week 15: motorino

April 13, 2010 in restaurants, new york, pizza

i don't know when it began,

but a while back i made a trip home from school,

and friday night was magically instated by mum as

pizza night.

it was either,

a) in an effort to regulate our pizza intake

so that we could either

[1] have a night where we wouldn't have to feel terribly guilty about indulging in cheese and grease not that i do anyways or

[2] limit ourselves to one night a week because otherwise some of us would eat it every day

b) in an effort to not slave in the kitchen for one day a week

c) as a continuation of "b," observe the shabbos

kidding. if that were true we probably wouldn't be ordering pepperoni.

anyways,

as a result,

we've become pretty well versed in pizza in the suburbs of chicago

{which pretty much means we get lou mal's every friday that i'm home}

but in preparation for last week's visit,

mum and i saved our friday night pizza night for monday night so that we wouldn't have to wait seven hours for a table at

motorino

in the east village.

because when you've got rachel ray calling motorino the best pizza on the east coast in her march madness pizza bracket,

there's obv gonna be a line out the door.

but

since dining at odd hours is apparently my expertise,

we were able to walk in late on a monday night sans line.

yay yipee!!

since everything looked so good,

and also sometimes in a foreign language,

we had miss waitress decide for us,

"one red and one white"

so we got

stracciatella

basil, olive oil, sea salt

soppressata piccante

mozzarella, spicy soppressata, garlic, oregano

and when the stracciatella came out first,

i ate the first piece so fast

that i forgot to enjoy it!

so i had another.

and another.

and then shared the love with the soppressata

and couldn't get enough of that either...

until both pizzas were all gone and i wanted to puke my brains out

but darn, it was worth it.

the texture of the crust in this pizza napoletana thing is just so addictive

and the slightly burnt/smokey taste adds another element,

that makes you feel way glamorous in the process of stuffing your face.

i preferred the stracciatella,

mainly because of the massive amounts of cheese

{tummy didn't like me for that one though}

the soppressata was very good,

although i wasn't ohmygod wild about it.

it had overtones of cheetos.

and i wanted more cheese.

really, it's all about the crust.

chewy, doughy, and soft in the middle,

a bit crispy on the outside

i think i could live off the stuff.

to add to the excitement of our delicious meal,

entertainment arrived mid-pie in the form of the owner pulling up in a taxi,

having just been at le poisson rouge for the

eat out awards

and delivered the readers' choice award for

best new pizzeria in new york!

go motorino!!

{i sat sheepishly in my seat as we are the champions blasted over the speakers,

hoping that no one would find out that i voted for kesté... oops.

to know which was better though,

goodness they were so similar,

i'd have to try them again...}

oooh can it be friday night pizza night soon please?

37 to go...

xoxo

yeh

motorino is located on 12th st and 1st ave, as well as at 319 graham ave in brooklyn

open sun-th 11am-12am

fri-sat 11am-1am

that time my stomach exploded.

April 06, 2010 in restaurants, new york, breakfast, pizza

this is not another april fool's joke.

in the 48 hours that mum was in town, we actually ate all of this:

every good explosion begins with poached eggs.

these ones on focaccia with spinach at

academia di vino

on broadway between 89th and 90th

dessert was a macarella

from the street sweets truck

{macarella = nutella sandwiched between two coconut macaroons

...at least we tried to keep kosher for passover?}

and as soon as we got down to the village,

we decided that the hot weather called for some

phileo yogurt

on bleecker and cornelia

red velvet cake yogurt and taro yogurt to be exact.

with strawbees and mochi, of course.

and i kid you not,

we literally sat on the bench outside of

amy's bread

on bleecker accross from phileo

finishing off our yogurt,

so that we wouldn't have to bring it in with us to order a hot cross bun.

it was easter, after all.

...and as mentioned before,

it was a definite room temperature cross bun.

delicious and doughy and yeasty and tasty nonetheless.

{i wanted a bread bunny too. but i'm allergic to bunnies}

schnitzel @ seasonal.

on 58th between 6th and 7th

things chicago has that new york has not {love to both though}

March 14, 2010 in midwest, jewish and israeli food, new york, family, pizza, asian

ok, new york's got:

out-of-this-world food stands

luke rinderknecht

uniqlo

...but may chicago please have a few seconds of fame??

1. dim sum

i've been totally spoiled rotten with chicago dim sum all my life

{particularly furama}

that new york's just doesn't cut it, flavor wise or variety wise.

2. sisters

stoop in the center, mia on the right.

boy are they silly.

"you can pick your nose,

and you can pick your friends,

but you can't pick your sisters."

-mia, as she picks her nose.

3. hot dogs

gray's papaya?

NUH UH said the big fat juicy chicago dog,

complete with a bazillion toppings.

and it's kosher.

and superdawg is one of america's last drive-ins.

4. pizza

part of my soul dies every time i walk past

"uno chicago grill"

on central park west.

there's really no place to get good chicago pizza other than chicago.

{unless you're like mum and you order twelve lou malnati's pizzas to be overnighted on dry ice to tampa}

5. extremely tall people of the male kind

roomie thinks it's the midwestern diet.

i think it's the dim sum.

but it's true,

i tower over a majority of my guy friends in the east.

but in chicago?

i'm a munchkin.

6. a mediumly casual schnitzel

in new york, it's either, drup a hundo on a nice meal at wallsé,

or fear for your life eating on the street in front of schnitzel truck.

no in between.

chicago's got it,

at kuhn's.

...and one thing i'm glad that new york doesn't have...

extremely mysterious restaurant names

mado? green zebra? the publican?

i'm confused.

they don't give us anything to work with, like,

"bar and burger," "noodle bar," or even "bakery" tacked on the end.

either way,

chicago, you will forever be my home.

and

new york, you will forever be the city that i live in right now.

and i love you both.

but i am sad to leave home today :-(

xoxo

yeh

pizza with a fork and knife {is still pizza}

March 09, 2010 in midwest, restaurants, pizza

ok i love new york pizza.

i could eat it every day and not get sick of it.

and i love that

grease running down your arm,

scarf it down before you realize how many calories it is,

koronet is the motherland

feeling.

but

i must admit something.

{manhattan, plz don't h8}

i prefer chicago pizza.

as in,

i'd rather deprive myself for a month,

wait an hour for a table,

wait another hour for a pizza,

STUFF MY FACE,

almost chop my finger off cutting the crust,

and then repeat.

why's does it always have to come in second place?

:-(

my favorite french man adrien even flew across the pond just for a slice...

{adrien, don't look so scared}

a trip home is just not complete without some obnoxiously thick pizza.

{oh yeah, did i mention i'm home??}

xoxo

yeh

photo shoot/pig out sesh on location at uno pizzeria in chicago

{p.s. "uno chicago grill" b.s. that makes appearances in boston, new york, etc, ain't got nothin on the original.}