Free burgers? Mmmm...

As we all now know, DEM RAVENS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!  (Ahem, sorry, felt the need to shout that).

To celebrate this, today only, January 21, Z Burger in White Marsh will be giving out free hamburgers (or would these be "Har-burgers"?) from 11 to 2.  As The Sun's Richard Gorelick mentions, they did this last week, too, after the Ravens' thrilling victory over the Broncos.  I actually found that one more exciting, though this one more satisfying.  He mentions that you had to say the magic words "Super Bowl" when ordering, so maybe you have to this time as well?  You can get either a regular or a purple bun.  Ah me.  RAVENSW000000000T!

Austin City Unlimited, Part II - Live Music City's other not-so-weird offerings

As I noted in a previous post, I visited Austin recently.  It is a food city with lots of barbecue, lots of Mexican food, and lots of Tex-Mex food.  But please don't assume that's all there is.  Oh no, there is so much more wonderful food.

I've visited a few Whole Foodses before: DC's very large one near Dupont Circle, the West Hollywood one near Fairfax, and both of Baltimore's, plus random ones in Philly and Manhattan.  I did not know this until just before I visited this proudly weird city, but Whole Foods began in Austin.  

As such, its biggest Whole Foods on North Lamar is so massive and so very comprehensive that it puts any other I have ever visited to shame (especially both of Baltimore's, which are peensy boutique markets by comparison).  

Electronic, updatable labels?  What kind of carbon footprint does that make?

This place has a few massive buffets, a barbecue station (natch), a gelato station, a taco station, walls of coffee, chocolates, tea - yes, tea - a large bakery, massive wine section, a walk-in beer freezer, bulk goods (five types of bulk quinoa alone), even a section where they sell environmentally friendly locally sourced clothing.

Just one section of The Wall Of Bulk Foods

I visited twice, once for a large Texas-shaped candy bar that I brought home as a gift for the family, and once for breakfast.

Their breakfast buffet had delicious and hearty offerings and I just took a smattering: everything from cheese grits to bacon to vegan migas and so much more.  And yes, there are recycling stations everywhere.

The same family friend who recommended Ruby's also highly recommended Trudy's, also on the north end of UT Austin, on a very residential street off Guadalupe. I was hoping for lunch, but they didn't open until 2 at all.  I hoofed it the 20 minutes onto campus to see the Texas Natural Science Museum - notable for its paleontology exhibit and native Texas animal dioramas - and came back around 2:30.  I then found out that, though open, they don't serve anything other than appetizers until 4.  Not willing to wait any longer, I hobbled together a meal from a few appetizers - the small bowl of chile con queso with chunks of chicken was doable, and came with plenty of house nachos and crackers.  The tortilla soup I ordered, also a small bowl, was clear and the restaurant kept the tortilla shreds and cheese separate so I could add them myself.  I ordered a margarita on the rocks, though in retrospect I wish I had gotten the frozen one, not because it was hot out (which it was), but because I think I would have liked it better.  It had a mild kick, and was not particularly strong.  The beer I had along with it had the kick, and with the small amount of food I started to feel it.  Not full or terribly satisfied (again, no full menu), I finally got full with a basic (large) burger at the local Whataburger down the street.

A San Antonio based burger chain, by the way, with locations throughout the Southwest.

The Austin and Houston areas have fairly sizable Vietnamese-American population, and phở is easy to find near the UT campus.  I had a good bowl of phở with thinly shaved beef, with a manageable plate of bean sprouts, Thai basil and jalapeño slices, at the Hai Ky Cafe on the 2000 block of Guadalupe street (locally known as the Drag), near the southern end of campus.  

This is a cozy, centrally located restaurant that offers many options for phở fans as well as those seeking noodles and other vegetarian and non-soup options.  The best part: the phở is not pricey at all - all bowls are under $7.  I got spring rolls for just a few dollars more.

I came to Austin for a convention, and had the chance to eat a fancy and above all free meal.  But I didn't know any of these people and didn't feel like forcing myself to make conversation with them, so I headed off on my own for lunch.  

I wound up at Frank, a "hot dogs cold beer" place that serves hot dogs, artisan sausages and so much more.  They have several types of hot dogs overloaded (sometimes to their detriment) with lots of toppings.  

They have so much more, too, including - yes, this is Austin - many vegetarian options.  They have many cocktails, many nods to sauces and even barbecues from other parts of the country (this surprised me a great deal), such as their Texalina, one of many artisan sausages they sell with Western, Southern, Southwestern, Mexican and other stylings (alas, no Old Bay there - hey, you can't have everything - but in retrospect I wouldn't have been surprised to see it).  I ordered the Sonoran dog, topped with so much stuff that I had to eat it with a fork.  A tasty dog, though the toppings almost drowned it out, and weren't as spicy as I might have expected it to be.  Along with it I got waffle fries with Buffalo blue cheese dip (though I think I would've liked the Carolina Dip better)

So satisfying, however, was the Frankencookie dessert concoction.  Get this: two small scoops of coffee ice cream, with a massive and moist chocolate chip-bacon cookie (why is that no longer surprising to see these days?), served warm, and with juicy crumbles of bacon and two pieces of bacon on a stick next to it.

Yes, there really is such a thing as too much bacon.  Seriously I could not finish it.  Anyway, if in Austin go there and order that if that alone.  I must make this some time.

I ended my trip the way any tourist to Austin would: by watching soccer (yes that's snark).  When I found out the US Men's National Team was playing football powerhouse Brazil in my own backyard I was excited!  Then I found out that would be my last night in Austin (that figures), so I sought out a place to watch it.  Fadó is (I now know) a chain of Irish pubs - there are locations in Annapolis and Washington - and one is right in downtown Austin.  

With an adequate order of boxty pancakes topped with sweet Guinness sauce and Tex-Mex ingredients (they also have a boxty quesadilla.  Could this be Celt-Mex?) and a pint of Guinness I got to watch the US team's weak first half and plucky (though still not-enough) second half loss to Brazil 4 to 1 amid other cheering, exasperated fans.  I topped that off with their brown bread ice cream, which really was not all that great: grainy crumbs of brown bread intermixed with an above-average tasting, slightly brown vanilla ice cream.  If going to a Fadó near you for Euro 2012, order something else.

Of course, I capped off dinner at Fadó across the street, at two of the city's downtown gay bars.  Oilcan Harry's is big and flashy, Rain on 4th is cozier (relatively speaking).  Neither was too full - this was midweek after all.  In this quite LGBT-friendly city in Texas, both are worth a look.  The beer is cheaper than at Baltimore's gay bars, even factoring in the increased alcohol tax.  In fact, Austin's sales tax tops ours, at 8.5%, and all the Shiner Bocks I drank (hell, I wasn't driving after all) still came out to less than they would have been here.  Also note: for those visiting my home town from Austin: you can find Shiner Bock on tap at the Hippo.

Snacking State-by-State: New Mexico I - Behold the power of the New Mexico chile

New Mexico's cuisine offers up its own take on Southwestern - the fabled "New Mexican" cuisine, which stands in somewhat stark contrast to America's better-known version of Southwestern, the "Tex-Mex" style.  A few of the upcoming recipes, including the sauce that follows, are part of the New Mexican food tradition.

Official Name: State of New Mexico
State Nicknames: The Land of Enchantment
Admission to the US: January 6, 1912 (#47)
Capital: Santa Fe (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Albuquerque (largest), Las Cruces (2nd largest), Rio Rancho (3rd largest) 
Region: Southwest, West; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Chile Pepper; Pinyon Nut; Bison
Bordered by: Colorado (north), Oklahoma & Texas (east), Sonora & Chihuahua (Mexico) (south), Arizona (west), Utah (northwest)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: biscochito (cookie), New Mexico cutthroat trout (fish), yucca flower (flower), chile pepper (vegetable, though technically it's a fruit), frijol (vegetable - yes, two state vegetables), pine nut tree (tree - for the pine nuts, not the tree), New Mexico black bear (animal, though these are not ever eaten these days)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Southwestern (specifically New Mexican) cuisine; the fabled New Mexico chile, Native American (such as Navajo) foods such as frybread, Navajo taco, etc.


As the Albuquerque Convention Center says right on its website,

New Mexican cuisine is a fusion of Spanish, Native American and Mexican ingredients and techniques. While familiar items like corn, beans and squash are often used, New Mexican cuisine has its own distinct preparation, ingredients and flavor.  [Albuqueque Convention Center 2008] 

New Mexican is not what most Americans think of when we think of Southwestern.  Just as Massachusetts has managed to corner the market on American attitudes towards New England cuisine, so Texas has done the same for Southwestern: in much of the country, "Southwestern" = "Tex-Mex".

Just don't go around saying that in New Mexico.  According to the Albuquerque Journal dining glossary [date unknown], you need go no farther to see the difference between New Mexican and Tex-Mex than the simple chili vs chile.  Chili is the beef & bean concoction (that I will get around to when I hit Texas if not also sooner).  This is a hallmark of Tex-Mex cuisine.  Chile, the fruit (a berry to be specific) of the Capsicum plant, is the bedrock of New Mexican cuisine.

Though of course, it isn't just the New Mexico green chile that we identify with New Mexican, but let's face it: the chile is the star.  Back to the Albuquerque Convention Center's website, which has more:

Harvested in the late summer, the long, narrow peppers are served freshly roasted and peeled, or frozen for use throughout the year. Most commonly, green chile is made into a spicy sauce that’s ladled over enchiladas, burritos and stuffed sopaipillas. Green chile is also found piled on top of cheeseburgers, stuffed into breakfast burritos, fried into rellenos (stuffed chiles) and made into a stew with chunks of potatoes and ground beef, but green chile is such a prominent part of the cuisine that it is also found in breads, on pizza, in pasta and much more. [Albuqueque Convention Center 2008]

It should come as no surprise that New Mexico is the country's leading producer of chile peppers [Albuqueque Convention Center 2008].

Though the local food movement is important - many of my chiles I grew myself, thousands of miles away from the Land of Enchantment - I wanted specifically to use New Mexico chiles for this recipe.  They're not terribly easy to find here in the Back East: most are grown either closer to home or very far, like Mexico or even overseas.  Still, they can be found.  I found a tub of frozen New Mexico green chiles produced by Bueno out of Albuquerque at the Adams Morgan Harris Teeter in Washington, DC.  It's a lovely chile, and as Jane & Michael Stern have so often asserted, both on NPR's Splendid Table and in their 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late [2009], the New Mexico green chile is like no other.  That's whether it's picked green or allowed to ripen to red, and whether it is eaten fresh, frozen or dried and ground up.

For this recipe I wanted to make some sort of green chile cheeseburger.  One problem: I had forgotten to pick up hamburger buns (D'oh!).  So instead I ended up making a makeshift open-faced enchilada (another New Mexican specialty) that really turned out to be more like an open-faced taco than anything else.  Tasty nonetheless, especially with shredded Pecorino Romano left over from the New Jersey recipes I just got through.  So instead, I'm just going to focus on the green chile sauce that would have gone on the burger, and which can be used on so many things.

The Recipe: Traditional New Mexico Green Chile Sauce

The following recipe is from Bueno, printed on the side of their 13 oz container of green chiles.  I could not find the exact recipe on their website (they do have many others), but I did take a photograph of it, so that you, too, can make this recipe:

To make this recipe from the Bueno Foods people, you will need:

* 13 oz green chiles (yes, you may not be able to find New Mexico green chiles, and you can be forgiven for trying but failing to do so - or opting to go the "locally sustainable" route.  But just this once, please try to find the ones from New Mexico.  Only then can you be forgiven for giving up. One container of Bueno's brand, certainly not the only one but the only one I found, cost a little under $4 at the above-mentioned Harris Teeter.  Perhaps the one in Baltimore has them too?)
* vegetable oil (had it)
* onion & garlic (had those too)
* flour (just a little to thicken it - yes, you are making a roux here, just one with garlic and onion in it)
* salt & water (had it)

Heat your oil and add the chopped onion and garlic.

Fry over low heat for a few minutes.

Then add a little flour and stir for half a minute.

Make sure your chiles are thawed if you got them frozen (oops).  Now before I added them to the saucepan I just had to try one "in the buff" (um, no, the chile was in the buff!  Ah, forget it).  The Sterns were right: it is pungent, tangy, spicy and fruity all at once.  It's one hell of a chile.  This is what sparkling wine is from France, or what fish sauce is from Vietnam: it's the best version there is.

Go ahead.  Throw in those chiles.

And then add the salt and water.

You will next bring the chile sauce to a boil, cover and simmer for twelve minutes.

What I got in the end was not as spicy as what I ate beforehand.  It was still spicy, and most of my family would find it hot.  I thought it had just enough.  But there again was the tanginess and the fruitiness, mixed in with a little more of a salty flavor.  I don't see how you could eat this on a cheeseburger without making a mess.  But then again, I don't think New Mexicans are concerned about the messiness of a cheeseburger covered in green chile sauce.

And yes, I did try to make a very on-the-fly open-faced taco, in the spirit of the open-faced enchilada.  Before anybody at all says anything: this is not an enchilada, either the New Mexican style or the traditional Mexican one.  What I did was throw a few corn tortillas on the burner, stack grated Pecorino Romano cheese in between them and top the whole thing with beef & onion, and then - finally - the green chile sauce.  It was a bit difficult to eat without making a mess (yes, that again), but still just as tasty.

I'm going to look for these New Mexico chiles more often in the freezer section.


Sources:


Albuquerque Convention & Visitor's Bureau.  "New Mexican Cuisine".  Published 2008.  Copyright Albuquerque Convention & Visitor's Bureau 2012.


Albuquerque Journal.  "Mexican Food Lover's Guide".  Date unknown.  Copyright Albuquerque Journal 2012.


Bueno Foods.  "Traditional New Mexican Green Chile Sauce".  Date unknown.


Detterick-Piñeda, Cynthia.  "Navajo Fry Bread, Indian Fry Bread".  WhatsCookingAmerica.Net, date unknown.  Copyright WhatsCookingAmerica.Net 2012.


Niederman, Sharon.  "Bizcochitos? Biscochitos?".  Posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright The Santa Fe New Mexican 2012.


Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "New Mexico" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "New Mexico".

Dougherty's Pub

Last night I wanted a hamburger or a Reuben after happy hour, and I was in Mount Vernon.  I considered my usual choices for such sandwiches: City Cafe, Marie Louise, Stable. But a friend texted me another option: Dougherty's Pub, next to the Triple L Bar.  I've passed by this little pub many times but never thought twice about it.  I am glad I did.  Pretty sparsely populated on a Wednesday night, and homey.  They have a standard pub fare menu - pretty much American fare, nothing really Irish if that's what you're seeking - including a list of burgers to go with that beer.  I went with the Blue Cheese burger ($7.50), topped with the standard onions, lettuce, tomato (they will hold those if you don't want them), along with bacon and Bleu cheese dressing.  Not your average warmed over, dried-up burger.  This one was a little soppy on the bottom, but still a good, juicy one.  And a good way to absorb the Fat Tire or two you had at the Central during happy hour.

Snacking State-by-State: Iowa I - Loose Meats Sink, er, Tractors?

Continuing my whirlwind tour of the Midwest, I explore some of the dishes unique to, or easily found in, Iowa, the home of The Music Man, the nation's first presidential caucus of election season and corn - lots of corn.

Official Name: State of Iowa
State Nicknames: The Hawkeye State
Admission to the US: December 28, 1846 (#29)
Capital: Des Moines (largest city)
Other Important Cities: Cedar Rapids (2nd largest), Davenport (3rd largest), Sioux City (4th largest)
Region: Midwest; East North Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ, Bison
Bordered by: Minnesota (north); North Dakota, Nebraska (west); Missouri (south); Illinois, Wisconsin & the Mississippi River (east)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: none
Some Famous & Typical Foods: again, typical Midwestern foods, especially corn; Native American and pioneer foods; soybeans; Red Delicious and "Hawkeye" apples; Dutch, German, Amish and Scandinavian foods

Marcia Adams (who wrote the Heartland cookbook, which I've been using a lot lately), notes that Iowa is home to German, Dutch and Scandinavian immigrants, as well as Americans from the South and the Great Lakes region (yes, Midwesterners moving further west). These folks brought their food traditions, sometimes combining them with the local foods grown by Native Americans. Mind you, this is not just corn country, but soybean country and pork country as well. According to the Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa is the leading producer of both corn and soybeans in the nation, and over a quarter of all pork sold in the United States comes from Iowa (Iowa Farm Bureau 2011).

Strange, then, that I did not eat anything with corn or soy in it. I take that back: it's quite probable that something I used in this recipe had some sort of corn or soy derivative in it, since both these crops are everywhere, both in our foods and elsewhere.

My first recipe is an Iowan classic. This sandwich goes by many names, so notes Jane and Michael Stern - another two authors whose books I have constantly consulted over the past month of recipes: "Big T, Charlie Boy, and Tastee" (Stern and Stern 2009: 266). The Sterns point to the origin of this fast food favorite in Sioux City's Ye Olde Tavern - hence the popular name "the tavern" - by David Heglin in 1924. By the time the place closed almost 50 years later, it was being eaten all over northwestern Iowa (Stern and Stern 2009).

If you don't want to make this, you can find it at the Stewart's Root Beer on Route 40 in Rosedale. The one time I went there on my Beltway Snacking tour, I didn't quite know what to make of their "steamburger". The steamburger is, in essence, the loosemeats sandwich. Don't ask me how it made it out of northwest Iowa but it did.

If you do want to make this, it's easy, as I followed a recipe that the Sterns published in their Roadfood Sandwiches cookbook (yes, the same one from which I got the Indiana breaded pork tenderloin sandwich and the Illinois horseshoe sandwich). There are different versions of this recipe, as cherished from family to family as is recipes for our crab cake. The Sterns post a different loosemeats recipe on their Roadfood website. But again, I stuck with the book.

The recipe: Loosemeats

I am not sure which restaurant provided the Sterns with their recipe, but I assume this is a typical one: tomato-free, though it has a flavor that is just rich enough that you realize you don't need them. Not even in ketchup form.

For the Sterns' loosemeats sandwich - enough for four servings - you will need:


* one pound ground beef (on sale at the Harris Teeter for about $5.50)
* oil in which to brown the ground beef (had peanut oil on hand)
* an onion (all I had were shallots and a red onion; I used the latter)
* red wine vinegar (this will give it a tang since you will not be using tomatoes in any format)
* salt and pepper (natch)
* hamburger buns (had them)
* various condiments, including pickles, mustard and cheese (all optional)


First, brown the ground beef in a skillet, breaking it up into small pieces - the Sterns say to "worry" the meat. (I like that description). Once the meat is worried, chop the onion and add it to the meat (to make it cry) with some salt (to rub into the wound - oh wow, I'm on a roll here. And soon, so will the loosemeats!). Ignore the bad puns, and cook until light brown.


Drain the meat when it is light brown, and then add the vinegar, pepper and enough water to cover it almost completely. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. The water should almost be simmered off; scoop the meat out with a slotted spoon if it isn't.


Scoop onto hamburger buns, and top with whatever you like - mustard, pickles, cheese - so long as it isn't tomato based.


I liked this unusual and easy sandwich. The vinegar gives it a zing that I don't expect from ground beef. I topped mine with leftover shredded mozzarella and provolone, and it melted right in place. Eat it with or without cheese - it is just as tasty either way. The easiness of this sandwich is, I think, one of its best attributes. The only downside, and it's not a big one, is that it is much better fresh out of the pan than it is reheated. One word of advice: heat the meat separately, and then put it on the bun. It's also better to spoon the meat onto the bigger half of the bun. Both pieces of advice should minimize how sopping wet your roll may become unless you eat it immediately.

Sources:

Adams, Marcia. Heartland: The Best of the Old and the New from Midwest Kitchens. Clarkson Potter: New York, 1991.

Iowa Farm Bureau. "Ag Facts". Copyright Iowa Farm Bureau, 2011.

Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Boston, 2009.

Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. Roadfood Sandwiches. Houghton Mifflin: New York, 2007.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Iowa" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Iowa".

In & Out vs Five Guys?

The taste test is coming up soon, as I fly across the continent just to try In & Out side by side with Five Guys!'

Okay no, that isn't why I'm going to Cali at all. I am visiting friends. But since Five Guys is finally on the West Coast, a taste test is in order. I was just telling a Twitter friend that I find Five Guys "overrated" and way too expensive for what you get. I also replied that message to Serious Eats, who did the ultimate taste test: In & Out vs Five Guys vs New York's wonderful Shake Shack. They did this totally scientifically: since they had to bring the In & Out burger home on a plane, they also inflicted the same handicap on the other burgers, buying them approximately the same time as the In & Out burger was purchased, and eating them all at the same time.

Their humble opinion: Shake Shack is best (I prefer In & Out over Shake Shack, but just barely). We are both in agreement on Five Guys:

As for Five Guys? Well, despite their legions of followers and rapid (perhaps too rapid?) expansion, we're mostly left just scratching our heads. It's not a bad burger per se, but the flavor of its beef is nowhere near in line with its proportions. [SeriousEats.com 2011]

As for Shake Shack being the winner: despite what they say, I still think it has everything to do with it being the hometown burger for these New York foodies.

Shake Shack comes to the District

Shake Shack, that most In N Out-ish of New York City-based fast food chains, is coming to the District of Columbia soon, according to the Washington City Paper. There will be two locations - Dupont Circle and Nationals Park, that last one convenient for any DC-bound Mets fans. It has very high-quality meat, which it grinds itself! As often as I get to DC these days, this is just another reason to go. Now let's work on getting a Wagamama out to these parts.

The Great Food Truck Thing

In case you missed it, Dan Rodricks had a whole episode last week on his Midday Show on WYPR on the whole food truck phenomenon. Among others, he talked to Heather Shouse, author of Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels. Shouse goes all over the country to examine local food trucks and the local adaptations to them. For example, Portland, Oregon, has a whole section of town devoted just to food trucks! Rodricks also interviewed several local food truck entrepreneurs, including the good people who bring us the food trucks from Gypsy Queen Café, Iced Gems Baking, Creperie Breizh, and Kooper's Chowhound, as well as the former owner of Juana Burrito who now runs the food truck consulting business Mobile Food Products. The food truck trend is starting to really rocket here, as it has in DC too - surprisingly since DC has such arcane laws that regulate food trucks in such a way that they may not park unless they have a queue of people waiting for them (I found this out a few weeks ago on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU). It's a trend I hope we see continue to flourish in Baltimore in the future.

In N Out vs Five Guys?

Erik Hayden writes for The Atlantic about an East Coast-West Coast burger war I did not even know about:

[W]hen Five Guys launched its West Coast expansion in 2008, SoCal-based blogs and local newspapers (the O.C. Register and the Los Angeles Times love fanning the flames of this subject) fretted about the impending war between the two beloved, identical seeming burger franchises. Then, in 2010 came shocking news for area fast-foodies: In-N-Out was "ousted" by Guys as Zagat's Best Burger and Five Guys was deemed a worthy competitor to In-N-Out. [Hayden 2011]

As the author points out, the folks in SoCal are intensely loyal to In-N-Out (I should know, having lived there for several years). I've eaten at both, and I knew Five Guys was more widespread than In N Out. What I did not realize was that Five Guys was heading west, unlike In N Out, which will never head our way. But honestly, I don't really have a sense of which one is better or not. I'm heading to SoCal next month. Perhaps it's time for a taste test?

City Cafe isn't doing the 1/2 priced burgers anymore...

That's correct! I found this out last night when I went out for a burger. I still went ahead and ordered the burger anyway at full price. Of course, it still is a lovely burger. The complimentary focaccia was a nice new addition. It was extremely soft, unlike many I've had.

Instead of their 1/2 priced burgers, they now do $10 off a bottle of wine. Hopefully they'll keep that, but bring back the cheap burgers.

Notes from the Field

A few things I've been up to this week:

• Apart from calibration, I'm not sure how my mother's bathroom scale says I'm five pounds heavier than my own.

• Went out with friends last night to Grano. I don't drink a lot of wine but the guys brought (Eric, refresh my memory here) a 2007 Languedoc that they were particularly impressed with. I had their lovely puttanesca sauce over linguine. In fact, I think we all ordered linguine, with different sauces. For dessert, I ordered the only one they had for the evening: coconut flan. The idea of picking nasty little bits of shredded coconut out of the flan did not thrill me, but I'm glad I took the waitress's advice. It was more coconut milk and less coconut flakes. Actually, I don't remember any coconut flakes. And the coconut was subtle. It was very good.

• Grano's second location is now open, by the way.

• I found out that the Hippo has Dogfish Head Pumkin Ale until it runs out. The Raison D'Extra is a more permanent fixture.
  

• Been making too many hot milk cakes lately. But I've noticed they take a good week and a half to two weeks to start "turning" so it's a nice, reliable cake.

• I finally found the Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon on Thursday, when it was at 1000 Hull Street, by the Tide Point complex. I need to check this neighborhood out more. I had no idea that the view of the Harbor was so lovely! That and there are a few restaurants that I need to check out in this part of South Baltimore, including but not limited to the Harvest Table (now serving brunch!) and the Whetstone Grill, also on Hull Street, with a dizzying variety of food, wine and beer options. But back to the temporary resident, the Chow Wagon. Their website claims it's the best burger in town. After ordering the Otis Burger ($8) - featuring sautéed mushrooms, red onions, Monterrey jack and cheddar cheeses with tomato, lettuce, all piled on a beef burger and sammiched inside a kaiser roll - well? I must say it really was a very good burger. It wasn't dried out at all. Don't expect it to be one of those monster burgers you get at Alonso's. You will probably be able to finish this one during lunch. I swore I would save half of it for later but I just kept on taking a bite, putting it down, and so on. The burger was well done and was a little juicy - not so much to make a mess, but just enough. It was such a nice day that I had to sit outside and enjoy the burger next to the harbor. Since I don't eat lunch out too often, I won't be seeking it out much. It'll be one of those occasional treats. One thing I should've done was ask if I could substitute one of the other three types of burger: turkey, vegetarian or - gasp! - bison! I don't get to eat a lot of bison, and I'm getting that the next time I hit them up.
  

Otis poses for the camera

• As if my lunch wasn't going to pack enough calories on, I also had to stop by the Baltimore Cupcake Company, since I was, y'know, in the neighborhood.
  

Weekend in New York: The Food

I've had a busy, stressful week, so I've been putting off writing about my escapades in New York City last weekend. The trip lasted little more than 48 hours, and was more expensive than I had hoped but still cheaper than it could have been! My money-saving tips mostly involved eating small portions, walking (which didn't really lose me any weight, surprisingly) and forgoing the otherwise-good deals for New York City Restaurant Week, where every prix fixe dinner menu is $35 and every prix fixe lunch menu is $24 (before drinks, tax and tip). If you are going up this weekend, check it out because it's two weekends long.

As I have said before, this is really the first time I have ever enjoyed (pretty much) everything I ate in New York, since I have the uncanny ability to find the average crap. Here are those places that gave me food I liked this time around:


ChikaLicious (East Village) - I found this place accidentally while searching online for cheap dinner options. This place is notable for having very limited seating and a constant line outside where waits go up to an hour (ever gracious, the maitre'd will let the odd person in line enter just to use the bathroom). Chef Chika Tillman makes innovative, ittybitty dessert plates for her dessert tasting menu, for the fixed price of $14; wine pairing is an extra seven bucks. I went for the wine pairing and got three courses. The first was a tiny but tasty melon soup with a big ball of white chocolate mousse floating in it. Next, I had my choice of main dessert courses. I chose a warm chocolate tart with a pink peppercorn ice cream. The tart was alright, while the ice cream was really my favorite part of that part of the meal (in retrospect, I should've gone for the billiard ball-sized mound of cheesecake that the diner next to me raved about). The port that came with it was tasty, but I could have done with or without it. The last part was a small selection of petits fours, flavorful but fleeting. All the while the chef, sous chef and maitre'd doted on all of us with water and charming service. Of course, not having had dinner I was still hungry, so I almost went across the street to the Rai Rai Ken ramen restaurant (one diner in line mentioned to a friend that it was her favorite noodle house in "the Village"). A big-ass bowl o' ramen goes for about $9 or $10. I'll go back next time.


After a stop in a nearby Irish bar, I took a taxi to the Stonewall Inn (Greenwich Village), not really knowing how to get there by subway or foot at that late hour. This was the historic site of the Stonewall Riots, which happened 40 years and two weeks prior, and they make sure you know it! The two floors of the Stonewall were pretty busy, and I didn't really talk to many people, but folks were nice enough when I took a vacant seat that someone had just stepped away from. The bartenders were flirty enough (not as much as the Flex in Raleigh), and pleasant to talk to. My bartender, along with half of us, got very wrapped up in the LA Galaxy-Chivas USA soccer game on both TV's in the upper bar. I think LA won. My bank account did not, as I rang up a $21 tab - two beers and two waters. Not exactly happy hour. I'd certainly go back though.


The next morning I headed to the American Museum of Natural History, where I spent all day. Before it opened I had a cheap, semi-memorable pain de chocolate at Le Pain Quotidien on the Upper West Side. No caffeine, which precipitated the need for a fountain drink in the museum cafeteria. The problem: it cost $2.75 for 12 ounces - and no refills. Hands down, it was the most expensive soda I have ever had.


Lunch was much more memorable. I was determined to see everything in the museum and got halfway through when I left for lunch. I didn't have to go far: I saw a farmers' market set up next to the museum. On the other side of it was a line even longer than the one at ChikaLicious. This line poured out of the Shake Shack (Upper West Side), which one woman behind me swore had the best burgers in New York. I was to find out that this Northeastern answer to In N Out Burger grinds the beef for its burgers on site, and makes the ice cream for its own shakes.


I ordered the Shack Burger (juicy cheeseburger with tomato, lettuce and Shack Sauce - some special type of mayo) with fries (crinkle cut, presumably cut on site) and a vanilla chocolate shake. Total price: $12, but half of that was the shake. Everything was delicious. The burger had a richer beef flavor than most fast food burgers with none of the gristle, and that shake managed to simultaneously be thick and easy to drink through a straw. The fries were not the best part of the meal, but were still much better than most I have had.


Later that evening I headed out to Chelsea to soak up some more of gay New York. A few people mentioned places to eat that I wound up either passing on due to price, or not finding at all. I finally broke down and asked an attractive local standing outside of a bar what he could recommend. He gave a good recommendation: La Carbonara (Chelsea), where the maitre'd and the waiter seemed to almost get into a bitch fight about serving me (and the other guests) as quickly as possible. I was quite doted on while I was there (maybe I'm just adorable*). This is a place where you can easily spend $30 or $40. I kept it to $13 by ordering just an iced tea and one pasta dish - the linguine with thinly-sliced zucchini, chopped mint and sliced garlic. The zucchini was cooked enough to be almost caramelized, and the mint and garlic were a pleasantly unusual combination. The bread with a mound of ricotta and cream cheese in olive oil was complimentary.


The next morning I grabbed a bagel with lox cream cheese at the Benvenuto Caffe (Flatiron District), and checked out of the kitschy and fun Gershwin Hotel. I hiked on over to Chelsea again in search of the Chelsea Market, which (I had read in a cheapskate's guide to NYC) had some stores with free samples just lying around. I had no idea that the Food Network has its HQ there. Apparently they do, which would explain the "Iron Chef America VIP Guests, This Way" posters all over the place. But this was not the highlight of the Chelsea Market. Instead, it was a bevy of fishmongers, organic food sellers, kitchen supply stores and no less than four bakers, most of which specialized in cupcakes. Among other things, I got to try two different mini-brownies from two different places, some salmon nigiri from the Lobster Place (the salmon taste was very subtle - enough so that it left me wanting) and the most remarkable palmiers cookies from Sarabeth's Kitchen - a dollar a piece. Unlike palmiers I have eaten that are tough and cardboard-like in their flavor and texture, these somewhat tinier ones were extremely rich, buttery and melt-in-your-mouth-ish.


I liked mine so much that I came back after lunch and bought five more to take home.


Lunch was all the way over in Queens, at the famed Jackson Diner (Jackson Heights) - yes, Roopa, you were right! Just a block from the Roosevelt St.-72nd Street subway stop in the heart of the vibrant South Asian-American neighborhood of Jackson Heights, the Jackson Diner serves an all-you-can-eat buffet for $10. That's a little pricier than I'm used to during the week, but way cheaper than most lunches you will find in much of New York.


They have many of the standard dishes, and a few I had not expected. No pork or beef at this Indian restaurant - all dishes that I saw were veggie, chicken or goat (maybe lamb, but there was none offered that day). The goat curry was the least bony goat dish I have ever had. The chicken makhani was not the best, but ranked up among them. As for the tandoori chicken, a dish which has gotten more and more boring as of late, I was pleased with what I had. The basmati rice was fluffy and the various chutneys were tangy, especially the tamarind chutney, which was my favorite. They also had a daily special of masala dosa made while you wait. I would have ordered one had I not already been so full. Altogether the cost was just $12, including my soda. The large, pink pitcher of water that was left for me was on the house.

Altogether, I'm impressed at all the money I saved while eating - money that could have been wasted (and has been wasted in previous trips) on more expensive, less interesting or edible food. The best parts are that I found places that I will try next time - the Rai Rai Ken in the East Village and a few Thai places and burger places in Chelsea. And I must make a visit to the Chelsea Market whenever I head back.

Other photos -

My floor in the Gershwin Hotel. The entire floor featured artistic photos that each featured the same woman with the same insipid grin. I didn't know New York allowed 13th floors in its buildings.

Just a few lonely ancestors wandering around Laetoli

I don't have a gym. I might consider going if he's there.

I wonder how many Next Food Network Stars have passed by this logo? Eh, who cares?

* So kidding it isn't even funny. Okay, it is.