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Photo of the Day – 10/13/2010: Fatty Crew Beef Brisket Sandwich at the Madison Square Market

Tangy Brisket Sandwich from the Fatty Crew at the Madison Square Market

I devoured this beef brisket sandwich from the Fatty Crew at the Madison Square Market. Fatty Crab, Fatty ‘Cue, and Cabrito are serving up their delicious specialties all in one booth at the market. So you can cross all three off your Bucket List in one fell swoop! This sandwich had melt-in-your-mouth bits of beef brisket, sprinkled with chili jam, sliced red onion, pickled red onion, special cheese sauce, and cilantro on a fresh baguette. Yeah, it was good!

The Madison Square Market has a huge selection of local food and high-end crafts. It runs 7-days a week, 11AM – 8PM through October 23 on the Broadway/5th Ave side of Madison Square Park at 23rd St. It’s a great place to shop, eat, or stroll hand-in-hand in the evening under the twinkle lights.

Fatty Crab, Fatty ‘Cue, Cabrito, Madison Square Market

Book Review: Clean Plates NYC Will Help You Find Restaraunts Serving Delicious and Healthy Food

Clean Plates NYC by Jared Koch (photo from Clean Plates NYC)

A few years back some friends invited us out to dinner. One of them is a vegetarian, and so we thought their choice of a well-known barbecue restaurant a bit curious. Predictably, the non-meat eater struggled to find something on the menu, and the rest of us struggled not to dope slap both of them for their lack of forethought. The dinner was fine and fun, but all the discomfort could have been avoided if we had had Clean Plates N.Y.C.: A Guide to the Healthiest Tastiest Restaurants in Manhattan for Vegetarians and Carnivores (Jared Koch, 2009).

Clean Plates NYC author Jared Koch has had a longtime interest in health. In fact, he was pre-med in undergrad, and he deferred his admission to medical school indefinitely. He became a certified nutritionist instead, working with clients 1-to-1 on their eating habits and health goals. Being New Yorkers, Jared’s clients like to eat at restaurants several times a week but were concerned that their food choices would not be particularly healthy. So Jared started compiling a list for his clients of restaurants serving healthy, nutritious and delicious food. The list became a hugely popular among his clients. Clean Plates NYC, the guide and the brand, sprang from the idea of providing this valuable information to a broader audience.

Clean Plates includes a list of 75 restaurants in Manhattan that were evaluated using strict criteria:

- Taste

- Atmosphere

- Types of cuisine (the book has a wide variety.)

- Lifestyle (Casual, Fast Food, Power- Lunch, and Fine Dining)

- Geography (the list includes restaurants throughout Manhattan)

- Healthfulness of Ingredients (many of the restaurants serve local and regional foods, as well as grass-fed meats)

There are eight different icons to identify the key characteristics of the 75 restaurants in Manhattan. So you can pretty much please any crowd combination. Meat eaters, vegetarians and raw food eaters on a budget? Liquiteria!? Omnivores but gluten-free? Slice! Dairy-free, gluten-free, and raw with naturally-sweetened desserts? Pure Food and Wine!

In selecting each of the restaurants featured in the book, Jared and his restaurant review associate, food critic Alex Van Buren, dedicated themselves to finding food that is good for you but that actually tastes great too. Many of the restaurants serve locally produced foods, as well as grass-fed beef and organic produce. I no longer have to search across vast swatches of the internet to find a place nearby for delicious food to suit vegetarians and omnivores alike.

The part I like best about this guidebook is that it makes it easy to eat healthy food without changing my New York lifestyle. I was happy to see that some of my favorite places are on the list, including Le Pain Quotidian and Pret a Manger on the casual side to Blue Hill and Gotham Bar and Grill on the formal and celebratory side.

To make things even better, when you buy the book you get a secret password that allows you to access a members-only section of www.cleanplatesnyc.com, with restaurant updates, discussion forums, and much more. Not only is this book a tidy treasure trove for people who value healthy food that tastes good, but it is also your ticket to meeting and sharing information with other like-minded people. To paraphrase Jared’s introduction, the term “clean plates” implies food that is pure, unprocessed, healthy, and good enough to tempt you to lick your plate clean.

You can purchase Clean Plates NYC online and in bookstores.

Fun Valentine’s Day Events at the Markets this Weekend!

Whether love is in the air for you or not, there are some great artisan and food events planned for this weekend. Clearly Brooklyn “hearts” Valentine’s Day! (Check the Markets of New York City Facebook Page for updates!)

Greenpoint Food Market: A Food Affair
Saturday February 13^th, Noon – 5:00 PM
Church Of Messiah
129 Russell St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn
http://www.greenpointfoodmarket.wordpress.com/

Greenpoint Food Market is a monthly event people who are “inspired by all foods fresh and local, artisanal and handmade.” This weekend’s Valentine’s event, “A Food Affair” is a mix of innovative foods and food-related items. (Personally, I’m kind of excited about the Kissing Booth!)

“The day will feature a cascade of lovely treats: from aphrodisiac inspired recipes to heart shaped cookies, a photo kissing booth courtesy fellow Greenpointers Color Me Katie and Hyla Skopitz, a secret foodmirer bulletin board to share your food crushes and indulgences, and a heart-hunt: find the heart, win a GFM goodie bag. We are also very pleased to present music by DJ Jimmy T and a performance by Rifle Recoil @ 3pm. We are also grateful to add to a growing list of food-related artworks by artists Jessie Oleson and Jesse Kuhn who will share a few prints on food and love!”

Valentine Fling – Brooklyn Indie and The NewNew
Saturday February 13
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM at Starting Artists
211 Smith Street (at Starting Artists), Brooklyn
Brooklyn Indie Market
The NewNew

The Brooklyn Indie Market is partnering this weekend with the NewNew Artisans for a Valentine’s Day Art Bazaar:

“Valentine’s Day can strike dread in the heart of the hardiest New Yorker: If you’re coupled, there’s the delicate dance of aligning your own celebratory expectations with those of your beloved; if you’re unhappily single, all the emphasis on romance can be special kind of torture. In response to this, Brooklyn Indie Market and The {NewNew} are joining forces to present A Valentine Fling: A day of fun, flirting, and handmade shopping on Smith Street.”

Park Slope/Gowanus Market and the Makers Market at the Old American Can Factory
Sunday 11 AM – 5:00PM
232 3^rd Street at 3^rd Ave, Gowanus/Park Slope Brooklyn
Community Markets
The Makers Market

The partnership between the Makers Market Artisans and Community Market’s local farmers continues this weekend. You will definitely get all your Valentine’s Day shopping done here: top quality handmade gifts, dinner ingredients, and wine included!

“Kiernan Farm Grass Fed Beef is joining the market. Along with their fabulous grass fed beef meat, they’ll offer honey, maple syrup and Sprout Creek Cheese! Manhattan Milk is selling farm fresh products including cream-top grass-fed yogurt, yogurt smoothies, milk and eggs! Adair Vineyard is offering their array of Hudson Valley wines and Made by Molly is featuring chocolate chubbies with roasted, salted almonds!”

Artists and Fleas: Valentine’s Day with a Twist
Saturday and Sunday, February 13-14, 2010 at 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Artists & Fleas: Indoor Artist & Designer Market
129 N 6th St Between Bedford and Berry in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.artistsandfleas.com,
Facebook Event Invitation

Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg has great handmade and vintage items every weekend, but this weekend’s special “Un-Valentine’s Day” is bound to have something special for everyone!

“Artists & Fleas kicks off another year of de-cupid-ifying events. Want to shop for those you love or those you no longer love? Get on your spite with some of the delicious delinquency that the folks behind Dirty Bandits have cooked up. They know that life can sometimes throw you a curveball and the only way to live is to play.”

Pop-Up Shop: Liddabit Sweets & Kumquat Cupcakery
Open now through Sunday February 14, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Kill Devil Hill, 170 Franklin St (between Java and Kent Sts), Brooklyn, NY
Time Out New York Announcement
Kill Devil Hill Blog
Kumquat Cupcakery
Liddabit Sweets

Two sweethearts of New York’s artisanal food world, Liddabit Sweets and Kumquat Cupakery, are teaming up this weekend to open a Pop-Up Shop at Kill Devil Hill in Brooklyn. Their Valentine’s Day specials include 1 or 2 dozen rose and gem min-cupcakes or a box of handmade chocolates and candies. They’ll also have their most popular items to satisfy even the bitterest sweet tooth!

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone from Markets of New York City! ♥

Artisans + Farmers = A Match Made in Heaven (well, Gowanus actually)

I have been thinking about Valentine’s Day, for obvious reasons. So I thought I would write about a very happy union in Brooklyn: the Makers Market and Community Markets at the Old American Can Factory.

The Makers Market is a great destination if you are seeking finely crafted handmade products. And now you can buy your veggies for the week there too! During this freezing winter season, the Makers Market and Community Markets have joined forces to create an indoor artisan and farmers’ market for the Gowanus/Park Slope neighborhoods. Community Markets runs farmers’ markets throughout Westchester and Rockland Counties, as well as New York City. Normally, many of their markets close for the winter season. So it is a great service and resource for the local communities to have easy access to fresh, delicious and locally grown produce.

The farmers include Breezy Hill Orchard, Gajeski Produce and Phillips Farm. You can pick up a delicious loaf of bread from the “oven artisans” at Orwasher’s Bakery. They also sell their miche, levain and focaccia and more at Citarella, Dean & Deluca, and Zabar’s. Get a taste of pungent pickle goodness from Dr. Pickle. I got half a dozen great ideas for canapés for our next dinner party, starting with pepperoncini stuffed with goat cheese. Yum. And don’t pass up Buddhapesto or their tempting tray of samples. Their artisanal basil pesto is delicious, so go ahead and “enlighten your tastebuds.”

There is wine at the markets too, from Brooklyn Oenology. I bet you didn’t know there is a winery headquartered in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. The actual winemaking is done in Long Island, but their wines carry the artisanal spirit of the borough. For a tasty and healthy dessert, Tierra Farm sells chocolate covered nuts and fruits, as well as dry roasted products.

The artisans share the large welcoming space that originally served as a loading dock for the Old American Can Factory. The white walls and steel pillars provide a beautiful setting for these extremely talented people to sell their creations. I wrote about some of these artisans over the holidays. May Luk Ceramics, or “Take Me Homeware,” brings art and wit to your table. (See the photo of her “Saucy” bowl, which I gave to my sister Andrea for Christmas.) Parable Ink creates T-shirts that tell a story (they keep selling out of their gorgeous Blue Elephant design in my size!). If you’re looking to spruce up your sweaters, Shaya NYC, Christine Vasan and Ed Ledner all sell wonderfully unique handmade jewelry.

And there are the comfortable and fashionable clothing designs by ANgeLRoX Apparel. The ANgeLRoX reversible “turtles” keep your neck toasty and come in beautiful accent colors. You will find beautiful poetry books from Ugly Duckling Presse; preserves, chutneys and more from SchoolHouse Kitchen; beautiful and thought-provoking fine artwork by Nicola Ginzel; and so much more.

It may be cold outside, but it’s warm and toasty on Sundays inside the Old Can Factory.

Community Markets Park Slope Indoor Farmers’ Market and Makers Market: Sundays 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM, 232 Third Street (at Third Avenue) through March 2010.

New Amsterdam Market Presents Wintermarket

This Sunday is the final New Amsterdam Market for the year. It looks like it is going to be as amazing as the other three were.

For the uninitiated, The New Amsterdam Market is held under the FDR elevated highway in the South Street Seaport. The market features food purveyors who source their products and ingredients directly from local farmers and producers. Hopefully this market will find a permanent home in the currently empty Fulton Fish Market. For now, though, it takes place periodically each year. (Check their website for a calendar of events.)

Not only is the market quite beautiful, with its clean white and black banners indentifying each vendor, but the quality of products there is superb. I try and listen to people in the crowd because I hear about wonderful things that I had walked right by, like the bean-to-bar chocolate bars from Mast Brothers. At the November Market, I went immediately to the Basis table for a jar of golden honey and dozen free-range eggs as they sold out quickly in October.

There will be over 75 food purveyors at this weekend’s markets. On Sunday, I will definitely stop by Fleishers Grass Fed and Organic Meats because I am giving the gift of bacon this year. There is always a lovely selection of artisanal breads and cheeses, including Hotbread Kitchen and Saxelby Cheesemongers. There are wonderful representatives from regional creameries, vinyards, farms and much more. I strongly advise that you bring your holiday food shopping list because the vendors are prepared to help you with anything you plan to serve your families and guests.

You can also pick up some great things for the foodies in your life. The gift of pickles is just below bacon on my list, especially the extremely creative varieties from Rick’s Picks. We gave a jar of Mother-In-Law’s Kimchee to the right person and made him very happy. Caramels, lollies, and “slurtles” from Liddabit Sweets make great stocking stuffers (just keep them away from the fire!).

To round out your shopping list, stop by and visit Little Bookroom, publisher of beautiful, delightful and extremely informative travel and food guides. I’ll be at this table, wearing 10 pairs of socks and every pair of thermals I can dig up. Please come and say hello!