This is the inaugural edition of Eat the Web, a collection of links to articles and blog posts about food, that I find particularly interesting. Enjoy!
A shot of the raw bar at Mar’s, a beautiful new speakeasy-esque bar in Astoria.
Eating The World in NYC writes about Caribbean Suriname restaurant, which has filled the void left by Warung Kario, which I loved (RIP). Thank goodness Surinamese food continues to exist in NYC.
Tastoria Queens tells us about the intriguing Ambassador Plates program, created by Jeff Orlick, which offers an option wher ethe chef decides what to serve, for $10 or $20. Here’s Jeff’s post about it.
Serious Eats NY published a fantastic list of places to eat Chinese food in all the city (mostly Manhattan and Flushing).
Serious Eats NY also calls out the Portuguese egg tart at New Flushing Bakery, which truly is one of the great desserts in Flushing.
Narrative.ly earlier this month published a great multimedia feature called Cooking in Translation, which “profiles a Korean-born, Flushing woman and her evolving cooking traditions.”
Slate explains why the (theoretical) loss of California’s food output would create havoc in America. “The loss of California’s output would create a dire situation for at least a decade.”
The NY Daily News turns its focus on Ridgewood, Queens along the M line—Krystal European Bakery, Krolewskie Jadlo (a personal favorite), and Catania Bakery.
The New Yorker reports that Dominique Ansel Bakery, home of the cronut, created the frozen s’more this past weekend. Ansel claims these can’t be scalped like cronuts, and that you have to eat them right after purchasing them or the effect is wrecked.
P.S. Happy birthday to me! I’ll be the one eating the nachos and watching the All Star Game at an unnamed spot in Queens.
I’m currently in the middle of a giant project – happily, it’s food-related – so I’ve taken an unexpected baby break from the blog. Once the project is done, I’ll talk a little more about it. Right now, though, I want to tell you about a recent meal I had here in Astoria, at Taverna Kyclades.
Taverna Kyclades is a staple Greek restaurant here in the neighborhood that is extremely popular with locals and tourists alike – in the evenings, you’ll see lines to get in, snaking down the block; we ate there at 1pm and were seated right away. It’s very close to my apartment, and after this meal I just had I’m kicking myself for not eating there sooner. The food was fantastic – so fresh and clean tasting. I had heard rumors that the use of olive oil was excessive, but I thought they used the perfect touch for everything.
The meal was shared among three of us, which means we got to taste a variety of dishes. We ordered two appetizers and two main dishes. The appetizers were a platter of dips – taramasalata, tzatziki, and skordalia – and grilled octopus. We chose grilled calamari and fried sardines for our main dishes, and they came with a side of horta and a side of lemon potatoes. Everything was excellent. My favorite dish of the whole meal, though, was the octopus. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.
The octopus was tender yet meaty, a texture I did not expect. Wonderful! There was a little olive oil, which added nice flavor. The meat itself was very mild but not devoid of flavor. I would eat this again in a heartbeat.
The spreads were also lovely. We all remarked that the taramasalata was light, not heavy and gloppy like it can be. I loved the salty little roe present in the spread. The tzatziki was more cucumber than yogurt, and the skordalia, a garlicky potato spread, was smooth and perfectly garlicky.
We ate it with some semolina bread, which was no doubt baked nearby.
After our time at the New Amsterdam Market for A Cider Revival, we headed down to catch the ferry to Staten Island for an early evening meal at Enoteca Maria. We’ve been wanting to go there for a while now, and when it became clear that we’d be close to the SI ferry that afternoon, heading over to Enoteca Maria seemed like a great idea.
I first heard about this place from NY State Senator Diane Savino (she represents part of both southern Brooklyn and neighboring Staten Island) – she mentioned it in an interview, explaining that it’s an Italian restaurant where the food is cooked by a different Italian grandmother each night. Each woman brings her lifetime of cooking experience, knowledge, and familiarity with her regional specialities to the restaurant. This is a very unusual setup for a restaurant, but an intriguing and successful one.
We knew we had to try it at some point… but how to get there without a car?!? Fortunately, there is a way – by ferry and foot.
So much of Staten Island requires a car to get around it, at first we thought that Enoteca Maria would be inaccessible to those without a car (I’ve lived in NY for 10 years without owning a car). Thankfully, the restaurant is only a short walk from the ferry station on Staten Island. That makes it extremely easy to get to.
By the way, the Staten Island Ferry is also free, and gives you a terrific view of the NYC Harbor – views of the Statue of Liberty, Governor’s Island, and Ellis Island are particularly cool. If you come to NYC for a visit, consider taking the ferry for an extremely economical way to see that part of the city.
The space was not what I was expecting, but I liked it very much. I was expecting more of a trattoria atmosphere, but it makes sense that it’s more like a wine bar, since “enoteca” means “wine library”. It has a modern, sleek look, with a dining area on the left and in the front, and a bar on the right; I believe there are about 35 seats available at the restaurant.
Our cook for Sunday evening was Nonna Elvira from Palermo. Palermo is on the north coast of Sicily.
We were served this plate of antipasti shortly after we arrived. It was lovely, full of late summer/early fall flavors.
This week I mentioned the wonderful cheese goodness I had last week during my lunch at Il Punto, an Italian restaurant on 9th Ave in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Il Punto serves classic Italian dishes from the regions of Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, Puglia, and beyond. It is a great place to get a solid and flavorful meal, prepared with care and attention, and beautifully presented. I found it to be a calm, soothing spot for a leisurely lunch with a new friend.
After our appetizers of caprese salad and burrata with figs and prosciutto, we were presented with a dish called Timballo. As one of Il Punto’s signature dishes, it was reminiscent of a round lasagna and was obviously al forno (from the oven) – it was baked and had a pleasant crust on it. Within there were wide sheets of pasta layered with béchamel, surrounded by a beautiful meat ragu reminiscent of a bolognese sauce. It was rich, savory, and smooth, and I loved it. I would absolutely order this again.
Timballo at Il Punto
My dining companion and I split this dish, but it could easily be split between four people, or eaten by one for a satisfying lunch or light dinner.
One of my favorite salads is the caprese salad. Usually it consists of tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella, and I’ve seen it in myriad configurations in restaurants around NYC – sometimes with greens, mostly not; more often than not stacked, but sometimes not. I love ordering this dish in part to see how different restaurants construct it.
At Il Punto last week, the caprese salad came in a configuration I wasn’t accustomed to – big wedges of yellow and red tomatoes surrounding a half a ball of fresh mozzarella – in this case, it was buffalo mozzarella, so extra decadent. The balsamic vinegar that dotted the plates was a nice touch – it mixed perfectly with the shimmer of extra virgin olive oil. The fresh and chopped basil finished off the flavor palate.
The other night, I had the pleasure of joining my friend Judith for the inaugural Fooditka Blogger Social. This was a really fun event organized by Judith (aka Fooditka), which involved a group of food bloggers gathering together for a meal in Astoria. We met at Ovelia, a popular Greek cafe/restaurant on 30th Avenue.
Often times, one leaves events like these having made some professional connections, but I felt like I really made some new friends: Lindsay of The Lunch Belle; Elena of The Gotham Palate; Erin of GlutenFreeFun; and of course my friend and writing partner at We Heart Astoria, Judith, who has just relaunched her Foodista blog as Fooditka. These blogs are excellent, and the women behind them are all really nice people.
One disclaimer – the food was comped, and Judith picked up the tab for the drinks. We also got quite a bit of attention from the staff. It was all very nice.
That being said, I’d eaten at Ovelia a couple of times before this (for brunch), and was very happy with my previous meals. So I did go into this eating experience expecting the dinner food to be delicious as well… and I was not disappointed. From the inventive sangria, to the feta cubes, to the barbecue, everything was delicious.
One thing we were served was the loukaniko, otherwise known as Ovelia’s house-made sausage. I’ve had it every time I’ve been at Ovelia, and frankly, I don’t want to have a meal there without it. It is so delicious.
Loukaniko is a traditional Greek sausage, made from pork and seasoned with spices, including fennel. It is also flavored with orange peel, which I absolutely love. It’s delicious on its own, but I love it with a squeeze of lemon (many dishes at Greek restaurants are accompanied by a couple of lemon slices). The lemon really makes the flavors pop – it’s fantastic! I also like how it’s served, sliced into pieces on a small plate.
We had a few other traditional Greek dishes – calamari, grilled halloumi, and Greek style pita (it doesn’t have a pocket), cut into triangles and grilled. But Ovelia has also created some really interesting and intriguing small plates. My favorite was probably the feta cubes, which were coated in white and black sesame seeds and fried. There was some honey in there, too. I also enjoyed the kafteri poppers, which were feta and jalepeño croquettes.
Additionally, there was chicken – grilled and buttermilk fried – and ribs, whose meat fell off the bone and into your mouth. It was a delight!
These savory treats were delicious and a lot of fun. I also wanted to mention that Erin, our gluten-free dining companion, did not go hungry, what with all the bread and such. The staff took very good care of her. They offered her cucumber slices in place of pita, provided the filling from the kafteri poppers without the breading, made these wonderful “crackers” out of halloumi cheese, and even slathered on some gluten-free barbecue sauce on a separate serving of ribs. We were all very impressed at how well our gluten-fee compadre was treated.
And I must write a bit about the Ambrosia Sangria. This was an unusual take on the classic mix of wine and fruit – the base was a dry rosé wine populated with bits of strawberries and kiwis. It was beautiful, and yes – a bit girly, but I like girly drinks (I’ve enjoyed many a cosmo over the years). We were all delighted by this drink.
So, judging from the delicious brunches I’ve had there, as well from as our social night together last week, I can wholeheartedly recommend Ovelia for great Greek food and more. Astorians especially – if you haven’t had a meal there yet, definitely stop on by. They have some outdoor cafe seating, which is terrific in the summer for both relaxing with a good meal and people watching along 30th Ave.
For more on our meal that night and Ovelia’s food, please click on over to the posts written by Judith, Erin, Elena, and Lindsay:
I just wanted to let my local NYC readers know that there is a terrific giveaway happening on another blog I write for, We Heart Astoria. We are celebrating the season with an aptly named title, 12 Days of Giveaways. The giveaway is brunch for 2 at Vesta, the wonderful Italian-inspired restaurant that I’ve written about here before.
I love their focus on local, organic, sustainable produce and humanely-raised meats. Not to mention a great wine list, and you can even get local wine on tap! The guys that run the place are really nice, and the space is wonderful and cozy. I go there to indulge a bit, too, in the form of the Baby Jesus Cake. It’s a date-based cake with a toffee sauce, and it is beyond delicious.
Brunch items that I particularly like are the L’Italiano and the Warm Bankie, that latter of which is perfect for a cold winter morning. Their coffee is very good, too.
All you have to do is head on over, tell us in the comments what your favorite brunch item is, and you’ll be entered into the drawing for brunch at Vesta! This is a great giveaway item, for sure. We’ll pick a winner on Monday 12/13, so you still have plenty of time to enter. Hope to see you there in the comments! Note: commenting on this site will not qualify as an entry.
P.S. Happy birthday to me! I’ll be the one eating the nachos and watching the All Star Game at an unnamed spot in Queens.
