August 8, 9, 10, 11
On my way to the Ukraine, I stopped in NYC. Every time I visit I do so with mixed emotions. Part of me wanted to live in NYC and a lot of my friends from college did, but Los Angeles won out, and part of me wonders about that path not taken. As I walk around, I wonder if I ran into someone I knew from high school or college would I even recognize them? They probably have kids that are as old as I was when I first visited New York City. A generation has passed and the days of clubbing, staying out until the early hours of the morning had passed. This trip I was looking forward to indulging my latest passion – food.
Upon arriving, I wondered what was I thinking – NYC in August? It was 94 degrees and having grown up in this part of the country, I knew that it is not like the Los Angeles where it almost always cools down at night. We probably would have a low of 85 – meaning it was going to be uncomfortable. As much as I think I remember just how biting the cold can be or how uncomfortable and sticky the summer can be you don’t really remember until you are back in it. Fortunately, it didn’t remain that warm throughout my stay.
My friend Allan lives in Chelsea and I was looking forward to visiting the Chelsea Market. Originally, these buildings were the bakeries of the National Biscuit Company – known as NBC (later changed to Nabisco). It closed in the 50’s and was then transformed into the Chelsea Market. On the ground floor there is retail with Wine Shops, cooking supplies, a seafood store, an Italian Panini Place, and the list goes on. In other words, a perfect place for me to spend time walking around. The raised railway used to bring in and take out product had been repurposed into the High Line – a park like setting above the streets.
FoodTV is headquartered on the upper floors and I have seen the market several times on various shows. Across the street from the Market no 10th AVe, I spotted a few rrestaurants from well-known chefs including Iron Chef, Chef Morimoto’s and Top Chef’s Tom Calicchio. They are right across the street from each other on 10th Ave. Although I would love to dine at all of these restaurants, I wanted something a little more casual.
Allan suggest Co Ba – a wonderful Vietnamese place right around the corner from his place. We started with Spring rolls and:
Suon nuong – Grilled lemongrass baby back ribs, topped with crushed peanuts and served with short grain rice cakes
We then had clay pot dishes – I learned about clay pot cooking in Vietnam and want to expand my knowledge of it since I had some of my best dishes cooked and served in clay pots.
Thit ba roi kho – Caramelized pork belly braised in coconut juice with tofu, daikon radish, and quail eggs.
Ga kho xa ot Curry lemongrass chicken clay pot with onions in a hot pepper and dried shrimp paste sauce
II didn’t take any pictures of the food as I usually do but I was going to start the Web on in the Ukraine – I was visiting, not necessarily being a tourist in NYC but I was having too much fun not to write about it on my website and when I ran into a FoodTV chef, I decided this was too good to not put it on the web site.
The following Day (August 9th), Allan and I headed to Zabars to continue my quest for all things food. At Zabars www.zabars.com (they ship) – downstairs they have an extensive selection of breads, olives, cheese, coffee, Salami, deli meats, bagels and everything else that is good. Next to it is a place where you can order meals. Upstairs they have a huge selection of anything you might need to cook with. It was fun to look at all the gadgets and although I love looking going though them, I try not to purchase and I am always asking myself, “Really? Do I need an Microwave dish to cook eggs in?” I bought nothing but plan on ordering a few things from the website when I get back
We then went cross town to Katz Deli – an amazing place that opened in 1888. If you saw the movie “Where Harry Met Sally”, you have seen this place, even if you haven’t seen the movie, you have probably seen the scene with Meg Ryan pretending to have a loud orgasm as Billy Crystal sits across the table. The waiter says to the lady at the next table “What will you have” the old lady says, “I’ll have one of those”. There is a round sign hanging above the table that says, “Where Harry Met Sally!” with an arrow. The walls are filled with pictures of celebrities who have eaten there over the years which in itself was interesting. I had a brisket sandwich and potato salad for lunch. At dinnertime I was still so full, I skipped dinner.
Today (August 10th) we headed to the spice shop called Kalustyan’s (they ship as well and are on the web http://www.kalustyans.com) . Upstairs there is a counter that sells Indian Food while downstairs there is a shop that contains world foods. As I browsed through, I realized that this shop had every ingredient you ever needed. I have accumulated a bunch of recipes that call for things that I want to try but don’t have the ingredients. Ordering single items at different websites was a pain and expensive with shipping. I found Peruvian Aji, Indian Ghost Peppers, Orange Blossom water, White Peppercorns and then I had to stop myself thinking I either needed to stop by a Fed Ex office or take with me around the globe.
We had lunch upstairs which was an Indian combo platter. It was also very good, and thought, New York is a lot like Europe – it is hard to find a bad meal but there are a lot of hidden gems. The only thing that almost ruined it for me was the proudly hung picture of Martha Stuart with the owners of the shop. I doubt Martha ever shopped or ate there.
As we headed back to Allan’s we passed the Chelsea Market. I noticed that something was going on – there were a bunch of unmarked vans with people getting out while other people with clipboards and Bluetooth headsets were running around acting as if they were way to important to be bothered so I knew this had to be something related to TV. As I began to write about the day, I thought I really should get a few snapshots of Chelsea Market and the High Line. I headed back down and thought, if they are shooting something for the TV Show, I hope I get to see someone I like – maybe Anne Burrell – or Alton Brown. I thought, it would be great to run into any of the Chefs on Food network – some more than others.
I then turned the corner onto 9th Ave and went “except for Chef Aaron Sanchez” and there he was! I took a picture someone said in a NYC accent, “Hey, you want me to take a picture of you together?” I looked a her said “Absolutely NOT!” She looked me strangely and I explained that I have his running dialog with my friend Cindy that there is something about this guy that just rubs me the wrong way and it doesn’t matter what he is on, I just cannot watch it. She asked me, then why are you taking his picture? To which I responded to, If I tell my friend Cindy she is going to want pictures to believe that i actually ran into him.
I hope he never reads this and I hope have to say, I have never eaten his food and obviously he has gotten to where he is because he is talented – but as a TV personality, I can say, I don’t like watching him.
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