At the intersection of 25th street between Broadway and 5th Avenue, marimekko umbrellas adorn Worth Square.  This is the month long Mad. Sq. Eats pop-up brought to you in partnership by UrbanSpace and Madison Square Park Conservancy.  I stopped by to check out this years new and returning vendors since Mad. Sq. Eats is coming to a close on May 31st, and even though it was packed on a Friday after work I decided to wait it out.

The vibe is bustling, and outdoor beer garden drinking is always welcome.  After bobbing and weaving through the crowd a friend was set on a cheesus christ pizza from Roberta’s which only whet my appetite.  We headed to the next stall Bar Suzette and beergarden well-known in the Chelsea Market for their killer crepes. Here there are 2 lines, one for drinks, and one for food.  This speeds up the process if you have friends with you–be smart and split up.

I had a margarita made with soju (since no hard alcohol can be served), and instead of going for a crepe I was convinced to try the Park Royale burger.  Fully loaded with NY cheddar, arugula, mushrooms, caramelized onions, bacon, and a fried egg on a rosemary sea salt brioche, this organic NY beef burger felt like it came out of left-field.  This is no Shake Shack hype, this burger was honestly one of the best I have ever had.  Yes, a bit messy to tackle, but tackle it we did.  Nothing else matters after that.  As expressed on their facebook page “eat now, die happy”.

Mad. Sq. Eats is open from 11a-9p daily, so you still have time to experience this undiscovered burger for yourself.

Eastwood
221 East Broadway (aka 200 Clinton)
3pm-4am 7 days

Opened on one of my favorite intersections on the lower lower east side comes Eastwood.  The long awaited bar that was funded via Kickstarter by owners Andrew and Sivan is such an exciting addition to the very residential neighborhood.

You can tell a lot of time and effort was put into the design of the space, the rough plaster walls, the tiles from Mexico, the tables that double as backgammon and chess boards. And the food, although limited, is impressive.  Having already tried everything on the menu, they are all reasonably priced standouts. You order via the take-out window and receive a playing card so they know where to bring your food when you are in the middle of a serious game.  Lacking full bar, you can’t go wrong with any of the beer selections including one of my favorites Left Hand Milk Stout.

Take a peek at the food here..

1) Eastwood
221 East Broadway (aka 200 Clinton St.)
917.284.4514
3p-4a erryday
*casual middle eastern flair, airy space, backgammon and chess, delicious beer, limited but solid menu

2) Miller’s Near and Far
65 Rivington St.
646.559.1210
Dinner Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday 6p-12a
Dinner Thursday, Friday, Saturday 6p-2a
Closed Mondays
*seasonal american fare, date-spot 

3) Black Tree
131 Orchard St.
Dinner Monday-Wednesday 5p-12a
Lunch/Dinner Thursday-Saturday 12p-2a
Sunday 12p-12a
*rustic casual space, toasty sandwiches, local ingredients, good bar for lingering

4) Preserve24
177 East Houston St.
646.837.6100
Coffee daily 8a-11a
Lunch & Dinner Sunday-Tuesday 11a-2a
Lunch & Dinner Wednesday-Saturday 11a-4a
*social club, gastronomical sustainable menu

5) Family Recipe
231 Eldridge St.
212.529.3133
Dinner Monday-Wednesday 6p-11p
Dinner Thursday-Saturday 6p-12a
Brunch Saturday & Sunday 12p-3p
*Japanese inspired food, comfortable atmosphere

Ride or Die (bitches).  Words to live by in a restaurant kitchen.

In the neighborhood active in the center of industrial and shipping activity since the 1860′s, it’s refreshing to find a gem like The Pines in Gowanus.  The Gowanus Canal (ie: what the locals dubbed the putrid and polluted waters as Lavendar Lake **also a popular bar in Gowanus) was built in 1848 to connect Red Hook’s port to the interior of Brooklyn, and after decades of a failing flushing tunnel, lobbyists brought this neighborhood back to life.  As I was heading to go see Youth Lagoon with a friend at The Bell House I decided to go local with my dinner options, and definitely made the right choice.

The tiny L-shaped kitchen pumps out beautiful and well thought out food, save a little fancy for my taste.  I knew I was getting what I paid for when they brought over an amuse-bouche.  But the vibe, the staff, and the backyard takes it to a whole other level.  Starting this weekend the backyard will be serving some food from an outdoor wood-fire grill (not the indoor menu), so you can eat and drink outdoors.

*Pictures are from my iphone, and not the clearest.

Asparagus, goat’s milk, poppy seed, and caviar.  The combination of warm green asparagus and raw white asparagus was awesome along with the play on similarities with the look of caviar and poppy seeds.

Ramps, duck egg, marcona almond, and shaved bottarga.  Simplicity.  I had to feed into the ramp hype.

Lamb neck, kasha, garbanzo, and hyssop. This was not my grandmother’s kasha, and the lamb neck too fatty for me, but still delicious overall.

At the end of the meal they also gave us a palate cleanser of homemade almond milk and birch beer. They need to bottle that.

The Pines
284 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.596.6560
Cash Only (atm on premise)

And she is gaining widespread popularity.  I went to see Mykki Blanco in conjunction with Blues for Smoke at the Whitney Museum.  Every now and then I like to keep up with the angsty teens and Mykki is definitely a big voice right now.

“Quattlebaum is not Macklemore. He’s a gay, black, half-Jewish transvestite art-school prankster who can rhyme.” Village Voice

Sometimes you just can’t lump anyone into one category, they break every boundary, and desperately as you want to, sh*t just gets wavvy.

The LUCKYRICE festival shines a spotlight on diverse worlds of Asian Culinary Culture.

“After all, if we are what we eat, we are all part Asian”

Here are some snaps I took from Friday night’s Grand Feast at the Mandarin Oriental.

Below is a link to what I wrote about the festival for the Rundown.

http://rundown.com/nyc/6203-from-rice-to-riches

Proletariat, as the name might have you assume, is not the working man’s bar.  $2 PBR cans and bud light bottles are nowhere to be found at this beer bar on 102 St. Marks Pl.  But if you are looking for easy unpretentious access into the rare and unusual beer world your mind will be blown.  Beer geeks and nyu students can sit side by side here.

Owner Ravi DeRossi with his slew of spots in the east village (Mayahuel, Death & Co., Amor y Amargo, 124 Rabbit Club, Bourgeois Pig, Gin Palace, Desnuda) clearly knows the key to success. There are no printed menus here, and the guys behind the bar are what we will refer to as “beer sommeliers”.  Whether you are adventurous or not, they will guide you in the right direction.

I went in to hang out and chat with Greg Jeske to see what sort of esoteric beers he serves up on the weekends to some of the typical patrons who come in looking for their budweiser.  Alvinne cuvee freddy zymatore–which they have a dedicated tap line of–was my first foray into sour beer.  Sour beer (which just as it sounds) has a slight tart and sour taste to it, has been around for ages, and is very typical in Belgium. Sour beer is very unpredictable to master because wild yeasts are let into the beer whereas more modern brewing doesn’t allow this to happen at all.  The beer is aged in all different barrels that were once used to age everything from pinot to gin so you get such complex and different flavors.  This one had notes of sour cherries and dark chocolate.  Next up was the Bayerischer Bahnof Goseator which comes in a green glass bottle and pours a hazy amber.  This beer is a double bock with nice acidity which comes from being matured in tequila barrels.

This place has almost been around for a year if you count when it first opened inside of Janes Sweet Buns, and yes, you should feel bad if you haven’t been in yet.  With a constant rotating cast of rare, new, and unusual beer and ciders too make sure you get in and try a few.

102 St. Marks Pl
10009
Mon-Sun 5pm-2am

If you’re not going to be at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby this Saturday and want a bit more of a historical experience rather than getting completely smashed at a bar, head over to Kings County Distillery and get schooled on bourbon and moonshine.

When I rolled up to the eerily quiet Brooklyn Navy Yard on my bike I was a bit thirsty and a bit lost.  I was told the entrance to the distillery was actually on Navy and Sands St so I headed over to building 121 and saw a group of people outside already on a tour of the distillery.  With the fresh smell of compost ripping through the air and the sun in my eyes, I joined in.

From prohibition to the fermentation process Colin Spoelman, one of the partners, gave us an in depth look at what goes into a whiskey distillery making moonshine and bourbon in Brooklyn.  Growing up in Kentucky, and once making moonshine out of his apartment in Williamsburg, Spoelman’s hobby became more than just that.

Colin and David now have a very impressive operation out of the 113 year-old Paymaster building where the Naval officers used to come pick up their checks. The corn they use is organic from the Finger Lakes region, and the barley from the UK. The large fermentation tanks were made by The Rosenwach Group who makes most of New York City’s wooden water tanks that you see above the buildings pumping in your daily bath and drinking water and their new shiny copper stills were brought over from Scotland.  The barrel and tasting room upstairs is filled with gorgeous natural light coming in from every which way.

I even ran across some barrels that were being aged for a couple’s wedding…cheers to that.

My cultural hipness factor is teetering on a 5..maybe…but mostly because I have not yet traveled to Japan or anywhere in Asia for that matter.  It is on the bucket list of travel destinations, but until then I have engulfed myself in the various cultures within this city. This does not just mean eating excessive amounts of sushi, although that wouldn’t be the worst thing…

SakaMai, a fairly new dedicated sake lounge and restaurant on the Lower East Side is a beautiful sake-centric haven on the west side of Ludlow Street between Houston and Stanton.

I was able to chat with Chef Akiyama who grew up in the Southern Japanese town of Miyazaki with a family of sushi chefs.

LOG: Born into a family of sushi chefs can you give me some insight into a typical meal at home growing up?

Akiyama: Of course there was lots of sushi.  Especially temaki , but my mother also used to prepare lots of Western dishes.  We loved hamburgers and steaks.

LOG: If people come into SakaMai for the first time and are unsure what to order, what is the 1 must-have dish on the menu?

Akiyama: I would have them try the Egg on Egg on Egg (seen on left: sea urchin and white sturgeon caviar on a bed of scrambled eggs). I will make this for you.

LOG: You are participating in the upcoming Grand Feast during the LUCKYRICE Festival. How do you think Asian cuisine has affected the restaurant landscape in NYC?

Akiyama: In terms of Japanese food, the level and quality has been elevated significantly.  At first when many Japanese places were here, they tried to have everything including ramen, sushi, soba, and everything else all in one, now there are many more places that specialize in just one type of food which I think is much better.

LOG: Could you give me your top 3 sakes that you would drink all the time?

Akiyama: 1) Yamahai Daiginjo-light, creamy, and smooth
2) Dassai Nigori (unfiltered) creamier but still light and easy to drink
3) Tomino Hozan (shochu) made with sweet potatoes; a little bit sweet and dry

Shingo Gokan, who heads up the sake cocktail program at SakaMai, is also contributing at the Grand Feast and is an award winning bartender who won 1st place beating out over 10,000 people in the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition.  They also pour great cocktails, craft beer, and Japanese whiskey.

SakaMai
157 Ludlow Street
646-590-0684
closed Sundays

Knife skills can be taught, but being a knifesmith?  That is in the blood.  According to Chelsea Miller whose family’s lineage in Northern Vermont has been making knives for decades.

The wood handles are crafted from Northern VT local Apple, Spalted Maple, and Cherry wood.  She uses high carbon steel repurposed from discarded files and tools to form into these beauties.  This is something I can get behind. Or in front of..

http://chelseamillerknives.com/knives.html