Street Eats, NYC

The other weekend we had some time to kill before meeting friends in the West Village, so we decided to walk around the neighborhood and of course, have a snack... or two, or three.

We saw some Union Jack bags coming out of a store, and were drawn to Myers of Keswick British groceries.  Along with McVities, PGTips, Marmite, HP Brown Sauce all that good stuff, they also make their own Cumberland sausage (the best West of Allonby, according to their website), bangers, and meat pies of many varieties.  We got a Cumberland sausage roll and it was indeed magnificent.  We also got a pork pie with stilton, but decided to save it for later.  Unfortunately our friend's dog managed to scarf it up before we did, but she seemed to enjoy it!

Then under the High Line, we wandered among the food stalls, and couldn't resist getting a Throwdown from Wafel and Dinges.  This is the waffle they beat Bobby Flay with -- topped with speculoos, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014
(212) 691-4194

Wafels and Dinges
www.wafelsanddinges.com

Stoudt's Brewery, Adamstown PA

I had a conference to go to in Gettysburg, PA, so on the way home we made a point to stop at Stoudt's Brewing Company and Black Angus Restaurant, which is right off Route I-76, between Reading and Lancaster PA.

The place is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but well worth the stop.  Redneckhunter was naturally excited about the beer.  He started out with a seasonal Kolsch. And later got a sampler of 4 -- the Triple (a Belgian Abbey-style ale), the Double Inda Pale Are, the Heifer-in-Wheat (their version of a hefeweizen), and a raspberry rhubarb beer (that I wanted to taste).

I was happy with housemade cheese from their own Wonderful Good Market.  We got three to try -- the Elderbritch, an aged cow's milk cheese (from local pasture grazed cattle) named after a PA Dutch prank in which grown-ups would send kids out to hunt for the elusive imaginary Elderbritch; the Ferdinand, a trappist monk-style cheese steeped in Stoudt's own Fat Dog Stout; and the best one -- the Fresh Eliana, a soft Italian-style cheese like a brined Mozzarella.  The cheeses were served with walnuts and a spiced apple chutney (which, though tasty on its own, was a little overpowering for the cheese).  The homemade bread, also from their own Wonderful Good Market was also great.

For our main dish, we shared the sausage platter for two with bratwurst, kielbasa, and weisswurst with sauerkraut, red cabbage, and German potato salad. 

 

The Stoudt family have a full complex on their 62-acre farm there with the brewing company next to the Black Angus Restaurant and Pub.  There's also a banquet hall for large events like weddings.  Behind that is the Wonderful Good Market and Black Angus Antique mini-mall, and across the street from the market is Stoudtburg Village -- modeled after a Bavarian hamlet, with shops and 60 residential units.  Must be a nice place to live if you're a big Stoudt's beer drinker to just stumble right home.

Stoudt's
Route 272 2800 North Reading Road
Adamstown Pa. 19501
717.484.4386

Roberta's, Brooklyn

Brooklen, LBT, Jude, and I went one Sunday morning to East Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Roberta's for the the weekly NYC ritual of brunch. Brooklen had been wanting to go because he had tried their pizza at Madison Square Eats events.
When we arrived at the address, at first, we weren't sure we were at the right place. The exterior looked very modest, with a very small sign just above the doorway. Inside though, the space was great with long wooden tables, a red wood burning oven, exposed ceilings, a bar, and where we sat, a garden courtyard that looked into a radio studio.

We had to at least get one pizza. Immediately, we knew we wanted to try Paige's Breakfast Burrito pizza. It came topped with tomato, mozzarella, potato, red onion, jalapeño, egg, and Berkshire pork sausage. The crust on the pie was thin, crisp, and a little chewy with a decent char.
We also shared a tasty sticky bun and buttermilk biscuit. Both were scrumptious.

For our main courses, I ordered the fried eggs with beef tongue, salsa verde and potato hash. The tongue was great, really tender and delicate.
LBT got a breakfast sandwich of a hunk of sausage, egg, and cheese on a potato roll. It was a bit odd that they could not scramble the egg for her.

Brooklen got the ricotta pancakes with brown butter and maple syrup. We shared a small plate of thick fatty slab bacon.

261 Moore Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718)417-1118

Corner BYOB in Baltimore

On the Avenue in Hampden in Baltimore, a new restaurant, Corner BYOB, opened in the last few months, and I stopped in for an early dinner one evening a few weeks ago. The chef, Bernard Dehaene, from Brussels, previously cooked at a Belgian place called Mannequin Pis in Olney, and I had heard that his new venture had a more adventurous menu. When I was seated, one of the days specials included kangaroo tenderloin, but I was immediately attracted to the boudin noir and the just in soft shell crab.
The crab arrived first on a bed of fiddlehead ferns. This started truly captured the local and seasonal spirit of the area. The crab was fantastic, just simply pan fried with no battering at all, and it paired wonderfully with the fiddleheads.
My second starter was the boudin noir on a bed of mash and topped with a whole grain mustard. The texture was creamy and the flavor was nice and earthy. I think Corner won me over with just this dish alone.
For my entree, I had the Veal Orloff, a veal that starts braised, then is topped with mushrooms and bacon, and finished in the oven. It's then smothered with a béchamel sauce. I liked it, but the star of the meal was the blood sausage.
I was too stuffed to try dessert, but I hope to return soon.

850 W. 36th St.
Baltimore, MD
(443)869-5075

Schmankerl Stube Bavarian Restaurant in Hagerstown, MD

This weekend, Fougoo, Redneckhunter & I drove out to Hagerstown in western Maryland near the Antietam Civil War battlefield to have lunch at Schmankerl Stube, a Bavarian restaurant. Our friends, Olironstomach & Gubeen arranged this lunch with a large party of friends because of a certain dish made at the restaurant, the Knusperige Schweinshaxe, a Bavarian style pork shank, which needed to be ordered at least a day in advance to get.

When we arrived, the decor and atmosphere of Schmankerl Stube was Bavarian through and through. There was a bar with steins hanging on the ceiling, the waitresses wore German style dresses, and German music was playing.

We started with liters and half liters of Spaten Münchner Hell lager. We were given bread at the table: a dry sunflower seed rye served with butter and a cream cheese mixed with anchovy, capers & pickles.







We ordered several plates of appetizers. First was the Wurst sampler that came with a selection of strong mustards for dipping. It included Weisswurst, Bratwurst, Knackwurst, and Debrezinerwurst. Fougoo and I agreed that our favorite was the Weisswurst.

We got a plate of Herring a’la Hausfrauenart, or pickled herring with sour cream sauce and onion.
We also shared the day's Gefülltes Brot, a wintertime dish that was a crispy sourdough bowl filled with roast pork and Hunter's sauce.






After appetizers, they brought out the Knusperige Schweinshaxe. It was a massive piece of pork, about the size of my head. The pork was amazing. It had a wonderful crispy skin. The fat just under it was gelatinous and flavorful, and the meat itself just fell off the bone. It was served with sauerkraut, an apple flavored red cabbage, and a bread dumpling. It was such a large portion, I could only eat about a third of my plate.

Fougoo ordered the Herzhafter Sauerbraten, the sweet & sour pot roast. It was also quite delicious.
Our table passed around a side of their tasty Spätzle.
After so much fatty goodness, it was a relief to have a little digestif of gooseberry schnapps.

Certainly, we could not leave without some dessert. Our end of the table shared two items. The first was Schwarzwälder Kirsh Torte, or Black Forest cake.
The second was Apfel Strudel, or apple strudel with a vanilla sauce. Both were made in house and both were delicious.
After this impressive luncheon, I did not eat any more meals for the rest of the day, and I even felt full ths next morning.
I would love to go back to try other items off their menu.




58 South Potomac Street
Hagerstown, MD
(301)797-3354

The English Market, Cork, Ireland

Redneckhunter and I just got back from a trip to Ireland, Scotland, and London. Trying to pack in over 2000 miles of driving around the islands and seeing the sights, we stuck mostly to pub grub. Pork and potatoes were pretty much daily fare, and of course we also tried as much as we could to take advantage of the wonderful fresh seafood!

The first culinary-related stop on our journey was in Cork -- to pay a visit to the historic English Market. Claiming to be the oldest market of its kind, the English Market dates back to 1788.

Charming inside and out, the market was filled with stalls selling fresh meat, seafood, and other delectables. We also had our best cup of coffee in Ireland at the Coffee Central stall.

It's always the dilemma with visiting markets when you're traveling - so much food, and nowhere to cook it! But we did get to sample some of the English Market's sausages at nearby Clancy's Pub -- our first plate of bangers and mash in Ireland!

The English Market
Grand Parade
Cork, County Cork, Ireland

Saucisses Sur Bâton, Marché Jean-Talon, Montreal

$1 Canadian for sausage on a stick was too good to pass up when we were walking around Marché Jean-Talon in Montreal.
I got canard (duck), cerf (deer), merguez (lamb), and sanglier (boar)- my favorite was the lamb.

Prime Meats, Brooklyn

On a blustery December night, I found myself chauffeuring 1000yregg over to Prime Meats, the heralded meatery at the end of Carroll Gardens. In a relatively short time, this restaurant has become a symbol of Brooklyn's fooderati: locally sourced, decadently butchered, and accepting no reservations. But would we be so impressed?

We were lucky to duck into a communal booth, because the railroaded room and stool-less bar gets busy early. Deciding to be a big eater but cheap drinker, I tried the house punch (described as 'punch' on the menu), a citrus concoction steeped in bitters and served in a punch glass. We prepared ourselves for the 'authentic' German meat house experience, along with the dollops of mustache wax gleaming from the bartenders. We started with a tablet of charcuterie, house-cured salamis, bologne, with touches of mustard.
Next was the big test, an order of bone marrow with a garlic relish and toast. It was truly delightful, and sinfully salted.




1000yregg plunged into house made sausage plate with sauerkraut- it had weiss wurst, knockwurst, a piece of tongue and a block of pork belly. I took a left-turn instead; I went for the fish. Any good restaurant worth it's salt should be able to dish out everything to the highest elevation, and this trout with horseradish did not disappoint. In fact, it made room for another glass of delicious punch from our hirsute barkeeps.

Wisconsin Boys Weekend 2009 Part 1 - Sausage and Booze

So Fougoo has her monthly girls cooking nights known on this blog, but every year, I have an annual Boys Weekend in Wisconsin where we share food, drink and good times.
This year's trip was the most "foodie" we've ever had. This year, our host Thayer has been really taking Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book as inspiration to, first off, making homemade Italian and Hungarian sausages. They were incredible, fresh, and juicy. There is nothing like the snap of natural casings.
He also cured his own Lox, using a nice amount of star anise that was just delicious.

My fried Karl, brought an incredible sausage from Zingerman's of Ann Arbor that was infused with black truffles. Before you cut into it, it had that stinky amazing smell of a good cheese.

Certainly, no weekend is complete without some delicious alcoholic beverages. After our experience with the Caldera canned beers in previous trips, we had several other canned craft beers. I liked the Modus Hoperandi from Ska Brewing in Colorado. The can was all decked out in the Two Tone style and it said "Lip up Fatty" on the bsck.
For a lighter flavor, the Mama's Little Yella Pils from Oskar Blues was really nice.
We tried some Tito's Handmade Vodka from Austin, TX that was more like a whiskey in it's bite and more character than more widely available vodka.
Stay tuned for part 2.

The Bacon Explosion

So we jumped on the bandwagon last month and made the Bacon Explosion. Smoked it with hickory, along with a whole chicken.

I have to say that I think the recipe needs some work - there's nothing revelatory - it tastes like you'd expect bacon, sausage, and bbq sauce to taste. And it was really salty.

I feel like some element of starch needs to be added - like stuffing in mashed potatoes, or making it en croute - just something. Perhaps further experimentation is necessary...