The Iceman Cometh!

Huzzah!  I finally got what Santa never brought me for Christmas last year (no, not Zoe Saldana in her birthday suit, the other thing); a Cuisinart 1.5 Quart Ice Cream Maker(available at Amazon)!  It arrived this morning (just in time for the great weather), so I haven’t had a chance to give the thing a whirl, but rest assured there will be a lot of delicious ice cream recipes (as well as any disastrous results) posted here in the near future.

I plan to getting my ‘Iron Chef’/Jehangir Mehta on & coming up with some funky flavors, most likely starting with a Smoked Bacon & Maple (Foie Gras Sundaes will have to wait).  I’ll let you guys know how it goes.  In the meantime, if you have any ideas/recipes, email them to me; contact @ eveats.com

Note: Crappy stock photo of my new favorite toy via Amazon.com as I’m too lazy to take a picture.

Update: Made Coffee Ice Cream.

De Robertis Pasticceria

I had a chance to stop by De Robertis Pasticceria (176 1st Avenue @ 11th Street), a neighborhood staple since 1904, to pick up some dessert for a family dinner.  I’ve passed by this place, with it’s bright signage, hundreds of times but never gone in.

The place has an old school feel & is literally filled to the brim with every sweet imaginable.

There are displays on both sides & seating in the back so you can have some coffee & sample the delights that they have to offer.  I was really impressed by a cake featuring Mets & Yankees caps (which I initially thought were real) on top.  The girl that helped me was nice, but I did get the impression that I was interrupting her burrito dinner.  She did, however, add strawberries to my cake gratis.

I ended up getting the Chocolate Mousse cake which was slightly on the sweet side, but still very good.

I’m still amazed that it has taken me so long to come here & I will be going back!

Sustainable Seafood Dinner @ Northen Spy Food Co.

On May 5th, there will be a 4 course tasting at my new favorite East Village restaurant, Northern Spy Food Co. (511 East 12th Street Nr. Avenue A).  $45 gets you 4 courses with wine pairing.  Full details are here.  You can find the menu here.

Via Tasting Table NYC.

178 E. 7th St. remains shuttered

The former Mohamed Falafel Star (previously Dawgs on Park located on 7th St. between Avenue A & B) is still shuttered.  It was open (& not very popular) and operated in a similar fashion for a while after Mohamed vacated the space.  Signs on the door say they are closed for vacation until March 18th & there is a Work Order dated March 23rd.

It isn’t clear what the new incarnation will be, but East Side Restaurant Management LLC came up in front of Community Board 3 on April 19th looking to secure a beer & wine license (outcome unknown).

I’ll admit that I really miss Falafel Star.  Mohamed was a great guy & when he initially opened provided much of my daily calorie intake (along with beer & Jagermeister from 7B).

Update here.
Further coverage from EVGrieve.

Brunch at Northern Spy Food Co.

I’m literally reeling from my visit to Northern Spy Food Co. (511 East 12th Street between A & 1st Avenue) a few hours ago.  This is by far the quickest ‘plate-to-blog’ update yet!  I’ve been wanting to go here for a long time & finally found someone else that was interested as well.  Specializing in local & sustainable ingredients, the restaurant serves food all day long (breakfast to dinner) & has a small market in the back selling many of the items that they serve.

With the weather being so nice we were worried about the place being packed.  It was rather busy, but luckily we were seated immediately.  The seats are a bit cramped in my opinion, but I realize that this is a small restaurant in the East Village & I knew the food was well worth it.  I started with a coffee, but Troy ordered the Coffee Float.  Totally, not my cup of tea (I don’t like floats at all; in any way, shape or form.  Maybe this one will change my mind!), but he really liked it.  Troy started with Home-made Biscuits & Jam which I forgot to snap.

I got the Corned-beef Hash after Troy recommended it & damn were they good!  I’ve never had corned brisket before & you can really taste the difference.  It was so good that I spent most of my time pushing to potatoes out of the way (I’m not big on veggies).  The dish was topped with a massive poached egg which was nice & runny (the girl next to me was not so lucky, but the staff noticed & took care of it).  I caught a slight vinegar taste in the dish (possibly from the poaching liquid), which was uncommon, but I liked it.

There was no salt & pepper on the table which annoyed me at first as I had planned to put salt on my egg from the get-go, but that would have been a mistake.  Once I got ‘into’ my dish, it was salted perfectly & I’m guessing that the kitchen staff know what they’re doing.

Troy got the Slow-whisked Scrambled Eggs which came with breakfast sausage & grilled bread.  I think he enjoyed it, but honestly it didn’t look all that filling (although the eggs looked amazing & the sausage was gigantic!)

I’ve been blogging a lot about the brunches in the area & this was one of the better ones.  It’s slightly on the expensive side (considering how many $10 Brunch & a Drink places I go to), but excellent value for money considering the ingredients & attention to detail.  I’ll be coming back to Northern Spy for Brunch as well as Dinner!

20% Off Select Essex Market Retailers Today Only!

Today (Saturday April 10th) & Today Only!  20% off of Saxelby Cheesemongers, Pain D’Avignon, Roni-Sue’s Chocolates, Formaggio Essex & Breezy Hill Orchard!!!  Too good to miss guys, full details here.

Via Tasting Table

Royale

Eager to continue my unabashed assault on burger joints in the East Village, I went to Royale (157 Avenue C @ 10th Street).  This has become one of my favorite burger bars in the ‘hood, but I’ve always been sans camera (or mental capacity) to actually blog it.  Luckily for you, I had both on hand during my last visit.

I tend to roll through just after they open at 4pm so I can sit & chat with Sarah, one of the super-awesome bartenders there.  There’s lots of wood in the joint, tables to the right with a long bar leading to a small kitchen & outdoor space in the back.  If the weather is warm enough, they open the front doors which makes viewing the antics of the squatters next door far easier.

Anyhoo, onto the burger.  I always order the $7.50 Royale with Cheese (too much Pulp Fiction?) & generally get a Porkslap (one of the few places that sell it, I think Grape & Grain is the only other one in the EV) or go for the 2 for 1 Draft & Well drinks during Happy Hour.  As you can see from the picture, the burger is served on a sesame seed bun in a basket with the usual; onions, lettuce, tomato & pickles.  Nothing spectacular here, but they really know how to cook a burger…  It is so juicy, that sometimes I don’t even bother putting ketchup on it, which is a rarity for me.  Your bun won’t end up wetter than a chick at a Tom Jones concert, but the burger is really moist & flavorful.  I normally order mine medium rare & the cooks hit the spot, I’ve never had to send a burger back.

Other good dishes here are the chicken sandwich (both the crispy & grilled incarnations) & the Boston Bibb salad w/Maytag Blue.  Honestly, just come here for the burger, it’s really damn good!

Corner Bistro

I’ve been eating a lot of burgers recently, so I jumped at the chance to revisit Corner Bistro (331 West 4th Street @ Jane St.) one of my old favorite burger spots.  I love the no frills decor, the older bartenders & in particular, the burgers.  I ordered some fries to start, but honestly, I wasn’t very impressed with them.  It had been quite some time since my last visit & I’m pretty sure that they were better back then.

I moved on to the $6 cheeseburger, medium-rare (sorry, no pictures, I didn’t have my camera with me) & I really was blown away.  I’m not sure if it was the blend of meat used, the flame-broiling, or the skill of the chef (or all 3), but I really enjoyed this burger.  I’ve had problems in the past sitting in their back ‘dining room’, so I chose to sit at the bar with the engaging bartender.  With a small menu & skilled staff, Corner bistro still ranks among my favorite NYC burgers!

Jin Restaurant

With the weather warming up, I decided to head to Jin Restaurant (252 Broome Street between Ludlow & Orchard Streets) with a few friends for their awesome Happy Hour Special.  There’s a vast selection of items (beer, sake, rolls, dumplings, along with cooked items such as yakitori, etc.) are all just $3 during the pre-dinner rush, every day of the week.  With so few good sushi restaurants open for lunch & the weather being so nice, it made complete sense to take a stroll in search of some extremely well priced food & booze.  The decor of the place is nice, with a lot of bamboo accents on the walls.  There are 2 bars in the restaurant (1 sushi bar & the other for drinking).  Open outer doors & the lack of a busy lunch crowd gave the place an airy feel.

After ordering some beer (Sapporo) & house Sake we were looking through the Happy Hour menu & decided to start with the Shrimp Shumai (6 pieces) which were simply steamed, served with a dipping sauce and shredded carrot & greens (more garnish than anything else).  The shumai was far less dense than some inferior-quality shumai that I’ve had before.  Instead of being a ‘lump’ of shrimp (or paste for that matter) wrapped in wonton, you could really taste the shrimp & its texture.

We also ordered the Avocado Salad which was served with mixed greens and a carrot & ginger dressing.  Unfortunately, the dressing was slightly on the salty side & the mixed greens really didn’t do much.  The avocado was fresh & really good as you can tell by a recurring theme in our final order (see below)…  A really simple, but tasty start.

Our sushi rolls finally arrived & just in time!  We ended up ordering 6 rolls for a total of 36 pieces.  2 Eel Avocado Rolls, 1 Spicy Tuna w/Crunch Roll, 1 Tuna Roll, 1 Salmon & Avocado Roll and finally 1 White Tuna & Avocado Roll.  All of the rolls were good & very fresh (in particular the salmon), but I’ll admit that nothing really blew me away.  We were all full after eating the rolls however & for a total of $18 no less (plus our drinks & appetizers).  The service was good & all in all, Jin is a great choice for a tasty bargain lunch.  If you’re hungry in the Lower East Side, check them out!

Fishmonger coming to East Village

According to EVGrieve, a seafood restaurant & fishmonger will be opening up at 171 Avenue A @11th street.  As you can well imagine, this is a major bonus for us seafood lovers in the East Village, we’ve been without a fishmonger for some time!

According to the owner/operator;

I am planning on opening a seafood market/restaurant/high-end cocktail bar in that space… We certainly need a place to buy fish around here.

Yeah, yeah — fishmonger. There will be a display case when you first walk in about 6 feet by 3 feet with approximately 20-25 different types of fresh seafood. Most of it will be kept in the basement and brought up as we run out of things in the case. This way we can do the volume of a bigger store with a fraction of dedicated space.

I’m really looking forward to this!
Picture & full coverage via EV Grieve