Hudson Valley

Carrot Waffles at Oceana, Plus Tiny Desserts at La Mangeoire

Bucket Mondays at Prospect Fort Greene's Prospect will open on Mondays starting March 18. "Bucket Mondays" will celebrate simple home-style cooking from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. and the bar will stay open even later. A pared-down menu will feature a whole fried poussin, cornbread, homemade cole slaw, and a ... More >>

Cole's Greenwich Village Opens, Sen Launches Lunch

Cole's Greenwich Village is the newest restaurant from David Rabin of the Lamb's Club and Jimmy, and is now open for dinner and drinks. Cole's features three rooms: a dining room, cafe, and bottle room, complete with a drink list from a mixologist's wet dream. The dinner menu features American dishe ... More >>

What's On The Inauguration Luncheon Menu?

On January 21, 225 guests will arrive at the White House to celebrate President Obama's inauguration... again! As they mingle and slap Barry on the back, thanking him for sharing the White House's beer recipe with the masses, they'll also feast on a menu from Arlington-based catering company Design ... More >>

Time to Get Excited About Hard Cider

Fall means apples and since they don't fall far from the tree, there's nowhere better to enjoy them than the Hudson Valley. If your driver's license has expired (guilty) while living in the city and you can't Zip up there, you can also hit up a number of restaurants and tastings around NYC since Cid ... More >>

A Guide to Last Minute Apple Picking in Upstate New York

Apple season is just about ending and now is the time to squeeze in a last minute orchard trip before the weather gets too cold and the apples are gone for the year. And if you're not too fond of apples, there are plenty of pumpkins as well. Over the weekend, I rented a Zipcar with a couple of frien ... More >>

Get Drunk On Sugar At Schmackary's Cookie Happy Hour

[See More Events: Num Pang Launching the Cardoz Pang | Free Cocktails, Beer Dinner] Located in Hell's Kitchen, cookie shop Schmackary's is launching a back-to-school special. It's two cookies and a 12 ounce class of local Hudson Valley milk, or chocolate milk, for $6. Cookie happy hour will be avai ... More >>

Robert Sietsema At Tacos Cachanilla; Tejal Rao At Neta

Robert Sietsema visits Tacos Cachanilla, one of the city's most evolved taquerias: "Relatively new to New York, these 'market tacos' are fabricated from giant flatbreads too big to be called tortillas. Also within find yellow rice, fried chile strips, onions cooked to softness, and--brace yourself-- ... More >>

The Fight for Foie Gras in California

California's statewide foie gras ban will kick in on July 1. And as tends to be the case with foie, it's a highly contentious issue. A few days ago, Jonathan Gold had a reminder for ban enthusiasts via Twitter: "Anti-foie gras peeps: Sarah DiGregorio's 2009 Village Voice piece is still definitive." ... More >>

Finally, It Is 'Seasonably Chilly' (And It Might Snow)

​WTF, weather? For days we've been sashaying about complaining and/or rejoicing (whether we're feeling glass-half-empty or glass-half-full) about the bizarre temperate weather. Our actual winter coat has only been worn, like, twice! But today, in weird conjunction with the MTA's announcement t ... More >>

In Praise of Heirloom Apples: the Golden Russet

Dating to 1849, the Golden Russet is a real New York apple. Everyone has a favorite apple or two. Kids love Red Delicious for their sugary flavor and bright red color. Gourmands crave Granny Smiths because they have hard, tart flesh and can be used to make crisps that retain their apple-y texture. ... More >>

Terroir Aims for Wine Bar Domination; A Look at Cider Week

​An upstate New York small business owner is trying to break into the breakfast market with his product, Muesli Fusion, now available in health-food stores in four states. [NPR] With its third location in Murray Hill, the Terroir wine bar mini-empire is announcing its plans for domination, wh ... More >>

There Will Be Mushrooms: New Film Explores the Emotional Hazards of Foraging

Finally, something that combines the two great loves of twee urban foodies--foraging for local ingredients and melancholy independent cinema. Now, Forager was filmed in all five NYC boroughs, as well as parts of the Hudson Valley and New Jersey. The concept? A couple makes a living foraging wild ... More >>

Summer Wine Books Reviewed; Beer and College Football Go Hand-in-Hand

​Eric Asimov reviews four new wine books. He likes Summer in a Glass about the Finger Lakes, An Ideal Wine about Californian wines, and Voodoo Vintners about biodynamics. Less so Naked Wine about natural wines. [NY Times] The Hangar One Vodka blimp, on a six-month promotional tour around the ... More >>

Open and Closed: Say Hello to Pour George, Goodbye to Wall Street Burger Shoppe

Restaurants and bars, they come and they go. Here are a few making their debuts and bowing out this week. Bravo Gianni, a go-to Midtown Northern Italian, has closed after nearly 30 years in operation due to the chef and owner, Gianni Garavelli, suffering a stroke. [NY Times] Cosmos Diner, which ha ... More >>

The New Amsterdam Markets Starts for Real This Sunday

​Last month, the New Amsterdam Market returned for one day only to tease us with the promise of organic produce and pneumatic baked goods. Beginning Sunday, the market will make good on that promise with the official kick-off of its summer season. Expect the usual suspects, such as Liddabit Sw ... More >>

OMFG, It's a Ramp Fest!

applepiepatispate.comGlorified scallions, people. Glorified scallions.​If Ciano's ramp-studded gnocchi got you all hot and bothered, well, that's just the beginning. Now comes word of a festival solely devoted to the odoriferous allium!

10 Inches of Snow Possible on April Fool's Day

"L" is for WHAT THE FUCK?​Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not a joke. Not ... More >>

The Best Thing I Ate Yesterday

Welcome to The Best Thing I Ate Yesterday, where we endeavor to remember the very best thing we stuffed down our gullets over the past 24 hours. Why? Because the only thing better than enjoying a meal is wallowing in the memory of one savored in the recent past. Today's fond reminiscences ...

Cuomo Loses Bet on Jets to Penn Gov; WHO Calls for Ban on Kiddie Fast-Food Ads

​Governor Andrew Cuomo will have to hand over a basket of Nathan's hot dogs, Buffalo chicken wings, Hudson Valley apple cider, and local cheese and maple syrup to Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett following the Jets' loss last night. [NY Daily News] Forced to eat in due to money being tight, ... More >>

Karloff Brings the Good Life to Brooklyn U.

No hacky sacks, but plenty of hearty grub on Court Street

The Union Square Holiday Market's Edible Delights

Hansel and Gretel Would Approve​ Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, it's time to start holiday shopping, and what better place for gifts than at the Union Square Holiday Market. Yes, it's just as crowded as Wal-Mart come five a.m. on Black Friday, but hey, at least the snacking options ... More >>

ARCADE FIRE

They sure play a mean pinball

Our 10 Best Food-Centric Day Trips

Photo courtesy The Old FieldOld Field Vineyard is worth visiting for the grounds alone​ In honor of the upcoming Labor Day weekend, we devote our top 10 list this week to food-centric day trips. Our list contains a lot of good eating, most accessible by train or bus, all within range for low- ... More >>

Chelsea Clinton's Ultra-Secret Wedding Suddenly Way Less Secret

​OMG, details about Chelsea Clinton's wedding to boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky -- once "under intense scrutiny and impenetrable secrecy" -- continue to emerge! Now we know, thanks the Hudson Valley News, that the grand 400-person invite-only event will be held at John Jacob Astor's former estate in ... More >>

What's Happening This Week: Harvest Menu and Austrian Wine

As many of you know, our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the coolest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here! First Anniversary Week Spina June 21-26 The East Village fresh pasta house is celebrating the big one with a week of special menus and wine-pairing dinners. Thr ... More >>

A New Mobile Abbatoir Takes Slaughter on the Road

Makezine.com​Last summer, Dan Barber told Gourmet.com about the difficulty he had in finding slaughterhouses that would kill his animals humanely, and expressed some hope that "roving slaughterhouses" would go some way toward solving the problem. As Christine Mulkhe reports in The New York Tim ... More >>

Chasing the White Dog Author Max Watman Talks Hooch, Cocktologists & the Metaphysical Hangover

Dream (and moonshine) chaser Max Watman​In his book, Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw's Adventures in Moonshine, Max Watman traces the history of distillation in America, from the Whiskey Rebellion to today's rogue bootleggers and artisanal moonshiners. Along the way, he learns how to ... More >>

On the Vino Road! A Day Aboard the Little Wine Bus.

Sarah ZornThe rolling hills of the Benmarl vineyards.​Seeking to mix things up for our third anniversary, my husband and I decided to ditch our preconceived notions of group tours and give the Little Wine Bus a try (or, I went ahead and booked a couple of tickets, and he had no choice but to g ... More >>

Over 230,000 Without Power in NY Area After Northeast Storm

A northeast storm which knocked out power to almost half a million homes yesterday has left almost a quarter of a million Con Ed customers in Westchester and New York (live outage map), LIPA customers on Long Island (live outage map), and Orange and Rockland Utility customers in the Hudson Valley (l ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain in the Hudson Valley With a Food Boat

Last nights' No Reservations: Hudson Valley was not our favorite of Bourdain's adventures--that The Shining hotel interlude with an uncomfortable-looking Michael Ruhlman took up 20 minutes that could have been devoted to food. And what was up with the Dakota Fanning doppelganger? Still, the scene in ... More >>

Open & Closed: Say Hello to Wall & Water; Goodbye to The Telephone Bar and Grill

Wall & Water has opened in the new David Rockwell-designed Andaz Wall Street hotel, helmed by Chef Maximo Lopez May from Buenos Aires, who says he will aim to source his ingredients from the Hudson Valley. [NY Times] The one Group's steakhouse, STK Midtown, will open a 9,000-square-foot restaurant ... More >>

I Locavore: Old Chatham's Shaker Blue Cheese at Saxelby Cheesemongers

Thanks for the cheese, sheep​ "I stuffed figs with this the other day," said Anne Saxelby, as she handed me a taste of Old Chatham's Shaker Blue. "It's like butter." And it is--like butter crossed with one of the most completely delicious blue cheeses I've ever had.

Salon: The End of American Foie Gras and Unintended Consequences

Today, on Salon, Thomas Rogers wades into the foie gras discussion, reporting that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has been granted discovery (a fairly routine part of a lawsuit) in a complaint against Hudson Valley foie gras, which will allow the HSUS access to certain farm records a ... More >>

Our 10 Best Wine Shops in NYC (and NJ)

​Some wine shops go crazy with the signage, as with this European vineyard vehicle parked in front of the Seaport's Pasanella & Son. But will it make our top 10? What does Fork in the Road look for in a wine store? A broad selection of wines, from France, Italy, Spain, and California; smaller ... More >>

Orange 'Tomato' Eggplant Appears

​ Small pumpkins? No, eggplants! Recently arrived in area farmers markets is the orange Turkish eggplant, also known as the tomato eggplant for its resemblance to a tomato. The specimens gathered at Abingdon Square this past Saturday are firm-fleshed, and had to be set aside for a few days to ... More >>

Posts of the Week

It's Friday afternoon. And these are the week's best posts.Bartenders are crazy. Which is why they enjoy doing shots of Fernet-Branca.Former Marlow & Sons chef Caroline Fidanza prepares to set sail at Saltie.Our 10 Best Food-Themed Pop Songs: Who knew a peach could be so thoroughly debauched?Uma ... More >>

Cookbook Tester: Hudson Valley Mediterranean by Laura Pensiero

Watermelon fennel salad with bluefish dijonnaise​ Hudson Valley Mediterranean is written by Laura Pensiero, the chef/owner of Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY, and Gigi Market in Red Hook (not Brooklyn), NY. Pensiero presents the Hudson Valley as the "Napa of the East," and the book's recipes, ... More >>

Beach Eats, Food Trucks & Stadium Snacks

​Hungry Girl heads to the new Yankee Stadium to scope out tasty low-cal foods and finds Lobel's Steak Sandwich (464 calories), Nathan's Grilled Chicken Sandwich (380 calories), and cotton candy (175 calories). [NY Times] The Hudson Valley, once known as New York's "breadbasket," is full of gr ... More >>

Bartenders Who Grow Their Own

Southern Foodways/flickr​Farming isn't just for locally minded chefs anymore: Bartenders, too, are now taking to the fields. An article published today on Gourmet's website explores the growing number of barkeeps who are doing things like harvesting sugar cane and agave leaves, asking: "Just a ... More >>

Letters

Letters

This Week in the Voice (Updated)

Sure, forcing food down ducks' gullets sounds harsh, but Sarah DiGregorio held her nose and went to a New York foie gras farm -- and reports that it wasn't so bad. "I don't think it's OK to cut the fin off a shark and throw it back into the water," she says. "If I had seen with my own eyes that Huds ... More >>

Foie Gras: Fork in the Road Investigates

Photo by Amol MhatreTwo weekends ago, I went up to Ferndale, NY to check out Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the nation's largest foie gras farm and see for myself exactly how it's made. I saw everything from the chicks to the force-feeding process to the slaughter. The endless back and forth over foie gra ... More >>

Is Foie Gras Torture?

Original Carvel Stand Closes, Nation Mourns

Deliciousness Tour Ends Tonight with Red Hook Party

Urban Buttgirl Meets Rural Right

And the holidays won't be the same

Porn Yesterday

True Confessions of a Celebrity Skin Editor

Boola, Boola, Boola!

Yalies Pataki and Bush Agree on Presidency, Disagree on Rudy

Mind-Body Problem

UFO research teeters between science and insanity