pizzass

One of my favorite favorite things besides anything food related, is stone lithography. It is such a beautiful and amazing printmaking technique, but not that many people do it anymore!  I haven't done any since I graduated, which bums me out because it's such a tricky thing to learn, and I felt like I was just hitting the tip of the litho iceberg and then college ended, and now I have forgotten so much. But I'm hoping to take an advanced (haha yeah right) class soon! Anyway, I met this lady at Pace who came in for a while to help print some etchings, and she is a (Tamarind) litho queen and nerd too, and it was nice to freak out about litho with somebody who I can learn a lot from. Look at her website here: http://debchaneyeditions.tumblr.com/

ALL OF THIS IS LEADING TO WHY I ATE THESE PIZZAS...um she had me and some others over for dinner. That's all. She made all the dough and the sauce from scratch, and there is really nothing like homemade pizza, it's its own category of pizza...just like how there are burger categories. It was all amazingly delicious.

Sweet potato, mushroom, and basil pizza 

This was sort of a sweet pizza, which I like so much with the salty cheese. Not sweet like candy, but the way vegetables can be made savory-sweet, like carrots.

Brussell sprouts, mushrooms, red peppers

Sweet potato and brussell sprouts...and something else? I can't remember, but I know that this one was my favorite one. There was also a fourth pizza but after steadily eating my way through 3 pizzas, I lost any will to move and take more pictures...on my iPhone. Yeah, it was that good and filling.

HIT Korean Deli

I used to eat Korean food every day, then I went to college and mostly only ate it when I went home. Then I graduated and moved away from Providence to New York, where I thought I would be eating a lot more of it, but that's not true. Korean food isn't as readily available as I thought, but I guess this isn't L.A...the west coast will always be the best. FOREVER! So yeah, I missed it so I did some hunting on the Internet for Korean places not in Flushing, and this deli came up. It's tucked behind the security desk of a random office building, but it's got a lot of good Korean food. And if the rest of it is as good as this bibim bap I had, then it's worth going back all the time.

This bibim bap was really good, mostly because it had so many different vegetables, some of which I think the owner grows in his own yard somewhere in Queens. There are sprouts, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, lettuce, kale, seaweed, other unidentifiable pickled crunchy things, and a fried egg. This is before it all got mixed up with the sauce. It also comes with a side of soup (which was ok) and radish kimchi (which was not good, it was too fishy tasting).

papacitos sucks

 On Saturday night, I didn't think I was going to make it to any sort of brunch event. Then I woke up and really needed brunch so I texted a bunch of people to see who was awake, and the unlucky people that I woke up got to go to brunch with me. It was not very good mostly because the service was awful, and all the food came out cold. It probably would have tasted ok if it wasn't cold, but at least it looks nice.

 French toast

Steak torta

Russ & Daughters

What can I say about this place except that it is heaven?

Sesame bagel with cream cheese, nova lox, capers, and tomatoes

 

I want to be a "regular" here, like I want them to throw free bagels at my face when I walk in the door and dance around me, then give me breakfast. But that's just a dream.

some somethings

I forget what this is called, but it's like a crispy pork belly rice bowl from Oh Taisho. I always pass by this place and though it was sort of gimmicky so I never went it, but I tried it with Edoooo and it was really good, in a "salty-greasy but it doesn't taste like it" way. Does that make sense? I think this place serves the Japanese equivalent of trashy foods, but with lots of soy sweet saucey things and kewpie mayo instead of cheese.

Sometimes you already ate dinner but you're walking by a pizza place and you just gotta get a slice and a soda. It's like a moth to a flame, I don't understand how pizza always looks good no matter what.

Brunch at Enid's

Fried jalapeno grits, scrambled eggs, a biscuit, and a little salad from Enid's in Greenpoint. Plus some mimosas that showed up before the food and got me a little bit drunk before 3 pm, but it's ok because brunch is what makes drinking at early times acceptable.

The food was good but nothing spectacular or mind-blowing, but it was great because it was with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. And it's nice in there, I liked it. But I misunderstood "fried jalapeno grits" and thought that meant creamy grits with fried jalapenos on top...which actually sounds better to me, but this was fine too.

I was just talking to David and Kate (hey guys!) about the big deal about brunch, and they don't really get it. There is this weird brunch culture here, and in Providence and Seattle too, I think. I don't know what it is...but I really like brunch! I mean, I guess brunch is the kitschy version of breakfast on the weekends, and I feel like brunch is always at places with names like "Rabbit Hole Cafe" or something like that. So maybe it's more of an ~ambiance~ thing than it is about the food, but it's nice! I mean, the week is so busy and breakfast usually means a bagel, or toast, or nothing, and when the weekend comes, it's so comforting to wake up at a leisurely hour, meet your friends, and still get bacon and pancakes but also get a hamburger if you really want. It's like a free for all, you can eat whatever you want at whatever time you want. But brunch at home is nice too, do you want to come over?

rye bread

There's a Finnish (I think) stand at the market in Union Square that sells 100% rye bread on the weekend. Lots of rye bread contains a bunch of different flours and isn't 100% rye, and rye is apparently is better for losers like me who are "sensitive" to gluten. The bread is super thick and has got a nice bite to it, and it's really delicious and hearty, so perfect for this ham sandwich I made. But I don't think it could ever replace sourdough bread or baguettes or really any bread that's got that nice crusty outside and insides so soft you wanna squish it into a ball, but that's gross and only really processed Wonderbread does that.

four & twenty blackbirds

Kate and I had to go out to Gowanus to deliver something to the Pace Paper shop, which is so beautiful, by the way. But I guess not as beautiful as the pie shop around the corner from them, because no matter how much I like art and printmaking and paper and whatever, food always wins. Oops, B.F.A, bad idea? Just kidding.

Maple buttermilk custard

We ate this one in the shop, which is this beautiful wooden space that looks like Portland. This pie is so decadent and amazingly delicious. It's been a while since I ate it, so I can't really remember how to describe it, but it was sort of like flan pie. But better than flan, and who doesn't like flan?

Salted caramel apple

Salted honey

AMAZING PIE

I liked this pie the most. I don't eat a lot of sweets or desserts mostly because I always have to follow them up with something salty and savory. This is why brunch can be the best meal because you can have salty and sweet things together, like bacon and french toast...and oh look, oops, some maple syrup got on my bacon and I have to eat it.  Anyway, this is why this pie is so good, because it does the salty-sweet thing in such a good, perfectly balanced subtle way, not like kettle corn.

 

Where the magic happens

 

back to banh mi saigon

 

Pate Pork Banh Mi

I've had the BBQ pork sandwich at Banh Mi Saigon lots of times, but it's the only thing I've ever tried there because it's so good! But today I decided to try the pork pate one today, and it was such a good decision. This is so tasty because the pate and pork are kind of heavy but the pickled vegetables balance it out so well.

food blobs

Some food from last week

 Spring rolls from Go-Go Thai, really really fresh and good. Here's a tip though: make sure you add the word "restaurant" after Go-Go Thai if you need to google it, unless you want some sexy Thai ladies

The nice thing about working near Union Square is that the farmer's market is so close!! I finally decided/realized that it would be a good idea to buy most of my lunch groceries at the market and leave it at work so I'm not always waking up too late to make lunch and then instead, "having" to eat a pork belly sandwich or something.  For this, I got spinach and mesclun mix, an apple, and caramelized onion and butternut squash focaccia at the market, and then got some gorgonzola and an avocado at Whole Foods.

Ann is leaving Pace, and that's a real bummer. But she's also going off to do her own work and other big great things in Germany and her studio, which I am really going to encourage her to name after me. ;-) This is a winky face, emoticons don't communicate my joke-y tone very well, do they? So anyway, it's really not so sad after all, like how parents are happy-sad when their kids go to college, except that Ann is older and infinitely wiser than me, and I have no children so I don't really know what that feels like. She had a studio-warming party, but I was too busy trying to eat snacks that I forgot to take a picture of the actual studio, so I stole this one from her:

Isn't it so nice? Here is her website with all her wonderful work: http://www.annaspinwall.com/

There is a big table in the middle that was covered with food. The best part is that since it's not a very big space, hanging around the snack table doesn't look like you're only trying to socialize with the food because that's really the most spacious place to hang out anyway...right?

Kathy's husband, Richard, made caponata, which is a Sicilian vegetable salad type dish with eggplant. And it was so so delicious, it would have been great if I could have just eaten it straight from the spoon. Plus, Richard lived and travels around Italy every year, so he knows his stuff.

He also made terrine! I've actually not had very much pate or terrine, although in my head, I always assumed I liked it a lot, so this was a great way to back up those assumptions. It's more solid like meatloaf and not spreadable like pate, and I think I prefer that because it feels more substantial. And you can make sandwiches out of it. I keep scrolling back up as I'm typing this to go have a look at the picture again and try to remember how good it tasted and how that was a really good moment when I ate some.

AHHHHHH

That's all I have to say, and I'm pretty sure that was my response when this beautiful platter showed up.

Then there were 3 pizzas from Sullivan St. Bakery, and they were the kind that's just bread and whatever toppings are on other, no sauce or crust, you know all that stuff

This one was zucchini, the one above was mushroom, and there was a potato one as well, but the picture was too blurry. The potato was my favorite because there's something really great about eating starch on top of starch.

KORZO HAUS (best burger ever)

So last week I went to Korzo Haus with some people I work with. But when I say "some people" I mean that with a lot of affection and love, not like "some people" from off the street or that I went to high school with or ...something. Anyway, THIS PLACE RULES!!! It is amazing and I have found my favorite burger in New York and maybe the world. I mean, I know I've been here less than a year, but I have eaten a lot of burgers in the past 9 months!

They have a daily burger special called "The Steven," which I think is the name of the guy who makes the burgers. This day it was nutella and pickled jalepenos, which sounds so crazy and I would totally try it, but I wanted to try the original one first. Another day...

The Original burger is a beef patty, apple smoked bacon, allgauer emmentaller cheese, mustard and whatever their pickled thing for the day is. This day it was pickled celery, and it was really good. The burger is then wrapped in...get this...Hungarian fried bread, called Langos. Served with apples, cabbage slaw, and aioli. There are no words for the magic that happened when I took my first bite. The cheese is so creamy and a little pungent which goes so well with the nice, fatty bacon. But then the pickles complement it all so well, with a little sourness and crunch. Same with the slaw and apples, you don't need much more than a few bites of that, because the burger is so good (I couldnt even finish it), but it really does help balance out the heaviness of it all.

Ann's "Slav" burger, which is a ground beef patty, slow-cooked pork neck Haus sauerkraut, caraway seeds, juniper berries, bryndza. Kristen got the veggie burger, but it didn't come out very well in my pictures since it's so dark in there, but apparently it was amazing.

 Halušky fries, which are basically little potato noodles

They make their own beet ketchup and hot sauce, both amazing as well!! There were some dudes next to us having a bro night or something, and they ordered some of the other amazing looking food, like the mac and cheese and potato salad, in addition to their burgers!! I can only dream of a bottomless stomach pit like that. We should have tasted some of it.

 Korzo Haus serves "mittle European comfort fare" (apparently mittle = middle, who knew), which I'm not sure I really knew what that was, but if it's all like the food the serve there, I will move to somewhere in "mittle" Europe. There's a location in Brooklyn too just called "Korzo" and I guess it's a little different, but I'd like to try it. Everything is locally sourced and seasonal, and soooo good. Holy cow. Really.