A Good "Luke"-in' Sandwich
Lobster Grilled Cheese | Butter-Toasted Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Fresh Lobster and Gruyere Cheese | Luke's Lobster (UES) | 242 East 81st St. (bet. 2nd & 3rd Aves.) | 212.249.4241 | lukeslobster.com
There's Something About Ukraine
...From the snappy, spicy, fatty kielbasa, to the pillowy goodness of the pierogis, to the nicely seasoned minced meat, wrapped in aromatic cabbage and slathered in rich, deep, mushroom gravy, each forkful was a delight of present day culinary standards mixed with old school and old world nostalgia.... [Full Post]
Loafing Off
...I treated myself to a meatloaf layered into tastes, textures, aromas, and depth, flavorful meats of various fattiness absorbing the aromatics of the ingredients inside it, served with a sturdy yet light side of potatoes for the bold notes of the tomato, vinegar, basil, and capers to stand on... [Full Post »]
Elio's-Centric
...I had forgotten how the rest of the city—the world—kind of falls away when I'm at Elio's. The dishes were simple yet expertly executed, channelling many layers of "home cooking comfort". My veal was so tender that my butter knife sliced straight through it in one motion.... [Full Post]
Sweet-aly
...The food Parthenon that is Eataly, divined by restauranteurs and celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich brings a spectacular culinary museum of Italian cuisine to the masses, who are literally and figuratively eating it up.... [Full post]
Lobster Roll Rocks!
...This lobster roll is likewise outstanding, the variety of lobster meat parts having their own unique tastes of the ocean and their slightly different textures, but tender in their firmness and full of flavor that shown brightly through the smidge of mayo and and marginal seasoning mostly made up of a variety of salts, making it taste even more "ocean-fresh".... [Full post]
For Kristen
...I needed to head to the supermarket for some 85/15 ground beef, and make a plain and simple bacon cheeseburger, medium rare, with American cheese, bacon, a slice of raw onion, a leaf of Boston lettuce, and a quick and easy burger sauce (tomato paste, mustard, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, fresh cracked pepper, and salt).... [Full post]
A Day in the Life of Hamburger Buns
....Two were of a kind of steak burger prep, with steak sauce, raw and fried onions, and bacon. The other two had the addition of sweet and spicy elements, making a pineapple mustard from scratch, pickling raw onions in balsamic vinegar, and two slices of crispy bacon, and kicking the whole burger up with sweet relish and hot jalapeños. All four burgers sat very nicely on four toasted hamburger buns.... [Full post]
Seasonally Bipolar
...The jalepeño·barbecue burger dog was a bit more of a revelation, if only in the dressing. I had never made that before, but after the first few bites of its smoky, tangy, sweet, and creamy properties—heightened by the acidic heat of the jalapeños, I immediately started to imagine all other future applications for it. I promise, this dressing will make a return!... [Full post]
(Sub)Mission Accomplished
...Not overly seasoned, this is a deceptively light yet filling sandwich, with its unique flavors and textures—pliant pink slabs of meat with tongue-teasing, slightly burnt edges—it needed nothing more than the reliable platform of two slices of untoasted rye bread and a "wink" of mustard to shine.... [Full Post]
Joint On Point
...Although cooked over an open grill (and not the now more preferred and appreciated flat-top grill), the flat-ish patty did accumulate a nice minimally salty caramelization on its exterior, housing a slim, crumbly, juicy ring of grayish cooked-through, tasty beef, then finishing with pliantly tender and pink rare meat whose reserve moisture helped each mouthful bite and swallow with plenty of flavor and with pleasurable ease.... [Full post]
Ooze and "Ahh"s....
...yet having the cheese be that much hotter in temperature—almost liquid in consistency—was an absolute bonus. The sausage patty had plenty of spices in the meat that wound up in the juices of the beef's rendered fat, and possessing a nice caramelized exterior. The homey flavor of the egg still managed to break through as well, and all of it went down handily with a glass of iced orange juice with coconut water cocktail.... [Full post]
Meatballs a La Carte
...The sauce is rich and deep with flavor without feeling heavy or overcoating the inside of your mouth. The cheese was gooey and non-obstructive,as it sometimes can be an other meatball heros, relying more on its casual yet almost rustic flavor than on the oversold visual of cartoonish "stringiness". The ground veal meatballs are nicely firm but not dense, and juicy enough to fall apart easily as each bite finishes as one singularly familiar and satisfying food idea... [Full post....]
