salmaland.com

Welcome to Salmaland

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:25:58 +0000

What is Salmaland? It’s where I try to answer the eternal question: Where to eat in New York City? As a food and travel writer based in NYC, I get this question all the time, and often I’m the one asking it. The lists of my recommendations here, to your left, are meant to help you out just as much as they’re intended to jog my own memory. I check out restaurants constantly and I keep these shortlists (organized by neighborhood) updated as often as possible. The lists are short on purpose; the more choices, the more confusion, in my opinion. On this site I also talk about other food, travel, and work-related projects. Drop me a note here with any comments or feedback, and thanks for stopping by.

Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:44 +0000

Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut, is my memoir of the year I spent in Beirut trying to come home again. I’m thrilled with the great early review in Publisher’s Weekly, and the mentions in Food & Wine and AFAR. The book comes out on June 5, 2012, from Broadway Books/Random House—and it’s ready to preorder now, via Amazon, Kindle, BN.com, Nook, IndieBound.org, and iBookstore. For more on Beirut and the book, please visit JasmineandFire.com. Big thanks in advance for your support!

West Village: Spotted Pig and Dell’Anima

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:20:36 +0000

Dell'Anima

If you haven’t figured out where to eat tonight but are circling around the idea of a cozy/Italian/inexpensive/crowd-pleaser/West Village sort of place, head to the triangle formed roughly by Greenwich Ave., Eighth Ave., and West 11th. Where exactly? You could start with Dell’Anima, where you’ll find all of the above elements plus a hit-the-spot Italian menu of pastas (tagliatelle bolognese, a great carbonara) and meaty dishes like their semi-famous chicken diavolo with broccoli rabe, chilies, and garlic. Haven’t booked ahead? You might strike out on a weekend, since the space is tiny and usually packed—but it’s worth a shot. And you can always leave your name at the door then try your luck at the Spotted Pig a little further west, for a guaranteed wait but not-bad odds of getting seated before long, thanks to the multi-level brownstone dining room.

Rewards await at the Pig, including chef April Bloomfield’s heavenly burger with Roquefort cheese and shoestring fries, or grilled skirt steak with chilies and mint, or Italian-inspired specialties like sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi with brown butter and sage; that one’s been on the menu forever and probably will be forever, and for good reason.

Dell’Anima. 50 Carmine St. between Bedford and Bleecker Sts.; (212) 929-5050. Spotted Pig. 314 W. 11th St. at Greenwich St.; (212) 620-0393.

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

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Il Buco and Il Buco Alimentaria

Fri, 09 Mar 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. In 2012, the owners opened the spinoff Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, a wine bar/restaurant/salumeria around the corner on Great Jones Street—creating more options for Il Buco devotees (albeit those who have the patience to try getting into the predictably jammed space…).

Il Buco. 47 Bond St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; (212) 533-1932. Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria. 53 Great Jones St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; (212-837-2622).

Prices/Features: Elegant/Drink Destination

BK/Fort Greene: Walter’s

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:29:11 +0000

Is there a mysterious underground tunnel between Fort Greene and Williamsburg? (Besides the regrettable G, aka Ghost Train)? How else to explain the influx of Williamsburg restaurants into the neighborhood? No one is complaining so far though, especially as long as Fort Greene doesn’t actually turn into Williamsburg; one is enough, non? Cutting to the chase: Walter’s is the latest Wburg outpost to open along DeKalb Avenue, and yes, it’s helping to ratchet up the food scene here, at long last. Finally, a place to get a dozen great oysters and a Bloody Mary, or one of the heartier offerings from the fairly straight-ahead, intuitive Americana menu: a short-rib burger, fried chicken, a grilled bar steak, a seaf00d-loaded fisherman’s stew. Of course those all come with very-now flourishes: That burger sits on a brioche bun, with the inevitable bacon slab; the fried chicken is laced with spicy honey; the bar steak has a chimichurri sauce. But retro garlic mashed potatoes are rife all over the menu too, as is horseradish sauce (on the flashback French Dip sandwich). Just in for a snack? The bar menu pretty much nails it: deviled eggs, duck buns, spicy wings, and a luscious Dark and Stormy.

Walter’s. 166 DeKalb Ave. at Cumberland St.; (718-488-7800).

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Drink Destination

BK/Fort Greene: Roman’s

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:08:21 +0000

The once restaurant-starved Fort Greene got a little piece of the action when Roman’s opened—serving not just scenesters loyal to the owners’ Williamsburg holdings (Diner, Marlow & Sons, et al) but mainly neighborhood locals who just want excellent food in a fun room, full stop. The short, constantly changing menu of beautifully rendered rustic Italian dishes makes it hard to choose (linguini with sardines; fusilli with pork sausage; a salad of oranges with chiles and mint; Tuscan kale with anchovy dressing and parmigiano) and the bar is an appealing, comfortable place to eat or drink. All this conspires to turn first-timers into regulars. Yeah, the place gets slammed, and you’ll wait for your table most of the time. Wish that weren’t so, but that’s the world we live in, in New York, in 2012.

Roman’s. 243 DeKalb Ave. between Claremont and Vanderbilt Aves.; (718-622-5300).

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Drink Destination

Soho/Nolita: Parm

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:36:47 +0000

Not that they need more attention, but the guys behind Torrisi have opened this second modest (modest-ish) little Italian-American joint—which is predictably packed nearly all the time. Parm is excellent though—the kind of casual, hearty, filling, cheap-ish food you crave nearly all the time—and so deserves the crowds. But dammit can’t we just one place to ourselves in this freaking city? Anyway, here’s the basic lowdown on Parm: various versions of dear old breaded, cheese-and-marinara-slathered parmigiano dishes: eggplant part, chicken parm, meatball parm, and more, available as sandwiches or platters. Terrific sides too, like roasted brussels sprouts, spicy broccoli rabe, a pork-laden “holiday salad,” and fried calamari. From 11am to noon and from 4pm to 6pm things tend to be mellower here, so you can just show up, sit at the bar, eat and drink, and merrily avoid the crushing crowds at the door for a bit.

Parm: 248 Mulberry St. between Prince and Spring Sts.; (212-993-7189)

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced, Vegetarian Friendly

BK/Fort Greene Bars: Moe’s

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:03:56 +0000

Moe’s

80 Lafayette Ave. at S. Portland Ave.

718-717-9536

Bumping, and been there forever. But now has new owners, and a slight name change on the sign outside—from Moe’s to Mo’s. (Whatever.)

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 empire 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