College Street "Fiera"

I was surprised to stumble on the "other" Taste of Little Italy - apparently the Little Italy Fiera, and it seemed less crowded and more "Italian" than the Taste of Little Italy which seems more Latin American.

Saturday I only tried the tripe (see below) but Sunday I went down prepared to throw down. First up, rice balls in front of Cafe Diplomatico (College + Clinton) $3.00 ea w/ sauce.



I've had rice balls before, but not like this ! The rice was warm and cheesy, the filling was meat and peas and the crust was light and crunchy. Topped with a spicy sauce and just $3.00 it was a super deal, so I had two.

I thought gee, I never go to Diplomatico, it is really this good ? Maybe not, the rice ball isn't on their regular menu.

I also dropped $3.00 on a Limonade (ass raping). Running Total: $9.00

Next up, the reason I went down again. I can't remember the name of the place (corner of College and Montrose) but I spotted the sign : "Trippa alla Calabrese".

They had going a MASSIVE pot of Calabrese tripe, in a spicy tomato sauce.



$5.00 for a bowl with a buncha bread. Running Total : $14.00

Next to top off I hit up the stand in front of Dolce for some Gelato. For $4.75 you get a little bowl with two flavours. I went for the Mint and "Torrone" (almonds).



Running Total: $18.75. Steep for some street food, but worth it I thought (except the $3 can of pop).

New York Eats

Takin' a bite outta the Big Apple!

Tai Fun Taiwanese Noodle with BBQ Pork. $6.50. Sammy's Noodle Shop.

Delicious! Fuggetaboutit!

Hot dog with mustard. $2. Corner of Broadway and 40th.

A New York classic! The guy had a big sign that said Polish Sausage, Hot Italian, Italian, Bratwurst, blah, blah, blah, and finally "Hot Dog". Well, you quickly realize he only sells hot dogs. Maybe that was a wish list, not a menu. Anyway, I felt like a hot dog so ordered the Hot Italian. Nice.

Linguini with clams in a white sauce. $12.95. La Mela Ristorante.

A great linguini. Clams were fresh. Pasta was wonderfully al dente. The sauce was not too rich at all, which is definitely a danger when you stray from the reds.

They had this "lamp" made of duct tape attached to the ceiling. When the cord is pulled the lamp raises to the ceiling and lights up. The waiters were going crazy with this thing! Nothing like some 6th grade humour with your meal! Oh, I also liked that if you order some house wine (I got white) they bring you like a litre and a half bottle. Oh I took the hint thank you and starting pounding it back. After about a litre, I admitted defeat to the waiter and he's like, "oh man, we only charge you for what you drink!" I like this, it works out to be a lot cheaper than ordering glass by glass. Apparently this is what they do in Italy. Although, I never saw that. Anyway, the guy says well, if you really want the rest I'll give it to you for 5 bucks. So that's how I ended up wandering around New York with a half empty bottle of wine.

New York Eats without a Deli? Impossible!

Corned beef on rye (half) with pickles and Matzo Ball soup. $11.05.

Katz's Delicatessen.

The soup was pretty good. The sandwich was adequate. But I had honestly hoped for more. Schwartz's in Montreal is in a whole other league compared to this place. Well, at least in terms of smoked meat. But they seemed to have a pretty good menu - maybe the tongue sandwiches are their specialty.

The atmosphere was good. The walls are covered with pictures of the owner (Katz maybe?) with tons of famous people (with a definite New York theme). Lots of de Niro, Pat Riley, Guiliani, Bloomberg, firefighters, etc.

The staff wear these shirts that say "Send a salami to your boy in the army!". I admit I was tempted. If I was hanging out in Fallujah I would be so unbelievably grateful if a salami from Katz's Deli showed up. If anyone is feeling generous, you can order online.

Peruvian roast chicken with fried sweet plantain. $7.50. Flor de Mayo.

Riquisimo!! This was my kind of place. The staff are Chinese but they all speak Spanish. The menu is half Latin half Chinese, which pretty much matches the clientele. Very good prices. Reminded me of the Phoenix Restaurant in Toronto (Colombian and Chinese), except I didn't see anyone here cleaning the stove and walls with a mop.

Italian Food in Freiburg

Unfortunately I don't have a camera here, but I can tell you about one of my favourite restaurants.

You can get some pretty decent Italian eats here in Freiburg, and some pretty good sized pizzas for only 4 Euros or so.
The pastas are pretty good too and also very reasonably priced.

It can be found at Friedrichring 5, which is less than 10 min. from my place, just north of the Altstadt, and also less than 10 min. from the Institutsviertel.

You can find their menu/webpage here:
Restaurant Webpage

Pasta Campionissimo

This is a quick and cheap pasta dish I make pretty often, because it tastes so damn good.

It is based on the "homestyle" pasta I've had at Centro Formaggi and uses cheap ingredients that are easy to always have on hand.

It's a simple dish to make, but is very complex because all the flavours are restrained. The key to this dish is that nothing should be overpowering.

The sauce should be thin, almost watery, and there shouldn't be too much "stuff" in it. If you're unsure about how much meat or garlic or basil to use, just use less of it.

Though the ingredients are relatively expensive, but you don't use much of them, and they keep well (except the basil).

For the noodle I prefer a ridged tubular noodle like tortiglioni rather than long noodles like linguine.


Ingredients:
pasta
strained tomato puree
garlic
olive oil
1 anchovy fillet
proscuitto chunks
salami pieces (optional)
basil
proscuitto chunks

Step 1: I boil the pasta and that is enough time to whip up the sauce:

I lightly warm some chopped garlic in olive oil with some diced proscuitto chunks. Use medium heat, we don't want to sautee this. I buy the proscuitto "ends" cheap at the grocery and they will keep in the fridge for a long time. Here I also added some sliced up salami.



Step 2: I also always try to have on hand anchovy fillets in oil and strained tomatoes (pic below).

I take a anchovy fillet and squash it into a paste with the blade of a knife and add it to the mixture. I might also add some of the oil from the anchovy jar. The anchovies are very salty and aromatic, it is meant to serve only as a flavouring, you don't want to overdo them.

I prefer these strained tomatoes in the jar so I can pour out what I want and easily fridge the rest. Also it has a much lighter taste than the stuff packaged as "sauce".



Step 3: Finally I pour in the desired amount of sauce and some fresh basil leaves (uncut) and let it warm up (without boiling). The basil will just wilt in the heat.



Now just add the finished sauce to the cooked and drained pasta. Here I've served it up with some Pecorino Romano crumbled on top, just a little bit.



This dish spoils me, since it's unlikely that any pasta dish I can order up at a restaurant will taste as good to me or seem like a good value.

Centro Trattoria Formaggi

Today I assbiked up to St.Clair and Dufferin to Centro. Centro is an Italian grocery store with a cafeteria at the back where old Italian ladies cook up homestyle meals.

Ian showed me the place and I've been there and had the veal, but a place like Brasiliano does just as good a veal with some sides for a bit less price. Centro does have a lot of other authentic Italian type stuff Brasiliano doesn't.

I went for the cannelloni, which was stuffed with basil and ricottta, and the caprese. I also tried the tripe, which Ian's dad is nuts about; and now I see why. The tripe is stewed up in a really tasty anchovy sauce.



Usually when I cook Italian type dishes, I get really strong flavours. Everything at Centro is really tasty, but the flavours are subtle, not overpowering -- and not salty like a lot of Portuguese places are. My impression is that it really is homestyle Italian cooking.

The canneloni was good, but the tripe was INCREDIBLE. So good. Next time I will go for a tripe plate. They usually pair it with rice or a less fancy pasta and green salad.

Because I deviated from the menu format and got caprese and tripe on the side, it added up and came to $12 w. drink. Typically two cannelloni, or a veal plate is about $6-7. Each side was another $2-3.

For the record the back room cafeteria is open everyday, though Saturdays are probably the busiest and it's closed Sundays.

Veda Takeout

Today I hit up Veda. I'd heard about this so-called "healthy" Indian takeout style place.

It's on Yonge just south of Davenport, a little takeout type place with a few seats, and it has a totally clean, spartan "new age" appearance. It's obviously meant to appeal to office chicks and Yorkville types who work in the area, or anyone who would take a yoga class.

It was totally empty when I went for a late lunch. The concept is there's only a few dishes and it's served up combo/bento style. You get rice; spinach rice or non-spinach (but not plain) rice with two dishes ($5.25 for two cheap dishes or $5.87 for one cheap and one more expensive dish -- ie. meat).

I went for the spainach rice with curry chick peas and saag chicken. The stuff was lightly oiled and lightly spiced, nothing close to the usual grease/spice bomb that Indian places usually deliver. More along the lines of Indian homecooking. It came with a so-so flatbread which was bland but good for dipping in the sauces.

The chickpea curry was pretty good, tangy, light spice. The chicken the the saag chicken was dry and bland, but the tomato/spinach sauce was good with the rice. The portion size is good, so it's a great value.

It was decent, really good value, maybe on the bland side, but certainly something you could eat everyday, but if you dig spicy or rich Indian food you won't find it here.

Crostini Party

Okay the food blogging has taken a hit since I've been camera-less for a week or so, but here's one easy meal I've been making lately.

This relies heavily on the George; the iPod for food and there isn't much cleanup afterwards.

A simple meal is to make crostini, but as a meal, not just as an appetizer, and with more variations than the traditional (like bruschetta). I don't even know if it's technically crostini but that's what I'll call it for this purpose.



I slice a baguette lengthwise into 4-6" sections (like mini subs) drizzle with olive oil and toast or I grill it on the George. The tricks then is to have an assortment of toppings (fatty, smoky or pickley things make the best toppings).

Cheese (I usually use fresh cheese like queso fresco or morzarella)
Cold Cuts (I prefer Salami and proscuitto, I buy the meat sliced thin thin and then cut into strands)
Grilled vegetables (Something soft, mushrooms, zucchini, pepper)
Guacamole (Just avacado, lime and garlic)
Smoked Fish
Marinated Vegetables (Olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, onions)

I will usually combine one fatty topping with one salty or meaty topping and often there's garlic in the mix. Examples : Guacamole and slices of salami, cheese and artichoke heart.

I haven't tried it yet, but you could imagining setting out the toasted bread and all the toppings at a party and let peeps assemble their own.