Archive for the ‘In The Neighborhood’ Category
February 10, 2012
Jill: Brooklyn Flea: the weekly market that fittingly sells repurposed and crafty wares in a bank repurposed as a three-floor mall, filled to the brim with furniture, boots, hand towels and jewelry that we can only dream of owning and with people who are way cooler than you or I will ever be. Maya and I visited this past December with a mission: to visit as many of the basement food vendors as humanly possible. And although I became momentarily distracted and purchased a porcupine-screened tea towel, we completed our task with precision and professionalism. (Porcupines are obviously the new bacon-owl-mustache. Duh.)
Maya: Though the allure of the Flea has diminished for me (thanks both to the ubiquity of the mobile vendors and to my awareness of what vintage goods bought at flea markets should cost), it was worth the trip just to introduce Jill to some of New York’s premiere food-truck players. Today’s Friday Five highlights some of the things we managed to stuff in our beaks.
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Tags:Brooklyn, Brooklyn Flea, food vendors, NYC
Posted in Bargain Bin, Friday Five, In The Neighborhood, New York City, Shacks, Carts & Trucks, Table Service | 1 Comment »
February 9, 2012
When I started coming up with a list of topics for my Freelance Diet series, I never imagined that lobster would qualify for inclusion: That crustacean hasn’t screamed “budget cuisine” since the days when it was known as poverty food and only deemed suitable for prisoners and indentured servants.
To say things have changed would be an understatement, but fortunately for the modern-day lobster-lover, deals are still there if you know where to look—or even if you don’t. It’s not just $29 rolls (or even $14 rolls, for that matter) in this town.
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Tags:Chinatown, deals, lobster, NYC
Posted in Bargain Bin, In The Neighborhood, New York City, Table Service, The Freelance Diet | Leave a Comment »
January 23, 2012
One of my favorite Twitter hashtags is #firstworldproblems. For the Twitter uninitiated, it’s typically used when someone is complaining about bourgeois or tedious day-to-day issues that are not actually problems, a self-effacing nod to having the good life. So when I say that I needed a vacation from my vacation, I hereby acknowledge the ridiculousness of the statement. Nonetheless, it was true. After ten days of non-stop travel (during half of those one or both of us were sick), Ben and I needed a way to recover from our trip to London. We needed to rest. Luckily, I’d anticipated this happening, and booked a weekend stay at the Inn at Cedar Falls for the weekend after we’d return home.
This? It’s the opposite of the near panic attack I had on an over-crowded, over-heated Picadilly line where I accidentally stepped on a woman’s foot before hitting her head with my bag. And, happily, it’s only about an hour and a half from my house. In recent experiences, a trip to the destinations within the Hocking Hills of Southeast Ohio can seem like a trip to Disney World, with lines of crying children and gossipy octogenarians. And to be honest, Cedar Falls (which incidentally, has no cedars nearby), was no different.
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Tags:#firstworldproblems, bed and breakfast, day trips, Hocking Hills, Inn At Cedar Falls, Ohio
Posted in Columbus, Ohio, In The Neighborhood, Table Service | Leave a Comment »
December 2, 2011
Shortly after Jill got her first iPhone, we traveled to Vermont together, and I’ll admit—I just didn’t get it. In lieu of providing her with street names when I was in charge of navigation, Jill urged me to follow the blue dot on the Maps app; “iPhone says” became a commonly heard phrase in our Mustang rental. And then, a year later, I got my own and became an instant convert. While I might not refer to mine in the third person, I am similarly addicted. Today’s Friday Five pays tribute to the New York-centric food apps that keep me (even more) glued to my touchscreen.
1. The Scoop.
While categories devoted to bars, coffee shops, events, and day trips out of the city make this New York Times app the most well-rounded of the bunch, I particularly love the Sifty Fifty section—ex-restaurant-critic Sam Sifton’s top fifty dining destinations in the city, complete with a checklist and sharing options. (No word yet on whether or not his replacement will be renaming the column, but with “Wells” as a surname, the possibilities are endless.)
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Tags:apps, Friday Five, iPhone
Posted in Friday Five, In The Neighborhood, New York City | Leave a Comment »
November 21, 2011
It’s a strange thing, I think. My neighborhood houses some of the most creative, passionate and interesting foodies, food writers and food innovators in Columbus. What Clintonville lacks, though, are great dining establishments. It seems that for every Sage American Bistro, Ray Ray’s Hog Pit and Alana’s, we have four or five fast food chains or straight-from-the-GFS-can joints lining our streets. So when food trucks arrived to my part of the city, tipping the fare scale from “boring” and “meh” to “interesting” and “delicious”, our elected officials’ first impulse was to enforce obsolete laws that push them out of our area.
Perhaps The Coop’s location at Cliffside and Indianola is too close to the Clintonville border with Old North Columbus for our legislators to care. Or perhaps relying on the oncoming cold weather was an easier food truck deterrent. (Sound familiar, anyone?) I’m not sure why the relatively new truck owned and operated by Angie Theado seems immune to archaic laws, but I am thrilled to have this truck as a dining option in my neighborhood.
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Tags:Clintonville, Columbus, food trucks, local
Posted in Columbus, Ohio, In The Neighborhood, Shacks, Carts & Trucks, Table Service | 5 Comments »
November 8, 2011
My opinions on restaurant week(s) are similar to those on Groupon and programs of similar ilk. While I enjoy the savings (and the special menus), I think it’s important to patronize the small businesses (and locally-owned restaurants) not only during great deals, but when they’re not offering deep discounts. Simple as that. Nonetheless, I do enjoy the dining programs, because they do give me an excuse to get out and enjoy some of my favorite restaurants during the week and because I get to see said restaurants busy on a Monday evening. Last night, a group of us headed over to DeepWood to experience their $20 three course Dine Originals Week menu. Below are a few pictures of what’s in store for folks who are tempted to do the same.
I chose the ravioli (filled with bacon and leeks) for my starter. The rich filling perfectly complemented the smoky tomato sauce.
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Tags:Deepwood, Dine Originals
Posted in Bargain Bin, Columbus, Ohio, In The Neighborhood, Table Service | 2 Comments »
November 3, 2011
The Subject: Cubano, from Midtown lunch counter Margon.
My first job in New York, as many have been since, was in Midtown, on the periphery of Times Square—a neighborhood I quickly learned to loathe. It’s a toss-up which grated more: The slow-moving groups of tourists, meandering four-abreast down the street, gawking at the sights, or the overpriced-yet-mediocre cookie-cutter midday-meal options, which, no matter the ingredients, all manage to taste pretty much the same. As this was before there was an entire website devoted to avoiding just such establishments, I’d almost resigned myself to a spate of uninspired ten-dollar lunches when a coworker (and Miami transplant) introduced me to blink-and-you-miss-it Margon. Happiness—and weight gain—ensued.
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Tags:Cuban, Midtown, sandwiches
Posted in Bargain Bin, In The Neighborhood, New York City, Sandwich Spotlight, Table Service | Leave a Comment »
October 20, 2011
Jill and I haven’t been shy about discussing our collective obsession with Spanish cuisine in these pages—our love affair with tapas and sangria has been going strong since our inaugural trip together, and it shows no signs of waning anytime soon. Fried chunks of potato doused with aioli, shrimp in sizzling garlic oil, served in a hot cazuela, blistered shishito peppers sprinkled with sea salt, croquetas de jamón (or blue cheese and dates, if we’re feeling fancy)—these are the things of which reveries are made.
But as much as I love those small-plate staples, I’ve always been less than impressed by what may as well be the country’s de facto national dish: paella. (Not that that’s stopped me from wanting to make a great version myself, mind.) After one too many encounters with an underwhelming, blandly seasoned pan of rice, I gave up, mentally categorizing this dish as one that’s great in theory—what’s not to love about seafood, sausage, and garlic?—but fails to live up to its billing in reality. Silly me. Turns out I just hadn’t met the right one yet.
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Tags:Nolita, NYC, paella, Spanish, tapas
Posted in In The Neighborhood, New York City, Table Service | Leave a Comment »
October 14, 2011
Today’s Friday Five could easily have a million titles. Things I Crave Right Now. Things to Eat on a Rainy Autumn Evening. Why Columbus is Delicious. Browse below as you take a trip through my recent culinary adventures in the Capital city.
1. Pho at Buckeye Pho.
The city’s newest pho and bahn mi joint is only a couple of miles from my house, and I couldn’t be happier. Is it as good as my beloved Mi Li Cafe? I’ve only had one visit and feel unprepared to make a verdict. My first encounter was pretty damn good, though.
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Tags:buckeye pho, Deepwood, hot dogs, Knead, lobster, pho, Zen Cha
Posted in Columbus, Ohio, Friday Five, In The Neighborhood, Shacks, Carts & Trucks, Table Service | Leave a Comment »
