I first heard about Reds Produce from a FOH trailer at The Restaurant. He mentioned it was right around the corner from where I live. I looked it up on Gothamist (which was the only site that had any real information about the place) and walked by it last night after Matt and I got burgers from Hope & Anchor and picking up a large supply of Twinning’s English Breakfast Tea from Fairway ($10 for a hundred pack!).

Tonight Matt and I went for dinner. It’s a super tiny tapas bar (28-seats and a max of 44 people) right by Moonshine. Working the bar was Red himself (who was born in northern Spain and used to be in the hardcore band YDL) along with Pamela–both extremely welcoming and friendly. They’ve only been open three weeks and are awaiting their liquor liscense–they will have draught beers and Spanish wine ($5 house wine!). Soon they will be selling produce and dried goods–most of it is imported from Spain. So I guess locavores aren’t supposed to be down with it, but dude, it’s got less “carbon footprints” then actually flying to Spain. In your self-righteous face!

Meat and cheese plate: Featuring drunken goat cheese (the rind is washed in wine), serrano ham, membrillo, dried fig and almond cake, some really extreme gnarly blue cheese (cabrales) that looks like it’s fifty years old, manchego and some other cheese.

Small tres colores salad: Carrot with tarragon, beet root and celery root.

Warm chorizo that was super intense. I’m talking caliente, papi!

They want to have live music as well as screen films from local artists. At first they were open ass early for breakfast, but as of now they are open every evening until ten (they are going to change their hours to stay open later).

Reds Produce is located at 289 Columbia Street between Summit and Woodhull (in that area some people call Carroll Gardens, others call Red Hook and a few call Columbia Street Waterfront), Brooklyn (718) 506-5432

Jamie Oliver’s new cooking show is awesome.

It’s odd they named it “at home” considering all his other shows were filmed at his main home in London. This show takes place at his fancy country home where the fucker grows copious amounts of his own amazing, beautiful produce. Also, this home has like three or four kitchens. One of them being outside. With a wood burning oven. Fucker.

Every episode is seasonal, so you won’t see him making anything with, say, tomatoes right now. Using only seasonal produce also means that the shit he uses is not only readily available, but dirt cheap. Things like raddichio, carrots, beets, fennel and squashes. The only expensive thing you will have to purchase is super good quality extra virgin olive oil, as he drizzles it over everything.

Jamie At Home is on the Food Network. Only on Saturdays at 9:30am. Get a DVR as I think this is one of the very few cooking shows worth watching.

The US version of the accompanying cookbook won’t be available until October ($25), but already out in the UK, which you can order it through UK Amazon ($36 with shipping). Some of the dishes on the show I’ve found in his Cook with Jamie book.

I hope in his next series he raises, slaughters and butchers all sorts of livestock.

Oh, these? Yeah, I grow my own potatoes. What, you don’t? 

People like pictures. And I guess you’d expect a food blog to have photos of food. But it’s going to be awhile before I supply you with some because my third Canon Elph broke today while I was shooting Matt training his recently sprouted hop plants. I’m looking into a Panasonic Lumix camera because they have Leica lenses and they are half the cost of Leica digital cameras. The moral of the story is fool me three times, I call shenanigans on your camera company. Canon, you’ve made The List.

In other news, I was weeding my backyard today and found some sort of melon or squash plants! I’m not quite sure what kind they are, but I’ll find out later on in the year. I’d take photos and post them, but you know.

We finally dined at Petite Crevette on Hicks tonight. I say finally because it’s around the corner from our apartment and I pass by it at least twice a day. It’s an adorable little French bistro that’s heavy on seafood but light on the palate. Great service and a very welcoming staff (one of the servers recognized me from earlier in the day when I was walking Pokey by there). I wish we had a table by the kitchen, because it’s fascinatingly tiny: Four burners, one cutting board and only room enough for one cook. We started with the crab corn chowder and soft shell crab (deep fried and served with frites over a bed of greens with mustard and wasabi mayo). For entrees we had Long Island striped bass and tuna steak nicoise (rare) - both served with amazing mashed potatoes (creamy and buttery, but still fluffy and potatoey) and al dente carrots, haricot verts and zucchini. To finish, some of that famous Red Hook key lime pie with whipped cream, which I was really impressed with because it wasn’t too sweet. Petite Crevette is byob (corking fee is $5) and does not take credit cards. Total for two appetizers, two special entrees, one dessert and corking fee was $90 including tax and tip. They have a take-out menu and are open for lunch. This is a not an itis causing eatery.

Yo momma’s face is so ugly… 

Wednesday night’s Stone Park Cafe / Six Point Brewery dinner.

Short post about it because I was in a rush and forgot my camera. They had a couple of Six Point brew masters there. Not only was the theme beer pairing, but it was also smoke. Cold smoked creme fraiche potato salad. Alder smoked black cod. And smoked choco ice cream! (Which I think may be a novelty, but it was fun to try nonetheless.)

The beers were well paired (you got about eight ounces of beers per course), except for the wheat beer with the amuse of Vietnamese spare ribs. Matt said they should have served something with more carbonation to cleanse your palate of the grease. The brewmaster said he paired it because the wheat beer has a hint of pineapple at the finish and he thought it might have worked well with the Asian style of the mini ribs.

The almost barely visible sprinkle of Maldon sea salt on the sirloin means told me that I was in a fine dining establishment. Fine dining seasoning! (Which is a phrase I’m going to use anytime I put salt on anything. Thanks, Michele!)

They did something cute and brought out teeny servings of hops, malt and barley between courses for you to sniff and taste. The malt and barley would make for awesome granola. The hops were inedible, but look like green rabbit pellets and smelled faintly like weed.

I got the itis halfway through the meal.

Service was poor for the first part of the meal, but I think they were slammed. Apparently they were supposed to know someone from The Restaurant was coming in, but I didn’t get to meet the chef. It’s okay though, I wasn’t in the mood for schmoozing because of said itis.

This was delicious and fun and I’d definitely do it again. I think $55 pp for six courses and booze is pretty fair.

Peter Meehan from the New York Times has a big food boner for Fette Sau. I liked it more than my friends, but granted, I don’t know BBQ as well as they do. Meehan recommends the ribs, so maybe he knows even less about BBQ than I do.

On Monday night, Matt, two friends of his and myself went to Fette Sau - the new BBQ joint in Williamsburg. The owners also own the expensive, yet awesome craft beer bar Spuyten Duyvil, which is conveniently located across the street.

I really really liked the interior and usually I don’t give a crap about that kind of stuff.

To order, you wait on line and order deli style - there’s a chalk board of their offerings. They also have a deli counter so you can see the meats. The workers dress in butcher whites and wrap up your to-go orders in parchment paper. Unfortunately, they often run out of things and don’t make note of it on the board. So I waited on line for ten minutes only to find out that they didn’t have any pig tails ($2.50 each) that day.

The four of us shared 1/2 lb of each bacon belly and brisket and 1/2 a rack of ribs. Large potato salad (simple, just skinless potatoes, oil, butter, salt and pepper), large broccoli salad (a little overcooked), half order of pickles and four potato rolls (these were obviously not made on premises). Cuts of meat are priced by the pound, ranging from about $10-$17 per pound.

The bacon and the brisket were awesome - beautiful color, beautiful char. They were both extremely tender, with the perfect amount of fattiness. A telltale sign of quality is that excess fat wasn’t greasy - it melted in your mouth. This is what meat is supposed to be. The ribs were really dry, but it was almost forgivable because they tasted smokier than I thought food was able to taste. The fact that they had Guss’ New Pickles won me over ($2.50 for three whole pickles). The photo above was taken when we were halfway done. I got so wrapped up in the deliciousness, I forgot to photograph our food before we dug in.

For drinks, you have to go to the bar. They carry dozens of bourbons and ten kinds of microbrews available in 1/2 pint, pint, quart, 1/2 gallon and gallon. Yes, you can get a gallon of beer. Bonus points for serving beer in olde tyme drinkin’ jars. Also, can you somewhat see in the photo below that all the pulls on the taps are of BBQ implements (meat slicers, a cleaver, a tenderizer).

It was quite busy for a Monday night and it seemed to be mostly young locals. I’m assuming they get slammed on the weekends by Manhattanites because Fette Sau’s opening has been announced in all the Manhattan mags and blogs. And I like this place better than the famous Manhattan BBQ joint, RUB.

Outdoor seating in the front.

$45 fed the four us well, without obtaining a case of the itis. My pint of cider was $4.

Not suitable for vegetarians.

ChewFood Rating: Nine thumbs up. Or an A. That means that if you asked me if I wanted to go there tonight, I’d be all like, “Um. Fuck, yeah!”

Matt and I attended Split Thy Skull VIII at Mug’s Ale House in Williamburg this past Saturday. From 11am until close on Saturday and Sunday, they offered samplings of high alcohol beers (the lowest being 7% abv and the highest being 13.25%) for $3.50, 5 oz servings in little snifter glasses. We had attended their Belgium 2 Brooklyn beer fest in December, which I found more enjoyable because they had sour beers and I could drink a gallon of that stuff. At three pm, the bar was already three people deep. The good thing about it was that it was 90% beer nerds and beer nerds are very patient and there was not cutting or cursing or shoving that you get from regular booze hounds. There Matt’s coworker, Andy, met up with us.

We then sauntered over to Barcade, which is a green bar (solar powered). They have a nice selection of craft beers, a full bar and olde tyme video games. I suggested going there because I’ve been wanting to try the Dogfish Head vodka. Dogfish Head is an extreme American craft brewery that does crazy, delicious stuff like brew beers with a 20% abv or copy the recipe of the elixir found in King Midas’ tomb. And, apparently, they also distill their own liquor. Unfortunately, Barcade was out of it their vodka, so I decided to try their Jin, which was very herbally (pineapple mint, rosemary). It made an odd martini, but not unpleasant. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t drink gin. Now I’d like to ask a question for any bartender that may be reading: I’ve bartended before, but I find it odd how more often then not, when I order martini on the rocks the bartender mixes it in a shaker. Is this because of James Bond?

Continue reading…

Friday night some Chew Food contributors attended happy hour at The Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. Matt is a huge beer nerd, so he was excited because it was the unveiling of Brooklyn Brewery’s new Brooklyn Local 1 (a bottle conditioned Belgian inspired beer).

At the Brewery, you buy beer tokens for $3 each or 7 for $20. The Brooklyn Local 1 was available with take-home glass (as pictured) for three tokens. Continue reading…

Finding a place in the East Village to partake in a little post-work imbibing is not a problem. Finding a place that is reasonably priced, relatively quiet during happy hour, and not obnoxiously tres chic usually ends in resignation with $3 wells at random pub standby number one or a desperate scramble on CitySearch.com. So after a friend recently suggested Lil’ Frankie’s, I gave it a shot.

When I heard it was a popular destination for celebrities in the neighborhood, I shuddered with flashbacks from a night waiting in line at B-Bar, but I was surprised to find the space both quaint and adorable. It proved to be an ideal go-to spot to start the night off with friends for drinks and even tasty eats. Sitting at the small 8-stool bar was a good choice; there’s a great breeze from the street (the front of the restaurant opens up al fresco style), and it’s close to the bartenders. The front dining area was nearly empty when we arrived, and I was relieved to see the absence of bar room televisions. The bedazzled, low-lit chandeliers, cheeky family photos, and rows of old medicine bottles lining the interior walls are all great for decoration and conversation starters, but the real gem is the specialty brew found right on the tap; Lil’ Frankie’s Six Point Ale, which the bartender claimed to have helped brew with the Six Point master himself. The 12-inch brick-oven Margherita pizza was a gooey, filling complement and only $10. We enjoyed a few pints before a sizable crowd wandered in for dinner, which included a mammoth 26 oz. t-bone steak for two special. The sweet scent of fresh basil quickly permeated the room, and it wasn’t until the bartender revealed a tray of mojitos (made here with basil instead of mint) that I realized we might just stay at Lil’ Frankie’s all night long.

Lil’ Frankie’s Pizza is located at 19 1st Avenue between First and Second Streets in Manhattan.
(212) 420-4900

http://www.lilfrankies.com/