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Famous Katz's
Another popular NYC meal - Katz's pastrami on rye with homemade pickles. Honestly deliciousNew York is a city known for its food - from roaming street trucks to elusive high-end restaurant reservations, traditional dishes flitting around this hub of immigration past and present and serving as the media backdrop in the lastest of culinary and gastronomic innovation. It seems almost sacrilegious that I've yet to write anything up about all the noshing one can do both in Manhattan and the outer burroughs, particularly in light of the fact that the reason we relocated to New York initially so that I could matriculate into a graduate program that took food scholarship seriously.
I seem to always leave people imagining that I head off to the ivory tower each morning to mix and mingle with famous chefs, to dine on foie gras and shiso leaves while debating the merits of this wine pairing with that artisanal cheese, to wander the side-streets of in search of that elusive taste of authenticity. What a luxurious (and in the latter case futile) life that would be! Alas, there is very little official eating involved. We sought to correct this.
Culinary Tourism Hot-Spots It is the rare exception of an individual that visits the city without having
first compiled their list of "must eats." You know the type: the famous place from that television show, that historic place that's been around forever, the place that serves the "best" fill-in-the-blank... I could go on. We decided to finally try a few of these out. No one is impressed by your Manhattan address if you respond to favorite restaurant inquiries with, "Well I mostly just eat the mystery soup I concoct in my barely-there-blink-and-you'll-miss-it-excuse-for-a-kitchen. Oh and Pink Berry frozen yogurt, because how
do they manage to achieve the perfect balance between sweet and tart?"
We started with lunch at the quite well known
Katz's Deli down on Houston. Huge crowds, multiple lines, and all the 'traditional' Jewish deli food of the LES that's fit to print - pastrami on rye, chocolate egg-creams, half-sour and green tomato pickles. Ah! My mouth waters thinking about it. The charm of Katz's is the chaotic bustling of too many people not knowing how the system of lines and ordering works, but pretending like they do all while aspiring to recreate some sort of authentic eating experience. You see travel guides tucked covertly into backpockets, or brandished out for all to see as
Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker
There is no denying that the store is quite aesthetically pleasing in that faux-nostalgia sort of way. frazzled guests flip through the pages again to see if there are any hints on what to get and how to get it (
fyi: each item has a separate line, so find the menu board for what you want, go up the counter below it and order. They'll stamp your ticket and you pay for everything on the way out). You'll see the regulars at the same table chatting it up with the owner and you'll see folks like us who came there originally for the hype and came back for the food, because ambiance or not, they serve some
serious sandwiches. Andras insists that if we had the money, he would order take-out for lunch once a week, every week. Perhaps on Tuesdays.
To top off our lunch we took a stroll over to the West Village and had dessert at
Magnolia Bakery - the ridiculously popular neighborhood bakery that started selling baked goods a decade ago, got caught in the updraft of the cupcake phenomena and now has branches all over Manhattan, the country, the globe and consistently has a line of domestic and international visitors queueing up alongside the building (and, again, us, because I like
Manhattan Bridge
From DUMBO: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass to research how edible things get incorporated into itineraries and Andras likes banana pudding. Not that I should
have to preface why we were there - believe me when I say the irony of providing such a self-conscious justification is not lost on someone who examines eating behavior coupled with the stigmatziation of tourism). Two stops in, our bellies called it quits.
Later, we took the iconic stroll over the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time together and headed down to
Grimaldi's Pizzaria, where again we were met with a long line snaking down the sidewalk. Funny thing - as we were walking under the bridge overpass we saw a map listing all the various Brooklyn stores, eateries and landmarks so that those on foot could get oriented. Now, this map had two big white spots where the paint had been worn away from touching and pointing: one at the "You are Here" mark and the other right next to Grimaldi's. Now
that's a sign of popularity and touristic appeal if anything is. I love it! But we were a bit too hungry for the hour long wait this time, so I snapped a photo of the line for
Bleecker Street Pizza
I know we already took a bite out of it ... but how good does the Nonna Maria look! an upcoming presentation and we got a
"dirty water dog" (aka: hotdog, with saurkraut) from one of the vendors near the park instead and sat down in DUMBO for a riverside picnic.
Time passed. We gave our stomachs some time off. Then it was time for round two.
A 'Slice' of New York Given the large number of Italian immigrants that settled into the New York area (though many have relocated since the turn of the century) it makes sense that this city is seen as the birthplace of pizza in America. I cannot count the number of times I have witnessed, read, seen or overheard a discussion about where to get the best pizza in NYC. Of course you have to consider the issue of slice vs. pie. And what about toppings? Do they add flavor or diminish the purity of the product? Should you import canned tomatoes from Italy or get fresh from the states? After a day of eating pizza I can tell you this - I don't know. The only way to go wrong is to overthink it.
After slipping into some loose fitting pants, down to the West Village we went
for "Pizza Day." Of course we'd already tried the place down the street from where we lived. But now it was time to test out some of the places whose names continuously crop up in great debate. Most of our stops were located along Bleecker St, not far from Washington Square. First up was
Bleecker Street Pizza, a bit on the far-side for a work-day lunch from NYU campus but otherwise quick grab and go. A slice of the Nonna Maria would start us off - thin crust lightly dusted with cornmeal, fresh mozz, their homemade marinara, parmigiano-reggiano and fresh basil. Hungry as we were, we commmitted the ultimate food-blogger sin and began eating before taking pictures. Oh well. It's touted as the the NYTimes and frequently gets voted as one of the best pizza places in New York. No complaints here.
With one slice down as an appetizer, we walked a few blocks over to
John's of Bleecker Street. Here's where the plan came apart. Firstly - John's only serves whole pizzas; no slices! Second, Andras wanted meat and pepperoni, so all cross-comparisons were off. Eating here is all about ambiance. They have a brick-oven, yes. The booths have been there since who-knows-when.
Lombardi's Open Kitchen
With the original pizza oven door from the early 20th century We were trying to compare apples to oranges. This is a place to sit and linger and chat over warm from the oven cheesy-goodness. And unbenknownst to us at the time, eating here is on one of those great lists of
1000 Places to See Before You Die, North America Edition. Alrighty then; well check-mark to that.
Feeling only slightly foolish walking into our third pizzaria while carrying a box a pizza from a nearby establishment, we continued down the street to
Joe's Pizza (yes of Spiderman fame) and prepared to split another slice of fresh mozzarella and marinana pefection. Construction workers next to the business suits, all sidled up to the standing-room only bar. I've never walked by when it hasn't been busy, which is good as it's always fresh. We chose to take it over to Father Demo Square to sit on benches and obnoxoiusly take as many photos as you liked without being in the way. To break up the dough + cheese + tomato monotony, we had also briefly popped into
Rocco's for some cannoli (filled to order - the way it ought to be). The place never ceases to smell amazing. The slight drizzle
of rain, the hint of char on the crust, the richness of the riccota filling in dessert - perhaps one of the most memorable meals I've had in the city.
Despite reaching critical pizza-overload, we braved the weather and walked off some of our earlier ingestions on route to Nolita. Show me a guidebook which doesn't mention
Lombardi's and I'll show you a guidebook written before food became a tourist attraction in its own right. Lombardi's on Spring Street lays claim to the title of America's oldest pizzeria, even though its current location opened in 1994 (the original Lombardi's opened down the street in 1897. The website url is "first pizza" for that matter). Add to that its location on the periphery of the (mostly for show) Little Italy and you can imagine the fire-storm of tourism activity that takes place at the intersection of Spring St and Mulberry.
We waited for over an hour for the opportunity to try to a bite of the famous coal-oven pizza. Two things to note again: whole pies and cash, only. Worth the wait? Probably. The open kitchen itself was in itself something to witness. What you're waiting for is the
The Perfect Slice
At Joe's Pizzeria experience, afterall. The ability to say, "I've tried it." Been there, done that. If you're eating for hunger, there are over 3,000 other restaurants in the 23-square miles that is Manhattan. And groceries, and bodegas, and fruit carts, farmers markets, food trucks. The list is endless.
Jack of All Trades; Master of One
At the end of it, we learned a few things. Most importantly that one should not try to eat that much pizza in a single day. Also that nothing makes one more self-conscious then having studied the very sociological theories of a behavior in which one is now attempts to partake. Moving inperceptibly between taking in the sights and referencing the citations. The constant blurring of insider and outsider, ultimately getting stuck somewhere out of focus. Endless self-analysis get tiring after a while. Biting, thinking, chewing, observing and giving into the experience while wondering just
what experience is to be given into! Eating? We eat everyday. Eating out? Eating out ... here? Eating this? Eating this, here?
Like a silent tree falling in the woods, if one visits a place and eats something without taking any picture - did it really happen?
Graduates Lining Up at Yankee Stadium
Filing into the university wide graduation ceremonies Social media says no. And for some reason, that is important. Being granted the degree rarely means you have discovered the answers; moreso that you have begun to start asking the right questions.
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Bob Carlsen
I must have gotten the wrong degree...
missing out on all that research! Congratulations on receiving your degree. Where are you off to next?