salmaland.com

Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:30:28 +0000

If you’ve visited Salmaland before or followed me on Twitter, you’ve seen me drop hints about my upcoming book, a memoir of the year I spent in Beirut trying to come home again. Now I can do more than hint about it: I’m thrilled to announce that Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut, comes out this May from Broadway Books/Random House—and it’s ready to preorder now. Please preorder it via Amazon, Kindle, BN.com, Nook, IndieBound.org, and iBookstore and big thanks in advance for all your support!! More soon, Salma

Welcome to Salmaland

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:27:26 +0000

What is Salmaland? It’s a place where you can find quick, painless answers to the eternal question, “Where should I eat?” To the left, you’ll find my current short-lists of Where to Eat in NYC, by neighborhood; or use the search tool to the right to look up a cuisine or restaurant. You’ll find a Where to Drink list on the left too. And down the middle, just below, are reports on my latest comings and goings. My recent Beirut adventures are here. Find me on Twitter (@salmaland). And for more about Salmaland, click on the “read more” link right here…

How Salmaland Works:

The lists on the left are broken down by neighborhood—with more boroughs (including many more Brooklyn options) and neighborhoods, and cities, on the way at some point. You’ll also find a variety of cuisines, environments, and price points, so whatever style or price-level of restaurant you’re looking for, I hope you’ll find it right here.

The restaurant and bar recommendations on Salmaland are by no means comprehensive; they’re not meant to be. If they’re doing their job, they should be quick, easy-to-use, and headache-free. And I’ll be keeping them fresh by rotating in new material on a regular basis, so keep checking back. And down the middle of the page, you’ll find my notes on recent food adventures. I’ll be posting these at least weekly, to let you know about delicious discoveries that are worth your time (or hot new restaurants that aren’t).

To search more specifically by cuisine or restaurant name, or by feature or price-range (like “Cheap,” “Moderately Priced,” “Elegant,” “Good for Groups,” “Vegetarian-Friendly,” or “Drink Destination”), or to search by just about any word you can think of, type your term into the search-engine box (with the little magnifying glass above it) in the upper-right corner.

Please note: I’m mostly avoiding listing the generally exceptional, duly-noted restaurants that you probably already know about (the Le Bernardins, the Daniels, the Babbos, the Gramercy Taverns, etc.). I might include them occasionally, if I have some compelling reason to bring them up. Otherwise, let’s skip ahead to the places you may not know but definitely should, or may have forgotten, or can’t really live without knowing about.

Please also note: These lists represent my honest opinions; that’s all. There is no paid-for content on Salmaland. If any ads ever show up, they will be very, very clearly indicated as such—and will in no way influence editorial opinion.

Oh, and one last thing: What exactly is 1623 (the number at the top of this page) all about? I could say: “It’s the year when everyone else got a website, and here I am four centuries later.” But that wouldn’t be true—only vaguely true. And it wouldn’t be all that funny either. The strange truth is: It’s the number on a street sign that my friend Pableaux Johnson—New Orleans-based food writer and guru of all things gastronomically glorious and debauched—photographed somewhere in his hometown. I just like the way it looks. Pableaux also designed this website (actually, he encouraged me to create it in the first place).

I hope you’ll come back often, and thanks for reading.

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Forcella

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:15:51 +0000

The NYC pizza wars continue. I have to say, there was a time—namely during a week in Naples some years back—when I became convinced that New York does pizza better than the Italian city’s lauded piemakers. But funny thing is, lately the more a pizza reminds me of those bubbly-soft, tomato-sopping, basily Naples pies, the more I love it. Hence Forcella’s inclusion on Salmaland. I’ve only been to the East Village branch but there’s one in Williamsburg too. Even before I’d registered the fact that owner Giulio Adriani is head teacher at Italy’s Verace Pizza Napoletana association and a pizzamaker there for nearly three decades, I was having flashbacks to various small and crowded Naples pizzerias. You’ll find spot-on, beautifully charred and bubble-crusted pies here, including what I crave nearly all the time: an excellent Margherita. Lively salads here too, like the Amalfi, with radicchio, arugula, pears, and nuts. An open kitchen, exposed oven, and chic chandeliers make the room feel weirdly both spacious and cozy.

Forcella. 334 Bowery; (212-466-3300) and 485 Lorimer St.; (718) 338-8820

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Good for Groups/Vegetarian-Friendly

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Momofuku

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:35:51 +0000

Photo courtesy of Noodle Bar

Momofuku chef-owner David Chang’s deceptively simple reworking of the pork bun, a Chinatown staple (which he makes with oozingly juicy slabs of pork belly topped with cucumber strips on a doughy bun, to be drizzled with Sriracha) helped speed his rise to glory, and it still hits the spot. The place to address a Changian-pork-bun craving most directly is at the East Village’s Momofuku Milk Bar (mostly a cookies, cakes, and ice cream shop, with a couple of savory items), or at Momofuku Noodle Bar (mostly ramen and other noodle concoctions), or at Ssam Bar (eclectic Korean/American/French mashup in a raucous space with communal tables). Chang also runs the exquisite, prix-fixe-only, nearly impossible to get into Ko (also in the East Village), and the midtown Momofuku branch, Ma Peche at the Chambers Hotel (which also has a Milk Bar branch)—but you won’t find pork buns at those two spots.

Every Momofuku menu is different, but the hallmarks of the empire are Changian specialties involving wickedly conceived pork, lamb, beef, and seafood dishes with unexpected flavor jolts: say, sweet and spicy pig ears with wild sorrel and poppy (Sssam), or pork-belly ramen with a poached egg (Noodle Bar), or striped bass with sweet potato and coconut galangal (Ma Peche).

Noodle Bar: 171 First Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts. (212) 777-7773

Ssam Bar: 207 Second Ave. at 13th St. (212) 254-3500

Milk Bar: 207 Second Ave. at 13th St. (212) 254-3500; 15 W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. 212-757-5878

Ko: 163 First Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts. Reservations required: Online reservations only.

Ma Peche: 15 W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. (212) 974-5656

Prices/Features:

Ssam Bar and Ma Peche: Moderately priced, Drink Destination, Good for Groups.

Noodle Bar and Milk Bar: Cheap, Good for Groups

Ko: upscale

West Village/I Sodi

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:45:19 +0000

Flying mostly under the radar—except among West Villagers and in-the-know Italian-restaurant obsessives—I Sodi is endlessly pleasing: from the compact, tunnel-like room, to the warm and on-the-ball staff, to the reliably fantastic Tuscan cooking. The menu changes constantly, but you might happen on a night when there’s homemade pappardelle with duck ragu, or fried rabbit, or a rich and unusual leek risotto. Very hard to eat here without planning a return visit immediately. So reserve, because even though most people won’t have heard of I Sodi, the ones who know it keep the tables full nightly.

I Sodi: 105 Christopher St. at Bleecker St.; (212) 414-5774.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Elegant

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Il Buco

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:40:48 +0000

Photo by Thibault Jeanson

Catch Il Buco on the right night, and it’s as close to a bull’s eye as you’ll get in NYC dining. Of course, saying that any restaurant hits the bull’s-eye is asking for trouble. No, Bond Street’s stalwart Italian restaurant Il Buco isn’t perfect—meaning you’re not going to have flawless food every single time you go, and your server won’t always win your undying love, and on busy nights you might even have to wait a tad bit past the point where you’re ready to walk. But very few other restaurants (in the neighborhood, in America, in existence) nail so brilliantly that combination of boldly flavorful, soulful food (regional Italian dishes like slow-roasted pig with white polenta and Tuscan black kale; or a soup of Umbrian wild chickpeas and chestnuts in a Parmesan broth with lardo-topped bruschetta), along with a buzzing dinner-party vibe, and a sexy but comfortable dining room that makes you want to linger for hours. Three crucial things—and usually damn-near impossible to find in one restaurant. Il Buco has been pulling off the trio pretty much ever since it opened in 1994.

Il Buco. 47 Bond St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; (212) 533-1932.

Prices/Features: Elegant/Vegetarian-Friendly

West Village: Joseph Leonard and Jeffrey’s Grocery

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:40:15 +0000

Photo via Eater.com

Platonic ideal of the West Village restaurant, right around now: Small and cluttered with vintage-looking furniture; well-executed but willfully un-fancy food; maybe some charcuterie and oysters; strong drinks; non-bludgeoning prices. This is more or less what you’ll find at Joseph Leonard, via owner Gabriel Stulman (of Market Table and The Little Owl). All-around pleasant place to hang out in, eat in, linger in. If you tend to make restaurant decisions last-minute like I do, show up before 7pm for your best shot at bar stools or a table. On the menu (sometimes): braised pork hock, shrimp and grits with andouille. If the restaurant has a line by the time you get there and you’re disinclined to stand around waiting, head to sister restaurant Jeffrey’s Grocery, down the block at 172 Waverly: Gorgeous oysters, raw-bar platters, and bistro-ish dishes like lobster spaghetti and brisket sandwich

Joseph Leonard. 107 Waverly Pl. at Grove St.; 626-429-8383

Jeffrey’s Grocery. 172 Waverly Pl. at Christopher St.; 626-398-7630

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly/Drink Destination

East Village/Noho/Union Square: DBGB

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:40:11 +0000

It took me a while to warm up to DBGB‘s room: It can feel a bit cavernous and cold. But once you start in on chef Daniel Boulud’s reengineered burgers and sausages and assorted versions of bistro/American greatest hits—and get absorbed in all the celeb-chef-donated copper cookware lining the walls—suddenly all is warm and luscious and A-ok in this world. (If $40-$50 a head buys a legal, relatively safe pleasure injection for a couple of hours, I’m in.) Favorites here: the Piggy burger (beef topped with Daisy May‘s pulled pork and slathered in jalapeno mayo) and the Vermont dog (a smoked-pork and cheddar sausage with red-onion crème fraiche and hash browns). The fries rock too; sit at the bar and have them with one of the gazillion international beers on tap, and you’re in excellent shape. Brunch here is a nice surprise, departing as it does from most NYC-brunch clichés without the punishing waits of nearby tiny brunch-champ (and all-around champ) Prune.

DBGB Kitchen & Bar. 299 Bowery between Houston and First St.; 212-933-5300.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Drink Destination/Good for Groups

West Village/Arturo’s

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:36:56 +0000

Perpetually unglamorous, charmingly cluttered, and hiding in plain sight on Houston Street, Arturo’s pizzeria is one of the neighborhood’s most ancient and dependable spots for a soaked-in-old-New-York vibe. Dive into a huge, bang-for-the-buck coal-oven pizza topped with any of three dozen toppings. (Keep it simple for best results: say, mozzarella, basil, and sausage; or mushrooms, ricotta, and garlic). The red-sauce pastas, served in giant portions, are definitely not circa-2012, but they’re filling and warming, if sometimes underseasoned. Try to sit in the back room, where you’ll be at least a few feet away from the slightly obtrusive (though endearing) live jazz bands that pop in most nights.

Arturo’s. 106 West Houston St. at Thompson St.; 212-677-3820

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly/Good for Groups

West Village: Market Table

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:24:49 +0000

Pic courtesy of Market Table

It always seems ridiculous to name any burger NYC’s best; there are way too many variables, plus those silly awards have a way of ruining the things they celebrate (too much demand is the road to sloppiness). But it’s safe to say Market Table has one of the city’s best, an ingeniously executed burger made with a grilled then broiled sirloin-and-brisket patty topped with white cheddar, sweet onions, and homemade pickles on a garlicky bun, and served with Old Bay-dusted fries. Chef Mikey Price’s constantly changing menu has much more besides: You might luck into grilled corn with chili, Parmesan, and lime, or braised-lamb gnocchi, or a whole market fish with escarole and golden raisins. Lunchtime on a sunny day is when you really want to be here, thanks to wraparound streetside windows that let the rays pour through.

Market Table. 54 Carmine St. at Bedford St.; (212) 255-2100.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced