Poffertjes Man

As we mentioned when we went for herring at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, there just isn't much Dutch food in NYC and that's sad for us because we've truly loved our visits to the Netherlands. Earlier this fall (I said we needed to clear out our draft archives...), there was an Urban Space market on Broadway that we made it to once, and we were very happy to see that they had a stall selling poffertjes, little Dutch pancakes that we've only ever eaten in Amsterdam (read about the poffertjes we got in Amsterdam here).

They were selling poffertjes in batches of 15 for $5. That seemed expensive for a light snack, but after I did the math, it wasn't that much more than we paid in Europe. There, it was 2 euro for 10 pieces, so it would be close to $4 (under current exchange rates) for 15. These were only $1 more, and for all we know, that's what they could be going for now in Amsterdam, since our visit to Amsterdam for poffertjes was 4 years ago.

It was a smaller operation than what we saw at the Albert Cuyp Markt, but it was still fun watching them make the pancakes for our order. They came the way they traditionally do, topped with butter and a coating of powdered sugar.

These poffertjes were good. The texture was soft and spongey like they should be, and they were delicious dressed in butter and sugar. We liked the ones in Amsterdam a little bit more (those were a little fluffier), but we were pretty happy just to be able to get poffertjes somewhere, as we don't really have the correct equipment to make them ourselves. We have no idea where Poffertjes Man sets up other than the street markets, but we'll be keeping an eye out. Hopefully NYC will see more Dutch food someday!

Nieuwe Haring

It's always puzzled us why NYC doesn't have or can't sustain a Dutch restaurant. We've had so many great Dutch foods that we think people would embrace, like pannekoeken, frites, herring, ossenworst, poffertjes, croquettes. (Seriously, a FEBO in the East Village makes perfect sense to us.) For a while, we thought we might have to do a rijsttafel for the Dutch portion of the World Cup challenge, but even though that's a hallmark of cuisine in the Netherlands, that's really more Indonesian cuisine, so we were hoping for something else. Luckily, before the World Cup started, the perfect idea hit me - we could go to the Grand Central Oyster Bar and get some of the herring that they specially fly in from the Netherlands every summer!

We visited Amsterdam back in 2010 and it was there that we had our first taste of Dutch herring. We went in the fall so it wasn't the season for "new herring" (nieuwe haring in Dutch). New herring is the first catch of the season, the newly matured fish, and we've been going to the Grand Central Oyster Bar every year for the past few years to get our herring fix. Although the Oyster Bar has lots of varieties of seafood, this definitely counts as Dutch for us since they fly the herring in daily from Scheveningen in the Netherlands (a seaside area near the Hague that we thought about visiting except the day we visited the Hague we were running late and it was raining).

Source

We prefer sitting at the counters at the Oyster Bar (instead of the dining room), so we headed over there and placed our order for some Dutch herring. After ordering, they gave us our complimentary plates of bread and butter. Those flatbreads are crisp and tasty.

We each got an appetizer of nieuwe maatjes herring filet ($7), which comes with one piece of herring (split), some egg crumbles, grated raw onion and chopped chives.

Before our first visit for nieuwe herring, we had only really had it in sandwiches in Amsterdam. It's quite good on a plate like this, very refreshing and light. The fish is so fresh and doesn't have an overpowering fishy flavor at all. Eggs, chives and raw onions are a great accompaniment. The traditional way to consume this is to lift it by the tail and eat it. A tried that method one year, but we usually just eat it piece by piece with fork and knife. Lasts longer and we can savor every bite.

We didn't want to get main courses after our herring plates so we decided to split another appetizer. We got the grilled Spanish cuttlefish (sepia) with lemon oil and French gray sea salt ($11.95). That was really good. It had a delicate flavor and the cuttlefish was grilled just to the point of tenderness. It was almost like being back in Barcelona with their amazing grilled seafood tapas (other than the price tag).

We initially decided to go to the Oyster Bar for our World Cup visit, but we're also going to count this visit towards our WorldEats challenge. We've been talking a lot about WorldEats and our slow journey through the Caribbean, and we've decided yet again to evolve the challenge a little bit. Instead of attempting to do it geographically (but allowing ourselves to go out of order), we can jump around freely, but we'll still try to do each country we pick as a single unit so we can really get a taste for the cuisine. Since the new herring is the only thing we know of at the moment for the Netherlands, I guess WorldEats for the Netherlands is done for now. We would definitely go back and visit more places if any should come up in our journey. We'd love to have a FEBO here!

Goodbye Frens

After our pancake treat, we continued our Amsterdam farewell tour with another spot from the day before - Frens Haringhandel. We were so surprised by how much we enjoyed our herring sandwich from the day before and decided to go back for another one.

Another herring topped with pickles and onions on a soft roll was consumed. I didn't like it as much as the day before since it was a little bit fishier, but it was still enjoyable. A thought that the herring was a bit fishier as well. Maybe it was just less fresh? Overall it was still extremely tasty.

We didn't know when we would have a chance to get herring like this again (we hadn't yet learned about the annual new herring festival at the Grand Central Oyster Bar that we've hit up for the past two years), and were happy to have one more herring sandwich to split before leaving the Netherlands. We're still big fans of Frens Haringhandel (and have also seen that spot appear all over TV) and would try to go back on a return trip to Amsterdam.

Goodbye Pancakes

On our final day in Amsterdam, we made a beeline for Pancakes! Amsterdam. As we said before, we loved our pancakes so much on our first visit that we decided to leave for Belgium a little later so we could get another pancake. We arrived at Pancakes! Amsterdam before it opened and just strolled the nearby streets as we waited for them to get set up. The lady setting up must have seen us waiting patiently because she motioned that we could come in even though they technically didn't open for another 5-10 minutes.

To start off our lunch (snack? brunch?), A got another glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and I got a bottle of perensap. I liked the pear juice as it was more unique and not a common juice option. I'm not sure if I liked the flavor better than the apple juice from the day before. (It's been three years; that memory has faded.)

Since we were planning for our lunch to be a food crawl, we decided to split one pancake this time instead of getting two individual ones. The combination we chose this time had spinach, goat cheese, garlic oil, pine nuts and sunflower seeds.

We liked this pancake, but we liked our choices from our first visit better. For me, this one was just a little richer and heavier because of the goat cheese, and I liked the lighter vegetable pancake more (so much that it made my favorites list for the year). A also preferred his daily special from the day before. This pancake wasn't bad by any means. We just liked our other choices more.

We were sad to say goodbye to the little pancake shop as we loved it there and didn't know when we would be able to return. We highly recommend Pancakes! Amsterdam for a casual and fulfilling meal!

Pancakes! Amsterdam is located at Berenstraat 38 in Amsterdam.

Het Friethoes

On our last trip to The Netherlands, we did everything we could to try pretty much every fry shop we walked by. It was no surprise that when we made the trip out to Haarlem we opted to try one of the local offerings. From the minimal research that we did, Het Friethoes seemed to be the place to go.

 Het Friethoes Storefront

The first thing that we found back in 2010 was that the fries with mayonnaise were the thing to get, and they were also delicious. There's something different about the mayonnaise out in The Netherlands that just makes it taste better than the offerings that we get here in the US. On that note we opted for their haus mayonaise (house mayonnaise) for our topping. 

 Fry Cup with Logo

Fries with house mayonnaise topping

The way they double fry the fries is clearly superior to how we fry fries in the US, and that's part of the allure. They are crisp on the outside while staying moist and soft on the inside. Also, because they start out so crisp, they don't wilt under the toppings placed on them. As for the house mayo topping, this was the best mayonnaise we've ever had. Whatever they added to this to make it special made this amazing. We both tasted some garlic hints to it, but there was also something else that we just couldn't pinpoint. Obviously we couldn't find out since it's a proprietary mix, but if we get the opportunity, we would gladly have more in the future.

Grand Cafe Brinkmann

After arriving in Amsterdam, we took the train to Haarlem for our "day trip."  Our first activity was to find lunch.  We went over to Grote Markt, the center square of Haarlem, where there were a bunch of outdoor restaurants that were all crowded with people eating lunch.  We decided on Grand Cafe Brinkmann because the food looked good, the people looked happy, and there was an empty table outside where we could get fresh air and enjoy the mild weather.

We settled in at our table and ordered lunch, enjoying the view and people watching.  At one point, a group of musicians showed up.  Haarlem's center was quite a charming area.

A started out with a Jupiler, which is a Belgian beer.  He thought it was crisp and refreshing.  We like Belgian beer.  And it's so much less expensive in Europe (at least in the Netherlands and Belgium!).

Instead of a beer like A's, I opted for kriek (this one was by Liefmans).  Kriek was one of my favorite discoveries of our 2010 Europe trip, something that I hadn't known I was missing in my life (and something we never got up to discussing in the recaps).  It was also one of the best things to come out of the Brussels portion of that trip.

If you're unfamiliar with kriek (as I was before that trip), it is a cherry-infused beer, especially common to the area around Brussels.  Once I had it the first time, I kept getting it, except for the one meal where I got raspberry lambic instead and while that was good, I immediately regretted it.  I was really excited when A pointed out the kriek on the menu here.  It was only about 1 euro more than getting water, and considering a bottle of kriek this size probably costs over $10-15 here in the US (and there it was maybe 3 euro), there was no way I wasn't getting the kriek.  It was as good as I remembered.  Smooth, sweet, a little tart, completely refreshing.

We both decided to go with open-faced sandwiches for our lunches.  Back in the US, I would normally just close up the sandwich, cut it in half, and eat it, but it looked like everyone there was cutting the sandwiches with a fork and knife.  That was different for us, but we figured we would do what everyone else was doing, as maybe that's how it should be done!

I went with the hete kip sandwich - ciabatta gemarineerd kippendijenvlees met atjar, chilisaus en gefruite uitjes (ciabatta, marinated chicken with atjar, sweet chili sauce and fried onions).

Atjar, from what the internet tells me, is a dish of sweet and sour pickled vegetables, common in Indonesian dishes and rijsttafel.  This one included carrots and peppers, and the sandwich also had mixed greens, bean sprouts and peanuts on top. The Southeast Asian flavors of the sandwich were really good and the vegetables offered a nice, refreshing crunch to the sandwich.  The bread was crisp on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside (although not always the easiest to cut with a knife).  I was happy with the choice.

Lastly, the star of the meal - A got the ossenworst sandwich - panini met ossenworst, rode ui, mosterd en cornichons (panini with ox sausage, red onion, mustard and French pickle (cornichons are small pickled gherkins)).

Ossenworst is basically like a steak tartare in thick slices, where the meat has been mixed with a bunch of spices.  We had it before in Amsterdam at Brouwerij 't IJ, where A liked it but I wasn't a big fan.  Based on this experience at Grand Cafe Brinkmann, I guess I don't really like ossenworst plain, but love it mixed with other things or in sandwich form!  This ossenworst was extremely tender and really well spiced.  It came with a spicy, smooth mustard (which seemed horseradish-based), in addition to the mixed greens, pickles and onions.  Each bite was a great mix of textures and flavors - the smooth soft ossenworst, the crusty bread, the crisp pickles and onions, the spicy mustard. It was delicious.

Our lunch at Grand Cafe Brinkmann was exactly how we wanted to spend our day trip layover in the Netherlands - a nice, leisurely lunch with good food and drinks, soaking up everyday Dutch life.  If you find yourself in Haarlem, we definitely recommend Grand Cafe Brinkmann.  Of all the cafes in the Grote Markt, it seemed popular and looked like it was busy longer than any of the other cafes, and the food was delicious.  An ossenworst sandwich and a bottle of kriek sounds like a perfect lunch to me!

Second Dinner

We were big fans of the dinner service on our KLM flight to Amsterdam a couple of years ago, so when we saw them starting to serve dinner we were excited to see what it would be.  I checked on the in-flight entertainment (there is a meal section!) before the food came which said the options were either a Dutch beef dish or pasta.  A and I both picked the Dutch beef option.  It's a Dutch airline, so of course we went with that!

Our dinner tray

Each meal came with a warm soft dinner roll.  We skipped the butter but it was nice having a warm roll.

Each tray also came with a small package of crackers and some cheese.  In this case it was the Carr's water crackers which are common here along with some Tillamook cheddar cheese, which we knew was from Oregon.  That was a nice snack.

The "appetizer" for the meal was a salad.  The salad had lettuce, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots and a protein (which we can't remember but might have been tofu or fake seafood or chicken), in an Asian sesame dressing.  It wasn't the best salad in the world, but it was light and refreshing.  It always feels good and very cleansing to eat salads on flights.

The main course was like the Dutch dish hutspot with beef, and consisted of beef in a thick brown sauce with onions accompanied with mashed potatoes that had carrots and onions mixed in.  We were happy with our choice.  Although I don't usually eat so much beef (and gave some to A), the sauce and the mashed potatoes were both good, which made for a great combination.  A thought the beef was more tender than he was expecting, the mashed potatoes were good, and the dish was nicely flavored.

Dessert was a cake which A remembers as an apple cake.  I don't remember the exact flavor (even though it's only been 2 weeks!), but it was moist and sweet and a good ending to dinner.

After dinner, we tried to get some sleep (mostly unsuccessfully since the flight was so warm) before it was time for breakfast!

Back to Brouwerij 't IJ

This will be a bit of a short post. Unfortunately we can't seem to find most of the pictures that we took of our second trip to Brouwerij 't IJ. However, you can see our first trip here.

We rushed to the bar close to closing time much like our first trip, but we were determined to make it after such a positive experience the evening before. As we approached the bar, we could see the big gray rainclouds brooding on the horizon. We entered, bought our first round and a snack, and we settled in to the room. It was much busier this night so we were forced to go to one of the back corners to sit and enjoy our time.

M got a Trippel, and I started with a Columbus which is their spicy amber ale. For the snack, we got a plate of their ossenworst. Ossenworst is basically steak tartare in sausage form. I was very pleased with this since we didn't really know what to expect before we ordered, but M was slightly less pleased. Not being a big red meat eater, this wasn't quite her style of food. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The balance of spice and meat combined to be very flavorful, and since I like my meat closer to rare, the texture was perfect. M, for what it was, acknowledges that it was good, but she still wasn't that into it.

M's Trippel and the Ossenworst

We originally thought to stay just for one drink with our snack. However, as soon as we were about halfway through our first beers, those ugly gray rain clouds opened up in a BIG way. Since it was pouring outside, we had no other choice but to stay at the bar and drink more beer. Well, I drank more beer, I'm not sure M had another. Regardless, it was another fun evening at the brewery.

Frens Haringhandel

Herring is a classic Dutch snack. When you walk around Amsterdam, you encounter a lot of stands like this:

A at Frens Haringhandel
This one is in Koningsplein near the tram stop we often went to and the local Albert Heijn. Every time we saw it, we thought that maybe we should try the herring since we were in Amsterdam and herring is a Dutch thing. On our penultimate day, we finally ventured in for a post-pancake afternoon snack.

Frens Haringhandel has different types of fish, but we were there for the herring. I guess traditionally the way to eat herring was to hold it by the tail and eat the rest of the fish. We decided to go for the sandwich instead but I did like seeing the banners in the window:

Even the herring is patriotic
The sandwich comes with one piece of herring (no tail, no head, but otherwise whole) with pickles and onions on a soft bun. The herring itself isn't raw - it's pickled or salted or something prior to being served.

Herring plus pickles plus onions equals awesome
I was really pleasantly surprised by the sandwich. I kept hearing people talk about it so apprehensively (not in the city, but online in our research) and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I was expecting a tough fishy bite and then to hand it back to A, but at least I could say that I tried it. But that wasn't the case at all. The fish was pretty soft and tender, and it wasn't that fishy at all. The onions and pickles on top gave the sandwich a nice crunch and were really complementary.

A wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't know if it would be fishy, salty or sour. Texturally, A thought it was a little slimy (but expected that when he saw it), but the pickles and onions added a nice texture. He also thought that the bread, since it wasn't toasted, was soft and chewy, which was nice to pair up with the soft herring. If the bread were harder or tougher, it wouldn't have worked as well with the herring. Overall, he really liked it.

Here's what it looked like once we got halfway through the sandwich:

Pretty Amsterdam houses in the background of our sandwich
See how soft and flaky the fish looks? I was so surprised by it but it was really good.

Since Frens Haringhandel is located in the middle of a plaza, they don't really have any of their own seating, so we stood in the plaza eating by a canal. We didn't mind. We could have sat on the benches but unfortunately it had recently rained, so we just stood for a little bit.

With my half of the sandwich in the plaza
Sometimes I find myself thinking about these herring sandwiches - how refreshing they were, the unexpected flavor, and how fresh it all tasted - and I find myself wanting one. Sadly, this is something we definitely can't get at home. Next time we're in Amsterdam we will definitely be seeking out some more herring!

Everyone Loves Pancakes in Amsterdam

I already mentioned how much we loved Pancakes! Amsterdam, but what about the food? I think the fact that we decided partway through our pancakes that we would just go to Brugge a little later the following day and try to come back when they opened for brunch speaks for itself.

We started out with some drinks - appelsap (apple juice) for me and orange juice for A.


I liked the little bottle of apple juice. A really liked his orange juice because it was fresh squeezed. I agree - it was good.

For pancakes, they have a long list of options. You can get a regular Dutch pancake and add in whichever toppings you choose - from bacon to apples to ham to ginger to camembert cheese, and many more. The menu also has some pre-arranged combinations, which we decided to do, since they were probably "proven" combinations. At the time we were there, they also had Korean pajun options, American pancakes with maple syrup and a French pie option. But if we're going to eat pancakes in Amsterdam, we were definitely going to eat pancakes the Dutch way!

On the table, they advertised a special:


A decided to get the special. Eggplant, mushrooms, tomato tapenade? What's not to like?

Here's A with his pancake:


And a closer look at the pancake itself:


This was really, really good. As I mentioned, we decided while eating our pancakes that we wanted to come back the next day, so they had to be good. This also just missed the cut to be in A's top 10 food memories of 2010. A liked the tomato tapenade because it was sweet and tangy at the same time, and probably his favorite part. The eggplant was also perfectly cooked for the pancake - a bit of crispness to pair with the chewiness of the pancake itself. The mixed textures within the pancake paired well.

I ordered off the menu and got the veggie pancake. This may look familiar because I've written about it before.


And a closer look at the veggie pancake, which came with mushrooms, spinach, onions, tomatoes and pine nuts:


I liked this pancake enough to put it in my top food memories of 2010, so clearly, I really liked it. I loved the combination of pancake and vegetables. Savory pancakes are awesome.

The pancakes look huge but they're really not that overwhelming. The pancake may be big but it's also really thin, and it's loaded with whatever toppings you choose to add. I actually like Dutch pancakes better than the big fluffy American pancakes, but maybe that's because they're also really into savory pancakes, and I choose savory over sweet. We highly recommend going to a pancake house if you're in Amsterdam. They're perfect for brunch, lunch, dinner or snack. Everyone loves pancakes!

M's Favorite Food Memories of 2010

Here we are, at the end of 2010. This year has been such a blur and the year in food has been no exception. It was so hard to pick out 10 top food memories from the year because there has been so much good food! A lot of things got left off the list that were good, including Shake Shack in its entirety. I think overall that has been one of the more significant food events of our year, since it opened in our neighborhood, making it easier for us to enjoy all the monthly custards, special concretes and special events like the entire Shacktoberfest menu. With something like that missing the list, what made it for me (A's list to come)? Here are my favorite 10 food memories of the year, in random order:

1. Waste em All burger from Grill Em All truck


The Food Network's Great Food Truck Race filmed its finale in NYC over Memorial Day weekend. We went down to the Union Square area to check it out, trying the two finalists - Grill Em All truck and Nom Nom truck - both from LA (we had been to Nom Nom in LA earlier in the year). We tried 2 different burgers from Grill Em All but my favorite (and one of the better burgers of the year) was the Waste Em All - topped with cheddar cheese, beer soaked onions and jalapeno peppers. The burger was definitely memorable (along with the yummy fries in truffle salt), and this also makes the list because we got to watch the filming and the end of the show before it aired, which was lots of fun.

2. Haribo smurfs


In the train station in Antwerp, Belgium, I found this bag of Haribo smurfs (smurfen, schtroumpfs). I haven't been able to find it anywhere else since then - not in Brussels, not in Brugge, not in the States. As soon as I tried the berry flavored smurfs, they shot up to the top of my favorite candy list. Unfortunately they're so hard to find. If you have any idea where I can find them, please help!

3. Patacon Pisao


When the Vendy Awards came around in September, one of the contenders we were really looking forward to trying was Patacon Pisao. They're usually far uptown (although they also have a place in Queens) so we had never tried them before. We tried the patacon sandwich (two flat green plaintains instead of bread, with chicken, ketchup, queso frito, lettuce, tomato and special sauce). It was delicious. We couldn't wait to get another one so we tried at the sh*tshow that was the Grub Street Food Festival where the line went in both directions, didn't move and there was no room to walk because of the mob scene (not their fault). After that failure, we ventured down to the Hester Street Fair on a different weekend they were there and had a patacon sandwich each. I got chicken again and it was quite delicious. They're opening a new location soon. I can't wait.

4. Veggie pancake from Pancakes! Amsterdam


We really wanted to try Dutch pancakes while in Amsterdam and Pancakes! Amsterdam seemed like a good choice. Dutch pancakes may look big but they're quite thin and filled with toppings so they're not that heavy. Our first pancakes there were so good that we decided while there that we would try to come back again the next day before leaving Amsterdam. I loved my veggie pancake the best - it had mushrooms, spinach, onions, tomatoes and pine nuts. Healthy and delicious!

5. Hazelnut dacquoise at the Bar Room at the Modern


Back in 2005 or 2006, I went to the Modern for an interview lunch. For dessert, I had the dacquoise. It was so good that it stuck in my head years later as one of my favorite desserts ever (along with Lahaina Grill's Iao Valley lime tart, Brasserie's frozen chocolate souffle from 2003, Perilla's cranberry apple cobbler, maybe a couple of others - since I'm more of a savory person, I can actually make a short list of favorite desserts but absolutely cannot do that with savory food). I remembered it being like a crispy upscale candy bar. When we saw the dacquoise on the bar room menu, the choice for our 6 month wedding anniversary was simple. I had the dacquoise for dessert and it actually lived up to the memory and my expectations.

6. Khao yam at Jitlada


Jitlada was a definite on our LA places to go list. We heard that their Thai food was excellent and being lovers of Thai food, we had to try it. We were not disappointed. If you love spicy food, you will also not be disappointed because they do not tone down the spicy dishes and just serve them as they should be.

We had so many good things there but my favorite was definitely the khao yam (rice salad). Khao yam, a Southern Thai specialty, consists of jasmine rice, mango, green beans, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, Thai chiles, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, bean sprouts, coconut and dried shrimp. This was one of those dishes where after you eat it, the only thing left to say is, wow, when can I have it again? Unfortunately for us, we cannot find it anywhere other than Jitlada and we live across the country from Jitlada! While there, I was googling khao yam looking for places in NYC ... and google sent me links to posts about Jitlada. Oh well. A must for our next trip to LA.

7. Fish Soup at Cambrinus


We got into Brugge, Belgium late in the evening after spending the entire afternoon in Antwerpen, so we ventured somewhere close to our hotel for dinner. Cambrinus was a great find, and confirmed our feeling that we were really going to like Brugge (and we did). It was a bierbrasserie, with a huge beer menu and so many food options. The portions of the entrees were huge. This was also where I learned that in Brugge apparently people love spaghetti bolognese. My plate of it was so gigantic that neither of us could finish it.

But even better than the spaghetti bolognese was my appetizer - the best fish soup I think I have ever had. The menu said it was fish soup with "rouille" (spicy garlic sauce). I don't know how to explain how good it was, but it was so tasty and comforting. It came with two pieces of garlic "bread" which were also delicious.

8. Tofu salad from Burmese Fun Fair


There aren't many options for Burmese food here in New York so we get our "fix" during the various food fairs they hold during the year (usually in the summer). The tofu salad is one of our favorite things. We get there early to make sure we can get some before they run out, but the problem is that I want more in the days after the food fair and it's impossible to get. It's really that good and the flavors are so unique. This tofu salad was for a fundraiser in Woodside earlier this year.

9. Beef and bernaise from wd-50


If you know me, it might be shocking to have a dish in the top 10 with beef in the title considering how little red meat I eat (and also to have a burger on the list with it). But it's wd-50, so nothing is really what it seems. It was such a dilemma for me deciding between this and the cold-fried chicken, but in the end this was the one that surprised me most with its flavors, its creativity and its complete difference from what I thought it would be. And it was so tasty. Instead of beef with a bernaise sauce, it was bernaise gnocchi topped with caramelized shallot paste in a beef broth and accompanied by snow peas. Amazingly good.

10. Chipa guazu from I Love Py


We previously talked about I Love Paraguay, the Sunnyside bakery with some of the only Paraguayan food we could find in NYC. Chipa guazu gets a spot on this list because it was delicious from the first bite and it also represents everything we wanted out of our World Cup challenge. We got to try something new for us while learning more about the country and its cuisine. To me, the World Cup is not just about soccer/football, but about coming together, understanding one another and learning about the rest of the world in one of the few true moments of togetherness. Our Paraguayan lunch trip did this in so many ways. Not only did it have great new food, but I got to put my shaky Spanish to use, tried the chipa guazu on a recommendation from someone actually in Paraguay, and got to spend lunchtime surrounded by Paraguayan folks watching deportes on TV. The World Cup was also one of the main motivators to us finally putting this blog together so it holds a special spot on this list. (After all, at least one spot had to go to something we ate from the World Cup challenge!)

I can't wait to see what delicious food 2011 will bring. What were your favorite (or top or best) food memories of 2010?

Manneken Pis

Yes, Manneken Pis. No, not the little peeing statue in Brussels, this is the fry stand in Amsterdam. Do you notice a theme? Yeah, we went all out on the fry stands.

As mentioned, we did a lot of food research prior to arriving in Europe. There were two fry shops that were mentioned by everyone. First and foremost is Vleminckx Sausmeesters, and the second is Manneken Pis. Most people talk about the Brussels branch, but this place almost always seemed to have a line. It could be that it was located on a main street close to the Central Train Station and situated near tons of canal boat tours, but it could actually have been really good.

Even though we had just eaten dinner, a little snack couldn't hurt right? Sigh, we're so fat.

Me buying our little treats (l) A little fry stand at which to eat (r)
Overall we were not too impressed. Don't get me wrong, we love fries, and we love fries with Dutch/Belgian mayonnaise, but these still fell short of our first fry experience. Maybe we were too full from our dinner that night. Who knows. The fries were still crispy, and the mayonnaise was still tasty, but overall, it just wasn't all that.