Oy Vey, Cuvee

The other day the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I popped into Pete's Waterfront Ale House looking for Sam. We still hadn't seen him since I made my South Carolina style pulled pork sandwiches and I wanted to thank him for the cooking advice. We also had an ulterior motive:

Duck Confit


You may remember that I was a bit disappointed that Braeburn's didn't have it on the menu the last time I visited. Well, I must have put out some vibes because a few days later it was a special at Pete's. I first had duck confit in Paris and tend to get it anytime I see it on the menu here. I also have made it myself and, if I do say so, it turned out really well. Traditionally a French dish, the chef, Jim, put a bit of a Cajun spin on it here serving it with black beans instead of the tradtional white beans and a spicy andouillie instead of a more traditional game sausage. I used a rabbit sausage when I made mine.

Confit was originally a method of preserving game birds. It involves heavily salting the meat and then slowly cooking it in lard. When the meat is thorougly cooked it is then stored in the lard and will keep for quite a long time. Now it is prepared just for the flavor and, this is important, much less salt should be used.

The Finished Product


It was quite tasty but, in my opinion, a bit too salty. Remember, the old recipes call for way more salt than is traditionally used today. You can still keep this dish in your refrigerator for up to a month, however, if you keep the meat covered in the lard. And it is best if you refrigerate it for a least a couple of days before serving it.

The Chips Were A Nice Touch


I had a couple of the Brooklyn Brewery Brewery's Cuvee de Cardoz to wash down my meal. This is that limited edition beer that was concocted by Chef Floyd Cardoz of Tabla and Brewmaster Garrett Oliver. It is a wheat beer seasoned with spices picked out by Chef Cardoz and then toasted and ground before adding. These included ginger, tamarind, mace, black pepper, corriander, fennel, fenugreek, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and chilies. As you can imagine, this beer has all the flavor that you could ever want. Simply delicious and, at around 8% alcohol, it packs a punch. I will keep ordering this at Pete's until they run out.

Comfy With My Confit And Beer

I do love Paris but, quite frankly, I love where I live more. Not as pretty a city, I will grant you that, but with the abundance of French bistros within walking distance of where I live and the occasional French bistro fare at Pete's Waterfront Ale House, what more could I ask for. And you can't get that Brooklyn Cuvee de Cardoz in Paris.

Gowanus Canal Mess

If you read my last post, or several others, you will have seen me kvetch about how New York, to a large extent, totally misuses their abundant waterways. A prime example is the mile-long Gowanus Canal, a truly disgusting, polluted, raw sewage and chemical filled, smelly canal that runs through a section of Brooklyn. In most other cities this would have long ago been cleaned up and lined with walkways, restaurants, shops, you name it. Not here though. It is as it has always been, a cesspool.

Now, in what is the most convoluted logic yet, New York is fighting to prevent it from being declared a Superfund cite and receiving Federal money to help clean it up. Their official reason is that the city can do a better job of cleaning it up themselves. Oh, and they are going to rely on voluntary payments from polluters to fund the effort. Good luck with that. Most of the original polluters are long gone and out of business and I doubt if those that are still around will volunteer anything.

Amazing that in the almost thirty years that I have lived here the city had done nothing to clean up the Gowanus Canal but now, all of a sudden, they can do a better job than the Federal government.

Here is but one example of the city's ineptitude. There is a large flushing pump at the end of the canal that just kind of dead ends. This was designed to keep the water circulating to avoid it just becoming stagnant. This pump broke over 40 years ago but was repaired and reactivated in 1988. Due to who knows what it wasn't repaired and activated until 1999. Since it's activation the water quality has improved somewhat, but the canal hasn't been dredged since 1975. Oh, and the pump needs to be repaired again, and that is scheduled to take two years during which it will not be fully operable. Not even sure if the repair work has started though.

By the way, the real reason for the city refusing the Superfund offer is the concern that potential developers will not want to build in the area if it is classified a Superfund site. Oh, but they will flock to the area if it remains a polluted mess?

Next week I am going to takes some strolls along the canal and post pictures so you can see how this neat little waterway is now being utilized. Of course you won't be able to see much of the pollution. In fact, the violet sheen to the water actually photographs pretty well.

Art Show But No Artie Shaw

After our brunch at Kevin's we headed down to the new Fairway that has opened up. Nice place, and they really tried to preserve the building that they took over. Ikea tried to do the same thing, but they somehow fell short.

The New Ikea


It is still kind of a rough area down here, at least in terms of the decaying structures. Makes for kind of an interesting neighborhood though. This is the shot of right behind the Fairway and next to the abandoned warehouse that housed the Art Show.

Not A Golf Fairway


You can still see the remnants from when this was a much more vibrant port. Much of the business has now moved to New Jersey so there is a lot of just plain old decay here. Kind of strange. Beautiful location, right on the water, nice views of the Statue of Liberty. New York has to rate at the very top of totally mismanaging waterfront property.

Should Be Hotels, Restaurants, And A Marina


Of course the geese like it. The reason we have so many geese here is that someone, in their infinite wisdom, thought they would be a nice addition to New York City. So they captured a bunch of Canadian geese and clipped their wings so they couldn't migrate. A few breedings later and the new geese don't know how to migrate anymore. Oh well, aside from being aggressive, messy, and bringing down the odd airplane they don't do any harm.

Don't Fool With Mother Nature


I was inspired by the Art Show so decided to take a few pictures for my next exhibition. I shall entitle it "Windows."

Window 1


Window 2


I took these shots from windows in the abandoned warehouse where the Art Show was held. I don't think Arden Suydam has anything to worry about.

We were going to head back to Ikea to catch their free shuttle home but, what a coincidence, we passed right by Rocky Sullivan's

Well, It Is Here


So, of course, we popped in and wet our whistle a bit.

Whistle Being Wetted


Me Too


We had a couple of Six Points beers. Hey, they brew them in the back. I had a very hoppy IPA and the Mysterious Chinese Woman had a nice Summer Wheat.

We decided to just catch the 61 bus back home because it stops right in front of Pete's Waterfront Ale House (and right in front of Rocky's as well) and I wanted to stop in and tell Sam that the pork that I cooked to his specifications came out just perfect. Alas, Sam wasn't there.

Kevin's, But No Hobbes

The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I headed back to Red Hook to take in an art show that was displaying some photographs of a friend of mine, Arden Suydam. We, without too much effort, decided to head back to Kevin's for a bit of a nosh.

The Venerable Kevin's


It is always nice to start out with a spot of coffee, and they brew a mean pot here. My sister-in-law, the one who lives in Minnesota, has a cafe and coffee shop, the Left Bank Cafe. I often order my coffee beans from her, so I do kind of know good coffee. Kevin's is right up there with the best.

The Olde French Press


You have to love the warning labels on everything these days.

Duh!!!


Usually I put the children in a cauldron and then add the hot fluids. My bad.

I decided to try something a bit different this time. I had the Adirondack instead of the Chesapeake. Similar, except this time instead of crab cakes on the toast they served smoked trout on the side on a bed of greens with a nice horseradish dill sauce.

The Adirondack


My friend Gene, Kevin's brother, is the creator of this nice little dish.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman knew what she was going to have before we even got there. She just loved her seafood stew that she had the last time and, by golly, she had it again.

I See Her Point


A Succulent Morsel, And Nice Fish, Too




There are a couple of places right across the street from Kevin's that also look interesting. I will have to come back one evening and try them out.

Brooklyn Ice House


Red Hook Bait & Tackle Shop; Fishing Club + Bar


Not too far from here is a VFW Club, so I popped in and talked to Bob, the head of the Membership Committee. Now, if I can dig out my discharge papers, I will send them to him to get an application for a membership. It is easy enough to get to from my house by bus and looks like it might be a fun place.

We headed on to the Art Show and I will post a few pictures from there tomorrow. Don't expect too much though, I didn't take any pictures of any of the art work.

And This Is Fun?

As you may know, I have been going to a few Staten Island Yankees games lately. This is just a Class A league so the quality of play is, well, not too good. But it is cheap, the food is free, and they serve decent and reasonably priced beers. They also have some very strange between the innings entertainment.

A regular feature is what they call Lemonhead. Now you tell me why this is supposed to be fun and why any parent would participate.

You start out with a bunch of pre-toddlers lined up with their parents.

Oh, How Cute


Then, one by one, the baby's faces are displayed up on the video screen.

Time For Your Close-Up


Next, and I find this morbidly fascinating, one of the parents gives the child a swallow of lemon juice.

You Can Trust Me


And then the aftermath of the swallow is displayed for the crowd to enjoy.

Isn't This Hilarious?


Finally, the crowd determines which baby had the "funniest" response by applauding for their favorite.

Am I missing something here? I predict long sessions on a therapist's couch for some of these kids. And what kind of a parent would actually subject their young child to something like this just to get a laugh?

There is much in life that Bar Man doesn't understand.

No Cooking

Well, I had intended to prepare a meal last Thursday, or whenever, it begins to blur, but a friend invited us out to lunch and we had a big meal at Queen so no dinner. Instead The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I took a stroll down Atlantic Avenue to pop into Pete's Waterfront Ale House for a beer or two or three.

Between where I live and the old watering hole is this bookstore that just recently opened.

Ye Olde Book Shoppe


I am kind of a sucker for bookstores. I used to like to hang out in the Barnes & Noble down the block for me. Unfortunately it has turned into kind of a hangout for high school kids. They literally sprawl all over the floor in groups and it makes just getting to books difficult. This has been going on for quite awhile now and, for whatever reason, management doesn't seem to do anything about it. I have pretty much stopped going there.

This bookstore is kind of fun though, with all kinds of clutter (much like my apartment) and all kinds of interesting discoveries to be made.

The Way A Bookstore Should Look


It is kind of a mini-Strand, and just a fun place to spend some time browsing.

Hidden Treasures


Oh, Look, Another Hidden Treasure


I stumbled upon a book that I studied religously when I was still in high school. It was only four bucks, a discount from its original price of ten bucks when it was first published in 1961.

A Flashback To My Misspent Youth


Now I have to track down the companion book, Scarne On Cards, that I liked even better. Scarne was a magician specializing in sleight of hand card manipulation. He also became quite the expert in gambling and gave lectures and demonstrations to military personnel teaching them how to avoid being fleeced by card sharps and cheats. His books are still some of the best I have ever read about card playing and gambling in general. I credit them for whatever limited success I have had in playing poker.

Anyway, we then headed on down to Pete's Waterfront Ale House and ran into a few other regulars.

Andy, Adam, and Greg


We were being ably served by Jerry, the bartender.

Jerry, The Bartender


We stayed long enough to start acting a bit foolish, but then what else is new?

One Beer Over The Line


Bar Man thinks he needs to start doing a few more situps.

We stayed long enough for the changing of the bartenders.

Dimitri


You may remember from some of my previous posts that Dimitri also sings and plays guitar in a pretty dynamite band, the Black Coffee Blues Band. You should try to catch them. Of course they will probably be playing at this year's Atlantic Antic, October 4th. Mark your calendar.

I think Dimitri is begining to look a bit like Severus Snape.

I finally did a bit of cooking for a birthday party I went to yesterday. Interestingly, or not, I stopped into Pete's Waterfront Ale House on my way to pick up a couple of pork butts to make North Carolina style pulled pork sandwiches. Sam, an owner and manager there asked me how I was going to prepare them. I said I didn't have a smoker here in Brooklyn so was just going to do them in my over, about 300 degrees for around 5 hours. He said "Nope, 185 degrees for 14 hours."

Well, let me tell you. That was what I did and I have never had such tender pork butts in my life. The meat just fell apart, which you want it to do for these sandwiches, and they were really juicy. Absolutely fabulous. I owe Sam one.

Perfectly Done


After Cooling It Just Fell Apart


I had given them a rubdown with a nice Chipotle Chili powder and then injected them with a chipotle, garlic, lime juice concoction before putting them in the oven. Sam recommended an infusion with apple juice, and I will do that next time, but this worked out pretty well.

After it was all shredded I sprinkled it generously with kosher salt and some coarsely ground pepper and then stirred it all in.

Salted and Peppered


I then made a North Carolina style sauce, vinegar and mustard based. Pretty easy, just mixed up some cider vinegar, French's plain yellow mustard, and a couple of bottles (while, a couple of bottles minus two swigs) of Original Sin Hard Cider. Just cooked it down over a low heat until it thickened up a bit, poured it through a sieve, and voila, that's really all there is to it.

Poured On, But Not Stirred In


I stirred it all in and put it into a large container so it could kind of fester a bit. Then we schlepped it out to Long Island for the Lovely Loretta's birthday party where I reheated it and served it with potato buns. I know, traditionally you would serve this on a plain white bread like Wonder Bread or something. But I like potato buns. They also had some cole slaw out there and these sandwiches taste best, in my humble opinion, with a bit of that on top of the meat.

This was the first time I tried this particular recipe, and certainly the first time I ever cooked the pork that long at such a low temperature. But I will do it again. I got a lot of compliments and even one request for the recipe.

Today the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I plan on heading back to Kevin's for another brunch and then on to an art show in Red Hook. A friend of ours, Arden Suydam is displaying his work there. He is a photographer and one of his pictures "Night Crossing" has been featured in the promotions for the show. It is kind of an eerie picture of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Night Crossing By Arden Suydam


I should have some pictures to post about our trip tomorrow. Maybe I will check out Rocky Sullivan's to see if they are having any rooftop music later this afternoon.

An Unusual Turn Of Events

Yesterday I read an interesting article about Julia Child in the most recent edition of Vanity Fair. I have always been a big fan of hers. I loved it when she was on the Emeril Lagasse's show and complained about the scrawny chickens she had to cook with. I did find out a few things about her that I did not know, though. Good article, and you can read it online if you go to http://www.vanityfair.com/

One thing that I learned, she never dropped a chicken or anything else on the floor during her cooking show. When flipping some kind of a potato cake it fell into pieces on the stovetop. She picked up the pieces and put them back into the pan saying "You see, when I flipped it I didn't have the courage to do it the way I should have. But, you can always pick it up, and if you're alone in the kitchen, who is going to see? Of course, this episode got embellished to her dropping everything from the aforementioned chicken to a whole roast on the floor.

Also, because she cooked with wine and did, admittedly, appear a bit tipsy, and then toasted the audience with what appeared to be a glass of wine at the end of the show it was often assumed that she was a bit inebriated. The truth is that she didn't drink on the show and the apparent glass of wine that she toasted the audience with was Gravy Master mixed with water. Remember, those shows were in black and white.

Finally, the skit with Dan Akroyd portraying her on Saturday Night Live (Save the liver) was co-written by Minnesota's (finally) junior Senator, Al Franken.

Anyway, the turn of events. I mentioned to the Mysterious Chinese Woman that the next time she wanted to buy me a gift she could get me Julia's Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. She pointed out that we already had a cookbook by Julia Child (she wrote 11) Julia Child's Menu Cookbook. Somehow this conversation led to me being responsible for making dinner tonight. Not sure how it happened, but I will let you know what I prepare and how it turns out.

Oh, you probably already know that Julia was in the O.S.S. and learned how to cook at the Paris cooking school Le Cordon Bleu.

The other night the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I had dinner with a couple of friends of ours, Frank and Kathy, at a lovely old Italian restaurant, Trattoria Spaghetto on Bleeker Street in the West Village.

Trattoria Spaghetto


It is right across the street from a little park with a fountain.

A Pleasant Place To Sit


It is a fairly small place with an old, homey feel to it.

Not Too Crowded, Yet


There is probably more seating outside than inside, and on this lovely day those tables were full. Luckily, we were able to score a seat at a window where we could watch the people just outside eat.

Window Seating


The ambulance outside had nothing to do with the quality of the food. Not sure just why it was there, though.

Because we were talking so much and having such a good time I got distracted (the wine might have contributed to that) and didn't take anymore pictures, or even notes. I had the calamari in a red sauce over linquini and it was very good. Large portions too, much more than I could eat.

Frank had one of the specials, chicken with raisins, and who all knows what else. He said it was very good. He used to work in the neighborhood and went here for lunch all the time.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman had the sea bass and Kathy had another special, the shrimp with black linquini. They were also pleased with their selections.

The service was very good and everyone was friendly. I will have to try to get back here again, maybe couple it with a visit to the nearby Blind Tiger. It is definitely a place worth visiting.



It was a lovely evening so we took a little stroll around the West Village and then sat for awhile in Washington Square Park and enjoyed the view.

Views From The Bench




All and all a lovely evening with good friends, good food and, of course, good wine.

This evening might be a different story altogether.

Not Your Father's 4th Of July BBQ

Normally I am a big fan of doing a barbecue for the Fourth of July: Pork Butt, Ribs, Chickens, Ducks, something weird that my brother-in-law Jim drags in. This year, for a variety of reasons, the family gathering was a bit smaller than normal so we just gave up on that idea. Instead the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I headed out to New Jersey where we hooked up with the Mysterious Sister-In-Law, the Mysterious Mother-In-Law and Jim.

The first thing we did was hit a Chinese restaurant and had a nice little dim sum. Then we went to a Chinese market and did some major shopping. After that we went home where some of us watched a few episodes of Band Of Brothers while the Mysterious Mother-In-Law wielded her cleaver and did some major cooking to produce a lovely and delicous birthday feast of chicken, a noodle, pork and egg dish, vegetables and mushrooms, and the centerpiece, the lobster, shrimp, and pork dish.

Just A Little Something She Threw Together


Take another look at that lobster and shrimp dish. That would cost you a fortune if you got it in a restaurant, and I can assure you, it wouldn't be nearly as good.

Lobster Supreme


There were also bowls of winter melon and mushroom soup, another traditional dish.

Soup's On


The Mysterious Chinese Mother-In-Law is an excellent cook so this really was a great feast. Better, in my opinion, than anything you could get in any restaurant. Just good old traditional home cooking.

Then next day we headed to a Staten Island Yankees game and stopped on the way for, you guessed it, dim sum.

A Happy Chef


I hope you all had a fun-filled Fourth of July, I know I did. The Staten Island Yankees actually won a game for a change. They won't be so lucky this Friday when I go see them play a double-header against my team, the Brooklyn Cyclones.