cheese | Chopsticks and Marrow

10/27/17 11:41am

QDC’s Octoberfeast Brings Coffee-Rubbed Blue Cheese and Doughnut Beer to Astoria on Nov. 4

Coffee and blue cheese, together at last!

One of things I love most about my work with Queens Dinner Club, is the opportunity to explore cuisine and culture. Next Saturday, November 4, we turn our attention to Germany, well sort of, as we present Octoberfeast, a celebration of the best craft beer, cheese, and charcuterie that Queens has to offer curated by our good friends at Astoria Bier & Cheese. You can score tickets to this exclusive tasting, which features six degustation stations, here.

The evening’s charcuterie will come from Astoria’s very own Old World Romanian butcher, Muncan Food Corp. I’m especially excited about the tasting station that pairs Muncan’s dried lamb, a deboned leg of lamb that’s cured for 3 weeks, cold smoked for 48 hours, and then aged to perfection with Erborinato SanCarlone Caffe, a cave-aged extra special Italian blue with coffee grounds in the rind aged for over three months. To drink with this creamy and sharp with the strong coffee notes? Big Alice’s Date Night, Bro?, a stout made with coffee and doughnuts.

We’ll see you next Saturday!

Astoria Bier & Cheese, charcuterie, cheese, Erborinato SanCarlone Caffe, Muncan Food Corp., Octoberfeast, Queens Dinner Club

5 Fantastic Things to Eat and Drink in Portugal

by Joe DiStefano

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Pastel de nata, Portugal’s signature dessert.

Portugal—just the very sound of the country sounds warm, and true it is, but this is also a country full of flavors. So, while you’re out soaking up the sun, you should also take some time to do some gastronomic research during your stay and indulge in the delicious food and Portugal has to offer. Here are some of the country’s best best food and drink.

1. Pastel de nata
These custard tarts are both a treat and a cornerstone of Portuguese culinary culture, and you simply can’t leave the country without trying one – there are plenty of places, too, so there’s no excuse to, either. The dessert varies slightly depending whereabouts you are in Portugal, but one of the best places to sample these sweet sensations is the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem, in Lisbon, where they are known as Pastéis de Belem. The shop is a hit with locals and tourists alike and is one of the oldest in Portugual for producing this dessert, so they sure know what they’re doing! (more…)

Antiga Confeitaria de Belem, caracóis, cheese, lobster, Olhao, pastel de nata, Portugal, Quejio Serrano, seafood, snails

News

by Joe DiStefano

01/11/16 11:16am

Murray’s Cheese Bar Serves Up ‘Omekaise’ at New Monger’s Table

by Joe DiStefano

2 Comments

The Monger’s Table showcases the glories of cheese over a 10-course tasting.

With the exception of the dreaded Philadelphia roll, cheese and sushi are not usually mentioned in the same sentence, nor should they be. Leave it to Rachel Freier, cheese monger extraordinaire, of Murray’s Cheese Bar to link the two by creating a whimsical yet elegant cheese roll that owes as much to France as it does Japan. It’s part of The Monger’s Table—a new 10-course cheese dinner—an omakaise if you will, that Murray’s is rolling out this month. Not only is it an educational and gustatory journey into the world of cheese, it’s one of the more unusual tasting menus around.

Like many a tasting menu, The Monger’s Table begins with an amuse bouche, in this case a liquid one, a milk punch made with chamomile, sweet vermouth, and some hay from Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm. “We went to Jasper Hill and sat on a hay bale inside a hay dryer just licking the air it smelled so good,” Freier recalled taking note that its fresh grass and hay that makes the creamery’s cheeses taste so good. I couldn’t help thinking of Sushi Nakazawa’s omakase as I inhaled the aroma of fresh hay. Next up was a dish called Salting the Curd that featured squeaky fresh curds, along with fried ones, which proved a good entry point for discussing cheese making. (more…)

Ardrahan, cheese, Etivaz, fondue, gjetost, Greenwich Village, Jasper Hill Farm, Loire Valley, mozzarella, Murray's Cheese Bar, Rachel Freier, raclette, Spring Brook Reading raclette, St. Maure, Stilton, tasting menus, The Monger’s Table, Vacherin Fribourgeois

Twofer Tuesday

by Joe DiStefano

09/15/15 2:26pm

A Tale of Two Challenging Tibetan Cheeses

by Joe DiStefano

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There are cheeses out there that prove challenging to some palates and sensibilities, most notably the infamous casu marzu, or Sardinian maggot cheese which is actually quite tasty. And then there are the so-called stinky cheeses Tallegio and its odiferous brothers all which I find quite lovely. The most challenging two cheeses I’ve personally encountered are from Tibet. Both are made from yak milk. (more…)

cheese, chura kampo, churrpi, Himalayan Connection, Jackson Heights, Tibetan, yak

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

08/12/15 10:25am

This Argentine Video Makes Me Hunger for Miga

by Joe DiStefano

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It’s been a while since I’ve had sandwiches de miga, the dainty crustless Argentine triple deckers. Leave it to Youtube to stoke my hunger for them. La Cocina del Sandy makes several, including a lovely looking one with one ham and, hardboiled eggs, and pimento.

Before getting down to sandwich making she goes over miga mise en place—ham, roasted peppers, cheese, eggs, etc.—and then spends a good two minutes describing how to prepare a special mayonnaise in which manteca plays a crucial role. My Spanish is just good enough for me to understand some of what she says, but not good enough to understand the entire recipe. All of which makes me very glad to live just a short subway ride away from La Nueva Bakery in Jackson Heights.

Argentine, cheese, eggs, ham, Jackson Heights, La Cocina del Sandy, La Nueva Bakery, recipes, sandwiches, videos, Youtube

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

05/13/15 12:50pm

El Ranchito De Daisy’s Surprising Salvadoran Quesadilla

by Joe DiStefano

1 Comment

El Salvador’s version of the quesadilla is not what you think.

As one of the only Salvadoran spots in the largely Asian stronghold of Flushing, El Ranchito De Daisy is quite an anomaly. The pupusas are good but the quesadilla Savadoreno ($3) is really quite remarkable.

“What’s that I asked?” spying the golden brown ovoids lining the counter. “Quesadilla,” came the response. “Quesadilla!!? Quesadilla de que?” I asked in my best bad Spanish. “De arroz,” the gent behind the counter replied. (more…)

cheese, El Ranchito De Daisy, Flushing, quesadilla, rice, Salvadoran

The Seven

by Joe DiStefano

01/22/14 3:43pm

Warm Up with Some of Our Favorite Winter Soups

by Joe DiStefano

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When I was lad there was no such thing as a “polar vortex,” we called it winter—and reveled in it. Decades of relatively mild winters have spoiled me and many other New Yorkers. As a public service to help you thaw out from Winter Storm Janus, C+M presents a bone-warming roster of some of our favorite soups in Queens from Long Island City to Flushing, and points in between.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

1. Yunnan rice noodle soup with pork at Crazy Crab
Find this lovely bowl at New York City’s only crab shack/Burmese/Yunnanese spot. Warm up with tender chunks of pork and a spicy broth enlivened by a fresh squeeze of lime. It’s a taste of Southwestern China by way of Flushing. Not a bad deal at all, for $8.99. Crazy Crab 888,40-42 College Point Blvd, Flushing 718-353-8188

2. Tonkotsu 2.0 at Mu Ramen
When the sun goes down and it’s brick cold out, head to over to Bricktown Bagels, which turns into Long Island City’s only ramen-ya. Joshua Smookler’s Tonkotsu 2.0 ($15) is made from six different types of pork bones, including shanks that cook for more than 20 hours. Topped with a slick of mayu (black garlic oil) and wobbly bits of tontoro (pork jowl), the soup is rich and complex. Best of all it has plenty of marrow thanks to all those shanks. Mu Ramen, 51-06 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City, Tues-Sat 6:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m. (more…)

Biang!, cheese, Chinatown, Chinese, closed, Flushing, Golden Shopping Mall, Henanese, Jackson Heights, lamb, Long Island City, marrow, noodles, oxtail, pig, pork, Tibetan, Xi'an Famous Foods

Forest Hills

by Joe DiStefano

01/14/14 11:19am

A Chicken, Egg (and Cheese) Story at Marani in Rego Park

by Joe DiStefano

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Marani’s chicken tabaka, crunchy and garlicky as all getout.

The running joke about the Uzbek kebab places in Rego Park is that they’re all pretty much the same restaurant. Sure some might have slightly surlier service than others or make a specialty of chebureks, , but they’re all basically about grilled meat—beefchicken, and lamb–on flat swordlike skewers. So I was intrigued when I heard about Marani, a relatively new Georgian joint.

Ever since I read about the decadent adajaruli khachapuri being served at Brooklyn Bread House in Sheepshead Bay and at Oda House in the East Village, Georgian food has been a feverish blip on my radar. So I was especially excited to learn of a restaurant right in my neighborhood that served the mythical cheese and egg bread. (more…)

bakeries, bread, cheese, chicken, eggs, garlic, Georgian, Rego Park

Dish O' The Day

by Joe DiStefano

11/25/13 10:21am

Phayul’s Tibetan Cheese Soup Brings the Funk

by Joe DiStefano

2 Comments

This Tibetan soup smells like stinky French cheese.

“Have you had it before?” the waitress at Phayul asked when I ordered the tsak sha chu rul ($3.99), or “beef and Tibet cheese soup.” The note of concern in her voice was in no small part due to this dish’s rather pungent bouquet. I nodded my assent and waited for the bowl of what smells not unlike a Tibetan tallegio to arrive. (more…)

Andrew Zimmern, cheese, Himalayan Heights, Jackson Heights, noodles, soup, Tibetan, winter

Sandwich Wednesday

by Joe DiStefano

08/28/13 9:58am

Behold: The 10-Decker Chinese Breakfast Sandwich

by Joe DiStefano

2 Comments

New York only 10-decker Chinese breakfast sandwich will set you back $1.75.

It’s been said that the breakfast sandwich—an egg or two on a roll with cheese and bacon—is a New York City thing. I’m not sure whether that’s entirely true, but I do know that Chinese breakfast sandwiches are fairly uncommon in Flushing’s Chinatown. Sure jiān bĭng, and other wraps use eggs and are eaten for breakfast, but they hardly qualify as sandwiches. So I was quite excited when one morning I spotted the most extreme breakfast sandwich ever at Sun Mary Bakery. Barely visible through the steamy window of the warming box it appeared to consist of multiple layers of bread themselves encased in dough. As I soon found out it is, in fact a 10-decker Chinese breakfast sandwich. Layer number one is a puff pastry that holds the whole crazy thing together. Inside that ring of flaky goodness are five slices of white bread, alternating with ham, cheese, dried pork sung, and a slab of fried egg. It’s a filling, tasty carb bomb that goes great with a cup of coffee milk tea. Best of all at $1.75 it’s roughly half the price of a classic New York City breakfast sandwich.

Sun Mary Bakery, 133-57 41st Rd., 718-460-8800

breakfast, breakfast sandwiches, cheese, Chinatown, Flushing, ham, pork, sandwiches

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