Forking Tasty

Fresh Sliced in Greenpoint

You all know I love the retail resurgence in Greenpooint. Today Eastern District opened down the street claiming tasty beer and cheese. A bit too early for beer, I popped in to see if I could score a sandwich 4 hours into their official opening. Two were on the board. Beth took me through the specifics of each one. A cured ham and cheese sandwich was the first. The second, and my choice for obvious reasons (uhem-Anello with an “O”), was prosciutto with Salvatore of Brooklyn ricotta on fresh foccacia peppered with some kalamata olives. The shop has a full case of cheese, a pantry area with some jarred provisions and a beer/growler area at the back. On a quick look before my stomach told me to “Pay and go eat”, they seemed to live up to the beer and cheese description staying focused with relevant beer and cheese accoutrements. Some cheese knives, jams and jellies and a selection of hard to find imported six packs filled the freshly painted shelves. My favorite is that there were huge half wheels of cheese piled atop the glass case. That always begs a tasting.

Back to the sammie. It may sound simple and look a little skimpy BUT you’d be missing the point. The ingredients are pure and fresh. The prosciutto was just sliced, the cheese just made, the bread just baked and the olives seemed a day out of the brine as they added a delicious texture and taste to my snack. Needless to say I was pleased as punch. As I swallowed my last bite I realized the real excitement in Eastern District opening it’s doors, one of the largest selections of domestic cheese in Brooklyn only five blocks from my apartment. Having these options so close only means my kitchen will turn out even tastier dishes during the next REEL TASTY. This will certainly be a tasting winter.

All Is Well After A Mad Dash Off The Ship

Forking Tasty – Anthony’s in San Diego from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

I just need to ramble for a moment…You know those days when your in a rush and you want a quick bite to eat but you want that quick bite to be something you haven’t had before and you really want it to be something good because your starving, and because your starving you can’t make a decision on what to eat. Well, I had one of those days. In a mad scramble off the ship I found myself at Anthony’s Fishette, the same as Anthony’s Fish Grotto but the take out area. While running outside I remembered I was given a tip from a guest on the ship that they have the best fish tacos in San Diego. In the 20 minutes I had to run off the ship, eat and run back on the ship, I think I made the right choice under pressure conditions.

Everything Is Huge At Pipi’s

Forking Tasty – Pipis in Puerto Vallarta from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Pipi’s has been the hot spot for the crew on the ship for really good Mexican food and dino size Margaritas. I have been here about 3 times now and it has not let me down. I walk out, I mean, roll out a happy camper each time I visit. I’m always greeted with a smile and the same waiters and Mariachi band is there every time. As for the food , well, you watch the video. I think it speaks for itself.

Thanksbringing 2010

This past Sunday was my annual ThanksBRINGING Potluck. As the name implies, I invite my friends into the kitchen to help craft a monumental meal from all cuisines in an effort to unite us around the thing that has been my true north since I was a little boy, dinnertime. I’ll spare you the diatribe about dinnertime for now. All you need to know is that it may be the single most important part of any child’s upbringing. Mine obviously had significant impact on the food side of things.

This year we tripled the meats added a spit roasted lamb leg and a smoked brisket to the, now traditional, Indian spice brined, fried turkey. From there the dishes ran as far as a Puerto Rican arroz con gandules to a simple Pennsylvanian mashed potatoes. The table was once again covered with sides, mains and appetizers leaving not even an inch of space for more. By the time dessert lined up on the counter the satiation had set in. The troops needed to rally hard to find any spare room in their stomachs. Chocolate cake, Pumpkin tiramisu and fresh cookies galore piled up high making choices very difficult. Just when we thought it was over two more friends showed up with this hand crafted Rice Krispies treat turkey. Amazingly, my crowd mustered up the strength to carve this suger bad boy up until just the wish bone was left.

On that note, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. If you’d like to join us for ThanksBRINGING next year make sure you are on the list. I will leave you with…

DIY Thanksgiving

Every year around this time I rally up my friends for a yearly pot luck, THANKSBRINGING. This year I thought it would be nice to share a little of what makes dinners in my world a little more fun. Taking inspiration from Forking Tasty Suppers, my monthly supper club, here is a small do-it-yourself project that will make your Thanksgiving table look like a mini Plymouth Massachusetts.

Download the PDF and print it on your home printer. Be sure to add your own little creative twist for style points that way you can claim it as your own. We’d love to see your creations. Send us a pick of your Pilgrim and Indian adorned table and we’ll reward the best with two seats to our next dinner. Happy Creativity!

Olive Oil Poached Autumn

It was a blustery one today. Not the day most would pick to sit in the park and enjoy a sandwich on a bench. I wait for days like today. NYC is in transition on a day like today. Everyone races to beat the wind, get out of the cold and rush to the next meeting. I chose to savor it. I have been hunting down Sub No.7 for a few weeks. Not hard to find, just hard to get to. The mix of ingredients is beyond intriguing. As much as I wanted to jump on the lamb meatloaf I kept to my fish thing and choose the arctic char sandwich with Shishito Peppers, Fried Shallots and Hummus. The BIG deal. They poach the fish in olive oil. It gives it an amazingly moist and smooth taste. Paired with the whole wheat roll and the leaf raining show in the park, you can’t program a better fall day in NYC.

More Pretty Fish

You never get to play with your sushi in the restaurant so I thought I’d have a little fun at my coffee table in between some Travel Channel show about the Grand Canyon. Keeping with the pescatarian diet, I only ate chicken twice yesterday. Really this post is about the pretty picture of a bunch of stacked sushi. Happy low-calorie, fish-instead-of-cow, double gym Weekend.

Pretty Fish Regimen

For some reason I like to make my fish pretty. Inspired by Immaculate Infatuation’s cleanse I decided to take a deeper look into my calorie consumption over the next two weeks. A happy little app called “Lose It” is keeping track of what I eat and how I exercise. My stomach told my brain of it’s disappointment with the little experiment due to a little holiday just 14 days away. Besides that little snafu I have taken to a semi pescatarian diet, hard for this die hard carnivore, and picked up a few goodies at the local fish monger.

The colorful tower above starts with a layer of thin sliced lemon juice marinated cucumbers and cracked black pepper. On top of that are thin sliced pear tomatoes in a red wine vinegar and salt slurry. The sesame crusted monkfish sits in the middle and is topped with carmelized onions and garlic. I snuck in a hint of Spanish smoked paprika too. Finally the chapeau is fresh made cilantro pesto. Delicious at 296 calories.

The left overs, along with some red snapper, are already in the lime marinade for tomorrows ceviche. And so begins the pretty fish regimen.