Banh Mi Coming to Park Slope
I had heard rumors that a Vietnamese sandwich shop was coming to the former Tea Lounge space at 7th Ave and 10th St. I’m happy to see that the rumors are true. I work a mere four blocks from here — my lunch hour is about to get a whole lot better.
Top 5 Blogged Meals of 2008
I always enjoy reading Top 10 lists at the end of the year. As a writer, I enjoy posting one of my own because it allows me to be a little lazy — I’m just recycling old posts.
I restricted myself to meals I paid for, and meals that I blogged about (it may be hard to believe, but I eat a lot of meals that I don’t blog about). You can click on the photos to read my full write-up of each meal. So without further ado, here are my five favorite blogged meals of 2008:
5. Red Hook Ballfield
The Red Hook vendors were back after a fight with the DOH, and even though the venue was a little different the food was better than ever. In fact, the pupusas above tasted better to me than the pupusas I had last year.
Homemade Hot Chocolate
It wasn’t until my early twenties that I realized that hot chocolate didn’t have to come in a pouch of powder with tiny dehydrated marshmallows. I was reading a book in which the main character ordered a hot chocolate at a ski chalet, and the waiter poured hot milk over solid chocolate in a mug to make the hot chocolate. It was like a revelation. So the other day when it was cold out and I was craving a hot chocolate, I decided to make my own. I heated up some half and half in a pot, and when it started to boil I turned off the heat and poured a little bit of it over some broken pieces of chocolate (I used 85% cocoa, which was probably too bitter — but still good). As it melted I stirred it up and added a little more at a time until it was all mixed together. For a final flourish I grated some more chocolate over the top. Perfect with a couple of cookies on a cold winter night.
Eurotrip
When Donny suggested meeting up at Eurotrip, I wasn’t too excited about it. The fact that it shares it’s name with (what I assume is) a terrible movie made me instantly suspicious of the bar, but then I noticed the menu and I knew why Donny wanted to meet there. Serving Eastern European-inspired dishes like the Langoš, or Hungarian fried bread, you see above, Eurotrip is a great restaurant and a great bar, all in one.
Market Watch: Celery Root
These strange-lookinging root vegetables, also known as celeriac, are a staple at the winter Farmer’s Market. Earlier this year I was inspired by Charlie Trotter’s appearance on A Chef’s Story, during which he prepared what he called a “conjugation” of celery root. He prepared the root in five different ways on one plate, and because he’s Charlie Trotter it looked amazing. Mine didn’t come out so well:
Meskerem
It’s difficult to get someone to go eat Ethiopian food with you. The excuse (usually from people who have never eaten Ethiopian food) most people use is, “It’s just brown mush!” The only real reply to that is, “Yes, but it’s delicious brown mush.” That doesn’t go over so well. So when a friend mentioned that she liked Ethiopian food, we decided to try out Meskerem, in the West Village. I should point out that I’ve only eaten Ethiopian food once before, and it was at a restaurant in… well, Arizona. But it was really delicious, so I was very much looking forward to Meskerem.
