The 85th Feast of San Gennaro, Little Italy

The Annual Feast of San Gennaro is New York City’s longest-running, biggest and most revered religious outdoor festival in the United States. This is the 85th anniversary of the festival, which will be held Thursday, September 15, through Sunday, September 25, 2011, on the streets of the historic Little Italy neighborhood in lower Manhattan. This neighborhood served as the first home in America for hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants who came here seeking to improve their lives, beginning in the early part of the 20th century.

Since 1996, the festival has been run by the "Figli di San Gennaro, Inc."(Children of San Gennaro), a not-for-profit community organization dedicated to keeping alive the spirit and faith of the early Italian immigrants.  San Gennaro is the Patron Saint of Naples, Italy. When newly arrived immigrants from Naples settled along Mulberry Street, in what would become the "Little Italy" section of New York City, they decided to continue a tradition they had followed in their hometown in Italy. That was to celebrate the day in 305 A.D. when Saint Gennaro was martyred for the faith.  Each year on September 19th,  a religious procession of the Statue of San Gennaro, winds along the length of Mulberry and Mott Streets, between Canal and Houston Streets. The procession begins after a celebratory Mass held at the Most Precious Blood Church on Mulberry Street, which is also the National Shrine of San Gennaro.

My husband and I went to the feast on Friday evening, and strolled the many blocks looking at all the food, rides, games, live music and local sights along with the rest of the large crowd. The feast is quite popular and attracts up to a million visitors of all ethnic groups over its eleven days.

The predominantly Italian food was in abundance and it was all very tempting!

There were all kinds of gelato, pastries, calzones, pizzas, pastas, stuffed clams, seafood salad, fried calamari, rice balls, sausage and peppers and onions, roasted pork, beef and chicken, sauteed broccoli rabe, biscotti, a nougat candy called torrone, and Zeppoles, which are fried dough sweetened with powdered sugar.

 More than 35 of Little Italy's most famous Italian restaurants provide outdoor dining facilities for the event. We decided to dine al fresco at one of my husband's many favorite restaurants in Little Italy.  I had linguine with a light tomato sauce yopped with shrimp and clams, and my husband had Veal Sorrentino, which is basically veal cutlets cooked with prosciutto, eggplant and mozzarella cheese.  Delicious!

 We stayed well into the late evening, enjoying all the festivities. 

According to the Feast of San Gennaro web site : "The continued growth of the Feast over the past ten years has enabled Figli di San Gennaro, Inc. to donate more than $1.6-million to worthy causes providing valuable services for children and education in the Little Italy community and beyond. At the conclusion of each annual Feast, sizeable donations are distributed to scores of worthy organizations in all five boroughs and the tri-state area to help the needy and the young. No other public festival donates more money to charity than does the Feast of San Gennaro."


  Below is a short video I took of one of the vendors at the feast, you can also watch it at this link.



The Feast of San Gennaro is a wonderful way to enjoy one of the old time ethnic neighborhoods of New York City and enjoy some delicious food and support a good cause.  We wouldn't miss it!

I'm adding this post to "Mosaic Monday" event on Mary's blog Little Red House, the new Our World Tuesday,  and "Rednesday" on Sue's blog It's A Very Cherry World. Thanks to the hosts!

Al Di La Trattoria -- a Taste of Venice in Brooklyn!

"Al Di La" in Italian means "beyond."  Al Di La Trattoria, a little corner restaurant located at 248 5th Avenue, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, is  one of New York City's top  rated restaurants, offering Northern Italian cuisine from the Veneto region, beyond compare!

It's not unusual for Brooklyn residents to go over to Manhattan to dine in a wonderful restaurant, but it once was unusual to see Manhattanites taking cabs over the Brooklyn Bridge to dine, except for exceptional quality like Al Di La presents.

You can see by Al Di La's front window that they are deservedly proud of their well earned acclaim!

They are the first restaurant profiled, out of 31 Brooklyn restaurants, that put Brooklyn on the NYC culinary map, in the equally acclaimed The New Brooklyn Cookbook. Cookbook authors Melissa Vaughan and Brendan Vaughan credit Al Di La for being the pioneers of this wonderful new gourmet food scene movement to Brooklyn.

The restaurant is tiny, and they do not take reservations except for a limited amount of parties of 6 or over people.  It is not unusual to see a line of hungry customer queuing up before opening hour -- us among them!
They now opened Al Di La Vino - an extension that offers fine wines in bar seating and an intimate dining room that can accommodate up to 20 more people for those that can not wait for the main dining room.
Owners Anna Klinger, a chef, and Emiliano Coppa, a native Venetian born food stylist who was working in Milan, met while she was travelling through Italy.  When they moved to New York they were both working long hours separately. As a result Anna and Emiliano decided to open Al Di La in Brooklyn in 1998, so that they could could work together, and it became an instant hit!  They did all the restaurant renovations themselves, and were delighted to uncover authentic antique floor tile and and a tin ceiling in the building. They decided to preserve their charm and leave them as is.

The beautiful Venetian glass chandelier in the dining area once belonged to Emiliano's grandmother.

The evening my husband and I dined I chose the Steamed Bouchat Mussels as my appetizer. The plump and succulent mussels were steamed in white wine, with tomato, parsley and chili and served over grilled Italian bread.

My husband chose the Trippa Ala Toscana as his appetizer. It was a delicious blend of tripe, stewed in white wine, soffritto and a few tomatoes. Tripe is one of my Italian husband's favorite comfort foods, and he was very pleased. You can see a recipe I posted previously for my vegetable tripe soup here.

For the main course, I chose the Braised Rabbit with Black Olives and Creamy Polenta. I saw this recipe as one of the ones profiled for Al Di La in The New Brooklyn Cookbook and wanted to try the Venetian version of rabbit, as I was more familiar with the Southern Italian way of preparing it -- see my blog post about that here.

My husband chose Calf Liver Alla Veneziana as his main course. The liver was lightly sauteed with onions in butter, and finished with a red wine glaze. Liver is not something I prepare very often at home, so this was a special treat for him!

We usually do not indulge in dessert when we dine out, but decided to treat ourselves this evening, and I ordered the Affogato al Cafe'. It was a decadent and generous combination of vanilla ice cream and crushed almond praline, drowned with hot decaffeinated Espresso.  Pure heaven in every spoonful!

My husband had his espresso on the side and ordered a desset special,  an Almond Panna Cotta with a Mixed Berry Compote topping. Another taste of heaven in every spoonful!




You can watch this charming short video about Al Di La above or at this link. It also shows a few of their specialties, all made with simple, pure ingredients, yet all tasting so superb.

This link also has two video you can watch, where cookbook author Michele Scicolone interviews Al Di La's Chef, Anna, and shows her preparing two recipes: Risotto Nero and Sarde in Saor.

The evening turned to night and we went home sated and happy!

If you are looking for a taste of Venice in New York City, or just a fabulous lunch or dinner, make sure to cross the bridge from Manhattan into Brooklyn and visit Al Di La!

I am linking up with the "Foodie Friday" event on Michael's blog Designs by Gollum. Please visit Michael's blog on Friday to see links to all this week's participating blogs and their wonderul array of recipes and food related blog posts!

I'm also linking with Beth Fish Reads for her "Weekend Cooking" event and Sandi at Whistlestop Cafe Cooking, for her "Friday Favorites" event!

I would also be so happy if  you please visit this link to visit my review blog to see the shopping spree I went on for my bride-to-be daughter and  for a chance to win a $100 HomeGoods gift card by leaving a comment there between June 20 and 30th, 2011! (click here for official rules)

Also, until June 30th, 2011, BlogHer is giving a chance to win one of ten $25 gift cards to HomeGoods on the BlogHer Prizes and Promotions Page that I know you'll want to enter, so you can have another chance to have your own mini HomeGoods shopping spree! Click here to enter! (Here are the official rules to enter

National Lobster Day!

Does this photo look like it could have been taken in New England? 

 

Or this?

I found out today that today, June 15, is National Lobster Day, and I would be remiss if I did not tell you about my favorite places to buy fresh lobster!

New England is known for its lobster, but all the scenes above were taken at a Brooklyn institution called Jordan's Lobster Dock, located at 3165 Harkness Avenue in the  Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.  Jordan's has been a favorite retail shop for lobster in New York since 1938.  

There is a 2005 Martin Scorsese film production that was written, produced, and directed by Kevin Jordan, and stars Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin, called "Brooklyn Lobster," that chronicle's the family's efforts to salvage their seafood operation when the bank defaulted on a loan they had secured to finance a restaurant extension to the business. According to the movie’s production notes, Bill Jordan, the “lobster king of New York,” “was the first to air-ship lobsters packed in barrels of seaweed and is responsible for the glass lobster tanks found in local supermarkets today.”

Thankfully, although their operation became smaller, they were able to remain in business, as Jordan's had some of the best prices for fresh imported Maine lobster of any place I know, and I have been buying my lobsters here for many years.

According to the Jordan's Lobster Dock website: "Centuries ago in North America, lobsters were so plentiful that Native Americans used them to fertilize their fields and to bait their hooks for fishing. In colonial times, lobsters were considered “food for the poor.” They were harvested from tidal pools and served to children, to prisoners, and to indentured servants, who exchanged their passage to America for seven years of service to their sponsors. In Massachusetts, some of the servants became so tired of eating lobster that they had it put into their contracts they would not be forced to eat lobster more than three times a week!"

Jordan's has a small counter style restaurant but I always stop in to buy my live lobster, have them steam it and gut it for no extra charge, and then I take it home for further preperation.

My favorite summer time way to finish preparing the steamed Jordan's lobster is just warm it up on the grill, crack it open, serve with melted butter and enjoy!

Another Brooklyn institution, in business at the same location for 56 years, is Nick's Lobster, located at 2777 Flatbus Ave.  Nick began his lobster career by docking his lobster boat at the current location on Flatbush Ave. and sell his fresh caught lobsters from a shack to passers by.

A retail fish and lobster shop soon followed.

Nick's has grown over the years to a 300 seat indoor and outdoor patio restaurant, serving new generations of Brooklynites from all around the world!

You can see the homes and boat docks of the nearby Mill Basin neighborhood of Brooklyn from their patio.

My husband and I like to drop into Nick's for some fresh clams on the half shell, and .....

 ...their delicious mixed fish fry and corn on the cob!

If we don't eat in, a few of Nick's large lobsters go home to be cooked!  Whether oiled, broiled, grilled, fresh lobster is a delicious treat! 

What is your favorite way to prepare (or eat) lobster?

There may be a food truck "Lobster War" going on in Manhattan right now, but I'm glad I live in Brooklyn, where I know where to find the best retail lobster in New York City!

 

I'm linking to Michael Lee West's 'Foodie Friday" event of her blog Designs by Gollum. Please check her link to see all the wonderful recipes and foodie treat links in all the blogs participating on Friday!

 

Clinton Street Baking Company and Restaurant

A friend recently celebrated a birthday and I decided to treat her by sharing a breakfast together at the birthplace for our new cookbook obsession: The Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook. There has been quite a bit of buzz about this small lower East Side restaurant and bakery since husband & wife team, Neil Kleinberg and DeDe Lahman, opened in April 2001. Their mission was to make the best baked goods in the city, hand-mixed in small batches, using quality ingredients such as cage free eggs. Soon large crowds were lining up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their cookbook was named one of the best new cookbooks for 2010 by the New York Times (read article at this link). Both the pancakes and the buttermilk biscuits were on our mind as we've heard so much about them.

The Clinton Street Baking Company and Restaurant is located at 4 Clinton Street (between East Houston and Stanton), New York, NY.  The Lower East Side is a trendy yet rough and tumble neighborhood of old time tenement buildings and stores as you can see from a previous post I did about the neighborhood at this link. It may not be where you'd expect to find what was rated as the "best breakfast/brunch" spot by Time Out Magazine or the "best pancakes' by New York Magazine, among other honors which you can read about on this link.

The menu offered many tempting breakfasts, as you can see if you double click on the photo above to enlarge it. I really couldn't get a photo of the inside, as we were seated almost elbow to elbow in the small 32 seat restaurant, and I didn't want to annoy the diners at that table.

None of that mattered when our breakfast was served!  I chose the "Country Breakfast" of three eggs, grilled "cure 81" ham steak hash browns and a buttermilk biscuit. I had especially wanted to try the buttermilk biscuit as they were modeled after the ones that were served in the once legendary seafood restaurant from my youth called Lundy's. That restaurant has been sadly closed for many years so it was nice to taste their wonderful biscuit again.  Martha Stewart has called Neil "The king of buttermilk biscuits," and she is right!  My biscuit was flaky, tender, "melt in the mouth" good! The entire delicious breakfast was so large that the only thing I ate for the rest of the day was a small bowl of soup for supper.
Martha Stewart was kind enough to include the Buttermilk Biscuit recipe on her website, and there is also video to view of her and Neil making the biscuits on her show, which you can see at this link.

My friend had the pancakes served with warm maple butter.  She could have had wild Maine blueberry, banana walnut or chocolate chunk pancakes for the same price, but we both had decided we wanted to try them plain, so as to really see if we liked the basic pancake recipe in the cookbook.

They were served with a raspberry jam on the side which was wonderful!

Neil whips the egg whites separately from the yolks and then folds them slowly into the batter in increments when he makes his pancakes, which makes them extra light and fluffy.
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Again, he demonstrated cooking his pancakes on the Martha Stewart show and you can see the video and get the pancake recipe at this link.  Over 600 pancake stacks are served a week in this little restaurant so you know that they must be good!

Of course, as a bakery, they also have cake and pies, pastries and muffins, cookies and biscuits for sale which you can see listed at this link. All are available for pick-up only, and most must be ordered 48 hours in advance.

We enjoyed our breakfast celebration so much that I think we'll be making a trip back to the Lower East Side and the Clinton Street Bakery and Restaurant very soon!

I'm linking this post to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday for this week's letter "Y" and I took the liberty of linking this post for Yummy, Yolks and Yes, those were wonderful biscuits and pancakes!

I'm also linking to Michael Lee's "Foodie Friday" on her blog Designs By Gollum and Sandi's Friday's Favorites on her blog Whistlestop Cafe Cooking.

Thanks to all the hostesses!

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

Are you an oyster lover? Oysters are bivalve mollusks which live and found in fresh or salt water. Filter-feeders, they are notably high in protein, low in calories, and are excellent sources of several minerals, including iron, zinc, calcium and selenium and a good source of vitamin B 12 and vitamin A. Preparation of oysters widely varies, as they can be eaten on the half shell, raw, smoked, boiled, baked, fried, roasted, stewed, canned, pickled, steamed, broiled, or used in a variety of drinks. My favorite way to eat oysters is raw on the half shell served cold on a bed of ice. Sometimes I top each oyster with a little freshly squeezed lemon juice or I add a bit of ground horseradish or cocktail sauce.  I relish them, as they are a delicious taste of the sea!

I just finished reading this excellent book that follows the history of New York City and the renowned oyster beds in the Hudson River estuary.  "Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster." according to Mark Kurlansky, author of the 2006 book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell.  As Kurlansky states in his book: "For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900's played such a dominant a role in the city's economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham's most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city's congested waterways." 

Kurlansky, who is also the best selling author of "Salt: A World History," and "Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World," writes in a wonderfully narrative, rambling, factual style that made me feel like I was auditing a university culinary history lecture. He includes historic recipes, maps, drawings and photos among the pages of the book so the reader is totally immersed in oyster lore and facts. He is such a good teacher that I wanted to learn more, and did some of my own research.

Photo Source: click on photo

Oyster  (1807-1809)

Oysters were extremely plentiful during the early history of New York City, and many were as large as dinner plates, as depicted in the illustration above. The estuary of the lower Hudson had 350 square miles of oyster beds that for centuries fed the Lenape Native Americans, the Dutch settlers, the English, and the Americans after the Revolution. They were a staple of their diet and New York's major export.

Photo Source: click on photo

Oyster stands in Fulton Market. (1870)

New Yorkers rich and poor were eating them in oyster cellars, saloons, stands, houses, cafes and restaurants.  In some places oysters were sold as an "all you can eat" item for six cents.  In 1860, some 12 million oysters were sold in New York markets; by 1880 the area's oyster beds were producing 700 million a year.

photo source: click on photo

Oyster Houses, South Street and Pike Slip, Manhattan. April 01, 1937 -- notice the piles of discarded oyster shells in front of the buildings.

As the population of New York climbed, the constant discharge of garbage and sewage began to take a toll on the harbor floor. Outbreaks of cholera and typhoid from the apparent consumption of infected oysters began to occur and in 1927 the city's last oyster beds closed and purveyors switched to cleaner oyster sources.

The most common variety of oyster in the United States today is the Blue Point Eastern Oyster, which measures 2 to 5 inches across and can be found from the Gulf of Mexico to Prince Edward Island. They also have regional names: Apalachicola (Florida), Bluepoint (New York), Breton (Louisiana), Chincoteague (Virginia), Malpeque (Canada), and Wellfleet (Cape Cod). Because oysters, or any raw fish or shellfish, may contain harmful bacteria, which mainly comes from unregulated waters, pregnant woman or those with compromised immune systems should avoid eating them.

One of the historical subjects in "The Big Oyster" book that I found fascinating was the history of the Delmonico family and the Delmonico's Restaurant, the first of which was located at 56 Beaver Street in lower Manhattan. The restaurant's website states: "Delmonico's, opened in 1837 as America's first fine dining restaurant, continues to serve the connoisseur of fine American food in its premier location at 56 Beaver Street, the heart of Manhattan's financial district. Birthplace of the Delmonico Steak, Delmonico Potatoes, Eggs Benedict, Lobster Newburg, and Baked Alaska, the original Delmonico's offered unheard of luxury - the availability of private dining rooms, an extensive wine cellar, innovative cuisine, and, above all, warm, personal service."

The first building burned down in a fire and the present building seen in my photo above, replaced it in 1891. Many famous people ate at this establishment, including Queen Victoria and her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, Charles Dickens,Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Diamond Jim Brady, Lillian Russell, J. P. Morgan, William Makepeace Thackeray.  Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first transatlantic cable from a dining room. An extensive history of the restaurant can be read at the Steak Perfection website.

A collage of photos from the restaurant's web site, which includes a 20 ounce prime rib-eye steak, grilled to perfection and topped with herbed butter, which is a signature dish that's the gold standard for all steak houses try to achieve.  The restaurant has changed ownership many time over the years, but it still retains the Delmonic's name and many of the signature dishes that have been a part of the Delmonico tradition since its early days.

A video on how to open a live oyster by a chef instructor, Gerard Viverito, of the Culinary Institute in New Hyde Park, New York.

For a truly elegant way to serve oysters try a mignonette sauce and caviar. The following recipe is adapted from The Culinary Institute of America's "Garde Manger, The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen."

Oysters with Mignonette Sauce and Caviar

Makes 2 servings

•2 tablespoons minced shallots
•6 tablespoons chopped chives
•1/3 cup champagne vinegar
•3 tablespoons cracked black pepper
•12 to 18 oysters
•1/2 ounce osetra caviar

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine the shallots, chives, vinegar, and pepper and reserve.
2. Shuck the oysters, loosen muscle from bottom shell, then remove oyster with top shell.
3. Place the oysters in their shells on a bed of crushed ice. Top each with mignonette sauce and a dollop of caviar.

No matter if you are an oyster connoisseur, or a history buff, you will find reading "The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" both entertaining and delicious!

I'm linking this post to  Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday for this week's letter "S" for oyster's found in the Sea that taste so good Slurped right off the Shell!
I'm also linking to Michael Lee's "Foodie Friday" on her blog Designs By Gollum and Sandi's Friday's Favorites on her blog Whistlestop Cafe Cooking.
This is also an Edible Book Review inspired by Jain at Food for Thought, a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.  I will also be linking with Mary of the blog Home Is Where The Boat Is  who is hosting a "Cook Your Book and Join In The Fun" event March 1st -- I give The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell **** for "good read!"

 Thank you all for your inspiration! Please visit all these wonderful blogs and join in on all the fun!

I will be choosing the winner of my "One World, One Heart" give away tomorrow, February 17, 2011.  Please check the original post on this link to see the winner. Thank you to all who entered!  It was so nice meeting so many wonderfully creative bloggers!