Cuban takeout coming to Fleetwood.

If all they did was Cubano Sandwiches, Roast Pork, Black Beans with tons of garlic and Plantains it would be a godsend.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Beatles Themed Potluck

Funny, we once made a Beatles Tortilla as you describe. We cut it up into party sized squares and inserted toothpicks in each square. Of course the toothpicks were topped with a paper copy of each Beatles' head (xeroxed from the the Hard Day's Night LP onto Avery labels. just stick two sides together on a toothpick.).

This thread is great 'cause I thought we were the only ones gonzo enough to have an annual Beatles Fest.

jcmods in Home Cooking

Beatles Themed Potluck

Every February we celebrate "FAB-uary" (because its when the Beatles arrived in America and appeard on Ed Sullivan) and we have the Heinz Baked Beans (mostly as props), andJelly Babies. One year we did a White Album theme and served all "white" food. Asturian White Bean Bean Stew and White Castle Hamburgers were served among other things.

I suppose if you want to get technical about it, "Scouse" is the name of a stew served in Liverpool as well as the all purpose term for a Liverpudlian. I have no idea how to make it though.

jcmods in Home Cooking

Shorty's Philly Steaks and Sandwiches Madison Avenue & 27th Street

I keep passing by the Madison Avenue location (well before lunchtime) but was finally able to get thier menu. It appears they serve my favorite Philadelphia sandwich of all time, the Roast Pork with Brocolli Rabe and Provolone (called the "Roast Pork Special"). Has anyone had it recently? I just returned from Philadelphia where I had the Dinics sandwich. I am hoping for a decent rendition here so that I will not have to wait another year or so to get me one of these (I have attempted to make it and it is pretty good, but not quite the same).

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Shorty's
66 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

jcmods in Manhattan

Hot & Sour Soup

That's too bad. I used to love their hot and sour soup. And I never used to like it, probably because so many places just make the gloppy corn starch version. It came in a gigantic bowl that served three people easily and it was truly spicy. The rest of their menu was good too although the last time I ate there was probably in 2001. I believe people still thought it was good as recently as 2007

jcmods in Philadelphia

Cuban takeout coming to Fleetwood.

Hard to tell what kind of space it is going to be (it is a tiny space, but may be enough room for a couple of tables).

However, the sign is up outside where the Meateria used to be. It says "cuban." I am guessing they could be ready to open as soon as a week from now. Seems like most of the major renovation is done and now they just have to clean up and put some more furniture in.

I am really hoping for one of those take out places that serves pork, rice and beans with an assortment of either greens or plantains. (And some seafood dishes would be nice too!). And if they make a Cubano even better.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Fleetwood Diner Coming Soon! Here we go again.

Looks like they are almost done renovating the space. The sign went up and it is actually Cuban. I would be fine with that too, especially if they serve roast pork and black beans. Fingers crossed.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Anyplace in Philly Chinatown comparable to NY Noodletown?

Hand Drawn Noodle place on 10th just above Arch Street (there is another hand drawn noodle place on Race. Not sure if they are the same owners). Anyway, I got a duck noodle soup at the 10th street location and was as good as the same dish at NY Noodletown. Only big difference is that you get a lot more food at the Philly restaurant. The atmosphere, while not fancy, is cleaner than NY Noodletown (which is really kind of a dump...not that there's anything wrong with that).

jcmods in Philadelphia

Bronxville Castle

I am attaching the menu.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Bronxville Castle

Stopped in for falafel in pita with hummus. The falafel itself was obviously fresh and fried just right. The hot sauce, as chowdom said, is also homemade and delicious-be sure to ask for it. As a sandwich though, it literally fell apart before the first bite. The pita was too thin and not cut to make a pocket but cut to make 2 slices, very odd. The salad was iceberg lettuce, pickled carrots and actual pickle chips. The hummus was good, but too little of it. The overall taste was fine, but there is much room for improvement. The owner, Vic, did chat us up and we mentioned our concerns which he took seriously. Apparently he is a cousin to the famous Mamoun and so takes his falafel seriously. He gave us tastes of the lentil soup which is excellent and a rice and lentil dish that was very good. We left satisfied, knowing that we'd be back to try other menu items. I really hope he makes it, it would be a shame to lose this unique eatery. I'll scan and post the menu from work next week.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Fabada at Fairway Pelham

The La Tienda stuff is pretty good, but the stuff I have had at Asturian restos in madrid are amazing. Finally got to try the Cocido in a jar and it is very good....and vegan (although it almost tastes like it is made with chicken stock). It would be nice to get it without paying an extra $20 to ship it overnight.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Fabada at Fairway Pelham

Fairway keeps getting better and better in terms of spanish products. Over by the Olive Oil station they now carry dried and jarred Fabada Asturiana beans. It is nearly impossible to find them (you have to go to D'Espana on Broome street in Manhattan).

I forgot to see if they have Murcia (yes even if it has to be U.S. made). If they did, my life would be complete. The U.S. government should just allow the spanish variety to be imported.

I also picked up a jar of Cocido (the Spanish garbanzo stew). Interested to try it with a drizzle of olive oil. Next time I may try the jarred lentil stew as well.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Fleetwood Diner Coming Soon! Here we go again.

Better than the Windmill for sure. The true litmus test will be if they can get meatloaf to not look like scrapple.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Layover Amsterdam

Great service in the Indonesian and Thai places for sure. However, the dutch seem to have a lacsadaisical ethic..

jcmods in Food Media & News

Layover Amsterdam

Seems like they always had Indonesian there (since the Dutch East India company has been colonizing the area since the 17th Century). I sorta feel like the only really outstanding foods are from the Indonesian and Thai places (best Thai food i have ever eaten, but I am no expert). Granted the Toasties and Frites are indigenous....and who hasn't had a stoner meal at the FEBO. Gotta love the croquettes. One thing about Amsterdam I have noticed is that the service is usually atrocious. Once we sat in an empty restaurant and it took at least a half an hour for the waitress to stop chatting and take our order.

jcmods in Food Media & News

Fleetwood Diner Coming Soon! Here we go again.

There was someone in there last weekend. They need to replace the filthy carpet though. You can see the stains from outside.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Rainbow Falafel vs. Azuri Cafe

Finally able to compare. Rainbow is very good, Azuri is still in a league of its own.

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Azuri Cafe
465 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019

Rainbow Falafel
26 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003

jcmods in Manhattan

Best Falafel in NYC?

Finally tried Rainbow Falafel (it is tough to get to on the weekend because I believe it is closed). It is one darned good falafel in that it is literally drowning in Tahini (I got the hummous and hot sauce with onions version). I still think Azuri wins because the salad fixings are better and their bread is sturdier. There is no place to sit at Rainbow and if you try to eat the falafel while sitting on a park bench you will end up wearing it. If you want a falafel that is not giant and costs less than $5.75, King Falafel (formerly Ali Baba's) on MacDougal is pretty good. Their falafel with hummous is only $3.50.

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Azuri Cafe
465 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019

Rainbow Falafel
26 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003

jcmods in Manhattan

Deja Vu-Coffee Bar open in Fleetwood

I saw on their menu that they have soup and panini sandwiches. That sounds worth checking out.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Anasazi Beans!

Actually, now that I've given it some thought, I would say there's a sweetness to them I haven't experienced in other beans.

jcmods in Home Cooking

Best Supermarket In USA: your nominations

SO works in Queens and hopes to check out the new Douglaston location soon. We got our Murray's Natural turkey at the Pelham Fairway today. It was the busiest we've seen it since opening week.

jcmods in General Chowhounding Topics

Onn's: A Pretty Good Addition to the Bronxville Scene.

Went to Onn's for lunch today since they've been on a blitzkrieg "Grand Opening" PR campaign with coupons, menus under the door, etc. After a great dinner at the Noodle Bar in LES last night we wanted to continue the noodle soup diet and were interested in Onn's Tom Yum and Malaysian Prawn Mee. The Roti Canai appetizer also caught our attention, so we were going in with a plan.
We got there around 1:00 and we were the only customers in the place. No problems, we sat where directed by the FOH and asked for Singha beers. While waiting for the drinks, we noticed that the dishes we wanted to order were not on the menu. The waitress brought our beers over and we asked about the noodle soups and roti we had seen in the "Grand Opening" menu/flyer. She seemed confused, so we got a copy of the menu/flyer from the huge stack on the sushi bar and pointed out what we wanted. She gave us a quizzical look and had to ask about 3 times if we really wanted roti and noodle soups. We assured her that we wanted roti and soups but we had a couple of questions first to make sure we were ordering correctly. Was the Prawn Mee made with coconut milk? "No." "Really? We want to make sure because we just had coconut-base curry soup last night and I want to try something different today." "No, no coconut." At that point the man who was trying hard not to look like the manager interjected that the Prawn Mee was indeed coconut milk based. Okay. But that was the last we heard from him.
We managed to convey that we wanted an appetizer of roti canai and main dishes of Tom Yum soup for him, and the udon with beef for her. This did not compute. "Udon? You want make soup?" No, we want you to make the soup with udon noodles and beef, we wanted to say. "Yes, please, udon noodle soup with beef, please" "And roti?" "Yes, please" "Okay...." She went to place the order.
At this point we realized that our beers were room temperature. "Um..is Singha supposed to be served warm?" "I don't think so" "Do you want to complain?" I looked to the man trying not to be the manager and shook my head. "We bought the ticket, let's take the ride on this strange torpedo." The waitress came back from the kitchen and sat at a table across from us and proceeded to make wontons from a mound of ground pork that we hadn’t noticed there before. We drank the warm Singha.
“Ding” went the bell from the kitchen about 10 minutes later. Our waitress got up and came back with an appetizer portion of Tom Yum soup. “Very hot, careful please” Okay. After poking around with the chopsticks for a few minutes, noticing squid, scallops and shrimp in the devilishly red broth, he took a sip and a bite and declared it good. “Go ahead, you always eat slower than me anyway” she said. By the time he was almost finished, the roti and dipping sauce came out. She tore into the roti with her fingers, but the waitress still went to get a knife for us to cut the flatbread. This dish was also very good.
Wondering if the udon soup was ever coming we ordered a second round of beer. “Please, we would like cold beer. If you don’t have cold Singha, we will have another.” “Okay, cold beer”. She came back with a bottle of Singha which she offered us to touch before opening. It was cold, but apparently the only one. “Other beer getting cold now”. Okay, we split it. She went back to wonton making.
“Ding” and the soup came out in a huge bowl filled with udon, beef and baby bok choy in a clear broth. In the first prescient move she made, she brought two smaller bowls so we could share. She also brought over the second beer which was now cold by some miracle of modern science. Scooping out equal portions into the bowls, we found the individual ingredients to be good, but there was no unifying agent to bring it all together. “Hi, do you have some hot sauce? Sriracha, sambal, anything like that?” She went immediately to the soda fridge and brought out a jar of sambal sauce which we put to immediate and tasty use. That did the trick and we enjoyed the next 10 minutes, slurping noodles, beef and broth. When we had almost finished, our waitress came to the table with another bottle of Singha and asked “More beer?”. We waved her off, we had had enough. Somehow, the bill was accurate but under the udon line it was written in capital letters “MAKE SOUP”. Hmmmm….
Onn’s, very good food, weird service. Of course, as we walked out, two groups walked in. We said nothing. Let them have their own stories to tell.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Anasazi Beans!

I am not sure that they taste radically different from most beans, but they are peculiar to the southwest. They are black and white when dried but cook up pink. They are similar to red beans.

jcmods in Home Cooking

Anasazi Beans!

Funny I just made these yesterday. I got them as a present from family who traveled to Arizona. One recipe called for putting shredded cabbage in them. I tried it and it was OK. For the second bag, I treaded them like Louisiana Red Beans (ham hocks, andouille sausage, worcestershire sauce, cayenne and the usual ingredients) and it came out fine. Of course I threw in a bag of mustard greens toward the end. They came out great. You could also use smoked turkey wings instead of ham hocks.

jcmods in Home Cooking

Best Supermarket In USA: your nominations

Thanks for the +1. Have you been to a Wegmans? I haven't and I'd like to know how it compares. I don't shop the deli counter at Fairway Pelham but I've found the customer service at the fish, cheese and coffee areas to be top notch. And ever since a bad experience opening week, the cashiers have been especially great. I've been to better meat/produce markets in other countries,
but for an overall supermarket experience I've never seen better than this Fairway.

jcmods in General Chowhounding Topics

Fleetwood Diner Coming Soon! Here we go again.

One yelper described it as "Anoither diner with red booths that the only thing worth ordering are turkey club sandwiches, tuna melts and burgers? Might as well go to a bar for that, at least i can get a beer." They said there is "nothing particularly wrong with it." That sounds like an improvement because there was a lot wrong with the Windmill foodwise. Will never forget that meatloaf ever. Looked like Scrapple..

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Goya dried beans changed packaging, why?

I've been noticing for a few weeks now that the Goya dried beans come in a stiffer plastic bag. I don't see anything on their website about the change and am wondering if it has anything to do with BPA in the traditional "soft" plastic bags. Does anyone here have any insider info on the change?

jcmods in Not About Food

Saratoga Springs November 2-5

Re Hatties. Whatever inconsistencies it may have, I can honestly say the food is MUCH better than our local Cajun place because nothing is from a jar or a can. We liked everything we ordered. Our mistake was ordering the gumbo as an appetizer because it was huge (and it was REALLY SPICY which is a good thing in my book). I would normally order that size for my entire meal. That is why it is now Sunday, and we are still finishing off the Jambalaya....LOL.

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)

Saratoga Springs November 2-5

Back home and still enjoying leftover jambalaya from Hattie's. But let's back track.
At "The Local" we split an order of fish & chips and it was great. The funny part was that once our dish came out, we saw 4-5 other people order it as well. We were sitting at he bar and the guy next to us was saying that the Local used to have the best fish & chips but the Groggery down the block had become the new favorite. Once he saw our plate, he ordered it for himself and declared that the Local was back to #1. He was also the person who told us to check out Maple 9. Then it was Parting Glass for a library fund-raiser and then Circus for some live noisy rock.
Friday, we went to lunch at Sangwych for pork bbq and we were pleased. Then for dinner it was Hattie's where we were most impressed with the fried okra and gumbo. Jambalaya and fried chicken were good, but not transcendent. Not wanting to bloat out with more beer we had gin & tonics at Gaffney's (it was the only place we could find with open seats at the bar). A long walk later we settled in Max London's for sangria (what an odd assortment of crazy-looking liquor at that bar).
Last day and we decided to go for Ravenous for an early lunch. I had the Napoleon with mushrooms and Mr. Mod had the Croque Madam special. We also ordered mimosas to toast our excellent adventure. Both crepes were fabulous and the frites with aioli rocked. Sitting again at the bar/counter (as we do) we had yet another great experience talking with the staff and customers around us. Everywhere we went we met friendly locals who seemed genuinely happy to have the conference in town and talk to us on any number of topics.
Thanks for all the advice. We never would have found the Local (or the Historic Beekman Arts area) without your help.

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Max London's Restaurant
Saratoga Springs, NY, Saratoga Springs, NY

Parting Glass
40 Lake Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

jcmods in New York State (exc. New York City)