Crack pie and The Wire
Recently Steph and I embarked on a special undertaking - we started watching The Wire. If you don't know what The Wire is, then you probably lived under a rock for the first half of this decade (which by the way, is ending soon...) I think on the Baltimore episode of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain proclaimed it as the best show ever on television. That is some high praise. I've only seen the first five episodes and it's getting good already. For those of you not yet graced by the show, the basic gist of the show is about these cops trying to crack down on this drug kingpin who 'owns' the area of West Baltimore. The main good guy so far is Jimmy McNulty, and the king pin is Avon Barksdale. The show so far has already dealt with wire tapping and the intricacies of dealing drugs. Fro example they get into the difference between being in charge of high rises versus low rises, and they talk about hierarchies of the group. So Avon Barksdale is the boss, and he has a right hand man named Stringer Bell and a cousin named DeAngelo. Oh man, the show is just so good. But how does this relate to food?
To really make this more comprehensible for you... I'll give you the analogy as it relates to the food world. So the 'high rises' in this case would be the Momofuku Empire. They rule in the East Village area. The guy playing Avon Barksdale is David Chang. Now even though Christina Tosi is not his cousin, she is the main person in charge of dealing the crack (pie). In the show, DeAngelo controls the low rise buildings, and in real life Tosi is in charge of Momofuku Milk Bar. There's also this character named Bubbles (Bubs) who is this crack/heroine addict. Just think of Anderson Cooper as the crack (pie) addict.
If you don't know why Anderson Cooper is the crack (pie) lover, just check out the Serious Eats:NY post about it. Apparently on the Regis and Kelly show, Anderson professed his love for crack (pie) and wanted to give some to everyone in the audience.
The crack pie, like real crack, is not cheap. You could probably find other 'products' that'll get you similar results for cheap. The pie, like the real crack, just takes a few key ingredients. You only need cocaine and baking soda to make crack, while you mostly just need sugar, butter, and cream to make crack pie.
So for the holiday season, if you need a new show to watch and need something to make your belt tighter, I suggest both The Wire and crack pie. Just try not to end up an addict like Anderson Cooper.
Momofuku Milk Bar
207 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003
212-254-3500
Your analogies are getting really good, Danny! I'm just glad I'm familiar with "The Wire".
Alicia
December 28, 2009 3:28 am
I just moved from Baltimore. One day I was going on a date with this girl and I didn't have a car; I told her we were doing the No Reservations tour - she drove, I paid. The lake trout: four stars. Collard greens, two stars. Mac and cheese, two stars. Pit Beef: three stars (Buffalo's is better), Crab Cake, 5 stars Holy F this thing was huge. I had it for the next two days in omelets. It was $18 but it was a softball sized mound of probably 12 crustaceans. Ridic. The Obama - it was like a big gulp. I was on my ass after one (it was $15).
All that being said, I had the pork buns and the crack pie at milk bar last week, blew all that away. For the money, the crab cake wins, but for the taste, Milk bar.
Foodie
December 28, 2009 1:57 pm
Man, i need some crack. . . and some crack (pie) too. It looks like a chess pie, and I love chess pie.
Jonathan
December 21, 2009 12:19 pm
The Wire is the shit. Momofuku, and their pie of crack are wack.
FN
December 21, 2009 5:52 pm
oh, The Wire... just wait until you get to the 3rd and 4th seasons...incredible.
Ang
December 21, 2009 5:56 pm
The wire is just.... I am at a loss for words.
I agree with ang, it gets even better in the later seasons (didn't think that would be possible).
!!!
Veronica
December 21, 2009 11:21 pm
@Jonathan,
Man, you and me both. The solutions that crack provides are numerous. Oh and I need to find chess pie in NY still...
@FN,
Word. What's with the prices yo?
@Ang,
ooooh now I'm excited to just get to season 4.
@Veronica,
You and Ang's comment has me excited about it!
Danny
December 22, 2009 10:21 am