RoobiFood

Celeste
502 Amsterdam Ave
btwn 84th & 85th St
212-874-4559

**CASH ONLY**

Getting reservations to some restaurants in NYC can be more competitive than a World Series between the Red Sox and the Yankees. There is a sense of triumph when you finally get them, but I find that sometimes there is so much expectation built into the meal that any flaw can disrupt the evening. I prefer to dine without trumped-up expectations, in a restaurant where the food is top-notch and you can relax completely. This is exactly the type of meal I had at Celeste on Saturday night.

I had spent the day walking around on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. For those of you unfamiliar with the city, UWS is an urban environment with all of the benefits of suburbia (ie, trees and quiet). The weather was beautiful, and I was absolutely starving. I was with a friend who happens to be the human equivalent of a Zagat guide, and he automatically led us to Celeste. The restaurant is unassuming on the outside, but is cozy and warm on the inside. They don’t accept reservations so everything is on a strictly walk-in basis. The cuisine is Neopolitan, and the staff all hail from Italy. The owner in particular is ever-present and ensures that each guest is attended to, as though you were in his own home.

The food does not disappoint either. We started off the evening with a glass of prosecco and a sampling of the fresh ciabatta and olive oil that accompanies every meal. Don’t overstuff yourself though—every item on the menu is appealing and you will need as much room in your stomach as possible so you can get a fine sampling of them all. Although the menu is set up in the form of a traditional Italian meal, with antipasti, primi, secondi insalate and dolci courses, you can feel free to mix and match as you choose. Whatever you do, though, make sure you order from the ‘fritti’ selection; this is may be unique to Celeste out of all of the Italian restaurants I have been to (and I lived in Italy for awhile), and everything on it is delectable.

We didn’t stick to the traditional menu, and instead ordered the Insalata Mista and Carciofi Fritti (fried artichoke). The Insalata Mista was a simple salad of fresh mixed greens, dressed with a light balasamic dressing made in-house. It’s a delicious light vegetable course, and helps to balance out one of the many enormous pasta dishes you can order as your main course. The Carciofi Fritti was unlike anything I had ever had before. There is no batter involved here; the artichoke hearts are fried until the edges are crispy and browned and taste a little bit toasted. They are dressed only in the slightest dash of olive oil and a bit of salt; the actual taste of the artichoke is central to the dish. The texture of the crisped edges is a perfect counterpoint to the smooth, soft texture of the inside of the heart. But, the deliciousness doesn’t end there; the center of the plate is filled with a fluffy mound of parsley fried crisp. If you order this dish, make sure you eat the parsley! Not only is it delicious, but the owner stopped by our table and told us how pleased he was that we ate every bite of it. Apparently, many patrons think it is a garnish, but you will make the owner very happy if you devour it with gusto.

For our primary course, my friend and I both ordered pasta. Normally I shy away from pasta when I go out; I often end up eating it at home because it is inexpensive and easy to prepare. At Celeste, the pasta is definitely worth ordering. All of the pasta is freshly made and cooked to al dente perfection. My dish, the Vermicelli alle Vognole (vermicelli with clams), was delicious, garlicky, and sprinkled with fresh parsley. Actual clams in shells, not chopped clams from a can, ring the dish. I ate nearly the entire plate (to be fair, it was a ginormous portion), and was sad to see the last few bites taken away, but my stomach was officially at capacity. My friend felt the same way about his Fettuccine alla Bolognese, a special item on the menu that evening. Again, the pasta was homemade and perfectly cooked. The sauce was loaded with meat, and the precise balance of tangy and sweet that is so difficult to achieve in a good tomato sauce.

Unfortunately, we were too stuffed to order dessert, but the couple next to us raved about the gelato. The tiramisu was also tempting; in a restaurant where everything is so deliciously and authentically Italian, it’s practically guaranteed that the tiramisu will be delicious. I guess I’m just going to have to go back again and try it for myself … and at the oh-so-affordable prices of around $10 an entrée, I can certainly afford to.

101 Saint Marks Pl – Btwn 1st Ave & Ave A
New York, NY 10009
212-677-2226

Brunch in Manhattan is an institution. You can do the enormous, fancy, and slightly stuffy style brunch that places like the Plaza Hotel offer (not my favorite, but it’s worth the experience; how often do you get to eat your eggs under the eyes of an ice sculpture?), or you can do a small, more relaxed brunch. I prefer the latter option, and there is no shortage of places to go. One of my favorites is Café Mogador in the East Village. It’s brunch, but with a Moroccan twist.

The Moroccan eggs Benedict is a great place to start. Sometimes it’s a bit heavier than what I’m looking for, but on those days when I’m extra hungry it hits the spot. The eggs are served on an English muffin smeared with a spicy Moroccan sauce (it’s a bit like a toned-down version of harissa, a sauce made with ground hot peppers), poached eggs and creamy hollandaise. It’s also served with a small side salad; chopped cucumber, tomato and onion mixed with parsley and dressed with salt, pepper and olive oil with white vinegar. It’s a great palate cleanser when the hollandaise gets to be a bit much.

My favorite brunch item to get, though, is the Moroccan platter. It’s served with two eggs, the above salad, homemade hummus, fresh tabbouleh, harissa and homemade pita that’s served warm. I always get scrambled eggs because I’m a bit boring that way, but it’s the Moroccan elements of this dish that make me order it again and again. The hummus is just a teeny bit bitter, and they serve it with a well of delicious herbed olive oil in the center. The hummus is cool and the perfect consistency (not too thick, not too watery, and not tahini-ed into non-hummus land) and is a great counterpoint to the fluffy pita bread. I like to mix it with the harissa for a bit of a kick. The tabbouleh, being made in-house, is extremely fresh and far better than anything you can get in a store. It’s loaded with parsley and not too much bulgur wheat, and fresh juicy tomatoes with lots of lemon.

If traditional brunch fare is what you’re in the mood for, Mogador has plenty of options. There are a wide variety of omelets to choose from, or you can make your own from their list of standard and Moroccan-influenced ingredients (like halumi cheese … yum!). They also make delicious fluffy pancakes; last time I ordered them I somehow consumed nine before I called it quits (though, they were silver-dollar sized). On days when I am feeling rather European I get a bowl of fresh fruit, pain au chocolat and a big cup of coffee. They also have fresh-squeezed orange juice, and they do offer mimosas on Sunday.

So, the food is delicious and quite affordable as well. The portions are generous, and I would be surprised to have brunch run over $15 per person, with tip included. Unfortunately, the issues that plague Mogador are the same problems found at nearly all Manhattan eateries. With real estate at such a premium, all but the most expensive restaurants need to cram in as many tables as possible in order to cover their operating costs. This means that you can be, in effect, sitting at a two-top that is right next to a party of four. Mogador is consistently delicious, so it’s always packed, so more often than not you will end up sitting with a bunch of strangers. For those of us that are used to this type of dining, it’s not a big deal, but if you’re looking for a quiet intimate meal this probably isn’t the place to go. Nevertheless, they do offer a number of seats outdoors when the weather is nice, which cuts down a bit on the noise factor, and you’re guaranteed a two-person table to yourself (it is difficult to accommodate a larger party outside). Overall the décor inside is lovely as well, but this is a place to go for the food itself, not an entire dining experience. http://www.cafemogador.com

Vanessa’s Dumpling House
118A Eldridge Street between Grand and Broome
212-625-8008/8118

I love to travel. Unfortunately, travel is expensive, so I don’t get to do it that often. I was fortunate enough in college to spend 3 semesters abroad in a total of nine different countries on three continents and one very large island, so I’ve been able to experience quite a bit. And I’ve been able to eat quite a bit too. Some of the best food I had was in Beijing; real Chinese food is nothing like the greasy, uniformly-flavored, mostly unidentifiable piles of yuck we call Chinese food in the US. Luckily for me, Manhattan is home to a huge Chinese population that has transformed a size-able chunk of the southeastern portion of the island into a veritable piece of their homeland, with Chinese-style markets and authentic Chinese food. All of this is only a short walk from my apartment and I make a point of heading down there as often as possible.

It was on one of many such jaunts that I discovered Vanessa’s Dumpling House. The owner has two other similar establishments in other locations in Manhattan, but her flagship restaurant is by far the best. It’s a no-frills restaurant; you stand in line to place your order, you stand while they put your order together, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to sit down to eat. If you’re not lucky (which is most of the time; the place is constantly packed) then you will stand while you eat, too. However, the food is more than worth it and the prices are equivalent to what you would pay in Beijing. Vanessa’s also did a total renovation of their space quite recently, and the place looks great; the kitchen is open so you can see everything being made right in front of you while you wait.

My default order is a delicious egg and chive pancake. It’s not exactly a pancake though; the dough is slightly crispy on the outside and a bit chewy, and it’s quite thin. Inside is a mixture of scrambled egg, chive, and chopped up glass noodles. I’m fairly small so on a normal day one of these is a meal for me, and at $1.50 it is far from breaking the bank.

On my most recent visit I arrived at 5 pm and hadn’t eaten anything all day, so I ordered a sesame pancake with vegetables in addition to my usual order. Again, this isn’t a pancake, and it’s also completely different from the type of pancake I always get with egg and chive. Batter is poured into a huge saucepan, liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds and the dough is pan-fried until it is cooked all the way through. When this type of pancake has finished cooking, it’s about the size of a large pizza, and the dough is around an inch thick. The pancake is cut into 8 slices, and then sliced in half so it can be flipped open and filled. The veggie version I got was filled with fresh cucumber, carrots and lots of cilantro and drizzled with a bit of soy sauce (I added a healthy dose of Sri Racha chili sauce as well; spice makes everything better in my book). The pan-frying gives the bread a nice crunch on the outside, and there is so much turnover on the food that the pancake is still warm when it’s stuffed with vegetables. The vegetables are crisp as well, and their coolness is a great counterpoint to the warm chewy bread. The toasted sesame seeds and cilantro are delicious together as well. For the carnivores, the sesame pancake is available with a duck, beef, or pork filling as well. My veggie version was $1.50, and the duck is the most expensive at $2.25.

Of course, you won’t be let down by the restaurant’s namesake dumplings. They are available boiled or pan fried, with many different types of filling (cabbage and pork, chive and pork, vegetable, basil and chicken, shrimp, celery and pork, string bean and pork, beef and corn, and dill and pork). I haven’t ordered them myself, but I often mooch off of my friends. The vegetable dumplings are fantastic, as are the pork and chive. Although I haven’t eaten them at Vanessa’s, I often buy their dumplings frozen to take home. 50 dumplings for $9 lasts me for around 12 meals, served over an assortment of vegetables and mixed with dumpling sauce. They take about fifteen minutes to boil and make for an effortless but delicious dinner. You can also take home pork buns and a few types of wonton, but I need to make my way through the dumpling list before I venture out (I’m a little OCD, what can I say).

The only downside of Vanessa’s is that the “assembly line” is a bit disorganized. On my visit earlier today I waited a full fifteen minutes to get my food, while people who ordered after me came and left before my one item was ready. Additionally, there is almost always a language barrier as well, so there is occasionally some mis-communication about who belongs to what order (after you place your order they give you a receipt with a number on it, which in theory is called out when your order is complete). If you receive the wrong items, it can be a bit problematic to explain what happened. The thing is though, in my opinion I’m the outsider in this situation, so the language barrier is something I should work on, not the other way around. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you may want to skip Vanessa’s (though I think that’s a pretty silly reason to miss out on delicious food!). Besides, being surrounded by the swirl of Mandarin Chinese and tasting authentic Chinese food, if I close my eyes it feels like I’m back in Beijing, an experience that I like to prolong by walking around Chinatown and its many markets … but those are topics for another post!

I grew up in Connecticut on land that used to be a horse farm (proved by the large, rusted out horse tub by our compost pile). My hometown, actually, was primarily farmland and my mother grew up on a farm in that very same town. So you could say farming, or at least agriculture of some sort, is in my blood. I spent a lot of sticky summer days beside my mom in our massive garden, picking green beans, weeding, and dropping Japanese beetles into jars of gasoline, which I loved (and is, in hindsight, rather disturbing). Aside from the mass beetle slaughter, I can’t say that I enjoyed gardening, but I relished the fresh produce that we had on our table at every meal.

Now that I’m living on my own in Manhattan, I miss those veggies even more. Plots in community gardens are few and far between, and obtaining one for yourself requires Macbeth-like machinations. Truth be told, I wouldn’t even have the time to devote to growing a healthy crop of weeds, let alone produce. This, however, is why Manhattan is a magical place, because we are blessed with some of the most wonderful farmer’s markets I’ve ever been to.

Officially called Greenmarkets (http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket), the farmer’s markets of NYC are a full-on sensory experience. My favorite, and most frequently visited, is the mother of all of the Greenmarkets and is located in Union Square. It is always packed; with shoppers, tourists, families, foodies, chefs, and food voyeurs like myself. There is no shortage of material for the latter category. Various potted herbs are neatly lined up on tiered shelves, and in the heat of the summer they emit a clean, medicinal smell. Bins overflow with tomatoes in every shade of red, orange, yellow, and even purplish-green. Dozens of kinds of greens are packed into large plastic bins set onto tables, positioned so that the tops of the leaves unfurl over the edges of the boxes. And naturally, when you think about the various culinary possibilities at your fingertips with all of this fresh, glowing produce, your mouth begins to water and your belly grumble and sends you rushing to the baker’s stalls to grab a piece of homemade focaccia or a big chocolatey cookie. Or both. Not that I’ve ever done that before or anything.

But seriously, this is another reason why the Union Square Greenmarket is heavenly. Not only are there seemingly endless produce options, but several Greenmarket vendors offer organic meats and fish, homemade baked goods such as breads and baked goods, jams and other spreads, honey, pickles, juice, ice cream, yogurt, butter, cheese and even wine. Dancing Ewe farm is one of my favorite stalls to visit as they make a delicious artisanal goat cheese that comes in salted and unsalted versions. It’s scrumptious on baguette with a bit of fig paste. Another Greenmarket addiction of mine is the “Sour Cherry Stomp”, a lip-smacking cherry juice from Red Jacket Orchards. There is no saccharine, syrupy juice-from-concentrate taste here; the tart cherry flavor blooms in your mouth until your taste buds are tingling.

Although I have yet to sample goods from every stall and farm at the market, seemingly every stall is producing the same high quality produce and products loaded with flavor. If you can’t take my word for it (I’ll pretend my feelings aren’t hurt), then you can take the word of the chefs at Artisanal, Daniel, Bouley, Gotham Bar & Grill, Gramercy Tavern, Babbo and WD-50, among many, many others. Their chefs and sous-chefs are regularly seen shopping at the Greenmarket.

My one problem with the Greenmarket is that I can lose myself all too easily. You need to walk through at least twice to give each stall a decent assessment, but I always end up walking through at least seven times. So food shoppers, enter at your own risk—your 30 minute produce errand may turn into an epic journey through mounds of tantalizing pears, microgreens, plums, eggplants and summer squashes. At least, though, the vendors at the Greenmarket can provide you with a bottle of wine or brightly-hued flowers to make up for your tardy return.

Caserta Vecchia
221 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 624-7549

A girlfriend and I met up in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn for dinner and a movie the other night. Carroll Gardens is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn: small, friendly, and filled with an abundance of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. (That said, I have to admit that sometimes I get a little sick of it – one cute and/or chichi restaurant or bar after another can start to feel generic rather than appealing – but then again, the many choices mean you can always find something you like.) My friend took me to one of her favorite Italian restaurants, Caserta Vecchia. It’s a cozy little place that serves rustic Italian pastas and pizzas, and strikes me as one of the more authentic Italian restaurants in a neighborhood that is historically Italian.

Since spring has recently descended on New York, we sat in the garden – well, more like an enclosed patio than a garden – which was very pleasant. Our waitress let us know about their special for the evening: homemade pasta with a choice of sauce plus a glass of house wine for $15. That is the dinner I should have opted for in view of my budget, but I was craving something a tad more interesting, so I ended up ordering Spaghetti Carbonara and a glass of Merlot. After some deliberation, my friend ordered what she claims she always does: Pizza Campagnola and a glass of Pinot Grigio.

My spaghetti was a shining example of why I often gravitate towards Italian: total comfort food. It was simple but hearty, served in a modest but sufficient quantity. The sauce was thick, creamy, and cheesy, and there was a generous amount of bacon scattered throughout. My friend’s pizza was also very basic: a light tomato and mozzarella base covered with a huge pile of arugula, prosciutto, and shaved parmesan. (She asked for the cherry tomatoes to be left off for reasons that I simply cannot understand.) The crust was thin and chewy, and it absorbed all the good flavors coming from above. Our glasses of wine were nothing remarkable, but they weren’t expensive, either.

One waitress was particularly charming – after someone else brought our entrées, she stopped by the table to ask us, in a calm but concerned voice, “Ladies, please – enjoy your meal!” Unfortunately, the service became a little spotty as the evening went on and the restaurant became busier. We had to flag a waiter down for another glass of wine, and then again to remind him about that glass of wine. But the general tone of friendliness in the staff made up for any feelings of abandonment. We skipped coffee and dessert, much to our waiter’s disappointment, since we were trying to make a movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall – entertaining enough for $6.50 which is what Cobble Hill Cinemas charges on Tuesdays and Thursdays). I think it’s safe to say that Caserta Vecchia is now one of my favorites in Carroll Gardens.