New York minute
Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frankie Baby himself, couldn’t have said it any better. At least once in our lives we want to be a part of it and wake up in the city that never sleeps, in what Alicia Keys has dubbed the concrete jungle where dreams are made. Pop culture has never ceased to be fascinated by New York City. From grainy Fritz Lang film noir to extra-cheery Gene Kelly musicals to quirky Woody Allen to cheesy Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, all the way down to the plethora of boob-tube hits like the comical How I Met Your Mother or sexy Gossip Girl — New York taunts us.
It’s the city where anything is possible. Where life is so fast-paced that you live and die for every passing minute. A microcosm of the world and all its cultures and classes squashed together to flourish and develop subcultures. Where the lines are slowly but surely being blurred between descent and heritage. It’s a city that absorbs all and spawns spontaneous fleeting moments — so unique, so New York.
Chef Cuit Kaufman: The quintessential Citizen of Melting Pot NYC of Mexican-Jewish descent On my last trip to the Big Apple, I had spent a night following around newly made friends from a hipster boho bar on Ludlow Street, ending up visiting all three of their apartments (a dingy student’s studio downtown, a classic Greenwich village brownstone and an uber-chic Andy Warhol-laden uptown pad) sharing stories, mixing cocktails, going clubbing till the wee hours of the morning. I also ate in a diner; in a private club founded at the turn of the century complete with woodwork walls; a hotdog off the street; at a fancy-schmancy steak house; Chinese takeout; lox and bagels; in a fashionable trendy new Asian cuisine lounge in the Meatpacking district filled with leggy supermodels; I also dug into freshly made guacamole; grabbed, folded and ate a pizza on the go; and ate a decent lunch in a Chinese Cuban resto.
One doesn’t visit New York. One lives it. Breathes it. Eats it.
My favorite: Simple and satisfying fresh tomato and ricotta pizza In terms of culinary diversity — and although it pains me just a little to say it — New York beats Paris. The proverbial melting pot from whose energetic bubbling a special mix of flavors and a unique cuisine has been born. Last week I had the chance to meet chef Cuit Kaufman, the man behind the hearty dishes at Il Ponticello group’s NYC-inspired baby pizza parlor, Nolita, and the comfort food watering hole, Borough. Arriving unfazed and characteristically blasé through the glass doors of the newly opened industrial trendy chic pizza joint, he extended a hand and flashed a rather friendly smile. I had an array of giant pizza slices in front of me, all half munched on. He pointed out that they only give utensils if you ask, since he wanted people to fold up their slices and take a giant bite. This was no ordinary pizza, it was a New York-style pizza: the crust was a little porous and chewy, but still on the thin side and maintained a nice crispiness as you hit the bottom.
“Pizza is relaxed but so good. It crosses class lines and in New York, it’s the best-quality fast food you can get. You can see we’re not chintzy with toppings.” he says in a distinct city twang. “We use only the best ingredients and put a lot of it.” Staring down at my mushroom pizza, you could clearly see the medley of fresh mushrooms, generous bits of ricotta and even smatterings of walnuts. This was far from your gummy button-mushroom-in-can standard nosh. The chicken parm slice was actually tricky to lift; it needed two hands as all the weight of the heaps of crispy chicken bits caused it to fold over.
Not up for pizza? Grab a sandwich with freshly baked bread. “You have to try my cannoli. I think it’s even better than some of the ones in New York.” He insisted and I had to surrender: after all, the guy has a background as a pastry chef, he bakes all his own breads for the sandwiches and who doesn’t love a good cannoli? This dessert has all the same issues of a taco. It needs to be perfectly proportioned and balanced in texture and flavor in order to have that mouth-filling sensation. Otherwise, it’s just a sloppy mess. The cannoli was just the right size, it fit right in the mouth, the crisp shell gave way without crumbling apart, rich ricotta cream and homemade candied orange peel. There was also a nice bitter touch of pistachio and dark chocolate. I am not a dessert person but it was worth the sticky fingers.
“New York comfort food is American comfort food but more sophisticated, more international, with a chef’s touch. You’ll have bagels in the morning and falafel on your way home from a club at 4 a.m. When I was a kid, I used to help out my father when he worked at The Bowery jewelry exchange. We’d order lunch from Little Italy which wasn’t far and have rigatoni alla vodka. Simple, but good.” I know for a fact that Little Italy New York has contributed to reinventing classics and popularizing them all over the world such as carbonara. This tomato vodka sauce probably originated through tricklings of influence from Little Odessa, the Russian-Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Rich and heady Nolita’s Wild Mushroom Pizza with ricotta and walnuts A few days later I was sitting at Borough. Very Brooklyn: a mishmash of traffic signs, floral chintz coverings, dark wood, steel and bright, graphic posters glued up on the bathroom wall. It was here I learned that Cuit stood for Cuitlahuac, the Aztec Emperor who succeeded Montezuma II. Of Mexican and Jewish descent, and also sometimes sidelining as a DJ in some of the “house parties” they throw at Borough, chef Cuit couldn’t get more New York. The menu was definitely a reflection: the falafel was excellent — crunchy outside and fluffy inside; the chili corn chicken burger had serious Latino flavor and heat with French fries to die for; and his nostalgic rigatoni alla vodka has officially dethroned Cibo’s penne al telefono as the best pasta comfort food in town. Large chunks of stewed tomatoes, smoky pancetta bits, rich cream and that nice tinge of vodka. The child in him talking to the child in me. Too bad it’s only in Podium.
These two restaurants are not fine dining, not gourmet, nor do they try to be anything but what they are: good, simple food with a cosmopolitan twist and a small window to experiencing that fleeting New York minute. If the food could talk, here’s what it’d say: “I’m rigatoni. I’m a falafel. Bada-bing, bada-boom! I’m a pizza. Take it or leave it.”
Little Italy Classic: Cannoli, the perfect combination of crunch, cream and orange zesty flavor * * *
Nolita is located at Bonifacio High Street Central. It is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays to Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 0917-5322612.
Borough is located at the ground floor, unit 107A, The Podium Mall, 12 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong. For more information, call 570-8906.
