Bigelow's Clam Shack (Long Island, NY)

ABF & I have been driving by Bigelow's Clam Shack (in Rockville Centre, Long Island) for a good 6 years, but it wasn't until last weekend that we finally went inside and tried the goods.

It is a tight little space with a bit of seating around the countertop, and a steady business in take out orders.

ABF & I started with Stewart's black cherry soda, a splurge all its own.

I was beyond hungry, and I wanted a little bit of everything... but I really wanted the clam strips. We ordered the clam strips appetizer to share. This was beyond delicious- fried but not greasy, chewy but not rubbery, and a salty briny taste that reminded me of a day on the beach in the best way.

We also got some onion rings (did I mention how hungry I was?), and they were okay. Just okay. The breading at Bigelow's tasted very bland to us. However, they offer plenty of condiments at the table, from hot sauce to vinegar, so I suppose that's the point. You can change the flavor with every bite.

ABF ordered the fish & chips with flounder. This was tasty, and quite a large serving of fish (three pieces), and also came with fries. Skip the fries.

I ordered the fried cod sandwich. This also came with 3 big pieces of juicy cod. I got a slice of cheese as well, because I apparently I decided to go all out on this meal. Soda, fried food, AND cheese? Why the hell not?!

My sandwich was good-- delicious fish, even better with the tartar sauce, but I, too, could have skipped the fries.

Bigelow's was also a very welcoming spot, with great service and friendly staff. They checked in on us a few times (more than one person, even) to make sure we were enjoying the meal and that we got everything we ordered (oh boy, did we!)

We walked out of there stuffed to the gills (ha), but I still found myself wishing I'd had more clam strips. I'd go back in a flash for the clam bellies sandwich (yum!) or more clam strips, but I'd skip the onion rings & fries the next go-round.

Bigelow's Fried Clams
79 N Long Beach Road
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
(516) 678-3878

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Torico Ice Cream (NJ)

Why not have one more sweet treat before summer surrenders to (fabulous) Fall? I was visiting my friend Jen and her husband A in their Jersey City home. After dinner, our small group decided to go for a walk and find dessert.

They brought us to Torico (slang for 'todo rico' in Spanish, or 'everything is delicious'--good slogan for an ice cream shop!) and we lined up to weigh our wonderful options. The owners, originally from Puerto Rico, have a tropical, colorful theme, with a dizzying array of flavors, from your standard vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, to more unexpected flavors such as soursop sorbet or cherry pistachio.

I ordered last, as I found simply too many options to consider. I went for a cone of coffee ice cream and cookie pieces in it-- coffee & cookies-- two of my favorite things! This was creamy, zingy, and quite satisfying on that stultifingly stuffy night.

ABF settled on his favorite sundae combo: vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and nuts. They didn't have his beloved peanuts, so he opted for slivered almonds instead. I had a few bites of this, because it is a pretty delicious mix of tastes and textures.

Our ice cream was excellent, and we got to people-watch while we sat inside the air-conditioned restaurant, which is decked out with old-timey ice cream parlor chairs and tables, but all in blazing, eye-popping colors. This is a popular spot, but service was speedy, the price was affordable (3.50 for 2 scoops!), and the flavors are above and beyond the normal list. If you're in Jersey City, save room for dessert and pop by Torico!

Torico Ice Cream

20 Erie St

Jersey City, NJ 07302

(201) 432-9458

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Five Pennies Creamery

Summer might be taking its last few, humid gasps, but that doesn't mean ice cream season is anywhere close to ending! One random Sunday night, ABF and I dashed over to Rockville Centre's (Long Island) Five Pennies Creamery for a sweet treat.

Five Pennies gets its name from the song made famous by Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye-- that song's a favorite of the store's owner, Danny Levine. The inside of the store looks like a step into the wayback machine-- it has an old-timey ice cream parlor feel.

So what did I order?? Yes, I spent far too long weighing my decision, but if you saw how many amazing, delectable options there are, you might not judge me so harshly. Danny has more than 100 different flavors on tap at Five Pennies. I had a few tiny tastes of different flavors before settling on an interesting combo: one scoop of banana pudding, one scoop of Boston Cream Pie.

I don't know how they did it, but the folks at FPC managed to take the flavors of both these classic desserts and turn them into cool, creamy, frozen form. There's no funny chemical taste or crazy ingredients. THIS is the essence of summer, childhood, and other happy memories.

ABF went with a classic sundae (can't remember his ice cream flavor) with chocolate syrup and peanuts-- his favorite way to eat ice cream. I have to admit, it's quite a good combo, but that night there was no order envy. I was quite happy with my choices.

The ice cream was top-notch, and the friendly staff made us feel welcome from the moment we walked in the door. I hear Five Pennies has recently done a remodel, which gives me the PERFECT excuse to go back and try more flavors- see the changes!

What's YOUR favorite ice cream flavor? Mine is usually black raspberry, but at Five Pennies, it's the Boston Cream Pie!

Five Pennies Creamery

11 N Park Ave

Rockville Centre, NY 11570

(516) 608-4344

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Melon Margarita

I had a gorgeous, juicy cantaloupe that was going to be less than edible very soon. I knew I couldn't eat it all before it went bad, so I put the rest of it in a Ziploc and threw it in freezer to save for hot steamy day like today.

I had just enough tequila left for one margarita. I took a handful of frozen melon chunks right out of the freezer, dropped them into the blender along with the remaining tequila and a few glugs of sour mix.

A few whirls in the blender, just enough to puree the fruit, and my drink was ready to pour. It was frothy, icy cold from the fruit but not watered down because of any ice. It was the perfect cooling, refreshing drink for a hot summer day like today.

Cheers! 

Cool Eats: Melon-Mango Soup

All this week I'm featuring "Cool Eats," recipes that require little to no stovetop time; perfect recipes to take the edge off that summer heat!

I can't think of a more delectable recipe for ending "Cool Eats" week-and this one requires NO cooking. In fact, you'll have it whipped together in a matter of minutes.

What goes in this fabulous treat? Mangoes, cantaloupe, a little sugar, some white wine, and lemon juice. That's pretty much it. Oh, and a splash of half and half.

I discovered champagne mangoes this summer--they're a bit smaller and much less fibrous than regular mangoes. Huzzah!

These are some slippery ingredients, so don't worry if it gets a little messy. Make sure your hands are clean, that you've scrubbed the outside of the fruits before slicing them, and just toss it all together in the blender.

We chilled these in the hollowed out cantaloupes for an extra bit of fun. It was even more scrumptious scooping out bits of cantaloupe from the fruit while eating the soup!

Mango-Melon Soup
1 mango, pitted
1 cup cantaloupe, just scooped out of shell
1 Tbls lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine (dry or sweet)
2 Tbs sugar
Splash of half and half (or 2 Tbs greek yogurt--we were out of yogurt at the time!)


Toss everything in a blender and give it a good whirl. I poured the soup back into the cantaloupe halves and chilled them about an hour. Divine!

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Cool Eats: Cold Noodle Salad

All this week I'm featuring "Cool Eats," recipes that require little to no stovetop time; perfect recipes to take the edge off that summer heat!

This cold Asian noodle salad takes a little time in the kitchen-- or you can also use leftovers to make it even simpler. It's a tangy, cool, salty salad that is even better the next day! Thanks to Jen A for bringing this delectable dish into my life. It's the perfect pairing with a cold beverage on a hot summer day.

We started with some local zucchini I bought through FreshDirect.com--they were on sale for 50 cents EACH! Score!

Also from FreshDirect--rainbow chard. Check out those colors--aren't they stunning? Gorgeous green, fiery fuschia--all natural, no yellow Dye Number 3 or what have you.

First stovetop move: boil up some soba noodles--those only take a quick 3 minutes or so, then drain and cool.

A quick sauté of some veggies (we used squash, chopped sugar snap peas, scallions), chicken and tofu and we were good to go. A toss of everything with a cracktastic sauce (recipe below) and a generous toss of toasted sesame seeds and this dish will have you feeling happy and healthy. Chill it before serving--and save those leftovers, because it's even BETTER the next day.

This is an easily-adaptable recipe: don't follow it letter-for-letter. Scrounge through your fridge and add leftover veggies, a little bit of this, some of that, and it will always be delicious (and affordable)!

Cold Noodle Salad (Credit: Jen A)

2 cups leftover/sautéed veggies
handful soba noodles
1 cup chicken/tofu (or combo)
Toasted sesame seeds

Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 T toasted sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed or minced
1 T honey
2 T green onions (green part)
Toasted sesame seeds

Add first 5 ingredients, mix thoroughly. Add green onions & seeds at end. Splash over salad, reserve the rest for later (also great for dunking dumplings!)

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Cool Eats: Cold Cherry Soup

All this week I'm featuring "Cool Eats," recipes that require little to no stove-top time; perfect recipes to take the edge off that summer heat!

Cherry soup can be heavy and not-so-healthy, but this recipe comes out cool, bright, and deliciously decadent, despite its being not-so-bad for you!

This recipe comes together easily, with only about 15 minutes of stovetop time. It's a riff on the Martha Rose Shulman recipe that was in the New York Times last month. It's healthy, light, and so refreshing!

Fresh cherries can be expensive, so if they go on sale, nab 'em! Or, just splurge on a bit of summer's best work. A fruit stand in my Brooklyn nabe sells them 2 pounds for 8 bucks--that woman has seen a lot of me this summer. :)

Three of us set to pitting 2 lbs of cherries by hand--honestly? Not that difficult. And whatever dropped outside of the bowl, we got to eat. :) Make sure to save the pits, because that's what you use to make a sort of cherry 'stock.'

Mmmm...pitty.

After boiling the pits in the water, you remove them, put in everything but the cherries,yogurt and almond extract, and let it go five more minutes. Then add the cherries, let it "simmah down nah" for five minutes more. You're almost done!

A quick whisking of 1 cup cherry liquid into the yogurt gets the final step going. After the first cup came together, we added the almond extract. I briefly considered adding more than the teaspoon, but the flavor is even stronger the next day, so I think the 1 tsp. is sufficient. And awesome. :)

I couldn't help thinking that this would be equally delectable spooned over some vanilla ice cream, or freshly-sliced peaches and bananas. Any other serving suggestions?

This is dead simple and so, so, so fantastic. We had the first round for dessert with dinner, and more the next day for breakfast. Yay, summer!

Cold Cherry Soup (adapted from Martha Rose Shulman's NYT recipe)

5 cups water

scant 1/2 cup sugar (use less if berries are very sweet)

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 teaspoon salt

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp almond extract (YUM)

2 pounds sweet, dark cherries, pits reserved

1 cup Greek-style yogurt (we used Fage 2%)

Bring 5 cups to boil in saucepan. Add pits and boil 5 minutes. Remove pits (water will be tinged rosy-pink) and add everything but the cherries and yogurt. Stir gnently to mix, then let go for about 5 minutes at a rolling boil before adding the cherries. Cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat to start cooling down.

Take 1 cup of the warm cherry mixture and whisk it into another bowl with the yogurt, whisking quickly, then slowly add the rest, cup by cup. Let it cool down before putting in the fridge. As Ms. Shulman says, you may have to stir it up again before serving, but we didn't really notice any separating.





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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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