Highlights from a Gastronomic Tour of Brooklyn

I have a new job. It involves food: taking pictures of it and designing around it mostly. But I had a special request from the powers that be: Could I escort a bunch of out-of-town chefs to restaurants in Brooklyn for a day?

Do I get to dine with them? Yes.

Do I get a fancy car to take me around? Yes.

Do I get to have wine with lunch/dinner/dessert? Yes.

Do I have a problem with this? No.

What follows are a few highlights from some of the wonderful restaurants we visited, and would visit again. So should you. That's the whole point of this post.

1. The aforementioned fancy vehicle.

2. Pretty wrappings from Mast Brothers Chocolate where we picked up some samples and 4 boxed of truffles. You should check out their new expanded digs if you haven't already.

3. Potlikker: a new favorite of mine. Chef Stephanie prepared everything herself. HERSELF. It was a one woman band. I was only slightly disappointed she wasn't playing a harmonica while she prepared our food. But I guess you could say she was playing the spoons...

4. Kitchy, standing outdoor menu at Potlikker

5. The Gnocchi Semolina Cake with Taleggio Cheese and Fava Beans. Standing ovation, people. Standing.

6. Duck Confit Croquettes. These little gems sat upon a most delicate salad of greens and beats and were finished with a mustard dressing.

7. Dutch Apple Pancake with Fried Oysters and Goat Cheese. Appropriately gooey, fluffy, and crunchy. This giant beast hit all the textural and taste spots.

8. More pretty Mast Bros. packaging.

Next up was Talde. The staff could not have been more accomodating here. They brought us a plethora of tasty dishes...

1. Their fun Asian-patterned plates are plastic. I loved that.

2. Perilla Leaf with Toasted Shrimp and Bacon-Tamarind Caramel Peanuts. Seriously?? These were bite-sized leafy nuggets of taste explosion.

3. The Most Fabulous Kale Salad I've Ever Had. For serious. Fresh and crispy kale was mixed together with pickeled almonds, dried cherries and topped with a slightly creamy miso dressing. 

4. The Chow Fun. Oh, and it was fun alright. That circular shape in the middle are wrapped rice noodles. You break them up and mix it with the greens, pork and sauce...this could not be more fun.

5. Crispy Fluke with Cilantro. I wanted to eat the whole thing. There are two problems on a food tour like this: you are sharing, AND you can't eat the whole thing or you won't have room for the meals at the next place. But I would have eaten the whole thing: crispy, sweet and tangy, this fish was perfectly flaky and downright spectacular.

6. The Most Insanely Ridiculous Dessert. I'm still not sure what this was. But it was really good. Better than I thought, because the description of coconut milk, tapioca, grapefruit and Captain Crunch cereal had me skeptical at best. Another mixer (as you can see), it produced a muddle of interesting flavors and textures that had me poking my spoon back in the bowl.

At this point, things started to get fuzzy. And it was getting dark, so I couldn't take as many photos (I don't like using my flash in a restaurant). However, I'll highlight a few more:

1. Franny's Pizza Bianco with olive oil. This dough has it going on. It was the last stop on our tour and I kept reaching for more bread. They also provided us with a stand-out meat platter that included lardo (!!) and some of the best house made chocolate sorbet (smooth and almost creamy) and limoncello (not too sweet), I've tasted to date.

2. Cardamaro: Read about it here. We obtained this bottle and a few others at Buttermilk Channel. Another wonderful spot, where it was, alas, too dark for photos...

3. I did manage this one of their Ricotta and Leek Flat bread. Buttermilk's version of the pizza, the shining star of this dish is the home made ricotta that is so wonderfully creamy, it's almost like eating ice cream. With a hint of lemon, it manages to be refreshing as well.

As the weekend is upon us, I urge you to go check out these fine establishments and order up some (or all) of these dishes. If you need company, give me a shout. But I'm not sharing this time.

A Post About Toast

I have many food and memory associations, but I'd like to talk specifically about toast.

Yes, toast.

John and I have been very lucky to have spent every summer since our respective births at the Iaciofano shore house in Beach Haven, New Jersey. Consequently, as the days turns very slowly warmer, I start to think about my food memories that my summers there have given me.

The Shore House (as we Iaciofano's call it) used to be turquoise, have outrageously ugly 1970's furniture, a creak in the wood-panelled staircase, an odd musty-humid smell that was strangely comforting, a white stone yard and a breakfast table nestled up to two, large windows that overlooked the bay.

At this table, my grandmother would have her breakfast while the sailboats drifted lazily (or purposefully, depending on the wind) outside the window like an animated painting.

You may be thinking, "Oh, we are about to learn a Iaciofano family, fancy breakfast recipe!"

But you'd be wrong.

My grandmother always had toast for breakfast. Burnt toast with butter.

I would sit across from her at the table and watch her spackle butter onto her blackened bread, the knife scraaaaape, scrape, scraping across the surface, sending ash-like flakes onto the tabletop.

Even though there was nothing special about this meal, I wanted it. I thought there was something unmistakably grown-up and therefore sophisticated about toast and coffee, even though I couldn't understand why my grandma ate it so charred.

Did she like it that way?

Had she just not mastered the family toaster?

I never asked and it is unfortunately too late to do so.

However, even now, I think there is something somewhat magical about toast. It's the caterpillar to butterfly transformation of a piece of bread taking on a new texture, color, smell and even flavor by spending just a few minutes in its heated cocoon.

These days, I have very specific ideas about what I consider to be a perfectly toasted piece of bread. I don't like mine burned. I like it a nice caramel color – just cripsy enough to allow for some residual chewyness and the absorption of butter or other condiments (should you use them). Too much time in the toaster and you essentially produce bread jerky – a veritable shingle of stiffness in consistency. 

Consider the following shade diagram:

Once you have determined your desired level of toasted-ness, you can dress it up. Toast is the perfect blank slate to apply edible accessories and make a....well...a "grown up" dish.

Let's use the above Country White slice as an example. Perfectly bronzed with a light, buttery make-up application, a frilly arugula skirt, topped with a poached egg and a glittering of salt and pepper.

Once cut, the gooey yolk runs into the porous toast, creating a crispy-oozing mess of rich deliciousness. And there's nothing more grown-up than arugula. The bitter smell released by the heat of the cooked egg is like that rare childhood aroma of my mom's perfume when she was getting ready for a night out with dad.

We can make toast more sophisticated still by swapping the bread with a baguette or Italian loaf. Sliced on the bias, lightly toasted and drizzled with olive oil, it becomes the vehicle for any number of cocktail-napkin treasures.

My personal favorites are the Avocado Bruschetta: tangy and smooth with a hint of hot pepper punch.

Also eloquent are Gorgonzola and Roasted Pepper Bruschetta: a dollop of creamy gorgi with slippery peppers and salty capers.

As with much cooking, it's the foundation that's the key. The base, in this case, being a perfectly toasted piece of bread. So crack open a loaf and make some toast...and memories. Sailboats and shore house are optional.

Mo'Town Gets its Margherita Mojo with Millie's Old World Meatballs and Pizza

Mo'Town.  Elana and I were born and raised there.  Mom and Dad still live there.  No, I'm not talking about Detroit.  I'm talking about Morristown, New Jersey: A beautiful Victorian community. A strategic spot for G-Dubs and his troops back in the revolutionary days.  And an up and coming downtown section with bars, stores, and restaurants.  Nonetheless, how good can a town be without its own Neapolitan/artisan pizzeria?  Isn't that a must, these days?  Oh, Morristown has one now, you say?  Why, yes it does.  It's called Millie's Old World Pizza and Meatballs. Since my office is near Morristown, lunch trips to the downtown area happen every so often.  Recently, I decided to take a ride into town to check out Millie's. 

Right off the bat, Millie's has two interesting - potentially eyebrow raising - things going for it.  First, the decor is pretty wild.  The inside is like a cross between a Las Vegas nightclub, and a "pimp my ride" garage.  Even the staff is dressed as if they moonlight as extras on the set of American Chopper.   It's not a subtle or charming vibe necessarily, but entertaining in its own way I suppose; definitely different for a pizzeria.  Second, this place has a coal burning AND a wood burning oven (see the two ovens above).  Most pizzerias are either/or, but Millie's has both.  Quite ambitious, I say! I sample both pies on a recent spring afternoon with some colleagues from work.

Let's start with the "o.k."  - the coal fired pizza (top photo), features a crackling, moist, and high crust.  Yes, high.  The ends of the coal pizza are hayyyuge; to the point where it is almost hard to open your mouth wide enough to eat it.  The sauce and cheese are also applied in thick splotches and, to me, are a bit too heavy, strong and rich for their own good. It's still enjoyable, but it's more of an opening act to millie's slightly more main event:  The wood fired, Neapolitan pie which is a borderline gem:

I stick to basics by ordering a Margherita that features a beautifully made chewy/charred crust, tangy tomato, milky mozzarella, and well placed, potent basil leaves.  The consistency here is just about perfect - my pie is a wondrous blend of sog, soup, succulent, and scorch.  I'm impressed. Slight demerit for including grated parm on my Neapolitan Margh, but I'm willing to forgive the minor error.

The bathrooms, like the place itself, are modern, trendy, clean and spacious.  Have no fear about running off to tend to some business in this roomy, water closet.

Ultimately, I'd have to say I was impressed with Millie's, particularly with the Neapolitan Pie.  It's nice to know that Morristown has a quality, wood-fired pie in its arsenal.  I'll be coming back for sure for their other variants of pizza and, of course, to sample some meatballs. Stay tuned.

Overall experience: Top Gun

Training Diary – C'mon, Muffin!

As the weather (very) gradually warms, I'm getting outside on my bike again. I rode to Piermont, New York, recently with a teammate of mine, Bobby. As per usual, rides to Piermont involve a stop at Bunbury's Coffee Shop for a quick pick-me-up, whether in the form of caffeinated beverage or carbohydrate-filled treat. And by the latter, I refer to muffins.

When biking long distances, it's best to keep an eye on your calorie intake. It's not good to go hungry, but neither do you want to stuff yourself and undo all that hard work. However, the Carrot Raisin muffins at Bunbury's seemed like a good option for a half-way point snack. I usually eat only half, and store the other half in my jersey pocket for later use.

Bobby, however, ate the whole thing. I'm not calling him out on it, it's just important to the story.

A rather steep hill awaits riders almost immediately on the return trip to New York City. As we were ascending this hill, I heard Bobby exclaim forcefully, "C'mon, muffin!!"

He was not talking to me.

Rather, he was demanding of his recently ingested carrot and raisin concoction to do it's job already: get those calories in motion and get him up the hill!

Now, in my time on the Full Throttle triathlon team, I have heard teammates call upon the baby Jesus in the manger, the BVM, random assorted saints (and sinners), their parents and relations, and even OTHER people's parents and relations in an effort to make their legs move faster, express their workout-related frustration, or for no reason at all, just to make conversation.

But the idea of calling up your not yet digested food was new. And, in my opinion, quite appropriate (as it does seem like Jesus, Mary and Joseph may have better things to do than helping any of us climb Ranger Station...like playing Scrabble).

But the muffin...well, the muffin does not. It's entire purpose is to make itself useful.

So after I returned to my apartment and ate the other half of my Bunbury's muffin (along with a lot of other things), I vowed to create some biking-friendly muffins.

The following muffins are loosely based on my mom's banana bread recipe. I made it healthier, and even incorporated the Bunbury's-inspired carrots. So, c'mon, muffin – let's get baking. And biking.

Banana Carrot Pecan Muffins

What You Need:

3 overripe bananas (you can actually freeze ripe bananas for a few days, let them defrost for an hour on your counter top, and violá - you have over-ripe bananas).

1/2 package of baby golden carrots, roasted until soft (instructions below). NOTE: You can use orange carrots, I was just trying to be color-palette consistent.

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tablespoons chia seeds

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. If using a muffin tin, line with muffin wrappers, or grease the tin with cooking spray or butter.

Pour the 1/4 almond milk into a small bowl and add in the chia seeds. Allow the chia seeds to expand and get gummy. Chia seeds have essential fatty acids, omega 3's and 6's,  and the coolest of all...the word "CHIA" comes from the Mayan language and means "STRONG." Perfect for biking.

Meanwhile, roast the carrots. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until soft.

In a food processor, blend together the butter, sugar and eggs. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the bananas, roasted carrots, almond and vanilla extracts. Blend well, making sure to break up all those carrots.

Finally, add in the pecans and chocolate chips, blending just to incorporate.

Fill the muffin tins 3/4 of the way full, and top with a few more broken pecan pieces (it makes them look nice).

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife piercing the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely, then stuff them in your cycling jersey and get riding!

And if you'd like some tips on bananas and when they're ripe, just ask Chiquita:

Things John Eats - A Birthday Post

Today is John's 32nd birthday. He doesn't want me to tell you this. In fact, we had a conversation about it the other day:

John: I'm happy to see there are no birthday posts in the blog queue.

Me: Not YET.

John: No.

Me: Yes.

And so, here I go, defiantly and publicly wishing my brother a happy birthday to the 3 people that read this blog. I'm hoping Marmo and The Box are already aware of the date, so it's just that one other person...

Anyway! To celebrate this fine date, I have compiled a list of things John likes to eat, with accompanying recipes and entertaining conversations.

John doesn't do much cooking. You might recall the state of his freezer which will illustrate his level of preparedness in that regard:

You might also recall the numerated post we featured on the contents of his refrigerator (which was equally alarming).

The state of this appliance often leads to numerous questions from John on what he should eat. Consider a recent one in which he was attempting to revamp his diet, asking me for advice:

John: So, it's NOT a good idea to eat a whole rotisserie chicken for dinner?

Me: Is this a serious question?

John: Yeah.

Me (stunned silence)

Back in the day, John used to eat some interesting things. He would dunk either peanut butter or grilled cheese sandwiches in vanilla yogurt. I found this disgusting. But I was intrigued enough to update the recipe to something palatable:

You can find the recipes for that here.

John's absolute favorite dessert is Marmo's apple pie, which is a deep dish apple pie with a crumble crust. It's a most impressive pie. He even wrote a post about it, here. But his final meal? He would dip a pasta fork in the Vodka Pasta at Sammy's Cider Mill. And I must say, although we don't always agree, I tip my hat to this choice.

John definitely keeps me entertained. Like the time we had the following conversation:

John: Do you have any fake mustaches lying around?

Me: No.

John: Did you check everywhere?

Me: Yes?

This was all in prep for the DiFara video we made. We did not have fake mustaches. But we did dance around John's apartment, pizza peel in hands to the tune of  "She Drives Me Crazy". 

Video seems to be John's preferred method of blog contribution. Although, he has recently figured out how to use Twitter, which scared the pants off me. Especially when I received this text:

Yes, it does smell like carrots (special points if anyone knows which TV show that is from).

And so, happy birthday to my favorite and only brother!

He dances!

He grows beards!

And he occasionally shows up at my races, hung over, vanquishes the athlete snack bar, and then heads back to bed!

To many more years of chipping golf balls into your bathtub, random gchat and text conversations, open hostility with my 16 pound dog Toby, eating fests, tipsy bike rides down the shore, painful conversations with Aunt Emily (cut your hair, ACDC!!!), philosophical conversations about what I SHOULD be doing with my life, terrifying dating advice and endless hours of the Golf Channel. Endless, people.

Happy frickin' birthday!