Di Fara Pizza

On a balmy and breezy Tuesday night, the A-man and I made a pilgrimage to Di Fara in Midwood. If you've never biked down Ocean Parkway in the early evening hours, i highly recommend it. The benches lining the street are packed - old smelly dudes playing chess, their counterpart old lady friends sitting around gossiping, little brown kids squealing and running around, Hasidic couples strolling along with their 9 kids, young Eastern European guys lounging around and staring at you suspiciously...it's like a tour of the EU. Anyway, after biking down a quiet and deserted stretch of Avenue J, we arrive at our destination: an unassuming, almost run-down pizza parlor at the corner of Avenue J and 15th street. We walk in and immediately smell fresh out of the oven pizza and see the herd of people crowded around the counter. The most adorable old Italian man, Dom DeMarco the owner of Di Fara, is slowly and methodically making pizza after pizza: stretching the dough, pouring the sauce marinara sauce, spreading the mozzarella slices and sprinkling the parmesan cheese, drizzling the olive oil, adding the finishing touches once the pizza is out of the oven. It seems like he's in his own world, barely noticing the crowd gathered in front of him, anxiously waiting for a taste of his amazing pizza. The decor isn't anything to talk about - bright and uncomfortable florescent overhead lights, grimy tables and chairs, aged linoleum floors.


The walls are plastered with articles from every major magazine and newspaper proclaiming Di Fara as the best...best pizza, in brooklyn, in new york, in America! The pizza is good. Damn good. Probably one of the best slices I've ever had (although Totonno's in Coney Island is pretty good too.) The crust is thin and both crispy and chewy. The cheese has a slight tang and saltiness to it and the sauce is just perfect - a tad sweet. The pizza is greasy, but not in a gross-i-feel-sick-after-three-bites sort of way. The olive oil increases the intensity of all the other flavors and gives the pizza an added richness. I'm not quite sure why this pizza tastes so much better than all the countless ones I've eaten...maybe it's the combination of sweet and salty that just hits your taste buds spot on. Make the trip to Di Fara, it's worth it. Oh and stick with the plain slices, the best parts are the sauce and cheese.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine

The Zagat Guide named Sugar Sweet Sunshine best cupcake bakery in NYC. And I completely agree. I'm not impressed by the cupcakes at Magnolia, the frosting is too sweet and heavy. I've have cupcakes from another bakery in midtown somewhere, run by someone that either used to work at Magnolia or owns Magnolia and I wasn't impressed by that either. The Ooey Gooey cupake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine is my favorite - dark chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream. The cake is moist and fluffy and the frosting is amazing - creamy and buttery with that perfect subtle almond taste. I always want to try something different, like the red velvet cupcake, pistachio cupcake or carrot cake, but I always end up getting the Ooey Gooey. Chocolate on my mind, makin me crazy.

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese spring rolls are the perfect summer dish - simple, light, healthy, satisfying and no stovetop cooking necessary (well if you include rice noodles in your spring rolls then you'll have to cook the noodles, but other than that, you don't have to get near the stove.) It's also surprisingly simple, once you have the right ingredients and know how to make the spring roll wrappers. (Before I made spring rolls myself, I never understood how the wrappers were so translucent.)

Ingredients:
10-12 round rice spring roll wrappers (available at asian grocery stores)
handful of dry rice vermicelli (also available at asian grocery stores)
1/2 lb of cooked shrimp (or cold shredded chicken)
1 cucumber, thinly sliced length-wise
handful of mint leaves and/or basil leaves
spoonful of hoisin sauce
spoonful of rice vinegar

Directions
For the spring rolls:
1. Boil the shrimp until the meat is turns pink (about 5-6 minutes), boil the vermicelli (approx. 5 minutes), slice the cucumber and arrange all the ingredients plus the mint and basil on a dish:
2. Fill a large bowl halfway up with room temperature water.
3. Submerge a piece of the rice wrapper in the water for about a minute or two, or until the wrapper is soaked through and soft.
4. Put the slightly wet rice wrapper on a flat surface, place a few pieces of the shrimp, cucumber slices, 3-4 mint leaves and a pinch of the rice noodles in the center-bottom of the wrapper and roll everything up like a burrito.





For the dipping sauce:
1. Combine the hoisin sauce and and rice vinegar in a little dish, whisk until the sauce is smooth.






See? Really simple and fast - prep time is only about 20 minutes. You can serve this as an appetizer or as the main meal.

Red Hook Ball Fields

I finally got the chance to try some of the offerings at Red Hook Ballfields a few weeks ago, when Jia (chinese school friend/fellow food enthusiast) was in town. There was so much to choose from - tacos, quesadillas, empanadas, ceviche, tamales, roasted corn, papusas, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed fruit juices...I didn't know what to eat first! After wandering out in a salivating daze for about ten minutes, I decided on a bean and cheese papusa. The dough was chewy interspersed with a few chewy crispy bits. The bean and cheese filling was salty and soft - a perfect consistency.


To wash down all the salty goodness of the papusa, taco and empanada, I bought a fresh watermelon juice from the vendor selling the roasted corn and fruit juices. There's a lot of talk on the internet about all the great food available at the ballfields, but how come nobody ever talks about the fruit juices? I don't know if it was because I was really thirsty and sweaty, but I swear that watermelon juice was the best drink i've ever had. It was refreshing and slightly sweet, without being too sweet. I could have had another two cups of the juice, but I was already on the verge of bursting. Anyway, I would back just to get the juice.


I might have been very full, but I still had enough room in my belly for a roasted corn on a stick. It was a little bit shocking to see the cook scoop a gigantic chunk of mayo out of a Costco sized mayonnaise jar and slather it on the roasted corn, but oh well. The cook then rolled the stick of corn in a large box filled with cheese (parmesan i think?) The corn was juicy, the cheese was crumbly and salty and even the mayo didn't taste bad. Cafe Habana can suck it.

The food stalls at the Red Hook Ballfields are open on Saturdays and Sundays through October. Go and get some delicious and cheap Mexican, El Salvadorian and Ecuadorian food.

Les Halles

After watching Kitchen Confidential I had to read the actual book. After reading the book I had to eat at Les Halles. The whole experience - the food and the service - was bad. Almost comically bad. Our waiter was literally completely cracked out, he could barely keep his eyes open and was having a hard time standing up. He comes up to our table, leans against a chair and mumbles the specials to us, stuttering through most of it. His eyes have that droopy look, you know when you're in class and you're really bored and tired and doing your best to stay awake. Then i watch up knock over an entire bottle of wine at another table, candle wax gets on everything and everyone's fumbling around, trying not to get red wine on their clothes. Again, the waiter looks utterly confused and out of it, like he has no idea what's going on.

The food was completely forgettable. I'm pretty sure I've had better steak at TGI Fridays. I ordered the Les Halles "classic": steak, frites and salad. The salad seemed like a complete afterthought, as if the chef was thinking, "oh crap, this dish comes with salad. Oh well, who the fuck cares, lets just drench some limp mesclun greens with dressing and serve that." The salad had no flavor whatsoever, the leaves were limp and disgusting, there was way too much dressing...the whole thing tasted like balsamic vinaigrette soup. The steak also lacked any sort of flavor or juice. I had a really hard time cutting through the steak, even though I ordered it medium. The edges of the steak were extremely tough and hard the chew. AND it was lukewarm by the time it got to our table! Nothing is worse than almost-cold steak. The fries were pretty decent, but uh, I'm pretty sure I didn't come to Les Halles to eat fries.

The decor was decent albeit a bit dingy. Looks like the place could use a good scrub down. The restaurant felt a little humid, and our neighbors must have complained about it, because our idiotic waiter pointed this huge fan in our direction, completely drying out my eye balls.

And to end the whole thing, our droopy-eyed, idiotic waiter comes up to us and mumbles, "uh, so, do you guys want to see the dessert menu or something?" We respond with a polite "no" and he shrugs his shoulders and slinks away. And he proceeded to pass out and drop dead in the middle of the restaurant. Ok the last part didn't happen.

Les Halles isn't much more than a gussied up 99/Ground Round/your local crappy steakhouse. Bourdain makes his food sound amazing in his books, too bad it's terrible in real life. AND! I also read online that he and his high school sweetheart got divorced a few years ago and he remarried some Italian woman. And they just had a baby! Tsk. Tsk.

Ramen Setagaya

So there's been a lot of hype about Ramen Setagaya being waaaay more authentic than anything you can find at Rai Rai Ken, Momofuku, Minca, or the dozens upon dozens of other Japanese noodle bars around the city. As I'm always on the quest for the best noodle bar, I had to go to Setagaya, even if it meant waiting in line for 45 minutes. Jia, Jordan and I got there at 7 on a Friday night and the line was out the door. (Note: the restaurant is tiny and not conducive for big group meals. You shouldn't go with more than three other people.) We patiently waited in line for about 25 minutes, enviously watching the eating customers pick bouncy noodles out of their bowl and slurp their broth with gusto.

We are seated at the bar facing the chefs (yes! I get to wink and wave at the solemn Japanese cooks grilling pork!) I ordered the Shio (salt broth) ramen with BBQ pork (you have the choice between ramen, ramen or more ramen...not a restaurant with too much variety.)

They're not kidding when they say salt broth...cause that shit was salty! I mean like unbelievably salty...like I had to drink 2 pints of water afterwards before I felt normal again. That said, the broth was really flavorful...i can't believe they can make water taste that good without adding even a sprinkle of msg. The pork was soft and came apart really easily, almost like shredded chicken. The grilled edges added a nice bit of crunch to the meat. The egg was perfect - the yolk wasn't too runny, but also not chalky and crumbly...soft without feeling like you're drinking raw yolk. The bland taste of the egg white was a great compliment to the salty broth.

Oh and those noodles. The noodles held up incredibly well in the broth - they didn't get at all soggy or mushy, even after 15 minutes. It had the most interesting texture...it almost didn't taste like ramen. The noodles were chewy and had a slightly elastic feeling to them, like i was pulling long rubber bands out of my bowl.

Rai Rai Ken vs. Setagaya? Setagaya is the clear winner. Although, I prefer Rai Rai Ken's atomosphere. Hopefully Setagaya won't be such a zoo in a few months. I think I'll be making quite a few trips back to this place in the wintertime.

Update: I don't know a fig when I see one

Ursula notified me of a grave error in my previous post, when I called a fig a passion fruit/guava/some fruit or other. The fruit adorning the deliciously creamy yogurt I had at Reservoir restaurant in Montreal was indeed a black mission fig.

It looks like a....well you all know what I think it looks like.

Montreal and Vermont Recap

I was just in Montreal for the Jazz Fest and in Grand Isle, Vermont for some R&R. It was a serious eating fest...here are some highlights:

Chez Doval
corner of Rue Marie Anne and Rue Bullion, Montreal

Chez Doval is a small neighborhood restaurant near our hotel serving amazing Portuguese food. I've been dreaming about their steaks ever since last summer, when I had it for the first time. Amar and Carrie both ordered the Portuguese steak, which is a huge chunk of grilled steak with a fried egg on top. Our waiter made the executive decision of ordering Carrie the "lady" portion of the steak.





If you can't tell, the huge white blob on top of the steak is the fried egg. The combination of the two was delicious. The meat is ridiculously tender and juicy. It felt like the pieces of meat were literally melting in my mouth. Even though the steak was cooked medium, the meat wasn't stringy or too bloody. I think it's the best steak I've ever had, anywhere.

The restaurant is an awesome neighborhood place with cute old-man waiters, what a find!



Reservoir
corner of Rue Duluth and Rue Hotel de Ville

Someone on Chowhound recommended that we go to brunch at Reservoir restaurant around the corner from our hotel, off of St. Laurent Boulevard. After pulling on the wrong door and pressing my nose up against the window like an idiotic American tourist, we got a table and ordered our food. I started with the fruit and yogurt. I've never had the fruit that was on top of the yogurt; Carrie told me it was passion fruit...or was it guava? I don't remember. Whatever it was, it was really really good. The fruit had a hint of sweetness and had a meaty texture. The yogurt was really creamy and didn't have much of a sour aftertaste. I couldn't tell if they added honey to the yogurt or if it was a special type of creamy yogurt. Look at the picture, doesn't the yogurt look like gelato?


I also ordered the scrambled egg with truffles dish. You know how I feel about mushrooms and this dish did not disappoint me. The scrambled eggs were incredibly rich and the mushrooms had a great thick, woodsy, almost smoky flavor. The eggs came with watercress in a light vinagrette and a sourdough-like bread with a soft chewy center. This meal was perfect - I need to find a place in New York that serves eggs with truffles!




Onto Vermont.
We had some pretty great meals in Vermont, notably our dinner at the Ruthcliffe lodge. I had an amazingly fresh steamed lobster, which i hacked to pieces and shoved into my mouth. I must have looked like a complete barbarian - cracking the shell with one hand, pulling out the meat with the other.

We also went back to the Vermont Pub and Brewery, located in downtown Burlington. The food is your standard pub fare - burgers, steak and cheeses, a few basic pasta dishes, breaded and fried shrimp,
breaded and fried calamari, breaded and fried fish, breaded and fried chicken...you get the point. We started with the breaded and fried shrimp and I also ordered the mushroom philly cheese steak - sauteed portobello mushrooms and onions sandwiched between a toasted roll, topped with melted cheese. After a long day of biking around Isle La Motte, it felt really good to eat some heavy, fried food. The food was pretty good - pretty familiar territory, nothing too exciting, but well made. The best part about the restaurant is the wide selection of microbrews, brewed in the basement of the restaurant. And at rock bottom prices! Amar and I were shocked that a pint of beer costly only a measly $3.00. For that much money in New York, I wouldn't be able to get a bartender to even look in my direction.

I ordered the six-beer sampler, with flavors ranging from a light and fruity to dark and bitter. The beer on the far left was very light and freshing, with what seemed liked a hint of fizz somewhere in there. The one on the far right was the heaviest of all the beers and tasted like it was brewed with coffee grounds. All the beers were excellent, I think my favorite was the Baseball Lager, #3.















The best way to drink the beers was like this: take sips from two different beers, swish it in your mouth and feel the frothy goodness slide down your throat.

Kitchen Confidential

I just finished watching the first 6 episodes of Kitchen Confidential, the short-lived show on FOX adapted from Anthony Bourdain's novel of the same name. FOX pulled the show after only four episodes, which is too bad because so far, I really like it. Most of the scenes take place in the kitchen, you get to see lots of cooking action, there's a chef with a funny British accent, the obligatory gay waiter, unnecessary cleavage shots and a dumb blonde. Now that is a recipe for a successful show. But seriously, I like Bradley Cooper and I love John Cho and the show made me laugh out loud a bunch of times.

The show stars Bradley Cooper, whom you may all know from Alias. Kitchen Confidential has featured two Alias alums, Bradley Cooper and Michael Vartan, who played a rival French chef in one of the earlier episodes. HOT. John Cho plays Teddy, the head fish guy and he's really hilarious...it's a throwback to his character in Can't Hardly Wait. DOUBLE HOT.

John Fancis Daley, the actor who plays Jim the Sous Chef is also a really funny character. Apparently, he was also in Freaks and Geeks, which I have been wanting to see. Too bad there's a "long wait" for it on Netflix.

I'm not sure why FOX didn't give it a chance, but at least you can watch all of the un-aired episodes on DVD. Get it on Netflix now.