The one word I would use to describeFriend of a Farmer, a country restaurant in the middle of Manhattan’s Gramercy neighborhood, is “oasis.”
This is not a restaurant one would expect in the New York suburbs, let alone in the city itself. The closest thing I can compare it to - although it’s painful to do so - is Cracker Barrel. There’s the creaky, natural wood floors, the rural decor and homey, comfort food.
But unlike that bastion of roadside diversion, Friend of a Farmer has the advantage of being one little place within the controlled chaos that is New York City. As a stand-alone shop, the place is not trafficking in mass food in a faux setting with questionable service. Our server was extremely friendly (although with a punkish vibe that would be unwelcome in Kansas) and the cozy atmosphere seemed stripped wholesale from a real country house.
And the food was mmm-mmm good! I honestly can’t remember the appetizers, but it’s hard to forget the entrees, especially when three of the four of our party ordered the same thing. This was the Fresh Roasted Turkey (cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, fresh cranberry sauce & giblet gravy), a Thanksgiving meal on a plate. Enjoyed by my wife, my friend and his fiance, the food captured the quintessential family feel, with succulent pieces of turkey and accouterments worthy of any hard-cooking mom (or dad).
I, of course, picked the least country item on the menu: Honey Glazed Shrimp (mixed greens, mandarin oranges, pears, maytag blue cheese & grapes with a sesame ginger mandarin dressing). This was because 1. I had a big, heavy lunch and 2. my stomach was bothering me, probably because of 1. The salad was extremely tasty, with the tang of the various fruit playing off the sweetness of the shrimp and creaminess of the cheese. It was certainly well-balanced, but I could have used a few more shrimp and definitely more pear.
For dessert… PIE! I would have been extremely disappointed if a place like this didn’t offer at least one homemade pie. Luckily, the restaurant has a mini-bakery in its kitchen, offering a bunch of warm, carby goodies. Both couples went with the delicious apple crumb pie, a la mode. At first they had run out of vanilla ice cream, but managed to find some tucked away in the back. Between the gooeyness of the pie and the lightness of the ice cream, this was the perfect capper to a country meal.
Since Friend of a Farmer is now a friend of mine, I think I’ll return for breakfast… and brunch… and lunch… and more dinner. Care to join me?
I’ve never done anything like this before, and especially not here. But my Aunt Dolly, who passed away in fall 2008, had such a profound effect on my life - and my love of food - that I feel public respects should be paid. So I will pay them.
As feisty as they come, my aunt (really, great aunt) was a lover of classic Italian food and sweets of any kind. Back in the day, she made all of the standards - sauce, meatballs, braciole - but as far as I’m concerned, she only had two specialties: roasted red peppers and Toll House chocolate chip cookies.
I don’t know what, if anything, she did to make the peppers so good, but they were certainly the best among the cooks in my family. I’m fairly sure she marinated them with olive oil and garlic slices in the refrigerator before serving. Each sliver was a simple delicacy in itself, but even more potent when paired with a slice of fresh mozzarella.
However good the peppers were, however, Aunt Dolly will always be remembered for her perfectly addictive chocolate chip cookies. She never told us her secret, but for some reason, her cookies had a better consistency (not too cakey, not too flat) than virtually any Toll House I’ve eaten or made since. I suspect a good amount of love did the trick.
Her cookie packaging was also memorable. She would line an old cookie tin (like the one above) with aluminum foil, place the treats within and cover it back up with foil. This made it excruciatingly difficult to sneak cookies out, as the crinkling of the foil would always give you away. Even my dad, nowhere near the connoisseur of sweets that my mom and I are, could not keep his hands off. They were magic.
I could go on and on about the cookies, but really, it was the baker that made them special. If I could live up to even half of the warmth or generosity of her spirit, I will be happier than if I ever achieve a comparative batch of Toll House.
She was a great cook, a great aunt and a great lady. I miss her tons.
Let’s celebrate the new year by taking a look back at the best cookies I made in 2008.
These humongous, cake-like monstrosities are based on this Google-discovered recipe and are a breeze to make. The dribbly glaze is from this recipe, although I added some cinnamon for color and flavor.
Here’s the process:
Start by mixing the wet ingredients…
And the dry ingredients…
Then combine both to produce a nice, fluffy batter.
Add the chips (and nuts if you believe in that sort of thing), drop by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet and throw it into a 350 degree oven.
After only 10 minutes, you’ve got yourself a great batch of fall classics.
To make them even more special, whip up some glaze (or “icing” if you prefer) and drizzle it over the cookies. If I remember correctly, this process yielded almost two dozen cookies.
Remember: while the glaze adds a nice bit of sweetness to this robust cookie, be careful not to overuse it. Dousing your cookies in “sweet” is a sure way to get booed out of a bake sale.
Still trying to catch up on posts, as exemplified by apple dessert recipes that are going on two months old. That’s okay; they’re new to you, right?
The apple cake above was the second of two recipes I tried as I made my way through the last of the picked apples. It was also the more dramatic of the preparations, considering I used a 9″ cake pan to make a 10″ recipe. Lesson learned: don’t do that.
But before we get to the second, I wanted to introduce the first apple cake, the one that almost slipped into my culinary history undocumented. Luckily, I remembered to take a pic of a portion I brought to my folks. To your right is the cake in all its tupperware glory.
It may not look like much, but it was actually quite delicious. I found the recipe, as usual, through a Google search (keyword: best apple cake). Being the sucker for hyperbole that I am, I couldn’t not try the Best Apple Cake (in 47 Years of Cooking).
Did it live up to its title? Well, I haven’t been cooking for 47 years (yet), but it was certainly easy, sweet and full of appley goodness.
The only issue I had was with the glaze. While I can’t get enough of butter, cream and brown sugar, drizzling this concoction over an already-soft cake, made the dessert almost too moist. I know, I didn’t think that was possible either.
The second cake, while also moist, took a completely different approach to mixing apples and batter: it didn’t. But it looked a whole lot better, as you’ll see after the jump.
Ever since moving from Philadelphia to the NYC area, we’ve struggled to find restaurants that in some way approximate the eclectic, yet sophisticated mix of cuisine and attitude to which we’ve become accustomed in that city of brotherly love.
But in the past few months, we’ve found a couple places that tap into that Philly flair.
The first (pictured) is Perilla, a great little restaurant nestled into the back streets of the West Village. We arrived there very randomly one night, having made a reservation in haste when I realized some out-of-town friends were coming into the city for the night. After a whole lot of web browsing and a few phone calls, we ended up with an 8:30 reservation at one of many NYC restaurants I never knew existed before that night.
You know how sometimes things just work out? Well, from the restaurant choice on, this was one of those nights.
When your wife is a veterinarian (especially one going through an internship), holidays often don’t fall on the day they’re supposed to. Take, for instance, this year’s Thanksgiving.
On the Thursday in question, my wife was working an emergency shift at the animal hospital. While I was able to stuff myself silly at my aunt and uncle’s annual celebration, the little lady was not so lucky. She was stuck suturing wounds, taking X-rays and, most tragic of all, putting her fair share of people’s beloved animals to sleep.
Bummer.
Knowing in advance that this was to be her fate this year, my mom and I put a plan B into motion. We would have a Second Thanksgiving the Sunday after the real event. We even rounded up a couple cousins and a sister and a nephew to join in the deja vu turkey day.
The food was cooked exclusively by me and mi madre. Here’s the breakdown:
MOM
Succulent roast turkey (at right)
Gravy and walnut glaze
Zucchini bread
Apple-cranberry crisp
ME
Cornbread
Sweet potato casserole
Pumpkin chiffon pie
Chocolate pie
This was my first time making all of these dishes and it showed. The cornbread was extremely flat, probably due to baking it in too big of a pan. It was also fairly bland, although I’m not sure why. I think I might stick to out-of-the-box alternatives in the future.
The sweet potato casserole turned out fine (the wife was a big fan), but the marshmallows crisped up instead of melting and getting gooey. That was a bit of a disappointment.
As for the pies, they turned out just okay. I think I prefer regular pumpkin pie to the souffle-like chiffon. It was a little too light and airy for me.
The chocolate, on the other hand, was ridiculously dense. If you weren’t holding the knife tightly when cutting through, you’d easily lose it in the chocolate.
The addition of whipped cream to both pies was a saving grace.
Although it was a lot of fun to do, I think I’ll leave Thanksgiving to the professionals for a few more years. My wife’s schedule should allow for ample practice time before hosting our first gathering.
This was the second of four desserts (two more to go!) made from the apples collected during our October adventure. I can’t recommend this recipe enough.
I know it must seem as if my posts are regressing, but I found this pic in the archives and had to put it out for public consumption.
Similar to the creative wedding cookies I’ve previously shown, this 3D spider was from the Halloween party we attended. If I remember correctly, this is the anatomy:
Looking for an Italian restaurant in North Jersey is like trying to find a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan. There’s one on every corner and most of them strive only for mediocrity.
Since moving to Bergen County, my wife and I have tried to choose our Italian meals wisely. There are a ton of options, so finding the really good ones becomes a challenge in itself. Granted, this is an often delicious challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
The recommendations we’ve received have continually put us in towns to the north and south of our small haven of Waldwick. We’ve tried Italian in Ridgewood, Allentown and Ramapo. Nothing’s been bad, but nothing has really presented itself front and center as the best Italian food around.
And yet, every time we set out on another Italian adventure, we pass a little place in Waldwick called Andrea’s Ristorante Italiano. It sits in the middle of a fairly old-school (and fairly ugly) strip mall and is just about the most unassuming restaurant you could ever come across. I think that’s why we never gave it much thought.
Joyous news, courtesy of TV Squad (and others). Chef Robert Irvine, who was unceremonioiusly dumped from his Dinner:Impossible gig when the Food Network discovered inaccuracies in his resume, has been reinstated.
Although I never watched Chef Michael Symon’s version of the show, I’m pretty psyched that Irvine is back in charge. This guy IS the show. Doing it without him is like watching House without Hugh Laurie.
I know this was probably just a business decision (better entertainment = better ratings = better ad revenue), but I think Food Network did the right thing. Chef Irvine’s new episodes are due to begin airing in March of new year.
But before we get to the second, I wanted to introduce the first apple cake, the one that almost slipped into my culinary history undocumented. Luckily, I remembered to take a pic of a portion I brought to my folks. To your right is the cake in all its tupperware glory.
Bummer.
ME
Although it was a lot of fun to do, I think I’ll leave Thanksgiving to the professionals for a few more years. My wife’s schedule should allow for ample practice time before hosting our first gathering.
Joyous news, courtesy of 
