In 1656, Peter Stuyvesant proposed the creation of a public market for the city. As New York has changed, several marketplaces have existed, each creating a community hub as well as access to fresh food. Establishing a permanent home for a new market with breads, handmade cheeses, locally grown produce, fish, and meat is the goal of Robert LaValva and Jill Slater, the founders of New Amsterdam Public. LaValva and Slater seek to revitalize a......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. Euro Shop, a small store whose window is decorated with the flag of the European Union has always intrigued us. Among other things it offers a half dozen types of paprika paste; a meat counter filled with bacon, sausages and pork crackling; and a plethora of Hungarian junk food. Now that we’ve had their homemade......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. Many of you out there remember snacking on pistachio nuts whose shells had been dyed red. Heck, as kids half the fun was watching your hands change color. The other day we found some pistachios that are just as fun to eat, but decidely more grown-up. While browsing among the dried nuts and fruits at......

With the notable exception of Brooklyn, the Outer Boroughs are a veritable wasteland when it comes, to bánh mí, or Vietnamese sandwiches. Despite repeated forays, we've yet to find any decent versions in Queens. Those that do exist are served in restaurants, and every bánh mí fiend worth his Sriracha knows that restaurants never serve a good Vietnamese sandwich; it's simply not in their best interests to sell $3.00 entrees. As with many sandwiches, the......

Recently, we learned that the Oaxacan delicacy of chapulines, or dried grasshoppers, hits the shelves in NYC at the end of this month. This news came to us from a diminutive friend who's been bestowed the nickname Chapuline by his fellow line cooks at a Chelsea restaurant. Ever optimistic in our quest for weird foods we hit Mexican groceries in both the Bronx and Queens armed with the question, "Se vende chapulines," only to......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. It would seem to be nothing less than dereliction of duty for an Italian-American food writer to have never been to the Italian food mecca that is Arthur Avenue, but it does on occasion happen. This oversight is even more glaring given that said food writer is half Calabrese and had never set foot in......

Yesterday we mentioned London designer Anya Hindmarch's I'm Not A Plastic Bag was finally arriving at Whole Foods today. The canvas tote was made popular by a combination of things including celebrity and unavailability. Hindmarch told the NY Times “To create awareness you have to create scarcity by producing a limited edition. I hate the idea of making the environment trendy, but you need to make it cool and then it becomes a habit.” We're......

After many false starts, Trader Joe's announced this week that the grocery store chain would be finally arriving in Brooklyn. The news was heralded by Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz, who was decked out in one of the store's highly visible Hawaiian print shirts and leading a steel drum band at Court St. and Atlantic Ave. The Brooklyn Paper reports that while the grocer will soon move into the landmark Independence Savings Bank building at Court......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes One of our favorite things to do at Asian markets is try out unusual snacks. Many of these goodies combine salty, sweet and often fishy flavors. And some, such as salted plums are made from preserved fruit. Our latest find in this vein is Buah Pala Bersalut Gula, or sugar-coated nutmeg. We found ours at......

Burdock root, also known as gobo, tastes something like a nutty artichoke potato. The long, slender, flexible roots don't look like much, but they have a lot of flavor if you slice them thin and braise them to bring it out. Don't bother peeling off their thin skin, which is both tasty and good for you. When we went foraging with Wildman Steve Brill last weekend, he brought this dish as part of his......

After a lot of speculation that the Brooklyn Trader Joe's may never happen, Racked reports that it...IS! The good news (for Brooklynites) was posted just moments ago: Trader Joe's Brooklyn is actually, officially happening! We hear via a very, very reliable tipster that a press conference will be held tomorrow at 10:40am at the Trader Joe's Brooklyn site on Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. The conference, led by Marty Markowitz, is to officially announce that......

Last week everyone nerded out by creating their Simpsons characters. This week have some Springfield-style 3-dimensional fun by visiting the Kwik-E-Mart! A dozen 7-Eleven's nationwide have transformed in to Springfield's favorite convenience store for the month. New York's is on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. What you'll find: a Radioactive Man comic, Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal, Squishees, Sprinklicious donuts, and a ton of references to past episodes (check out the old man in......

Earlier this year, The Sun reported that AvalonBay Communities would "begin construction this summer on a 42-story, residential market-rate tower with approximately 600 units. The property will have ground floor retail, which could house the borough's first Trader Joe's market." And even earlier this year it was suspected that TJ's would move into One Brooklyn Bridge Park. Today, The Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that Trader Joe's will soon be stocking the fridges of many Brooklynites......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes Gothamist is no stranger to the pleasures of the izakaya, which in our case usually include copious amounts of sake and yakitori. For some reason we've shied away from such dishes as spaghetti with spicy cod roe, even though we've enjoyed spicy cod roe dumplings on several occasions. Perhaps our aversion stems from the fact......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. Two weeks ago, searching for limes among the piles of produce in Fairway seemed like cruel game. Because they were out of the “regular” ones, we had to wade through the organic bins, tossing over strange foliage to find the citrus at over a dollar a piece. So imagine our shock when we walked in this week and faced......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes One of the great things about Rego Park apart from all the Central Asian kebab joints and it being the home of graffitti legend Cost is all the treats at the Russian delis scattered throughout the neighborhood. Which brings us to the subject of today's find at the ethnic market: korzhiki. Think of these round......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. We hadn’t been to Pathmark in a while, so we were suprised to see two great deals pop up. Shrimp for $4.99 first caught our eye, but spinach was also a deal at under a dollar a pound. So when the shrimp were a no show at the store, we had to move on to the leafy green. And......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. We weren’t thinking with much of an open mind this week. We had a mission, and we were going to complete it. Though the temperatures have yet to hit 80, the nice run of sun is enough to warrant the complete shift towards warm weather mode, and that means one thing: the grill. So we didn’t really care what......

We get our baking equipment at a number of places in town: Williams-Sonoma, Broadway Panhandler, Bridge Kitchenware, and they've each got a decent selection of baking sheets and silpat and tart molds. But when it comes to finding that elusive cake mold in the size that no one seems to carry, or the special tip for piping we can't find anywhere, there's one place that never lets us down: New York Cake Supplies. They carry......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. With the weather finally creeping into comfortable spring, it’s finally time to start spending a lot of our time thinking of ways to cool off. Some might think of beverages with lots of ice, but for some reason we were thinking about cucumbers. It’s hard to think of another vegetable so cool and so crisp. It might be the......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. Because of the Nor'easter and unseasonably cool weather, fresh veggies weren’t sounding very good this week. We needed comfort food, and that’s when we found Nutella, 2 for $5 at Fairway. That’s $2.50 a piece, nearly a dollar cheaper than normal. For those not versed in the ways of the European staple, it’s a hazelnut spread, very much the......

We're not sure when this started, but somewhere along the line it became common for reporters to quiz Presidential candidates on the campaign trail about the price of grocery staples, like a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk. It's supposed to be some indication of how in-touch a candidate is with the common American voter, but it's also a form of "gotcha!" question, especially when asked at a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser. Knowing this, one......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. Apparently a huge shipment of strawberries has just hit New York, as three of our favorite groceries are featuring them at discounted prices. So why not indulge? The Met has them for $2.50 a pound, a fine deal, but one that’s equaled by Fairway’s 2 packs for $5. No, the winner of the strawberry showdown is Pathmark, which is......

We've already told you where to find your gefilte fish, so let's talk about some of the other Seder staples: - The gang at Wheelhouse Pickles (read all about our trip to their pickle plant) has created More Roar Horseradish just in time for your Passover Seder, Easter dinner, or even just in time for lunch. Made from fresh grated horseradish, tarragon-infused white wine vinegar, honey and salt, it is made in small batches then......

We've all heard the old adage that there's nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull knife. A sharp knife cuts cleanly through things. A dull knife forces you to use more pressure, then may bounce off the surface of the onion you're trying to slice and onto another surface, such as--for instance--your hand. Ouch! Our favorite knife sharpener in town is Henry Westpfal, at 105 West 30th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues.......

Tribesmen and women city-wide are frantically polishing off the last crumbs of their chametz and stockpiling matzo in preparation for Passover. April 2-10 is a torturous time for many and, though crispy potato kugels and nutty bowlfuls of charoset may soften the blow, there’s still a grim specter that hovers over Gothamist’s Passover table. We’re referring of course to gefilte fish, that jellied quenelle-like bitch of a dish whose nuances are often lost on the......

With this weekend's spring forward, we can begin to look towards Spring and all that it will do for the selection of products at the Greenmarket. Dreaming of shoots and early tender leaves does feel a little off, especially since the spring forward is three weeks early this year. One of our farmer pals, clearly feeling conspiratorial, even made the suggestion that our feeling off about this early time jump-up is only temporary. His "theory"......

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores. We try not to write about prepackaged items for the Coupon Clipper for various reasons, but mostly because we try not to eat that much of it. But there are a few pantry stuffers that are fundamental to any good kitchen, and guaranteed to be good at any grocery store no matter what your underlying impressions of the institution......

Though you may only be able to dream of ordering that whole lobster this Valentine’s Day, Fairway is making a home cooked one a little more plausible. Though not exactly a steal, lobsters are available at a reasonable markdown that will bring one of the most expensive items of that romantic meal a little closer to affordability. At $8.99 a pound, a regular small sized lobster (1.5 pounds) will run around $13.50 - not exactly......

With all the Super Bowl savings going around on huge slabs of meat, tortilla chips and beer, it was easy to look past some of the lighter fare offered on sale this week. It was especially hard at Pathmark where shell steaks were going for an incredible $4.99 a pound (which beats Fairway's price!) and the spare ribs were $1.99 a pound (which we pigged out on during the big game). But if your mind......