On Sunday November 18, 2012 from 4-6pm Greenpointers is organizing a Soup Bowl Fundraiser at EAT (124 Meserole Ave).
Guests can choose a handmade bowl* donated from a local potter, enjoy a delicious bowl of soup from The Splendid Spoon along with a beer from Brooklyn Brewery – all for $25.
Greenpointers is looking for local potters to donate 2-3 bowls to this event. Click here for more info. Please email us greenpointers (at) gmail.com to donate.
Hurry! People in NY are crazy about brisket. Daniel Delaney - who we talked shit with during BrisketLab – just opened BrisketTown to the public – which is a pop-up shop where you can score his delicious Central Texas Style BBQ. So buy your meat, before it runs out, which will most likely be in a few hours, given he has sold over 2300lbs in the last 24 hours. New Yorkers are officially insane about food – AND MEAT!
I’m sure you have all met the lovely Laena McCarthy while wandering through Sundays’ McGolrick Park Farmers Market and tasted the delicious jams she sells by the name of Anarchy in a Jar. Greenpointers’ very own Jam Queen is coming out with a book called Jam On: The Craft of Canning Fruit (in stores 8/6/12).
In the meantime, Laena was generous enough to give away a free copy to one of Greenpointers’ lucky readers! To enter: tell us your favorite jam in the comments below! (it’s that easy!)
One winner will be chosen randomly. Comments will be closed on Sunday August 5th at 11:59pm. Winner will be announced on Monday August 6th, 2012. Good luck!
If there is a place in the hood where I have my food pulse tuned into, it’s the stretch of Manhattan Ave. between Greenpoint Ave. and Java St. Quite the small focus, I think of it as the La Taverna/McDonald’s line. Dead center of that line was the restaurant Happy End: an old school Polish spot that drew me in with a 70′s looking brown and orange sign and made me a customer with the curvy counter and the simple menu.
More than that, the owner Martin kept me coming back. Over the years we developed a friendship and discussed the restaurant in it’s old incarnation, at length. A few weeks ago he popped his head from the newly painted roll gates and said with a big smile, “doing some work, but it’s a secret.”
Last week that secret was let out of the bag with the re-opening of Martin’s place under the banner Brooklyn Point Cafe. Of course I was one of the first people to pop in to get the low down (It’s only 23 ft from my front door.)
It has been gutted and turned into a fresh new restaurant with a menu that is anything but Polish. Of course they kept the grilled Polish sausage on the menu to stay tied to their roots. Continue reading →
Climbing past the second floor landing of my building, the smell of delicious food is torturous. Bacon. Zucchini. Jalapeños. None for me though. The first room (and smell) that greets me when I enter my place is the bathroom.
Turns out that housemate Matt is a chef. A few days ago a bright orange menu was slipped under the door that read Lake Trout in sharpie marker. After an all day hot dog binge, a Cheese Fish Sandwich seemed like a great idea. We walked to Williamsburg’s South Side to this new “Baltimore Style” Fried Fish Joint. Huge blow-ups of 70s era Baltimore Oriole baseball cards lined the walls and we spotted Chef Matt Lang in his kitchen glory.
The menu is simple, a handful of items and as the woman at the counter explained, “everything is fried.”
Sounds perfect. Continue reading →
When I walked into the new wine bar called Adelina’s on Greenpoint Ave for a tasting, two things caught my eye: the back corner of the bar was lined with wine barrels labeling each wine on tap with white chalk, and seated at the bar was a row of gorgeous faces, the staff, who was there for a tasting.
“Care to join us?” Toby Buggiani, Adelina’s owner asked.
“Are you asking me to drink before noon. Of course!”
Adelina’s passed the Greenpoint restaurant test of friendly servers without a doubt. Not a surprise since Toby is such a sweetheart.
I also chatted with Josh, a customer who said he liked the former Gypsy Bar, but Adelina’s is “perfect” because he lives up the block and “to get a vibe like this [he'd] have to go to Troost,” which also has a morning coffee routine and a wine and beer menu. Continue reading →
Fava beans are the most delicious bean to eat, but the biggest pain in the ass to peel. It is a two step process. First you take them out of the shell, then you have to remove the skin. But it is well worth it for my favorite summer pasta dish. Here is 20 Seconds Fava Pasta, a time lapse video I created to illustrate the process in music video form. Fava beans are only available fresh at the local farmers markets for a limited time so scoop them up before the season is over!
After you have shelled the fava beans, sautee some garlic, onions and bay leaf in olive oil. Add some chopped fresh tomatoes, then the fava beans. Cover with water and simmer until the beans are soft. Boil your spaghetti and combine with the fava sauce. Top with grated cheese and fresh ground pepper. Fresh herbs like oregano or thyme are lovely, too. Enjoy!
When it comes to food, I gravitate towards the simple and familiar. Hand me a bowl of rice and a side of kimchi and it’s a happy belly. I can be that Korean. But when an invitation to the inaugural Electric Gourmet Supper Club promised “high vibrational, local, living food prepared with love,” I was all too ready to step outside my comfort zone and broaden my gustatory map. Four courses of living food that vibrates with love? Let’s dance.
It’s as if Kerry Jones, a former personal chef to the Hamptons crowd, opened her doors and found a place for you at her table, offering “clean and righteous” food — all the pleasures of new, indulgent flavors without the post-meal, Boy-I-need-to-detox regret. Plus, there’s a strong emphasis on the use of local ingredients and vendors. Continue reading →
Beth: I always loved cheese when I was growing up, but when I was in my 20s I discovered *real* cheese. I fell in love with the infinite flavor variations that can come from a few simple ingredients, and became fascinated with the science, history and culture that accounts for all the different styles of cheese across the world. Continue reading →
They sell gigantic and often tasteless strawberries all year round at the supermarket, but when the local farmers start wheeling and dealing these heavenly berries, I go insane. Often over $4 per pint, local strawberries seem pricey, but they are so worth it because they taste like they have been ripened in the sun not like they have been sitting in the refrigerator section of the produce isle. There are so many things you can do with these little treasures.
I have been on a jam rampage. Straight out of the 1970 Blue Ball Book of Canning, I make the trusted and true strawberry jam recipe, but I half the amount of strawberries and 1/4 the amount of sugar and it comes out great.
Strawberry Jam
2 Quarts Crushed Strawberries
3-6 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Lemon Juice (optional)
Slowly bring ingredients to a boil then fast boil it, stirring often, for 40 minutes until it passes the jam test. Hot water boil for 10-15 minutes in sterilized ball jars.
On Sunday November 18, 2012 from 4-6pm Greenpointers is organizing a Soup Bowl Fundraiser at EAT (124 Meserole Ave).
