Food Truck Bazaar Tomorrow 11am-4pm

Coming to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market: the 2nd Food Truck Bazaar, featuring such luminaries as Rickshaw Dumpling, The Krave, Bistro Truck, Go Burger, and the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.

I'm not a regular shopper at the Flea Market, but I do like to go and have a look around, and I may as well do it when there's good food too!

The location is West 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue, same place as the market usually is.

Get all the other deets at: hellskitchenfleamarket.com

How doth the little crocodile...

... improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!"
--Lewis Carroll

I don't partake in hookah myself, but now that the weather has warmed, I see more of it! Horus Too (offshot of Horus in the East Village) opens its doors as patrons enjoy their pipes. Or however you say it. Anyway, it always makes me think of the Alice in Wonderland Caterpillar.



Except with gum disease, and lung cancer. See, even though most people believe hookah to be less harmful than cigarettes (not a great selling point to begin with), it can be just as detrimental to health, in part because smoking sessions tend to be so long.

Excuse me, didn't mean to get preachy. It's just that I did research. On Wikipedia. Because I wanted to use smart, with-it words to describe the scene at Horus. But the article doesn't mention that in some cases, you might turn into a butterfly. (Could be the start of brilliant career getting your picture taken in Times Square).

Reunion Surf Bar Opening

Reunion Surf Bar Opening via Daily Candy

"Notice hints of tasteful tiki while hanging ten: Dark ’n’ Stormies (in highball glasses designed by Ashe) come frozen, as do the Coronas (a secret ingredient ensures a superlative chill). Bottles of rhum arrangé are infused with lychee, papaya, and mangosteen.

A small menu (served late) offers beachy snacks gone global: braised short rib burgers with Sriracha and kimchee, and “sandy” clams — dredged in sweet potato-and-semolina flour spritzed with kaffir lime. "

Sign me up!

Brick Oven Pizza on 44th - Slice Harvester totally dug this

There's a lot of good pizza in this neighborhood, but there is also so much bad pizza that sometimes I feel too discouraged to try a new place. However, the gentleman at Slice Harvester has doing that work for us!

Backstory: Colin's mission is to have a slice of pizza at every pizzeria in New York City. He began making his way down Manhattan sometime year, and he's recently been through the Theater District (I wept for him during that painful phase) and Hell's Kitchen. You can read about all his adventures at sliceharvester.com.

Slice Harvester has very exacting standards about what makes a good pizza, and he doesn't hold back when a slice fails to meet his expectations. As I've read about his Hell's Kitchen experiences, this review caught me by surprise: Brick Oven Pizza, on 44th Street btwn 9th and 10th Aves. I think this is actually a sort of Annex to L'Allegria restaurant on that corner of 9th (per this yelp.com entry).

I finally tried it yesterday, inspired by SH's glowing review. I sat at the bar with a friend, watching the pizza maestro make the pies and put them in the brick oven right there in front of us. With a 3 second trip from the oven to our plate, our margherita pie was steaming hot, and so delicious!

One thing I do disagree with: the pizza maestro is so nice.  SH makes it sound like he's gruff and brusque but I promise that was not the case when I went.  He is a strong, silent type, ok? But still totally nice!

"Spanish Cuisine" coming soon to 9th Ave!

On 9th Ave. between 46th and 47th Streets:

I don't know what kind exactly, but the neon lighting presages great potential for greasy spoon awesomeness. ¡Vamos!

FYI: Hell's Kitchen Farmers' Market

Hell's Kitchen Farmers' Market
When: May through November, every Saturday from 10AM to 5PM
Where: Manhattan Plaza (43rd St. btwn 9th/10th Aves)

Chelsea cannot compete with the Hell's Kitchen Art Gallery of LIFE

Also, I think I'm itchy. Well, done Samuel.

Danger danger!

Walk down this section of 52nd St. at your own peril.  Unless you're a local, you are definitely walking in the wrong direction.  8th Ave is the other way. 

Flooding, rodents, fire hazard and--scariest of all--squatting!  

I take it back. Mosquitoes, very scary.  Probably a direct result of the flooding, too.

Anybody want to check behind these and let me know if there is a kickass, trendy new speakeasy called Emergency Room?  If this were one of the Villages, there most certainly would be.  But ovah here in the 10036, I'm taking them at face value for now.  Wouldn't want to ruin my shoes in all that flooding.

Less than appreciated: Taste of Times Square

I usually like food festivals, but this Monday I was less than ecstatic to find Restaurant Row packed with the Taste of Times Square event.  I'm not a street food snob, but even to me it wasn't anything to get excited about (unlike the 9th Avenue Food Festival from a few weekends ago).  Times Square, uh, standbys such as Applebee's and SBARRO's had booths.

A good analogy to illustrate how I feel about this event would be

Taste of Times Square :: Food Festivals

astroturfing :: grassroots movements

Sure, I noticed Becco and Toloache were there, and I didn't get to stop for a bite but I'd bet those were good.  However the overall roster, location, and chosen time (a Monday afternoon) would suggest that Hell's Kitchen natives were not the intended audience.  Overall, I less than appreciated the surprise.

Kids, this is a learning opportunity.  Midtown West is not one uniform lump of a neighborhood.  The eastern border of Hell's Kitchen in the 40s, if you will, is 9th Avenue.  The Theater District / Times Square area shares a boundary with HK there, in the 40s.  Above 50th Street one could say HK extends to 8th, given the distance from actual Times Square and the lack of theaters up there.

A closer look at Balkanika

At the time of this writing, Balkanika is virtually nonexistent in cyberspace (save for this blog post).  It opened the Friday of Memorial Weekend and I visited for the first time just a few days ago.  The market area at the entrance of the restaurant has fresh fruit and vegetables, whole coffee beans, crackers and other groceries plus a cold food bar.  The restaurant begins further in, serving a collection of what I can only describe as "Mediterranean" food.  Drinks include hot or iced coffee, wine, and beer. 

The Village Voice and the listing on Chow say it is by the same owner as Kashkaval, which isn't hard to believe since Kashkaval is also a market/restaurant hybrid, albeit with a focus on wine and cheese.  I had a pasticio, described as a Greek lasagna, and a friend ordered chicken pilav with rice.  I'm not a food critic but I will say, I liked! And I will be back!

A big welcome to you, and you, and you (and me!)

In this inaugural post, I want to extend my warmest welcome to Balkanika, Zigolini's and Totto Ramen.  And to me!

Balkanika: A Mediterranean market/restaurant that opened the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  I really like the selection of whole coffee beans up front (Sumatra, Ethiopia, Colombia!) and the Greek lasagna I had for dinner yesterday.

Balkanika is on 9th Ave between 47th and 48th.  I haven't found any listings with more information, so I will keep enjoying it while it's still a genuine neighborhood spot.

Zigolini's Pizza Bar: Pizza + alchie + outdoors = win.  Opened the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but I haven't tried it yet.  If you live/work downtown, you might know them from the FiDi Zigolini's.

675A 9th Ave.
Manhattan, NY 10036
(212) 333-3900
www.pizzabarnyc.com

Totto Ramen: Opened during the week. I kind of want to try it, but think I'll wait for the weather to cool off a tad (sorry).  It's just: June. In NYC. Bar facing kitchen. Open doors in lieu of AC. Sauna. I could be lured in with chilled soba, but I didn't see it on the menu.

366 W 52nd St.
Manhattan, NY 10019
(212) 582-0052
www.tottoramen.com







These are just a few of the new restaurants.  Brickyard opened less than a month ago (I think),  around 52nd and 9th.  I spotted a new Moroccan place on 10th too.  Haven't forgotten them!

I moved to this neighborhood almost exactly a year ago, and it's been great seeing so many new businesses arrive.  We've also said au revoir to Dousoeur de Paris, which was the charming-est Parisian pastry shop ever, and maybe ahead of its time for this neighborhood.  Will not forget you either!