What Pushes My Buttons

The Match Game

So a few of you inquired about the food pics I featured on my blog yesterday.

Well without further adieu here's where they are from:





The pizza goodness above was from one of the best pizzeria's around. Nope, not Totonno's or Lombardi's or Patsy's. It was Barb's Pizzeria. In West Hartford, CT.

Now before you fly off the handle, I was a skeptic too, until I tried it. Bridget lived right next door to Barb's and raved about the pizza all of the time. She took me there a few years back and I happened to be wearing my Yankee hat into the pizzeria. The owner saw me and asked if I was a New Yorker. We talked and I found out that he brings up water from the Bronx every week to help "sweeten" the dough for his pizza, thus making a "New York" style pie (thus proving my point that it's all "in the water"). The other bonus is his pepperoni is extra baked, so its even tastier than those pizzerias who just slap pepperoni onto the pie and load it in the oven.

The resulting pizza is really, really good and is about 100x better than that shit they call pizza down at Pepe's in New Haven (which singlehandly could be the most overrated pizza in the entire country). Plus do the pictures above lie? I think not.

Plus Barb's also has a great salad with an awesome house dressing (that the sell by the bottle)



Basically it's a new york style, no frills pizzeria. If they were in NYC they'd be among the best pizzeria's around. But unfortunately those who grew up in CT are swayed by the propaganda machine that is Pepe's and that's all they know. Poor bastards.

The next item I featured was closer to home.



This heart attack on a platter comes courtesy of New York Burger Company.

Their burgers were voted "Best Burger in NYC" according to the AOL cityguide (although I'm not trusting ANYTHING that is AOL endorsed). But the burger is pretty tasty and cooked to order. I last had them a few years back and wasn't impressed, but I must say this time around the burger was quite tasty. While the meat was more medium well than medium rare, they have invested in quality toppings and switched to a broiche type bun to help absorb the fried goodness and keep the structure of the burger intact.

The onion rings have improved as well as they were voted "Best Onion Rings" by GQ Magazine. (Ok...what the hell does GQ have to do with the best of food anything? Don't even tell me the models and fashionistas that read GQ would scarf down a heaping order of onion rings. I mean they're good and all, but I don't need a bunch of models endorsing food for me - ok? Stick to what you know guys, showcasing suits and accessories that none of us "average joe" guys can afford and leave the fried food to those of us who don't have the ability to stuff our fat asses into your $1,000 suits. Thanks!)



Finally we have the Lamb Paillard at The Noho Star which is downtown on Bleecker and Lafayette (kudos to Janet for guessing correctly!) The Noho has some great variety on their menu, and you can order anything from dim sum and chinese classics to grilled tilapia and heaping salads. The portions are generous and the prices very reasonable. Plus they have a kick ass brownie sundie selection for desert. Great "date" place or a place to bring a group of peeps for a low-key dinner.

So there you have it kids. And my apologies for making y'all and myself hungry again! But it's almost time to get grillin' in my cube! On today's menu are hot dogs and grilled chicken cutlet sandwiches w/ melted mozzarella! Pictures to follow shortly!

Post blog note

Here are the yummy Nathan's hotdogs I grilled up today. Good stuff.