No name cart (Water and Hanover)

This cart has no sign but lots of food photographs in a strange 70s-looking palette. There's a sign proclaiming "Basmati Rice!" So, I'm hopeful that at least the rice will be better than average. I order the "curry chicken" thinking that maybe it will be different from the usual - most halal vendors just list "chicken" on their menus. Unfortunately the chicken and rice turns out to be the same dish available everywhere, and it doesn't have a lot of flavor - the chicken is kind of bland and fatty, and the basmati rice has only the palest hint of basmati aroma. The hot sauce is different though, very vinegary - the one nice surprise from the no-name cart.

Adel's Best Halal (Front Street at Maiden Lane)

I like the extra vegetables mixed in here, and the bonus piece of falafel (which was great). The chicken was minced, much smaller pieces than usual, and was of pretty high quality. The downside is that the chicken wasn't very spicy and didn't taste like it had been marinated very long. The hot sauce added some flavor, though. While not worth a detour, I would try Adel's again if it were closer to my office. Based on the bonus tasty falafel ball thrown in with my chicken, I would try the falafel sandwich next time.

(I think I freaked them out a little when I took a picture of the cart, sorry guys! There was all sorts of police activity, plainclothes guys with earpieces lurking around, and military helicopters flying and hovering about today. The President of the United States of Amurka, here for the UN general assembly, uses the heliport one block away from here. I think we saw Marine 1 and 2, with two scary-looking military chopper escorts, taking off while we ate our lunch.)

Jiannetto's Pizza Truck (Front and Wall)

The pizza crust was surprisingly crisp and tasty, but there was too much of the watery tomato sauce. The topping was just a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and a few basil leaves, which didn't add much flavor but was a nice change from the gooey cheap mozzarella piled on at most slice counters in the city. We also got the Sicilian rice ball, expecting an order of three little balls like the ones at most Italian pork stores or delis (or like Bar Stuzzichini's rice balls, which are amazing, even though the restaurant looks like Mozzarelli's in the Green Hills Mall in Nashville, Tennessee...but I digress). This rice ball was huge, the size of my head, filled with meat, rice and frozen peas (they weren't frozen still, but there was a taste of freezer burn), topped with tons of tomato sauce and loads of cheese. Kind of bland but not terrible, but still a mediocre lunch.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

I tried the tomato tarte tatin recipe that was in the NY Times a week or so ago, and managed to produce a kind of tasty failure.
It called for frozen puff pastry - my first reaction was to try to make it myself, but then I read the puff pastry recipes from Julia Child, Jacques Pepin and Patricia Wells and reconsidered. Besides, my forays into baking usually end in disaster. I have made a tarte tatin before, and even though the pastry I make is more rustic, not real puff pastry, I usually make a mess with it and it crumbles and breaks and burns. SO, I found a good frozen puff pastry at the grocery store (from Dufour Pastry Kitchens). The flavors of the tarte were fantastic - the sweet carmelized onions, the tangy yellow and red cherry tomatoes, the olives and thyme - but the pastry ended up a soggy mess. I guess grape tomatoes would have released less liquid than cherries, or better yet I could have roasted the tomatoes first. (Although I never would have tried the recipe then because the oven would have been on forever and the apartment would have been 500 degrees.) It made me long for the addition of anchovies, though I guess then it would be just a pissaladiere with tomatoes...which actually sounds pretty great to me. Maybe next time.

(The pastry was good - I know only because Alex took the scraps from the tarte and made yummy little crescent rolls with them.)

Lunch (not Brunch) at Fatty Crab

Brunch and the brunching hordes of New York can be so annoying. Most restaurants just mix their random leftovers with eggs, and the silly crowds love it. I had to be in the Meatpacking district for an errand on Saturday, we were hungry and surrounded by brunchers. It was a beautiful day and all of the spots around Pastis were packed with overdressed twenty-somethings, trying to look like they didn't spend an hour getting ready to go out. So we thought of Fatty Crab, which we love and don't visit often enough... surely they avoid the brunch cliche? Sure enough, it was an excellent choice. While the menu did officially mention the work "brunch," there were no omelettes to be found. We easily snagged a table outside - I think that maybe the word "fatty" in the name keeps out the annoying riff-raff. Alex agrees with my hypothesis and says if he opened a restaurant he would call it Fatty Fat Pig.

Alex had this beautiful, spicy bloody mary, and I had a delicious watermelon juice (not too sweet - either it has added lime juice or just some rind juice mixed in). The steamed pork buns with cilantro salad and a spicy hoisin-style sauce are unbelievable - we stuffed the cilantro salad, dressed with a mild vinaigrette and mixed with boiled eggs and red onion, inside the bun with the fatty chunk of pork belly and dipped each bite in the sauce. Heavenly. We also enjoyed the pickled watermelon and crispy pork salad, with lemongrass and cilantro, the Malay fish fry (fried chunks of fish with a spicy coconut curry sauce served over rice with loads of cilantro on top) and the wonton mee (dumplings in broth topped with crunchy noodles). It was the perfect antidote to brunch.

Sandwiches at Murray's Cheese Shop

Field trip! This doesn't really qualify as a Wall Street lunch, but these amazing gems are just a short subway ride away. Aside from ino, the pressed panini at Murray's are my favorite sandwiches in the city. Murray's is one of my favorite places in the world, but I'm sure these sandwiches would win in a blind taste test. In the "Smoky Joe" pictured here, the perfectly pressed bread is filled with amazing smoked mozzarella, sundried tomatoes and basil. It's a flavor bonanza. The ratio of fillings to bread is perfect, and each element is enhanced by the combination. This is my ideal sandwich.

Of course I can't go to Murray's without stocking up on some cheese, with the help of the geniuses behind the counter. I had to bring them back to work with me, so I stuffed them in the fridge at my office, permanently stinking up the pantry. (Sorry work peoples!)
We have taken a couple of classes in their cheese school on the second floor recently (one on sherry and Spanish cheeses, and one on blue cheeses from around the world) - this trip reminds me that we need to register for more. When I lived in this neighborhood a few years ago Murray's was in the tiny space across the street. I'm glad they have moved into grander digs, more appropriate for an operation of this magnitude, one of the most important institutions in the NY food world. YAY Murrays!

Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel

Our recent martini obsession (which arose out of (1) Alex re-reading several MFK Fisher books and (2) watching episodes of Mad Men with appropriate cocktails in hand), Alex and I decided we needed to try some of these old-school old New York places before they disappear, and before we have kids and won't be able to go out anymore. Our first stop was Bemelmans Bar, which is in the gorgeous, sumptuous lobby of the Carlyle. This place is dripping with Upper East Side. (It's so Upper East Side that I spied the socialite Aerin Lauder having dinner in the Cafe. I didn't even bother to point her out to Alex because he would have no idea who she is - I recognized her only because her picture is in every issue of Vogue.) I used to live three blocks from here and it never occurred to me to try this place - probably because I was a student then and a drinks are one million dollars each. Anyway, we're on a mission so we scoot past the Cafe and are seated at a cozy little table in the corner of the bar. Bemelmans murals cover the walls and even the lampshades on each table. He was the illustrator of the Madeline books, so the murals make for a warm, inviting room - evocative of a nursery, which is kind of strange for a bar. The room is full of dark wood, the lighting is just a soft glow, and a jazz trio is playing (quite loudly) in the center of the room.

Alex ordered a martini and I opted for something from their special cocktail menu - a gin gin mule, which is Gordon's gin, ginger beer, muddled mint, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. It sounds really great but it's too sweet, which is my verdict on 99% of cocktails. Our waiter, all dressed up in a fancy white get-up, serves our cocktails to us on a silver tray with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with a place like this. We also get a little silver snack tray with nuts and potato chips. The potato chips seem a little weird, but they were tasty. Aside from the weird lecherous older couple in the corner, pawing each other and flirting in loud, obnoxious Long Island accents (or maybe New Jersey?), it was a pleasant, pampering spot for a cocktail.

NB: I would not recommend, however, ordering the food - which we did, our hunger being stronger than our judgment. My $19 croque monsieur was presented, nursery-food style, in six tiny squares with the edges cut off. It was just a ham and cheese - they forgot the bechamel, I think. Alex's steak frites, a deal at $28 (the burger was $27!), was adequate, average, but kind of cold by the time it arrived.

Lesson: an elegant and civilized environment can elevate the enjoyment of a cocktail, but it can't rescue mediocre bar food. Still, experiencing a drink at Bemelmans is a treat.

Sam's Falafel (Cedar b/t Broadway and Trinity)

On a side street down from cart central on Broadway. I love this sign!
Sam's is definitely better than Alan's (the other falafel cart in this area). The sandwich ($3!) is topped with a generous pile of sauteed onions, a few pieces of sauteed eggplant, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, and white sauce. The falafel tastes strongly of lemon and cumin and the texture is lovely - soft but not crumbly, with a slightly crisp exterior (not crunchy). This is such a mess - it's dripping everywhere, but it is quite delicious. This is one of the few carts down here that is worth a detour.

Tomato Sorbet and Summer Pistou

This tomato sorbet was strange and sweet, served with a few peeled cherry tomatoes, beautiful green basil oil and a tomato coulis. Alex spent hours on this - it was one of those impossible recipes from the French Laundry cookbook, not really meant for home cooks but Alex managed it anyway. Bizarrely delicious. The pistou, from a Patricia Wells recipe, was garlicky and delicious - a celebration of summer beans. The cranberry beans were the prettiest, but there were also lovely green beans, wax beans, white beans, plus zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions. The garnishes - dollops of basil pistou, generous sprinkles of gruyere and parmesan cheeses, added such different flavor elements - they really complimented the vegetables and elevated their flavors. Another fabulous greenmarket feast!

Maranon (Red Hook Ballfields)

From the Salvadoran pupusa stand at the Red Hook ballfields...a cashew beverage. It really does taste nutty and sweet, with a citrus twist, though I'm not sure if there is any citrus added. This is a weird treat - It's very milky and has a thick, silky texture but doesn't feel heavy in my mouth. It's very soothing after a taste of my hotsauce-doused pupusa.

Ruben's Empanadas (Broad and Stone)

A few locations, this one is at Broad and Stone - right behind the Goldman Sachs building. The empanadas are kept hot in a weird ovenlike vending-machine contraption, and sometimes the savory pastry crust has a hardened texture, like it has been sitting in there a day or so too long. However, when they're good they're really good. I'm partial to the spicy chicken empanada, which combined with their delicious vinegary hot sauce provides quite a kick. I also like a small cup of the black bean soup on the side. Today I tried the gazpacho but I can't really recommend it - too watery and garlicky, not enough tomato flavor, tiny specks of parsley and no cilantro (cilantro may not be traditional in gazpacho, I don't know - I just really like cilantro in everything). Inside the empanada, the minced chicken filling is combined with lots of red pepper sauce, tiny chopped green onions and red peppers. The perfect bite has more chicken than pastry and a healthy dunk in the tiny cup of hot sauce.

Bouchon Bakery (Time Warner Center mall)

I had to be in midtown early in the morning a couple of days this week for a seminar. When I got off the D at Columbus Circle, hungry for breakfast, I remembered Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center. Thomas Keller is such a perfectionist, I assume he would not associate his name with any mediocre establishment, so I began the ascent up three escalators to the top of the mall. This mall thing feels so weird and out of place in New York, but at the same time it doesn't feel like it could be anywhere else. (OMG, someone is mallwalking here, with running shoes, weights, headphones - the works. Right across the street from Central Park. And it's not like it's raining or anything, it's 75 and sunny outside. How bizarre.)

Hmm, muffins? A slice of coffee cake? I opted for the almond raspberry croissant and a double espresso (to keep me awake for my upcoming 8 hours of tax law lectures). OK, there's a little too much going on here - almonds, powdered sugar, almond paste and raspberry jam- but the pastry is definitely delicious. What started out as a restrained French pastry has been super-sized and infused with extra flavors and fillings for the American mall crowd! Whatever, it's damn tasty. And this espresso is pretty good too.

I went back for lunch but I didn't have time to sit in the roped off table service part - I just ordered a ham and cheese croissant from the to-go counter. It was pressed and toasted, with the gruyere melting and dripping out of the flaky pastry. Also had an Arnold Palmer (lemonade and iced tea) and a tiny moist but cakey chocolate bouchon - mmmm. Quite a tasty lunch.

Alfanoose (Maiden Lane)

I walked up to cart central on Broadway and Cedar but a lot of the vendors had been moved to prepare for the Sept 11 memorial. I wonder if the vendors moved or whether they were told they couldn't set up today? I hope they were compensated. Also, did anyone know there was a statewide sing-a-long of "Let it Be" today at 2pm ? How did we manage to make this annual "commemoration" into something so tacky and maudlin. Let it Be? Seriously? I'm posting the sheet from my building management above so no one will think I'm making this shit up. There's a "New Orleans funk" band playing on our plaza, which will stop at 2pm and break into a chorus of "Let it Be." WTF? Please see wonkette for a pictorial tribute to this sort of thing. (I worked down here on Sept 11, and it was horrible. It's not that I think the anniversary should be ignored, but perhaps that it is commemorated more effectively with silence. I don't see how a New Orleans funk band whispering words of wisdom seven years later is helping anything.)

So I walked up to Alfanoose on Maiden Lane. What a treat - Alfanoose serves the best middle eastern food in this area. Oh how I wish I could find a cart serving food this delicious. I also wish that Alfanoose were closer to my office. The contents of my container shifted a little during my walk to the park (I like to eat by the water), and the picture is terrible anyway - but I swear this is some wondrous stuff. The mojadara - bulgur with tomato sauce and fried onions - has such a heavenly texture and earthy, sweet and sour flavor - I almost ate that whole 5 lb serving. The babaghanoush is smooth and tangy with real eggplant flavor. The taboule is mostly parsley so it functions more as a salad (compared with the versions that are mostly bulgur) - very refreshing with strong lemony flavor. I love the garnishes of pickled radish and cucumber and fresh red onion. Other times I've tried the tender chicken schwarma, marinated in tangy spices and I highly recommend both the sandwich and the platter. Alfanoose is one of the few lunch options down here that is worth a trip, or at least a small detour.

In praise of Pret (Broad Street)

It's amazing how many colleagues are horrified at my goal of eating food from all of our neighboring street carts. I keep getting, "Did you see that piece on Gothamist about street vendors getting caught picking their noses and rubbing their bare feet?" Well, I did see the headline and quickly averted my eyes. But really, don't you think that a lot worse than that goes on behind closed doors in restaurant kitchens? At least the street vendors are operating on an open stage for all the world to see.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand...the British chain Pret a Manger, which is all over Manhattan now, is my backup when I go to lunch with anyone who is less than enthusiastic about my project. In my pre-vendor days, I sometimes ate at Pret every day. The sandwiches are full of flavorful ingredients, the salads are fresh, crisp and interesting, the baked goods are delightful, the Pret drinks are even good (I love the unsweetened Assam tea!) Pictured is a salad with grilled free range chicken, slices of granny smith apple, walnuts, dried cranberries, tomatoes, and blue cheese. My favorite sandwich has avocado, grana, pine nuts and tomato. Pret really pays attention to its ingredients - including the sources of its meats, which lessens my carnivore's guilt. (Though I know the USDA definition of "free-range" leaves much to be desired.)

As an aside, I definitely have qualms about the background of my street meats - and I don't think halal butchery is more humane or requires that the animals be raised in a more humane way - but I try not to think about it, and figure that my supporting these vendors and their small businesses is a good thing. I am careful with my meat buying when I cook at home - either going to small producers at the greenmarket or buying from producers like D'Artagnan at the grocery store.

My meat-buying and meat-eating guilt is further complicated by the fact that my family raises pigs and cows (conventionally - what some might label as industrial agriculture, or at least a link in the industrial agriculture chain) on our farm in GA. More about that later.

Where was I? Oh, Pret. The mini-brownie is such a perfect treat during A work day. It's tiny, but I savor every bite. I am admittedly a terrible baker, but this brownie has a better texture than I have ever achieved at home - it's soft and almost gooey in the center, but perfectly firm yet moist on the outside. Again, their quality ingredients, like decent chocolate, makes Pret stand out. I temporarily suspend my disdain for chains here - Pret is an exception from the rule that chains suck. Pret is (or appears to be) an environmentally/socially responsible company, and they serve mostly delicious food... I heart Pret.

Parsley Ice Cream?

Alex and his ice cream maker are out of control these days. He just whipped up some bizarrely delicious parsley ice cream. By itself it was just weird - it tasted like a savory herb custard that should be served with roast beef or something. But over a bowl of macerated strawberries in fresh lemon syrup, the ice cream tasted fresh and interesting - it tasted like the smell of freshly mowed grass. The experience of eating it was kind of like eating strawberries outside on a picnic while inhaling that outside/grass/trees/leaves scent. I admit I was skeptical, but parsley ice cream really is tasty.

Tuthilltown Spirits

In addition to having the best label and bottle design ever, these lovely whiskeys come with an interesting backstory. They are crafted in very small batches in the Hudson valley by the first whiskey distillery to operate in New York State since prohibition. We have all sorts of cocktail recipes that call for rye - but we've been enjoying the rye by itself so much we haven't wanted to mix it with anything. Same goes for the four grain bourbon, which is very rich and a tiny bit smoky but not cloyingly sweet like some mass produced varieties. The rye tastes crisper and cleaner than the bourbon, but both are so arrestingly delicious they deserve to be contemplated, appreciated, and sipped very slowly. I have granted Hudson Whiskeys permanent residency in our home bar. I hope we can always have this stuff around (though we might have to hide it from certain guests. . . these small bottles don't last very long).

Adrienne's Pizza Bar - Stone Street

If you have time to sit down and order, Adrienne's pizza is shockingly good. My standards are lower than normal in the Wall Street area, but Adrienne's would be good anywhere. The rectangular crust is thin, with perfectly browned, thick and crispy edges. The "old fashioned," topped with a sweet and substantial tomato sauce, a thin layer of mozzarella and a sprinkling of parmeggiano, is

perfectly balanced - just the right sauce/topping ratio - and tangy, gooey and delicious. Toppings like eggplant, mushrooms and olives are of good quality, not the common canned and/or mushy versions. This pizza even impressed my pizza-obsessed husband, who is willing to come all the way down here to meet me for lunch only if he's promised Adrienne's.

Halal Food, Broadway between Cedar and Liberty

Another one in the crowded cart district on Broadway. There's no name posted on the cart, but it's on the east side, middle of the block, separated from Alan's by a smoothie cart. The line looked long and promising. Though the menu was expansive, I ordered the chicken and rice, hot sauce white sauce standby.
I think the sauces are more flavorful than average, and the chicken is really spicy. The chunks are larger than most carts, with no bone or gristle but kind of fatty - and the spiced yellow rice has good flavor but is really clumpy. I liked the big slices of green and red pepper sauteed in with the chicken. A little better than average I think.

Stony Hill Chardonnay

So sad. We just finished the last bottle in our case of Stony Hill, my absolute favorite chardonnay from California (OK, I admit to not liking many of them). We fell in love with it when visited the charming, beautiful vineyard way back in 2001. Not the normal tourist-trap Napa experience - you have to make an appointment, the numbers of visitors are limited, and it's far away from the drunken hordes, perched at the top of a mountain with a breathtaking view of the valley below. It's such a small operation - a family-run vineyard dating back more than 50 years - that it's hard to find the wines here in New York. I've only seen it in really fancy restaurants, where it's way too expensive for the likes of me. My mom visited Stony Hill in June and sent us this case. We only drank it when we thought our cooking worthy of the wine - it was not allowed to accompany take-out, or any dish we thought might overwhelm the delicate yet multi-faceted flavor. Unlike most of those oaky, huge CA chardonnays, this one is crisp and minerally, just like they make them in Burgundy. It is not timid, though - its rich, complex stone fruit flavors assert themselves and compliment a wide variety of dishes, as long as there's a little fat to coax out all the nuances. It was especially good with flounder under dill souffle (which sounds more complicated than it is), chicken roasted with rosemary and preserved lemon, and pasta with red pepper sauce and goat cheese. I want more Stony Hill! I think I'll order a case so that I can again go through the complicated process of lugging a few bottles home every day on the subway (we don't have a doorman at home, so all our packages go to my office). It will be SO worth it.

Butter is good

This is me making a sauce for some flounder we bought at the greenmarket. The recipe is just butter, butter, butter and cider vinegar, slowly whipped to creamy, unctuous goodness and poured over the steamed fish filets. For all its simplicity, the sauce tastes surprisingly complex. We had lots of green market veggies to balance this out - heirloom tomato salad with those amazing-looking mexican sour gherkins (they look like tiny watermelons but taste like lemony cucumbers), sauteed zucchini, fresh mixed greens. And an astoundingly good blueberry frozen yogurt made by Alex - it tastes like the essence of pure blueberries. Oh my. (The fish recipe is from Patricia Wells's Bistro Cooking, which I think is her most genius work. )

The Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien - 56th or 57th between 5th and 6th

Hidden behind a thick curtain in the lobby of this glossy midtown hotel lies this bizarre little greasy burger nook. The Burger Joint has saved me from starvation so many times - during Christmas shopping trips, after the opera or a concert at Carnegie Hall, after a day of museum-hopping and/or tourist-hosting. They have a super limited menu and all sorts of rules about ordering, but it's worth it. The line is long, but there always seem to be seats available just when you need them. The beer is cold, the fries are crispy, the burgers are juicy, and all the fixins are applied with care. They're thick, but not so thick they won't fit into a normal-sized mouth - a perfect quick and delicious meal. I would go to this place no matter where it happened to be, but it is a godsend in the overproduced and overpriced restaurant world of midtown.

The Modern Martini

I heard recently that scientists have isolated the gene for liking cilantro - if something in this gene is turned on, then you love it, if it's not, cilantro just smells like soap and tastes horrible. Hopefully, with the advances of modern science, the problem can be fixed - no one should be deprived of the enjoyment of such an amazing taste and heavenly fragrance. Until then, more for me, I guess. My love for cilantro explains why I worship this martini invented by a smartypants mixmaster at the Modern. It's made from cilantro-infused Tanqueray gin and lime juice, and garnished with a lime and cherry tomato. Just the smell of this drink makes me happy - it's the loveliest scent in the world and I want to wear it as my perfume forever and ever, the end. Also, it tastes perfect. The cilantro flavor is there, though it's stronger in the scent than the taste, the herbal flavor of the gin still comes through, and the lime juice (which must be a little bit sweetened) rounds it all out. This is the most excellent cocktail I know.

Alan's Falafel - Broadway between Cedar and Liberty

Alan's is one of the many carts located in the street food bonanza of this block. I decided to try it first because of the long line and limited menu, which I think are good signs with food carts. Of the two options, falafel sandwich and falafel plate, I opted for the plate which came with a dollop of hummus, babaghanoush, a stuffed grape leaf, some pieces of fried eggplant, a piece of pita, and lettuce and tomato. Everything was topped with a generous covering of hot sauce and white sauce. (I was impressed by the helping of hot sauce - most vendors seem to think I can't handle the hot sauce, being a girl and all, so they never give me quite enough. This guy gave me a man-sized portion, which I appreciated.) The falafel had a nice thick and crunchy coating, and the spiced chickpea filling was toothsome but not too dry or crumbly, like some lesser forms can be. The side dishes were passable - I especially liked all of the black pepper in the babaghanoush. The stuffed grape leaf had the vinegary tang that I look for and a nice creamy texture
with the grains of rice kind of melded together.
The falafel is the thing, though - and Alan's offers
a carefully made and delicious version. (A good bargain
too - the plate is $5, and the sandwich is only $3!)