Finally, we make it to Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a highlight of our New York adventure. The entry part of the space is devoted to pastries, espresso drinks, and products for sale. I pick up a few made in Brooklyn chocolate bars plus a copy of the Art of Eating and the latest issue of Diner Journal, the Poultry Special Edition: filled with intriguing recipes like “pate of turkey innards” and “chicken in the hole,” written in the relaxed idiom of cooks who work the line in a restaurant kitchen. Diner Journal is published by the group that runs Marlow & Sons & Daughters, Diner, and Roman. They have a blog, too.
Then we move to the not at all fancy and very relaxed bar and restaurant located in the back.
We don’t eat much here- just a plate of oysters on the half shell and a couple fava bean and goat cheese crostini (the bread is toasted just right) while sipping a chilled French rose and listening to a pleasingly quirky selection of music on the sound system (Beach Boys!)
Why do I like Marlow & Sons so much? Pamela described it as a “kinky little bodega” that felt like “a favorite old sweater,” and that’s a good description. Also, it isn’t just about the food- though I think they have good food here even if we didn’t have a chance to taste much of it. It’s also the sense I get, while sitting near the bar with my oysters and my wine, of entering into an ongoing sensual and intellectual conversation about food and restaurants at this point in time.
May 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
Executive Chef, ET (happy birthday for yesterday, Eric!), served Rub with Love salmon mini-sandwiches at a 4th of July Happy Hour held yesterday at Palace Ballroom for all the folks who helped save Seattle’s fireworks for this coming summer.
May 11th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I recently popped into Bathtub Gin downtown and fell in love with it. It is very tiny and this Lilliputian-sized space has 2 levels to it! The bartenders are nice, and they are riding the trend (it is back again) of featuring not only vintage cocktails but also some mature, new concotions. Another really nice thing that helps to set them apart from other “retro lounges” is that they feature a lot of unique bitters, most of them produced locally.
I had a very refreshing cocktail called the Osiris. Osiris was the Egyptian god who oversaw not only the dead, but also vegetation and farming. This cocktail contained Becherovka schnapps (from the Czech Republic), lemon juice, lavender bitters, and Prosecco. Odd combinations, right? Just enough so that I had to try it out and it was remarkably pleasant, light, flavorful, and refreshing!
May 11th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Finally we wend our way to the corner of ‘Marlow and Marlow’ in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We come across Marlow and Daughters first, and can see that Diner and Marlow and Sons, which are all owned by the same company, are right across the street. Marlow and Daughters is another of Brooklyn’s stellar little food shops. The first thing we see when we walk in is a couple of young guys butchering meat. How cool is that!
May 11th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Next up on our Brooklyn adventure, the hip cheese and meat emporium in Carroll Gardens, Stinky Brooklyn. Wouldn’t it be nice if Seattle had several intense little food shops like this?
May 11th, 2010 | No Comments »
While we were representing at the James Beard Awards, we also took in some other remarkable sites. Dev, who works at Serious Pie, set us up with a tour of the farm at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
A magnificent spread (photos top) that is home to geese, sheep, chickens, thousands of veggie starts, and Dan Barber’s Blue Hill Restaurant.
Unfortunately we could not stay for a meal because we were headed north to see the world’s largest gnome and edible miniature golf course (photos bottom).
May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »
When leaving on an early Anacortes ferry, sometimes the awaiting paradise of San Juan Islands is not enough motivation. When rising before the birds, in the quiet blackness and in a fit of groggy grumbling, there must be another reward waiting at the end of the drive. And fortunately, there is: the siren song of The Donut House.
Located with merciful precision in Anacortes on the way to the boat (on the right side of the street, even!) the Donut House fries a grand assortment of traditional doughnuts and their doughy friends, and has them ready for road weary travelers twenty four hours a day. It’s always a warm, loaf-sized buttermilk bar for me, filled with colorful fruity goo. My wife likes their signature maple Bigfoot Bar. Sort of the Donut House’s answer to a porterhouse steak, it nearly fills a pink take-out box on its own. Good, strong coffee cuts the sweet and takes some red scratchiness out of the eyes. We go in and look around but with due experience and forethought a disciplined voyager can take advantage of the drive thru window.
People who like an active morning biking across Lopez or ascending Mount Constitution are advised to stick witha sack of little washed carrots. But for those who enjoy a nap shortly after waking up, The Donut House awaits. Bali Hai needn’t always be an island.
May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »
Just a reminder that not everything that’s wonderful in New York is trendy, new, and hip.
May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »
We continued our tour of New York at the gourmet bodega, Brooklyn Larder, which features beautiful artisan cheeses, prepared foods, olive oils, meats, and, of course, since this is Brooklyn, a wide array of small production soda pop.
May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »
After eating at Mile End, we continuted to explore Brooklyn by taking a walk to nearby Bark in Park Slope. This is another small casual space with a simple concept executed with style- in this case hot dogs offered with different toppings. A few burgers, sausages, fries, onion rings, and shakes round out the menu, and they feature soda from a New England natural soda producer, Foxon Park. This little hot dog shack has a mission statement on the back of the menu, which states in part: “At Bark, we take an artisan’s approach to fast food. No longer does fast food need to be cheap, mass-produced, chemically and genetically altered, and anonymous.”
We had the Bark Dog, with sweet pepper relish, mustard, and onion. I’m not really a hot dog person; I think I filled my quota growing up in the Chicago area. The Bark Dog came to our table on a small paper lined sheet pan. It was pretty good. The crisply toasted bun was my favorite part.
May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »
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