NYC: Day 3 More eats, Less pictures

In New York there are many types of Pizza. I'll let Luigi Di Palo of Di Palo Fine Foods do the explaining and recommending...

What’s your favorite pizzeria?
That’s like asking me what my favorite cheese is. When you talk pizza there’s New York style, the original Neapolitan pizza and adaptations of Neapolitan pizza. Traditional New York style pizza was born in the 50s of gas-fired ovens and has a thin crust. Then you have Neapolitan, which also has a thin crust but is only prepared in a wood-fired oven. This is your pizza Margherita, which was named for the first queen of Italy. Then you have pizza made in coal ovens. America’s first pizzeria [Lombardi’s] used a coal oven, which gives a distinct flavor. For a traditional New York slice, I like Sal’s on Broome St. For traditional Neapolitan I like L’asso on Mott. For classic coal oven, it’s Lombardi’s. You ask me which is my favorite pizzeria. I can’t tell you. I can only tell you what I enjoy. I love Una Pizzeria Napoletana. Then there’s this place out on Avenue J [DiFara’s], he makes his with grana padano. Then there’s this guy on Allen Street [Palà] making Roman style pizza.

So apparently I chose the wrong place to go but Grimaldi's is definitely considered one of the best coal oven Pizza places in NYC so there really isn't any going wrong with it. WIN!
















Pepperoni Pizza, 1/2 with black olives. Tell tale signs of New York Pizza, see that bubble in the crust in the lower right? + for the globs of melted Mozz. + for basil. + for awesome pepperoni. + for awesome sauce and you know what? Unlike most pizzas, these ones did not drip with oil.
















I was seriously considering buying aluminum foil, buying a pie, wrapping said pie, and bringing it back with me.





















I need to go back to NYC just to eat more of this Pizza. Simply did not have enough.
















But this once was enough to remind me why I think California Pizza generally sucks. Sucks big nasties.
















Is he protecting hidden treasure? Or maybe beer. I see a cooler in one of those pipes.
















Next stop: Amai Tea and Bake House
















Japanese tea and sweets.





















So many to choose from.





















Those chocolate balls were by recommendation from the counter girl but boy was she ever wrong. PURE SUGAR. So sweet, me and Woody barely touched ours. Possibly awesome if you have a serious sweet tooth. The rest of the snacks were good. I LOVE the color of the genmaimatcha. So pretty.
















Minamoto Kitchoan - The address on the web says 608 5th Ave but that's totally wrong. 608 is an apartment and/or office building. This place is actually located on 49th st. between 5th and 6th Avenues.
















They had some fancy stuff but I really just wanted to find some straight up awesome mochi. Not really impressed. I can get a lot of this stuff in the SF Japantown but I guess their stuff may have a later expiration date. The cherry in clear mochi looked gimmicky.
















Sakura blossom rice ball. The blossom part of it tasted horrible. The rest was ok but largely forgettable.
















So I'm told if you ever eat Halal in NYC you have to go to the one on 53rd and 6th Avenue.
















Lamb "sandwich." It was tasty but a little heavy towards the end (but that may have something to do with eating all day). A bit difficult to eat. I got my hands really messy. If this is the best, I'm wondering just how bad the other ones are. Can't imagine too big of a difference. Anytime you get meat on a spinning stick, it usually tastes good. His hot sauce I must say I quite liked.
















Hop on down to Dan Murphy's place for some home cooking.





















Home made bread
















I forget the name but it's a crust-less quiche.
















Asparagus and Broccolini w/ truffle oil and grated Parmesan.
















Home made ice cream and pumpkin bread.

Getting back to the hotel proved rather annoying. All the trains were closed, rerouted, all sorts of messed up. The first station I waited at for 10 minutes before a giant freight train thing rolled in. Not something you see everyday in NY. At that point everyone finally took note of the sign posted that said "no trains at this station." Gee... Great! The next station I was about to board a train that was marked correctly until I overheard "next stop Brooklyn" ah! On to another station where I was supposed to catch a 6 train but then a 2 train showed up. Going the opposite direction. Yeah, at that point I just gave up and got a cab.