Foods

The Strangest Sandwiches in the City Come From Sunny & Annie's

The deli sandwiches from my neighborhood bodega are reserved for particular times of day: 4 a.m., when I'm stumbling home drunk, or around midday after a big night out when I'm stocking up on water and Advil and don't have the willpower to wait for a more decent meal to soak up the hangover. Sunny ... More >>

Della Pietra's Gourmet Meats Now Open in Brooklyn Heights

If the phrase "Gourmet Meats" emblazoned on the storefront glass of Brooklyn's newest specialty butcher shop, Della Pietra's, is not bait enough for you to enter (it was for us), the artfully dismembered ruminants hanging out to dry in the window display aging room should get you, a self-respecting ... More >>

The 10 Best Italian Restaurants in NYC

For decades, Italian cuisine in New York meant red sauce and lots of it. With the opening of Bamonte's in 1900 and Ferdinando's Focacceria four years later, tomato-heavy Neapolitan and Sicilian restaurants enjoyed a certain sustained verisimilitude, carrying the torch for their motherland while pavi ... More >>

Mercer Kitchen Chef Christopher Beischer's New York Strip and Bulich Mushrooms (RECIPE)

In this week's Village Voice, Mercer Kitchen Chef de Cuisine Christopher Beischer pontificates on how he uses Hudson Valley fungus in the kitchen, and why he prefers greenmarket mushrooms to those available from big purveyors. Now, Beischer shares a carnivorous recipe incorporating shiitakes and e ... More >>

Hudson Valley Mushrooms Hit the Table

A New Yorker's Response to TripAdvisor's Best Pizza Survey: Seriously?

On August 7, TripAdvisor proclaimed New York City the fourth best city in the United States for pizza. That means that based on a survey of its members, the greatest city in the world lost supremacy of one of its iconic images to a beach town, a strip in the desert, and, worst of all, Boston.

Our 10 Best Barbecue Restaurants in NYC

It's no secret that this city is in the throes of another barbecue renaissance, and like the cooking conditions for a well-done brisket, the process of getting to this point has been low and slow. The previous decade saw several spikes in 'cue prevalence, adding regional styles to the restaurant lan ... More >>

Eat Lobster Rolls for Hurricane Sandy Relief This Week

Maine lobster may seem ubiquitous in New York City now, but that hasn't always been the case. "Lobster was much more of a regional product 20 years ago," explains Maine Lobster Council Director Marianne Lacroix. "But the catch has really been rising in Maine. So we've developed more products and fou ... More >>

Ribalta's New Manager and Co-Owner Rosario Procino on Neapolitan Pizza 2.0

Ribalta, a pizzeria located just a couple of blocks off of Union Square, hasn't necessarily been floundering since it opened just over a year ago, but it hasn't exactly been thriving, either. So a month ago, Naples native Rosario Procino--formerly of West Village pizza powerhouse Keste--picked up th ... More >>

Forget the Farm Bill: New York Legislators Push for GMO Labeling

In case you missed it: Twin bills are currently moving through the New York Senate and Assembly requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods. After Proposition 37 was shot down in California last year, New York's might seem like a fruitless effort against a monolithic biotech lobby, but it's ... More >>

Dining Summer Guide: NYC Shoreside Eats for When You Tire of the Sand Which Is There

Beach blanket Bureks

A Barbecue Run Through Three Boroughs With Texas Monthly's Daniel Vaughn

The beef rib at Mighty Quinn's is so big, it must be butchered with a plastic knife. It's not uncommon in barbecue states to do an extreme barbecue run that includes three or four pits in an extended afternoon of gorging, driving, sightseeing, and breaks along the way for bursts of healthful exerc ... More >>

Food at Barclays Fatty 'Cue is Really, Really Terrible

FiTR has recommended where to eat at outside Barclays Center, but there's a whole host of places to eat inside the arena, too, including many counters and carts offering nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers, and hot wings. More interesting, perhaps, are such Brooklyn foodie favorites as Calexico, L & B Spum ... More >>

Kittery Brings a Taste of the Beach to Carroll Gardens

A sea worthy clam shack

Dollar Pizza Reconsidered

Hey, the pizza here is really good! A thought-provoking piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by Sophia Hollander ("Economics, Sliced") bemoaned the decline of the neighborhood pizza slice, especially in Manhattan, and blamed it pretty squarely on the dollar slice joints, also fingering gourm ... More >>

80/20 Baconburger at Dickson's Farmstand Meats: Scrumptious!

Bulbous, pink, and mottled, Dickson's baconburger I'd popped into Chelsea Market last Saturday to score a lump of guanciale at Buon Italia, when the meat case at Dickson's Farmstand Meats caught my eye - always good to give it a look and see what sorts of products, many of them oddball, are curren ... More >>

Alchemy, Texas Replaces Ranger Texas Barbecue

Alchemy's rich and black-pepper-dotted prime rib When New York barbecue legend Robert Pearson departed the final location of his Queens establishment, Pearson's Texas BBQ, in 2005, he left it in the hands of his able pitmaster, Angel Domingues, and the new owner, Cenobio Canalizo, both natives of ... More >>

If You Were Only Allowed Five Unhealthy Foods...

What would they be? It would be extremely difficult for me to whittle the choices down to just five, but let's play this sadistic little game, for the hell of it. Here come my death-defying picks: *Vanilla ice cream. Even from a fast-food chain. I'd add lots and lots of rainbow sprinkles, but tha ... More >>

Is There a Pastry Chef in the House?

I've been tasting a lot of desserts lately that are sloppy and off-key, that don't quite make sense, that look and taste lazy or rushed. In each case, the kitchen lacked a pastry chef. Dessert is an essential part of a great restaurant meal, but too many kitchens in New York seem to be operating w ... More >>

New Bacon-Flavored Condoms Are Already Out of Stock

The food-novelty machine that is J&D's has released a new product for bacon lovers who are determined to ruin bacon once and for all for everyone. Bacon condoms, available just in time for April Fool's Day and suspiciously already out of stock, come in packs of three, loaded with the company's own w ... More >>

Laugh if You Like, Texas, but New York is Now a BBQ Capital

Fat and Happy

Hoboken's Roast Beef Battle: Brooklyn and Manhattan Fight Back!

Gravesend's version of the sainted roast-beef mozzarella hero Last week, FiTR pitted a pair of excellent Italian-American roast beef heros found in Hoboken, New Jersey against each other. These classic sandwiches featured roast beef done rare to medium rare and thinly sliced, just-made mozzarella ... More >>

Owsley, LSD King and Grateful Dead Soundman, Was a Foodie

Owsley "Bear" Stanley was the self-taught master chemist who produced much of the acid used to popularize the psychedelic chemical in California in the mid-60s, which was partly chronicled in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968). His LSD made the scene in other acid-fueled events of th ... More >>

Hoboken's Roast Beef Battle

Fiore Deli's Italian roast beef hero, including cross-sectional view One of the stunning achievements of Italian-American cooking is the invention of the hero sandwich. Whether stuffed with cold cuts or cutlets, with cheese or without, served warm or at room temperature, dressed with tomato sauce ... More >>

Nordic Express at Aamanns-Copenhagen

The city's only Danish restaurant offers less than a complete dinner

Battle of the Cheesy, Heart-Shaped Boxes of Chocolate

Doesn't the box in the middle look like the mask from Scream? But which one is the best buy? Let's say you like someone, but not enough to get him a $100 box of chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat. Or maybe you only hooked up with her once, and not satisfactorily, either. Or perhaps you're too l ... More >>

BBQ NYC: New 'cue, from the East Village to Gowanus

UWS Street Cart Offers Cut-Rate Hot Pastrami Sandwiches

You read it right -- pastrami sandwiches for only $2.50 each. A street cart parked at the southeast corner of 72nd Street and Broadway, the crossroads of the Upper West Side, has started outflanking area delis by offering a hot pastrami sandwich at the incredible price of $2.50. Typical pastrami s ... More >>

Swine: The 5 Best Things To Eat There

Looking like it was wrested from the English countryside, this West Village Tudor house is now home to Swine. A few months ago, the old Rubyfruit space was transformed into Swine. A pork-centric place? Well, not really. The menu is mainly based on small dishes, charcuterie, and bar snacks, but the ... More >>

Mighty Quinn's: New East Village Barbecue

A few good slices of brisket, creamy cole slaw, and bread roll will set you back $8.50 -- a pretty good deal where barbecue is concerned. Last Thursday a new barbecue opened in the East Village. One might assume that it would be awful. Au Contraire, it's pretty good. Replacing Dutch bistro Vandaag ... More >>

Q&A: Michael Lomonaco of Center Bar on Steak Tips and Christmas Specials

Michael Lomonaco is passionate about his beef. He has to be: He's the chef of Porter House, an Upper West Side steakhouse serving up beef since 2006. The New York veteran chef also recently opened Center Bar, located in the open atrium adjacent from Porter House. With only 52 seats, the bar boasts a ... More >>

Will I Die an Eggnog Virgin?!

I'm an eggnog virgin. And I really can't give a reason as to why I've gone so long without as much as a sip of this silky, sweet holiday beverage. It's not the thought of consuming raw eggs that brings on my hesitation -- because I'd be happy to gnaw on a cookie dough log. Raised as a Jewish New Y ... More >>

David's New Bay Ridge Brisket House

David's smallest brisket sandwich, at $7, is enough for nearly any appetite. Bed-Stuy mainstay David's Brisket House is one of Brooklyn's most unusual restaurants. It was founded in the '70s as a Jewish deli, slinging exemplary pastrami, corned beef, and roasted beef brisket. Nearly 30 years later ... More >>

Seafood Fraud on the Loose, Especially in NYC

Dining at even expensive seafood restaurants won't guarantee that you'll get the fish you ordered. Red Snapper? Could be tilapia. A study released today by Oceana revealed that seafood fraud is rampant, especially in New York City.

Hanukkah Face-Off: Ashkenazi Dish #4

Hanukkah is a time for enjoying Jewish culinary traditions with family and friends, and to that end we present a daily competition between Ashkenazi and Sephardic food, going up around sunset on the first seven days of Hanukkah - and presenting a wrap-up as the sun goes down on the eighth day. Whose ... More >>

Mile End Deli: Social Media Flare Sours Smoked Meat's Return

It took Mile End Sandwich almost a month to get smoked meat back on their menu after Hurricane Sandy destroyed the Red Hook commissary. But after raising the sandwich price from $12 to $14, a heated discourse between owner Noah Bernamoff and unhappy patrons hit Twitter and Facebook.

Go Green at Sabor a Mexico Taqueria

No, not eco. Green sauce, folks.

A Thanksgiving Song That's Even Worse Than "Friday"!

Remember "Friday," the Rebecca Black song/video that paralyzed America with its banal images of tweens bopping in cars and singing stupid lyrics? Well, a young songstress named Nicole Westbrook can trump that--courtesy of the same writer/producer! And she can't be bothered with a mere Friday for h ... More >>

Chocolate Blizzard? Tis Just About the Season: Some Cold Weather Treats

Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Popcorn from Popcorn, Indiana Blockbuster movies, cooking for the holidays, and snow sports signify winter months, but the coldest season of the year wouldn't be complete without festive goodies to sweeten your seasonal hobbies.

Where to Celebrate Bittersweet Chocolate and Almond Day

Today is National Bittersweet Chocolate and Almonds Day, because why wouldn't such a glorious marriage between sweet and salty have an entire day dedicated to it? As the irony gods have it, it's also National Stress Awareness Day (seriously). Someone out there really just wants you to take all your ... More >>

CHOCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

The NY Chocolate Show Returns

Parisian Pastrami?

Bar Boulud's pastrami sandwich with "gaufrette chips" -- hmmm, looks like potato chips to us. Fork in the Road is always excited when new forms of pastrami -- the Crown Prince of cured meats -- spring up. We were thrilled a couple of years back at the appearance of the meat's more rustic Canadian ... More >>

Single-Minded Treats

It it's not broken, don't fix it - and if the shop specialty is drawing a following, there's no need for more munchies just to fill a menu. From sweets to sandwiches, there are a plethora of places that feature one distinctive dish or snack to satisfy diners with specific cravings.

Our Most Hated Halloween Candy

Trick or--wait, what? You only have Mike & Ike's? No thanks. Oh to be young and have your candy options controlled by those oddball neighbors. We know, it was a drag. But grown-up Halloween means never having to eat anymore off-brand Good and Plentys. So we've taken a Fork in the Road poll to find ... More >>

Get Your Pumpkin Burger At Burger King... In Japan

Pumpkin is all the rage these days and Burger King is taking advantage of that. As usual, this product cannot be found in the United States. It will be sold in Japan. The pumpkin-shaped burger will feature two slices of kabocha (a Japanese pumpkin), bacon, lettuce, a beef patty, and a creamy nut sa ... More >>

New York's Pizza Rival

The Calabresa pie at Pizza Krozz Stand on nearly any thoroughfare in Buenos Aires and you're never far from a pizzeria. Cross a street at random and find yourself dodging scooters delivering hot pies, while delivery boys on foot hoist flat boxes overhead to navigate crowds swarming the streets. On ... More >>

A Hot Chocolate to Drink Every Day

Dish #19, a simple hot chocolate that's lovely on a rainy day (or any day) Welcome to 100 Dishes to Eat Now, the tasty countdown leading up to our "Best of 2012" issue. Tune in each day (weekends too!) for a new dish from the Fork in the Road team. [See More 100 Dishes: What Is NYC's Spiciest Dish ... More >>

Are Organic and Biodynamic Wines Worth It?

Last week I attended a panel about biodynamic and organic agriculture and its influence on the wine industry. Roger Cohen's recent op-ed in the New York Times was a hot topic -- the one in which he enthusiastically (and myopically) applauded a study by Stanford University that concluded organic food ... More >>

Because Bulldogs Can't Find Truffles in Tompkins Square Park

Since he found no luck truffle-hunting with a bulldog in Tompkins Square Park (obviously), Frank Prisinzano planned a do-over in Piedmont -- with a trained truffle hound. Prisinzano, the restaurateur and meatball-slinging chef behind the downtown Italian restaurants Frank, Lil' Frankie's, Supper, ... More >>

Where To Eat in Washington, DC

This is how your seven-course meal begins at Little Serow, with pig skin, fish dip, and a giant basket of local herbs and crudite. Most New Yorkers find themselves in DC from time to time for business reasons, to visit friends, or as patriotic sightseers. Thus it was I found myself in the nation's ... More >>