Backyard B.B.Q Scandal: Restaurant Actually In Doors

Up until a year ago, it seemed like barbecue lovers in Bay Ridge were left with no way to satisfy their cravings near home. That all changed with the arrival of Uncle Jimmy's Backyard B.B.Q. Changing the landscape, it provided a way to get something that was otherwise impossible to find: a real rack of ribs.

The key word when you're mapping out how to tackle a plate of Uncle Jimmy's ribs is "messy". There's no way to get in, out and look like a gentleman. Throw that one out the window and start thinking baby bibs and wet wipes. The sauce is plentiful, sweet and just smoky enough not to be juvenile. The meat is succulent and tender, falling off the bone with as little as a prod with an inquisitive finger.

Delicious is the right word to use, but so is caution. This plate of tasty pork isn't cheap. A half slab with two sides will run $14.00 and for the adventurous and hungry, a full rack is $22.00.

Dump me? Dump Ling!

It is truly regrettable that the most under appreciated dish at dinner is the appetizer. There's a lot to be said for something that makes you hungrier after eating it. Is that not some sort of feat in and of itself? This is precisely what the chicken dumplings from 86 Noodles succeeds in doing.

These are easily the best chicken dumplings in the neighborhood, outdoing all of the alternatives from the litany of Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood. The noodle is shaped traditionally, but still maintains much of the softness one associates with pasta. When fried, it's cooked primarily on one side, heating the meat and leaving the dumpling with two distinct textures: one slightly crunchy and the other firm but wavering. The filling is just the right level of prepared when served, each piece of chicken residing in that special, moist place between uncooked and dry. Finally, the dipping sauce is a fantastic mixture of low key sweetness and the more potent sour flavoring. Don't be fooled. It isn't soy sauce in a cup.

At just $4.50 for a plate of six, there are few reasons not to order a plate of these with your next big meal at 86 Noodles.

Sweets Spotlight: Cheese Filling? Are You Surprised?

When one imagines a dessert associated with Middle Eastern food, the first thing which comes to mind is typically baklava. This isn't a bad thing. That stuff is tasty and often hits the spot when a craving for honey arises. Still, there are other options. The gyro has other partners in crime, such as the the low profile and inexpensive cheese halawa served at Karam.

A cheese halawa, as the name might imply, consists primarily of sweet cheese. It's wrapped in a small, nearly tasteless pastry shell that serves to keep it together more than to add anything to the dish itself. The filling itself has a consistency that's tougher than most confections, but is still clearly of a delicate nature. It's in the grey area which separates creamy and spongy. It still falters easily beneath steady chewing, avoiding the awkward horse chomp that more rubbery deserts require. Mystery spices provide the biggest bursts of sweet flavoring in the form of curious pebble-shaped nuggets of deliciousness.

It's a subtle treat that may strike the palate abruptly, but has all the hallmarks of a more mature after-dinner pastry. At $1.50 a piece, it's foolish not to try one.

Gyro Wars: The Phantom Menace

All eateries serve food, but not all eateries have wheels. Mobility is a simple thing to overlook in a food cart, until it's gone. The 86th street strip spans from fourth to sixth avenue and features three gyro carts, all of which are a staple except one: the illusive green wagon.

This quiet challenger makes appearances in the 86th street area once every few months, but always leaves in less than a week. Why the owners wish to be so mysterious is unclear. What is apparent though, is that this buggy brings a completely different taste to contested territory.

A cursory glance at both the chicken and lamb gyro don't yield any immediate findings: a pita wrapped around the choice meat, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and white sauce. But, there's more here than what one initially sees.

First, there's the new approach to chicken. This chicken, unlike that presented by the other two competitors is sweet. There's lingering traces of honey-like flavor, contrasting sharply with the usual emphasis on garlic.

Second, the sauce here is altogether different. It has a thicker consistency and a more minty taste to it, lending itself more to salads than sandwiches. A copious amount of veggies helps balance the equation, making for a well-balanced wrap worth its price.

With good comes bad in this case, as not everything is spectacular. Regrettably, unlike its brother-in-bread, the lamb falls short of being special and sinks into the pit of being hard and dry. Likewise, it's better to avoid the falafel, given they look and feel like burs.

For the low price of $3 a sandwich, it's obvious why in some cases the food is sub-par, but where this kitchen excels is its ingenuity. It has a wider menu, offering lamb chops and other less available plates that smaller carts can't produce. More importantly, this place offers a different take on the traditional chicken wrap, making its rare appearances worth celebrating as a divergence from the norm.

Originally posted November 3rd, 2010

Five Dollar Feasts: Mex Without The Tex

If one can get passed the gaudy colors and overtly stereotypical trappings, Chiquitita harbors something Bay Ridge desperately needs: Mexican food untouched by the "Tex" prefix. The menu features typical fare ranging from tacos to burritos. What's special though, is that for the quality served up here, most of the victuals are satisfying and affordable.

Most Mexican food served at restaurants here consist of largely the same stuff: meat, a tortilla and some type of vegetable mix. What mostly separates one eatery from the next is the quality of the ingredients and the time of cooking. There are of course, innovations in spice choice and taste. You see a sharp increase in caliber in both when comparing Chiquitita to its Tex-Mexican competition.

The tacos and fajitas served up include freshly cut vegetables and meats grilled when ordered. Depending on the type of filling, one will taste a different array of spices that are both savory and refreshing. The chili con carne, essentially a beef and bean chili mixture, is the most heavily spiced up of the options and is lightly spicy. Conversely, the chicken and steak primarily rely on the smoky flavor of the grill itself. All three are tasty in their own way.

Given that the food is awesomely fresh, it's almost shocking that any taco or fajita is less than $5. The quesadillas are a little more expensive, but outside of the shrimp and steak are also in the same price range. The major downside is that because the food is made when ordered, the wait is often long. Sitting patiently for twenty minutes isn't out of the question when eating or ordering out at Chiquitita.

The Ridge Tastes Good (Take 2)

Today I made one of the wisest investments of my relatively short life. I proudly supported St.Patrick's parish by attending their annual event, A Taste of the Ridge. For a meager $12, I helped keep the Church going and was able to gorge myself on the fare of 39 restaurants from around the neighborhood. With the amount of diverse, local gourmets present, I was pleased at how much I got for the price.

Given the quality and variety of the food, it's no surprise that the place was packed. Names like Lai Yuen, 101 and Arirang can draw a crowd. There was still plenty of good food to go around though, even if some had to eat it while standing.

The head count didn't do anything to prevent me from trying as many of the foods available as I could. With so many popular vendors in attendance, I was positive that my favorite dishes would come from the big names. I was surprised to find that the most memorable chow didn't come from among the usual suspects. Rather, they were unexpected delights from two particular stalls I almost overlooked.

Naomi and Jennifer represented their home based company Krazy Lady Cheesecakes. I've had a lot of cheesecakes before, but these were exquisite. The samples, small circles with fresh fruit toppings, were soft but firm enough to provide the perfect amount of resistance against chewing and tasted exceptional. Their selection was wide, featuring the staples strawberry and blueberry, but included the lesser sought after flavors like pumpkin. These easily constituted the best dessert available, effortlessly competing with the Court Street outsider Monteleone's Bakery. Regrettably, these ladies don't have a shop. Instead, they take orders via phone (718-685-9996) and e-mail. They are all business however and will take your orders with all the same seriousness.

When I go to a restaurant, I typically look toward the flavors most associated with it. That's why when I visit my favorite eateries, I usually don't order the buffalo wings. Tom Casatelli from The Kettle Black and his Jameson wings have convinced me to reconsider that stance. This chicken flies right off the plate. Hickory flavoring and a just above mild level of spiciness combine to make a wing you could eat in the summer without issue. While Tom didn't bring anything but two sets of wings with him, that's all he needed. I'll be visiting Kettle Black for the first time as soon as I get the chance. Their selection of wings is diverse, but I know which one I'll be ordering ahead of time.

While I do praise these two for their exceptional offerings, I caution anyone who attends against not making the effort to try as much food as possible. While the task of sampling anywhere from 10-15 different sets of penne can be daunting, it's not unrewarding. There wasn't a single plate at A Taste of the Ridge that I wouldn't have finished. Additionally, even if there's a bit of overlap or a particular dish isn't suited to a person's interest, the assortment makes it easy to just move on. I would regret it if I had skipped over Sofia's just because I already stopped by Pipin's Pub.

The people were friendly and happy. That might have had something to do with the amount of food they were consuming, but that doesn't matter. At the event, I saw nothing but laughter and eating. The staff, despite gouging the price of water ($1 for 8oz bottles) was helpful and eager to assist. Even the volunteer servers were all smiles.

Besides having to pay a little too much for the beverages, there isn't much to complain about. The parish knows their stuff. There's no speeches or lengthy lines to stand in. They don't stand between anyone and satisfying the hunger they came to abate. My biggest gripe is simply that I will have to wait another year before I can stroll by and enjoy the entire thing again.

Originally posted on April 25th, 2010

Sweets Spotlight: My Baker Made Me...

The danish is a simple enough affair. It consists of a shell, a filling and sometimes a topping. Similarly, the black and white cookie is nothing more than a unification of two types of fondant and soft yellow cake. Yet, due to the nature of baking and confectioner ingenuity, these treats can come in many different forms. Not all of these incarnations are equal. YourBaker's take on the cheese danish and the relatively uniform black and white cookie make it obvious that even the simplest formulas leave room for tasty innovation.


Fresh is the key word when discussing these delicacies. Your Baker's pastries are soft and receptive to the gentle chewing one associates with baked goodies. The yellow cake of the black and white cookie stands out because it's moist and spongy, unlike most of the other alternatives near 86th street, which are dry and more akin to bread than a confection.

The danish is an excellent example of subtle creativity, the simple aspects given a tune-up with the addition of confectioner's sugar and soft crumbles as toppings. Still, what really sells it is the most base element: the cheese. It has a gentle taste better suited to mature palates. Resting between the overly sweet packaged goods at bodegas and the typically bland filling of most local bakeries, it leans slightly in the direction of zest without tripping into it face first.

iEat with an Urban Spoon

The advent of the smart phone has changed the way people do just about everything. If there isn't already an application that showcases the many ways to tie your shoes already, there will be one soon for the upcoming audience of tech-savvy toddlers. It makes sense then, that there's an array of gadgets available to help with something we do every day: eat. One of these however, stands out more than the rest because it doesn't only give you ways to answer the popular question of "where do I eat?" It picks a place for you!

Urban Spoon's "shake" feature is something altogether fun and different than what the alternatives provide. With as little as a single button press, it will randomly select a place to eat in your immediate area.

The interface, reminiscent of a slot machine, consists of three parts. First, there's the area. If you leave this box "unlocked", it will always default to the area you're in according to your phone. Second, there's the types of food in the area. It can be very specific or largely broad. In two spins, you might get "Italian", but immediately after also get "Pizza". Lastly, but far from least important, there's a field which represents costs in a series of dollar signs. The more dollar signs, the more expensive. Lock this in at one symbol to keep your prospects in a fair price range.

There's no limits to how many times one can spin in a session and sometimes it may take a few gambles to arrive at a place that satisfies an obscure hunger. Once satisfied, all the standard tools of reference are another touch away: map, directions, phone numbers, reviews and the ominous thumbs up or down button people love to abuse.

Urban Spoon satisfies most practical desires relating to food. It provides a list of nearby restaurants, relevant information and reviews, it even picks eateries for indecisive patrons. It's an all-encompassing application with the twist of appealing to everyone's inner-gambler.