Forking Tasty

21 course tasting menu Goomba style

I am probably the last person in New York to have tasted some of the Torrisi mini-empire’s treats. As of a few weeks ago that’s no longer the case. Plus, I entered the “I’ve had it” club in a way that puts me in the small category of those who’ve enjoyed their 21 course tour of New York tasting. I’m not sure yet if this was a good way, or a bad way, to enter this trendy food club. I’ll explain.

First off, I had some preconceived ideas about what Torrisi Italian Specialties was all about. From the interviews, the Bourdain appearance and their shop next door I expected Italian-American classics twisted up with their new approach. Secondly, all my ten plus course tastings are pinned against each other regardless of restaurant size, chef and price point. That means these guys were up against my Per Se experience and my Momofuku Ko 22 course may lay.

My dining partner for the evening was my friend Aimee, my Forking Tasty Suppers co-chef and the one responsible for not one but two other of my amazing food experiences. This would be the third HUGE food favor she has given me. I know, I owe her BIG TIME. Below is

Ultimate Sandwich

It’s no surprise that today I am posting about a sandwich given my recent overactive Instagram stream. I dedicate this post to MY perfect sandwich. A perfect blend of nostalgia, haute cuisine and comfort food. How is that possible you ask? Well, let me break it down. Before I go any further it should be noted that this sandwich was served to a crowd of A-list chef’s during last years Michelin Guide party. Michael White, Jean Georges and  David Bouley all savored bites but the best quote came from Mr. Eric Ripert. After his taste he told me to let me mother know she’d done a good thing. I’m not sure if he was talking about her chicken cacciatore recipe or raising me to cook well. Either way, a nice compliment for both of us.

So, back to the sandwich. The nostalgia is, yes, my mother’s classic chicken cacciatore recipe. A mid-week staple in the Anello house while growing up. Better than the original meal were the “on-the-go” sandwiches we’d create the next day with whatever bread, roll, pita was laying around in the breadbox. Yes, we did have a breadbox. I loved it. The haute component is both the size, the slow braise on the chicken and the addition of two new components to my mom’s original recipe, caramelized shallots and a roasted cherry tomato. Maybe the most important part of this sandwich is my last explanatory adjective, comfort food. Everything about how I cook is comfortable (with that Italian-American slant). This sandwich is no exception defined first by the rich and silky sauce. Secondly, the sauce soaked focaccia the other ingredients live between. Even with the skewer you can’t eat this sandwich without getting a little sauce on your fingers. The way to clean that up is with your tongue not your napkin. A small, some may say maniacal, way for me to force eaters to connect with their food a little more. Evil or not, it works.

We will someday recreate these for the public but for now we are slowly working our way through HUGE sandwich research. You can follow the experiments here.

Italian Easter Egg

We hope everyone had a great Easter and wonderful passover. We spared the lambs this year and went straight beef. Glorious, thick, fat laced, aged, Ottomanelli’s beef to be exact. Who needs easter egg hunts when you have this…

The Cali Burger In Queens

This morning I woke up with a craving for a burger. I have not had one in a while and it is typically a staple in my food regiment. I was by myself for the day and wanted to go to a spot in my neighborhood that I’ve always wanted to want try but never get a chance to go. We all have a place like that in our neighborhood. Today was my day to go after it. The place I am referring to is Petey’s Burgers. I am glad I finally got off my butt and made it there….

Best Wings in Brooklyn 2012

Last Saturday Anthony and I were privileged to be invited for our third year to the annual Best Wings in Brooklyn competition hosted at Red Star Bar. This year we took a different approach. We decided to get a little clever with how we showed you each wing we are about to critique. We wanted to give them all an equal chance to shine and to do that we needed to devise a way to put all the contestants on a level playing field. We thought our skewer idea was a pretty cool way to achieve this goal plus, it allowed us to create the awesome frankenwing lead image above.

Check out the run down…

Breakfast For Dinner

I’ve been traveling a lot….what a surprise, and when I got home my refrigorator was quite empty. So I decided to make some breakfast for dinner. I wanted to take it up a notch and make a hardy egg sandwich. I started off…

Burrito Video Fix

Because Chipotle is Tasty, I love animation and they took a nice, big, 2 minute long media risk on this Sunday’s Grammy awards. That’s why I give you this lovely snap of my carnitas burrito with guacamole (extra charge). I have not done a corporate endorsement for a “fast food” spot since the KFC Double Down and Chipotle deserves some love for everything listed above. The video is worth the time. You may even need a tissue. The burrito is one of the best in the city since no one from San Francisco has bothered to come out here and teach us how to make a proper one. Jump to see the video.

Bosnian Delight

Have you ever had lunch and when you were done with lunch you were just not satisfied at all. That is what happened to me the other day. I had to take matters in my own hands and solve this problem. I did just that with Old Bridge Burger.

Options of Joy

I promise this will be my last post for at least a week about the absurdity of product options available in the US. This one tickled my marketing bone conjuring up an audible chuckle while standing in my local grocery store. I understand the naming and purpose of “Ultra Joy”. It’s a better, soapier, thicker, fresher and greener product. Conventional wisdom would dictate that the alternate option be “Joy”. It’s not. It’s actually “Non-Ultra Joy”. I don’t know about you but I’m not buying non-ultra anything. Seems to me this is what happens when you let the production team name the product instead of consulting the marketing team first.

Moving Day

Recently the southerner and I moved into an apartment in Queens. It was a big move day because I had to basically take my entire life that was sitting in storage and move it to the new apt. We were lucky we only had one flight in our walk up apartment. The original place we almost got was a 5 story walk up. I almost could not make the one flight with all my stuff.
It started out great picked up the u-haul truck drove down to storage and loaded the truck to the max by noon. Drove slowly as all my stuff was bouncing around all on the drive from brooklyn to my apartment in Queens. Everything was running smooth. I even found a parking spot right in front of the apartment. What a miracle day, and then….