Tag: nyc

Brunch Boom

Is this the golden age of New York brunch? The city is filled with meals that will win over even the strongest brunch skeptics. Out with the same old eggs Benedict, and in with dishes like torta di scarola, apple-strudel sticky buns, and egg-filled Tunisian pastries brik. Here, a guide to everything that’s new and notable in New York brunch.

Iekei-style Ramen

When E.A.K. Ramen opened, it stood out in this ramen-crazed city by serving iekei-style ramen. That style of soup — which submerges thick noodles in a creamy tonkotsu-shoyu broth blend, topped with spinach, seaweed, and chashu (roast pork belly) — was difficult, if not impossible, to previously find. “Shio ramen is often a category in Japan, but it can be boring. It’s too plain, so it needed a stronger flavor. We wanted to really differentiate our shio ramen option from the shoyu signature, since the differences are so subtle.” The team landed on the addition of butter and garlic oil, with an added aesthetic bonus of the stark broth-to-oil contrast for a “cute” visual. The body parts of a chicken (but not the wings) are added into this second-step broth pot, which also includes some previously made, fully finished broth from the day prior, kind of like the mother or starter used to make bread. “It’s not a 1-generation thing. It needs to ‘inherit’ older broth, to really change the flavor”. This 2nd, main vat of broth then cooks for 24 hours. There’s also a 3rd “sub-pot,” so when the main vat of broth gets too concentrated, some of this more-diluted broth can be poured in, typically every 30 minutes. “The broth really needs to be taken care of, almost like a baby”.

NYC Top Slices

Neighborhood pizzerias are the backbone of New York City’s vernacular cuisine — easily as important as hot dog carts, Chinese-American carry-outs, soul food cafes, and pastrami sandwiches in defining the city’s historic culinary landscape. Since the 1950s, these stalwarts have unceasingly provided delicious nourishment at astonishingly cheap prices to rich and poor alike, but their massive achievements have largely gone unsung.

PQR

Angelo Iezzi — an incredibly well-known and respected pizza maker in Rome — has teamed up with a restaurateur here to open a Roman pizzeria on the Upper East Side. Called PQR, it will sell what’s known as pizza al taglio, or by the cut. This square style of pizza has an airy dough with a crisp bottom and tender interior, and Iezzi is known as a modern master of it.

Té Company

Té Company in the West Village is that rare tearoom known as much for its excellent food as for its focused selection of meticulously sourced teas and the care with which they’re served. Credit for that goes to Frederico Ribeiro, a Portuguese-born former Per Se sous chef who eschewed predictable finger sandwiches and scones for a daily-changing menu of seasonal, Iberian-accented small plates, and whole-wheat sourdough bread better than what you could find at the city’s top bakeries.

Lot Sale

New York City has a tradition of selling property for only $1. This token transaction amount, as we mentioned in a previous post, is often used as a development incentive for potential buyers, who need to show they have plans and the funds to execute their vision. Now, thanks to the $1 LOTS project, we can see all of the city-owned lots of land sold to developers for $1 since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in January 2014.

Iron Manhattan

Why? That’s the first question people always ask. Why would you want to swim 4km, bike 180, and then run a marathon? Why would you do it 5 days in a row? Why would you plan the whole thing yourself? In the 5 boroughs? In the middle of June? “Why does anyone do anything?” answered Chris Solarz, a guy who read stoic philosophy in the sauna while training for such a feat. “Why do we try to run arbitrary distances in arbitrary times? I don’t know. There’s no easy answer.” Last summer, Solarz and fellow New Yorker Chris Calimano completed the arbitrary task of one full Ironman-distance triathlon each day for 5 days straight, totaling 1100km. The event started as most harebrained ideas do: over beers.

Architecting NYC

New York Magazine asked some of New York City’s distinguished architects how they would improve the city and save it from climate change.

While Mark Foster Gage dreams of infilling the East River with green space, Charles Renfro envisions “a citywide network of rooftop parks” inspired by his own work on the High Line. Green space would not only absorb stormwater and heat but, when elevated, it would be flood resistant by nature.

Many architects played with some overarching plan of connection or integration. Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture wants to protect NYC bikers by integrating the Citi Bike system with a low lying bike bridge they call “the El Bike Lanes.” Norman Foster’s plan involves an extension of Madison Square Park into a “series of off-traffic islands” done in the same style.

Rafael Viñoly reinvents the NYC street plane all together into a “matrix of elevated circulation patterns.” On the other hand, Family New York’s Oana Stanescu and Dong-Ping Wong look to the skyscrapers. They believe the NYC skyline should be a place for everyone, not just a wealthy ghost town.