Food

The wine is in plastic cups, the view of flaking paint, vinyl siding, a tin tub of flowers and graffiti 10 feet tall. It is so quiet on the roof, for a moment we wonder if the people working the cash register downstairs have forgotten we’re up here and have gone home. None of us are in a hurry to find out. There are prettier outdoor dining spaces in the city, but few with quite the juxtaposition of serenity and grit as the rooftop at Brooklyn Ball Factory, a Japanese comfort-food joint and coffee shop that opened last fall in East Williamsburg. The single-story building was once a warehouse for beer cans awaiting recycling. Makoto Suzuki, the owner and chef, had the smart idea to take out a skylight and put in a staircase with a glass peak. Climb it at noon and the light stuns; you swell like a hothouse flower. Mr. Suzuki built the roof deck himself, out of plywood, with a high fence that hides the street and doubles as the back of a long bench. His wife, Kanako, has adorned it … [Read more...] about Brooklyn Factory, Japanese Food

0 This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own. Kids & Family 'Pack-A-Backpack' donations provide low-income Orland Township resident children with much needed school supplies. Alexandria Shipyor , Community Contributor Posted Reply ORLAND PARK, IL — When you're struggling to feed your family or afford a roof over their heads, school supplies don't always make the list. That's why the Orland Township Food Pantry is asking the community to come together and 'Pack-A-Backpack! Items like backpacks, art supplies, and writing tools are essential to prepare children mentally, emotionally, and physically for school. New backpacks and new supplies give children a sense of security and excitement as they begin the school year. With this assistance, parents can focus on rent and groceries instead of facing the stress of school-related expenses. In addition to the program, … [Read more...] about Support The Orland Township Food Pantry With ‘Pack-A-Backpack’

Want to start an argument? Just bring up pizza: how it’s made, what fits the definition, which style is supreme. All are up for debate. So it came as no surprise that Julia Moskin’s article this week about the state of frozen pizza , and an accompanying taste test of upmarket frozen pies , garnered hundreds of comments from New York Times readers. “Pizza,” as Amy in Connecticut said , “is a big tent.” Some wished we had reviewed their favorite supermarket brands, like DiGiorno , Stouffer’s and Screamin’ Sicilian , while others rallied around local favorites like Lou Malnati’s , Butch’s and Home Run Inn . But many just wanted to share their pizza wizardry, how they gussy up a frozen pie or make a quick one from scratch. Here are some of our readers’ favorite ways to ’za . Frozen Pizza Hacks Get the Pizzeria to Make It for You Buy a Half-Baked Pizza: “Most pizzerias will ‘prebake’ pies for you: assembled and only partly baked, so you can either finish … [Read more...] about Reader Tips for a Better Frozen (or Homemade) Pizza

SAN FRANCISCO — Gabriela Cámara is having a very good year. Five years after she moved to the United States from her native Mexico, she is at the tipping point of world culinary fame. Her 20-year-old restaurant, Contramar , is both a beloved institution and a power-lunch destination: the Union Square Cafe of Mexico City. Her San Francisco restaurant, Cala , has established her here as both an eloquent translator of modern Mexican food and an advocate for social justice: She provides health insurance and other benefits to all full-time employees, many of whom are recruited through job programs for the formerly incarcerated. A glowing documentary film about the restaurants, “A Tale of Two Kitchens,” executive-produced by the actor Gael García Bernal, premiered two weeks ago on Netflix. She has just published a cookbook, “My Mexico City Kitchen” ( Sqirl , whose casually fabulous cooking mirrors her own. And Council of Cultural Diplomacy , composed of people who bring … [Read more...] about This Mexican Chef Is Having a Very Good Year

MEXICO CITY — Seventeen years after putting its city and its chef on the world culinary map with its playfully elevated street food, Pujol , Mexico’s most celebrated restaurant, will serve the final meal in its building on Calle Francisco Petrarca sometime in the coming weeks. But 11 blocks away, in a bungalow hidden behind a wooden fence and tall trees in the Polanco neighborhood, the chef Enrique Olvera and his team have spent the last two years quietly building a new Pujol, which they expect to open soon afterward. The long gestation can be attributed in part to Mr. Olvera’s obsessive attention to detail. He and his associates have agonized over everything: the texture of the wood tables (like peach fuzz), the shade of gray of the poured granite floor, the bike rack (a substitute for valet parking), the sunken floor behind the bar that places the bartender at eye level with seated customers, and the layout of the kitchen. Mr. Olvera, 40, says there was never any … [Read more...] about A Second Act for Pujol, Mexico’s World-Class Restaurant

MINNEAPOLIS — Pot roast was one of the first dishes the chef Gavin Kaysen learned to cook, if you can call it cooking. The recipe he used as a teenager growing up in Bloomington, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb, required no culinary training. “I’d just Crock-Pot it,” Mr. Kaysen said. He then mimicked the act of pouring packaged beef stock into a slow cooker and grinned. Mr. Kaysen had just slid a more technically advanced pot roast into the oven in the open kitchen at Spoon and Stable , the restaurant he opened here in late 2014 to much anticipation. “I can’t wait for that gravy,” he said. Northeasterners cook Yankee pot roast . Jewish brisket and most beef daube in New Orleans are pot roast by other names. But to many who grew up in America’s heartland, pot roast tastes and smells of home. Comprising little more than a large cut of beef (chuck roast is common), onions, root vegetables and braising liquid, pot roast has none of the meddling influence of haute cuisine. … [Read more...] about Coming Home to Pot Roast