NYC Food Fest
10/3/2007
Culminating a week of cooking and feasting at the Culinary Institute, Laura and I met for the weekend in New York City to catch a show and do some “international traveling” from a cuisine point of view.
Friday evening was spent with a fine bottle of Sangiovese at Petrarca, a little wine bar/eatery in Tribeca, with the primary goal of not eating too much. Saturday brought renewed eating energy, so it was off to Katz’s Deli on Houston, which is one of the oldest and largest Jewish Delis in the City. Our meal started with a big plate of three of four different kinds of pickles, all made on the premises and served as whole pickled cucumbers, cut in half. Some pickled green tomatoes were on the plate too! Brunch proceeded with matzo ball soup, a combo pastrami and corned beef on rye sandwich, lox on a bagel and blintzes to finish up. Full on Woo-Hoo!
After a matinee of Les Miserable, and a Cosmo or two in the evening, we were off to Mesa Grill on 5th Avenue, Bobby Flay’s first restaurant. From the street, only the black entrance awning is visible, with the just the words “grill”, so it’s easy to miss. The food is very contemporary and based on southwestern ingredients. We arrived about 45 minutes early and felt like we really were in New York City – crowding our way to the bar through a huge throng of people, “sipping” cactus pear margaritas while people-watching and waiting for our table. The food was outstanding, especially the crab cakes on green tomatoes and the soft shell crabs. This night added a big “check mark” on my ‘list of restaurants I want to eat at’!
Sunday morning found us on Mott Street in Chinatown at the Mandarin Court for Dim Sum and a Tsing Tao, then off to shopping and browsing in Greenwich Village. Finally, a quickie pasta at Pellegrino’s on Mulberry in Little Italy, and our international travels came to an end. Many hours later, home in San Francisco, we welcomed ourselves back with an In-n-Out Burger at midnight!
– Chris
The spread at Katz’s Deli. Ohhh, sooooo good!
