Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
EATING
THE
MOTHERLAND
Food writer and photographer Joe Ray's gastronomic visits in Europe - the home of his ancestors - and beyond.
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Saturday, October 03, 2009
New Forms of Pie Slinging
NEW YORK CITY
Alystyre had been wearing her brand new, straight-from-Barcelona pink espadrilles for about an hour when the waiter launched a pizza onto them.
You’d think it would happen in slow motion: the pizza wobbling back and forth in the waiter’s hand and both of them wide-eyed for the impending disaster. Instead, it was over in a flash with the pie on her shoes.
Spunto’s staff handled it perfectly. The manager whisked Alystyre away, dabbing her duds with a towel soaked in mineral water for a good 20 minutes. In the meantime, they sent a new pitcher of beer over to our table of six.
The pizza, particularly the thin-crusted mushroom version, laced with a judicious splash of truffle oil (something I don’t usually go in for) was the best we had while in the city, easily trumping the Lombardi’s we had on another night.
The bill, which included three pizzas, two pitchers of beer and a Coke had a big “X†through it. Normally, it would cost about $20 per person. Our total: $0.
We left a big tip.
Spunto - MAP
65 Carmine St.
New York
www.spuntothincrust.com
+1 212 242 1200
La Manual Alpargatera Espadrilles - MAP
C/. Avinyó, 7 - 08002 Barcelona
Tel. 93 3010172
www.lamanualalpargatera.com
Saturday, September 19, 2009
First We Take Manhattan
NEW YORK CITY
***Celebrating Eating The Motherland’s 100th (or so) post, we’re heading to New York!***
Want dining as entertainment? All the show you need is on display at Buddakan. Outed by “Sex and The City†and now (Fortunately? Unfortunately?) full of mini Carrie Bradshaws, I’m not normally a big fan of this form of pomp and glam, yet here I ate it up; it’s impossible to stand at the top of the stairway and not look slack-jawed into the dining pit.
For its part, the food is up to the task, but the food is not why you come. Buddakan is an East Coast cousin to Betelnut – the San Francisco beautiful people restaurant where I once worked as a cook – it’s high end Asian fusion that’s very well thought out like long beans with shrimp and soy and a rather exquisite Peking duck salad served French style with frisée and a poached egg.
There are a few cracks showing. A pricey martini arrives with miraculous speed from the packed bar yet it’s barely cold. I’ll leave more than half of it on the table at the end of the night.
Later, our astute waiter asks about our appetizers.
- Me: I really liked the duck.
- Him: Yes, the duck salad is quite good.
We both intentionally left out the short ribs.
These are quibbles. We were here for the show and got it in spades – Carrie might have to elbow her way back in, but she won’t be disappointed. Dinner also turned out to be rather reasonably priced for a special treat kind of place – about $50 per person with drinks and a doggy bag full of lunch for the next day.
Buddakan - MAP
75 9th Ave, New York, NY‎
(212) 989-6699‎
www.buddakannyc.com