I go insane over broccoli. If I had to chose one only food to eat everyday, you guessed it: broccoli! Boil it, bake it, roast it, grill it, steam it, fry it, pie it – any which way, it is the best vegetable. And as a cruciferous vegetable, it’s also anti-carcinogenic. Not a bad thing considering I live directly over the plume!
While having a romantic dinner with my wife (wondering what that means? read here.) at No. 7, the restaurant in Fort Greene from the same owners as No. 7 Sub on Manhattan Ave, we ordered an exclusively vegetarian meal. This is very unlike us. When Julie returned from the dark side of being a vegetarian, we celebrated with a Sausage Party, and it’s been dirty jokes and meaty dinners ever since. But sometimes the vegetarian options will surprise you, and they are often overlooked because you think, I’m out, I might as well eat meat! If you want a lighter meal, go veggie; you will certainly leave feeling less stuffed.
Cheesy Bacon Gordita Crunch - Limited Time at Taco Bell
The Double Decker Broccoli Taco we ate was amazing, so I had to try it at home. It is basically the healthy vegetarian version of a Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell. (Don’t act like you don’t dream about it!) But with the braco, a hard taco is stuffed with feta cheese and broccoli, around which a black bean smeared soft taco is wrapped, then the whole thing is topped with pine nuts and hot sauce! Not only are the flavors happily married but the texture of the soft taco spooning the hard taco is quite a fiesta in your mouth.
I completed a 3-day Juice Cleanse. My last meal before I started was a delicious grilled cheese from the Munchie Mobile and I woke up starving on the first day. Not a great sign.
As an alternative to making my own juice I went with Blue Print Cleanse, which is on the expensive side ($200 for 3 days), but their motto is, “We think, you drink.” First world problems: “I don’t know what juice to make for my cleanse!” Like going to gym, I am motivated by money. I better drink all this liquid gold and not screw it up! And it all came in a neat box, each bottle labeled 1-6. (A little bird told me you can dumpster dive for the juices in LIC.) Or you can try to make them yourself.
We all wanted Piecorps to have a retail location, and great news: we can look forward to amazing pies come this June in Greenpoint! Piecorps needed to raise funds to buy a new oven and because of community donations they raised via Lucky Ant, they got it. Social media isn’t always evil.
I follow Piecorps on Facebook just to drool at all the amazing pies they come up with. Like Chili Pie with Cornbread Crust or Rhubarb Custard Pie. Good news is you don’t have to wait until the summer to enjoy their delicious pies. You can shop for pies online to be delivered to your front door or visit them on Saturdays at Hester Street Fair (LES) & Stone Barns Center (upstate) or on Sundays at New Amsterdam Market (South Street Seaport). All three Union Markets as well as Gourmet Guild carry their pies.
Calm down because you have one day left not to be a jerk to your Mom. A simple phone call is nice. “Good morning, thanks for birthing me!” And hugs are really sweet.
Cards & gifts are good, too. And food! Nothing says “thanks for putting up with all my crap” better than a delicious meal!
Don’t go buy a soulless hallmark card, make one. You can get all the glue sticks and crayons you need at Jam’s Stationary (835 Manhattan Ave) or buy a handmade card. the one well 165 Greenpoint Ave) has an assortment of recycled paper letterpress greeting cards ($4-$6).
Boxes make perfect Mom gifts; they’re great for stashing jewelry, pills and lottery tickets. Check out this adorable Mermaid Box ($32) from Old Hollywood (99 Franklin St.)
Vase @ Vintage Modern
Vintage Modern has this really pretty striped stoneware vase ($125) for that gorgeous bouquet Mom deserves for all those temper tantrums you threw (or still throw) in the supermarket.
Fill it with cut flowers from the Dutchmills Gardens stand at the Greenmarket. If she doesn’t have a greenthumb, Brandywine Gardens sells pretty cacti and other succulents. Too hung over to make it to the market on Saturday? Head over to the Greenpoint Florist on Sunday (703 Manhattan Ave.)
Bad allergies or the rotten cat you left her is a plant murderer? Flowers might not be a great idea, so pick-up scented oil from Genie in a Bottle at Kill Devil Hill (170 Franklin St.)
And of course food is always a great idea, especially for the person who has fed you since the day you were born. Cook for her! Here are a few quick and easy recipes.
Genie in a Bottle @ Kill Devil HillBellwether
Sink filled with dirty dishes? Take her out to brunch or dinner. My Mom absolutely loves Fives Leaves but if the wait is too long, head over to Nights & Weekends and enjoy the delicious Croque Signora Sandwich or check out the new Bellwether (594 Union Ave.)
How about a picnic in the park? I hear that the Lobster Joint will deliver to McCarren! Or get a yummy cheese and salami spread from Eastern District (1053 Manhattan Ave.)
Cheese @ Eastern District
Take her out to dinner. My favorite, The Greenpointer pie from Paulie Gee’s (60 Greenpoint Ave) always hits the spot, or the Cola Dorada, braised oxtail with rice and beans from Cafecito Bogota (1015 Manhattan Ave.) Give her an authentic Greenpoint experience on a budget with a BYOB dinner at the eclectic and delicious Lomyzynianka (646 Manhattan Ave.) Get pierogies and get them fried! The cheese filled blintzes for dessert are killer!
I know that Mother’s Day seems like another consumeristic holiday, but she actually made you alive, which is a big deal, so a small token of gratitude once a year is the least we can do. And keep it local silly!
You can’t get more eyetalian with a name like Toby Buggiani, who is a newcomer on the Greenpoint bar scene and is opening Adelina’s, named after his Nonna, where the recently closed Gypsy Bar was on Greenpoint Ave.
Toby’s bar is a fraschetta, which he described as “a blue collar wine bar,” similar to those in Rome, where he was born. Wine, not only Italian, will be on tap, served in a glass or carafe. Just 5 reds and 5 whites. And 2 types of beer.
In the daytime we can look forward to cappuccino, espresso and fresh cornetti, which are sweet Italian croissants. He hopes to introduce truffled eggs with fontina and asparagus, pizza frita (served at Forcella in Williamsburg) & arancini (RICE BALLS!), with the help of Will Levatino (of Arancini Brothers) and Dan Ross (of Vinegar Hill House).
Adelina’s will be Toby’s first bar, but he comes with a lot of experience as the former manager of Cafe Reggio, an Italian joint in NY on Macdougal St that opened in 1927 and “introduced the first cappuccino to the US,” he said.
Why Greenpoint? He looked at a lot of different areas but, “nothing struck me in the way Greenpoint struck me,” he said.
• Monday, May 21st, 7pm – Roberta’s Garden Dinner Series: Lamb (261 Moore St, Bushwick) – $95 – Look at that menu! I am talking about those adorable lamb baby angels… BUY TIX
• Wednesday, May 23rd – The Great, Pinch Head, Suck Tail Event – CRAWFISH FEST @ Brooklyn Brewery (79 North 11th St.) – $40, Just the name alone is enough reason to go! And the heaps and heaps of delicious daddies!BUY TIX
The Food Book Fair was this past weekend at the newly opened Wythe Hotel. When I think of fair I think of tractor pulls, farm animals, funnel cakes, and a lot of hoopla. I expected the Food Book Fair to be convention style, with tables, shwag, food samples, commotion. Instead there was a tiny and well curated “book store” in a nook in the hotel lobby, and talks and panel discussions were held in a beautiful ballroom. Food was for sale, and looked outstanding. And there were expensive dinners each evening. Hoopla came in the form of a pigeon sneaking into the event and making a raucous and flying up into the projector screen. The beast wrangler in me caught the scared bird and released it. Over the weekend I attended 6 talks, which were well organized, very informative and hosted by leaders and innovators in the field of food, writing, cooking, publishing and technology. All were followed by book signings. I left with a wealth of knowledge and a brain full of inspiring ideas.
More public access, in the form of free events, and food samples is something I hope they improve upon for the next fair. Important info about the food industry as well as resources for hopeful food writers shouldn’t come at a price. That being said, I am sure a 3-day long event at the Wythe hotel was costly.
What follows is a brief summary of each talk I attended.
I’ll admit that I walked into Beloved a little ready to hate on it. When I passed by the newly opened space a few nights earlier, I peered in through the gray doors painted with the name of this new place that inhabits the recessed cave that used to belong to the denizens of Stones Tavern thinking that this was just a bar hurriedly wedged into an odd middle space in Greenpoint. A bar like a street-fair goldfish: short-lived. Best not to get too attached.
Entering, I passed a sign out front promising ‘gangster times’ to be had within. If the times of a gangster include:
Donuts,
Amazingly delicious original cocktails,
Friendly, laid back times, and
staying 2+ drinks longer than you meant to just because,
Get the "Thats My Word" Cocktail (Left)
then yes, Beloved delivered on the promise of ‘Gangster Times.’ While I can’t say there will always be donuts waiting there for you, talking to René, designer of the cocktail list, and Vivek, one of the owners, suggested that what you will reliably find is a bar that honestly cares about what they’re serving you. They believe that they’re not settling by focusing on just being a solid place to drink, and while there were certainly hints about parties in the future – a DJ booth may one day soon occupy a back corner, and the yard has serious potential – Vivek suggested that Beloved has no intention of becoming an ‘event space.’ The focus is on a killer cocktail list, a well-designed interior sporting luxe wallpaper and custom lighting, and bartenders who actually seem to want you to enjoy your time there. I love being wrong sometimes.
Jon has become the master of pasta carbonara, which is simply (italian) bacon and egg pasta. He got the recipe out of a cook book his mom gave us for Christmas called Weeknight Fresh & Fast.
I was skeptical at first because of an incident I had when making carbonara using duck eggs, very raw duck eggs, but Jon’s is just right. And he wears a wife beater just for me!
He put his own spin on this recipe with the substitution of asparagus, instead of kale, but the green possibilities are endless, broccoli rabe or brussells sprouts. I can’t think of any more.
This dish takes literally 20 minutes to make and is so delicious. By the time the time I put the laptop aside and ask him if he needs help, he is already finished.
Cube 1/2 C. pancetta and pan fry it until brown. Add one chopped chopped shallot until softened, then 1 C. chopped asparagus. Add 1/2 C. of wine and reduce.
While all this is happening boil your spaghetti. Don’t ask how much. Just do what we do and make an entire pound for two people! I need to get one of those spaghetti measuring rings. Okay, like 1/2 lb?
In a separate bowl, beat two eggs. Add 3/4 C. grated cheese (pecorino romano and/or parmesan will do). Jon uses a 1/2 C. parmesan, 1/4 C. romano. Grind a lot of black pepper into it.
After the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it back to the pot. Add everything else to it and let it all get happy in there. Serve and enjoy!
Party with us! We are excited to bring to Greenpoint (and nowhere else) the First Aguardiente Spirit Bar, and unveil our new spanking dinner menu and awesome vibrant look.
Known as ‘Fiery Water,’ Aguardiente is the premier spirit of Colombia.
$4 Colombian Mojitos • $4 Margaritas • $3 Aguardiente Shots • Great food and dinner!
