Hobohalloweekend: Part 3

by Xani

After the scrumptious meal at Tabla, we slept off our full-ness, packed up our stuff, and headed to our last stop of the weekend, Sunday brunch at Bubby's.

Hobohalloweekend: Part 2

by EP

After we arrived in the Big Apple and had lunch and more than a few sweet treats, we went to our hotel room to relax, have some champagne (of course), and get ready for the evening's activities. That night, we attended a Halloween burlesque show at the Highline Ballroom put on by Lady Rizo and the Assettes.  It was a fun and sassy show that included a trapeze act, a very dramatic and exciting rendition of "Blame it on the Alcohol" sung by Lady Rizo herself, and a number involving faux pig's blood, a la "Carrie."  Wow.

We didn't have the right kind of opener for the champagne, so we had to use brute force.
These faces reflect the pure joy and relief of getting the bottle open!

Hobohalloweekend: Part 1

by Xani

Have you recovered from the shock of the new BCD look yet?  Pick your jaw up off the ground and prepare to start drooling over lots of new content.  Yes, somewhere in the fine print of our "coming out" post, we promised daily new posts during the Mobbies voting period.  An ambitious goal, but such is our commitment to you, dear reader.  (Also, we are a little bit crazy.)  Enough with the psych diagnoses, let's get to the eats!

Springtime for Rollos: Part 2 (or "Puddin' it be Rice?")

by Erin and Xani

After an outstanding first day in NYC, we had more big plans (eating AND non-eating, if you can believe it) for Day 2. We were going to go for a fancy, multi-course brunch but after all of our great meals the day before, we weren't quite ready for another biggie. I said to Lauren, "Isn't there someplace we can go and have a great cup of coffee and a croissant? Somewhere like Bouchon Bakery [Thomas Keller's famous bakery]?" Lauren, with one eyebrow raised, said "Uh, there is a Bouchon. It's like 5 blocks from here." HUZZAH!! We had our brunch place.

On our way over to the Time Warner Center, we met Eliot, a St. Bernard who lived nearby.

When we arrived at the Time Warner Center we went up to the 4th floor to Bouchon Bakery. In addition to our coffee, we ordered a croissant, a corn muffin, a linzer cookie, and a box of donut holes called "bouchkins"! How cute.



The croissant was light, flaky, and buttery - just what we were craving. The corn muffin was good too - slightly sweet, slightly savory, good texture.

The bouchkins were SO good - half had powdered sugar on the outside, half had cinnamon-sugar. Of course, we love our coffee and donuts!



And the coffee was good and strong. Mmmm.

After breakfast, we headed over towards the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Tim Burton exhibit. On our way, we stopped at Anthropologie and purchased a few goodies! Who can resist that place??

The Tim Burton exhibit was awesome. He had all kinds of pieces from sculpture to paintings on canvas to animated videos, plus there were a lot of pieces from his various movies, including Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, and Sweenie Todd. It was REALLY crowded since the exhibit was closing the next week, but it was a great exhibit and we were really glad we could go.

Welcome to the Tim Burton exhibit...

After our museum visit, we needed to go back to the hotel to grab our bags, so while in the neighborhood we grabbed a NY slice at Famiglia Pizza. We got a slice of plain, a slice of veggie, and a slice of white pizza - all were good and really hit the spot after fighting through the crowds at the museum.





Excited for veggie pizza?

We then schlepped downtown to go meet Lauren's boyfriend, John, and his peeps at a bar near NYU. But we had one more stop to make before we did that: Rice to Riches. For three girls who really aren't big rice pudding fans, we were THRILLED to be headed to R2R for a sweet treat. Xani originally heard of this place on the relatively new show on Food Network, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Upon further research, we discovered that this place had approximately 20 flavors of rice pudding, plus about 15 toppings to go on top. Decisions, decisions!





When we arrived at R2R, we first noticed the decor - the place was covered in fantastic sayings and instructions, like "Sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy," or "Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway." or "No Skinny Bitches!" Our kinda place.

We ordered two flavors of rice pudding with two toppings. First we ordered the French Toast flavor of rice pudding with a crumbly, buttery granola topping (this was the suggested flavor-topping combo on the TV show). Second, we made up our own combo and ordered the Mascarpone with Cherries flavor, plus the most genius topping ever: toasted poundcake CROUTONS! What?! Why didn't we think of that??

Mascarpone with Cherries and poundcake croutons

French Toast with Oatmeal Coconut Granola Topping

Both were excellent - sweet, complex flavors, good texture from the rice and the toppings, and everything was served chilled.

Lauren and Xani about to dig in!

So good EP was a'dancin'

Not surprisingly, we preferred our flavor combo to the one we saw on TV...not that we're biased or anything. It was a great treat but it definitely put us in a rice pudding coma for a few hours.

We hung out with Lauren's boyfriend and his friends for a little while, but then headed to Brooklyn to sit quietly and come out of the rice pudding haze. I'll save our amazing Greek dinner in Brooklyn for the next NYC post. Coming soon, I promise!

Happy rice pudding eating,

EP & X

Springtime for Rollos: Part 1

by Erin and Xani

This past weekend, Xani and I finally returned to NYC after a 9-month hiatus (loyal readers will recall our amazing visit last September, featuring visits to Porchetta, Yerba Buena, Prune, Burger Joint, and who could forget, Franny's). We did so much good eating -- the result of literally months of research -- and we can't wait to tell you about it!



Xani and I arrived via Bolt Bus around lunchtime on Friday. Since all of our NYC companions were working or otherwise occupied, Xani and I were on our own. In the big city. With no sense of direction and only our Blackberries to guide us. Scary, huh? We checked into our hotel and hopped into a cab downtown to Momofuku Noodle Bar.



We had read so much about David Chang and his collection of Momofuku restaurants (momofuku means "lucky peach," btw), we were beyond excited to finally get to one. We walked into the bustling restaurant, which had mostly a large bar to sit at, and a few tables for larger parties. We didn't wait more than 5 minutes before two seats at the bar opened up for the BCD girls. We had - in our opinion - the best seats in the house. We were literally 2 feet away from all the cooks in the kitchen and we could see how each dish was assembled and plated: beautifully and with great care.

She's a lucky peach to be sitting so close to the action!

Thank you for making such good food, boys!

We knew we definitely wanted to try the pork bun, a dish Chef Chang is famous for and is served at every one of his restaurants (even the dessert place!). The pork bun had a pillowy soft doughy outside, and inside were two scrumptious pieces of pork belly,* a delicious sauce, and a few pieces of pickled cucumber. We added a bit of the super-spicy hot sauce on the table and VOILA - total foodie nirvana. BEHOLD:

It was the single best bite of the trip. Mmmmm....

Ahem, anyway, we got three other fantastic dishes while at Momofuku. We tried some of the smoked chicken wings, cooked with pickled chili, garlic, and scallions. These were great but you know, the buns are a tough act to follow.



Of course, we had to get noodles at the noodle bar! We got the momofuku ramen with (more) pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the broth was super-rich and flavorful. Both forms of pork were delicious, as usual. It was very comforting and really hit the spot on that cloudy day after a 4-hour bus ride.





We also got the chilled spicy noodles with Sichuan spiced sausage, spinach, and sweet and crunchy cashews. Our waitress warned us that these noodles were spicy. We brushed her warning aside, thinking we didn't need any silly warning, we know what we're doing. Turns out, she was right! The noodles were chilled and chewy, and essentially swimming in a pool of extra-hot sesame oil - woof!! SOOO spicy and yet, so delicious. The noodles came with spicy Sichuan sausage (spicy in a different way), and fresh crisp (cooling) spinach, and sweet crunchy cashews. An amazing combination that left our mouths burning behind our smiles.

Chilled but OH so hot!

We wandered around for a few blocks and stopped in for a little Pinkberry, and then eventually made our way back to the hotel to meet up with bestie (and guest blogger extraordinaire) Lauren. We hit up a crappy Irish pub for a few beers to catch up on all the gossip, and we were sure to check in on Foursquare during this and all other stops throughout the weekend.

We parted ways with Lauren so she could attend the rainy Yankees game, whilst we headed uptown to Five Napkin Burger on the UWS for dinner with more of our favorites! We met up with cousins Ann, Steven, and (honorary) cousin Brian, plus Melody and Dr. Lee! What a crowd. We had to wait for quite a bit in the very busy restaurant (which recently won Best New Burger according to Time Out New York), but finally we were seated.

To start we ordered some mac n' cheese and some pork taquitos - both were tasty little bites.





Next, we each ordered a burger, and if I recall correctly, we all got the amazing "Original 5 Napkin Burger," a 10 oz patty with caramelized onions, gruyere cheese, and rosemary aioli. It was so good, and definitely juicy enough to warrant the 5 napkins. Apparently it was so good I forgot to take a picture of it - whoops! It was big and messy. I tried to eat the burger with a fork and knife and was shunned (by Lee, not by the 5 Napkin folks). Xani and I should have split the burger - it was pretty big (10 oz!) and we were still getting over our amazing lunch at Momofuku. Ah well, now we know for next time!

To accompany our burgers, we each got fries (they came with the burger), plus we ordered a stack of onion rings, and tater tots with a fluffy, herby filling. All were delicious - who doesn't love tater tots? No friend of mine.







A few folks got dessert - a brownie sundae and a black and white malted shake, to be exact - and we all nibbled away at them. We discussed the definition of a black and white shake, and determined it is made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce/syrup, instead of chocolate ice cream.



By the end of dinner, the sky had opened up and it was pouring rain. Miraculously, we were able to get a cab instead of taking the scary subway, and we were soon in our cozy bed at our hotel. Yes, I said bed - singular. It's a long story involving a volcano erupting over Europe, but needless to say, with three of us (BCD girls plus Lauren) in the room and only one bed, we needed another place for someone to sleep. So, we requested a roll-away bed be put in our room. Somehow, in our giddiness, we started calling the bed the "rollo" and then Lauren bought us Rollos to put in the rollo! Hence, we came up with this picture:

Sleep tight in your rollo, Rollos!

We slept soundly (thanks in part to the curtain clips provided by the hotel) and woke up to another great day of eats. Stay tuned for part 2!!

EP & X


* We can't resist making a snarky comment about the girls sitting beside us at Momofuku. They ordered the pork buns and they actually removed the fat from the pork belly before eating it. Like, dissected it. I wish the chef had seen this and thrown them out! Blasphemy!

Would you like schmaltz with that?

by BCD Dad

This is a story of a visit to Sammy's Steak House, aka Sammy's Roumanian aka Sammy K’s. 157 Chrystie Street, the Bowery, Manhattan, NY.

In the early 1970’s, BCD Dad and Mom were taken by BCD Mom’s parents to Sammy K’s restaurant in the Bowery. That one encounter has become legendary for the family. On many occasions, as Xani and Erin will attest, BCD Mom and I would wax about the tableside bowls of sours, the antique seltzer bottles, the cholesterol-packed dishes, and the eye-opening dispensers of liquid chicken fat (schmaltz). Now comes an opportunity to see if the reality lives up to the legend.


My work has taken me to NYC on multiple occasions in the past year but usually dining out at any place really special doesn’t fit with the busy schedule. This time though, the planets aligned and as our Amtrak Acela train rolled through the tunnel to Penn Station, my two colleagues finally conceded to my suggestion to go to Sammy K’s. It was the dinner hour and the restaurant was on the way to our hotel in Brooklyn.

“You want to stop here?” our incredulous taxi driver comments as we pull up in front of the somewhat dilapidated storefront in the lower East Side that houses the restaurant. We walked down three steps to a smallish room (no more than 50 persons) whose tired walls were covered with photographs and business cards, and for no explicable reason, happy birthday balloons tied to the ceiling and most of the tables.



The wait staff was all male, and all wearing Sammy K tee shirts. But friendly and very patient as we sporadically examined the menu – not lengthy but very different. At the next table, the guests had a bottle of Ketel One Vodka, encased in ice. We bought one of those. And not to give the story away -- we finished it. So, working our way through neat, slightly thickened vodka, we examined the menu. It was wonderful. It was the essence of Jewish Eastern European peasant food. One revelation after another: kreplach, borscht, chicken soup with knaidlach, luction, AND unborn chicken eggs, chopped eggs and onions, chicken fricassee, gribenes (chicken skin cracklings) on everything, kishke, kasha varnishes, stuffed cabbage, grilled sweet breads, mashed potatoes with gribenes and schmaltz, latkes. It was dizzying.



And we kept getting distracted from the menu -- out came the plate of sour pickles and sour tomatoes – out came the freshly baked and heavily crusted rye bread – out came the whole roasted peppers marinated in garlic and oil – out came the seltzer (do you remember Clarabell?) in authentic old-timey spritzer bottles – and (drum roll) --- the syrup dispenser of schmaltz. So, while pouring chicken fat on pieces of crusty bread, we ordered.

Seltzer bottle

Schmaltz.

Everything is a la carte. We elected two appetizers, one main each, and a couple of side dishes to share. Chopped Chicken Livers started the parade. But this was no ice cream scoop on a lettuce leaf. Our waiter brought a sizeable bowl of chopped livers, and along side were plates of shredded white radish, gribenes and, believe it or not, more chicken fat. All this was mixed tableside, to order as it were, and in the best tradition of a Caesar salad presentation. Perfect. My apologies to my wife, my beloved mother and mother in law.



The eggplant salad we picked as a second appetizer was ok. It was expecting the eggplant salad that we make at home (roasted eggplant cold chopped with boiled eggs and onions, served with olive oil, salt, pepper and beer!) but this was a sort of an unimaginative mish mosh. The waiter had discouraged us from the karnetzlach (ground meat, seasoned and grilled on a skewer), and we wanted something a little lighter anyway.

The main courses were principally grilled meats: several cuts of chicken, beef, lamb, veal, and one of my favorites, sweetbreads. We order sweetbreads almost every time they appear on a menu, and because we frequent restaurants that pride themselves on original and often complex presentations, we’ve become used to a little tiny piece of sweetbread with a sauce and various other layers of flavoring. Not Sammy K’s. A dinner plate-sized portion, perfectly grilled and completely unadorned. Not a hint of parsley, no grilled tomato, no nothing. It was very good. I also sampled my colleague’s stuffed cabbage that was tasty but I thought the flavor was timid. Our other partner ordered a rib-steak. I have never seen a rib-steak served with the entire rib-bone attached. Normally the end is cut off and (I think) becomes part of the short-rib. This presentation was about a foot long and hung off the plate. My preference for steak is not the kosher-style. This beef was flavorful but a little tough and overdone for my taste. As you have seen from other BCD posts – steak and roast beef are not trifles for us and we spend a lot of time and effort buying, aging, butchering and cooking beef in a very precise way.







While my colleague’s main dishes didn’t do much for me, the side dishes were precious. Kishke and kasha varnishkes. Kishke is a sort of roasted sausage made with a casing (like sausage) but filled with a highly flavored bread stuffing somewhat like what goes into a roast chicken. The stuffing is a much finer grind and there is a lot of moisture due to the (dare I say it) the chicken fat. Our second side dish was kasha varnishkes. KV consists of cooked buckwheat groats (a grain), combined with bow-tie egg noodles then mixed with salt, pepper and (I am embarrassed to say) chicken fat.





There may have been something green other than pickles on the menu, but I don’t recall seeing it. No salads, no vegetables. (I am exaggerating. I did see a couple of salads and garlic broccoli.)

All during the meal, we were entertained by a fellow with a frightful hairdo, a great synthesizer set up, a great voice (Sinatra, Satchmo, and a collection of Bar Mitzvah and Jewish wedding tunes) and a wonderful sense of humor. A very positive addition to the ambiance.

The vodka is now gone. The plates are clean (we ate everything). And we are content. Just a little Turkish coffee (the kind that’s half mud), tea in a glass, and an on-the-house plate of warm chocolate rugelach pastries and we headed off to the hotel in Brooklyn. Dinner ran about $100/pp including tax and tip in large part due to the vodka. (Did I mention we had a round before we bought the bottle?).





So as far as reminiscences are concerned – we hit the mark on most of the things. Of course my first visit was so long ago that my frame of reference is changed, too. Definitely worth another visit. For both the food and the nostalgia.

DRP