Comestiblog

Feed Your Memories

Memorial Day allows us to devote a little extra time to reflect upon the loved ones who are no longer with us.  So many memories can be triggered by sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches.  Each of us has different ways of processing senses; some of us even do it with a sixth one: cooking.  As a way of celebrating the memory of a very special lady in my life, my friend prepared a variation of a dish that I used to enjoy with her regularly: Frico di Asparagi.  I can't think of a better way to keep my beloved's memory alive than to share the recipe with you.

We had to start with great ingredients.  The Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts is justifiably famous for its asparagus.  We snagged some of the area's best from Mike, of Mike's Maze (no joke!) in Sunderland (sold at Millstone Farm Market across the street).  He grows a mighty tasty stalk.  It has a deep, rich, mineral quality we've not found elsewhere.

Except, perhaps, for eating it plain with a bit of salt, the ultimate way of conveying asparagus to mouth is to prepare it enveloped in a cheese that's cooked until golden brown.  For reasons of texture and flavor, the cheese must be Montasio—a mild, tangy hard cow's milk cheese from Friuli, Italy.  It's not widely available; we bought ours ($11.16 a pound) at Fairway in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Ideally, what is presented to the diner is a bundle of spears wrapped blini- or crêpe-style by a blanket of Montasio cheese.

 

Frico di Asparagi

Serves 2

(NB Please read all steps before beginning.)

You will need:

• Non-stick skillet (do not attempt this recipe otherwise).  (We use Circulon Commercial.)
• Large spatula
• 1 standard-sized bunch of asparagus
• Water to just barely cover spears in skillet
• 1 TB (or to taste) any type of flavorful salt
• Paper-towel-lined plate
• ⅔ lb. Montasio Cheese, coarsely grated

In skillet bring to boil water and salt.

Add asparagus, and simmer a few minutes, until al dente, but not droopy when held.

Remove spears to paper-towel lined plate.  Rinse and dry skillet.  Return to burner.

Warm skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.  Do not oil skillet!

Sprinkle cheese evenly in skillet.  It will sizzle.

Add dry asparagus to top of cheese in a single layer.  Try to arrange them as compactly as possible to one side or another of the pan (but don't fuss too much over this).

Every stove is different, so cooking times will vary by a few minutes.  The objective is for the bottom of the cheese to be lightly golden and crispy.  This can take anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes.

When the cheese is properly golden, start from the side of the pan that has the most asparagus, and gently lift the edge of the cheese with a large spatula, folding the asparagus and cheese about two-thirds of the way across the pan.  Fold the cheese from the opposite side on top of the first.

Remove the entire bundle to a serving plate, seam-side down.  Serve immediately.  Cut in half lengthwise to serve.

 

 

 

The Downtown Food Chase

Last Wednesday at Chase Plaza, the Downtown Alliance held its tenth annual Dine Around Downtown™, a gathering of 50 eateries from Lower Manhattan.  These ranged from the old standbys like bar food from Jim Brady's to extravagant venues such as Bouley.  For $3 to $6, one could sample one of a restaurant's signature menu items and enjoy it in true Wall Street fashion—standing or walking about.

The selections come with the territory.  How does Danube's Salmon in Watercress Sauce sound?  Perhaps you'd prefer Harry's Oysters on the Half Shell or Smörgås Chef's Aquavit-cured Gravlax.  Or do you favor Ancora Ristorante’s Kobe Beef Ravioli or Stone Street Tavern's Lobster Mac and Cheese?  The list went on and on.  Me, I favored them all, but alas, so much food, so little capacity.

My instincts led me to the longest lines.  I decided to try Delmonico's Steak Sandwich first.  The $6 price seemed reasonable for a deliciously simple combo of tender beef on a fresh hero roll.  The meat was seasoned sufficiently to obviate the need for additional salt or pepper.  I was still hungry, however.

After all the recent press reports, I couldn't resist sauntering over to the adjacent booth to try Wall Street Burger Shoppe's Char-grilled Angus Beef Cheeseburger. 

The delicious $4 sample seemed like a relative bargain when compared with their much-hyped $175 Kobe Beef Burger.  That's right, for less than two C-notes, one can enjoy a Wagyu beef burger with foie gras, aged Gruyère, shaved black truffles, golden truffle mayo, all dusted in gold leaf.  It's available after 4:00 P.M. in the bar room only.

But does Wall Street Burger Shoppe sell a lot of these tony burgers?  "Well, ever since the press, it's kinda been like crazy," explains co-owner Heather Tierney.   The motivation?  "It’s kind of a promotion we did with Pocket Change which covers the most expensive things in New York.  And they asked us to create the burger," says Heather.  One of these days, when my wallet becomes overweight, I might give it a try.  Maybe.

Alas, I hadn't saved room for dessert.  Not that there wasn't a lot of temptation, however.  So many sweets, such as Financier Patisserie's Baba au Rhum and The Grill Room’s Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée, beckoned.  Next time?  Most definitely!

A Week to Pickle Your Fancy

If you're in a somewhat sour mood, this is your week.  That's right, it's International Pickle Week!

Were you aware that the cucumber was the first vegetable ever pickled?  Or that Americans consume more than five million pounds of pickles annually?  Or that Julius Caesar, Tiberius, King John, Queen Elizabeth I, Samuel Pepys, Amerigo Vespucci, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Napoleon Bonaparte all were pickle lovers?  These and other interesting pickled tidbits come from the pages of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and The Pickle Guys.

Speaking of the Lower East Side, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, you may wish to visit Guss' Pickles and The Pickle Guys. 

Though plastic barrels have long since supplanted wooden ones, it's still possible to have a taste of Old New York that ranges from new to full-sour.  Challenge yourself to a "brined tasting" to determine your favorite.

International Pickle Week

http://www.pickleweek.com/

Guss' Pickles

85 Orchard Street (bet. Broome & Grand Sts), Lower East Side, Manhattan

(212) 334-3616

The Pickle Guys

49 Essex Street (bet. Grand & Hester Sts), Lower East Side, Manhattan

(212) 656-9739 or (888) 4-PICKLE

http://thepickleguys.com/

By train: F (IND) to Delancey St; J,M,Z (BMT) to Essex St
By bus: M9, M14A, M15

Set Your Wallet Back to 1978

When was the last time you had a beef burger for $1.20 or a tuna sandwich for just 50 cents more?  How about a cup of tea or coffee for 35 cents?  Was it 30 years ago?

To celebrate their thirtieth anniversary, Eva's in the West Village has turned back their cash registers to 1978.  Consider a fish filet sandwich for $1.70 or, for a big splurge (the most expensive item on their retro menu), chicken supreme with brown rice topped with soup for $3.90.

Eva's also features a fair number of Mediterranean sandwiches that are equally affordable, such as Kufta with grilled feta cheese (in a toasted pita with fresh vegetable salad and tahini dressing) for $2.10 and Baba Ganoush (mashed eggplant, spices, and vegetables) for only $1.30.

But hurry, this offer is valid until Friday, 23 May only.  Please visit their website for a coupon.

 

Eva's

11 West 8^th Street (bet. Fifth Av & MacDougal St), West Village, Manhattan

(212) 677-3496

http://www.evasrestaurant.com/

By train: A,C,E,B,D,F,V to W 4^th Street
By bus: B8

Finis Coronat Opus (One)

Here's to the man who changed how the world regards (and drinks) Californian wines.  Robert Mondavi died at his home in Yountville, California this past Friday at the age of 94.  James Laube's article in Wine Spectator affords a thorough look at the life of the great winemaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please join your humble Comestiblogger in a toast to Mr. Mondavi as I raise a glass of (what else?) Opus One.

BX Hits the Spot

I found one of my favorite sandwiches at a little Vietnamese shop on the northern fringes of Brooklyn's Asian community in Sunset Park.  Ba Xuyên's bánh mì (pronounced bung·MEE) convinced me that east had conspired with west to produce a superb sandwich.

Arguments may persist over France's role in Indochina, but one distinct side-benefit remains: France's roll in Vietnam.  The legacy of French bread is evident in the crusty Vietnamese baguette that is the basis for a bánh mì sandwich, onto which a butter-mayonnaise spread is applied as well as a filling (traditionally pork), along with julienned pickled carrots and daikon (a sort of mild radish), onions, and cilantro.   (I never realized how much a sandwich could benefit from cilantro, and now add it to sandwiches at home.  An added benefit of the so-called Chinese parsley is its possible chelating effect—especially useful, if true, in counteracting the mercury found in such foods as tuna.)

BX offers nearly a dozen bánh mì sandwich selections, roughly half of which contain pork in some form (e.g., shredded, barbequed, even crushed into meatballs).  Additional choices include grilled chicken, turkey breast, cá tuna, and, possibly my favorite, cá mòi (sardine).  Regardless of the sandwich, I always order it spicy.  (Ba Xuyên's red sauce not only adds a moderate amount of heat, but also provides a rich, savory flavor.)  While most sandwiches cost $3.50, a few are higher, topping out at $4.25 for the tuna, another favorite.

For $2.50, you could try one of Ba Xuyên's unusual fruit shakes.  Condensed milk, light cream, fruit, and ice are blended together to produce a refreshing drink that isn’t particularly sweet.  Flavors include jackfruit (which the Chinese call sweet pineapple, a close description of the taste), litchi, taro, papaya, and strawberry.  Perhaps the most interesting, however is the durian.  Owing to its profoundly rank odor, the so-called king of fruit must be sold frozen in the United States and is not permitted aboard many airlines.  BX's shake produced therefrom, however, is not nearly so malodorous and is definitely worth a try.  I'd describe the flavor as a combination of egg salad and papaya.  Although the durian experiment might suggest that your courageous Comestiblogger possesses the temerity to drink almost anything, I've yet to muster the courage to try the avocado shake.

As an alternative to a shake, you could try one of the popular "pearl cold drinks," better known as bubble tea.  (Pearl, incidentally, refers to the large tapioca beads at the bottom of the drink.)  It's clear why the beverages come with such wide straws!  As with their shakes, BX's bubble teas are not sweet.  Their creaminess provides a nice counterbalance to the spice of the sandwiches, and the absence of sugar ensures that no cloying aftertaste comes between one’s palate and the enjoyment of the bánh mì. As for as the tapioca pearls, their charm lies in their chewy texture and the palate-cleansing effect they offer with every sip.  We found the honeydew melon bubble tea to be as pleasing to the palate as it is to the eye.

Other goodies are also available.  Among the dessert options, my Comestaccomplice sampled two: a sesame-encrusted ball filled with red bean paste, and an aspic torte which almost defies description, but which is a real winner.  The former's sesame coating does not overwhelm the dough and paste flavors.  To its enormous credit, the red bean paste filling lacks the waxy mouth-feel common among many other red-bean concoctions.  It is very smooth, and just barely sweetened.  Now, to describe the “torte,” the name, and, alas, contents of which we could only surmise.  (English is not a strong suit at BX.)  It consists of nine layers: three each of green aspic, purple aspic, and coconut cream.  Based on other forays into Vietnamese food, it's possible that the green layer is made from green bean juice, and the purple layer from red bean paste.  But at least the coconut is discernible.  Once again, the use of sugar is restrained.  In its place, a rich and earthy essence of coconut comes through, just sweet enough to enhance the savory flavors of the vegetable-based aspics.  Its refreshing, palate-cleansing properties make it a perfect finish to any meal, Vietnamese or otherwise.  As for price, two sesame rolls and one torte amounted to a whopping $2.80.

As we waited for our sandwiches to be prepared, we saw quite a few fresh-looking spring rolls sold—mostly containing some rather large shrimp, though a barbequed shredded pork also seemed to be enrolled.  I've never been disappointed with anything I've tried here, and clearly the spring rolls are a popular quick-stop pick.

Please bear in mind that BX closes at 6:30 P.M.  Although dining is limited to four tables, I've always found a seat.  On a pleasant day, however, you may opt to enhance your dining pleasure alfresco and enjoy spectacular views afforded by the park for which the neighborhood is named.  The entrance to Sunset Park is on Seventh Avenue, one block west.

 

Ba Xuyên

4222 Eighth Avenue (near 43^rd St), Sunset Park, Brooklyn

(718) 633-6601

By train: D,M to 9^th Avenue
By bus: B70, B35

Spanish Sole Food

The dining room and bar haven't changed much since my first visit to El Charro Español more than a decade ago.  The décor in this West Village Spaniard looks as though it hasn't undergone significant modification over the last half-century or so—a vestige of the area's days of Little Spain.  It may be somewhat old-fashioned, but it's comfortable all the same.

El Charro Español's old-world dining room

Be it tradition, reliable quality, or whatever the reason, I order the same dish invariably:  Filet of Grey Sole A La Plancha.  The preparation is simple, yet the results so delectable.  Ostensibly, a superior piece of grey sole is placed onto a grill and then removed at just the right moment.  That's it.

Filet of Grey Sole A La Plancha

Though I've been told repeatedly that the sole is not seasoned, it does reveal slight hints of garlic and possibly salt.  Perhaps I tasted the essence of the grill itself, seasoned over the years with the countless meals cooked upon it.  Regardless, the resulting preparation is perfect.  My first experience here taught me not only that nothing needs to be added, but that nothing should be added to this exquisite fish.  To wit, I made the mistake of sprinkling a small amount of pepper onto my pescado—it changed the flavor enough to diminish it.  I had unwittingly destroyed a masterpiece.

My salad and vegetable dish (broccoli with garlic) were rather good, but unremarkable.  Though I did not order it during my most recent visit, I have fond memories of the Sopa De Ajo (a soup of garlic and egg in chicken broth).  It's heavy on garlic and, to minimize postprandial complaints (or excuses!), should be ordered by one's date as well.

 

The effervescence of a Cava added the right sparkle to the sole and stood up to the garlic in the broccoli.

Other menu items, such as Paella, salmon, various Pollos and Chuletas, all look enticing—and considerably more affordable than the $33.50 grey sole.  Perhaps some day I'll try something a little different—possibly the Broiled Filet of Grey Sole A La Parrilla?

 

El Charro Español

4 Charles Street (near Greenwich Av), West Village, Manhattan

(212) 242-9547

http://www.el-charro-espanol.com/

By train:

IRT: to Christopher St-Sheridan Sq; to 14 St
IND: to W 4 St
PATH to 9^th St

By bus: M5,M6 (uptown), M20 (downtown), M8

 

The Icemen Coneth

Opened roughly a decade ago by two brothers from Buenos Aires, Cones dishes up excellent handmade Argentine-style ice cream.   Raul and Oscar D'Aloisio's frozen wares have the consistency of gelato and come in some two dozen flavors including creamy zabaglione, yerba maté (a bitter, South American green tea), and dulce de leche as well as more traditional favorites like hazelnut.

However, if you prefer something tart on a warm day, it's hard to imagine anything more refreshing than one or more of their dozen sorbets.   You may wish to check out a couple of my personal faves, lemon and passion fruit.

 

Raul ("the older one," as he puts it) offers me a couple of samples.

The two-sample limit seems almost cruel.

 

As with all good ice creams, Cones's do not rely on excessive sweetness to mask inferior-quality flavors.  Their premium flavorings really stack up.

 

Cones

272 Bleecker Street (near Morton St), West Village, Manhattan

(212) 414-1795

By train: to Christopher St-Sheridan Sq
By bus: M20 (downtown)

 

Here Comes the Grom

Grom founders Guido Martinetti and namesake Federico Grom started their first gelato venture five years ago in Torino (Turin).  Since then, they've added more than a dozen stores in northern Italy.  Last year, they opened the first Grom outside Italy, on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Last month, another new Grom began serving its frozen delights farther downtown in the West Village.   I visited the latter shortly after the dust had settled.

If it's not the best gelato or sorbet I've tasted, it's pretty darn close. While one could debate whose flavors are best,  Grom's consistency is undeniably supreme.  The gelato is silky and creamy; the sorbet is velvety smooth—more so than any sorbet, sorbetto, sherbet, or sherbert I’ve tried in the United States.

The combination of luscious flavors and rich texture need not be a guilty pleasure, however.  Grom uses natural ingredients and maintains that its gelati contain less cholesterol, fewer carbohydrates, and half the fat of super-premium brands.

The menu changes monthly.  I tried a small cup of limone (Sfusato lemon from Amalfi) and pompelmo rosa (ruby red grapefruit from Florida).  The scoop: it was delicious, refreshing, and not too sweet—I could really taste the essence of the fruit.

Grom's motto, Il Gelato Come Una Volta means, "gelato as it once was."  While that may be true, the prices aren't quite so old-fashioned.  Cones and cups:  small ($4.75); medium ($5.75); large ($6.75); extra large cup ($9). Quality comes with a price.

 

Grom

Upper West Side:

2165 Broadway (between 76^th & 77^th Sts, near 76^th St), Manhattan

(646) 290-7233

By train: 1,2,3 to 72^nd Street
By bus: M104

 

West Village:

233 Bleecker Street (NW corner Carmine St), Manhattan

(212) 206-1738

By train: A,C,E,B,D,F,V to W 4^th Street
By bus: M5,M6 (uptown)

http://www.grom.it/eng/index.htm