Category — Food

Hey!  This week I shot a story for Mint Lounge, the weekend edition of Mint (essentially the Wall Street Journal in India).  It’s on an Afghan bakery in Bhogal market, a five minute walk from my neighborhood in Jangpura.  Bhogal’s great!  You can get everything for cheap, it’s vibrant and feels like “an Indian market”, unlike the fancier ones in GK or Defence Colony.

The site hasn’t updated the e-magazine yet, but you can see a version of the story here - Baked In Memory.

Yes I have been quite the slacker updating this blog.  Sorry folks.  At least I have a great excuse.  Outside of being crazy with work, I am moving to India this Tues.  Four days from now.  Adam’s working there; he’s revamping the Caravan, an English language literary magazine.   Move, not move, arg, my life and work are here in NYC.  Oh, what the heck - let’s go!

We’ll be in Delhi.   Wahoo!  I’ve never been and I’m going in blind.  But I can’t wait for the shooting opps!  Ok, my plan is to continue my street food project, shoot portraits and possibly get some freelance work.  I think I’m gonna totally rock it there.  I mean, NYC experience, I’ve worked with top people.  I wonder if they shoot PhaseOne there or just the 35s…

Anyway I ramble.  Before leaving I was able to get one last shoot in - for Edible Manhattan, a foodie magazine.  I’ve been wanting to shoot for them for a while and was stoked on the assignment.  I shot Roni-Sue of Roni-Sue Chocolates in Essex Market.  She makes divine chocolates and has a thing for bacon.  Bacon dipped in dark or milk chocolate.  Bacon-maple lollipops.  Ba-Corn (popcorn with bacon bits).  And the Fuster Cluck.  Bacon, Special K cereal, peanut butter and bananas.  MMMMMM.  It’s in the current Jan/Feb 2010 issue out on now.

Off to pack.  See ya in the sub-continent!

One of my images from Coney Island is part of The Best of the Eater Flickr Pool.

Went to Coney Island for, sad to say, the third time this summer. What have I been doing all summer that I wasn’t here more often! I love watching all the people, families and freaks in Coney Island’s faded glory. Walking around I noticed (5) Mexican food stands and the skate shop. Funny how things change. Where the mini golf used to be is now the Beer Beach featuring Bar-B-Q island. Perfect for my street food series.

The proprietors, Chris and Kate (both Kansas City natives and super nice) are cooking up in their hometown’s style. But they ran out of the ribs so I gave the pulled pork sandwich a go for my litmus test. The sauce (homemade by Chris) threw me for a loop because I remembered KC style as way thicker and sweeter, but it’s still good and I promptly dumped it on my sandwich. Hmmm, moist, not that smoky though, and actually didn’t feel that fatty - like a healthier bbq. Ok then. They also had a grilled veggie platter, with veggies from the Greenmarket. Tres Brooklyn! All in all, a thumbs up. I definitely have to go back to try the ribs!

I’ve loved dollar stores since I was a kid. The best part is marveling @ all the bootleg and no name items. Inspired by Andreas Gursky and an old NY Times article, I went to the most amazing dollar store EVER - Jack’s 99 Cent Store @ 110 W32nd St. It’s three levels of madness, luckily getting calmer the higher the floor. Ground level is strictly 99 cents (there are even sale items like Top Ramen for 69 cents). It’s row upon row featuring cases of a lot of no-name food companies and a few known ones like Bumble Bee tuna, cheap cosmetics and undergarments. The difference between the stores littering my neighborhood and Jack’s is sheer size, product volume and shopper frenzy. At 7p it was mobbed with the post-work crowd and immigrant families rifling through everything like they’d never seen canned veggies before. It’s dizzying like Gursky’s 99 Cent photo.

©2001 Andreas Gursky.

The upper floors consist of deeply discounted products and “gourmet” food such as Kashi, Organic Valley and three types of Echo Falls lox. On the 3rd floor I found ipod shuffles and nanos; well items that looked EXACTLY like them without the Apple logo/packaging for $30.

I’m so sold on Jack’s!

Got back last night from LA with a nice tan from spending two full days shooting on Zuma Beach. Seems like we’re working more and more domestically this season. Not that I really mind, but at least the international flights themselves are way nicer. I’ve come to not absolutely hate LA. You can’t beat the weather, the food is super fresh and it’s a more relaxed vibe. The sets are slightly more eco-friendly as well. You’ll have recycling bins, green generators and pending the production, green catering. There’s such an amazing amount of waste on photo sets - water bottles thrown out and tons of paper and coffee cups. NYC doesn’t sponsor commercial recycling like they do residential - such a shame. My fave green caterer in LA is Green Truck. It’s organic, the commissary is solar powered and the truck runs off vegetable oil! And the MotherTrucker sandwich is fab!

08002_Vendor_166.jpg, originally uploaded by rockstarbaun.

I bummed around the Financial District this afternoon looking for more street food and a good area is the area around Pearl St./Whitehall St. In two blocks were Trinidadian, Mexican, halal, hot dogs, fresh fruit and smoothies. It was 2p and I hadn’t eaten all day (doctor’s appointment in the morning and was told not to eat) and was about to faint. Queued up. 7th in line and I hear, “Shirley asked to me to tell you that there is no more meat.” What?!? Dude all I wanted to was either jerk or stewed chicken. A group order for 4 people was being filled and I couldn’t help be give them the cut-eye. You took all the meat with your 4 large sized orders! Undeterred, I stayed in line. Also, I think I was too faint to bother queuing up anywhere else and just stood. When I got up there all this was sold out: goat, brown chicken, stewed chicken, rotis (since no meat), all the homemade drinks like ginger beer and lemonade. She was about to sell out of tofu and the bean soupl But I asked Shirley to repeat what was left and I heard “jerk chicken”. Hallelujah! Gimme a small order with rice and peas please! I grabbed my bag, noted that tomorrow’s special is oxtail, and ran to Battery Park. I was half-way through before I realized, crap, should’ve taken a photo of it, so excuse the partially eaten one on the right.

$4 bought 3 jerk thighs atop a mound of super moist rice and peas. The chicken itself could’ve been moister, but had a nice undercurrent of heat and sweetness. I’m not a jerk connoisseur, but of all the places I’ve tried in Crown Heights, at street fairs and at a couple places in Toronto, I have yet to find super moist chicken with bangin’, moist rice and peas. If anyone knows, please let me know.

My street food series will be at the Red Horse Cafe starting May 1. There’s a lot of wall space there, so I’m going to add more images. I’ll let you know about opening party. Also, I met with the owner of Colson Patisserie this morning and in a couple months I should have my Paris street food photos up there. Yea!

Red Horse Cafe

497 6th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (718) 499-4973

Colson Patisserie

374 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (718) 965-6400

DINGY DINER OF STARS MEATPACKING IT IN Nearly a decade ago when I first move to New York, I spent a good number of booze filled early mornings here eating crab cakes and yummy fries.  It was for the fabulous and not so fabulous, the regular folk.  Floret was always a good time and good food.   Now where do I go for a late-night/early morning meal?