Where I'm Eating: Bedouin Tent

A major feature of the DD will be talking about the restaurants I eat in- whether it's Joe's Pizzeria or (eventually...) Per se. The point isn't necessarily to do a formal review, but rather to just share rudimentary thoughts on whether or not its worth it for you to go there.

A few weeks ago, I went to Bedouin Tent in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. It's a small, unassumming place next to a swanky-looking wine bar on Atlantic Avenue. The inside dining room looks like -wait for it- a bedouin tent, and there's a really nice garden/outdoor eating area out back. The prices are beyond reasonable, but they don't serve alcohol and there's no BYOB. The iced mint tea is not to be missed, though.

I had the falafel platter with hummus, which was very good, and sampled the lambajin, which was a Middle Eastern pizza with ground lamb, which was excellent. The artichoke pizza was great as well, and we all shared a heaping pile of fresh pitas and yogurt sauce. As noted before, it's pretty cheap, and well worth stopping in for a meal.

What's better than a NYC hot dog?

OK, so earlier I extolled the glorious Chicago dog. Yeah, in many ways, it IS better than your standard NYC hot dog. But, being a New Yorker, I have to give deference to the NYC dog because it is delicious and experiential as well. Going to Nathan's on Coney Island is like going to Grey's Papaya while on an acid trip. A dirty water dog is sometimes the only thing that will do. Hot dogs are at the top of the list of quintessential foods, which is why I was intrigued and challenged by this article in the New Yorker.

The author came up with things better than a NYC hot dog and seemed to have a pretty easy time of it. I wholeheartedly agree with some and violently disagree with others. Inspired, I made a (much) smaller list of my own, mostly because I kept thinking, "this would be made even better if it included hot dogs" and I got derailed (example: pot, beer, good music). The list isn't even worth repeating, as I basically created my own theory: everything is better with hot dogs.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/cartoonlounge/2009/08/better-than-hot-dogs.html
(sorry- can't get the hyperlink to work!)

Dank Dumplings

The Most Annoying Article....Ever

While perusing various news sites this Monday morning, I came across an article from boston.com, the website of the Boston Globe. It discusses the role of the inhabitants of Julia Child's former home in Cambridge. What follows is shocking and obnoxious and I'm sure Julia Child is rolling in her grave: these residents are self-proclaimed non-foodies and vegetarians. I could think of nothing worse than animal activists who only take a utilitarian approach to food living in Julia Child's former home.

It's well-known that Child's husband bought and furnished this extremely elaborate kitchen for her and it pains me to think that those who are its caretakers now know not how to use most of the appliances and tools in it nor do they really care to. Also, they will most likely never get the chance: the militant absence of meat and fish renders a lot of Child's kitchen useless. Furthermore, its an insult to the legacy of Julia Child- as she certainly appreciated all fruits of the earth and was not a health freak. Animal products were a staple of her cooking from offal to stock to premium cuts. I hate this couple. Enjoy your lettuce.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/31/new_occupants_get_cooking_in_julia_childs_former_house/

Stoned Crow: the best burger? In the Village, at least

Last night, I believe I found my favorite burger in the city, with exception of the Minetta Black Label burger. But because the Minetta burger is more a luxury than a staple, this delightful morsel takes the cake for the best burger I've had in awhile.

Burgers rank high among my favorite foods and I'm generally very particular about them. The city/world is undergoing somewhat of a burger renaissance right now- sort of like whats going on with pizza. I guess it’s this little “recession” thing we’re all so enamored with- suddenly everyone is trying to take a high-brow approach to the comfortable and low-brow. As with anything new and revolutionary, it comes with several points of contention, especially from me:

1.Burgers are so fancy now! While this is definitely a good thing and can make being a burger eater much more interesting and fun, I’ve paid for far too many $15 burgers that don’t hold a candle to the cheaper, better options many places have to offer. So, although the Black Label burger is out of this world- I’ll stick to Shake Shack, Corner Bistro or something at a similar price point.

2.Enormous patties. I realize it's trendy and in line with the American psyche that burgers should be gargantuan, but I have found that small patties are optimal. They are easier to eat and they retain flavor better than the standard 1/2 pounder. There are exceptions, of course, but I've had way too many big burgers that aren't cooked properly, too big to eat and are generally flavorless. Its also a kill-joy when they only put one measely bit of cheese on top, not remotely covering the burger and making me rearrange the cheese myself to maximize the cheese-to-meat ratio (I told you I like burgers). Plus, it's one of the most satisfying guilty pleasures to order 2 separate burgers or a double instead of just eating one giant hunk of meat.

3. No, veggie/turkey/chicken/barf burgers are not an acceptable substitute. “Sorry Jackie! We don’t have beef, but we have these awesome black bean burgers OMG you’re going to lov-…” …no, no, I won’t love them. I promise.

4. Hockey pucks. Well done is not an acceptable way to eat beef- be it burgers, steaks or otherwise. You’re not going to die if your meat’s a little red.

At the Stoned Crow (Washington Place & 6th Ave), I have found an exceptional burger. It meets (I originally wrote 'meats'...nice) all the criteria for burgers except for the size of the patty. I noted earlier that there are exceptions to the small patty rule, and this 1/2 pound burger is definitely one of them. It was cooked perfectly (medium-rare, as requested) and had abundant flavor. They even put 2 slices of cheese on it to make sure that the patty was adequately covered. The guy behind the griddle, formerly of the Corner Bistro, definitely knows how to cook a burger.

The atmosphere is great- divey, covered in movie posters and different artist's renditions of movie stars and musicians. There was a juke box, controlled by the clientele, who, it turned out, had an evolved and excellent taste in music. The happy hour is cheap, the burgers plentiful and the ambiance relaxing- I'll definitely be returning to the this bar, even if just for drinks.

Farewell, Frank Bruni!

The Daily Dankness team would like to send a heartwarming farewell to New York Times food critic Frank Bruni, as today brings his final column for the Grey Lady. A descriptive, visceral and talented writer, he captured the essence of eating that we so appreciate here at the DD. Look out for his upcoming tell-all, "Born Round"!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/dining/reviews/26rest.html?8dpc

Socarrat Paella Bar

What began as a simple request from my dad ended up as a city wide hunt for the quintessential Spanish dish: paella. A few weeks ago, my dad called and said, verbatim, “I want you to find a really good paella spot in the city. I will pay for you to try it out, and if you like it, we’ll go the next time I come in.” With that one beautiful phrase, “I will pay”, I was hooked. For me, the single most exciting thing about living in New York City is the cultural diversity, with special attention paid to food. Even if there aren’t proportionally a lot of, say, Malaysians versus Chinese, you can still find at least a few restaurants that have superlative Malaysian food. Point being, you can find anything in New York. I figured a very well known dish from a western European country would have me fighting over which restaurants to choose so that I could try it- but this was not the case. It turns out, my research (internet & Spanish people) told me, that Manhattan is a veritable paella desert. There are only a couple of good places to get it, and they are owned by the same dude. Enter Socarrat.

Jesus “Lolo” Manso, proprietor of La Nacional Tapas Bar (the other paella/tapas joint worth going to), opened this small restaurant about a year ago. To call it a restaurant is a bit of a misnomer; it’s really a one-horse show with bar-style seating. This, for dishes like paella, is the best way to experience it. This fabulous dish requires heart, authenticity, and informality and the ambiance of Socarrat captures that well. You feel like you’re a guest at a dinner party in a beautiful Spanish home- the lighting is dimmed, there is exposed brick, white wooden cabinets and beautiful paintings on the walls. The restaurant is named for an element of paella, the socarrat, which the restaurant itself describes as, “the delectable, sensuous crust that forms on the bottom of the paella pan when the liquid is rendered and the rice reaches its peak of succulence.” Indeed.

Because the paella takes about 30 minutes to cook, we were urged to order a few tapas to start, and we did so, along with a few glasses of sangria. Their sangria is delicious; too often I have had the misfortune of having sangria that is quite literally red wine with a couple of apple slices thrown in at the last second. This sangria was light, fragrant, and not too fruity with a hint of brandy. Looking back, I realize it was probably the brandy that hooked me, but that’s another problem for another AA meeting. For our tapas, we ordered the chorizo and one of the specials for the day: the suckling pig. The tapas were appropriately sized and incredibly delicious. The chorizo had a good amount of spice and the suckling pig was cooked to perfection in a delicious reduction. I managed to get a picture of the chorizo but only realized I had forgotten to take one of the pig as I was munching on the last bit of the crunchy, caramelized, incredibly delicious porcine treasure that is the skin. Needless to say, the tapas were great.

The paella we ordered was called Paella Socorrat, which I assume to be the house paella. It is a layer of yellow rice with shrimp, fish, beef, chicken, mussels and cockle clams. It arrived on the table still simmering in a well-worn black pan and we were instructed to wait about 3 minutes for it to settle, which was ABSOLUTELY UNBEARABLE. I estimate that after about minute 1 we decided to dig in and it was just sublime. The rice was perfectly moist and all the flavors, especially for being so different, melded delightfully. The freshness of the ingredients stood out and I had a hard time picking out my favorite one, although I think it might have been the cockles. Paella is not small, and there were only two of us, but we managed to completely devour the pan. As we got to the bottom, our waiter helped us scrape up the socarrat, which was the most flavorful, sinful part of the entire meal. My partner, who has had paella at La Nacional and who has a love for Spanish food, remarked that this was, in actuality, the best paella in the city. Still a little hungry, we tried the Spanish cheesecake, which was like a deep-fried cheesecake with a hint of lemon, and it was excellent.

We had a lovely waiter, too, who was gracious, helpful and a pleasure to talk to. I did discover, however, that he didn’t like sangria nor did he eat meat, which I found a little odd considering he worked in a Spanish restaurant. I considered this a conflict of interest, and then realized that it was a genius career move: if I worked there, you would probably have to roll me out on a stretcher, daily. I'm sure I would even turn into a literal pig at some point. Our waiter (Andy? Might have made that up) is free from this burden and thus most likely enjoys a great working experience at Socarrat. Touche.