Food Adventuring Around NYC
Brian Hoffman is a classically trained actor who is now a full-time tour guide, blogger, and food obsessive. He leads food and drink tours around New York City, which not only introduce tour-goers to delicious food, but gives them a historical context. He has written food articles for Gothamist and Midtown Lunch in addition to overseeing this blog and a few food video series, including Eat This, Locals Know, and Around the World in One City. His latest series is an international cooking show with his son which can be found on this site.
Once upon a time (okay, the 1960’s), in a kingdom far far away (actually, Kew Gardens, Queens), there was a very famous kosher deli that was known for their smoked meat and they called themselves the Pastrami King!!!! (That last bit was supposed to be echoed for the whole kingdom to hear) Well, I guess …
For my halfway mark, it’s fitting that I return to one of my new favorite places in New York. Somewhere that I have dined at before, reviewed favorably on the blog here, and somewhere I shot a segment of my first webisode. The list brings me back to Kesté. I’ve established somewhat of a relationship with …
Okay, seriously, if you call yourself “Perfect Pizza” then your slice better blow my f***ing socks off. I want to walk out of that pizzeria completely sockless. Well, needless to say, my feet were fully covered when I walked out of Patzeria Perfect Pizza. And it’s a good thing too, since it was freezing outside. …
Not to be confused with another Prime Meats in Carroll Gardens (another list stop), Michael’s Prime Meats is a butcher shop in the far reaches of Brooklyn. It really took me forever to get out there. And the whole time all I could think was “What if they’re out of the chicken burger?” I shouldn’t …
What a nice little surprise. We were on our way to Levain Bakery to get my favorite cookie in the city. I was a little pressed for time (what else is new?) and as we reached 74th Street to turn the corner, I noticed another confectionary that I hadn’t seen on this street before. It …
Food should do a lot more than just taste good. Sure, I think that’s the most important part, but chefs should remember some other important things. Food should be nutritious. I’m not saying everything should be healthy but you want some nutrient or energy provider in there (pizza even features most of the 5 food …
If you’ve ever heard the term, “A kick in the kishke,” you know it’s probably painful regardless of if you know what the word kishke actually means. And if you’ve ever actually been kicked in the kishkes, I am sorry for you. I hate to make these connections, but kishke means guts. And that’s basically …
When a man dressed in a costume or some traditional garb tries to hand me a restaurant menu in Midtown, I usually avert my eyes and try to make it past him without embarrassing either of us. Well, today I not only took the guy’s menu, I actually went up the stairs to try the …
Long before Kesté opened to great reviews and pizza fanfare, there was a modest little pizza joint down the street that specialized in wood oven pizzas. Their sign reads “The Original Brick Oven” referring to the wood ovens that were used before Genaro Lombardi was forced into cooking his pizzas with coals. And they were …
One of my consistently favorite restaurants in New York over the years is Kuma Inn. I remember my first experience there many years ago (but barely since I got wasted on their sake flight). The food was great, the service was friendly, and I was amazed that the chef personally came by each table to …
Some of the dishes on the list are obvious. Others I cant quite figure out why Time Out included them. Is it to publicize a specific restaurant? Or do these dishes have a sentimental meaning to one of the writers? For instance, the drink on our list at the very sleek, but welcoming Bussaco is …
I wonder how the people of Naples ate their tomato flatbreads in the 1700’s. I mean, if they wanted it for dinner, did they just eat them in the dark? Not knowing which topping they ended up with? Or did they eat them by candlelight huddled around an old table? Well, I don’t think Mark …
One of the things I love about this list adventure is that it takes me to places I would never normally enter. Like this little hole in the wall bakery in the middle of Flatbush (an area of Brooklyn I have not spent much time in). I’d probably walk by in another circumstance and not …
The relatively new Flushing restaurant M & T is a total dive that specializes in Qingdao cuisine. If my Chinese (which is limited to the back of fortune cookies and Internet research) serves me correctly, Qingdao is pronounced Tsing Tao, just like the region’s famous beer. Even with the three Chinatowns in NYC, it is …
Now I want to say up front that this doesn’t even come close to being a complete critical analysis of Brooklyn’s slice joints. There have got to be hundreds of them and I bet at least half those are worthy of a special trek. But there were two places that had been coming up quite …
Here is the first episode: In order to gain credibility for the web series, Brian invites his work friend Anthony (an authentic Italian) along to find the best pizza in NYC. Eat This NY: PIZZA DAY from Eat This NY on Vimeo.
SADLY, PRIME MEATS IS NOW CLOSED. I’ve never been a fan of big steakhouses. Maybe it’s because my soul was drained when I worked at Del Frisco’s for years, but I just don’t feel like I fit in with the white table cloths and the excessive spending and gluttony. It’s about power just as much as …
It’s very exciting to have a secret over everybody else. Whenever I bring a date or an out of town friend to a little bar in the back of a hot dog stand or a garage or a cemetery or wherever, I feel like the coolest, most “in the know” guy in the world. For …
SADLY, PRIME MEATS IS NOW CLOSED. The pretzels at Prime Meats in Carroll Gardens are not the ones you get on the street corner in Times Square and they’re not the crunchy Snyder’s variety that you get in the grocery store. However, these side orders are an interesting combination of both. Each $3 order gets you …
As far as I knew, a financier is somebody who handles money. The word makes me think of somebody who could manage my money or figure out a way to double my money. A chocolate financier just sounds completely racist. But as it turns out, a financier can also refer to a French tea cake. …