Tater Tot Pizza

Last year, kind of as a joke, and kind of seriously, I decided to make a masterpiece known as Tater Tot Pizza.  I love tater tots, and so do my friends.  I can't believe it has taken me so long to actually share the recipe, but since it is winter and totally sports season, I thought why not now?  The thing with this pizza is that there are a lot of separate steps, but you can totally make the ingredients ahead of time and combine them all once you are ready to bake your pizza.

Vesta Trattoria and Wine Bar

Steamed Prince Edward Island Mussels. 

I went out with friends last Friday night to this adorable little place called Vesta in Astoria, Queens.  It was such a fun night.  Vesta is pretty cozy, with enough space to fit about thirty people, give or take, and a little bar in the corner that can seat about ten more.  Besides the Italian food being really yummy and the perfect rustic feel, the wait staff was so friendly and chill.  I can't wait to go back and try them for brunch, their menu sounds amazing.  And did I mention they have a Sweet Baby Jesus Cake?  For real.

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - L & B Spumoni Pizza

I went to Coney Island for the first time with my sister, and we stopped by L & B Spumoni Gardens on our way back to Manhattan.  We got a delicious Sicilian slice of pizza.  It is so good that I am closing my eyes and tasting the pizza in my mouth.  Thick and fluffy crust with a sweet tomato sauce over the cheese.   Out of this world good.  My only regret is only getting one slice.  Is it worth the hour trip out to Brooklyn?  Ummm...YES!  If you are at Coney Island, get the fries at Nathan's Hot Dogs, but save room for this pizza  for dinner.

Click here to read my Domino's Pizza review.

Click here for a Sugar Snap Pea and Asparagus Pasta recipe.

The Best Thing In My Mouth - South Brooklyn Pizza

Sorry I don't have a picture, but just had to tell you about what a delicious slice of cheese pizza I had from South Brooklyn Pizza.  And no, this location is not in Brooklyn (although there is one in Carroll Gardens), but in the East Village.  Thin, crisp crust, tasty sauce, cheese, and basil leaves.  And if you want to add a bit of pep, add the hot peppers, or roasted garlic that are kept in little pots along the wall.  And they are open late - real late, perfect for after a drink at CultureFix.

Click here to read my Clinton St. Baking Company review.  Yummy.

Fiddlehead, Potato, and Ramp Pizza

I can't tell you how nice it is to go to the Greenmarket early Friday morning.  I am almost hesitant to tell you, because I don't want people to hear and it to become crowded!  Anyways, I made my rounds last Friday on a mission to get ramps, rhubarb, asparagus, and fiddlehead ferns.  I ended up with all of those and a small basil plant, eggs, and shiitake mushrooms.  In the booth where I bought the fiddleheads and ramps, some guys from The Spotted Pig (my favorite restaurant) were buying a hefty load of fiddleheads!  By the way, I am noticing a trend - if you carry herb plants with you, someone is bound to talk to you.   It happened to me with my rosemary, and it happened to with my basil on Friday.

Asparagus, Mushroom, & Caramelized Onion Pizza

Last Friday was pizza party time.  I got up early and went to the Greenmarket.  It was one of the best Friday mornings in a long time.  The farmers market is so peaceful at 8:00 in the morning.  I ended up buying fresh eggs, a small rosemary bush, asparagus, and a variety of mushrooms.  The rest of the day was spent sniffing my rosemary plant sitting on my desk, and daydreaming about making asparagus, mushroom, and caramelized onion pizza.

Bad Horse Pizza Review

On Friday night, my friends and I got together for the grand opening of Bad Horse Pizza.  We followed our noses down my five flights of stairs to Bad Horse next door.  It was around 8:00 and the place was very busy, so busy that the waiter seemed annoyed/shocked that we were okay waiting for an hour for pizza.  First off, an hour wait is not that bad for New York, and second off I have been smelling their pizza all week.  I was dying to try it!  Obviously, they were not prepared for Harlem's excitement for a real pizza place.  So we decided that maybe carry out would be a better option.  So a few of us hopped over to Harlem Vintage (my favorite wine shop in Harlem) and got a few bottles of wine, and hung out upstairs at my place.  Well over an hour later and a couple of us went down to check on the pizza situation.  There was a table available at this point, so we all went down to eat.

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Tie Breaker!

This past weekend I had a lot of delicious food, which makes it so hard to decide what was the best thing in my mouth.  So I narrowed it down to three bites:

1.  Bad Horse Pizza's Acropolis House Pie.  Thin crust, fresh basil, some salty toppings, delicious.  I hope to have a review about Bad Horse's opening night out today or tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Bad Horse Pizza Grand Opening Today

It looks like today Bad Horse Pizza is finally opening at 120th and Frederick Douglass Blvd.  Above is the sign I saw outside my apartment last night.  I am definitely bringing some friends along tonight to give it a try.  I hope it doesn't disappoint!  Hope to see a lot of people there!  Click here to check out their menu.

Bad Horse Pizza - Opening Soon

For the past couple months, I have been anxiously anticipating the opening of Bad Horse Pizza, a joint opening up right next door of my apartment in Harlem.  Last weekend I saw some workers/owners place the Bad Horse Pizza logos outside their windows, and yesterday I saw people working on a counter top and organizing chairs.  Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer, because I am dying for a good pizza place in my neighborhood.  Dominos (read review here) just isn't cutting it for me anymore (although I am not going to pass it up after a late night out).  After reading a couple other blogs, there seems to be debate over the name Bad Horse (people hate it), but I am going to save my judgement for the pizza, and besides I kind of like the name.  If Bad Horse is as cool as Patches (play video above), then I think they are on their way to something amazing.  Click here to preview their menu.

Click here to read some food-related book suggestions.

Click here for a jumbo raisin oatmeal cookie recipe.

Oh, and Rock Chalk!

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Joe's Pizza

No words can describe how much I love Joe's Pizza. Anytime I am in the NYU area, I can't help but stop there.  It was my lucky weekend, because I had Joe's Friday and Saturday.  Delicious both times.  I love Joe's, because it is so simple.  Quickly order at the counter, pay $2.75, and grab a stool or stand, sprinkle some pepper flakes, fold pizza (New York style) and eat.  Oh and the pizza?  Thin crust, sweet sweet tomato sauce, and cheese.  Most would look at it and think "nothing special," but until you've had a bite, you don't know what is.  Definitely the best thing I've had in my mouth.

How To Get A Crisp Crust On Your Homemade Pizza

I like to make pizza a lot.  I have been baking my pizza on baking sheet for a few years, but after reading this blog, I decided to use the baking stone that I had in a cabinet collecting dust.  I had originally bought the stone to bake bread, but still haven't gotten around to doing it (sad - I know)!  Anyways, I rolled out my dough onto a piece of parchment paper and then transferred it to my preheated baking stone.  This was a little cumbersome - actually a lot cumbersome, but the results were well worth it - this pizza had the crispest crust yet.  Click here to read more pizza baking tips on Good Life Eats.  

Click here for my original pizza recipe.

Click here to read my review on La Colombe Cafe.

DiGiorno Pizza & Cookies

Photo taken from this link.

Seriously, is this for real?  So wrong and so gross.

French Fries and Pizza

I went back home for the holidays.  Here are some food photos - there is quite the pattern - french fries and pizza!

French Fries in a mini shopping cart - how cute!  My dear friend took me to Blanc Burgers + Bottles on the Plaza for the first time.  What a treat!  The french fries were awesome, they had a long long list of beers and a delicious portobello burger.

Waldo Pizza - pine nuts, red bell pepper, and spinach.  Delicious, but crust could have been crunchier.

Waldo Pizza - Boulevard Beer flight.  4 for $5 - whoa!

Bye-bye beer.

McDonald's French fries from Bethany, MO.  Eaten in the car of course.

My mom's rosemary and potato hash - yum.

Papa Keno's cheese pizza with green olives in Lawrence, KS.  New York has some competition.

Free State French fries with Ad Astra beer - don't forget their mustard for dipping.

Oh and the next day I tried a "new" restaurant in Lawrence called 715.  Pizza and a salad - soooo good.  If you live around there, I would definitely recommend trying it!  There is the $7.15 special, which is quite the deal :)

CSA Week Eleven

Hi!  Here is what I got from my CSA this week:

-Corn

-Cucumbers

-Zucchini

-Green Bell peppers

-Heirloom and Hot House tomatoes

-Carrots

-Garlic

-Basil

-Dozen Eggs

-White peaches

-Yellow peaches

-Nectarines

 

Last weekend, I had an impromptu pizza party.  The variety of vegetables this season are perfect for pizza making.  I also made this Lemony Zucchini Tart from Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl blog.  I could not find lemon fetish feta cheese, but replaced it with a regular feta, and it still turned out very tasty.  I definitely recommend trying it if you still have zucchini lying around.  It was a pretty quick, especially if you have a mandolin to slice up the zucchini and shallot.  

I am also planning on making this Nectarine Pizza with Fresh Basil from Alexandra's Kitchen today.  Click here for more homemade pizza.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Co.

Last weekend after visiting the High Line for the first time (can't believe it took me that long to actually visit), my friend and I walked a few blocks over to 24th Street and 9th Avenue and went to Co. (pronounced "company").  Co. is a pizzeria owned by Jim Lahey (who also owns Sullivan Street Bakery), although I don't know if I really want to use the term "pizzeria," because it just felt a little too sleek.  But sleek isn't the right word either.  The whole atmosphere had a clean, natural beauty to it, without it feeling trendy.  Long wood tables fill the space, where guests sit communal style.  I really enjoyed sitting like this at Busaba in London, and Saturday I felt the same way.  It nice to see what other people are getting and eavesdropping on their comments about the food or their life.

Our waitress was very friendly and informative since this was our first visit there.  She gave us the low down - Jim makes Roman style pizzas - meaning they are thin, crispy, and baked in a brick oven.  Each pizza is considered the appropriate size for one person, but the pizzas come out as soon as they are ready, instead of waiting for the entire group's order.  This obviously encourages sharing - unless you have no compassion for your starving friend staring at you as you eat your scrumptious pizza.  Our waitress also suggested getting an appetizer, but we weren't hungry enough to indulge - the artichoke salad sounded pretty tasty though.

The first pizza we got was the simple Rosa pizza, which has crushed tomatoes, slivers of garlic, fresh oregano, and chilis.  I am not the biggest fan of cheese.  In fact growing up I ripped most of my cheese off the pizza.  Although most people think I am freak, now that I look back on it - does Pizza Hut even use real cheese?  Maybe I just already had a refined palette back then.  The point is the Rosa pizza was right up my alley.  It was light, fresh, a touch of heat, and really showcased the tomatoes.

About five minutes later, or approximately two slices into the Rosa pizza, came the Stracciatella pizza.  Okay, this took me a couple of read-throughs to understand the pronunciation, but once again the waitress was very helpful and convinced us to try this pizza because it was her favorite.  Stracciatella is actually a type of cheese, and she described it as a less sweet mascarpone.  The pizza is topped with crushed tomatoes, stracciatella, black pepper, and fresh arugula.

The arugula gave the pizza a peppery flavor, but the slightly sweet cheese mellowed it out.  It was good too, but I think I liked the simplicity of the Rosa pizza better.  We didn't end with dessert because we were too full, but they have a banana split on the menu!  Ummm - yum!  Next time I am definitely saving room for dessert.  I would definitely recommend giving Co. a try if you want delicious, crispy pizza.  To view the menu, click here.