Today, I decided to stop off at a hardware store near Zabars on Broadway. They had been there forever but had just gone out of business. Another victim of Depression II. I soothed my hurts with a candied chestnut Gelato and the owner told me about another hardware store on Amsterdam Ave, a few blocks away. This was Beacon Paint & Hardware at 371 Amsterdam Ave, www.beaconpaint,com. The first thing you notice upon entering is a huge Menorah made of plumbing parts. They will happily sell you this Menorah for $109.99 and they will ship it anywhere (although probably at a very substantial cost). Anyway, I got a monster visegrip that makes mincemeat of the Black Walnuts. I am now looking for tougher nuts to crack.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Plumbers Menorah and Other Tales of NY
After cracking about two dozen Black Walnuts, the very substantial nutcracker that I had bought in Woodstock, broke under the strain. The steel pin linking both halves simply bent under the strain. I went to my local hardware store in Innwood. The proprietor offered me a flimsy nutcracker. When I told him that Black Walnuts would laugh at such a flimsy nutcracker, he began muttering to himself in Yiddish. When I asked for a visegrip, he looked at me like I had lost my mind. He offered me a tiny visegrip that was too small to accomplish anything.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
FISTFA Oct 17 2009
Made beef, barley and mushroom stew again. I was going to bake two Black Walnut pies from the nuts I had packed in the Catskills a few days before. However, the nuts were so tough that they broke my nutcracker. Imagine trying to crack open large pebbles. Made more Sumac-ade from the Sumac pods I picked in the Catskills. The Moslows brought over a huge amount of food, as did the Phillipses. No one starves here. Rather the opposite. Bob Rodriguez enjoyed watching (if that is the term for a blind man) one of my old serials, G-men versus the Phantom Legion. Mike Moslow and I exchanged electronic files. I gave him two old Long John Nebel shows. One featured Ray Palmer as guest and they discussed the Shaver Mystery and the other featured a Mr. van Tassel talking about his trips in flying saucers. Mike let me copy some CD's with hundreds of Jean Shepherd shows. The next FISTFA will take place on Nov 14th as there would have been a conflict with Philcon the following weekend. Today's FISTFA was the 5th anniversary of the current revival of FISTFA.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Chennai Garden and Kalustyan
Chennai Garden, 129 E 27th Street (bet. Park and Lex), 212-689-1000, www.chennaigarden.com, sets out a buffet brunch for $6.95 of wonderful South Indian vegetarian (and Kosher) dishes. Of course being vegetarian makes it easy for them to achieve Kosher certification but the fact is that they have taken the trouble to obtain such certification. I fasted that morning and I piled three plates high and wound up so stuffed that I could not eat any more. I don't think that my meal cost me more than it would have cost me in some fast food feedlot. Out of towners may dote on their cheeseburgers and deep fried Oreo cookies but they can keep that crap to themselves.
After lunch we explored the neighboring Kalustyan's, 123 Lexington Ave, NY,NY 10016, tel 212-685-3451, www.kalustyans.com. Never have I seen such a profusion of herbs and spices as well as specialty Middle Eastern foods. I bought a bag of Gum Arabic for $1.99. Among the peppercorns I found bags of peppers that looked like miniature pine cones. Never even heard of such things. They even sell Sumac berries, so that I don't have to go into the wilderness to pick them any more
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Shopping Lower East Side Oct 13 2009
There are many fine retail food merchants in New York, such as Zabars and Fairway. There you can get first quality foods from the world over. However, on the Lower East Side, there are many food producers who are a step away from the retail merchants. For example, Kossars Bialys, Guss' Pickles, Streits, Yonah Schimmels Knishes. Their products are fresher and they offer a greater variety. Zabars sells Kossars Bialys but they are bagged and are days old by the time you get them. In my experience, the bialys are covered with a fungal beard within 2 days of purchase. Others are not producers but are specialists such as Russ and Daughters whose selection of smoked and pickled fish stagger the imagination. Economy Candy sells candies that you thought had been out of production for decades, such as Sen Sen, Mary Janes, Beemans Pepsin Gun, Teaberry Gum. In addition, they will cut you a chunk of Halvah off a block. Do you want Halvah with or without chocolate, pistachios? Dried blueberries, cherries, strawberries, mangos, cantalupe, candied orange peel. All significantly cheaper than you can get them elsewhere.
A lot of these products are just unavailable outside of NYC. Yes you can get pickled Vita Herrings in a jar outside of NY but how about Matjes Herring, Bismark herring, lox cut paper thin in front of your eyes? And do you want your lox to come from Swedish salmon, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, Nova Scotia, Alaska? All of these and many more are available at Russ and Daughters. Where else can you get ready made herring and beet salad?
Yonah Schimmels will sell you a jar of yogurt that comes from a Bulgarian yogurt culture that they have maintained since about 1890. The jar is a glass jar with a screw top that they have recycled from elsewhere.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
To Woodstock, Phoenicia and Woodland Valley, Catskills
In the mid 1950's, when my father got his first car, a used 1951 Nash, we drove up to Woodland Valley in the Catskills to go camping. We had no tent of other camping equipment but the Nash had this nice feature where you could move the front seat forward and fold the seatrest down to create a continuous sleeping platform in the whole car. In subsequent visits, we would reserve the lean-to to sleep in. Then we would hike the mountain trails, like the one to Slide Mountain. I had not been to the area since the early 1960's but since I am on vacation this week, I decided to rent a car and drive up there and take some pictures. Woodstock I had never been to but it has been so much in the news as a result of the concert that did not take place there in 1969, that I decided to see the place and to take pictures there as well. Unfortunately, the Woodland Valley campsite was closed for the season and they would not permit me to wander around and take pictures.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Muddy Cup Cafe & Environs Staten Island
And so I bid farewell to Manhattan to embark upon a sea voyage to that remote and misty isle of Staten Island in an effort to determine if there is any civilized life there. As a matter of fact, the Cup Cafe (formerly the Muddy Cup Cafe) is well worth the trip. On the same block is an antique shop, an art gallery, an auction house and an interesting restaurant, Vida. Around the corner is Hoppin John's Southern Cuisine & Catering and, if you must, a few blocks away on Bay Street is a White Castle. The cafe can be reached via the S78 bus from the St George ferry terminal. Get off the bus at the intersection of Beach and Van Duzer St, about a mile from the terminal. The auction house is Ira's Curiosity Place, tel 718-815-0376. Vida's phone no is 718-720-1501. The Exchange Gallery's phone no is 718-717-2253. Hoppin John's phone no is 718-727-2244. The Cup Cafe's number is 718-818-8100
Greenpoint Revisited June 2007
There are bakeries and butcher shops galore. I did not see a single supermarket, which is just as well.
The poppy strudel that I bought at Rzeszowska Bakery (948 Manhattan Ave) was sensational. Next time though, I will try the cheese babka.
There seemed to be a butcher on every block. Sometimes 2 or 3. I bought my meat at Quality Meat Market, 172 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Czeslava Dusza, owner. Tel 718-388-3437. All the butchers though seem to be closed on Sundays.
Casa Mon Amour looked interesting. I had never heard of a fusion Dominican/French cuisine before but I also came across a Colombian/French restaurant. Casa is located at 162 Franklin St, tel 718-349-1529. Beatrice Claray Wetcher is the owner. Open Monday to Saturday. Lunch special, all from steam (presumably this means a steam table) small:$5.00, large: $6.00
An interesting pub with 15 ales on tap was Pencil Factory. It was quiet with very broad floorboards. Ladies, the mens room was impeccably clean. I assume that the ladies room is even cleaner.
The place I definitely want to eat in is S&B Restaurant and Deli, Delicious Polish-American food, 194 Bedford Ave, 718-963-1536. Lunch special for $7.50, featuring soup of the day, 2 vegetables and a choice of blintzes, pierogis, potato dumplings, stuffed cabbage, bigos, etc.
The junk shop is The Vortex, 1084 Manhattan Ave, open 11 A.M to 7 P.M., 7 days a week. The owners wife has a similar shop 2 blocks down. Plus, there is a Salvation Army Thrift Store a block down.
There is a sushi restaurant, Katsu, with the menu in Polish. Japonska Kuchnia Domowa i Sushi. 1013 Manhattan Ave. Tel 718-389-2300.
Wild Ginger pan-asian vegan cafe, 212 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Tel 718-218-8828
Yet another Indian restaurant, Mamtaj Mahal, 135B North 5th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. It seems reasonably priced. No Barfi on the desert menu though. Rats. Tel 718-599-1100.
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