Peaches Hothouse

Peaches Hothouse has been on my infamous, ever-growing "List" for years now-- and thanks to 2 friends as game for good food as I am, we recently made it happen!

We got there a bit before the dinner rush, so there was no wait (rare!) for our table.

Peaches offers all sorts of Southern fare, but we were all about their famous "Nashville-style" Hot Chicken. I got the plain old hot chicken, while my 2 friends, K & M, ordered the EXTRA HOT. They will warn you that the EXTRA HOT is painfully hot. In fact, our server said "I don't recommend it to ANYONE." We decided to live a little and proceed anyway.

We also ordered some drinks! Cheers!

My first drink was the Ma Rainey, made with Ciroc peach, peach Schnapps, and fruit juice. This tasted dangerously like the best fruit punch you ever did drink. Yum.

K ordered a Lightning drink-- I can't remember what's in it, but I know K liked it.
M ordered the Howling Wolf (ginger beer, goslings and lime - aka dark and stormy) and enjoyed that, too!
But back to the chicken-- it's heavily spiced, I think mostly with cayenne pepper, and it's juicy, delicious, and yes, a little hot. But only a little! I ate the hot and while I enjoy hot food, I do not enjoy melting my face off, so I felt like this was just right.

My regular hot chicken with mac & cheese

I don't care what is in this chicken-- I have never devoured a fried chicken like I did this day. Normally gristle and tendons and snappy things hold me back-- not at Peaches! There was little more than bones left on my plate when it was all over. Easily some of the best friend chicken I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The mashed potatoes and mac and cheese were both excellent-- I only had a bite of the cole slaw, and I thought it was okay, but generally I do not like it anyway, so what the hell do I know?

Extra hot w/mashed potatoes

Extra hot with "crispy" cole slaw

It was hot, yes, but a slow, building, prickly heat. By the time you finish your meal, you might be sweating a little, but you're not in pain. You're just full and happy and you're maybe a bit warm. Have an ice-cold drink!

For round 2, K & I ordered the Georgia Peach, sweet tea with a kick. This was good and comes in a big Mason jar, but it wasn't quite as good as the Ma Rainey. I did enjoy it, but I'd rather have had another Ma Rainey.

We even went for dessert: rum cake with ice cream for K & me, and the chocolate cake for M, who isn't a fan of rum. I have to say I tasted more coconut than rum in the cake, which was buttery and light and way better than I expected. This was a winner.

M shared some of her chocolate cake, which was also delicious and had plenty of rich chocolate icing. Good, but not as good as the rum cake.

By the time we left, there was a growing group of people waiting outside for tables. This food is worth the wait, but I'm happy we didn't have to go through that part!

Service was excellent, we ate every bite of our food, and our eyes almost popped out of our heads when we saw our drinks were FIVE DOLLARS EACH. That's unheard of in NYC. One more reason to love Brooklyn!

Peaches Hothouse
415 Tompkins Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11216
(718) 483-9111

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Soul Food at Sylvia's

I love lists. I make to-do lists, to-visit lists, to-clean lists, and even where-to-eat lists! And Sylvia's in Harlem has been on "The List" ever since I moved to NYC (more than 10 years ago!) THANK YOU, Kwame, for finally making it happen!

Founded by Sylvia Woods, aka "The Queen of Soulfood," this restaurant has been feeding folks with delicious, comforting, homestyle dishes since 1962. What started as a little luncheonette is now an expanded, welcoming, wonderful place to have a good, good meal.

On a cold, dark Saturday night, I met up with Mike, Sara, & Kwame for a delicious dinner. I didn't have a single snack that day, saving room for all the good stuff!

Sara & I both ordered a Scotch & ginger ale, a drink Mike & Kwame introduced me to years ago when we all worked on the same talk show. This was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.

Mike ordered a Sugar Hill beer and liked it. I mean he really, really liked it. Kwame had the rum punch but I forgot to snap a pic.

Everyone gets cornbread--it's on the house! This was good--strong corn flavor, a little sweet. I was surprised to see miniature tubs of 'whipped spread' instead of butter, but oh well--tasty all the same!

I didn't come all the way from Brooklyn just to eat bread though-- You better believe I got the Harlem style chicken & waffles: fried chicken (breast attached to wing) with waffles and didn't have a second thought! Yep, that's me, mixing sweet & salty (well, sort of).

I'm not a huge waffle fan--but these? These were yummy. Fluffy and soft and they actually HAD something to them--they weren't empty shells of nothingness.

Kwame ordered the fried shrimp. He sweetly let me try one and holy smokes stop the train folks, these are insanely delicious. I might have to go back and just get the shrimp. They're that good!

Mike ordered the smothered pork chop--I didn't get his exact review but I do believe he enjoyed it. (sorry for the blurriness--I was in a hurry to start eating!)

Sara ordered the Harlem-style Chicken & waffles, too, but she opted for dark meat (which was a leg and a thigh, I think?)

Sara & I also shared the mac and cheese. I thought this was just okay. It was elbow macaroni with some cheddar cheese on top--honestly, I'd skip this the next time (and there will be a next time!)

I ate so much of the waffle that I'd forgotten we planned to get dessert. Oof. Dessert. And there are many options. Super moist, delicious red velvet cake, for starters. Yum.

We also got the strawberry bread pudding with bourbon sauce, but I am not a bread pudding fan. Pass.

Sara & I were really wanting to get the peach cobbler, but they ran out right before we put in our order. Sigh. We opted for the banana pudding instead. This was more like a pile of ripe, sweet bananas with a touch of custard. Oh my sweetness it was goooooood.

It was delicious. Absolutely delicious. And very reasonable! My entree was $11.95 and PLENTY of food. Desserts were under 6 bucks. You can easily eat here to your heart's (and stomach's) content and not break the bank. And I will be back to Sylvia's. For more chicken, some of that fried shrimp, and the elusive peach cobbler.

Sylvia's
328 Lenox Avenue
New York, NY 10027
(212) 996-0660

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Hurricane Chicken

You might have heard about this Hurricane Irene chick who came barreling through NYC. While she wreaked havoc, destruction, and sadly, even death in other states, she lost a lot of steam by the time she got to the Empire State. This meant we had a lot of provisions that, well, we didn't really need so badly any more. I decided to take some of the leftovers from my storm supplies and make what I dubbed "Hurricane Chicken."



I had half a bunch of leftover cilantro, some garlic that was starting to sprout, and some fading celery and onions.

I washed and trimmed all the veggies, taking out the bitter green shoot from the otherwise-fine garlic, and arranging everything in a roasting dish.
It doesn't look like much, maybe, but it's worth using, and I always feel better when I don't waste food.

I tossed the garlic, leftover cilantro, and unsalted butter into my mini food processor and made a delicious-smelling compound butter.

I took about 1/3 of it and shmeared it under the chicken skin (I have yet to do this without poking at least one hole in the chicken skin--don't worry--it still comes out just fine). I put the rest of the butter in the fridge for later.

I sprinkled a generous tablespoon of salt over the bird, stuffed a quartered lime in the bird's cavity, poured a cup of leftover white wine in the pan and...um... do you see anything wrong with this picture? I'll explain later..

I cooked the bird at 450 for just over an hour, and tossed some seasoned zucchini in for the last 20 minutes. I didn't baste the bird at all, just let the butter layer do its work.

The chicken was dreamily delicious...no, succulent! The lime and cilantro gave it a nice Caribbean kick, and the butter made the skin nice and crispy. The pan juices? ZOMG.

It wasn't until the next day that I realized I put the chicken in the pan UPSIDE DOWN. Listen--severe weather can be stressful! Regardless, the bird was super juicy and scrumptious, and I nibbled on plenty of chicken as I plated the rest and put it up in the fridge. Oh, lunch this week is going to be great! Chicken sandwiches, chicken soup, chicken salad, chicken quesadillas....

"Hurricane" Chicken

1/2 bunch cilantro (or any leftover fresh herbs)
1 stick butter, softened
3-4 cloves garlic
1 lime, washed, scrubbed & quartered
1 3-4 lb roasting chicken
leftover veggies
1 cup white wine
salt & pepper

Trim veggies and arrange in roasting dish. Mix butter, garlic and herbs in mini food processor. Take 2-3 TBS of the butter and rub it over chicken, underneath skin.
Reserve the rest of the butter (don't touch with the hands that just touched raw chicken!) for later--it's great on warm rolls. Put lime quarters in chicken cavity, sprinkle bird with generous 2 Tbs of salt, fresh cracked pepper, and pop it in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until done (165 on meat therm, or when juices run clear).

Enjoy--and may all your storms bring more hype than harm!

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La Caridad 78

NYC is quite a mix of people from all cultures and walks of life, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that one of my favorite places (thanks to friend & NY Native CPZ) to eat is Cuban/Chinese hybrid La Caridad. They serve bountiful portions of delicious dishes, from vaca frita to sesame chicken. You can easily eat for under 10 dollars a person, too.

Jen A & I stopped here yesterday after some retail therapy. It was scorching hot outside, so we drank iced tea and soda at our corner window seat while perusing the chock-full-of-choices menu.

Jen A ordered the avocado & onion salad, not realizing it was only....avocado and onion. Raw, pungent, eye-searing onion. We removed most of the onions and ate the incredibly generous portion of fresh, soft avocado (there was still plenty to take home later).

I ordered the 1/4 roast chicken, and when the server told me they only had dark meat, I barely hesitated. I'm learning to love the darker, more tender meat that I once avoided. This may not look fancy, but it was juicy, perfectly seasoned, and I absolutely, happily demolished it.

My chicken also came with a mini-mountain of rice and beans. That is a plate piled high of zesty yellow rice and creamy red beans. YUM.

Jen A ordered the sesame chicken with broccoli. I had a bite of broccoli (one of my all-time favorite veggies) and it had a bit of the chicken's sauce on it--zippy and sweet--not bad!

We ate to our hearts' content and still had plenty of leftovers. La Caridad 78 is cash only, but you only need a little to get a lot of food! Our lunch specials were each around 8 dollars--an insanely affordable and savory treat!

La Caridad 78
2199 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
(212) 874-2780

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Savoring Summer

Summer is definitely here in NYC, and yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to a delicious backyard BBQ at Tom & Jen's. They are quite the hosts, and had more food than we could possibly eat, but oh my, did we try!

Tom started us out with his fresh-baked boule, which had Herbes de Provence in it and was delicious all on its own. Isn't that a gorgeous sight??

My contribution was to make the mojitos. First Jen & I went into the backyard garden and harvested fresh handfuls of mint--what an amazing smell.

Mojitos can be labor-intensive if you make them one by one, so I opted to make a big bowl o' mojitos.

It's pretty simple--equal parts white rum & seltzer water, and 1 cup of sugar per liter of rum. I use powdered sugar, since it melts better than granulated. I don't like my mojitos too sweet--just sweet enough. Use granulated sugar, though, to gently muddle the mint leaves, which you let simmer in the bowl for about 30 minutes before serving. We sugared the rims of the cups for an extra bit of sweetness.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story--Tom's delicious cherry rickey, watermelon salad with feta and basil, grilled chicken sausage with feta, quinoa salad with cucumbers, almonds & dried cranberries, kielbasa, quail, chicken skewers marinated in lemongrass and tamarind, succulent grilled salmon...just so much more than we could ever possibly eat. I hope you are having a relaxing Memorial Day weekend, full of delicious food, wonderful company, and good times all around.

Hope your summer is off to a delicious start!!

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