beef | Chopsticks and Marrow

09/03/14 10:02am

Takashi’s Caviar and Calf Brain Elevates Offal

And the award for most whimsical calf brain presentation goes to . . .

There are many, many wonderful beefy things to eat at Takashi, the Japanese nose-to-tail homage to all things bovine. Niku uni ($24)—tiles of marbled chuck flap atop a shiso leaf topped with uni—comes to mind, as does the miso marinated sweetbreads served over squid ink rice ($20). The place is a paradise for offal lovers. Each of the beast’s four rumens is on offer for tabletop grilling. Today’s post isn’t about any of those things, though. It’s about a sandwich, a sandwich of caviar and calf brain. (more…)

beef, brain, caviar, Japanese, offal, Takashi, West Village

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

08/28/14 1:54pm

Java Village’s Jakartan ‘Chow Fun’ Makes Me Say, ‘Yum!’

by Joe DiStefano

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Java Village’s kwetiau Jakarta.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

Chow fun—broad Chinese rice flour noodles—was as much a staple of childhood trips to Chinatown with my father as it was the local takeout. He cooked it at home too, purchasing wonton skins that he cut into noodle-sized strips. I have a feeling he’d have liked the kwetiau Jakarta ($9) I tried at Java Village the other night. It eats like chow fun’s spicier Indonesian cousin. (more…)

beef, Chinatown, closed, Elmhurst, Indonesian, Java Village, noodles, tripe

The Seven

by Joe DiStefano

05/27/14 1:24pm

From Face to Tripe, Italy to Pakistan Our Favorite Offal

by Joe DiStefano

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Offal—tongue, tripe, heart, even face, among other so-called off cuts—happens to be one of my favorite things to eat. As with most of my stranger culinary predilections, I blame it on my old man who always made sure to include plenty of hearts whenever he cooked up a batch of chicken soup. Thus I present a list of some of my favorite nasty bits.

Husband and wife offal slices at Golden Mall.

1. Fu qi fei pian, Cheng Du Tian Fu
The story goes that fu qi fei pian, or husband and wife offal slices, are so named because the couple who created this classic dish back in Chengdu, Sichuan, had an especially harmonious union. While that tale may be apocryphal the union of meaty beef tongue; funky chewy ribbons of tripe; and translucent swatches of tendon bathed in chili oil and shot through with peanuts cilantro, and just enough Sichuan peppercorn to set your mouth atingle is especially delicious. My favorite place to dig into this fiery heap of beef offal is Cheng Du Tian Fu in Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall. Cheng Du Tian Fu, No. 31, Golden Shopping Mall, 41-28 Main St., Flushing (more…)

beef, Biang!, brains, chicken feet, Chinese, Elmhurst, Flushing, goat, Golden Mall, Gravesend, Korean, lamb, offal, Pakistani, pork, Sichuan, Sicilian, tendon, Thai, tongue, tripe, Woodside, Yunnan

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

03/31/14 12:41pm

Bella Roza’s Lagman is Pure Uzbek Comfort Food

by Joe DiStefano

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Bella Roza’s beefy lagman will do you good.

The combination of the bone chilling dampness and a lingering cold have been conspiring to turn C+M into a soup blog. Last week I found myself at Bella Roza, a Rego Park pizzeria turned samsa and Uzbek bread bakery. “Do you have soup?” I asked the grandmotherly woman behind the counter who looked at me quizzically. “Lagman?” I said reaching into the fevered recesses of my brain to recall that I once heard that they serve the hand-pulled beef noodle soup. “Ah yes,” she said with a glimmer of recognition in her eye. I took a seat and dipped some crusts of bread into Bella Roza’s excellent hot sauce as I waited for my soup. (more…)

beef, comfort food, noodles, Rego Park, soup, Uzbek

News

by Joe DiStefano

02/13/14 12:34pm

Scenes from Brisket King NYC 2014

by Joe DiStefano

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The hordes of barbecue and booze and enthusiasts had a blast.

About 10 years ago good barbecue in New York City was about as available as snow boots are this winter. Back in the dark ages of low and slow smoked cooked meat the best place to get the best ‘cue was on the competition circuit, an opportunity I availed myself often enough in the guise of my hard-drinking, meat-eating, smoke-loving alter ego, Joey Deckle. Fast forward to 2014 and there’s more quality barbecue in our fair city than you can shake log of post oak at. (Heck my pal Tyson Ho is even opening up a whole hog emporium later this year.) Much of it was represented at last night’s Brisket King NYC, in which more than a dozen pitmasters vied for the crown. It was so crowded that I found myself chanting, “Ain’t no riot like a meat riot, cause when you’re on a meat riot, you never diet.” (more…)

barbecue, beef, brisket, Brisket King NYC, Dear Bushwick, Ducks Eatery, East Village Meat Market, events, Hill Country Barbecue Market, Joey Deckle, meat, Mokbar, Tyson Ho, Will Horowitz

Recipes

by Joe DiStefano

01/27/14 10:42am

Say it with Beef Heart Tartare This Valentine’s Day

by Joe DiStefano

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Nothing says love like a farm fresh egg yolk atop raw beef heart.

Call St. Valentine’s Day a Hallmark Holiday if you must, but as a public service to lovers and lovers of offal I offer up a simple, seductive Mediterranean recipe. Make your loved one some beef heart tartare a la puttanesca. Pair it with a nice Chianti and perhaps some Captain Beefheart, or, if you absolutely must Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

The recipe comes from my very good friend Chef Dave Noeth. Dave used the heart from a grass-fed Highlander Whiteface crossbreed that had been slaughtered just days before by his pal John Zamatope of Carman Valley Farms in Hamden Village, N.Y., 607-746-8287. The mound of meat was topped off, with another farm fresh product, the yolk from a pastured blue foot chicken. (more…)

beef, grass-fed, heart, offal, Valentine's Day, zombies

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

01/08/14 10:22am

Say Namaste with a DIY Tibetan Tripe Sandwich

by Joe DiStefano

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It’s offally delicious!

Almost every ethnic group residing in the multicultural culinary wonderland of Queens has its own take on tripe. From sheets of omosa floating in Vietnamese pho to fiery Sichuan fu qi fei pian to Filipino goto, I love them all. The other night I found myself in Himalayan Heights and decided to have a plate of dhopa khatsa, a spicy Tibetan preparation.

When the dude at Namaste Tashi Delek Momo Dumpling Palace, a spot that serves food from Nepal and Bhutan as well as Tibet, brought over the steaming tangle of guts flecked with red pepper I dug in with gusto. As my palate warmed and my brain thawed out, inspiration struck. “Can I have a tingmo?” I asked. When he brought over the steamed white bun, I proceeded to cut it in half and assemble the first ever Tibetan tripe sandwich in New York City. It was a nice idea, but after the first bite or two the bun gave weigh under its offal-laden freight. The pillowy tingmo ($1) made for a good textural contrast to the chewy ribbons of dhopa khatsa ($6). And the swatches of dough were great to swipe through the fiery sauce.

Namaste Tashi Delek Momo Dumpling Palace,, 37-67 74th St., Jackson Heights, 646-203-9938

beef, Himlayan Heights, Jackson Heights, offal, spicy, Tibetan, tripe

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

01/06/14 9:57am

M. Wells Kicks it Old School with Beef Wellington

by Joe DiStefano

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As much as I love eating my way around the world without ever leaving Queens, I have a huge soft spot for the psychedelic Canadian bistro/diner/art project that is M. Wells Dinette. Hugue Dufour’s combination of bistro classics, with nose-to-tail and sheer Quebecois farmboy whimsy keeps me coming back. Beef Wellington, along with, escargots, foie gras, caviar, and Dover sole falls into a class of foods that this product of a suburban lower middle class Italian-American home thinks of as luxurious. (more…)

beef, Hugue Dufour, Long Island City, M. Wells Dinette

Twofer Tuesday

by Joe DiStefano

12/10/13 9:53am

Savory Rices for Carnivores and Vegetarians in Queens

by Joe DiStefano

2 Comments

Bella Roza’s plof is real stick to your ribs fare.

Unless you count the crusty caramelized part, which adheres to the bottom of cooking vessel and is prized by Puerto Ricans and Koreans alike, plain white rice holds little appeal. Chinese takeout fried rice is much tastier. It’s been years—OK maybe six months—since I’ve eaten it. That’s because in Queens there so many other rice dishes from all over the world from biryani to bibimbap. Today, a look at two less common ones. (more…)

beef, Flushing, Ganesh, Indian, Rego Park, rice, tamarind, Uzbek, vegetarian

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

11/06/13 11:14am

Behold the Sukati Roll: A Pakistani-Nepalese Mashup

by Joe DiStefano

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The sukati roll’s the very essence of Himalayan Heights.

PLEASE NOTE DHAULAGHIRI KITCHEN IS CLOSED

For as long as I have been eating my way through Queens, Tawa Foods has housed a small battalion of South Asian ladies rolling out scores of paratha and roti. As Jackson Heights has morphed to become Himalayan Heights the tiny Tawa has taken on a co-tenant, the wonderful Nepalese restaurant Dhaulagiri Kitchen.

Nepali in the front and Pakistani in the back Tawa tells the story of the neighborhood. As Nepalese and Tibetans diners seeking a taste of back home tuck into exquisite thalis—mounds of rice ringed with various pickles and curries—South Indians stroll in to stock up on some of the freshest Indian bread in Queens. The space is a fusion of two cuisines that have seldom, if ever, mingled. To my mind this is a great shame. Thus was born the sukati roll. (more…)

beef, closed, Dhaulagiri Kitchen, Himalayan Heights, Jackson Heights, kati roll, Nepalese, Pakistani, roti, sukuti, Tawa Foods

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