Marc Forgione

Marc Forgione's eponymous restaurant is a superb urban restaurant crafted to look like the inside of a farm house. The inside glows with countless flickering candles set both on tables and above, hanging from large metal chandeliers. The wooden walls filled with assorted books and trinkets further enhance the sensation of having been transported from Tribeca to Forgione's place in the country. (The mood is somewhat disturbed by the bright open door to the kitchen, however).

The food is ostensibly American but really it has elements of European cuisine - Italian and French, in particular - as well as some Southeast Asian flavors. It is sophisticated but still casual; perhaps Forgione's restaurant aspires to be a neighborhood locale and why not, the residents of Tribeca can certainly afford it. Unlike some other expensive restaurants, most of the patrons here are young professionals who obviously have money to spend but want to do it in a casual setting; the candle-lit decor also makes it a prime setting for dates.

An Almost Niçoise Salad

As we move into late spring and summer, my salad intake increases precipitously. I don't mean side salads, I mean salads that are meals. This almost Niçoise salad fits the bill quite nicely. Traditional Niçoise includes greens, tomato wedges, hard boiled eggs, canned tuna, olives, potatoes, string beans, and anchovies. That's a lot to prepare at home and is totally unnecessary. The must have ingredients are good tuna and hard boiled eggs. Sear some fresh tuna rather than use canned for an even better experience.

Fresh fish - like tuna - at the Borough Hall farmer's market

The key, like with all salads, is freshness so try to find a farmer's market, which are helpfully spreading throughout the city. I got all of these ingredients at the Borough Hall farmer's market including tuna and farm fresh eggs, which for some reason always have really bright and delicious yolks.

The best method I've found for hard boiled eggs comes slightly modified from Mark Bittman in his entry entirely about eggs - it's probably my favorite post of his. Cover with cold water, bring to boil, turn off the heat and leave covered for eight minutes. Immediately remove the eggs to a cold water bath - a very important step, as the eggs will continue to cook if you don't do this. A bowl of crushed ice mixed with water works well. Overcooked hard boiled eggs will develop that ugly green sheen around the yolks and should be avoided at all costs. Bittman suggests leaving them in the hot water for "no more than nine minutes" before placing them in the ice bath but I usually opt for 7-8 minutes; I like the yolks just the slightest bit soft in the middle. 

Lower East Side Street Food: Newcomers and Desserts

This is the second part of New York Food Journal's review of street food on the Lower East Side. The first post covered the foods of Jewish and Chinese immigrants. This post focuses on newer and yuppier additions to the neighborhood, including desserts.

Newcomers

Taleggio, fontina, crimini and shitake mushroom grilled cheese at Little Muenster, Wings at Pok Pok Wing

The Lower East Side is also home to a slew of newer and decidedly fancier street food. Little Muenster, which specializes in "super fancy grilled cheese," and Pok Pok Wing, the triumphant east coast wing shop of Portland's Andy Ricker, are two of the most representative of the newer arrivals.

Little Muenster does sell some "super fancy grilled cheeses" but virtually all of them use copious amounts of an unfancy ingredient: butter. Butter was the strongest flavor in a mushroom grilled cheese ostensibly containing taleggio and fontina cheeses with crimini and shitake mushrooms. It did come with pretty good sweet potato chips, and was presented in a fun wooden tray.

Little Muenster also offers a grilled cheese with White American singles, tomato, and bacon for those who desire something less fancy - though at $7.25 it comes in at a fancy price (The other grilled cheeses are $8.75 or $9.25). These butter bombs are best late night and after several drinks; fortunately, Little Muenster is open late - till 1 am on Fridays and 4 am on Saturdays. It is also not a bad place to introduce kids, already accustomed to grilled cheese, to new flavors.

Lower East Side Street Food: Foods of Jewish and Chinese Immigrants

At left, half of a pastrami sandwich at Katz's, at right spicy shrimp wantons at Vanessa's Dumpling House

Here at New York Food Journal, we've been known to express our affection for street food, which I am liberally defining as snacks, sandwiches, and assorted treats that you can usually purchase at an establishment that does not have waiter service. While our prior coverage has examined street food in New Orleans, it is high time to explore New York's offerings in this food genre and where else should we go for this but the Lower East Side.

The Lower East Side has among the most diverse arrays of culinary options of any neighborhood in the city, in part because of all of the immigrant groups that have passed through the neighborhood over the years, and in part because of the relatively recent influx of young professionals who, in addition to frequenting the loud, crowded, dudetacular dance parties at the neighborhood's clubs, have some money to spend on food.

This and the next post provide a tour of the neighborhood's street food, just one of the many food genres available there. This post covers the foods of immigrant populations that have influenced the neighborhood, focusing on the offerings of the Jewish immigrants who passed through at the turn of the last century, and the Chinese immigrants who are increasingly making their mark on the neighborhood today. The next post examines newer additions to the neighborhood's street food.

If you're particularly ambitious, like I was with a small group one afternoon, you can hit virtually all of the places discussed in this and the next post the same day - don't over-order or you'll never make it!