 |
I don't 'cook' so much as 'heat up' these days—my current kitchen leaves much to be desired and I always feel painfully short on both time and money. Also, my landlord/roomate is a vegitarian and doesn't want meat cooked in the house. But I recently had the opportunity to house sit at a beautiful place in Hell's Kitchen so I decided to celebrate my birthday a week early and have a dinner party. In one of our classes we'd just finished reading The Banquet Years, which is a history of Avant Garde poets/artists/composers in Paris, so I thought I'd run with the French banquet theme and make some beef bourguignon (which basically consists of fat and wine—never quite grasped that before making it myself, but this explains why it is one of the tastiest foods ever created.) This all gave me a reason to visit some of the amazing little Italian food shops in my area.
First off, G. Esposito’s & Sons Jersey Pork Store for the bacon and beef. It's almost 100 years old and obviously a local hangout. While I was waiting for them to trim and cube my beef (yay!) I had time to take loads of pictures, and I couldn't help but overhear quite a lot of the conversation, part of which, no exaggeration, went like this (w/ heavy brooklyn accent—think Staying Alive): "You don't know. You don't even know how long he wouldn't talk to me for. He was so mad. But I was like, 'Dad, you have a son called Frank. You have two grandsons called Frank. How many Franks do you need??'' —on the fact that he didn't name his son after his father.
 |
 |
 |
| Just in case you forgot what you were eating... |
 |
 |
| This one will haunt your nightmares to punish you for your carnivorous ways... |
Then, Caputo Bakery—which is 108 years old—to get an epic loaf of bread for mopping up fat and wine. The lady behind the counter took the time, unsolicited and in a motherly way, to tell me how to get the ink from a recently exploded pen off my fingers. Service and then some!
 | |
| That gap there was where my loaf was :) |
And finally, F. Monteleone Bakery and Cafe, who make anything you can imagine out of marzipan. I went in for an espresso and cannoli, but couldn't resist some little choux pastry swans. They seemed so French and banquet-y.
 |
This one small shopping trip made me feel so much more connected to the people and the history of the area I'm living in right now. If only a girl could live off of bacon and choux pastry...
I'll post pictures from the dinner itself soon.
