Popular in Soho: Italian Restaurants with Blue Awnings and Al Fresco Dining

Italian restaurants with blue awnings and al fresco dining must be all the rage right now in Soho. How else to explain the fact that on a recent Wednesday afternoon, two such restaurants were open and doing steady business? First, there’s Mezzogiorno. According to their website, “Executive Chef Alessandro Gargani serves a seasonal menu of both classic and innovative dishes.” Specialties include Il "Classico" Vitello Tonnato ($22).

Next up: Savore. Their menu offers “Renaissance era Italian cuisine, and a superb wine list with over 220 labels.” Specialties include Tuscan treats like Manzo Beef Medallions with Porcini Sauce, Potato, String Beans and Spinach ($29).

Who can say if others will follow in their footsteps and open similar Italian restaurants with blue awnings and al fresco dining in Soho. But for now, the corner of Sullivan and Spring Street has two Italian restaurants with blue awnings and al fresco dining.

OMG: Michael Jackson Cookies at Cookie Road

The good folks at the newly opened Cookie Road bakery in Greenpoint are really on to something with these Michael Jackson sugar cookies.

The detail on these cookies is amazing, especially considering that they’re only about three inches in diameter.

The day I dropped in they were also selling cookies bearing a similarly detailed design of Charlie Chaplin, one of the King of Pop’s all time heroes!

I didn’t try any of Cookie Road’s baked goods, but I know that the owner makes them and decorates them on the premises. The Cookie Road website has some more amazing examples of her work, which you can order on the site. As of late, Cookie Road has become my go-to weekend coffee spot. The owner knows his way around the espresso bar and the result is easily the best cup of coffee in Greenpoint.

Cookie Road
94 Franklin St.
(Between Noble St & Oak St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383 8094

Good, Cheap Soul Food With a Serious Catch at Piece of Chicken in Hell’s Kitchen

I finally got around to checking out Piece of Chicken after reading a rave from Ed Levine several months ago. This place serves quality soul food at an unbeatable price point from a takeout window on a side street in Hell's Kitchen.

For $5 I got a piece of fried chicken, mac and cheese and a few pieces of ribs. Was it good? Yeah, sure. The fried chicken is some of the best I’ve had in NYC – fresh, nicely oily, and covered in a truly tasty skin. The noddles in the mac and cheese are loose and casserole-like, and although the dish is not that cheesy, it is nicely creamy, smooth and starchy. Piece of Chicken does not use premium cuts of meat for their ribs -- there were lots of odd bones and fat bubbles in the ones I sampled -- but they are glazed with a pleasant barbecue sauce that tastes vaguely like sweet and sour sauce. Not horrible, not great, but meaty and passable for $2.

So, the food is fine, and the people working the window are sweet as pie, but man, I gotta say, this is one of the worst blocks in Manhattan to get sloppy southern takeaway barbecue from. There are no tables, chairs or benches affiliated with Piece of Chicken and it's located in the middle of a scuzzy block of Hell’s Kitchen. Your best bet for sitting down is a ratty apartment stoop, or, in our case, a bench in the parking lot of an off-off Broadway theater. Basically, unless you work in the area or want to schlep this stuff on the train back to your place, be prepared to eat your very good soul food in a completely unappetizing environment.

Btw: Amy ordered a piece of white meat fried chicken, for a dollar extra than my piece of fried chicken. The portion is generous, but the meat is dry as a bone and not nearly as tasty as the dark meat piece. Be forewarned…

Piece of Chicken
630 Ninth Ave., at 45th St.
New York, NY 10036 


Publish Post

212-582-5973

'ello Govnah: Lunch from Myers of Keswick

Located on a breezy stretch of Hudson St., Myers of Keswick is a picture perfect British general store, bakery and butcher ashop. It feels like such a architypically British shop, you half expect to walk in and see a young Michael Caine chatting up the man behind the deli case about Arsenal Football and plans for a forthcoming bank holiday.

Aside from a variety of imported British groceries, Myers sells hand made fresh sausages and a variety of pies and pasties, all of which are made in a kitchen in the back of the store. The pies in particular are a great deal for lunch. On a recent visit, I had the pork pie ($3.25), a teacup sized flaky-crusted pie with a pork filling that tastes a bit like a really good breakfast sausage. Even better is the Cornish pastie ($3.95). Same flakey crust, with a savory mixture of potatoes, carrots, peas and beef. This is really like a shephards pie for your hand. One of either of these is plenty for a large snack or light lunch.

The fresh scone with homemade jam and clotted cream is also a great deal at $2.00. They will make this to order for you at the counter. The strawberry jam is a bit sweet for my taste, but when combined with the fluffy, rich clotted cream, and slightly salty biscuit, the flavor combo works nicely. The scone itself is so cakey, that eating one of these is essentially like eating a deconstructed piece of strawberry short cake.

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson St
New York, NY 10014-5167
(212) 691-4194

Dining at Papacitos: A How-To Guide for Customers

The blog for Greenpoint tex-mex drunk food favorite Papacitos features some curious words on customer conduct: 

"Papacitos can get crazy...please be patient with your server and our staff: as you are waiting for you food, just chill out, its sunny and warm, the servers are hot, your surrounded by friends and neighbors and what you might not know, is that the reason your food is taking a little while is that we have a full dining room, 100 deliveries going out the front door and most likely a line for takeout. So you're the lucky ones in the garden, kick back, hook your server up an all will be good."

 Get it?  The papacitos staff is busy - like REAL busy.  And you know what? They're busting their asses, day after goddamn day just so you can hang around, like a lazy bum, and eat $8 carne asada burritos in their restaurant. So just chill out, shut up, tip well, and don't cause no trouble, okay? 

Look! A Food Truck: NYC Cravings at 375 Hudson

The NYC Cravings truck is now setting up shop every Thursday in front of the Satchi and Satchi building at 375 Hudson St. This is the second food truck in the past two months to operate from this spot on a weekly basis, the first being the Wafels and Dinges truck, which now peddles its overpriced, pre-fab Belgian sweets in front of the building every Tuesday.

After grabbing lunch from the NYC Cravings truck, which serves Taiwanese fare, my boss remarked "How great is this? On Tuesdays we got waffles and on Thursdays we got Chinese food!!"

You're the One For Me, Fatty: Pierogies at Veslka

There is only appetizer that I will eat with breakfast, and that appetizer is an order of Pierogies from Veselka.  You wouldn’t think that fried ham and cheese dumplings with sour cream and apple sauce would make a good primer to meal of eggs, potatoes and corned beef hash, but boy, would you be wrong!

Veselka
75 E 1st St 
New York, NY 10003 
(212) 228-9682