at the sign of The Pink Pig

5 Burgers In 5 Days: The Marrow's Griddled TM Burger

[Pigging by Wilfrid: November 22, 2013]

I admit Harold Dieterle's Greenwich Village Italo-German bistro The Marrow didn't thrill me when it first opened.  Everyone seemed to be doing bone marrow with sea urchin, and a hunk of braised lamb's neck seemed to be something I could make at home.

But I have to say, the Marrow's burger was simply the most enjoyable of the five "best new burgers" I tried.

5 Burgers In 5 Days: Montmartre's Le Burger

[Pigging by Wilfrid: November 21, 2013]

Well this was certainly a surprise. Although the look of Montmartre hasn't changed since chef Tien Ho left a month ago, there's been some fiddling with the menu.

It now has fewer Asian/experimental twists on the French bistro theme. And it looks like new chef Michael Toscano (who runs the kitchen at Perla too) had been fiddling with the burger.

5 Burgers In 5 Days: Café Cluny's Cluny Burger

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 21, 2013]

It used to be a cozy Greenwich Village bistro au coin--steak frites, roast chicken--and at a glance it still is.

But a closer look at the menu gives hints of tinkering by newly arrived "tocque" (as TONY would say), Phillip Kirschen-Clarke.

5 Burgers In 5 Days: Jeepney "Chori" Burger

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 19, 2013]

Hands down the gaudiest, richest, most over-the-top of these five burgers: the "chori" burger at Jeepney.

And since Jeepney is a wild side Filipino bistro, I'll take some crispy fried tripe just to whet my appetite.  But wait..."chori" burger?

5 Burgers In 5 Days: Pork Slope

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 18, 2013]

This first contender among Time Out's Best New Burgers of 2013 had me asking, "Where's the beef?" Metaphorically speaking, I mean.

After all, there's beef in the bun, and nicely tasty beef too--cooked, without asking, to medium rare.  What I mean is, what makes this a top ten best new burger?

5 Burgers In 5 Days: This Week

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 18, 2013]

When Time Out New York names the year's ten best new burgers, I pay attention.  Of course I do.  Then I start stalking them.  The fruits of my indulgence coming up on the Pink Pig this week.

Oh, how did ten shrink to five? Well, a couple I'd tried already (shrug), a couple are only available at really inconvenient times of day, and one I just didn't believe in.  But the other five?  Well, you'll find out.

And the cool thing is, you get to compare the photos when they're all dressed up for a Time Out shoot with my photos of what really comes out of the kitchen under random lighting conditions.  Yummy.

Quick Bites: Fish'N'Chips, Pumpkin'N'Foie--At Alder

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 18, 2013]

I ducked into Alder to see what was new.  The small scrum at the door hoping for seats is not new, but I can't sufficiently praise the warm willingness of the hostess to see me comfortably seated at the bar.

"Comparisons are odious," people have been saying sincde circa 1440, but I've never understood why.  If anything, they're inevitable. How could I munch my way through Alder's fish and chips without recalling the sensational version of the dish I ate recently at The Elm?

A Little Supper At WD-50: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 18, 2013]

The wheel turns, and turns again, and ten years after sitting down to a light meal in WD-50's dining room, I found myself eating Wylie Dufresne bar snacks at his tavern Alder.  But more of that elsewhere.

Suffice to say that, back in November 2003, I could never have imagined how casual the New York dining scene would one day become.

Quick Bites: Sweet Chick On Bedford

[Pigging by Wilfrid: November 11, 2013]

A great big mess of chicken, waffle, gravy, sweet butter, and hot sauce.  That's what I ended up with.

Quite happy with it too, late on a weekday evening on Bedford Avenue.

A Tasting At Daniel: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine: November 11, 2013]

There were five of us, seated in one of those exotically draped sections of the Restaurant Daniel dining room--like a French New York fantasy of a sheikh's tent. And we were arguing with the captain about the entrée.

You see all, five of us wanted to order the most expensive tasting menu available (dropping hundreds of dollars in total), but none of us wanted the boring meat course (some kind of beef). There was red-legged partridge on the carte.