A is for Alphabet City. Often considered an extension of the East Village or a subsection of the Lower East Side, Alphabet City spans from Houston Street to 14th Street and from Avenue A through Avenue D. The little rectangle of blocks is surrounded by an arch of subway stops yet feels secluded for lack of a direct line. It’s [...]
This isn’t the tropics — growing season in New York is most definitely over. And while people show nothing but total commitment to seasonal eating at harvest time, the dead of winter is a different story. It’s just too easy to pop into the grocery store and pick up a tomato no matter how dull and flavorless. Even rubbery raspberries [...]
With a strong will and a creative mind, Cathy Erway did the impossible — she maintained a social life while avoiding the New York City restaurant scene. Her blog, Not Eating Out in New York, followed her two-year project, providing readers with recipes, cost calculations, and reasons for not eating out. The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to [...]
1. Learn a little more about the history of the New York City restaurant scene with Robert Sietsema and his list of the city’s 10 best restaurants from the last two centuries. Yes, centuries. Delmonico’s and the Waldorf-Astoria make the list. But if your extensive knowledge of 19th-century restaurants leaves you in total disagreement with Mr. Sietsema, check out food [...]
1. The Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in Queens is teaching food policy. Students in sixth grade get to learn about food as it relates to English, math, science, and social studies while focusing on healthy eating and food systems. The hands-on learning program takes them out into the community for fieldwork like their foraging adventure with “The Wildman” Steve Brill. [...]
If you grew up in New York, or anywhere on the East Coast, you know that it’s pronounced “kin-ish.” After the language lesson, accurately describing just what a knish is may take a little extra creative thinking. You could go the pie route — it’s like a palm-sized pie with doughy crust and a potato filling. Or perhaps the dumpling [...]
1. As part of Paterson budget cuts, New York state demolished the kosher law-enforcement division. One step in ensuring that kosher-labeled food meets proper requirements, the division was reduced from at least 8 members down to just one. $1 million per year will be saved, but opponents of the cut worry that kosher labeling fraud will increase. Meanwhile, two new [...]
1. Did you survive the blizzard of 2010? Your car may still be buried under feet of snow, but on Monday morning, most West Village restaurants had dug themselves out and were ready for business, with one small problem — no one could make it to work. Many restaurants remained shuttered or severely understaffed while we huddled up in our [...]
1. Sunday brunch. The standard breakfast sausage, bacon, watery scrambled eggs, and French toast drenched in sticky syrup. It’s a classic — unless you’re at the Meat Hook in Brooklyn. Their $50 all you can eat Saturday brunch includes leftover pizza from the shop down the street and a glass of Pepsi. Your elegant meal will be brought to your [...]
With expensive restaurant openings, well-publicized culinary trends, and television programming from the Food Network, it is easy to forget that the city’s food banks and charities always need donations and volunteers, especially at this time of year. The economy is bad, the weather is worse, and the need is overwhelming. What can you do to help emergency food programs meet [...]
