Food and Drink: June 2006 Archives

I thought we were lucky getting one banh mi place in the neighborhood with Hanco's at 85 Bergen right by Smith Street. Now, it looks like East Village Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwich Shop is opening an outpost at 311 Atlantic, between Smith Street and Hoyt Street.  There's no phone number yet, and I haven't heard an exact open date, but, damn, two places to get these delicious sandwiches in the neighborhood is quite exciting. Plan on an ABL banh mi face-off when Nicky's opens.

Photo from nymetro.

So I have a confession to make: I don't like spumoni. Now wait, all ye olde Brooklynites, hear me out. I've never had spumoni before, and I'm 30. So unlike a lot of people whose introduction to spumoni was at age two on a hot day in Brooklyn, mine was at age 30 on a hot day in Brooklyn.

First, let me describe the iced beast itself. Spumoni, at least the large bonbon sized one we purchased at Court Pastry, is sweet, almost sickeningly sweet. It's like eating a big mouthful of frozen sugared cream.  This particular spumoni also had a rather strong flavor of cinnamon (and not rum as apparently some spumoni contains).

My two tasters and I immediately imagined sugar-cracked-out-children at a birthday party jumping around with glee before and after servings of spumoni. Maybe it was that image alone that caused me to cringe as I dug into the encased candied fruit and nuts. Whatever it was, call me a hipster-yupster-grupster-newbie, but I will take a good neighborhood Italian ice or gelato any day over another serving of spumoni.

For those worried about the Mermaid Parade being a little too wet on this soggy Saturday (or if you're saving your weekend subway energy  for Pride tomorrow), a closer alternative is the Miss Rockaway Boat Party on the Gowanus. Hard to tell if the World War II navy boat will provide much shelter from the rain, but it might at least be a shorter trip to a local bar in case of torrential outbursts. DJ sets are listed as "booty bass, disco, and fucked up global hip hop," and a performance of Alan Lomax sea shanties should complete the appropriate Noah's ark vibe.

You see that little sign in the upper right-hand corner of the photo? "Italian ices," it reads. So small, so unassuming. And yet, this little store at 298 Court Street scoops the best Italian ice I've ever tasted. I would rather eat the chocolate Italian ice here than have gelato or ice cream anywhere else--that is how good this Italian ice is. Also, it's $1.25 for a small, and the smalls are huge. WHY DID I WAIT UNTIL THIS SUMMER TO DISCOVER THIS GEM? I am angry at myself for all of the past two summer's missed opportunities. Highly recommended flavors are chocolate and lemon. You will thank me for it. And you will dream of these ices in your sleep, I promise.

ABrooklynLife and her hubby and sister are celebrating their third year in a CSA (short for community supported agriculture). CSAs are great, and the concept if simple: You pay an up-front fee for an entire growing season and reap the benefits of locally farmed produce from June through November. The farmer, of course, benefits from the group's patronage.

For the first two years, we were part of the West Village CSA at the McBurney YMCA on 14th Street, and if that's near where you work or live, it's a great CSA. This year for geographical reasons, we've switched to the Cobble Hill group and signed up for both fruit and veggies. The goods, which are organic, come from Green Thumb Farm Farm in Water Mill, Long Island.

One of the best things about being forced to take a variety of fresh veggies is figuring out what to do with them. Among the produce we got last week were strawberries and rhubarb. These two items are the key ingredients of one of my favorite desserts ever: a strawberry rhubarb pie. Damn it's good!

Whatever you do, when you make the pie, MAKE YOUR OWN CRUST. We prefer the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. You cannot compromise on either crust or fresh whipped cream. If you're going to the trouble to make a pie ... well, you should be able to handle rolling out a crust and beating some cream into stiff peaks.

For the recipe...

This weekend we had a few friends over for a grill fest. During the lull between rain storms we managed to get the grill started and cook a whole buncha burgers. Despite the gloomy weather, the guests cheered up when served these delicious patties.

*Tip, use a potato masher to mix everything quickly

Form into patties. 1lb ground beef should make 3 to 4 patties.

Last weekend's adventure to Harry's at Water Taxi Beach doesn't require a car, but if our weekend rental proved one thing, it's that Queens is totally right next door when you don't have to get on the G train. If you are walking from the 21st Street stop, it helps to know that even though it looks like you are walking into an abandoned industrial wasteland, you are probably going in the right direction. If you are coming from Manhattan, the Water Taxi is the way to go, though it's $5 a pop and can run late on weekends.

As for the beach itself, it's spacious, open and much cleaner than Coney Island. The water is out of reach, but that's a good thing. (I'm still not sure how I feel about the city rescinding the no-swimming rule to build a beach on Manhattan--the current rule is b/c when it rains, sewage floods the rivers). The site is run by Harry of Schnack fame, and the menu is tempting, besides hot dogs ($3) and elk burgers ($8.50), there's a special menu with French fries, Motz burgers, Bratwurst, fish tacos, chili cheese dogs, etc. There's beer and cocktails, a whirring blender, and quite a lovely view of the city. In short it's quite a nice way to pass the afternoon: people sunbathing, kids playing in the sand, hipsters batting around a shuttlecock, the young-at-heart hopping from picnic table to picnic table with friends. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the city.

The problem (and Harry I do love your chutzpah for opening this thing) is that the HWTB was either unprepared to serve people on Memorial Day (the last day in a long weekend) or by Monday the help decided that they just didn't care that much anymore.  Pretty much the only thing to eat was the barely warmed hot dogs, and a lot of the staff looked like they were done working for the day--especially the ones manning the often slow grill. In an especially amusing turn, I was asked if I wanted change from a $5 for my $3 hot dog that the server had walked 20 feet from the grill to the picnic table. Of course these are small details and things that could be easily explained away thanks to an especially brisk weekend of customers.

So what I'm looking for is reports from the front. I know the half of Brooklyn who didn't go last weekend will be there this weekend. Let us know if you managed to wrangle up more than a hot dog--and if the promised $2 PBR materialized--are we experiencing yet another PBR scare? Anyone go back for a second round?

Eater has some commentary going, too.