Its Up To You
What a wonderful, utterly fantastic city. There is truly something for everyone in New York, especially a gastronomically inclined individual like myself. Lucky Mairo and I...we stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown, which is about a block down and a block over from Little Italy. A clean, spacious room in a hip area for less than $190 a night in New York is UNHEARD of but we found a great deal, and I recommend it for the budgeting yet discerning traveller.
My east coast trip is probably best described in terms of food, since that is really all that matters to me when it comes to travelling. Ask me how my trip was and I'll describe the best meal I had. The day we left, I had sushi for lunch; sushi is my favorite food and I figured if I was going to die that day (I loathe flying) I would do so with a belly full of comfort goodness. Luckily we didn't crash, obviously, so I just got to have a tremendously delicious lunch.
The first day we got there was a humid and warm, but overcast, Wednesday. My mom knows Mario and me very well and had a kitchen stocked with bagels, Jersey tomatoes, cream cheese spread, and lox. After a few bagels with fixins, Mario and I passed out on my mom's porch since neither of us slept well on the red eye. Upon waking, my mom ushered us into her minivan, along with two of my four brothers and some other friends, and shuttled us to Seaside Heights for a day of fun down the shore. Fun included a slice of boardwalk pizza pie so big it took two paper plates to fit the cheesy triangle. Mario and I split a slice; time was, I could eat a whole one and have room for another, but my stomach has learned to temper its ravenous capabilities. My waistline has thanked me.
Mario also enjoyed a frozen custard swirl, the old fashioned kind...so creamy and delicious. I had a famous Orangeade; both swirl and Orangeade were from the famous Kohr's of the boardwalk. Check it out if you're ever down the shore. And remember, in New Jersey, you don't go "to the beach". You go "down the shore". And when you're there, you're not "at the shore", you're still "down the shore".
That night my mom had a large food assortment for my large family assortment that showed up; however I was still so exhausted from not sleeping the night before and the three hour time difference that I don't really remember what I ate. Cheese and seafood was involved somehow but I'm lost to remember how.
The next day Mario and I had my mom's French toast for breakfast. Nothing says "home" like fresh French toast made by mom. Aw. After eating, we went to practice some swan dives at the pool I used to work at (they added a waterslide park to the place...man, back in the day when I was a lifeguard we had one pool and some sprinklers for the little kids. Now the thing is a bonafide water park.) It was cute seeing my youngest brothers twirling whistles of their own; was it really ten years ago that I first got my Acme Thunderer? I scolded a little girl who swam to the wrong ladder while diving in the dive pool; the real lifeguard gave me a dirty look and I felt sheepish. Old habits die hard, I guess; I worked there for 5 awesome years.
There's one thing the east coast doesn't technically do as well as the west coast, but for some reason I miss the east the most when it comes to Chinese food. Its totally inauthentic, fatty, ridiculously overseasoned and, well, very fatty. Everything is fried. I LOVE it. Its East Coast Chinese and when you're accustomed to it, its what the palate demands. I haven't found a place in California that makes egg rolls like you get on the east coast - basically they are the size of your fist and fried to all heck. Mario was surprised when we sat down and I ordered one egg roll for each of us; once he saw the thing, though, the surprise faded. It looked like someone deep fried a Coke can. So good.
That night was the one night I had to see my Dad, and I knew he was taking us out for dinner. The good thing about the Chinese food was that I had an appetite a few hours later, though not a very big one. I kept it modest with a salmon filet sandwich and a few dirty martinis, which I've decided I've grown out of. I'm keeping them clean and neat from now on. It was great to see my Dad, though.
Interesting thing about Dad. He built a barn for his wife's horses, and there is nothing more odd than seeing my father, who I've known for 25 years as a suit-and-tie businessman, raving about his new tractor. He bought it to maintain the land on his horse farm. Horse. Farm. Dad. Amazing. He held and cuddled a cat while I was there. When I was a kid, he always told us he was allergic to cats; now he has 5 of them. They keep the mice away from the barn, I guess. One of his two dogs, Buddy, got sprayed in the face by a skunk while we toured the grounds; he's a big Rhodesian Ridgeback and is not afraid of anything; apparently skunks aren't afraid of him, either, and we ended up giving Buddy a shower at 12:30 am. Again, things I never thought I'd see my Dad do. But there you go - what we do for love is an incredible thing.
The next day Mario and I went into New York. New York, what an awesome place. Our hotel, as I mentioned, was in the heart of Little Italy. Well...more like the spleen of Little Italy and the liver of Chinatown. But it was a great place to be.
In my next installment...how many hot dogs were consumed by 4 people on Friday? How many different ways can a chef prepare seafood with pasta, and how friggin' delicious was it all? Is a marinara or a white pizza the better choice at Brick Oven Pizza in Little Italy? Where can you get the best waffle fries in Greenwich? The answers are all coming up in part 2, to be written at a later date. I'm off to get ingredients for garlic knots.
My east coast trip is probably best described in terms of food, since that is really all that matters to me when it comes to travelling. Ask me how my trip was and I'll describe the best meal I had. The day we left, I had sushi for lunch; sushi is my favorite food and I figured if I was going to die that day (I loathe flying) I would do so with a belly full of comfort goodness. Luckily we didn't crash, obviously, so I just got to have a tremendously delicious lunch.
The first day we got there was a humid and warm, but overcast, Wednesday. My mom knows Mario and me very well and had a kitchen stocked with bagels, Jersey tomatoes, cream cheese spread, and lox. After a few bagels with fixins, Mario and I passed out on my mom's porch since neither of us slept well on the red eye. Upon waking, my mom ushered us into her minivan, along with two of my four brothers and some other friends, and shuttled us to Seaside Heights for a day of fun down the shore. Fun included a slice of boardwalk pizza pie so big it took two paper plates to fit the cheesy triangle. Mario and I split a slice; time was, I could eat a whole one and have room for another, but my stomach has learned to temper its ravenous capabilities. My waistline has thanked me.
Mario also enjoyed a frozen custard swirl, the old fashioned kind...so creamy and delicious. I had a famous Orangeade; both swirl and Orangeade were from the famous Kohr's of the boardwalk. Check it out if you're ever down the shore. And remember, in New Jersey, you don't go "to the beach". You go "down the shore". And when you're there, you're not "at the shore", you're still "down the shore".
That night my mom had a large food assortment for my large family assortment that showed up; however I was still so exhausted from not sleeping the night before and the three hour time difference that I don't really remember what I ate. Cheese and seafood was involved somehow but I'm lost to remember how.
The next day Mario and I had my mom's French toast for breakfast. Nothing says "home" like fresh French toast made by mom. Aw. After eating, we went to practice some swan dives at the pool I used to work at (they added a waterslide park to the place...man, back in the day when I was a lifeguard we had one pool and some sprinklers for the little kids. Now the thing is a bonafide water park.) It was cute seeing my youngest brothers twirling whistles of their own; was it really ten years ago that I first got my Acme Thunderer? I scolded a little girl who swam to the wrong ladder while diving in the dive pool; the real lifeguard gave me a dirty look and I felt sheepish. Old habits die hard, I guess; I worked there for 5 awesome years.
There's one thing the east coast doesn't technically do as well as the west coast, but for some reason I miss the east the most when it comes to Chinese food. Its totally inauthentic, fatty, ridiculously overseasoned and, well, very fatty. Everything is fried. I LOVE it. Its East Coast Chinese and when you're accustomed to it, its what the palate demands. I haven't found a place in California that makes egg rolls like you get on the east coast - basically they are the size of your fist and fried to all heck. Mario was surprised when we sat down and I ordered one egg roll for each of us; once he saw the thing, though, the surprise faded. It looked like someone deep fried a Coke can. So good.
That night was the one night I had to see my Dad, and I knew he was taking us out for dinner. The good thing about the Chinese food was that I had an appetite a few hours later, though not a very big one. I kept it modest with a salmon filet sandwich and a few dirty martinis, which I've decided I've grown out of. I'm keeping them clean and neat from now on. It was great to see my Dad, though.
Interesting thing about Dad. He built a barn for his wife's horses, and there is nothing more odd than seeing my father, who I've known for 25 years as a suit-and-tie businessman, raving about his new tractor. He bought it to maintain the land on his horse farm. Horse. Farm. Dad. Amazing. He held and cuddled a cat while I was there. When I was a kid, he always told us he was allergic to cats; now he has 5 of them. They keep the mice away from the barn, I guess. One of his two dogs, Buddy, got sprayed in the face by a skunk while we toured the grounds; he's a big Rhodesian Ridgeback and is not afraid of anything; apparently skunks aren't afraid of him, either, and we ended up giving Buddy a shower at 12:30 am. Again, things I never thought I'd see my Dad do. But there you go - what we do for love is an incredible thing.
The next day Mario and I went into New York. New York, what an awesome place. Our hotel, as I mentioned, was in the heart of Little Italy. Well...more like the spleen of Little Italy and the liver of Chinatown. But it was a great place to be.
In my next installment...how many hot dogs were consumed by 4 people on Friday? How many different ways can a chef prepare seafood with pasta, and how friggin' delicious was it all? Is a marinara or a white pizza the better choice at Brick Oven Pizza in Little Italy? Where can you get the best waffle fries in Greenwich? The answers are all coming up in part 2, to be written at a later date. I'm off to get ingredients for garlic knots.
posted by The Semi-Pro Chef at Monday, July 11, 2005
3 Comments:
Sounds like you had a blast.
You know, every four or five hours Heather's been calling me to tell me where and what she ate. Something there is about going to a big city and eating.
On the home front, we're out of milk and peanut butter. I'm tempted to by several Little Caesars pizzas to get us by till Heather comes home.
Una Pizza Napoletana
349 E. 12th Street
NYC
www.unapizza.com
Absolutely the best pizza that I have ever eaten!
fromage, there's one of those in Point Pleasant NJ! And it WAS the best pizza I had outside of Italy (the real Italy). Amazing!
Post a Comment
<< Home