NYC Dining: Kabab Cafe

Ali’s Kabab Cafe
2512 Steinway St, Astoria, NY 11103
(718) 728-9858

Ali Kabab Cafe on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. This tiny storefront could be easily overlooked by a passer-by given the dozens of Middle Eastern restaurants and stores on that block. Don’t pass this one up.

Lately I’ve been taking more flights in and out of New York’s LaGuardia airport given that fact that I have been giving more and more of my airline business to Delta, who has a substantial presence at LGA in both the main and Marine Air Terminals. The side benefit of this is that LaGuardia is right next to the town of Astoria, which houses one of the largest Greek and Middle Eastern communities in the United States.

The main strip of Steinway Street, which used to be predominantly Greek 20 or 30 years ago is now more of an enclave of Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian stores and cafes. One such cafe that I had always wanted to visit but never really had the opportunity to eat at is Ali Kabab Cafe, a tiny, cramped but eclectic cafe that rightfully boasts some of the best Middle Eastern food in the New York metropolitan area.

I do have to warn you that if you eat at Ali’s, you are not just going there for the food, which in and of itself is creative and phenomenal and will not be like any Middle Eastern food you have ever eaten before.

You’re going there to be a guest of Ali Al-Sayed, who is a character that can only be described as an intellectual entertainer. If you strike up a conversation with Ali, you had better be prepared to listen, because this guy is a student of art, history and politics. If you have any interest at all in Egyptian and Middle Eastern culture, you’re in for even more of an experience. Just ask him questions about the stuff hung on his walls and you’re going to get an earful. He is the closest thing to a culinary ambassador that Egypt has in New York, or perhaps the United States.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry link below” for more.

NJ Dining: Ultimate Banh Mi Sandwiches at Mo Pho and Saigon R.

Mo‘ Pho‘
212 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ
(201) 363-8886

Saigon R.
58 W Palisade Ave, Englewood, NJ
(201) 871-4777

Related Article: Saigon R. and Mo’ Pho’

If you’ve been following the latest trends in the New York City dining scene, no doubt you’ve read and heard about the most recent Vietnamese sandwich craze — also known as the Banh Mi — that’s sweeping the Metropolitan area. If you take trends at face value, you’ve probably also read the reports from Eater that the Banh Mi has “Run its course”.

The fact of the matter is, the Banh Mi is the right sandwich at the right time. And let’s face it, here in New Jersey, we’re a little slow on the uptake when following up on New York City trends. But I submit to you that when we set our mind to something, and when we get around to it, we do it better than anyone else.

A few weeks ago — prior to the publication of the New York Times article which catapulted the Banh Mi into the front and center collective foodie consciousness — Chef KT Tran (of Mo Pho and Saigon R. fame) decided that she needed to add some new offerings to her menu, and I suggested Banh Mi, particularly as I knew KT could put her creative skills and 30 years of Vietnamese cooking expertise behind it. KT’ and her family have operated Vietnamese restaurants since the 1970’s in the New York Area, and we’ve been very lucky to have her in Northern New Jersey, where her bold Southeast Asian flavors are tailored to meet the tastes of a very diverse customer base.

A typical store-bought Banh Mi from New York’s Chinatown. Usually these go for 2 or 3 dollars apeice. But there’s not much meat on this thing.

Fully aware of my past “Ultimate Sandwich” exploits with Chef Christine Nunn, at Picnic Caterers, Chef Tran knew she had to up the ante in over-thet-top sandwich insanity, particularly when competing with Nunn’s Rendevous at Burger Mountain, the Ultimate BLT and the Foie You.

We knew of one weapon in the Vietnamese culinary arsenal that could hold up to these giants: PORK. And lots of it.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

A Visit to D’Artagnan

D’Artagnan is one of the most important suppliers of luxury proteins and ingredients to many of the nation’s top restaurants.

My chef friend Christine Nunn, of Picnic Caterers in Emerson, was recently invited over to visit the D’Artagnan facility in Newark. For those of you not familiar with D’Artagnan, it is the premier supplier of luxury ingredients to many of New York City’s top restaurants. What D’Artagnan is most famous for, however, is that it is one of the largest (if not the largest) distributors of domestically produced Foie Gras in the United States. Rachel and I decided to come along and take some photos, so we could show you what this very impressive operation is all about.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Chengdu 1 (UPDATED October 2009)

Click for Hi-Res Slide Show!

Chengdu 1
89 Pompton Ave (Pilgrim Shopping Plaza)
Cedar Grove NJ, 973-239-7726

I think that by now people realize that I love really spicy food. One of my favorite spicy cuisines is true Sichuan-syle Chinese food, which is characterized by its use of red fire oil (vegetable oil that is infused with red chile pepper essence) and the face-numbing Sichuan Peppercorn, also known as hua jiao (meaning flower pepper, as it resembles a tiny flower) or fagara.

While there are many restaurants in the greater New York metropolitan area with “Szechuan” in the name, the sad reality is that there are very, very few restaurants serving actual regional Sichuan cuisine, New York City included. There are  a few such restaurants  remaining in Manhattan, most notably being the midtown and uptown branches of Wu Liang Ye. Spicy and Tasty in Flushing, Queens is another good example. The much-loved Grand Sichuan International Midtown closed in April of ’07 but some of its sister (and inferior) branches remain.

So when it came to my attention (by way of an excellent post by Melissa Rayworth on the Montclair food blog Barista) that we in fact had the genuine article right here in Northern New Jersey, I knew we had to go.

Chengdu 1 is right down the road from Montclair State University on Pompton Ave, in the Pilgrim Shopping Plaza next to Clearview Cinema

Can you take the heat? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Picklelicious (UPDATED)

Picklelicious
384 Cedar Lane, Teaneck NJ
(201) 457-0500

NOT OPEN SATURDAYS.

Web Site: http://www.picklelicious.com

Pickles are something that I believe most people take for granted, and have difficulty invoking passionate thoughts or rabid cravings in anyone but the most hardcore worshiper of the briny arts. Sadly they are, for most Americans, a condiment that ends up (many times omitted by request) on fast food burgers or an insipidly sweet or cloyingly vinegary vegetable mass resembling a cooked to death kirby that is pulled out of a heat pasteurized jar originating from some big food conglomerate. And that’s a damn shame, because a real Kosher-style fresh Pickle is a marvelous, marvelous thing.

Pickelicious’s new retail location on Cedar Lane in Teaneck (2010)

Real Kosher pickles are facing extinction, and there are a scant few companies in the New York Metro area still making them. Even rarer than the jarred variety of fresh, refrigerated kosher pickle (like the Ba-Tampte brand made in NY) is the kind you used to be able to get out of a barrel on Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. But the mythical Lower East Side pickle barrel place doesn’t exist anymore — they’ve either moved out to Lawn Guyland, or in Picklelicious’ case, Jersey. Which is quite fortunate for us! And if you don’t live in Jersey, you can get them shipped to you.

Robyn Brown-Samra, Picklelicious‘ owner, comes from a long line of artisan pickle makers. She and her brother Jay, and her (late) husband Leo opened a popular pickle store on Amsterdam Avenue in New York City in the 1990’s. But after her husband passed away, she closed the store and moved to a house on River Road in Teaneck and opened a retail store. In 2007 she closed the River Road store and decided to focus on the wholesale/web business.

But in February of 2010, Robyn opened up a newer, smaller retail location on the main drag of Teaneck’s Cedar Lane business district. And now we’re sure she’s here to stay.

There’s more to pickles than meets the eye. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.