The 10 Weirdest Dishes

New York Magazine ^ | 09/05/01 | Jay Cheshes

[Orual]

If it's true that you are what you eat, then what are we to make of the fact that we live here in the land of foie gras with chocolate sauce? Of eel with roasted watermelon and green tea-cauliflower foam? Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: Today, the New York culinary scene provides food for thought to challenge even the most bizarre tastes. See which Manhattan restaurants have the weirdest dishes of all: Can your palate handle it?

#7: Foie Gras with Dark Chocolate Sauce and Orange Marmalade
Goose liver only a chocoholic could love...

• $72 prix fixe at Lutece

The Dish: Is it breakfast? An appetizer? Dessert? If you're pressed for time, kill three courses in one slab of foie gras, drowned in dark chocolate sauce and accented with orange marmalade. All that's missing is the toast. The New York Times called it “ill-chosen” and “out of register” but still gave new chef David Feau’s pyrotechnics two stars.

The Restaurant: What would Andre Soltner think of this revamped culinary legend? The guiding force behind Lutece ( 249 E. 50th St.) is long retired, and his pantheon is being turned on its head. East Side ladies beware, this is not your father’s Lutece.

Other Dishes: Feau, formerly of Guy Savoy in Paris, is no French-cuisine snob. He borrows flavors from around the world to create dishes like raw tuna with cilantro, apple and Moroccan oil; cumin- and rosemary-crusted lamb loin with lemon sauce and parsnip gratin; and curried squab with mascarpone and fava beans.

#10: Lobster with American Cheese
The sublime and the ridiculous on a plate.

• $22.95 at East Boat Restaurant The Dish: Think of it as a new use for the Kraft single: Icky, viscous processed cheese defiles pricey lobster flesh. “Like tuna melt!” the owner told the reviewer from the New York Post.

The Restaurant: The Post’s Steve Cuozzo, the only New York critic to pore through the bizarre, voluminous menu at East Boat Restaurant (72 Kenmare St.), recently declared the place “NY’s weirdest eatery.”

Other Dishes: An endless variety of lobster preparations, from Sichuan to satay, served alongside garlic bread, New England clam chowder, and wok-sauteed spaghetti slathered in ketchup.

[Gabz]

I agree - I do not care for RAPA scrapple. If I buy packaged scrapple I buy Kirby & Holloway.

I do prefer to buy it from the Amish folks around here - they make it fresh and they make it GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cogadh na Sith]

I don't know if you tried it, but as far as I'm concerned, ginseng wine tastes like liquid softball field.

Yeah, well put. It tastes just like dirt, not dirty, just dirt!

I drank a lot of OB beer over there. If the bottle was still, you could see the little squirt of formaldehyde they put in as a preservative. We used to light it with a lighter and enjoy the brief shot of flame out of the bottle.

Speaking of flaming drinks, once I saw a US Marine spill a flaming B-52 shot down his chin. I laughed myself silly as his friends frantically slapped his face trying to put it out while he tried to fight back.... LOL!

[Phantom Lord]

It's even better when you play The Iron Chef Drinking Game

Iron Chef Japanese, Masahru Morimoto is my favorite

Though I love them all. Sakai and Chen really grew on me. I swear Sakai is liquored up most of the time.

Actually, here is a little Iron Chef news for ya...

Iron Chefs in D.C. on September 14th: Five of the Iron Chefs (Ishinabe, Nakamura, Sakai, Kobe and Chin) are working with together with other chefs to launch a new site G-Chef.net. The site will have recipes, articles and a store tied to it (they're still fleshing out the content). In conjunction with the site launch, Ishinabe, Chin and Sakai will be in Washington D.C. on September 14th. At noon, Chin will be in a cookoff contest and at 5pm, Sakai will be cooking. Ishinabe will provide narration for the two events. It will take place in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (as part of the free summer entertainment series from " Live! on Woodrow Wilson Plaza") and is free to all. The two local area challengers should be Todd Grey of restaurant Equinox and Brian McBride.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Well, turned out it was 2000 of whatever their money is! Translated to American money, it was a $40 baked potato!

The Italians love ripping off naive Americans as well. Always make sure you know the price, sez Bruck who once had a very nice plate of spaghetti and meat sauce in Lake Como (the town, not the lake) and enjoyed it immensely until he discovered that it cost the equivalent of about $50.

[Oberon]

I am astonished that nobody has yet mentioned good old Pennsylvania-German-style Hogmaw. It's a pig's stomach used for a sausage casing, stuffed with loose sausage, chopped potatoes, shredded cabbage, chopped onions, celery, salt, and pepper, and baked thoroughly.

It may sound grotesque, but it's been my family's traditional thanksgiving meal for decades now, by popular demand.

[Cagey]

Calling all Gourmets.

[2Trievers]

Gourmets? Cooks? I'm still looking for my "Hungover Gourmet" cookbook. Last I saw it, it was propping up the leg of my 'puter chair.

[Cagey]

A friend once told me that his Dad came home from work one day (in the late 60's) with a new book titled "The Drinking Man's Diet". They don't write em like that anymore, do they?

[js1138]

Vegemite Quiche Recipe

1 pre-cooked 20 cm shortcrust pastry case.
2 teaspoons of Vegimite
1 cup of grated Kraft processed cheddar cheese ( ed. YUKK! )
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 sliced tomato
1 sliced onion

1. Spread vegimite on inside of case and add 2/3 of cheese.
2. Combine eggs and milk and pour into case.
3. Place tomato and onion on top and add remaining cheese.
4. Bake at 180 C for 35 mins. (ed. With that cheese, vulcanise would be a more appropriate term...)

[2Trievers]

"The Drinking Man's Diet"

My copy is all dog earred ... are you telling me you know where to get a fresh one?

[dighton]

The Drinking Man's Diet

Still in print. It's now inclusive, as they say.

[Cagey]

CIA? you have to be!

[dighton]

Mossad, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone.

[Cagey]

My copy is all dog earred ... are you telling me you know where to get a fresh one?

Martha Stewart may have a copy to spare. If so, I'm sure it would be fresh.

[2Trievers]

Martha Stewart may have a copy to spare. If so, I'm sure it would be fresh.

I will ask her the next time I see her at the butcher.

[jeremiah]

The coyote droppings don't sound too bad, I might even try them. The kids will like them for sure. Go to post #48 for details on this and other delicacies.

[strela]

... just had a 3 lb lobster last week in Puerto Nuevo

Ow. Bet that hurt.

[T'wit]

> congealed fat with crunchy things in it.

Yummers! I suppose the crunchy things are also fat, fried a little longer. Can anyone think of the name for this dish?

[Silly]

I've eaten lunch at Lutèce, and let me tell you, the food is truly wonderful. The service as well.

I can't say I've had anything weird, though. My boss, who treated me, let me try his sweetbreads, and let me tell you, I wouldn't try them again anytime soon. My trout was tamer, but quite delicious. (I'm sure the lunch came to at least four hundred dollars. Worth every penny my boss paid.)

The maitre d' was an older gentleman, perfectly polished, wearing a tuxedo. He was truly like something out of a movie, and boy, did he know how to make you feel welcome and taken care of.

I would eat at Lutèce again anytime. I promise you, I could find something palatable on that menu.

[T'wit]

> Further reading of this thread stops here.

Stay, stay. I actually have a recipe for fried cow's udder, but will not post it until you have gone to bed tonight :-)