison Square Park in New York City, the hype is substantial. Pretty much every respectable burger blog has talked about (sometimes I swear AHT has an article a week on the place), as well as several magazines. The lines are often daunting as well. But, at least from my experience, the hype is warranted (especially if you know a little line management, such as going off-peak).
Danny Meyer opened the first Shake Shack back in 2004 on the south end of Madison Square Park. Unlike a lot of burger joints these days, Shake Shack doesn't through a huge amount of toppings on a burger (with some exceptions, however, like the Shack Stack I'll discuss later), focusing primarily on the beef patty itself. The burgers are West Coast style, focusing on a fairly small patty that's grilled crisp on the griddle. By using their own beef blend of sirloin and brisket, packing it loosely, and using the "smash into the griddle" technique, they're pretty much masters of the "juicy patty with nice crispy bits around it." The patty isn't all that substantial, but that's why double burgers figure prominently on the menu. Their primary burger, the "Shack Burger" is true West Coast style: burger, cheese, "shack sauce", lettuce, tomato, and onion. And it really works. A patty that's pretty much perfect, and some condiments that complement but don't cover the burger's goodliness.
As far as the non-burger items, I was pretty satisfied. I've never been a great fan of crinkle-cut fries, but the ones at the Shack are nicely cooked, and certainly don't detract from the meal. Good, but not outstanding. I did, however, really enjoy my extra-thick chocolate malt, which was a nice consistency, and nicely malty.
I also decided to throw caution to the wind and try one of the more outrageous items: The Shack Stack: consisting of two burger patties, cheese, a deep-fried cheese-stuffed portabello, lettuce, and tomato. Oh, and Shack Sauce. It's truly overkill, but it actually works. Biting through the monstrosity (which partially collapses in a river of cheese after the first bite), you get a little bit of everything: two cheeses, nice crispy burger bits, nice woody mushroom bits, some of the breading, some crunch from the lettuce, etc. It's actually quite good, although it's also very heavy. I'll probably just do a Double Shack next time instead.
Still, is the place worth the hype? I wouldn't wait two hours for a Shack burger, but I'd probably do an hour. Luckily, they have a webcam where you can check on the line.
Shake Shake
Madison Square Park (and two other locations in NYC)
New York, NY
In the case of Shake Shack, the modestly-sized, well, shack in Madison Square Park in New York City, the hype is substantial. Pretty much every respectable burger blog has talked about (sometimes I swear AHT has an article a week on the place), as well as several magazines. The lines are often daunting as well. But, at least from my experience, the hype is warranted (especially if you know a little line management, such as going off-peak).
Danny Meyer opened the first Shake Shack back in 2004 on the south end of Madison Square Park. Unlike a lot of burger joints these days, Shake Shack doesn't through a huge amount of toppings on a burger (with some exceptions, however, like the Shack Stack I'll discuss later), focusing primarily on the beef patty itself. The burgers are West Coast style, focusing on a fairly small patty that's grilled crisp on the griddle. By using their own beef blend of sirloin and brisket, packing it loosely, and using the "smash into the griddle" technique, they're pretty much masters of the "juicy patty with nice crispy bits around it." The patty isn't all that substantial, but that's why double burgers figure prominently on the menu. Their primary burger, the "Shack Burger" is true West Coast style: burger, cheese, "shack sauce", lettuce, tomato, and onion. And it really works. A patty that's pretty much perfect, and some condiments that complement but don't cover the burger's goodliness.
As far as the non-burger items, I was pretty satisfied. I've never been a great fan of crinkle-cut fries, but the ones at the Shack are nicely cooked, and certainly don't detract from the meal. Good, but not outstanding. I did, however, really enjoy my extra-thick chocolate malt, which was a nice consistency, and nicely malty.
I also decided to throw caution to the wind and try one of the more outrageous items: The Shack Stack: consisting of two burger patties, cheese, a deep-fried cheese-stuffed portabello, lettuce, and tomato. Oh, and Shack Sauce. It's truly overkill, but it actually works. Biting through the monstrosity (which partially collapses in a river of cheese after the first bite), you get a little bit of everything: two cheeses, nice crispy burger bits, nice woody mushroom bits, some of the breading, some crunch from the lettuce, etc. It's actually quite good, although it's also very heavy. I'll probably just do a Double Shack next time instead.
Still, is the place worth the hype? I wouldn't wait two hours for a Shack burger, but I'd probably do an hour. Luckily, they have a webcam where you can check on the line.
Shake Shake
Madison Square Park (and two other locations in NYC)
New York, NY
20 October 2009
Le Pain Quotidien (Bryant Park, New York, NY)
On weekend and vacation mornings, I really enjoy relaxing with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, and have a nice sweet breakfast, such as pancakes, waffles, or maybe a sweetroll or something. Unfortunately, this sort of thing can be a little difficult when you happen to be in New York City. Luckily, about 18 months ago my sister-in-law introduced me to Le Pain Quotidien ("The Daily Bread").
The first thing that impresses you upon entering LPQ is the aesthetic. The walls are rustically colored, and the tables and trim are made from recycled wood, with a large communal table set in the middle of the room (if you have a smaller party and there is space for you, they'll recommend you sit at the communal table with other diners). They have a lot of other quaint details, such as softly colored glass panels, pendant lights, and such, making for a very relaxing environment to enjoy coffee and perhaps a light meal. Since we had just finished our Pizza Tour (see the previous entry), this was just the sort of thing we needed.
Carol and I both opted for lattes, which were served up perfectly in small drinking bowls with just the right balance between a good coffee blend and lightly frothed milk. Carol's breakfast order was the a parfait, which features thick layers of not-too-sweet yogurt mixed with some very fresh and flavorful fruit. I instead opted for the waffle. Since LPQ is a Belgian chain, I wasn't disappointed, my waffle was perfectly done in Belgian style, using yeasted batter, lots of sugar, and a large waffle iron to give a nice crispy exterior around a soft and malty interior (I'd do these myself more often at home if I could remember to make a yeasted waffle batter the night before). I think for both of us, LPQ delivered, and delivered well. It's certainly one of the few coffee chains I think I regularly enjoy when I go there.
Le Pain Quotidien
70 W 40th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY
(Plus a gazillion other locations in five states and 15 countries)
The first thing that impresses you upon entering LPQ is the aesthetic. The walls are rustically colored, and the tables and trim are made from recycled wood, with a large communal table set in the middle of the room (if you have a smaller party and there is space for you, they'll recommend you sit at the communal table with other diners). They have a lot of other quaint details, such as softly colored glass panels, pendant lights, and such, making for a very relaxing environment to enjoy coffee and perhaps a light meal. Since we had just finished our Pizza Tour (see the previous entry), this was just the sort of thing we needed.
Carol and I both opted for lattes, which were served up perfectly in small drinking bowls with just the right balance between a good coffee blend and lightly frothed milk. Carol's breakfast order was the a parfait, which features thick layers of not-too-sweet yogurt mixed with some very fresh and flavorful fruit. I instead opted for the waffle. Since LPQ is a Belgian chain, I wasn't disappointed, my waffle was perfectly done in Belgian style, using yeasted batter, lots of sugar, and a large waffle iron to give a nice crispy exterior around a soft and malty interior (I'd do these myself more often at home if I could remember to make a yeasted waffle batter the night before). I think for both of us, LPQ delivered, and delivered well. It's certainly one of the few coffee chains I think I regularly enjoy when I go there.
Le Pain Quotidien
70 W 40th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY
(Plus a gazillion other locations in five states and 15 countries)
17 October 2009
Scott's Pizza Tour (New York, NY)
Anyone knows me knows that I love pizza. I'll further admit that I'm a pizza snob. Growing up, I was taught by my Connecticut-raised father that there is One True Pizza, and that's the pizza (err, Apizza) from Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napolitana in New Haven, CT, with begrudging acceptance of a choice few other places on the planet (most of them near New Haven, like Sally's, and The Modern). Over the years, I've learned that there are a lot of other good pizza places hiding out there, turning out pizzas whose crust, sauce, or cheese (mostly the crust) are head-and-shoulders above the rest. Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco. American Flatbread in Waitsfield, VT. Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Patsy's in Harlem. Lombardi's in New York City. The last two of these show that if there's a home to pizza in America that's not New Haven, it's New York.
Well, a little over a year ago, I had noticed an article on Serious Eat's Slice blog that an enterprising guy in New York City was renting a school bus and going around to different New York City pizzerias as "Scott's Pizza Tours". Showing it to Carol, her first response was the gentle eye roll that she gets when I start going off on one of these food obsessions. Her second response was to promise that she'd take me on a pizza tour some point during 2009. Well, 2009 has been a spectacularly busy year, but in October we were finally able to carve a weekend out of our busy schedule and head down to New York City for a weekend of food and pizza tourism, with my friend Matt from New Jersey turning out for the event as well. We chose the October 4th tour featuring stops in Manhattan and the Bronx.
First stop was the famous Lombardi's in Little Italy. NYC's oldest licensed pizzeria, it was founded in 1897 and first licensed in 1905. It's generally considered the home of pizza in New York City. It's also been one of my favorite pizza places for years, having been here several times since the 80s. It's consistently good pizza, made in a coal-fired brick oven like most (but not all) of my favorite pizzas, and despite being good pizza in New York, getting in generally isn't too difficult.
One of the major attractions of the pizza tour is that our host Scott was really into not just the pizza, but spending a lot of time discussing the production of the pizza, with many discussions of different pizza ovens, fuels, and cooking techniques (indeed, one of the frequent destinations of his walking tour is the nearby pizza oven factory). Scott ended up taking us back into the kitchen at Lombardi's so we we could look at their coal-fired oven, including a discussion of how coal-fired ovens are no longer allowed in New York City (the one at Lombardi's is grandfathered), and the drama that resulted in the 1980s when the oven at the original Lombardi's location broke and they had to find another location with an existing coal-fired oven (ending up taking over a bakery down the way). The oven is a classic flat-roofed side-drafting coal-fired oven (smaller but not unlike the fixture obvious to any visitor to Pepe's in New Haven), generally running a little over 900 degrees. They were even kind enough to let us look inside the oven.
As we left the kitchen to get seated, the last thing Scott did was place the order for the pizza tour pizzas, pointing out that the high temperatures of the coal-fired oven allow the pizza to cook very quickly, meaning that from the time we ordered the pizzas until the final pizzas were delivered would be around 6 minutes later. Indeed, 6 minutes after seating, the pizzas were delivered to the table. Our pizza was a classic margherita pizza (for reasons of both logistics and comparative pizza tasting, all the pizzas on the tour were cheese pizzas). Lombardi's uses a fairly thin crust, crushed uncooked San Marzano tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, and basil applied after cooking. The result is a nicely toasted slice with perfect crust. Since it's fresh mozzarella, it's not very oily, and doesn't tend to burn your mouth.
Scott was very animated about the pizza discussion, encouraging us to really inspect each slice before eating it. Turn it over to look at the crust (an activity that I've always used to tell a good slice from a mediocre one). Holding the pizza vertically to make sure it's not overly sauced or cheesed, so that the toppings still cling to the crust. Looking at the side view of the crust. And looking at the overall toasting of the cheese. Then we ate the pizza. Lombardi's excels at the three factors I enjoy most in a top-tier pizza: Good cheese quality (they use fresh mozzarella from down the street), good sauce (the Lombardi's sauce is crushed San Marzano tomatoes, not your regular sugared sauce, a feature of many of my favorite pizzas), and a nicely toasted and caramelized (bordering on, but not crossing too far into, territory that many people call "burnt").
After finishing at Lombardi's, we walked down the street past Ray's Pizza. While not stopping in (honestly, there are better pizza places than Ray's), Scott spent several minutes giving the sordid history of the "Ray's Pizza" name, showing menus from most of the 40+ "Ray's Pizza" places in New York City, and discussing how the location was actually the original. He also discussed the historical shift of pizza in New York from niche food to food for the masses, and how it shifted from the Lombardi's style Neapolitan pizzas into the more typical cheese-laden New York Slices we all know. We then boarded the school bus and headed up to Harlem.
Our stop in Harlem was at Patsy's. Founded just after the close of Prohibition (in 1933), Patsy's originally started as a bar that served brick-oven pizza. Over the years, they absorbed the business next door and expanded, concentrating on the pizza business. Overall, the brick oven is really similar to Lombardi's, being an old coal-fired brick oven, albeit with a slightly arched roof and a slightly cooler operating temperature (around 850 degrees). And for those familiar with Pepe's, the overall look and feel of Patsy's is similar. Similar tile work and woodwork. Similar seating areas. The prominent bar. The felt-and-white-letter menu boards.
Unlike the Lombardi's pizza, the Patsy's pizza uses aged parmesan, and has a thinner crust (so the sauce seeps most of the way into the crust). The sauce is more mellow, and the aged mozzarella also gives a lot of flavor to the resulting pizza, making the overall result a pizza that is definitely more about the cheese than the sauce. Still an excellent slice, however, with stunningly good crust. Myself, I found my pizza at Patsy's to be very remiscent Frank Pepe's. The establishment is from the same era, the pizza is cooked from similar ingredients using a similar oven, and the clientele has a similar loyalty.
Stops 3 and 4 on the Pizza Tour were in the Bronx, and focused on "New York Style" pizza, producing very good but not exceptional pizzas.
The first Bronx place was Patricia's on Morris Park Avenue. Patricia's was useful for a pizza tour, since they have both a wood-fired brick oven, and a gas-fired deck oven. They use the same sauce and dough for each, so you can compare pizzas made with each technique (see the top of the article). At right I've got a nice picture of Scott doing "comparative pizza anatomy". Both pizzas were good, although I vastly preferred the wood-fired pizza, having a much better crust, a the basil (which was cooked into the pizza here, unlike Lombardi's who adds it to the hot pizza coming out of the oven) gives it a bit of an extra kick.
The second place in The Bronx was Louie and Ernie's, which is one of the quainter pizza places I've seen. Literally built in a house's basement, it's got a tiny kitchen that is overwhelmingly dominated by a gas-fired deck oven. The pizza itself, for me, was just your standard well-executed New York Slice, but where Louie and Ernie's excelled was in their sausage, obtained from a local butcher shop. The sausage was delicious, flavorful, and juicy. One odd note is that for slices, Louie and Ernie's just makes up cheese pies and adds the condiments when rewarming the slices. Don't try the vertical hold test with this one...
So, it was an excellent pizza tour, and I'd highly recommend his tour to other interested pizza buffs, especially if you can time it to land on one of his "New York and Brooklyn" dates.
The full set of pictures is here.
Lombardi's
32 Spring St
New York, NY 10012-4173
(212) 941-7994
Patsy's
2287 1 Ave
New York, NY 10035
Patricia's Pizza & Pasta
1080 Morris Park Ave
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 409-9069
Louie and Ernie's
1300 Crosby Avenue
The Bronx, NY 10461
Well, a little over a year ago, I had noticed an article on Serious Eat's Slice blog that an enterprising guy in New York City was renting a school bus and going around to different New York City pizzerias as "Scott's Pizza Tours". Showing it to Carol, her first response was the gentle eye roll that she gets when I start going off on one of these food obsessions. Her second response was to promise that she'd take me on a pizza tour some point during 2009. Well, 2009 has been a spectacularly busy year, but in October we were finally able to carve a weekend out of our busy schedule and head down to New York City for a weekend of food and pizza tourism, with my friend Matt from New Jersey turning out for the event as well. We chose the October 4th tour featuring stops in Manhattan and the Bronx.
First stop was the famous Lombardi's in Little Italy. NYC's oldest licensed pizzeria, it was founded in 1897 and first licensed in 1905. It's generally considered the home of pizza in New York City. It's also been one of my favorite pizza places for years, having been here several times since the 80s. It's consistently good pizza, made in a coal-fired brick oven like most (but not all) of my favorite pizzas, and despite being good pizza in New York, getting in generally isn't too difficult.
One of the major attractions of the pizza tour is that our host Scott was really into not just the pizza, but spending a lot of time discussing the production of the pizza, with many discussions of different pizza ovens, fuels, and cooking techniques (indeed, one of the frequent destinations of his walking tour is the nearby pizza oven factory). Scott ended up taking us back into the kitchen at Lombardi's so we we could look at their coal-fired oven, including a discussion of how coal-fired ovens are no longer allowed in New York City (the one at Lombardi's is grandfathered), and the drama that resulted in the 1980s when the oven at the original Lombardi's location broke and they had to find another location with an existing coal-fired oven (ending up taking over a bakery down the way). The oven is a classic flat-roofed side-drafting coal-fired oven (smaller but not unlike the fixture obvious to any visitor to Pepe's in New Haven), generally running a little over 900 degrees. They were even kind enough to let us look inside the oven.
As we left the kitchen to get seated, the last thing Scott did was place the order for the pizza tour pizzas, pointing out that the high temperatures of the coal-fired oven allow the pizza to cook very quickly, meaning that from the time we ordered the pizzas until the final pizzas were delivered would be around 6 minutes later. Indeed, 6 minutes after seating, the pizzas were delivered to the table. Our pizza was a classic margherita pizza (for reasons of both logistics and comparative pizza tasting, all the pizzas on the tour were cheese pizzas). Lombardi's uses a fairly thin crust, crushed uncooked San Marzano tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, and basil applied after cooking. The result is a nicely toasted slice with perfect crust. Since it's fresh mozzarella, it's not very oily, and doesn't tend to burn your mouth.
Scott was very animated about the pizza discussion, encouraging us to really inspect each slice before eating it. Turn it over to look at the crust (an activity that I've always used to tell a good slice from a mediocre one). Holding the pizza vertically to make sure it's not overly sauced or cheesed, so that the toppings still cling to the crust. Looking at the side view of the crust. And looking at the overall toasting of the cheese. Then we ate the pizza. Lombardi's excels at the three factors I enjoy most in a top-tier pizza: Good cheese quality (they use fresh mozzarella from down the street), good sauce (the Lombardi's sauce is crushed San Marzano tomatoes, not your regular sugared sauce, a feature of many of my favorite pizzas), and a nicely toasted and caramelized (bordering on, but not crossing too far into, territory that many people call "burnt").
After finishing at Lombardi's, we walked down the street past Ray's Pizza. While not stopping in (honestly, there are better pizza places than Ray's), Scott spent several minutes giving the sordid history of the "Ray's Pizza" name, showing menus from most of the 40+ "Ray's Pizza" places in New York City, and discussing how the location was actually the original. He also discussed the historical shift of pizza in New York from niche food to food for the masses, and how it shifted from the Lombardi's style Neapolitan pizzas into the more typical cheese-laden New York Slices we all know. We then boarded the school bus and headed up to Harlem.
Our stop in Harlem was at Patsy's. Founded just after the close of Prohibition (in 1933), Patsy's originally started as a bar that served brick-oven pizza. Over the years, they absorbed the business next door and expanded, concentrating on the pizza business. Overall, the brick oven is really similar to Lombardi's, being an old coal-fired brick oven, albeit with a slightly arched roof and a slightly cooler operating temperature (around 850 degrees). And for those familiar with Pepe's, the overall look and feel of Patsy's is similar. Similar tile work and woodwork. Similar seating areas. The prominent bar. The felt-and-white-letter menu boards.
Unlike the Lombardi's pizza, the Patsy's pizza uses aged parmesan, and has a thinner crust (so the sauce seeps most of the way into the crust). The sauce is more mellow, and the aged mozzarella also gives a lot of flavor to the resulting pizza, making the overall result a pizza that is definitely more about the cheese than the sauce. Still an excellent slice, however, with stunningly good crust. Myself, I found my pizza at Patsy's to be very remiscent Frank Pepe's. The establishment is from the same era, the pizza is cooked from similar ingredients using a similar oven, and the clientele has a similar loyalty.
Stops 3 and 4 on the Pizza Tour were in the Bronx, and focused on "New York Style" pizza, producing very good but not exceptional pizzas.
The first Bronx place was Patricia's on Morris Park Avenue. Patricia's was useful for a pizza tour, since they have both a wood-fired brick oven, and a gas-fired deck oven. They use the same sauce and dough for each, so you can compare pizzas made with each technique (see the top of the article). At right I've got a nice picture of Scott doing "comparative pizza anatomy". Both pizzas were good, although I vastly preferred the wood-fired pizza, having a much better crust, a the basil (which was cooked into the pizza here, unlike Lombardi's who adds it to the hot pizza coming out of the oven) gives it a bit of an extra kick.
The second place in The Bronx was Louie and Ernie's, which is one of the quainter pizza places I've seen. Literally built in a house's basement, it's got a tiny kitchen that is overwhelmingly dominated by a gas-fired deck oven. The pizza itself, for me, was just your standard well-executed New York Slice, but where Louie and Ernie's excelled was in their sausage, obtained from a local butcher shop. The sausage was delicious, flavorful, and juicy. One odd note is that for slices, Louie and Ernie's just makes up cheese pies and adds the condiments when rewarming the slices. Don't try the vertical hold test with this one...
So, it was an excellent pizza tour, and I'd highly recommend his tour to other interested pizza buffs, especially if you can time it to land on one of his "New York and Brooklyn" dates.
The full set of pictures is here.
Lombardi's
32 Spring St
New York, NY 10012-4173
(212) 941-7994
Patsy's
2287 1 Ave
New York, NY 10035
Patricia's Pizza & Pasta
1080 Morris Park Ave
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 409-9069
Louie and Ernie's
1300 Crosby Avenue
The Bronx, NY 10461
15 October 2009
H&H Bagels (Upper West Side, New York, NY)
If there's one thing I really like, it's a good bagel, in particular a New York style one. Unfortunately, fewer things in life seem more certain than the exponential decay in bagel quality one experiences as you move further in distance from NYC. By the time you are barely 50 miles into Connecticut most bagels have been replaced by some sort of circular bread product that resembles a bagel only slightly in appearance, and even less in taste. It's as if someone took a real bagel, described it in writing, and made someone re-invent it from that description. Most "bagels" leave me disappointed and wanting. And sometimes it's rather hard to explain, since their exists a pretty big bagel gap: it seems that most people outside NYC have never actually had a good bagel (for example, seeing the gushing reviews on Yelp for one of our local bad bagel ships), don't know what a bagel should be, and wrongly think that all bagels taste the same. On the other hand, I've met several people in NYC that haven't ever had a bad bagel.
For me, a trip to NYC is really the true antidote. There's a lot of places I've gotten excellent bagels in Manhattan. Tal Bagels on the Upper East Side. Daniel's near Grand Central. Murray's in the Village. And Kossar's on the Lower East Side. But the grandfather of them all is H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side. The common knowledge is that H&H bagels are the best. Kramer worked there on Seinfeld. And their sign itself proclaims "Like no other bagel in the World".
I think the prevailing wisdom is right in this case. A good H&H bagel was the perfect heft, not too heavy, not too light. A very nice dense, chewy, doughy interior with a few air pockets. The crust is sturdy, brown, and smooth, with the bottom being slightly caramelized. That is what a bagel should be. If you aren't eating something that matches this description, well, it's not a bagel.
H&H Bagels
2239 Broadway
New York, NY
For me, a trip to NYC is really the true antidote. There's a lot of places I've gotten excellent bagels in Manhattan. Tal Bagels on the Upper East Side. Daniel's near Grand Central. Murray's in the Village. And Kossar's on the Lower East Side. But the grandfather of them all is H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side. The common knowledge is that H&H bagels are the best. Kramer worked there on Seinfeld. And their sign itself proclaims "Like no other bagel in the World".
I think the prevailing wisdom is right in this case. A good H&H bagel was the perfect heft, not too heavy, not too light. A very nice dense, chewy, doughy interior with a few air pockets. The crust is sturdy, brown, and smooth, with the bottom being slightly caramelized. That is what a bagel should be. If you aren't eating something that matches this description, well, it's not a bagel.
H&H Bagels
2239 Broadway
New York, NY
14 October 2009
Brasserie Les Halles (Financial District, New York, NY)
Sometimes you just want a steak.
On our recent trip to New York City, Carol and I wanted to go someplace nice but not over the top to celebrate our tenth anniversary since we started dating. A quick search of OpenTable showed that the Saturday night slots at most places were really starting to fill up, but we noticed that the Financial District location of Brasserie Les Halles had decent availability, so we decided to give it a go. Les Halles has been on my hit list for a while, mostly since I love bistro food, French-style butchering, and good fries. And, admittedly, Bourdain's plugging of the place made me curious.
The location itself is a little bit of an interesting story. Located at 15 John Street, it's a stone's throw from the WTC site, and is one of the few operating businesses on that stretch of John Street. A lot of the other businesses relocated, and their storefronts are currently used as locker rooms and union halls for the WTC workers. Les Halles Downtown opened several months after 9/11, so it's definitely a case of optimism in the neighborhood's future, but it does give the place an odd ambiance, especially since the storefront is wrapped in scaffolding that appears to have been there for a long time, and doesn't appear to be leaving any time soon.
The restaurant itself is your basic bistro, with a large bar in front, a dining room in back, and all sorts of white-tablecloth little tables crammed in slightly more tightly than most people are comfortable with . The ambiance is slightly dark, with the lighting, mirrors, and the obligatory brass fixtures offsetting the darkness a bit.
I ended up starting with a salad. Prior to showing up at Les Halles, I had been craving a wedge salad. You know, where they take a quarter of an iceberg lettuce, and basically drown it in bacon, bleu cheese, and ranch dressing.
Well, the don't have that at Les Halles. What they have is much, much better: Frisee aux lardons. Frisee lettuce in a light bacony sauce, served with plentiful chunks of perfectly fried bacon and a nice roquefort crouton. It was everything I was looking for in a salad, some nice crunchy but slightly bitter greens, plentiful but not overwhleming bacon-ness, and a good cheese note.
For my main course, I ended up going with the onglet, or "hanger steak" for the non-French crowd. I was happy that Les Halles actually listed the translation as "Hanger Steak", since I've been to entirely too many places that incorrectly call it "Hangar Steak", as if I'm looking for a place to park my airplane or Zeppelin. The onglet (along with it's nearby cousin, the bavette) is one of my favorite steaks, although it's one that's easy to screw up. If not butchered properly it can be stringy or gristly, and if overcooked it picks up the same sort of funky gaminess that kidney sometimes has.
The onglet with served with a shallot reduction sauce, a small mesclun salad, and frites. The onglet was nicely butchered, and cooked a perfect medium rare, with nice pink interior, and just a slight crisp to the edges of the meat. The shallot sauce complemented it nicely, but the frites were the real action. I'm definitely a fry snob, having actually had what I consider to be the perfect fries from several little street vendors in Amsterdam and Brussels. These frites were very well done, with a nice soft, moist, mealy interior, a crisp exterior, and just enough caramelization to add a bit of flavor. A solid 9/10 on my fry scale, making this a solid entree (and at $19, not a bad price at all).
For dessert, I discovered that Carol had never had Crêpes Suzettes. Now she has, and enjoyed the show. I've had better Suzettes, but these were good enough, and half of the idea of Crêpes Suzettes is the show (the other half is butter. Lots of butter.).
All-in-all, we really enjoyed Les Halles. The reviews of Les Halles have been mixed (especially for John St location), but for what it is (moderately-high-end Bistro food), they did well. Maybe not up to the hype, but it's definitely on my "visit again" list.
Brasserie Les Halles Downtown
15 John St.
Financial District
New York, NY
On our recent trip to New York City, Carol and I wanted to go someplace nice but not over the top to celebrate our tenth anniversary since we started dating. A quick search of OpenTable showed that the Saturday night slots at most places were really starting to fill up, but we noticed that the Financial District location of Brasserie Les Halles had decent availability, so we decided to give it a go. Les Halles has been on my hit list for a while, mostly since I love bistro food, French-style butchering, and good fries. And, admittedly, Bourdain's plugging of the place made me curious.
The location itself is a little bit of an interesting story. Located at 15 John Street, it's a stone's throw from the WTC site, and is one of the few operating businesses on that stretch of John Street. A lot of the other businesses relocated, and their storefronts are currently used as locker rooms and union halls for the WTC workers. Les Halles Downtown opened several months after 9/11, so it's definitely a case of optimism in the neighborhood's future, but it does give the place an odd ambiance, especially since the storefront is wrapped in scaffolding that appears to have been there for a long time, and doesn't appear to be leaving any time soon.
The restaurant itself is your basic bistro, with a large bar in front, a dining room in back, and all sorts of white-tablecloth little tables crammed in slightly more tightly than most people are comfortable with . The ambiance is slightly dark, with the lighting, mirrors, and the obligatory brass fixtures offsetting the darkness a bit.
I ended up starting with a salad. Prior to showing up at Les Halles, I had been craving a wedge salad. You know, where they take a quarter of an iceberg lettuce, and basically drown it in bacon, bleu cheese, and ranch dressing.
Well, the don't have that at Les Halles. What they have is much, much better: Frisee aux lardons. Frisee lettuce in a light bacony sauce, served with plentiful chunks of perfectly fried bacon and a nice roquefort crouton. It was everything I was looking for in a salad, some nice crunchy but slightly bitter greens, plentiful but not overwhleming bacon-ness, and a good cheese note.
For my main course, I ended up going with the onglet, or "hanger steak" for the non-French crowd. I was happy that Les Halles actually listed the translation as "Hanger Steak", since I've been to entirely too many places that incorrectly call it "Hangar Steak", as if I'm looking for a place to park my airplane or Zeppelin. The onglet (along with it's nearby cousin, the bavette) is one of my favorite steaks, although it's one that's easy to screw up. If not butchered properly it can be stringy or gristly, and if overcooked it picks up the same sort of funky gaminess that kidney sometimes has.
The onglet with served with a shallot reduction sauce, a small mesclun salad, and frites. The onglet was nicely butchered, and cooked a perfect medium rare, with nice pink interior, and just a slight crisp to the edges of the meat. The shallot sauce complemented it nicely, but the frites were the real action. I'm definitely a fry snob, having actually had what I consider to be the perfect fries from several little street vendors in Amsterdam and Brussels. These frites were very well done, with a nice soft, moist, mealy interior, a crisp exterior, and just enough caramelization to add a bit of flavor. A solid 9/10 on my fry scale, making this a solid entree (and at $19, not a bad price at all).
For dessert, I discovered that Carol had never had Crêpes Suzettes. Now she has, and enjoyed the show. I've had better Suzettes, but these were good enough, and half of the idea of Crêpes Suzettes is the show (the other half is butter. Lots of butter.).
All-in-all, we really enjoyed Les Halles. The reviews of Les Halles have been mixed (especially for John St location), but for what it is (moderately-high-end Bistro food), they did well. Maybe not up to the hype, but it's definitely on my "visit again" list.
Brasserie Les Halles Downtown
15 John St.
Financial District
New York, NY
13 October 2009
H-Mart (Burlington, MA)
H-Mart, Korean-American Asian supermarket chain, recently opened a location in Burlington, MA. I'm really happy that the region has another Asian grocery store chain (although I've long been a fan of the Boston area's Super 88s).
One of the problems of our living in the Upper Valley region of VT/NH is that we don't really have access to a lot of Asian ingredients (we've got two small Asian grocery stores here, but their selection is limited, especially when it comes to produce), which is kind of a shame, since both of us really like Asian cuisines.
So when we happened to be in the Boston area a few weeks ago for another reason, I remembered seeing in the paper that H-Mart was opening, so Carol and I went there for their grand opening. We really enjoyed it, since we managed to stock up on a lot of produce items that are either impossible to find in the Upper Valley (jiu cai and gai lan, for example), were of better quality (we bought some phenomenal ginger), or just had significantly lower prices.
We also tracked down a few specialty items (frozen banana leaves, frozen udon noodles), and really enjoyed the entire department dedicated to kimchi (leaving with a 1 gallon bag of the stuff!). The meat department was phenomenal as well, although I didn't bring a cooler down this time.
It's also a good place for Asian kitchen implements (they have a whole department dedicated to rice cookers), and for those who enjoy the fine art of "Engrish", the place is chock-a-block with all sorts of bad spellings and translations (such as the "Slided Squid" seen here)
I also found a new item that I'd never tried before: "drinkable vinegar". Basically a fruit flavored vinegar that you dilute down for drinking like a tea. I bought a big bottle of the raspberry flavor, and have been enjoying it.
I'd shop here once a week if it was closer. I'll definitely be visiting again when I'm in the area.
Note to self: do not leave a gallon bag of kimchi in your fridge for two weeks, unless you really like the smell of kimchi!
H-Mart
3 Old Concord Rd.
Burlington, MA 01803
One of the problems of our living in the Upper Valley region of VT/NH is that we don't really have access to a lot of Asian ingredients (we've got two small Asian grocery stores here, but their selection is limited, especially when it comes to produce), which is kind of a shame, since both of us really like Asian cuisines.
So when we happened to be in the Boston area a few weeks ago for another reason, I remembered seeing in the paper that H-Mart was opening, so Carol and I went there for their grand opening. We really enjoyed it, since we managed to stock up on a lot of produce items that are either impossible to find in the Upper Valley (jiu cai and gai lan, for example), were of better quality (we bought some phenomenal ginger), or just had significantly lower prices.
We also tracked down a few specialty items (frozen banana leaves, frozen udon noodles), and really enjoyed the entire department dedicated to kimchi (leaving with a 1 gallon bag of the stuff!). The meat department was phenomenal as well, although I didn't bring a cooler down this time.
It's also a good place for Asian kitchen implements (they have a whole department dedicated to rice cookers), and for those who enjoy the fine art of "Engrish", the place is chock-a-block with all sorts of bad spellings and translations (such as the "Slided Squid" seen here)
I also found a new item that I'd never tried before: "drinkable vinegar". Basically a fruit flavored vinegar that you dilute down for drinking like a tea. I bought a big bottle of the raspberry flavor, and have been enjoying it.
I'd shop here once a week if it was closer. I'll definitely be visiting again when I'm in the area.
Note to self: do not leave a gallon bag of kimchi in your fridge for two weeks, unless you really like the smell of kimchi!
H-Mart
3 Old Concord Rd.
Burlington, MA 01803
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