Oh Mammamia!

People: me, dave mann (carbon trader/ex-lawyer), sam (saaam!!! advertising exec)

Cost per person: $35 (ouch)

Order: caprese salad, mussels in white wine, parsley, and vegetable sauce, pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, salami, and eggplant, veal rollatini in a marsala sauce, and grilled salmon with spinach. 

Ambiance:

-rustic. lots of dark wood. cool outdoor seating area. cozy would probably be an appropriate word. old world italian. wine bottles everywhere. wood beams. none of that slick all white, modern, look at me i could be in the hamptons! vibe. overall, very inviting. good date spot. or, good go with an engaged couple and one (kind of) food blogger type joint. 

Food/Service:

-let's start with the service. I'm going to be gentle because dave and sam (saaam!!!!) love this place. BUT, i have to say that the service was terrible. Granted, we did sit down at an outside table without telling anyone (which may have ruffled some feathers).  Even though the servers were all incredibly friendly, we were pretty much neglected throughout the night. We DID happen to sit down next to rory (lawyer) and his wife who had left THEIR KID at home. Takeaway from seeing rory/wife: do NOT have kids. As opposed to the service, the food was pretty good. The caprese was borderline delicious. Sam (sam!!!!) essentially said, and i'm paraphrasing here, "the mozzarella is so fresh it makes me fucking sick." Dave loved the mussels, but i thought they could have used some more flavor. They weren't bad, just a little bland. Dave's salmon, however, was outstanding - a little crunchy on the outside and cooked well on the inside.  Also great was sam's (saaamm!!!!'s) pizza, which tasted like delicious pizza (just look at the pic). Dave basically forced me to get this veal rollatini thing, and it was pretty good. At first I thought it was incredible, but the more I ate, the less I was into it. Some parts were slightly chewy and tasted like skin. The parts that did not taste like (human or some other large mammal's) skin were actually very, very delicious, albeit a little heavy. 

Convo:

-We discussed how work was going for both Dave and Sam (SAM!). Sam (sam!!!) was dealing with the fact that one of her bosses loves to vacay and doesn't roll to certain important meetings. Dave was in an all-out war to become the (alphabetically) top listed carbon broker on a certain website. He came up with "Air Brokerage" which puts him near the top. We also talked about the fact that rory and maggie (wife) are a year older than us and have kids. Dave and I decided we are way too selfish right now to tend to kids every free second of our lives. Sam (SAAAAAAM!!!!) remained conspicuously quiet on this topic. We also talked about how we just plopped down at a table without telling anyone and whether that had affected the service. Dave and Sam professed their love for the place anyway. 

Oh Mammamia!

2nd Ave between 76th and 77th

212-288-4045

Cinco de Mayo Special - Snack Dragon

People: me , emily, andrew, lauren (see previous posts about everyone's foodie stati and jobs)

cost per person: probably around $5.

order: carne asada tacos (marinated skirt steak); pollo verde tacos (chicken breast stewed in salsa verde and 'lots of spices')

ambiance:
- cool lights. shack-like setting. small, but it will get you stoned. also, the woman behind the counter became very passive-aggressive once i began taking pictures.  she asked me, annoyed: "can you STOP taking pictures?" maybe she wasn't really PASSIVE aggressive. more like just, aggressive. 

food:
- very delicious. tender meat. lots of good spices. portions on the smaller side of things, but excellent late-night food. quick. perfect for snacking. some would say its as if a dragon was offering snacks. snack dragony. 

convo:
- wish i could remember. i remember taking pictures. the lady getting pissed. then us talking about how pissed she was because i was taking pictures. later i remember almost vomiting. not related to the food.  more related to tequila. 

Snack Dragon

3rd street btwn ave A & B

Foodies Never Pay Full Price - Part Deux

that may or may not be true. however, there is no denying we are in a recession. if you haggle a little, you could save a lot. the dude in this article saved $35 by bargaining throughout the day, from starbucks to cornelia street cafe. you could take that $35 and buy some RAspect by eating at a recognized, schuster-approved foodie joint.

ARTICLE here.

Matchbox - Washington, DC

editors note: well it's pretty goddamn obvious that this blog moves people. nobody, least of all me, is surprised by that fact. but, one devoted follower was so moved, she felt compelled to write her own review and submit it to suchafoodie. nora bachman, resident of somewhere outside of DC, decided that she too wants to be a foodie. who am i to try and stop her? below is her post-passover review of matchbox in washington, DC.

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They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, you don't miss something until it's gone, if you love someone let it go - ok, well maybe not that last one - but the bottom line is you really miss bread when you can't have it or any of its manifestations. So, needless to say, pizza and beer (there's a weird rule about grains - hops), tastes awesome after 8 days of going without. Bearing that in mind, I still have to give Matchbox its due because, as a wise man once said...that sh*t is delicious. My brothers, Seth and Peter, my sister-in-law, Sarah, and I all met at the new location in Capitol Hill, DC on 8th Street to remind our bodies what yeast and leavening are all about. I got their first, ever the anxious youngest sibling and sat at the bar with an Alabash White and boy did it hit the spot! The atmosphere is lively with a bit of personality - the bar is an old shuffleboard from the original building where Matchbox presently sits. When the rest of the party showed up, we all had answered Sarah's question exactly the same way: Burger or Pizza? Both.

For some reason, someone decided we needed salad - one of the few things we'd been eating for the past week but as it turned out, the Mixed Greens salad was quite tasty - a tart vinaigrette with a baked parmesan chip on top, and some cherry tomatoes. Of course, we were ready to order almost immediately, having dreamt of this moment every night since the first seder. We started with sliders, two orders - one with gouda cheese and one naked, but they all come served with a heaping mound of fried onions - delicious - and pickles and tomato. I would appreciate a few more cheese options for the sliders but then, I'm a little picky about my cheeses, (gorgonzola and mozzarella were the other two options).

After fairly gorging ourselves on salad and burgers, the pizzas couldn't come soon enough and in fact, I wasn't even finished with my starters when they did arrive. Those of you who have ever eaten with me know I'm a bit of a slow eater but still...we didn't mind. We decided to split three pizzas and let me say, they exceeded expectations. My New York friends will immediately put on their snotty pizza hats and raise an eyebrow or two but having been a New York resident for four years, I feel I can afford to make this statement. It was the kind of thin Italian crust that balances perfectly with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. We opted for the ovendried tomato & fresh buffalo mozzarella (a somewhat modern take on the Margherita - a classic, obviously) whose basil and fresh mozzarella (it's pronounced motts - uh - rehl - lah people) really matched well. I mean, pretty much if you get those ingredients fresh it's going to be amazing.

The other two were a lesson in garlic, and oh how the Bachman family loves garlic. Seth chose the first pizza, Peter chose the Prosciutto White, Sarah chose not to have chicken on her pizza and I chose the third - a Fresh Portabella and marinated artichoke masterpiece. Now, I am a bit of a snob when it comes to a prosciutto pizza as I discovered Gnocco's Emiliana several years ago and nearly died from having found perfection. This New York spot on East 10th Street combines a real Italian slaving over a brick oven with the magical combination of the smoked Italian ham, arugula and parmesan, all sprinkled atop a basic pizza. So, in eating Matchbox's Prosciutto White pizza it's important to think of it in a different realm - that of garlicky white pizza with ricotta and kalamata olives - and there it stays in a delicious box. The fresh portabella pizza sat in the same yummy garlic puree but seemed to be just bubbling over with mozzarella cheese.

All in all, we were quite pleased, although to be honest probably a slice of Wonder bread lathered in butter might have been the most amazing food ever. But, aside from that, Matchbox was really good and I'm psyched to go back and try the bacon-wrapped shrimp & grits, their desserts, and pretty much everything else on the menu. And let's be honest, any place that lists manly and girlie martinis separately and infuses their own fancy-shmancy liquors has to at least have a good personality, no?

So, if you're in the area, check it out: http://www.matchboxdc.com - there's also a location by Gallery Place/Chinatown for a nice pre-show, post-game snack. And feel free to call for directions - I'll be happy to provide my refined palate for tastings.

Respectfully submitted,
Nora B, pseudo-foodie