Italian - - Page 5

by gansie

Thank You Uno: Chicken Tikka Masala Officially Jumps the Shark

Chicken tikka masala already wins as the most inauthentic Indian dish of all time. The BBC calls it “synonymous with: breakdown in traditional British values and rise of multi-cultural Britain,” as it’s been crowned “Britian’s true national dish,” having been created there in the mid-20th Century.

In the United States we find this dish only at Indian restaurants and some UK-inspired pubs aggressively trying for authenticity. But that’s where the CTM deliciousness ends. Right?

That’s until I read about Uno’s “complete menu revamp.” Because of the volume of press releases sent to my inbox, I barely ever read all of them, especially when I have no interest in the subject matter. Now, I don’t have an interest in Uno’s, as it was my least favorite pizza chain (even over the despised Pizza Hut), but I was curious about how radically a pizza place’s menu could actually change.

The press release first mentioned a farro salad. I get this addition: ancient grains are having a serious moment and are seen as healthy, plus farro is deeply connected to Italy, as is Uno’s main draw, pizza.

But then it comes. Chicken Tikka Masala will join the cast with deep dish pizza and Rattlesnake pasta. I’m afraid chicken tikka masala now joins salted caramel (Uno also unveils a bread pudding with salty caramel sauce) as completely overexposed and a sure sign that a restaurant is totally fucking desperate with zero original ideas.

Original Jump the Shark (and its defender!)

in Restaurants 2 comments

by gansie

The Charm of Sloppy Seconds

Waking up before 9am on Saturday has a few perks, most of them edible. Working at the farmers market, at least my gig there, isn’t strenuous. Eager shoppers, without cash, walk up to the Manager’s Table, pass me their debit card, I swipe while asking them to sign up for our newsletter and hand them the appropriate amount of tokens.

I tweet fruit observations and celebrity sightings, gobble up sun gold tomatoes and more or less banter with strangers about food for a few hours.

And then I get to take home the good stuff. Well, not exactly the good stuff. Really the free, almost rotting stuff. Ten pounds of bruised and battered tomatoes. Tomatoes slit apart and oozing juice and seeds. Tomatoes on just this side of rotten.

These seconds, as they’re dubbed at the market, need to be loved and loved quickly. I had less than 24 hours to make the most of out of them.

Part I

by BS

Eating on the Edge: Howard Beach

In our new dining out series, Endless Simmer’s NYC-based tasting team is traveling to the ends of the earth. Well, the ends of the earth for snobby New Yorkers. We’re bypassing the cutesy outer borough neighborhoods and taking the subway to the end of the line, then getting on a bus and taking that to the end of the line, then seeing what we can find to eat.

Our first, very random stop is Howard Beach, Queens, a neighborhood known to most Manhattanites as the name of that stop way out there where you get the AirTrain to JFK. But it’s also an old-school Italian-American neighborhood facing Jamaica Bay, where New Yorkers live in single-family homes with fishing boats anchored in their front yards (really!)

To get to Cross Bay Boulevard, the main thoroughfare cutting through Howard Beach, we took the A train out to Rockaway Boulevard, where you can hop on the Q41 bus to the end of the line, which is conveniently a few blocks from the Bay, right outside the imposing Vetro Restaurant and Lounge.

in Restaurants 5 comments

by tvff

Poor Man’s Parmesan

I eat pasta more than any normal person should. I have to limit myself to one time per week as a main course, though I do make exceptions that allow for a second Asian-style noodle dish, either made at home or out at a restaurant. It’s just about the perfect food – except for the fact that it’s not crunchy.

While flavor is most important, of course, texture runs a reasonably close second when it comes to the eating experience for me. And – hooo doggie – when I can get something that’s delicious and gives a nice crunch, I’m pretty much in heaven. Hence my addiction to pretty much anything deep-fried.

So then why can’t pasta be crunchy, too? Sure you could just undercook it, but that’s not what we’re going for here. We need something that is going to elevate the dish. We need something that will remind us about the best part of the one crunchy noodle dish already out there, mac & cheese.

We need breadcrumbs.

Not just any breadcrumbs, mind you. Breadcrumbs pan-fried in olive oil, with some sliced garlic thrown in for added flavor.

Now, I’ll be upfront and say that this is no modern invention. Breadcrumbs have been used as a pasta-topper for quite a while, sometimes known as a “poor man’s” alternative to topping your dish with grated cheese. But we all know that just because something is an inexpensive option doesn’t mean it’s not delicious.

So, what does this simple topping require? Chances are, you probably already have everything you need…

in Recipe 5 comments

by gansie

You Shouldn’t Be the Chef

I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or a nightmare. I was in New Jersey (no jokes) with my family (really, no jokes) and I scanned the American-Italian menu. The usual suspects appeared: chicken parm, eggplant manicotti, veal marsella. And then I saw what should be the biggest kitchen disaster: customers allowed to create their own meal. There were no guidelines. No suggestions. No boundaries. Just boxed-in text suggesting the customer be the chef.

Maybe without a price range this option could be lucrative. But all I imagine are bitchy, bossy, hungry South Jerseyans ordering outrageous requests. Triple lobster. No butter. No Salt. Extra crab. No fat. No sugar.

This can’t be a step in the right direction in restaurant-patron relations, can it?

in Restaurants / Trends 6 comments

by BS

Hott Link: Dishwasher Lasagna

Ever wondered if you could cook lasagna in your dishwasher? Of course you have!

Check out the recipe, now with video.

(Hat tip: Good Bite).

in Recipe 4 comments

by Russell Warnick

The World Cup of Food

Image Courtesy of Nestor Cerami

We couldn’t let soccer’s 2010 FIFA World Cup go by without throwing in our two cents — which as you might expect, has less to do with our feet than with our mouths. So while serious sports fans spend this week debating which squads got the crap draw and which teams are most likely to make the second round, foodies can put all that aside and take a look at our 2010 World Cup Food and Drink Rankings, in which we’ve ranked the 32 participating nations from worst to best, based not on soccer skills but on the appeal of each country’s most iconic dish.

For the record, I offer no apologies for the dishes or the order in which they are ranked—I had many discussions with my international friends when researching these and they have disagreed with me on many—for that, you can leave your opinions in the comments.

#32. Australia – Vegemite on Toast

Usually when there is a petition on Facebook in support of something, you know it’s a desperate plea, and Vegemite on Toast is no exception. This isn’t one of those love-it-or-hate-it kind of foods, this is simply a hate it kind of food. Yes, there are nearly 111,000 facebook users on the record as supporting it, but I’m pretty sure that’s roughly the population of Australia, right? Let’s hope for their sake that the Aussie lads find something better to chow on before their matches in South Africa.

#31. Ivory Coast – Kedjenou

Factoid: the current coach of the Ivory Coast team is former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. I’m sure old Sven has some tricks up his sleeves planned for the field, but you’ve got to admire the Ivory Coast’s cooking tricks, too. Kedjenou, like many other West African dishes, starts with some tough old chickens and basically cooks the shit out of them ’til they’re edible. It may not be the quickest way to make a meal taste good, but it sure as hell beats Vegemite.

#30. Slovenia – Buckwheat

I task you with something — Google “Slovenia” and “food.” Whatever the result is it’ll surely include buckwheat. Buckwheat, buckwheat and more buckwheat. Could you be any more boring, Slovenian cooks? If you must have a Slovenian soccer dish, I sifted through the ES archives and stumbled upon this tasty dish, vegetarian too — Wilted Greens with Buckwheat Noodles (and an egg).

in Food Travel / Trends 30 comments