tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14326731765552200972024-03-06T01:23:48.493-05:00Tasty TravailsCooking. Dining. Drinking. Restaurants. Bars. Neighborhoods. Travel. Aggravation. Anything else that comes to mind.Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.comBlogger281125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-10656293644052708442020-07-30T09:40:00.001-04:002020-07-30T13:06:12.103-04:00Old School Spaghetti - With Clams From CansOh, what the hell. And what else is there to do?SPAGHETTI WITH CLAMSI call it old school, because it's like the spaghetti with clams I used to make when fresh clams were unavailable to me (hey, I lived in San Jose for 16 years!). So - what follows is my recipe for spaghetti with clams (okay, some are cockles) (and all clams are from cans).Here's the recipe (it serves 2);225 grams good spaghetti -Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-62229102681587338882019-06-18T10:16:00.000-04:002019-06-18T10:16:14.423-04:00One or More Reasons I Loathe Delivery Apps
I confess - I loathe delivery apps. I confess - I've never used a single delivery app for a single delivery of a meal. Years ago, when they (grub hub, seamless, door dash, uber eats, et al.) first were rearing their ugly heads, I had a friend who was an early adopter; I complained to said friend that all the apps would do would be to increase the cost to consumers, as well as to Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-43698551849812646742019-02-09T10:23:00.000-05:002019-02-09T10:23:07.050-05:00Make Mine Mazemen, It's a NicheI was thinking about my one blog post a year thing, maybe even blogging about it, then decided - fuck it....lemme just talk about mazemen, since I imagine within the next 12 months about 100 more mazemen places will have opened, in the 3 or 4 boroughs of NYC that matter.
But first, just as I wrote 5 years ago on this date, I need to point out I'm a lucky guy, cause 21 years ago (!), Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-67225309145659352002018-04-30T14:47:00.002-04:002018-04-30T17:44:22.817-04:00French ConnectionMaybe NYC has always been awash in French restaurants; maybe we just never frequented the right neighborhoods; maybe they were out of what I considered our price range for a non-occasion dinner; or maybe they were just too friggin' snooty for my black jeans and black T-shirt wearing self. Whatever it was, it seems the tide has turned, and that "reasonably priced" (of which there's no such Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-79423155095441518992017-09-12T10:43:00.000-04:002017-09-12T10:43:37.536-04:00What's a Year Between Friends?Yeah, it's been a year since my last post. Could it be that things weren't exciting enough to write about, or that nothing new and interesting happened during that time?
Or maybe it's just that since November, 2016, things felt really crappy. There were any number of times where I may have said to myself, "write something." Anything even. Plenty of new restaurants have been tried. A few Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-62844627380748030832016-09-12T11:47:00.000-04:002016-09-12T21:53:32.483-04:00Bronx TalesEvery now and then, in my continuing quest to explore "the boroughs" (and no, I haven't gotten to Staten Island yet, other than multiple trips to a friend's house for great dinners), I decide to head north and that borough up there, known colloquially as: da Bronx.
Not the largest borough (Queens), and not the most populous borough (Brooklyn), the Bronx might just be the most fun borough to Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-89913806033084172742016-09-01T18:44:00.000-04:002016-09-02T11:21:44.566-04:00So, Sonoma...
Significant Eater and I just spent a great week in northern California, beginning with 3 nights in Sonoma wine country, followed by 4 nights in San Francisco. You know, leaving NYC for a week during the miserable weather of late August may become habit-forming.
Central to the 6-ish northern Sonoma County wine appellations is Healdsburg, a beautiful town with nice restaurants, a few bars, Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-48062626227688492252016-07-07T08:32:00.000-04:002016-07-07T08:54:57.919-04:00Zadie's Oyster RoomZadie's Oyster Room is the latest incarnation of Chef Marco Canora's tiny restaurant space on E. 12th St. Previously, it was Fifty Paces, due to its location 50 paces from his much larger flagship up the block - Hearth. Before Fifty Paces it was Terroir, a much-liked wine bar, with some good snack-y food to go along; but that was ages ago in restaurant years. And now it's Zadie's. And now Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-10204675822047811302016-06-20T11:29:00.001-04:002016-06-22T06:57:42.117-04:00Crazy for Le CoucouLe Coucou is the new restaurant (opened for reals last week) collaboration between restaurateur Stephen Starr and Chef Daniel Rose of Spring, an acclaimed restaurant located in Paris. That backstory need not be explained here; suffice to say that Significant Eater and I have had the pleasure of dining at both the tiny Spring 1 (once), and the more ambitious Spring 2 (a number of times), and it Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-53710175782932672622016-03-14T10:26:00.000-04:002016-09-02T18:01:57.029-04:00One Chicken. 17 Meals.One chicken - 17 meals...now how the hell is that possible?
Quite frankly: it's not. Well, maybe it is, but you'd for sure have to eat some pretty small portions. The whole 17 meals thing - I just thought it might be a good way to get your attention.
In any event. lemme show you how many dishes I recently stretched a single, high-quality bird into, using some pantry and fridge items I always Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-26177495842159333152016-02-29T11:53:00.000-05:002016-02-29T11:54:34.355-05:00Kosher IshEvery once in a while (make that every once in a great while), I get the urge to eat some real kosher deli. Of course, I could just walk up to Katz's Deli, or head up to the 2nd Avenue Deli, but Katz's isn't really kosher and the 2nd Avenue Deli isn't really on 2nd Avenue (in either of its damn locations), so that knocks them out.
For a number of years I'd heard and read about a couple of Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-2493443622917375032016-01-30T09:21:00.004-05:002016-01-30T09:22:15.776-05:00Wu's Wonton King
Wu's Wonton King stands where Wing Shoon once was (East Broadway and Rutgers streets). Before Wing Shoon, there was Wing Shing. Before that, the Garden Cafeteria.
We went back (Significant Eater was hoping for the ghost of Trotsky) to Wu's Wonton King for lunch yesterday; what we had was pretty tasty. Good enough roast meats; by now I've tried the roast pig, the roast pork, the Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-68075174543210716752015-12-08T11:12:00.000-05:002015-12-08T11:12:40.302-05:00Acme Smoked Fish...Beep BeepRemember Wile E. Coyote? Constantly trying to outwit (and perhaps dine on) the poor Roadrunner. Mr. Coyote used all sorts of tricks in his quest, all to no avail. But at least he shopped at the right place...
Wile E. Coyote - thanks to Boomerang
Yes...Acme. But his Acme is probably not this one, the one and only Acme Smoked Fish Corporation, of Brooklyn, New York...
Acme Smoked Fish from theMitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-40300212988658595872015-09-20T12:54:00.000-04:002015-09-20T18:45:15.481-04:00Steak on the Lake...or What We Did on Our Summer VacationThis is a public service announcement...Vegetarians and vegans - turn away! I'm gonna be talking (mostly) about beef; in this particular instance - steak.
On Labor Day weekend, Significant Eater and I were lucky enough to spend time at our friends' home, on a beautiful lake, somewhere in the Adirondacks. And when he (a cook) and I (a cook) were discussing some of what we might indulge ourselves Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-492150985862828732015-08-17T12:16:00.000-04:002015-08-17T12:16:31.849-04:00It's Clafoutis Season - What Are You Waiting For?Clafoutis is a French, fruit-filled (dark cherries are classic) dessert, sorta like a cross between a baked pancake and a flan. I was first exposed to clafoutis while learning how to "professionally" cook, at Peter Kump's NY Cooking School, way up on E. 92nd St. When I say "way up," I'm not kidding. The school was in an old brownstone, and to get to class you first had to climb a few flights of Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-12413678336341682462015-07-30T14:28:00.002-04:002015-07-30T14:29:07.275-04:00Go To Goto - Bar Goto, That IsAhhh, July. Summer vacation. I always looked forward to July with great joy; it meant school was coming to a close (I kinda didn't like school), and that the next two months would be all about enjoying summer vacation with my friends. Of course, now that I'm older and allegedly wiser, there are many months I like much more than July and August - you know, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-40562676196572941022015-06-23T13:00:00.000-04:002015-06-23T13:01:02.060-04:00Salad Days - Watermelon's Better Than You Thought, Especially With FetaI remember, back when I was a kid growing up, me and grammy and grampy would sit out on the back porch, grampy having just harvested a big, old 30 pound watermelon. We'd just sit there, them in their rockers, me on the steps, with the sweet juice running down our chins, seeing who could send those pits the farthest, while meanwhile the hogs would gather round, cuz they really loved the rinds and Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-5820355345091714462015-06-18T12:37:00.000-04:002015-06-24T16:15:02.598-04:00Provincetown - The "Outer" Cape and Wellfleet TooThere's an old Woody Allen line, from his stand-up days, which goes something like this: "I'm a little fair-skinned. When I go to the beach, I don't tan - I stroke." Which pretty much describes how I feel about a day at the beach, or just in the sun.
So, you ask, what the hell am I doing up on the Cape, (excuse me - the outer Cape) in Provincetown, in June? Fortunately, the weather was Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-4735238529808428862015-06-02T10:50:00.001-04:002015-06-02T10:52:38.936-04:00Paella - It's Only Rice, Right?Rice. Many food cultures have their special rice dishes. Others eat rice at literally every meal. There's risotto in Italy. Red beans and rice in New Orleans. Congee in China. Chelo, pilaf and pulao in the Middle East. Sushi rice. Jasmine rice. Red rice and black rice. Thai rice. Sweet rice. Sticky rice. White rice. Brown rice. On and on. And then, in Spain, there's paella.
So, this is a quick Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-27085768820159086782015-05-12T12:48:00.001-04:002015-05-12T12:48:45.599-04:00Not-So-Instant RamenNew York City is loaded with ramen-yas. Barely a month or two goes by without a new one opening, and a quick scan of yelp shows pages and pages of them. No publication can avoid writing about them either; yawnthrillist might actually write something every other week. For instance, their 10 Absolute Best Ramen Spots in NYC (SEP, 2014). Their 8 Best Under-the-Radar Ramen Spots in NYC (Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-18197685771155261672015-04-27T10:20:00.000-04:002015-04-27T10:20:33.847-04:00The Hass Avocado - How Hard Is This?Has this ever happened to you? You decide you're going to make some guacamole, so you head to the store to buy a few ripe avocados. You get to the display, fondle a few, pick out some soft ones, pay - and you're on your way. Then, you get home, start opening up those same avos, and find them pretty much disgusting on the inside, all bruised and mushy (but not in a good way); guacamole plan Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-71746484155553930702015-04-22T13:24:00.000-04:002015-04-22T13:38:15.534-04:00Rebelle - A Touch of Paris on The BoweryYou know, if it weren't for the Bowery Mission directly across the street, or the traffic heading to and from the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, or the fact that Significant Eater and I walked to the brand-spanking new Rebelle in under 15 minutes, we could've sworn we were in Paris. I mean, not on the Boulevard Saint-Germain or anything, but maybe, just maybe, somewhere in Paris.
OriginallyMitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-55235303399775386382015-04-16T14:45:00.000-04:002015-04-22T13:29:35.476-04:00California Dreamin'Every once in a while, California pops into my mind. It's not because I lived there for 18 years, back in the go-go days of the 80s and 90s. Maybe it's because every day I read another article about the coming droughtpocalypse; when I first moved out west, it was to Santa Barbara - then in the midst of a 100-year drought - I think those happen every now and then (in what's basically aMitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-56471435417187251882015-03-31T09:34:00.001-04:002015-04-16T18:27:31.215-04:00In California, A is For...CarciofiArtichokes. California artichokes. Coming into their peak season now, though they're available all year long, the artichoke is a favorite vegetable of mine. It's a favorite vegetable of Significant Eater's. If we could be any place right now, eating artichokes, it would be...well, to be honest, it would be Rome. I mean, how can you resist Roman carciofi alla Giudia?
Carciofi alla Giudia Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432673176555220097.post-55039608326962276562015-03-27T13:00:00.000-04:002015-04-16T18:29:33.721-04:00Hail WASSAiLI've been complaining (yeah, yeah, I know - what a surprise), about the lack of places to drink good ciders in New York City, for quite some time. Sure - I know there are a few places, each offering a few ciders, around town. There's Huertas, on 1st Avenue; Donostia, on Avenue B; and, you know, maybe some others that I'm either forgetting - or never even knew about in the first place.
Oh, Mitch Weinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850791614629022256noreply@blogger.com2