The old days!

Check out the pizza patrol video.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dining/index.ssf/2010/01/pizza_patrol_names_best_pizza.html

Big Al's Pizza.. Check it out if you can!

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/santillos-brick-oven-pizza-a-time-machine-in-elizabeth-new-jersey.html

The Spotted Pig……. http://thespottedpig.com/food.php

This was maybe one the most anticipated trips of all time. My brother in law, Al treated me to what may be one of the coolest foodie havens I have been to. Chef April Bloomfield hit the nail on the head here, it is not the stuffy atmosphere you would expect when eating fine food.  The Spotted Pig is two floor gastro-pub decorated with its namesake, pigs! They do have a third floor but that is reserved for people in April’s circle only…Ahh someday.

The dress code is casual; the employees are what I would think of as Brooklyn chic/hipsters, our long legged bartender looked like a pin up girl. They offer a ton of great beers and a sick menu, however I am still wondering why the chick sitting next to us was whipping a piece of jerky out of her back pack every few minutes, (shudder)??

We arrived just before five to avoid having had trouble getting a table (an hour wait is quick) and then decided to sit at the 2^nd floor bar. The staff knew there shit inside and out, the souse chef took up a tiny space up behind the bar to produce many of the smaller items.

Onto the food!  We tried most of the items on the menu, roll mops, marinated olives, deviled eggs, chicken liver toast, “Devils on Horseback”, and of course the star of the trip and the reason that I made it in the first place, the Pat La Frieda master piece burger complete with Roquefort cheese and shoestrings. Back to the apps, we all know what a deviled egg is, but this is what I dream of when I think of deviled eggs (which for the record is not often), these were not your typical picnic eggs these were delicious with a micro scallion topping and I could easily have eaten a dozen of them. We then moved onto the marinated olives.  Yes, I’ve had olives before but for some reason even the olive game was a step above others.

The chicken liver, I passed on, but Al seemed to think it was a little over the top with too strong a taste. He also had some sort of river oyster, which I passed on, as you probably have noticed I don’t blog about seafood because I don’t like it.  The last one we tried were the “Devils on Horse Back”, which are prunes marinated in a black tea and then rapped in a delicious thick, flat smoked bacon, this is the kind of dish that The Spotted Pig and April Bloomfield is all about, I don’t recall eating like this in any other spot in the city so if this type of food is your thing you must try the Spotted Pig….

Oh… I almost forgot, all the food we had before the burger came out was top flight but I did say we came for the burger, and she did not disappoint. I’m not sure where this burger falls on my burger list, but it falls somewhere in the top five for sure. Let me digress for a second, so you all know where I’m coming from, here are two of my top rated burgers:

1.) Minetta Tavern, which takes the cake by a LONG shot

2.) Shake Shack, which I consider the perfect fast food type burger

 

With Minetta clocking in at $26.00 and the shack at $5ish the one thing they do have in common is that they are both made by rock star butcher Pat LaFrieda. “The Pig” is more like the Minetta and by the taste and looks I would guess that the base is chuck, mixed with a few parts, maybe ground brisket, maybe one part short rib and a part rump (sirloin) but Pat is the only one who knows the exact mix. Cooked to a perfect medium-rare with a rich intense loosely packed meaty flavor, this monster (8 oz is my guess) is over the top and in my opinion does not even need the rich cheese topping. The bun was also perfect and house made with trade mark crisscrossed grill marks, and good support. I can’t leave out the rosemary garlic shoestring fries which were out of f’ing control!

The bottom line is that “The Pig” should be at the top of your list to hit next time you are in the city or shit, make it the reason you go to the city ...We did!

The Lost Review

I just got word that my review would not make the cut. So it looks like my dreams of getting paid to eat are put on hold... For now.

Stan's Chitch's Café

14 Columbus Pl

Bound Brook, NJ 08805

(732) 356-0899

The original Chitch’s Cafe opened in the mid 1930’s making it one of only a few places in Somerset County serving pizza. At that time a bakery, now closed for decades whose name no one seems to remember was also in the pizza business, a few years later and a few miles down the road De Lucia’s in Raritan began selling pizza out of their bread bakery and it was not until the1950s that the Chimney Rock Inn in Bridgewater, who opened in the late 1800s also added pizza to their menu. If you were eating pizza in the 30’s and 40’s in this area there is a good chance that you were eating it at Chitch’s Cafe.

In 1972 Stan, a local man bought Chitch’s Café, hence the name Stan’s Chich’s Café. Today Stan is semi retired, he has turned the kitchen over to the third generation, but still can be found at his namesake in the mornings setting up or stocking shelves.

I am not sure where the “Café” fits in, because Stan’s Chitch’s Cafe is anything but your typical café. Upon entering you can barley see your hand in front of your face, but that is just one of the things that adds to the ambience of this quirky shaped building filled with old school tables and booths, that are topped with cheese and crushed red pepper filled baby food jars. The drink menu includes classics like Birch Beer soda and plenty of draft beer poured from the tiny front room bar. Like many of its Bound Brook neighbors, every few years Stan’s get completely wiped out due to a flood, the last one threatening to almost shut them down for good. Other then occasionally being closed due to waste high water this Polish owned, old school restaurant and bar has been turning out good bar pies to packed rooms for 80 years.

Stan’s has a full menu with typical pedestrian Italian specialties but it is obvious just by looking at customers tables that it is the pizza that has been bringing a steady stream of people in for the past eighty years. Stan’s pizza is prepared in a similar fashion to many New Jersey bar pie heavy weights, most notably the Star Tavern. This thin crust pizza is baked in a thin, slight oiled pan in a fairly new gas fired, Bakers Pride oven, which is Stan’s second oven in ten years. Unfortunately, every flood seems to bring the need for a new oven. Many purveyors of the bar pie finish the cooking process directly on the oven bricks, but Stan’s, just like Star uses the pan start to finish. A few seconds before the pie leaves the kitchen you can hear what sounds like pounding on a metal prep table coming from the family filled kitchen. This sound is the eight slice hand guillotine style pizza cutter, which ensures a perfect slice every time.

The hallmark of any place that features pizza is the plain slice. This particular perfectly cut slice was topped with a sweet flavored, smooth consistency tomato sauce, that was not overly spiced and Sorrento mozzarella cheese, sliced not shredded. The pizza had good coloring and was cooked well. I wouldn’t call my first bite disappointing, because it was definitely tasty, but it didn’t jump out at me as I hoped it would. It seemed to be lacking in one key area; the crust, which was a bit dense and flavorless reminding me of an unsalted cracker. Although the plain didn’t thrill my palate as I hoped it would, later in this culinary adventure I found the cheese and sauce combination to be a good base for Stan’s great toppings.

The next pie in line after the plain was an out of the ordinary “Half Sausage, No Cheese and Half Cheese”. According to diehards and regulars alike this pie is a staple at Stan’s and was a definite hit at our table. The sausage was cooked and finely crumbled before being put on the raw dough, then baked. Upon arrival at our table, the crust had a nice golden color, appearing to be cooked to perfection. As for taste, I found the fennel in the sausage to be a bit over powering, but I was the only one in my party to feel this way. What everyone did agree upon however is despite having been perfectly cooked, the crust on this particular pie also lacked in flavor.

We then moved onto to my favorite of the night and definite show stealer, the “Half Meatball with Cheese and Half Cheese”. The chopped meatball at Stan’s is about as close to perfect as a meatball not made at home can be. In fact I recently heard from a regular customer that they are known for their spaghetti and meatballs. As excited as I was about this combination of delicious meatball that was anything but bland, sweet tomato sauce and cheese, for the third time that night I found the crust to be the disappointing factor and unlike the sausage pie this crust was not cooked to perfection having “weak spots” throughout and the same bland taste.

What seemed to make Stan’s pies come together in the end for me were the outstanding toppings.

You don’t see many places like this anymore. I’m sure if you took a snap shot every night for the past 30 years everything except for the fashion would look the same and even that is questionable. If you are feeling nostalgic, then a trip back in time to Stan’s is definitely worth it, just don’t go on a Sunday when they are closed. They might not be the best New Jersey has to offer, but they definitely serve good thin crust pizza with delicious toppings at a fair price, $9.00 for a plain, $1.00 more for a topping. Take out is also available.

I can’t wait to try the spaghetti and meatballs…



 

The Myth, the Legend, the McRib…

I was dreaming about this moment for what seems like weeks now and things went full steam ahead on Friday when I checked out a McRib locater via the web. Lucky for me I found a Mickey D’s close to home (although I would have travelled some distance) that had the MCRIB!! 

Thinking back to my childhood I had trouble remembering why I only had one in my entire life…. The original was released in 1981 and the final McRib rolled off belt at the “meat” pressing plant in 1985 so that gave me plenty of time to indulge. Did I not like the rib or was it that I just loved the #2 with orange drink so much? Do they still make that drink??

Things started to click in my head, I’m just caught up in the McRib frenzy and not even sure if I liked it. One thing I do know for sure is that in the hours leading up to my first bite everyone I asked to come either said, “No way!” or “Yes!” and then backed out completely. As I got closer to go time, my stomach (which is normally like steel) started to turn at the thought of pork parts being shoved into a press that was shaped like a rib, no rib I ever seen, more like a play dough rib or  the rib that crushes Fred Flintstones car.

Upon my arrival at Mc Donald’s everything went wrong.  Everyone in the place was waiting in line for their orders and I was doing the same. I ordered extra food incase the McRib fell short and twenty minutes (which is not fast food in my opinion) later my Rib came out from the back room. By this time I was ready to vomit at the thought of what was going on behind the scenes.

But all bad thoughts aside I was excited as a kid on Christmas when I finally saw that box. However thoughts of sugar plumbs dancing in my head came to an end as I opened the box.  It was a complete and total disaster, crap everywhere, sauce all over, onions (same ones used on the quarter pounder) piled in one spot and two pickles on top of each other, where was the love?  Believe me when I say the contents of that box was not part of Ray Kroc’s dream, had the McDonald brothers made the McRib as a precursor to the burger, there would have been no success story, no billion people served and certainly no Kroc to make everyone rich. 

First bite consisted of, “meat” (and I use that word loosely), tangy sauce and a capable fast food bun. The overall texture was on the side of a rubber band. I figured in order to be fair I had to get to a bite that had all the flavors, and when I did it tasted like a quarter pounder with a “pork” ( I also use that word loosely) patty on it.

. That was also the bite that caused the McRib to be locked back into the vessel in which it came, never to see light of day again.

At this moment I thanked God for the good old number 2 (2 cheeseburgers and FF)! I could care less if this fossil ever shows up again.

I know I love hot dogs and what may or may not be in them but let’s face it, at least it is not trying to be anything else. A hot dog is forced into a casing that even has a shape that is made fun of all the time.

I think people would have trouble eating a hot dog if it were shaped like Ribs.

Long story short this “rib” was not for me.  I’m grossed out even thinking that “sandwich” made it to my mouth. I hope if you loved the rib back then you will love it today but now I remember

why I only had one when I was a young lad. I’m curious to see what others think. The “rib” will be out in most stores come Nov. 2^nd for a limited time...

The McRib Resurrection Is Coming

Look to your left; look to your right. One of the mild-mannered, college-educated people sitting next to you could be harboring a secret McRib Sandwich fetish. Generic machine-shaped pork product addicts are, reportedly, everywhere.




The WSJ today infiltrates the shadowy McRib underground, a loose national network of outwardly respectable Americans who spend their free time in search of the elusive McRib Sandwich, a once-prominent McDonald's menu item that's been mostly discontinued, due to—we imagine—a national shortage of pig anuses. One man, traveling in Nebraska, "bought six of the pork sandwiches, ate one right away at the restaurant, and carried the rest home to Burnsville, Minn., in an ice-packed cooler." Another, a university employee in New Jersey, "took a train to nearby New York City where a McDonald's reportedly was selling the McRib, only to leave empty-handed, and dejected."



Next month, McDonald's is bringing the McRib back, nationwide, for six weeks. Suckle those savory pressed amalgamated pork scrapings, America. You disgusting animals.

(story from gawker)

Charlie's Hot Dogs!

Charlie's won the Itl. Hot Dog Food Wars. Few pic from my cell.
This is a must try!!

Charlies Hot Dogs

(908) 241-2627

18 S Michigan Ave, Kenilworth, NJ 07033

Sorry!!!!

This is NOT the caged ham.

 

Did you ever think when you started something that it was not going to work out, but then once you got going it looked like things would be just fine and then in the end you got your heart stomped on?

Well that’s what happened to me in the dog days of summer. No, I’m not Danny Zuko from Grease at the beach singing “Summer Loving” I’m talking about smoking ribs on my awesome “Smokenator 2000”.

I got all of my shit in order and picked up St. Louis style ribs cleaned and ready to roll. I dry rubbed the ribs two different ways wrapped them in plastic and set them in the fridge to do what they do. Smoking can take hours and if you are not ready from the previous day you are in trouble. I picked up brews Friday and by Saturday at 9 AM I was ready to smoke out anyone within a 20 foot radius.

After going over hundreds of hours of video and reading up on the perfect BBQ, I was ready to roll.  I took a quick shower and said good bye to my wife and son because I would not be returning from the back yard for many hours. Things took a strange turn from the word go.  After opening the refrigerator for water to make my son a bottle, my wife wanted to kill me. The pork, although wrapped and in plastic stunk up the fridge something awful.  At first I thought she was exaggerating, but then I smelled the stankness for myself.  Maybe I should have recognized this as an omen of what was yet to come.

I had bags of coal on a table and a cooler all set and ready to go.  I made sure that I had the proper temp gauge and instant read thermometer.  I then began detailed note taking so that next time, if there ever was to be a next time I could look back at the scouting reports and make changes on the fly.  I fired up the smoker and got her to a solid 250 deg. Ribs are on and I’m starting to feel like this will not be good. I even told my wife (repeatedly) that this is a first run and that we should have another option for dinner ready. So as the clock turns and I’m soaking in the rays and drinking the cold, cold beer I began to feel better as things seemed to be going very well at this point. I started to poke my chest out thinking I was a true pit master and began to brag to no one in particular about the easiness of this project. A few hours in I was ready to put the BBQ sauce on.   

I was not quite sure how much longer the ribs needed but they sure looked great. I put a nice coat of glaze on them and the only thing that appeared to be a problem was that the bones weren’t sticking out the way they should. But I said to Babs (for those who don’t know the Caged Ham, herself), “Well whatever” and I pull the ribs... I cut them up, I took a few photos. Let me tell you, the smoke ring looked great!

Well I took one bite and my heart sunk. This must have been what Sandy felt like when she saw Danny dancing and having a great time with Cha Cha.

.  Now, understand the ribs were edible; they had the right amount of sauce, smoke and rub but were tough and just didn’t pull away from the bones. My wife didn’t think they were bad, but just the time and effort alone was what killed me, after all of that hard work and research, I expected perfection and regardless of any one else’s thoughts these ribs were far from it.

What a rollercoaster ride. Next time you meet a BBQ Pit Master give him or her (I’m sure one may be out there) a hug.

This will not stop me and I promise you I will get this right and one day you may even hire me to do you a large event in you back yard.

I give my ribs 1 ham



Time to crank it up!

They say everything is bigger in Texas and this big man is not an exception. An old friend of mine swears that when people in TX taste his ribs it kills them to think a boy who grew up in Dirty Jerz could craft such a fine rib on a cheap Brinkman smoker.

This big man loves ribs so much he moved to Texas for three years to hone his craft. Well he is back and ready to show off for the Ham. Stay tuned for what is going to be a post that may never be topped. I may actually have to shut the ham down after this. I don't have a firm date on when this is going down but it will be soon.....

On another note, sorry for the long layoff. My laptop at the corporate office (my living room) is in the crapper and I need to get it fixed or resurrected as soon as this takes place I have a ton of blogs ready to roll just to give you  a sneak preview they include:

pulled pork

ribs (my first smoke adventure)

Fat Sandwiches with Uncle Dylan (going away present)

The Spotted Pig (WOW!)

And many more….

Ham

Pat LaFrieda from your home?

http://www.shopnbc.com/Pat_LaFrieda_16_6oz_Burger_Package/W10467.aspx?storeid=1&cm_re=SearchList-_-N-_-N&page=LIST&prop=Pat%20LaFrieda%20Meats
1144&catprop=1144&icid=FL-_-PatLaF-_-082310
 
                                                  LaFrieda Burger from The Spotted Pig
 

 
Pat LaFrieda now ships from shop NBC.
 
Pat LaFrieda 4- 6oz La Frieda Original Blend Burgers, 4- 6oz Short Rib Burgers, 4- 6oz Brisket Burgers & 4- 6oz Turkey Breast Burgers Package


This delicious quartet has something for every meat lover! Pat LaFrieda meats - the supplier for many of New York's finest restaurants - brings you the best burgers around. Serve these at your next barbeque or get together and you're sure to receive rave reviews!



Pat LaFrieda's "original blend" is made with chuck, brisket and short rib meat; their "brisket burger" is a combination of chuck and brisket; their "short rib" burger is made with chuck and short rib meat. And, of course, their turkey breast burger is made with the best poultry for those looking for something more from their meat.

Sampler Includes:



4- 6oz La Frieda Original Blend Burgers

4- 6oz Short Rib Burgers

4- 6oz Brisket Burgers

4- 6oz Turkey Breast Burgers

Meat ships fresh - never frozen - and arrives within two days of shipment ready for the grill.

Shipped with gel packs; keep in refrigerator upon receiving.

From the United States.



Note: Cannot ship to Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam



About Pat LaFrieda Meats

For more than 90 years and three generations, Pat LaFrieda Wholesale Meat Company has proudly served New York City and the surrounding area. Located in the heart of Manhattan, LaFrieda Meats services restaurants, hotels, banquet facilities, and retail outlets, including many of New York City’s finest establishments, with a full line of meat, poultry, and associated items.



As a family owned and operated business, Pat LaFrieda Meats is able to maintain strict quality control and consistency in its product. All Pat LaFrieda Meat is federally inspected by the USDA – that means that USDA agents have an office in the building and are hands-on in ensuring that all product meets the most stringent and most updated guidelines.



All pieces of this sampler have been made with 100% pure beef or turkey without seasoning so you can trasport your tastebuds with the pure delicious taste of meat!

Original Burgers Click here for nutrition facts.

Turkey Burgers Click here for nutrition facts.