Looking around the landscape of the pizza industry, I find the pizza world is very much like the tech world of Sillicon Valley and Sillicon Alley. The new kids on the block in the New York pizza scene are the Neapolitan faction. They're buck the trend of the classic New York slice joint and the most popular ones have come in recent years. Motorino, Co, Paulie Gee, and Keste. These guys are the facebook, twitter, linkedin, and groupons of the food world. They're newer to the scene and injecting excitement and flair to a sector that previously was dominated by the old guard. The new guys char the bottom of their pizzas, they use imported ingredients and they're completely different than a classic slice or the fast food pizzas that charmed my childhood memories.... [Continue reading]
Today I have to shout out to the informal restaurants out there that don't care if you just share one entree between two people and then leave without eating/drinking anything else. Now I get that restaurants got businesses to run but sometimes when you're eating at like 4pm in the afternoon, and there's no rush, then it should be ok if a couple doesn't order like it's chow time. So thank goodness that Motorino in the East Village doesn't mind when all you wanna do is stop in for a quick bite. At some other places, sometimes the server will visibly be disappointed or push super hard on other items on the menu, but here the server didn't do that. The busperson sorta was rushing to pick up our plate within five seconds of picking up the last slice, but you know... can't win them all I guess.... [Continue reading]
Blogging about food is sometimes weird in that I always wonder what my preferences say about me. For example on Slice, they really like Donatella's. Nick and Adam wrote that, "The pies are thinner, less puffy (but with no less life) and far drier. They will appeal, I think, not only to the purist but to those who did not think they cared for the form." Strong praise for two dudes that know and eat a lot of pizza. So the problem for me was that I walked away thinking, "It was aight."... [Continue reading]
This blog has been neglected for almost a week. A week! And all I have for you today are two blurry pictures of pizza. These came from Roberta's in Brooklyn. See, Roberta's represent one of those places in a weird realm of restaurants for me. Sure, sometimes I like to save up and then go to a really nice place like Eleven Madison Park but other times I eat normal stuff like the Bk Buck Double. In between that on the spectrum are a bunch of restaurants. These restaurants are generally loved by folks... They are loved because they're supposedly serving awesome food in non-pompous environments. As a guy who downs spicy nuggets from Wendy's, you can probably figure out that I enjoy food without pretension. So I should love places like Robertas or like a Momofuku. But every time I go to a place like that, I just never wanna spend money. Because the idea was already in my head that the place is not supposed to be as expensive as the expensive places, and the food is supposed to be good. But then there's cheaper options on the menu that doesn't fully represent what all the praise is about. At Momofuku, all I've ever had has been pork buns and ramen. Never had any other savory foods they make. I'm sure I'd love 'em, but damn... how much is that rice cake dish at Saam bar? Similary at Roberta's... people love 'em but it's not entirely based on their pizza menu. But shit, you tell me I can be full for $15, why would I go for entrees above $20?... [Continue reading]
Continuing the theme from the last post about the excellent pork chops and fried chicken legs, today let's talk about pizza. As simple as fried meat on rice with meat sauce and pickled vegetables, the pizza is usually just dough, cheese, sauce, toppings. It's funny because growing up in the midwest and the south, pizza usually meant Pizza Hut. Then around middle school, Papa Johns started to get big with those buttery dipping sauces for your crust and the peppers. Anyone know if they stopped doing that to save money? And of course there were cheap pizzas like Little Caesers. In central Ohio, there was a chain called Donatos that had good-ish thin crust pizza. At least I enjoyed it very much... it was addictive as hell. But all this to say that I mostly ate Pizza Hut growing up. Now that I've had all these fancy Neapolitan pizzas that's all the rage, I have to say that I miss the simplicity of craving a pan pizza from the Hut. No, seriously. You pay like $12 bucks and the pizza fills two fat kids to the brim. What is not to like about that? If this was the real life version of Allegory of the Cave, I'm the guy thinking, "Dayum! I miss them shadows." Since life doesn't occur in a cave, I think the thing that I miss the most is value. I love pizzas at Co (co-pane) and Motorino, but they're not cheap. So when Steph and I saw Totale Pizza on Saint Marks selling pizzas for no more than $13... well, we had to try it.... [Continue reading]
Apparently there's a lot that goes towards making an apartment a home. This shit never ends. Recently I installed some window air conditioning units.... [more]
After two weeks of Seattle posts, I think it's about time to sunset this dying category since it's just killing my page rank from shitty to shittier.... [more]
You ever do this thing where you enjoy a meal, think it's OK on the price, then later on when you think back, you realize they gave you an order of... [more]
Sometimes it's very difficult to quantify the premium you pay for being in New York City. Even within city limits, pricing changes rapidly from one... [more]
Aaaaaand more pictures from Seattle. Not much of a surprise there huh? I'm trying to go through them as fast as possible. When's the last time you saw... [more]
