Porchetta

Just like with fashion, food goes through trends and phases as well. And this year, pork is king! It seems like everywhere I go, more and more restaurants are serving pork and more people are eating it. So it seems appropriate that we take time to talk about Porchetta, a brand new spot in the East Village that specializes in pork.

The menu is short and sweet. You either get the porchetta sandwich or plate. I went with the sandwich. Stuffed into the incredible Sullivan St. Bakery roll are large, juicy pieces of pork, slow roasted with garlic, sage, rosemary, and fennel. The meat is cooked to perfection, tender, juicy, and aromatic. While I really enjoyed the sandwich, I do have one thing I would like to note. On top the pork on each side of the sandwich is a piece of crispy pork skin. This one piece was so hard, I could've sworn that I shattered my teeth biting into it. Once I broke it apart, the flavors that came out of it were great, however, the price to pay could have been pretty high. I ended up taking it off my sandwich. Risking injury was not on my agenda when I placed my order.

I also ordered a side of crispy potatoes with burnt ends. This was great. The seasoning on the potatoes was great and they were crispy, just like I like them. My only criticism of this dish is that the burnt ends (pork) were very chewy and not only got stuck in my teeth, but didn't come out very easily. My buddy and I had both our hands in our mouths digging it out of our molars. Maybe they should serve the dish with toothpicks? Either way, it was delicious.

The atmosphere of this place was pretty cool. They have 3 roasted pigs on the front counter and a few stools for people who decide to stay and eat there. You've also got to give them props for running the entire operation out of a space no bigger than my bedroom. With new restaurants like this, I can't see the pork fad going anywhere anytime soon.

Report Card

Food: B+

Price: B- (my lunch described above with a soda was $16)

Atmosphere: A-

Overall: B+

The Search for the Slice Part 3 - Pie by the Pound

Hey folks, its been some time since I last wrote about my quest to find the best slice of pizza in New York City. To date, I have shared with you the glorious high that was "Artichoke" and the tremendous disappointment I experienced at "Famiglia", which nearly turned me off pizza for a while. But now, due to popular request, FoodGasm brings you the third installment of The Search for a Slice - The Last Crusade - Pie by the Pound. 

There are few pairs of words that go together as well as "pizza "and "beer". Good thing Pie by the Pound (for short PIE) has them both in spades. But PIE has two more words for you that are sure to turn some heads - "recession" and "special". Finding cheap eats in Manhattan is no easy task, and even pizza, a traditionally cheap treat, can be deceptively expensive. Walk into any local pizza joint, order two slices and a drink, and tell me you aren't in awe of the sheer lunacy of what you have to fork over for mediocre pie. At PIE, for a mere ten dollars, you can purchase a super long, super thin crust pizza. However, before you realize how great a deal this is, let me tell you a little something about the pizza at PIE.

PIE, a block from Union Square, serves thin crust pizza shaped into a long oval shape, resembling something like a flat bread. A full pie is about 2 and a half feet long, big enough to satisfy at least 3. F0r those high roller, fancy pants types, PIE offers pizza "by the pound". So here is how it works. On display is a variety of some seriously awesome looking pizzas. They sport a ton of really interesting toppings, from a Proscuitto and Ricotta pie to a Greek Salad pie. After making your selection, you tell them how much you want, and they charge you for it by the pound. While that all sounds fine and dandy, I am a sucker for cheap eats, so for me its all about the recession specials. 

For ten dollars you have a choice of the classic cheese pie or the sauce and ricotta pie. While the sauce pie does look tasty, its a little baron in the cheese department. In order to qualify as a pizza, there should be a mandatory state regulated cheese minimum. Go with the cheese pie. Once the pizza comes out of the oven, it's cut into pieces about 2 inches by 3 inches. Be warned - because of these tiny thin crust pizza bites, you can eat them almost indefinitely. Its almost like eating a box of pizza cookies. You'll awake from a hypnotic food trance and all of a sudden you have devoured an entire pie, and you don't feel so hot.

After indulging in a couple bites you surely will need a cool beverage to wash it all down, and after dark, PIE will hook you up with dollar beers. Dollar beers are like the holy grail of discount food and drink. Much like the third installment of Indiana Jones, this holy grail is of the most humble origins. Miller High Life, The Champagne of Beers. C'mon what did you expect, Stella? Trust me, you can taste the one dollar-ness in every sip, and it makes this holy grail of recession specials good enough for Jesus to indulge in. 

Until next time, stay hungry folks. 

Jon

Report Card:

Food: A-

Atmosphere: B+

Service: A-

Price: A+

Overall: A-

Citi Field Food Preview

Hey folks, I thought I would share with you this article from the New York Times, which previews the new food options at my beloved Mets' new home - Citi Field. The ballpark opens in a little more than a week from now, so here is a heads up about what to expect. If you have ever been to Shea Stadium, you know that anything will be a step up from the ballpark food there... at least since they made the switch from Kahn's to Nathan's hot dogs sometime in the early part of this decade. When Citi Field opens, expect a full out review of exactly what I think about its food amenities. 

From Glenn Collins of The New York Times:

"Look for a fastball from the folks who brought you foie gras custard with quince chutney at Gramercy Tavern and capellini with flaked cod at Union Square Cafe: Mets food.

The long-suffering fans who smuggled picnics into Shea Stadium because of the limited menu are about to enter the world of high-concept dining at Citi Field, the new home of the Mets.

As 6,000 construction workers have been feverishly toiling in advance of the April 13 regular-season opener, the restaurateur Danny Meyer has been refining the batting order for the ballpark’s signature food offerings.

Mr. Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group runs six restaurants, a jazz club and two hamburger stands, but has never gone outside Manhattan. Now, in Flushing, Queens, his nonunion company will team up with the corporate behemoth Aramark, whose concession workers are represented by Local 153 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union in Manhattan.

“I’ve been thinking about this my whole life, and I know what I want at a ballpark,” Mr. Meyer said.

Some of the things he wants are pulled-pork sandwiches on brioche buns ($9), steamed corn on the cob with mayonnaise, cotija cheese and a dusting of cayenne ($3.50), “dog bites” (Kosher hot dogs coated in matzo meal with brown mustard for $11), spare ribs seasoned with Kansas City rub ($10) and shrimp rolls — using a Martin’s potato roll — with shoestring potatoes ($14).


Mr. Meyer’s presence at Citi Field will include a restaurant-cafe-bar-lounge complex called the Delta Sky360 Club (sponsored by the airline). The 22,500-square-foot concourse has 1,600 premium seats behind home plate stretching from dugout to dugout, where individual ticket prices range from $175 to $495.

There will be chocolate-brown leather banquettes, a 109-seat restaurant, show-kitchen pizza ovens, in-seat service and two bars, one dispensing specialty brews. In customary Meyer fashion, his chefs hope to offer fresh blueberries in the frozen custard and local tomatoes in the tacos.

And for the ticket holders with lower budgets, Mr. Meyer will operate a terrace-cum-food court in left-center field called Taste of the City. There will be menu items from his existing franchises like Shake Shack and Blue Smoke, in addition to offerings from two new concepts: El Verano Taqueria (fresh tacos) and Box Frites (fresh-cut Belgian fries with dipping sauces).

The Shake Shack building will also be the home of the beloved skyline silhouette that once topped the demolished Shea Stadium scoreboard.

It remains to be seen whether some Mets fans, who must now spend $50 for tickets that cost $15 not too long ago, will forgo their homemade tuna sandwiches for Mr. Meyer’s food. “If the food makes it a good experience, fans will want to come back,” said Jeff Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer.

And so Mr. Wilpon will also offer catering in 54 luxury suites as well as clubs, kiosks, hot dog stands and a 550-seat space in left field called the Acela Club, to be operated by Drew Nieporent of Nobu and Corton.

Furthermore, amenities that Shea loyalists liked — Daruma of Tokyo, Mama’s of Corona and Gabila’s knishes — will also have a place in the new stadium.

“If you used to get hot dogs and beer and peanuts at Shea, you can get them at Citi Field,” Mr. Wilpon said. “Of course, now there will be more types of beer, and more places to buy it.”

Despite his fine-dining background, Mr. Meyer has had success feeding crowds at Shake Shack, the five-year-old fast food restaurant that has generated long lines in Madison Square Park and at a popular satellite at Columbus Avenue and 77th Street.


Mr. Meyer’s operation at Citi Field will have a staff of more than 160, joining close to 2,000 people working for Aramark, which has had a contract with the Mets since 1995 and has food-service deals with 13 Major League Baseball fields, 8 National Football League stadiums and 35 amphitheaters. In 2007 it signed a 30-year contract with the Mets.

For long it was a cliché to disparage the cuisine at Shea, where the food was often endured, at best, along with the din of the jets approaching La Guardia Airport.

“The old Shea just didn’t have enough kitchen space for us — it was built in 1964,” said Clint Westbrook, an Aramark regional vice president who oversees its stadium operations. But in many stadiums, Aramark has customized ballpark food, “since fans tell us they want local providers.”

Thus, Mr. Meyer’s participation. In a complex contract, his company will jointly screen Aramark’s potential hires; they will be trained by Mr. Meyer’s company, and “the training never ends,” said David Swinghamer, Mr. Meyer’s business partner and the project’s overseer.

Mr. Meyer, 51, a Cardinals fan who grew up in St. Louis, has been a Mets season-ticket holder since the mid-1980s and “a Mets fan — except when they play the Cardinals,” he said. In his office, his baseball fanaticism is evidenced by the presence of a scorecard he filled out during a 1967 Cardinals game, when he was 9 years old.

But, baseball food?

“It’s in my DNA,” he said. “I wanted to be a baseball player, and it didn’t work out. I wanted to be an announcer — did that in college. So now, Citi Field is as close as I’ll ever get to a baseball field.”

Food companies once “bought their way into stadiums” for the exposure, Mr. Meyer said, and in the New York region, “all previous stadiums were built before food mattered.” But then, he said, “free agency happened, fan allegiance eroded, ticket prices went up, and owners realized that they needed more things to attract fans.”

Enter Mr. Meyer, whom Mr. Wilpon has known for years. “He was my first call,” Mr. Wilpon said. “We understood each other.”

The fact that his company is a provider for the Mets instead of the upmarket Yankees “is a delicious irony,” Mr. Meyer said. “The Wilpons often have come to my restaurants,” unlike, he said, the Steinbrenner family.

Although Mr. Meyer’s executives had discussions with the Yankees, “the talks never got traction,” Mr. Swinghamer said.

Mr. Meyer said that he was not paying a fee to Citi Field, adding, “We make our money based on selling.”

Mr. Wilpon added that the team has paid for construction in Mr. Meyer’s concessions. The allocation of the profits “is between me, Danny and Aramark,” he said.

The Mets’ lucrative contract with Aramark may compel vendors like Mr. Meyer to charge higher prices than outside the stadium to make a profit. In Manhattan, Mr. Meyer’s ShackBurgers cost $4.75, but they are $1 more at Citi Field; his hand-spun shakes cost $5.25, but they are $1.25 more at the ballpark.

Mr. Wilpon said simply, “The prices will be ballpark-competitive.”

Mr. Meyer will certainly not be a sandwich smuggler, but he has another issue to face: “I’ll never be able to go to a Mets game and kick back and just enjoy the food and the game,” he said. “I’ll be thinking about the execution. The product mix. The quality.”

Images Courtesy Hiroko Masuike of the NYT

Stand

The burger is another one of those foods, like pizza, that New Yorkers are extremely picky about where they will go to get them. Here is a restaurant that I really like, and is on my list of go-to spots when I'm craving a burger.

I tend to gravitate towards the Bacon & Egg Cheeseburger whenever I am there. The hard-boiled egg mayo that they put on the burger is fantastic. It is prevalent, yet the creamy sauce doesn't take anything away from the great taste of the medium-rare beef. The bacon is thin and there isn't too much cheddar. I always hate when restaurants go so heavy on the cheddar that you can't even taste the meat and the whole thing is dripping with grease. Stand gets it. They know how to proportion to the toppings correctly.

As far as the fries go....you may hear people telling you to go with the shoestring, however, I would advise against it. While they are tasty, they are incredibly thin to the point where they crunch like chips and don't really give you the potato taste a fry should. I do recommend getting their regular fries. They are thick cut, crispy, salty, and yet nice and soft once you break into them. A large is more than enough for a party of two. Don't be afraid to share.

Also worth noting, they have a bunch of really awesome everyday specials; Burgers are 2-for-1 from 3-5, you get a free beer with any burger from 5-7, and they give a free side with any burger from 10-midnight.

I wouldn't hesitate to put Stand's burger up against NYC heavyweights Shake Shack or Burger Joint. Their shakes are also supposed to be pretty good. I haven't indulged myself, but plan to soon. If you have had one, let me know how they are.

Report Card

Food: A-

Atmosphere: A (great music)

Service: A (I've never waited for a table and the service is very speedy)

Overall: A-

Stand

24 E. 12th St.

(btwn University Place and 5th Ave)

New York, NY

Katz's Deli

Few things that we eat are so good that they rock you to your very core, carving an impression in your soul that you cary for the rest of your life. So good, that while your chewing, you can barely even see or hear, so that your sense of taste can switch into high gear to fully appreciate what you just put in your mouth. That is what we call a foodgasm. Katz's Deli is a 5-alarm, full-fledged, foodgasm. In Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally, Meg Ryan famously demonstrates her ability to fake an orgasm at Katz's, but rest assured, you won't fake yours. So, what was I having?

Corned beef on rye with deli mustard. Perfection in a sandwich. It's so simple that its hard to mess up, but its even harder to perfect. Katz's epitomizes what this classic sandwich should be. Sure I could tell you that the corned beef was cooked to perfection, it was juicy, seasoned perfectly, and the bread was fresh, but that wouldn't do it justice. I know it's a poor excuse for someone who writes about food to say that they are at a loss for words, but folks, I am just that. Good. God.

I have to say something about the pickles. I f-ing LOVE pickles. If you've ever been to a diner with me, you know that I am inclined to order a plate for the table. That's not because I'm always in the mood to eat them. Rather, I strive to search out the perfect pickle because its rarely done right. In the wide array of things that constitute brined cucumber products, it's full sour deli pickles that really stand out. Half sours, bread and butter pickles, cornishons, even the southern invention that is the fried pickle or frickle, all pale in comparison to the deli style full sour. That said, full sour deli style pickles vary from free with your hamburger filler garbage to, well, Katz's. Katz's is the holy grail of pickles. With your order of a sandwich the pickles are free, and if your smart you'll hold the half sours. To me, it just doesn't make sense, its like ordering your chicken half cooked. They also have other pickled goodies, like pickled tomatoes, something my father likes very much.

In the interest of telling you about the most possible food, I ordered a half soup with a half sandwich. I don't have many regrets in life, but this is one. The soup was great, but its not worth sacrificing half of the sandwich. In any event, Katz's matzoh ball soup is good. It comes with one mega-huge matzoh ball, which is light and airy. But like an Italian, where no spaghetti sauce is as good as "Grandma's", as Jew, I believe that is true of matzoh ball soup. Its generally something I don't order at restaurants, and I think I will resume that policy.

A few other notes. The ordering is a bit confusing, but it has charm. Once you enter, you receive a ticket, which you are warned about losing at the penalty of a $50 fee. There isn't a line, so just walk up to the counter and order with the first available dude with access to meat. You can sit anywhere, including under a sign demarcating Meg Ryan's famous orgasm scene, but come on, don't be a tourist. Also, here's a fact you may want to know that may assist in your ordering. Corned beef is brined/cured brisket, a kosher cut from the front end of a cow. Pastrami is corned beef that is spiced and smoked. The argument about what's better is eternal, so I wont bother attempting to break it down. If you don't know where you stand, you have some serious thinking to do.

At the end of Pixar's Ratatouille (spoilers ahead!!), Remy, the film's rodent protagonist, serves his ratatouille to the cruel restaurant critic, Anton Ego. A French peasant dish, it's hardly the regular fare for an upscale reviewer. But upon tasting it, he is immediately transported to his mother's kitchen, both humbled and totally engrossed by the dish. For the rest of his days, he is no more the scathing villain, but instead contently chows down on Remy's ratatouille. My experience at Katz's is much like that. While I am not a transformed grumpy Frenchman, Katz's Deli really spoke to me. As a Jew, growing up in the New York City suburbs, this is my soul food. And while it may not be yours, I implore you to partake in a seriously seriously delicious food culture. For me, Katz's isnt just a foodgasm, its a love affair.

Stay Hungry.

Jon

Report Card:

Food: A+
Atmosphere: A-
Service: A
Price: B (It ain't too cheap, but I'd give my right arm)
Overall: A

The Search for the Slice Part Deux - Artichoke

The search continues. This time, we took a trip down 14th Street to check out Artichoke. We have been hearing rave reviews about this place for some time now, so we figured we'd make it a destination for the Search for the Slice. The name alone is rather unique. Why in the world would a pizza parlor name itself after a vegetable? In short, it's because this is not your run-of-the-mill pizza joint. Their menu choices can be counted on one hand, and none of them include pepperoni, sausage, or meatballs. What you do have to choose from is margarita, sicilian, crab, and spinach and artichoke. Being that this was our first visit, we ordered "across the board" or one of each.

I suppose I should start this post with the spinach and artichoke slice, the slice that inspires Artichoke's name. I see why so many people love this. Its great, a creamy spinach and artichoke spread covered with a ton of cheese on a very doughy crust. However, this was just way way way too rich for me. I'm not the biggest fan of this sort of thing, like fettucini alfredo, or anything else in a thick white rich cream sauce. Its just too much. Granted its delicious, but I'm KO'd after a couple bites. And the slices here are freakin huge. Though, if that's something that sounds great to you, you'll love it.

The crab slice was outrageous. Imagine a lobster roll made instead with crab, and fashioned into a slice of pizza. Simply delicious, and very out of the ordinary. What's great about it, as opposed to the artichoke slice, was that it was light and doesn't make you feel like you need to immediately lay down. Jared, co-Foodgasm editor, deemed this his favorite, but for me, that honor goes to the sicilian.

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a huge sicilian lover. Given the choice, I would order a regular slice nine out of ten times. However, since we went "across the board" I gladly indulged. This slice really rocked my socks off. What makes this is the crust. Artichoke's sicilian is crispy and buttery and just plain awesome. The sauce and cheese is top notch, but it's the crust, as with any good sicilian slice, that really made this great.

Last, and least, is the margarita slice. I'm not quite sure why this isn't just called a plain slice. Margarita pizza usually connotes fresh mozzarella cheese along with sliced tomatoes and basil. This really just came off as a regular slice of pizza to me, but a good one at that. Its the same as the sicilian, without the great crust. In fact, the crust on this slice was a bit burnt, something I had been warned about before going.

Just so you know, there is no seating, so be prepared to either carry it home or sit on the sidewalk and eat (my personal preference as long as its nice out). And be prepared to wait on line if you go during a meal time. Also, I wouldn't recommend going "across the board" with less than 3 people unless you are a food blogger, seriously seriously hungry, or saving some for later.

Report Card:

Food - A
Service - B+ (there's a line, but it moves fast, and those guys work hard)
Atmosphere - B
Price - B+
Overall - A-

The Search for the Slice Part 1 - Famiglia's

If you ask anyone what food New York City is most known for, the answer is invariable pizza. While most of the country suffers with commercial crap or items marked with the universal stop sign - "pizza flavored", New York is the home of the real deal slice. However, finding it is harder than you may think. There's a million choices, everything from high brow specialty pizza with artichokes or wild mushrooms, to dollar slices at grungy dive bars, probably reheated days before you had the privilege of cramming it down your mouth at 4 AM, too drunk to feel the sauce in your hair - or care. So, here at FoodGasm, we'll do the hard work for you. This is a quest...nay... a journey to find the perfect slice.

I thought long and hard about how I could compare all these various pizza joints. I thought about using a plain only standard, but that seems insufficient. Some places do plain, some places do fancy shmancy toppings. Does that make them worse in some way? I don't think so. So, for the purposes of this quest, I'll eat whatever pizza looks like the best slice.

Unfortunately, stop one was a major disappointment. I figured I'd stop into a local pizza joint around the corner from my apartment - La Famiglia. This place is nothing fancy, and I like that. Its your quintessential pizzeria, a variety of pre-made pies, sitting out under a glass counter waiting to be thrown back into the oven. You've been here a million times. And apparently so have a lot of famous people. The walls of this seemingly typical pizzeria are slathered with photos of the store's owners or workers standing with a slew of celebs and politicians. Ron Howard, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Arnold Scwarzenegger are just a small fraction of the famous faces posing for the walls at La Famiglia. Still, despite the classic feel and the celebrity endorsements, the pizza at Famiglia doesn't cut it. I ordered two slices, one a massive disappointment, and the other just mediocre. And for ten bucks, with dixie cup of coke, its a bit pricey.

First I ordered a tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil slice. I usually like this, its very rustic, and when done right, its a foodgasm in your mouth. However, this slice was almost inedible. The key to this sort of pizza is the quality of the ingredients, and they simply dropped the ball in that department. The first thing that caught me off guard was the sauce. It literally tasted worse than C-grade tomato sauce from a jar. The cheese was rather tasteless as well. The only saving grace of this pizza was the crust. It was crispy but not a cracker, striking a nice balance. All in all, even with the crust, it was one of the top five worst slices of pizza I have ever eaten.

The other slice was better, but nothing to rave about. I've had worse, in fact, I just did, and it may have been the sheer horror of the first slice that saved the second one. This was the "supreme" slice. I am a total toppings whore. I hear peppers, mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni all together and I'm all for it. It all stayed together pretty nicely too, thanks to that pretty excellent crustage. Still, it was, shall we say, meh.

So, as for the first stop on The Search for a Slice, I would not take my famiglia to La Famiglia. I suppose I should have aimed higher for the inaugural pizza post, but this place is around the block from my apartment, and those places tend to be the best kept secrets. Next time, I'll check out one of the "elite" NYC pizza joints.

Stay hungry folks.

Jon - FoodGasm

Report Card:

Food - C

Atmosphere: B

Service: B

Price: B-

Overall: C+