French Onion Soup

Even though this winter's been mild (damn La Niña!), I've decided to make one soup every week. This week, French Onion Soup, the classic soup derived from 17th century French country cooking.  The sweet, caramelized onions with cognac-flavored beef broth are perfect for this time of year.  While this dish takes a little longer than some soups, because the onions have to be cooked down pretty well for the caramelization process to succeed--the sugars in the onions have to melt, giving them that nice brown color.  But it's still fairly easy to make and every bit worth your time.

Whole Foods Comes to Brooklyn

After eight years of wrangling, Whole Foods won approval earlier today to build its first store in Brooklyn.  The location--on a 4.2 acre site at 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue--will situate the store in an industrial area between the neighborhoods of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens.  Whole Foods plans to build a two-story, 52,000-square-foot complex complete with a rooftop greenhouse for selling fresh fruits and vegetables.  An artist's rendition can be found here.  Only time will tell what effect, if any, this development will have on the surrounding area.

Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage

Mike's review of Frankies Spuntino inspired me to make some ravioli with brown butter and sage. This is my go-to preparation when I have stuffed pasta that is too good to be overshadowed by tomato sauce or pesto, such as the spinach and ricotta ravioli I recently purchased at Astoria's Cassinelli Food Products (down the block from Mediterranean Foods, where you can find hilopites pasta and other Greek specialties). The sauce adds great flavor to the ravioli but does not overpower it, letting the pasta be the star.

Frankies Spuntino 457

Sweet potato raviolis

Frankies Sputino 457 is the most casual of the growing empire of restaurants owned by the Franks (Castronovo and Falcinelli). Yet it is more than simply a casual Italian restaurant - its quirky (some might say a tad confusing) menu reads like a grocery list of fresh greens, italian meats, cheeses, pastas, and sandwiches from which the diners must figure out how to construct a meal -- or just a nosh. It's easier to figure out the menu while sipping on one of their inventive (though a little small) cocktails, like "The Last Mosquito" ($10) made with rye, branca menta (a minty liquor), punt e mes (an Italian vermouth), and lemon juice.

Cured Meats Plate

The quality of their ingredients are all top-notch.  For starters, their cured meats plate ($15) which has thinly sliced prosciutto di parma, spicy and sweet, soppressata, and capicola.  The proscuitto really stands out, it is delicate and not too salty.

The crostinis are also a good touch, especially the cremini mushroom and truffle oil ($4).  It has just enough truffle oil without being overpowering and some parmesan on top for balance. The crostinis are also nicely crunchy. The homemade ricotta with speck ($4.50) was also good, though not quite as complex as the mushrooms.

Another notable appetizer is the shaved brussels sprouts with lemon & castelrosso (a creamy Italian cheese) ($9).  Brussels sprouts continue to be all the rage and this dish is an interesting variety.  The sprouts are raw and crisp, though I felt they could use more acid.

Χυλοπίτικά με Κοτόπουλο -- Greek "Hilopites" pasta with chicken

One of the great things about New York is the ability to find excellent authentic ingredients from virtually any culture.  On a recent trip to Mediterranean Foods, a Greek market in Astoria, I picked up a bag of Hilopites pasta -- a traditional Greek pasta that resembles cut-up tiles.  Hilopites is traditionally used to make a chicken and pasta dish that is delicious, easy to make, and requires just one pot.

Reviewing NY Times Review: Shake Shack

In this feature we will review select New York Times restaurant reviews.  This week: Shake Shack.

I had high hopes for the relatively new New York Times restaurant reviewer Pete Wells.  After all, anyone would be better than Sam Sifton, who was most notable for his annoying nickname (Sifty), nonsensical awarding of stars, flat attempts at humor, and giving only 3 stars to Masa because it's too expensive and elitist (no way!).

Wells is off to a good start.  His review this week of Shake Shack was spot on -- I've long maintained that the Shack expanded too quickly and the burgers are inconsistently prepared.  They also tend to vary based on location.  The original location in Madison Sq. Park seems to always serve the most consistent burgers for some reason, while I have anecdotally observed that the Upper West Side location is the most inconsistent.  And inconsistently inconsistent.  I've had both overcooked and undercooked burgers at the UWS location -- mushy fries and burnt fries as well.

Wells is also right that their hot dogs and shakes are their best dishes.  In fact, the best thing I've ever had at Shake Shack was the Hungarian smoked sausage that they have at their annual "Shacktoberfest."  If only it was available year-round.

One disagreement I have with Wells is I like the Shroom Burger -- the deep fried portobello mushroom that Shake Shack promotes as its vegetarian burger.  Sure, it's greasy, overly cheesy, and hardly healthy.  But the crispiness is excellent, and while there are perhaps more imaginative veggie burgers than a deep fried mushroom, the Shroom Burger has never suffered from inconsistent preparation.

Phở

A warm, steaming bowl of phở is the perfect comfort food on a winter's day. Complex, aromatic broth ladled over a tangle of rice noodles and topped with fresh herbs, lime and chilies. A friend I served it to once aptly described it as "Grandma's home cooking". Not my grandma's, or his, but surely someone's.

Cooking phở is almost as delightful as eating it. The simmering broth makes your home smell amazing, filling the room with the warming scents of cinnamon, star anise, cloves and ginger; very comforting on a cold day. Although most of us might think of phở as a beef-based soup, the recipe below uses chicken, which is just as authentic.

Preparing phở can take about as long as you want. Some recipes recommend simmering the broth for three hours or longer. This recipe, which I learned from Richard Ruben at the Institute of Culinary Education, takes about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish, most of that time passive. Set the broth to simmer, relax for an hour while you enjoy the aromas, and you are almost done.

Top it with fresh cilantro, Thai basil or mint, chilies and lime and let the herbs wilt into the broth. The finished product should look rustic and busy. I prefer to eat it with chopsticks in my right hand and a deep spoon in my left, using the chopsticks to lift the noodles and the spoon to slurp down the broth. Enjoy it alone or paired with our Vietnamese summer rolls.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce from a jar is one of the great frauds worked on the American people.  You can make your own in less than the time it takes to boil and cook pasta. And yours will be better, healthier and (usually) cheaper than what you can buy in the store.

Most commercial tomato sauces are not very good and some of the better ones are unreasonably expensive. On a recent trip to the supermarket, I saw a jar selling for more than $10. I think that's unreasonable for a sauce best made from three or four household ingredients.

Meanwhile, a good homemade tomato sauce is one of life's simple pleasures. Juicy tomatoes, fresh sliced garlic, pasta cooked just right, and the best extra virgin olive oil. How can you go wrong?

So try this simple recipe. Once you start making it yourself, you'll never buy tomato sauce again.

Aquagrill

It amazes me that Aquagrill, the now 15-year old Soho seafood restaurant, continues to turn out some of the best seafood and shellfish in the city.  Where other Soho seafooders turn out inconsistent dishes to clientele who could care less, Aquagrill has remained consistently excellent over the years while retaining its neighborhood restaurant feel.

Goose Point, Beaver Tail, and Komamoto oysters

For starters, Aquagrill has an unrivaled raw bar.  Changing daily, the menu includes over two dozen oyster varieties as well as clams, shrimp, lobster, and often whelks and periwinkles.  All are served with traditional house-made cocktail and minuet sauces.  On a recent visit, I had two large oysters (Goose Point), two medium sized ones (Beaver Tail), and two small ones (the ever popular Kumamotos).  The Beaver Tail oysters, from Rhode Island, were especially good that night -- they had the familiar clean, slightly briny taste.  Interestingly, while most restaurants these days charge a flat $3 per oyster regardless of the type or quality of the oyster, Aquagrill alters the prices considerably, from around $2 for the cheaper blue points, to closer to $4 for canoe lagoon oysters from Alaska.  Even some high-end restaurants known for their raw bars are sticking with flat-price oysters, despite a wide variety in the quality of their offerings.

Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Toasted Walnuts, and Parsley

I've always been a big fan of roasted beets but have never liked the notoriously wan store-bought variety.  It turns out it's incredibly easy to roast beets yourself  with minimal active cooking time, and the result is excellent even with simple grocery-store bought beets.  

The trick, which I learned from Mark Bittman who in turned apparently learned from Jean-George is to trim and wash the beets thoroughly and then individually wrap them in tin foil while still damp. Then place them in a 400° oven for 45 minutes to an hour. You know they're done when a sharp knife easily pierces them without much resistance.

Peel the beets after they cool slightly -- the skin comes right off.  Or stick them in the fridge with the foil still on for about a week.  In this case I combined them with toasted walnuts, goat cheese, and lots of parsley, and topped with a simple dijon vinaigrette. Who says you can't have a great salad in the winter?

Barney Greengrass

Barney Greengrass, a.k.a. the "Sturgeon King," is a 100-year old Jewish deli, breadshop, fish shop, and restaurant. Unsurprisingly from their self-selected nickname, and my admitted bias for smoked fish, I was inclined to make a recent appearance. Barney's is known for incredible house-smoked fish, slightly spendy prices, extremely gruff employees and wait staff, and delicious bialys. (My understanding is that they serve H&H bagels. I believe they sell Kossar's bialys - one of the two major NYC bialy powerhouses)

Barney's is both a store and a restaurant -- with many of the tables for the "restaurant" situated in the portion of the establishment ostensibly devoted to the store. Predictably, you don't want to sit there. The back room is solely devoted to the restaurant. On this most recent visit, I was there with two out of town friends. Naturally our waiter picked up on this and treated us with an appropriate level of gruffness. He also tempted us with some excellent looking latkes by repeatedly bringing over a plate to our table, but we were unmoved.