Special Feature: Food Trends

Food Trend Watch

Small pickles are the new caramelized onions. At places like Cobblestone Foods on Court St., and Zaytoon's on Smith St in Brooklyn, they're replacing caramelized onions with tasty little pickles that really help zest up meat.

At Cobblestone Foods I ordered a beef brisket sandwich and found tiny pickles inside. The pickles not only killed the taste of any weird meat that might be lingering, it also added a nice-salty vingery thrill. At Zaytoon's I ordered the Chicken Shawarma- (Slices of marinated Chicken from the rotisserie on a pita) and that too came with these tiny tasty pickles. I purchased three Shawarmas and brought them back to my office for my co-workers to try. Messy, we slurped up every bit, agreeing that the pickles totally made the sandwich.

http://www.zaytoonsrestaurant.com/
http://www.cobblestonefoods.com/

Casanova's

Casanova's Italian Eatery
338 McGuinness Blvd
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Tonight was my discovery of the "Grandma Slice" (a thin pie baked in a pan with minimal toppings of fresh or canned tomatoes (not sauce) and cheese) with a guy named Joe Gorillio. Does anyone remember Jerry Gorillio in Milwaukee? Lounge singer in his sixties...used to hang out(maybe still does) at Beans and Barley drinking Margaretas and watching rocker boys in tight black jeans bending to bus leftover Tempeh Ruebens.

Anyway, Cassanova is a divey cop hangout by the Pulaski Bridge. It's like an overly lit pizza bar, with no alcohol. On the menu cover a young man with a face mask holds a slice above his head allowing a long steak of cheese to drizzle into his mouth. My roommate and Joe Gorillio were stoned so they found the cover incredibly funny. On the plasma TV a movie about Jamacian Bob Sledding starring John Candy was playing, my companions found this fascinating as well.

The garlic knots are fair, and could use more garlic and less knot. If you're ever in NYC try to hunt down a Grandma Slice, it's the perfect combination of all the good elements of new york pizza for $2.50, and sometimes they throw a piece of basil on top. You don't have to specifically go to Casanova's to find this slice (I just go for the cops) but, The Grandma can be hard to hunt down, showing up more in Queens than the other 4 Burroughs.

Bangkok House

4698 S. Whitnall Ave., St. Francis, Wisconsin

Milwaukee must have fewer Thai restaurants than any city of its size in the country. It might have something to do with how, in Milwaukee, the dish Pad Thai is called “Pud Thai.” I asked my dining companion, Mr. Goodsell, why he thought that was, and he said, “Because it’s funny?” I know it’s just some matter of translation, but why are there no Big Boy restaurants in Milwaukee? Why do they call homefries “American fries?” And drinking fountains “bubblers?” Sometimes I feel like Wisconsin could be situated north of Canada. Often I wish it was.

The Bangkok House was an exciting discovery—it has the best Thai food I’ve eaten in Milwaukee—though it’s hidden in a strip mall out near the airport—the asshole of this or any other town. Make sure you sit with your back to the window and you can forget momentarily that just outside is an expanse of parking lot, then a heinous system of ugly roads and a no-man’s-land of runways. The suffocating music didn’t help transport me anywhere either; my dining companion, Mr. Ruschhaupt, suggested that it was a digital midi keyboard hidden out of sight somewhere, playing computer generated “dining music.” The sporadic bird chirps couldn’t save it.

The lunch buffet was off limits, not being anything close to gluten-intolerant friendly, and it looked a bit Chinese, anyway. The Pud Thai was very good, but the Massaman Curry was the best meal I’ve had in awhile. The Pud Kee Mow, made with “drunk man’s noodles” had very good flavors, but the sensation of the heavy, square rice noodles in my mouth made me feel like I was eating human ears.

I’ve always wondered why they don’t push the desserts in Thai restaurants—it’s almost like they want to keep them secret. Thai restaurant desserts can be THE best, too—and many are gluten-free. As usual, I was too full for dessert.

Then I looked at the drink menu and nearly decided to give up on my decades of sobriety right there—this was the most exciting drink menu I’d seen in years! The “Thai Boxing” intrigued me, especially semantically, and also because it was the Thai version of one of my old favorites, the Zombie. The “Teaky Bowl” claimed to be made up of a “mood altering juice concoction.” And most exciting, to me, as I have always had an obsession with blue drinks, was the “Blue Phuket.” There would be no way to order that drink verbally, but I nearly said, “Phuket!” At least I would have had something to talk about in rehab.

Brick Oven Pizza Gallery

Brick Oven Pizza Gallery
33 Havemeyer St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Through the steamed-up window on Havenmeyer St. a medium lady and two big guys in puffy coats squeeze into a table and order 6 pizzas. Two tables over, in a merlot haze, a young Williamsburg couple projects a future for themselves far away where nature is involved. Ham wrapped shrimp induces a pair of skinny guys in the corner to complain about their intern fashion positions. While one of the large cooks takes a huge dump, and the scent of lavendar is sprayed everywhere in the tiny, only bathroom.

Valentine's Eve is when you go out for dinner. You can get a cab, get a table, and you can sit there as long as you want....take time to digest, make friends with the waitress, mentally redesign the interior of the restaurant. This is only if you're sure you're going to enjoy the time spent with your date. If that's unclear, go for Valentine's Day..then you might not even get a table, and may have the opportunity to ditch out early.

On Tuesday, February 13th we were seated next to a wall with a 6x6 inch door that opened to a lonely looking electrical outlet. The waitress came over, still wearing her coat and told us about the "Couple's Special". On the weekdays $40 gets you two personal pizzas, a bottle of cheap red or white wine, and a big salad. I've been to this place before, tried several pizzas, and know that the mushroom truffle oil with goat cheese pizza is the best thing on the menu. My bf, decided he would try the sun dried tomato and sausage pizza.

The pizzas are "personal", you get 4 pieces. The truffle pizza was amazingly consistent with the other times I'd ordered it. My bf's pizza was not so hot. In Milwaukee, (esp. at my favorite pizza place, Pizza Man) sausage comes in 1 inch hamburger bites, with lots of fennel, usually homemade by the pizzeria. In New York, I often run into these small sausage discs. The disc's ends often curl up and burn, and the middle pools up with grease. Also, the cheese was missing on his pizza. We ate all the truffle pizza, and the sausage slices were saved for breakfast. Which I'm eating now as I write this. Bad hot pizza often makes good cold pizza, and vice versa.

http://www.usmenuguide.com/brickovengallery.html

Comet

1947 N. Farwell Avenue
Milwaukee WI

I'm not sure if it's the Comet Cafe or the Comet Coffee Shop, these days, though I've been calling it "The New Comet"-- which I have to stop, since it's been well over a year since they remodeled-- long enough for another major menu change. The crucial thing is that it used to be a smoky, sit there for hours, coffee shop, and now it's a restaurant and bar. You can still smoke on one side, but it's well-ventilated. They open at 11am, I believe, until 2am, and I think stop serving food at 1opm.

The symbol for this restaurant is a rabbit, though there is no rabbit on the menu, and even funnier, they advertise "slow food." This means that once you order, the cooks will consider your order, then step out back for a cigarette break and contemplate their artistry. But that's okay-- just don't be in a big hurry or anything.

I was thinking this morning about how much I hate the term "Cream City" for Milwaukee-- even if it does refer to the light colored brick, and not because it's the largest city in the Dairy State. Maybe it's just that I'm annoyed with "exposed brick, hardwood floors, and lake views," or maybe it's the generally disgusting sound of the term, or maybe it's something I think about every time I go somewhere and order coffee and the half-and-half is in those little tubs. Or worse, little tubs of Coffee-Mate. Before I moved here I heard that it was illegal to serve margarine or non-dairy creamer in the Dairy State-- not true!-- it's as bad, or worse, as anywhere else. So on this morning I happened to be trying to think of ONE PLACE that served coffee cream in a little pitcher, and I couldn't-- but I also happened to want to escape the snow, so I stopped off at the Comet. The last few times here I didn't get coffee at all, I guess-- and so I was shocked and really excited when the cream came in a little metal pitcher! That automatically puts the Comet near the top of Milwaukee breakfast places.

I wish they were open earlier, but the humane thing is they serve breakfast until 3pm. I kind of think of this place, now, as for 20-somthing hipsters who have hit 30 and are evolving beyond the 7-Eleven microwave burrito diet. You can still stay up all night drinking, then come in here for a late breakfast, and since they have a full bar, finish your coffee and start drinking again without even moving your butt from the comfortable, long booths (some are long enough to lie down in, if it comes to that).

I had a pretty good omelette and some really good hash browns. Really good hash browns are worth mentioning twice. On previous visits I ate lunch here, and now I'm sad to see that they have discontinued the "12 Layer Salad." This is really too bad, because that salad was an exploration-- 12 ingredients grouped in a large bowl, untossed, so that you could make your own combinations as you ate. I would eat the less exciting but more healthy parts first-- the celery and carrots-- by degrees working in the salad dressing and cheese, and then finishing with peas and bacon. And the best thing about it was that every time I ordered it, it was different! Different ingredients, arranged differently. Some people think consistency is the hallmark of a good restaurant-- not me! Screw consistency, I want adventure. But, oh well, no more 12 Layer Salad.

The other cool thing about this place is that if you sit in the right place, you can totally stake out Koppa's Grocery, across the street. I don't know why you'd want to, but if you had a crush on someone who worked the register there-- which is quite conceivable-- the Comet offers a perfect view-- in comfort. Oh, did I mention that the overall theme of the menu is "comfort food?" And the bathrooms (two on each side of the restaurant) are spectacularly, soaringly clean and, again, comfortable.

Cafe' Nova

Cafe Nova
210 Court Street (corner of Warren and Court)
Brooklyn, NY

Every time I go into this place the garbage can is in a new spot, and the coffee condiment station has been moved.

Theresa, Helen, Adrian, and that other cute guy that's enthusiastic about ceramics are what makes this place different from the million other pastry/coffee joints on Court Street in Cobble Hill. Even when the heat isn't working, or the A/C has blown out....they'll be standing behind the counter smiling, drawing you into the daily dramas of making panini sandwiches for $8/hour plus tips.

In a cafe that offers way too many food options that the space and time of the place can actually handle (salad bar, panini grill, gourmet pizzas) the employees make being understaffed a joy to watch. If you let them know you're a normal human and not some demanding cobble hill mom, they'll start talking to you while making your food, telling you how they like to go on fruit fasts, how they love their new Nintendo system, how they're still trying to figure out which Master's degree to get etc.

Cafe' Nova does have the best coffee on Court Street, and the homemade chocolate croissants are worth the extra dent in your butt, but, everything else is as good as any other, and without the employees serving it with a wink, I'm not sure how loyal I would remain to this place. I hope Cafe Nova's boss knows it's not necessarily the curried chicken under the heat lamp that's keeping customers coming back. Sometimes, it's friendly folk that keep doors open.

If you want to witness the charm of Cafe' Nova's staff go sooner than later, because the longevity of a career as a coffee shop barista is like my favorite beauty shop name: "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow".

The Eating Establishment

317 Main Street, Park City, Utah

I guess this place has been open since 1972, but more importantly it's stayed more or less the same each time I've been to Park City (the first time, 1996). I've only been there for the Sundance Film Festival, so that's the only Park City I know, but I've noticed over the last decade increasing expensive, fancy places, as well as the deterioration and decline of other places. So every time I've been there I've gone to The Eating Establishment for breakfast and it kind of makes me feel at home. It's a rare combination of pretty good food, large portions, and not-too-expensive.

It's open all day, but I've only been there for breakfast. During the film festival, if you don't get there early, you'll have to wait-- it's pretty popular. On this recent visit, when declining the toast, I mentioned it was because I wasn't avoiding carbohydrates, but was gluten intolerant. The waiter then brought me extra potatoes AND a cup of fruit to compensate. That's a really good way to get on my good side!