With only a handful of days left in 2011, we’ve naturally got New Year’s Eve…
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‘Tis still the season to be eating–especially when it comes to dessert! There are all sorts of sweet treats being shared this time of year, from cookies and pie to red velvet cake and caramel corn. Some people use grandma’s old recipes, but when I am home this week, I’ll be using Flex Mussel’s chef Zac Young’s creative takes on the traditional–pumpkin donuts served both spiced and glazed to apple “pot pie” with a cheddar cheese crust alongside Bourbon ice cream to bacon peanut caramel corn and drunken frozen s’mores–to impress my family.
At this time of year, we like to quote our good friend Jimmy Carbone, the owner of Jimmy’s 43 in the East Village–which’ll be hosting a Christmas Day feast with the owners of Green Flash Brewing, should you have no place to be on Sunday. As the good man says: “Merry Merry, Happy Happy.” To you and yours this holiday weekend!
We first took one of Myra Alperson’s food tours nearly a decade ago–we spent a day snacking around Astoria, in Queens–and were instantly impressed by her knowledge of city eats and streets. Alperson puts out a great printed newsletter of her finds called NoshNews (which would make a great last-minute gift) and also gives guided walk-about tours called Noshwalks of the city’s most interesting food neighborhoods. The last one of 2011, tomorrow night, is holiday-centric and one we highly recommend.
Staying in the city for the holidays? Looking for plans to ring in the New Year? Anxious to put a date into your snazzy new 2012 day planner? (Er, smart phone?) Look no further: As always Edible has the list of what’s happening in food around New York City. Below is what’s up next of note, and remember to stay tuned to our Events Calendar for more options, or sign up for our email newsletters for even easier updates.
Congratulations to chef Jason Weiner of Almond restaurant–there’s one in both Bridgehampton in Long Island and on East 22nd Street–who won last night’s Edible Brooklyn/Great Performances latke fest and cook-off at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. We’re especially pleased that Weiner’s latke, a last-minute entry, was topped with smoked bluefish caught by one of his Long Island staffers, and that it was mama Weiner’s recipe: An Edible-minded creation if there ever was one.
We asked beer brainiac Joshua Bernstein to belly up at three surprising best of class bars in Manhattan for our weekly NY1 segment, which airs today and Sunday. Didn’t catch it on the small screen? No worries, you can watch on an even smaller one right here.
A few more sunsets until the first Hanukah candle; a few more bedtimes till Santa comes down the chimney…it’s an exciting time of the year, that’s for sure. To keep those excitement levels at a peak, here are a few shindigs both before and after the holidays, including a celebration for the publication of the first-ever English Slow Wine Guide at the Metropolitan Pavilion on Monday, January 30th from 6:30 to 9 pm. This walk-around wine tasting will feature 140 wines from over 60 Slow Wine producers. For more edible-minded events, be sure to check out our Events calendar right here.
While researching our next edition–the annual Alcohol Issue that arrives January 1–we had the pleasure of hanging out with the founder of Compass Box at the 12th annual WhiskyFest, which took over the Marriott Marquis last month. John Glaser is an American-born maker of Scotch, which is rare enough already. But more importantly, he’s perhaps the only man in Scotch focused on mixing handcrafted boutique blends from single malt and high quality grain whiskies from other Scottish sources, rather than distilling them himself.
Years ago, we were lucky enough to get a pre-dawn tour of Fulton Fish Market, a few months before the old outdoor stalls shuttered and moved operations to a state of the art building in the south Bronx. It was the middle of winter and there on the East River waterfront ice and fish had pretty much become one. As fishmongers went about their work with bloody hooks and layers of clothing, the homeless guys camping out down on the cobblestones of South Street Seaport lit fires in metal trashcans and oil drums to beat the frigid cold. This Sunday’s New Amsterdam market is an homage to what came before, minus the cold and dark and plus a few lobster rolls and other goodies. Called the “Wintermarket,” it’ll feature a whole section of seafood from fisheries of the Northeast and New England.
In the current issue of Edible Manhattan Amy Zavatto takes a hard look at the history one of our favorite meals, the Italian seafood smorgasbord known as The Feast of the Seven Fishes, traditionally served on Christmas Eve. As part of her piece she spoke with Lou DiPalo, whose family-run Italian market has held court on the corner of Grand and Mott streets in Little Italy since 1925. You can get a glimpse of his shop on our most recent NY1 Let’s Eat segment, which airs Fridays and Sundays and is also captured right here online.
Each year at Edible Manhattan we help curate the list of bars that will earn the Good Beer Seal during July’s citywide Good Beer Month. So we’re well aware that while it’s plenty easy to get a good brew in a neighborhood like the East Village or Williamsburg, craft beer fans in other nabes often have to head far to find a bar serving their favorite suds. That’s why anybody living, working or traveling through the West 50s will be happy to learn that Whole Foods Market at Columbus Circle has opened up it’s own beer room, and one even better than than the one they stock at the store on the Bowery–because this one’s actually a bar.
