Every year on March 9, Romanian and Moldovan Christians celebrate the Forty Martyrs of Sevastia, a traditional holiday that includes a feast. Figure-8–shaped dough representing the human figure (i.e. the martyrs) is either baked and smeared with honey and walnuts or made as a sort of cinnamon-topped “snickerdoodle soup” called mucenici muntenesti (recipe below). Today you can pick up the latter type of mucenici dough at our beloved Parrot Coffee. The nice woman behind the counter explained the recipe: boil, add honey, nuts, cinnamon if you like. “What kind of nuts? Pistachio?” I guessed. She motioned toward an unmarked bag of nuts. “These. Wol-nut.” Continue reading
Muy Meaty Cemitas at Tacos La Carcachita
Milanesa de pollo cemita from Tacos La Carcachita
We just got back from Monterrey, a strikingly beautiful yet largely non-touristy desert-mountain town in northern Mexico. (Fun fact: in Monterrey, they serve tacos on diminutive soft flour tortillas in addition to the traditional corn ones. It’s a cool culinary nod to neighboring Texas that we’ve never seen anywhere else in Mexico, where corn rules the tortilla scene.) Anyway, our trip was short, which meant we returned to Ridgewood craving more Mexican food.
Since we happen to love cemitas — the chipotle’d, sesame seed–topped sister-sandwich to the more common torta — we stopped by Tacos La Carcachita, the Mexican food truck we’ve been meaning to check out forever. The results were pleasing!
Dill It Yourself: How to Make Gravlax
Perfect breakfast: gravlax with fixins
Hello friends! Awhile back we told you about our favorite Ridgewood meals of 2012. Arbitrarily coming in at #6 was gravlax, aka gravad lax, aka “buried salmon.” In other words, it’s traditional Nordic salt-cured salmon that resembles lox or smoked salmon. Why is gravlax so great, you might ask?
- It’s easy to make at home.
- It’s economical.
- Most importantly, you really can’t buy good-quality smoked salmon, like the kind you’d put on bagels, anywhere in Ridgewood. Sorry, Mr. Bagel! You just can’t.
With that in mind, here’s a quick tutorial on making and serving gravlax in your very own Ridgewood home: Continue reading
First Bite: Bunker Vietnamese
I love the smell of nuoc mam in the morning: Summer rolls and peanut sauce at Bunker Vietnamese
The Ridgefood team recently visited Bunker, the ‘wood’s first Vietnamese (!!!) restaurant. Nestled among bus barns and junkyards on Metropolitan, Bunker is a really chill spot with indie-surfer vibes, run by brothers and Queens natives Jimmy and Jacky Tu.
Bunker adds delectable but comfortable twists like bacon and havarti to classic Vietnamese banh mi, and they use hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken in their old family recipes.
(Continue for pics.. plus updated with MORE pics of food we ordered for delivery!)
Date Night in Ridgewood: Joe’s Restaurant
A dark and chilly night at Joe’s Restaurant on Forest Ave
“Quick! What’s a good date-night dinner spot in #Ridgewood?” we recently inquired on Twitter. Armed with several excellent possibilities, we bundled up and headed over to Joe’s Restaurant, an old-timey Italian joint on Forest Ave. We’d wondered about this place for awhile, as it has a bit of history: the original Joe’s, a few blocks down the street at 66-53 Forest, opened in the 1960s, and they moved into the current fancier digs about 10 years ago, according to the nice young man who served us. Continue reading
A New Asian Market in (Almost-)Ridgewood?
Jelly cups at Sea Town: one of the few Chinatown-y products available there
UPDATE 2/20/13: Jose from Sea Town read our post and said he’ll be ordering some of the products we suggested! He’ll let us know when the new store is open so we can check out the Asian goods.
UPDATE 2/28/14: We give up! Sea Town still has not added any kind of significant Asian section to their store. If you continue down Myrtle, further into Bushwick, you’ll find another new Asian market (not sure of the name but we’ll find out). It’s one block from Sea Town, right next to Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. We’ve found assorted Asian noodles, kimchi, potsticker wrappers, and frozen mock-meats there.
Two blocks over the Ridgewood-Bushwick border and steps from Myrtle Avenue, Sea Town Fish & Meat Market was deemed a founding part of a “tiny Bushwick ‘Chinatown'” when it opened in 2010. And though the store boasts an impressive variety of fresh (including live) seafood, the general grocery area lacks a significant Asian presence — even staples like tofu, seaweed, and rice vinegar are nowhere to be found (tofu didn’t sell, said the store’s manager, Jose).
But that could change: Across the street, construction is underway on a triangle-shaped annex, which Jose told Ridgefood will be like a “regular grocery store” with more vegetables and an expanded ethnic section. They plan to stock more Asian goods, and Jose welcomed Ridgefood to compile a list of products that would appeal to local shoppers.
Dynamite Sandwich and Other Egyptian Eats at Amun
Lamb kebabs at Amun
Update 7/29/14: Amun’s original location recently closed, and the restaurant is now run out of a bodega called “Seneca Falafel” on Seneca & Madison.
You may have heard about Ridgewood’s Little Nepal, but did you know we also have a growing Egyptian community? More specifically, we’re home to Egyptian Coptic Christians, or Copts — many of whom have fled to the U.S. following the Arab Spring revolution in their homeland. Two visible centers of the Coptic community can be found in Ridgewood: St. Mary & St. Antonios Coptic Orthodox Church and Amun Restaurant.
The Early Word on Ridgewood’s Nepalese Indian Restaurant
Let’s be honest: in the world of Ridgewood’s meager sit-down dining options, the fact that we now have Indian and Nepalese food, in a comfy space with cute moon lamps, is monumental. We’re thrilled. The Nepalese Indian Restaurant on Seneca has been open for just over a week, so we thought we’d share some of the highlights thus far.
Momos! Everyone seems to be super-psyched about these traditional Nepalese dumplings, which so far are the only Nepalese menu items that are available. The vegetable momos are filled with finely chopped cabbage, flecks of carrot, and lots of ginger, and they’re served with a spicy, lightly curried dipping sauce. Very, very tasty. Our momos were fried, but we’re eager try the steamed version next time; they seem to be the more popular option among Nepalese folks (totally unscientific observation). Continue reading
Our Favorite Ridgewood Meals of 2012
Fried fish dinner at Johnny’s Cafe
It’s been a quiet December here at Ridgefood. Seasonal malaise has us hermitting and lazing and eating the same comfort foods on repeat (though, to quickly boast, we’ve squeezed in some amazing exo-Ridgewood meals: Malaysian curry laksa, noodles, and stuffed tofu at Taste Good; pizza at DiFara; an ode to bibimbap at M. Wells Dinette; and dim sum at East Harbor Seafood Palace).
Ridgefood’s just a few months old, but we’d like to wrap up the year with a roundup of the best foods that we can recall eating in Ridgewood in 2012. In no order, really, here are seven of our favorite meals that come to mind:
Himalayan Explosion Continues: Nepalese Restaurant to Open on Seneca Ave
Editor’s note: We originally reported that the new Nepalese Indian restaurant would be called “Mt. Everest.” It has since been changed to “Nepalese Indian Restaurant.” We have updated this post to reflect the new name. For a more detailed explanation … Continue reading