A couple of things

So there's a pizza place on the corner of 14th and 6th that I had to pass a lot going to school on Thursdays. It's good, but not good enough to justify the inflated prices. However, they did have one thing I've never seen before and was pretty happy with. They took one of their garlic knot things, which were pretty big and sliced it in half. In the middle they had a slice of mozzarella cheese, a slice of tomato, and a basil leaf. They heated it enough to make the role warm while keeping the cheese cold. It was delicious.

I also went to Curly's the other day with Z. She had that fake crab cakes, which were good but not at all crabby...and kind of not filling enough. There was a blackbean-corn salad in the middle of the plate that looked pretty awesome though. I had the fake Philly cheese-steak and I was disappointed with it, just like I was with the Quantum Leap version. Maybe I just don't like that dish.

Finally, sweet potatoes work will in green curry too! This is exciting because I thought they might only be a red-panang thing. Curry is totally an affordable dinner for a soon-to-be-unemployed person to eat. white rice, potatoes, and onion all cost basically nothing! So if you keep it simple and don't add any fancy pineapple or pepper then you're basically only paying for coconut milk and spices, which come to 2.50. $3 for at least 3 meals and usually for? sounds good to me!

Speaking of Pizza

I guess it's in the air what with eLs's post and the new quiz, but I am going to post about the fauxtalian treat that can be prepared in such significantly different ways that it provokes unpleasntries between Chi-towners and residents of our very own Big Apple.

So I have a friend in town who loves nature. After giving her a list of options we settled on prospect part for the day. it was a nice trip from the fancy birds whose names she knows to the underwhelming dog beach, but the foodie highlight of the day was a little place called Enzo's brick oven pizza. It was a hard choice between that and the 'pie hole' which sold variations on shepards pie, but I'm pretty sure we did the right thing. When we came in we realized that their lunch special was a ridiculous 25% off. They greeted us with warm flatbread with rosemary and garlic spices as well as an oil and vinigar sauce for dipping. Since I confused the place with Girimaldi's or whatever that place in Dumbo is that's supposed to be super famouse I insisted we get pizza's. We got 2 (which is way too much for 2 people, but probably enough for three very hungry people) pies: a 4 cheese and one that had roasted red peppers, some weird aweesome cheese whose name I wish I remembered (but only very little, like lightly grated over the top), artichoke hearts, and tomatoes. They were both topped with quite a bit of fresh basil and some of the better olive oil i've ever tasted. They were 14 inchers on a pretty good flatbread crust too. I ate until I was overfull, we still had more than half a pizza left, and the bill came out to 17 dollars. I say, if you find yourself in the area, give it a try.

From Italy to 14th Street: PIZZA

Yep, me again. Sorry.

After I got back from my pasta-cation in Italy, I immediately swore off pizza. This seems like a silly thing to do, but I just didn't think I could stomach it for awhile. I lasted two whole days, at which point Eric dragged me to Last Stop. And by dragged I mean...I suggested it.

In any case, I'm back on the pizza bandwagon. Now, we all know how I feel about the perfection of Last Stop pizza (it's, you know...perfect), but I was intriuged by the rave reviews a little pizza place called Artichoke kept getting. It's right next to Curly's Vegetarian Lunch (another beacon of perfection), and there is always a line winding down the block. I also heard a rumor once that a public trash can was installed right outside expressly for the purpose of collecting the casualties (i.e. pizza-fied napkins and paper plates) of Artichoke pizza consumption.

My boss has been urging me to try this place for awhile now, so as K and I headed to meet S and C we stopped to pick up a slice. The line wasn't as long as usual, only out to the curb, and it gave us a chance to admire the weird fringey lamp in the window.

I went for the obvious, a slice of the artichoke pizza (a meal completed with a Diet Coke). I suppose I shouldn't complain about getting dinner for fewer than $6.00 ($5.50, to be exact), but $4.00 for a slice of pizza is a bit ridiculous, even in New York. It needs to at least be WORTH IT.

Okay, I'll definitely go ahead and give Artichoke points for creativity and for catching me off guard. I don't know WHAT is in the cheese at this place, but it is unlike any other pizza I have ever seen. It LOOKS normal, but it honestly tastes like someone took cream of artichoke SOUP and poured it on bread (or pizza dough, as it were). It's sloppy in a good sloppy-pizza way, but it's so STRANGE. K and I seemed to have the same reaction to the thing. Eventually, it started to grow on us...but we're still not sure we understand it. At all.




Maybe I'll give it another shot when I'm better prepared for what's coming, but I think I'll be sticking with Last Stop for awhile. Also, I burned my mouth on the cheese-slash-soup, so I may need a brief pizza hiatus. I guess the verdict here is GOOD BUT DIFFERENT. Thoughts?

Child's play

I've basically been living on bagels and cupcakes for the past week, so here is a gratuitous picture of a veggie slice from anna marias, on bedford:

veggie slice