New York Edition: Pinche Taqueria Merits Both a Rave and a Word of Warning

Let me quickly knock out a review of Pinche Taqueria because the lag time between food consumption during our New York trip and actual discussion of said mastication is getting absolutely ridiculous. It has been like 18 days since I sampled the grub at this Mott St. eatery – one of two New York locations – and what follows is what I remember about our excursion.

Being that our blog is entitled The Pizza Project, it was our intention to sample as much New York City pizza as possible during our trip. To this end, we entered Lombardi’s Pizza with our sights on a circular, flour-and-dough-based delicacy with oozing cheese and delicious red tomato sauce. We spied an offering that someone was eating at an adjacent table and we immediately commenced salivation, Pavlov’s Dog-style. However, this is where everything began to go awry.

New York Edition: For a Good Spot to Hang Out and Drink Beer in NYC, Try Spitzer's Corner

While dining on lunch at Rubirosa, we somehow got on to the topic of a good place to grab a fine microbrew in the Big Apple. We knew of Blind Tiger, of course, and had been tipped off to a place called d.b.a. by a Twitter friend named @BeerCulturist, but for some reason we decided to do something that we almost never do: we asked one of Rubirosa's employees for a suggestion. A fresh-faced female hostess suggested Blind Tiger, but another guy, looking hip in a flannel and Chucks, threw out the name Spitzer's Corner. Now, I don't know if you have met us but we are nothing if not spectacularly hip. So when the name was tossed out by someone who looked at least as unmistakably cool as us, we decided that we would have to hunt it down and check out the list. When we found it, I ran in to check out the beer list. It revealed that the place had multiple Lagunitas, multiple Stones, and many other luminaries. It was immediately confirmed: We would be returning to the Lower East Side that night for our lone post-sundown adventure on the town.

New York Edition: Big Wong King Boasts Good Food, Great Service, Awesome Pornalicious Name

During last weekend's trip to New York, we stayed in the heart of Chinatown. When you consider this, it was inevitable that we were going to have to get some Chinese food. However, the dilemma was figuring out which one was to receive the honor of our business. Most of the places looked somewhat indescript, with "ingredients" hanging in the window and signage that, quite frankly, I was not able to understand nor decipher.

New York Edition Tale of the Pie: Max Brenner

Not a pizza shop, I know. But we did have a slice ... of chocolate pizza to go.

As Saucy mentioned, our NYC weekends once consisted of leisurely Saturday afternoons at the Brooklyn Brewery and Sunday evenings at the Blind Tiger. With a toddler in tow, grabbing a dessert to go from Max Brenner is more our speed these days.

Not that I'm using the nibble as an excuse for slobbing on a slice of absolute decadence in the middle of Broadway. As a true chocoholic, I was happy to leave Saucy and the nibble outside and sneak into the extremely crowded restaurant/chocolate shop to check out their offerings. Almost instantly, I spotted the chocolate pizza. Melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows on a pizza crust? Uh, one slice to go, please.

The wait for our pizza slice was at least 10-15 minutes, a bit longer than I expected. But it was freshly made, with piping hot chocolate and marshmallows oozing over all three sides. So rich, so flavorful and so delicious. And as the three of us stood there chowing down without a word, faces covered in chocolate smears, I thought to myself that this new sort of NYC weekend isn't that bad after all.

Max Brenner
(212) 388-0030East Village
841 Broadway (between 13th and 14th)
New York, NY  10003

Apparently, there is also one in Philly (for our local readers) at 1500 Walnut St. (15th St. between Walnut and Locust).

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

NYC Edition Tale of the Pie: Rubirosa

Window on left is where the nibble left his saucy mark.

So my parents generously invited Saucy, the nibble and me to accompany them on a trip to NYC last weekend. We of course jumped at the chance, as we love New York and hadn't been there since before the nibble was born. The two days were filled with plenty of eating and a bit of boozing, so we'll be sharing more in future posts.
We arrived Saturday right before lunchtime, and after leaving our luggage at our hotel (Hotel Mulberry, a great little spot in the heart of Chinatown), we scurried around the corner for a quick nosh on dumplings at a place that shall remain nameless (only because I have no idea what the name of the place is). You certainly can't beat 5 for $1, especially as you watch the owner rolling them herself. Delish!

Booze...in 50 Words or Less: Tsingtao

Tsingtao
I used to drink this and think that it was tasty. Of course, at that time, I was in the throes of a sizable Yao Ming man crush. Tsingtao isn't good. But drinking it in a Chinese restaurant in the middle of New York City's Chinatown gives you street cred!

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

Tale of the Perfect Pie: John's Pizza - New York, New York

So I have been quite lackadaisical in my blogging duties when it comes to pizza eating activities. The seasons have now changed since I had visited John's Pizza in New York City but I'm pretty certain that the memories are still alive.

I was in NYC back in April with the church youth group sightseeing and after a half day of walking the streets of NYC someone in my group demanded we eat at John's Pizza. He claimed that they had the best pizza ever. Ever? Really?