An Effing Foodie

Storm Eatin' in Westchester, NY: Dudley's (New Rochelle) and City Limits Diner (White Plains)

There's been much grumbling afoot about the rainy June we've had in NY.  Truthfully, I much prefer a few thunderstorms to crushing, moist heat.  These are the choices, people!  Don't get all blindsided-nostalgic about the beautiful summer days of the Tristate, 'cause really...there aren't any.

A dear friend/accomplice of mine popped over one stormy afternoon--Pour Some Sugar On Me (I know, it's clunky as all get-out, but you'd understand if you saw her) is exactly the kind of gal you want over on a bluesy day: She's cheerful, intrepid, with adventurous palate and a heavy gas foot.

PSSOM: So whaddaya wanna do, honey?

EF: <Screwed-up thinking face> I want to...drink...outside...in the rain...but not get wet. 

And lo, we appeared at Dudley's in New Rochelle just before the sky went black.  No matter!  PSSOM had fulfilled my wish to a tee--Dudley's is dive set over a small harbor that leads to the Long Island Sound, with the look and feel of a City Island seafood joint. 

As the rain started to descend in heavy plops, we were sitting safe and dry on a covered dock with picnic benches, sharing a pitcher of Blue Moon and looking over the menu.

Alas, the steamers were not at their best (there was a 1-funky-to-3-non-funky-clam ratio going on):

...and the bacon cheeseburger was nothing to write home about:

But it all somehow came together in a cocktail of humming satisfaction--the thunder and lightning, the low roar of rain slapping the surface of the harbor, the rhythm of shelling and dipping steamers in butter, the hot and cold give-crunch-drip that can only come from a burger (even a subpar one).

Bring Me...The Plate: Daddy-O, West Village, NYC

Tripping on a good bar is one of the things I love best about NYC.  Granted, I was guided here by a roving group of revelers almost a year ago, but every time I've found myself in the neighborhood, this little place was just packed.

Daddy-O is a happy conglomeration of 3 things you almost NEVER see together in a Manhattan Bar anymore:

1. A long list of cocktails that are well-made and balanced, but not priced to the point where you'd have to call the barkeep a "mixologist".  Cheers!
2. A short menu packed with reasonably priced barfood that's tasty, filling, and skirts the line between gritty and precious.  It's a cheeky kinda greasy that's easy to love, and the kitchen is wide open until 4 AM.
3. A lit wall PACKED with brown liquor: If you're a whiskey whisperer, this little corner bar has got your back.  Aforementioned cocktails include commendable quaffables that embrace bourbon, scotch, and dark rum.

Soft-Spoken Feisty Lady and I wandered in around dinnertime on a Friday evening, during a rare, blessed lull, so our experience with the service is probably not what you're going to typically encounter.  Go early, or on an off-day, and you can expect a steady stream of libations and eats from laid-back-yet-attentive servers.

I've only heard about the legendary Garbage Plate of Rochester, but being that it shares the same basic dish-DNA as a plate lunch, it's a reference I've carried near my heart, and is on the list of roadfood goals (along with the original buffalo wings from Anchor Bar).

So when I glanced on an item called "The Plate" on Daddy-O's short menu, my Spidey-senses tingled.  We were in the presence of a homage to the Garbage Plate!  Granted, SSFL and I were supposed to be on our way elsewhere for dinner...

...but the power of The Plate could not be denied.

Recipe Reeeemix: Hainanese Chicken Rice (AKA Chicken with Scallion-Ginger Sauce)

I love it when people insist that chicken doesn't taste like chicken anymore.  Maybe it's because I wasn't raised on a farm, and never had to opportunity to purchase a chicken in the golden era of non-industrialized food.

Or maaaaybe people just don't know how to cook chicken.

I'm not saying that all chickens are created equal--if you can come up with the scratch to buy free-range sustainable boutique chicken at $7 a pound, then by all means, please do support that farmer.  I, however, take a certain glee in scooping up family packs of thighs and drumsticks at my local megamart.

That your chicken needs to be expensive, or preciously tended to, or expertly timed in order to taste good is a load of bull.  Family FN Foodie does have a penchant for meats of a darker, sultrier nature (duck, beef, fatty pork and lamb), and often eschews chicken in restaurants, but there's one chicken dish that we not only order every time it's offered, we order it in concert.

I speak of the humble Hainanese Chicken Rice.  Beloved by Chinese people at large (and favored by Singaporeans and Malaysians in particular) it's straightforward comfort food: Gently poached chicken served over rice made from its own stock, served with a ginger-based dipping sauce and a chili sauce for ooomph.

No fancy fusion, glitz or sideshows.  Just pull-apart chicken that tastes like chicken, on top of chicken-flavored rice.  Sounds like a snooze, but trust me--the anise-tinted stock steeped into jasmine rice is soothingly savory, and everything you want out of flavored rice packets that you just can't get without boiling bones.

Eat These Nuts!

Ya gotta love it when food marketing reads like ED spam.

These Are a Few of My Faaavorite Things: Pulled Lamb & Mustard-Mash Naanini, Tabla Bread Bar, NYC

We're all creatures of habit.  Try as I might to keep the ordering continuum wide open for tasty new experiences, there are a few black holes that I'll always succumb to: At Tabla Bread Bar, it's the Pulled Lamb and Mustard-Mash Naanini.

I'm a big fan of the Bread Bar; this place ain't cheap, but if you're a boozehound that hates crowds, loves food, and has never understood why it's so hard to get Indian food and a good cocktail together, it's an FN godsend.

Please DO get yourself a cocktail.  Or three or four, as budget and responsibilities allow.  It doesn't matter which one, they're all incredibly well-balanced, and they all pair with the food like a charm.

Which brings us to the naanini; tender lamb and spiced, smooth potatoes on a pressed piping-fresh naan platform (and raita for dippin'), there's little more than a gal on an incidental drinking binge could ask for.  Gnaw, sip, hum to yourself: NAaaaaaaanknEEEEkneeee...