Brooklyn | Chopsticks and Marrow

12/09/14 1:49pm

Kulu’s Sweet Sawdust and Delicious Durian

Kulu’s sawdust pudding is way better than it sounds.

There are more than a few a misconceptions about Chinese desserts floating around. There’s the completely wrong-headed notion that Chinese civilization was exposed to sugar later than its Western counterpart and therefore its desserts are simply not as good. Another perhaps less foolish notion, of which I am personally guilty, is that all Chinese desserts are either heavy and buttery like egg tarts and jindui, the fried Chinese “doughnut” filled with red bean paste.

As I’ve learned from experience with the wonderful dou hua or flower tofu from Soybean Chen, these Western misconceptions are just that. Last week Jayson Chong, owner and creator of Kulu Desserts, helped me to further dispel these lao wai misconceptions by introducing me to his more modern, lighter take on Chinese sweets. (more…)

Brooklyn, Chinatown, Chinese, durian, Dyker Heights, Flushing, Kulu, Macao, pudding

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

11/05/14 10:13am

The Best Chicken Biscuit Above the Mason Dixon

by Joe DiStefano

2 Comments

Grandma would approve.

With the exception of old school red sauce joints my antipathy for Brooklyn is nigh legendary, which is why I’m glad that I have friends like Kristen Baughman ,who was kind enough to write a guest post about a certain Southern sandwich in the County of Kings for this week’s Sandwich Wednesday. Take it away, Kristen.

I recently moved to Brooklyn on a whim. Sure, I’ve met my fair share of interesting people—like the man off the Morgan Avenue L train stop who owns a pet bobcat. The beauty of New York City is that everyone is different. Unlike the suburbs of North Carolina, I can walk outside of my tiny Bushwick apartment on any given day and hear at least three different languages or see someone with blue hair. I’m having fun exploring the Big Apple, but I would be lying (especially to my stomach) if I told you I didn’t miss Southern food. (more…)

biscuits, Brooklyn, Chick-fil-A, fried chicken, Pies-n-Thighs, Southern, Williamsburg

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

07/30/14 11:12am

A Pair of Old School Sicilian Sandwiches in Brooklyn

by Joe DiStefano

1 Comment

A vastedda sans ricotta at Ferdinando’s Focacceria.

I’ve been hearing about the 110-year-old Ferdinando’s Focacceria for at least 20 years. Last week I finally made it to the Carroll Gardens temple of Sicilian soul food. There I met Francesco Buffa who convinced me to order a vastedda the old-fashioned way, that is to say without the dollop of ricotta, which he insisted is not how way the calf spleen sandwich is served back home. “You really get the flavor of the meat,” he said. (more…)

Brooklyn, Ferdinando's Focacceria, gelato, offal, old school, Sicilian, vastedda, Villabate Alba

Williamsburg

by Joe DiStefano

07/11/14 9:49am

It’s Finally OddFellows Ice Cream Season!!

by Joe DiStefano

No Comments

Cornbread with salted caramel syrup and burnt sugar.

Last Saturday was sweltering. It was even hotter if you were waiting on line to view Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby,” at the soon to be demolished Domino Sugar Factory. As we left the domain of the massive sugar sphinx-mammy I tasted a few grains of what I presumed to be some ancient turbinado sugar that was laying on a girder. Back outside in the heat I pondered whether that was a good idea, and my crew and I decided to chill out with something sweet and cool at the nearby OddFellows Ice Cream Co. (more…)

Brooklyn, Domino Sugar Factory, Kara Walker, OddFellows Ice Cream Co., sugar, Williamsburg

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

03/19/14 10:02am

Joe’s Vastedda: A Treat for Sicilians and Offal Lovers Alike

by Joe DiStefano

8 Comments

What’s better than vastedda?

A couple of weeks ago while doing some research for a Brooklyn Chinatown/Italian Bensonhurst food tour I stopped by Gino’s Focacceria for a vastedda. I was saddened to see the shop was for rent. I asked a local merchant where I might I obtain the traditional Sicilian calf spleen sandwich. “Joe’s of Avenue U,” she said.

I forgot all about the offal and cheese sandwich until Friday after leading that food tour. After several hours of eating and talking I often like to decompress with even more eating. So I paid the Gravesend institution a visit for a vastedda. My namesake Sicilian diner still sits beneath the Avenue U stop on the F. The old-school sign has been changed, but the magnificent steam table filled with stuffed artichokes and other Sicilian specialties looks exactly the same. And they still have vastedda ($6.99). (more…)

Brooklyn, Italian, offal, old school, Sicilian, spleen

News

by Joe DiStefano

12/16/13 10:21am

Little Manila Comes to Brooklyn for a Foodraiser

by Joe DiStefano

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Lechon from Engeline’s will be just one of the items on offer.

Tomorrow night a bonanza of Pinoy food from balut and pork sisig to lechon and bibinka comes to Brooklyn for a Foodraiser for the Philippines hosted by the Gastronauts and Food Curated. Woodside, Queens, aka Little Manila, will be represented by Engeline’s, which is generously donating two roast pigs and a mess of balut to the cause. In addition to traditional Filipino fare, there will be novel dishes like venison adobo and bone marrow fried rice from Ain’t2Proud2Brunch.

The event is being held from from 7–10 p.m. at The Woods (48 South 4th Street Williamsburg), and features a complimentary bar. Advance tickets are $50, or $60 at the door. Money will benefit the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines, give relief, and help devastated communities recover and rebuild. A large portion of the funds will go to Rose Charities, which is currently carrying out medical relief along the north coast of Negros Island. Missions are also being carried out by them in Cadiz City, as well as some of the small isolated islands which to date have had almost no relief.

balut, Brooklyn, Engeline's, Food Curated, lechon, Little Manila, The Gastronauts, Woodside

News

by Joe DiStefano

09/26/13 10:13am

Tasty Links from the Gastronomic Blogosphere

by Joe DiStefano

No Comments

Ever wonder what goes on at night inside the neon squiggle festooned former diner that is Flushing’s Lake Pavilion? Well, wonder no more. The Cantonese banquet hall is the subject of a two-star review in this weeks’ New York Times. Gotta give Pete Wells props for trying goose webs and screw clam, which is not a clam, but rather an organ extracted from a sea cucumber.

In case you’ve got a forequarter of beef lying around that you’d like to turn into pastrami this video might come in handy.

I’ve always been fascinated with Rocco’s Calamari in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Now Eating in Translation helps me understand why. Rocco is Calabrese, just like my dear old Ma. (more…)

beef, Brooklyn, candy, Cantonese, Chinese, Flushing, Fuchsia Dunlop, Italian, Lucky Peach, offal, pastrami, Russ & Daughters, Singapore

News

by Joe DiStefano

09/10/13 12:45pm

Scenes from the Ninth Annual Vendy Awards

by Joe DiStefano

No Comments

The hordes hungered for award-winning street food.

I was unable to attend the Vendy Awards this past weekend, but my good friend Siobhan Wallace was kind enough to provide this dispatch and some lovely photographs. The non-Blondie half of Blondie & Brownie, literally co-wrote the book on street food in New York City: New York à la Cart: Recipes and Stories from the Big Apple’s Best Food Trucks. Take it away Siobhan!

This past weekend, myself and over 999 other street food fans found ourselves in the shadows of Industry City’s factory buildings in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, devouring the best New York City cart and food truck offerings at the ninth annual Vendy Awards. Most of it was a win, a few things were off the mark, and there were ice cream cones full of frosting. (more…)

Brooklyn, dessert, El Olomega, Luke's Lobster, pupusas, Red Hook Ball Fields, street food, The Chipper Truck, Vendy Awards

Gravesend

by Anne Noyes Saini

08/26/13 12:30pm

Intrepid Vegetarian: Cheese-filled Khinkali and a Georgian Condiment Worthy of Obsession

by Anne Noyes Saini

6 Comments

Like many cuisines nurtured in mountainous places, Georgian food is notably meat-intensive. So I wasn’t surprised when the counterman at Brick Oven Bread, a Georgian bakery, laughed at my request for meatless khinkali.

Georgia’s famous boiled dumplings, which bear an uncanny resemblance to Shanghai xiao long bao (aka, soup dumplings) or Himalayan momo, are almost always filled with ground beef, pork, or lamb—especially in New York City, where affordable meat is easily procured. (In Georgia, khinkali filled with mushroom, potato, and cheese are not uncommon.)

But then the woman behind the counter spoke up: “I make them stuffed with cheese for myself. Would like to try some?” (more…)

ajika, Brooklyn, Caucasus, condiments, dumplings, Georgian, Khinkali

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

08/12/13 10:05am

Café Avat’s Refreshing Ashylam-fu is Worth A Trip to Brookyn

by Joe DiStefano

No Comments

Photo: Dave Cook/Eating in Translation

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

From the way I hate on Brooklyn you’d think the only reason I went there was to eat weird ice cream and bitch about Ramen Burger lines. The truth about the County of Kings though is that there’s all sorts of foods available there that just can’t be found in Queens, from the Sicilian specialties at Joe’s of Avenue U in Gravesend to the Kyrgyz cuisine at Café Avat in Bath Beach. Savvy readers will note that both of these neighborhoods are blissfully free of hipsters and the food trends they slavishly worship.

My home turf of Rego Park has plenty of Uzbek kebab houses, but the cuisine of Kyrgyzstan is woefully under-represented. So when Dave Cook of Eating in Translation asked me to join a crew of like-minded eaters for dinner at Café Avat just down the street from the fourth to last stop on the D train I immediately said yes. (more…)

Bath Beach, Brooklyn, closed, Dave Cook, Dongebi, Flushing, Kyrgyz, noodles, Uzbek

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