Food for Thought | Ode to New York

As much as I enjoy traveling and enjoying food in different places, I often go with the realization that I have left the best food mecca behind: New York. Let’s face it, we live in a very decadent city with a plethora of ridiculously specific choices. Where else can you have a craving for crispy pig’s ear- and fulfill it? (The Spotted Pig’s version is fantastic and, sacrilegious as it may seem, could possibly better many of the pork belly dishes I have had.) Few other cities have as many places to eat bone marrow, (the best of the list, in my opinion, can be found at at Blue Ribbon on Sullivan Street) or offer uni (sea urchin) in different preparations (in a pasta at Basta Pasta, or in a sandwich at El Quinto Pino for example.) Usually when I am planning to eat dinner out, I do not have a specific cuisine in mind – I often favor a specific food. I find myself desiring the charcuterie plate from Butter, the chirashi sushi at Soba-ya, or longanisa sausage from the former, now shuttered, Filipino standby, Elvie’s Turo Turo. There might be a pattern to these cravings. Having grown up in Tokyo, I find it hard to resist foods with umami, the salty-sour-sweet combination that can be found in savory foods such as tsukune yakitori (a chicken meatball, grilled with soy sauce) or even the increasingly popular bacon-wrapped date, otherwise known as devils on horseback. Luckily these items are also easy to come by in our fine city.