Monday, June 30, 2008

The COOLEST RESTAURANT YOU DON't KNOW!!!















This joint is one of my FAVES!!!! Nobody knows about it! Garaunteed if ask 1,000 New Yorkers if they've ever heard about this place, let alone if they'd ever been there, you be hard pressed to find a one. I'm gonna let the "Cat Out of the Bag." People should start paying me for this.

Yes native-newyork-pics.blogspot.com F. Restaurant on Clinton Street down on the Lower East Side (LES) of New York is without a doubt one of the Coolest restaurants you could ever dream of going to. Paris Hilton has never been there.

F. Restaurant is a restaurant that serves incrediably tasty Puerto Rican Cusine. "Bet you've never had any? Yes you!"
You will pretty much only find Lationos and Latinas at this joint. i've been going their for about 15 years now. "Love It!"

The food is oh so tasty, and the prices are tailor made for the sluggish ecconmic times we now live in (2008). Hope we go on a upswing soon. "Very soon." Most dishes are about $1.20 or $1.50 a piece. Yes this is not a typo, dishes that cost $1.20 a piece. You can make a small meal out of just two. if you're Papa Relleno which is a Fried Potato Ball that isstuffed with ground beef as well. "Yum!" They also have wonderful Morcilla (Blood Sausage) and Pollo Fritto (fried chicken).

They have the "Coolest" sign you have ever seen hanging over the counter area that says "If WIFE CAN'T COOK, DON'T DIVORCE HER, BRING HER HERE," Bring her here to eat with you." The sign is written in both Spanish and English. "Cool as Hell!"
You've gotta LOVE IT, and if you ever go, you'll just Love "F. Restaurant" down on the Lower East Side.

F. Restaurant..... Clinton Street, just North of Delancy

PICTURES ABOVE: F. RESTAURANT, COOL SIGN in F. Restaurant an DUMPLING HOUSE on Rivington, both down on The LOWER EAST SIDE


NOTE:  "Sadly F. RESTAURANT is CLOSED. They went out of business a few years back. I loved this place as dide many loyal customers. You could have a tasty unique meal there for ust 4 or 5 dollars. I loved the Stuffed Plantains ( Sweet Plantians stuffed with Beef & Peas) Yumm ! I usually used to get one of those and a Stuffed Potato Ball, all for juts $3.30  ... That just can't be beat. We miss you 
F. Restaurant, R.I.P.

DUMPLING HOUSE ON Rivington STREET is without a doubt, the Greatest Restaurant Food deals in all of NEW YORK. Five "DELICIOUS PORK DUMPLINGS" for a BUCK. That's right $1.00. You just can't beat that. Not even anywhere in South East Asia where you can Thee Msot AMAZING STREET FOOD in the WORLD. You get amazing Food on the Streets of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Saigon , and Hanoi for just .75 Cents or a dollar. The thing is, most people in NEW YORK probably make close to 10 times the amount of Money that most people in Sout East Asia do. so when you can get a amazing dish for the same amount of Money as In Sout East Asia and you're in NEW YORK making considerably more, 5 "PERFECT PORK DUMPLINGS" in NEW YORK may very well be the "Greatest" food deal in the entire WORLD.
2 HOTDOGS and 1 of their famous Fruit Drinks at Gray's Papaya is pretty good as well, but I think the Dumpling House may have them beat...















Sunday, June 29, 2008

PORTO RICO COFFEE ROCCO'S PASTRY FAICCO'S PORK STORE in GREENWICH VILLAGE






PORTO RICO COFFEE, ROCCO'S PASTRY,and FAICCO'S PORK STORE, all in GREENWICH VILLAGE, NEW YORK and all three are the "BEST' of their prospective fields. Rocco's pastry is without a doubt the Best Italian Pastry Shop in all of New York City. Their Cookies are Killer, as are their Pastries, and Cakes. Try the Lemon Cookies, Cannoli, and Rhum Babba. Tehy have Great Italian Ices as well and excellent coffee.

Speaking of EXCELLENT COFFEE, there is none better than PORTO RICO COFFEE with their Flagship and origianl store on Bleecker Street near 6 th Avenue, with a location on St. Marks Place in the East Village and another in Soho (pictured above) on Thompson Street. Porto Rico Coffee buy their own "Green Coffee Beans" and Roast all their Coffee themselves in the back of their Bleecker Street Store. They have a tremendous variety of diffent roast; Italian Espresso, French Roast, Mocha, Hazelnut, Danish Roast, Peter's Blend, and a host of others, about 60 different varieties. Their prices are phenominal. "Cheap." It's a mazing, they often have coffee on sale for as low as $5.99 a pound. It really amazes me as to why anyone in their right mind would ever by coffee from Starbucks at $12.95 a pound when the coffee at Porto Rico Coffee is far Superior and tremendously cheaper. "Better and Cheaper?"
"Are people out of their minds, why buy an inferior Mass Produced Chain Coffee at close to twice the price of a product that is Superior, "PORTO RICO COFFEE is the BEST in New York," and for less!!! "Dahhh!!???"

Speaking of the "BEST," across the street from Rocco's Pastry and 1 block West of Porto Rico's main store, you have the Best Pork Store in New York, Faicco's on Bleecker near Cornelia Street. You can get the most amazing fresh Italian Sweet and Hot Sausage, along with Sopressetta, Brociola, Pork Chops, Steaks, and Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano. Everything at Faicco's is of Superior Quality, You can't get any better than Faicco's, Rocco's Pastry, or Porto Rico Coffee.

Also on the street with Faicco's and Rocco's is the famous Murray's Cheese Shop and John's Pizzweria for some of the "Best Pizza" on the Planet.



Daniel Bellino Zwicke


photos Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Saturday, June 28, 2008

PROSCIUTTOLESS In NEBRASKA



PROSCIUTTOLESS in NEBRASKA



It’s a well-known fact that there have been ten’s of thousands of displaced Italian-American New Yorkers over the years. Former Italian-American New Yorkers who have been in serious distress and mental anguish over the lack of good Italian restaurants and availability of quality Italian food products in the rest of the country, excluding of course cities like Boston, Philly, and San Francisco.
It’s a sad fact-of-life that many cities and towns in the U.S. are completely devoid of good Italian restaurants and specialty stores where people of Italian descent in need good fresh Italian sausages, bread, Prosciutto, Salami, Parmigiano Reggiano, olive oil, fresh mozzarella, cannoli, or any other simple necessities required to live a happy productive life, can purchase real good quality Italian food products or go out to eat at a proper Italian Restaurant or Pizzeria.
“Yes, believe it or not,” there are many places in this great nation of ours where the local citizenry are denied some of life’s greatest treats. It may be alright for the local natives who were born in these deprived areas, as for Italian-Americans who move to one of these places for whatever reasons, the deprivation caused by the lack of good honest Italian food is enough to cause un-nesesary anguish, yearning, and outright sadness in these displaced Italians.
Those of us who live in New York are extremely fortunate to have a plethora of the simple pleasures of outstanding Italian restaurants, pizzerias, bakeries, caffe’s, pasta shops, pork stores, wine shops, and Italian Specialty Shops that supply us with every Italian culinary treat under the Sun.
Yes we are blessed with restaurants like Rao’s,
San Domenico, Gino’s, Patsy’s, Elio’s, Lupa, Becco and others that serve tasty authentically prepared Italian food along with bakeries that bake magnificent bread, biscotti, cheesecake, cannoli, and other pastries. We have the best Pizzerias outside of Italy, like; Totonno’s, Lombardi’s, and John’s of Bleeker Street.
New Yorkers have great pork stores that prepare wonderful fresh sausage, braciole, Sopressetta, Cacatitorini, fresh mozzarella, and more. There are great Italian food emporiums where you can buy imported olive oils, vinegar, pasta, Prosciutto de Parma, Mortadella from Bologna, Gorgonzola, Fontina, Aceto Baslamico from Modena, porcini secco, and the sinful Tartufo Bianco when they are in season from mid October through early January is any true gourmands favorite time of the year, “White Truffle Season.”
We New Yorkers are blessed with amazing Italian Caffes that serve authentic pastries, gelato, and properly made espresso and cappuccino. Culinarily, we want for nothing!
“My condolences to those Americans who are deprived these simple little pleasures, excuse me, necessities to good, happy living!”

Prosciuttoless in Nebraska is excerpted from Daniel Bellino Zwicke's upcoming new Book, "La TAVOLA" filled with the adventures of ITALIAN AMERICAN NEW YORKERS and their Culinary Adventures cooking, tjrowing Dinner Parties,shopping for Italian Pastries at Rocco's Pastry Shop, Bread at Vesuvio's, and PROSCIUTTO, Salami, and Sausages at Faiacco's Pork Store. Dining out at such restaurants as Bar Pitti, Gino's, Elio's and Da Silvano's, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Calvin Klein, Paris Hilton, Richard Gere, Graydon Carter, and David Bowie just to name a few. They eat Pizza at John's Pizzeria,and Lombardi's, they cook, they laugh they cry.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

WAVERLY INN has STOLEN DaSILVANO'S THUNDER





GRAYDEN CARTER and his WAVERLY INN it seems has "STOLEN" the THUNDER from SILVANO MARCHETTO and his famed Greenwich Village Italian Eatery "Da Silvano" on 6th Avenue. Da Silvano was long thee In Spot, Hottest Celebrity Haunt in Town. That was up until about a year and a half ago when Graydon Carter bought and Re-Opened the Ye Old Waverly Inn along with NIGHTCLUB and Boutique Hotel Impresario ERIC GOODE (AREA, Maritime Hotel, Bowery Hotel, Bowery Bar)
For a number of YEARS, every mover and shaken in the Movie, Record, Fashion, and Publishing Business used to pack Da Silvano, practically every night of the week. You would regularly find Gwyneth Palthrow, David Bowie, Calvin Klein, Richard Gere,
PAUL McCARTNEY, KEITH RICHARDS, MICK JAGGER, Sy Newhouse, Madonna, Giselle, Stephanie Seymour, Pamela Anderson, the LIST goes on and on and on. "I think you get the picture?" Even Graydon Carter used to eat Dinner at Da Silvano an average of 5 nights a week. He had his own table, as did writer NICK TOSHES who had his regular table as well and had lunch every Monday thru Friday, holding court with Editors, Literary Agents, Patti Smith, Oliver Ray, and Jerry Stahl.

Nowadays, every Celebrity you can think of and their Grandmother fill the tables of the WAVERLY INN each and every night of the week, you might find The Beckams, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez and husband Mark Anthony, Calvin Klein, and yes Graydon Carter holding court. As Hot as Da Silvano once was with tons of Movie Stars, Rock Star, and even Porn Stars (Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson), the Waverly inn gets 10 fold of the Celebrities that Da Silvano once had. There are at least 6 to 10 Paparazzzi hanging out in front of the WAVERLY INN each and every night. They know they will get some CELEBRITY SHOTS, and beleive me, "they do."

Silvano started "LOSING IT" even a good year before Graydon opened the WAVERLY. Many of his former customers tired of being "RIPPED OFF," price gowged for insanely "OVERPRICED WINE" and Mediocre FOOD. Yes some of the Food is Good, but if you don't know what you are doing, you can easily get a bad meal. Stay away from the Antipasto called the Misto Casa which is a Table that is filled with MEDIOCRE Vegetable dishes that sit aaround and get sour. Don't order any items like Roast Baby Lamb or Roast Duck as they might have been cooked three or four days before you eat them.
If you want to get a good meal, only order Pasta Dishes, Fish, or Steak.
Da Silvano, still si one of the biggest Celebrity Spots in New York, but it has lost much of its Thunder to the WAVERLY, that and the fact that the food is not all that good and the prices are, as CRAZY EDDY used to say, "INSANE." If you want to eat some great ITALIAN FOOD, all you have to do is walk about 12 feet to BAR PITTI next store to Silvano's and has thee absolute "BEST ITALIAN FOOD in New York, "Bar Pitti."

Keith McNally to Re-Open MINETTA TAVERN



Keith McNally, the man who brought New York some of its most wonderful Landmarks in the form of the ODEON, Cafe Luxenbourg, Lucky Strike, Pravda, Balthazar, and Pastis is at it again. He has purchase the venerable old Greenwich Village institution "The MINETTA TAVERN" on Macdougald Street at the corner of Minetta Lane. Mr. McNally will be opening the Minetta Tavern sometime in the early part of 2009 with Executive Chefs RIAD NASIR and Lee Hansen who both helped Keith open and operate Balthazar, Pastis, and Schiller's. The food is supposed to be Classic French.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hottest New Wine in Town, Macari's Sauvignon Blanc 2007



Daniel Bellino Zwicke with cousin Joe Macari Jr., famed Austrian winemaker Helmut Giengel, and Nick the Driver eating Lunch at Bar Pitti, 6th Avenue, NY, NY...

Macari Sauvignon Blanc "Katherines Feild" 2007 winemaker: Helmut Geingel

One of the Hottest wines for Spring and Summer of 2008 is Macari Vineyards
Sauvignon Blanc "Katherines Feild" 2007. The wine has received rave reveiws from Wine Spectator, Newsday, The NEW YORK TIMES, and others. This Sauvignon Blanc is textbook Savignon, it's clean and crispy and has wonderful flavors of Gooseberrie, Fennel, and Sage and Classic Sauvignon Blanc Grassiness.

The Macari Sauvignon Blanc is being served at such restaurants as Baronda, Per Lei, and Bar Pitti the Hottest Italian Restaurant in Greenwich Village.

GO GREEN WATCH PLANET GREEN

Have you watched PLANET GREEN TV on Channel 114 in Manhattan. This is a new TV Network dedicated to The GREEN MOVEMENT and being environemently consiencious and Eco Friendly. The content of shows are Wonderful, Very Informative on teaching people how to Go Green.

Adrian Genier the star of "Entourage" has a show whereby they show you how he live his Green Life, building a Green House, Recycling, walking, riding a bike and things like that.

Adrian Grenier's show is very good, there's a show with Steve Thomas formely of "This Old House" that show people how to renovate houses recycling materials and going the Green Way adding Eco Friendly heating units, Hot Water Heaters, using proper insulation and things like that, but by Far the Best Show of All is "Living with Ed" starring Ed Begley Jr. and his wife Rachel. Ed has to be considered the "Godfather" of the GREEN MOVEMENT. Everbody is jumping on the Band Wagon now, and there is nothing wrong with that, we need as many people as possible, "Save the Planet." Ed Begley has been doing this for 25 or 30 years, way before most others and this show is Talor Made for him. The show is very entertaining watching ED and his wife Rachel TEASING each other and having their disagreements. Ed busts Rachel about not doing enough and Rachel bust ED about doing too much. It's HILARIOUS. Rachel is a Godd Sport and ED is FUNNY as Hell. He's entertaining and informative, and should be an INSPIRATION to all who are getting into GREEN or need help or need to laugh and be Entertained, "WATCH ED" on Living with Ed.

There is a ton of Crap on TV. After paying the RENT every Month, the second most PAINFUL thing is paying the dam Cable TV bill. It's one of the biggest RIPOFFS of all. There's a Buch of Crap on TV. Very little good programing. Cable TV is definately not worth what you have to PAY for it, but unfortanately I can't live without it. Six channels would just not be enough. I just watch a small percentage of the channels on Time Warner Cable. The programing is HORRIBLE other than the Documentary Channels and Time Warner Cable has some of the WORST CUSTOMER SErvICE in the History of the World. They are going to lose TONS of customers and I'm sure there will be a mass exodus away from Time Warner the minute people are given another ALTERNATIVE. WHEN ,WHEN, WHEN will their MONOPOLY End???????

Anyway thank God for Documentaries, Anthony Bourdains "NO RESERBATIONS" and the new and Wonderful "LIVING with ED" with Ed Begley Jr.. "GREAT!!!!!!!!"