NYC Tastes

Remember when I hiked all the way out to Brooklyn Sunday morning to dine on a limited edition burger from  Pizza Loves Emily ?  Well now I just have to stroll down to Downing Street for that delicious burger and fantastic pizzas at their newest outpost in the former Blue Ribbon Bakery space.  This visit I ordered the namesake Emily Pizza; a round pie topped with truffle Sottocenere cheese, pistachio and honey.   I loved the strong, earthy flavor of the cheese paired with the sweet honey.  But the best part was definitely the dough; crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with big fluffy pockets of char around the edges. I also loved the house cocktails like this pretty pink drink made with gin, basil and raspberry. It's all about love at Pizza Loves Emily. Pizza Loves Emily 35 Downing Street New York, NY 10014

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be on the Brooklyn waterfront celebrating the third year of Taste Talks and the All Star BBQ Sunday.  The grills were smoking hot as chefs and celebs alike showcased some fantastic food collaborations.  There were 16 different food/drink stations and I manged to hit them all.  Here are a few of my favorites. My very first stop was at Blue Smoke for Chef Jean Paul's juicy Chicken Wings tossed in Alabama white sauce... ...followed by an incredible Grilled Pizza with pulled pork, creamy ranch slaw and crispy onions from the Brooklyn powerhouse team of Emily Loves Pizza and Hometown BBQ. I was really excited to check out the Chicken Thigh sandwich from MOMO Sushi since it incorporated yuzu kosho; an amazing spicy sweet condiment of yuzu peel and chilies from Japan that I love. Not only was this Chicken Thigh one of the best bites from the afternoon but it was served to me by none other than Chef Jarobi ...

It was another crazy and amazing year that seemed to go by way too quickly as always.  Things got off to a great start with the return of  Founders CBS  one of my favorite beers of all time.  I really didn't think this would ever be brewed again so I spent the first two months drinking it as much as humanly possible.  Fried Chicken Sandwiches became all the rage; Fuku , Delaney BBQ and the Brooklyn Shake Shack continue to have epic lines for these crispy creations.  The Blue Hill pop up WastED  was also a huge highlight of the year.  It was amazing to see the community of chefs, farmers and retailers come together to shine light on the extreme waste of food in the industry and celebrate these "leftovers" by incorporating them into incredible new dishes.  And as a personal success it only took me two full years but I finally got a  Cronut !   Of course as time passes the culinary landscape must change and...

One would assume that any entering a place with "pizza' in the name means the obvious order is a nice large pie. That still holds true at Emily where the thin, crackly pizza looks amazing but it's actually more well known for their incredible burger.   Emily uses dry aged beef from DeBragga so the patty tastes more like a rich hearty steak than regular ground meat.  It's seared with clarified butter, topped with a thick layer of Grafton cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and a drizzling of the house special sauce (red pepper aioli) then sandwiched between a pretzel roll from Tom Cat Bakery. The meat was insanely tender with deep earthy flavors from the dry aging, a bit of funk from the cheddar cheese and some heat from the sauce which reminded me of Franks Red Hot with less spice.  The extra sturdy pretzel roll held everything together surprisingly well.  That being said I used a knife a fork for the first half of the burger; definitely not something to order on ...