Pat and David

Vintage cookbooks speak to an engaged life

Vintage cookbooks speak to an engaged life

We're as guilty as the next kitchen maven. When we set out to make a new dish, we turn to Mama Google. Unless it's a traditional Italian dish. Then we ask Michele Scicolone. Or one of her 16 cookbooks — most likely 1,000 Italian Recipes. Our copy is sauce-stained from steady use, but we still browse through it. And imagine the flavors. We have our favorites for other cuisines as well — Charles Virion's French Country Cookbook, Penelope Casas' Foods & Wines of Spain, and so on. Our vinyl records long ago gave way to tapes which gave way to CDs which gave way to an mp4 player. The shelves we cleared of music are covered with cookbooks. They still sing a sweet siren song....Read More
At the source for true New York cheesecake

At the source for true New York cheesecake

We grew up in the era of quickie “cheesecake” made with Philadelphia cream cheese, tons of sugar, and an egg. The mixture was deposited into a graham cracker crust and topped with canned pie filling. We both loved it. But we always knew that there was something else called “New York cheesecake” that was presumably more complex and therefore superior. When we spotted a location of Junior's amid the neon clutter surrounding Times Square, we thought we might have located the cheesecake grail. After all, Junior's holds a registered trademark on The World's Most Fabulous Cheesecake®. We soon learned that the restaurant chain has been making it since the original Junior's opened in Brooklyn in 1950. Times Square locations were merely Junior's-come-latelies. So we made...Read More
Industrial chic brings treats to eat at Chelsea Market

Industrial chic brings treats to eat at Chelsea Market

Despite the proliferation of food halls in New York, Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue, New York NY; 212-243-6005; chelseamarket.com) remains one of the best. Its 1997 debut established the template that Essex Market copied a decade later. But Chelsea Market got one thing right that no other food hall has been able to replicate. It occupies the 1890s factory building where the National Biscuit Company (aka Nabisco) invented and manufactured the Oreo. Chelsea Market founder Irving Cohen didn't pretty up the industrial architecture. The result is a tunnel of brick walls and massive pipes. Journeying through the complex feels a little like navigating the landscape of a dark-themed video game to find a bunch of gem-filled rooms. The brawny, gritty style of the overall market...Read More
The ecstasy of pastrami at Katz’s Delicatessen

The ecstasy of pastrami at Katz’s Delicatessen

Established in 1888, Katz's Delicatessen was already a New York institution when it rocketed to international fame in the rom-com When Harry Met Sally. We probably don't even have to describe the scene where Meg Ryan, as Sally, fakes an orgasm at a table in the back of the deli. She was eating a roasted turkey sandwich. We can't imagine the volume of her pleasure had she ordered Katz's famous pastrami. We've learned that it's best to be flexible about eating hours if you want to avoid the biggest crowds at New York's iconic eateries. We stopped at Katz's early one morning and the guy at the door told us that we would be able to walk right in if we returned for lunch by...Read More
Russ & Daughters bagels are worth the wait

Russ & Daughters bagels are worth the wait

“I come in for the chaos,” joked the man standing next to us in the crowd at Russ & Daughters (179 East Houston St., New York, NY; 212-475-4880; russanddaughters.com). We came for the bagels. On this Saturday morning, the long, narrow shop with a display counter along one side was jammed with people. To be fair, the “chaos” was of the controlled variety. Customers were in an almost jovial, anticipatory mood. It felt like the ticket line at a rock concert. Clearly, part of shopping at Russ & Daughters is the cheek-by-jowl camaraderie. There is a method to the madness. You take a number from the ticket machine at the door, just like at the supermarket deli. Then you try to squeeze to the back...Read More
Essex Market charts NYC’s changing tastes

Essex Market charts NYC’s changing tastes

The oldest establishment in the New York municipal market system, Essex Market's latest re-invention arguably strikes the perfect balance between supermarket and food hall. The old Essex Street Market, created in the 1930s as the flagship of the city's public market system, became essentially obsolete in the 21st century. The latest transformation, which opened in 2019, nails changing tastes and approaches to food in New York. Essex Market (88 Essex St., New York, N.Y.; essexmarket.nyc), as it's now called, is as much a gathering space as a shopping destination. It's located in a fancy new complex with luxury condos and a movie theater. The basement level is technically a separate operation called the Market Line. As you enter Essex Market from Delancey Street, the Indian...Read More
Fashion and food: Dueling obsessions at FIT

Fashion and food: Dueling obsessions at FIT

We don't know about you, but when narrative television is running thin, we're easily sucked into two specific genres of reality TV. We have now subjected ourselves to nearly every permutation of Top Chef and Project Runway (and their imitators and spinoffs). When we noticed that the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, just a block from our Manhattan Airbnb, had mounted an exhibition called “Food & Fashion,” we couldn't resist. Food and fashion have been inextricably linked since Adam and Eve donned fig leaves in the first documented example of unisex couture. The exhibition at FIT isn't quite as rooted in references to the Book of Genesis, but it does offer a banquet of food for thought. (So to speak.) Sections of the...Read More
Lombardi’s, where New York pizza got its start

Lombardi’s, where New York pizza got its start

Even Google doesn't know how many pizzerias there are in New York, but various uninformed estimates place the number between 1,000 and 32,000. What we do know is that it seems there's a pizza joint on every block and many of them sell slices to go. That fits with the NYC culture of literally eating on the run, or on the walk. New Yorkers seem to be constantly eating in public. But we digress. Surrounded by pizza from the moment we arrived in New York, we immediately gave up on trying to find the “best” pizza in the city. We were just happy to visit what might be the oldest pizzeria in New York. At least that's what Lombardi's claims. It was established in 1905....Read More
Gray’s Papaya carries the dog and juice standard

Gray’s Papaya carries the dog and juice standard

It's been nearly a century since the Papaya King started serving the unlikely combination of all-beef hot dogs and tropical juices. It became a New York thing. In 1975, Papaya King franchisee Nicholas Gray closed his Upper West Side franchise and re-opened as Gray's Papaya. It was built on the same menu, but had the added seasoning of Gray's in-your-face promotion. A dog and a juice at Gray's Papaya (grayspapaya.nyc) became the way that everyone from struggling folksingers to late-night sanitation workers managed to get a tasty bite and keep going. Gray's soon eclipsed the original Papaya King, with multiple locations around the city. Changing economic conditions and pricey real estate have taken their toll on the papaya-hot dog business, closing down the Papaya Kings...Read More
Woks still pop at Chinatown’s Wo Hop

Woks still pop at Chinatown’s Wo Hop

The James Beard Foundation's America's Classic designations tend to shine a spotlight on homey, old-fashioned eateries. Maybe more to the point, the nominations reflect a kind of culinary nostalgia for the comfort food of someone's childhood. Last December, the JBF named Wo Hop (17 Mott St., New York, NY; 212-962-8617; wohop17.com) in Manhattan's Chinatown to the America's Classic honor roll. Since we're spending a month in Manhattan, we made Wo Hop our first lunch-time stop. The restaurant has been in business continuously since 1938, making it one of Chinatown's most senior establishments. If you want to taste what New Yorkers used to think Chinese food was, this is where you come. The New York Times notes that Wo Hop offers an “authentic taste of an...Read More