Author Archives: Shannon

Our Newest Contributor Is…You!

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fifties cookSure, we love writing for the blog, but it’s not just about us, us, us. One of the reasons we started PitchKnives is so we could hear your stories about food and gardening. So in our second month, it’s time to make your voice heard. All you need to do is write to us at submissions@pitchknives.com

Here are some easy ways to get involved:

  • See one of Jason’s Concrete Jungle signs? Snap a picture or tell us about how you found it.
  • Have a great restaurant you’d put up a fight for? Tell us about it and you might just get picked for Grub Match. Next up are NYC brunch favorites, but other themes and cities are already in the works, so elect the place you love most.
  • Need a lunch date? Convince me that there’s a spot near your subway stop that I have to try, and you could be part of our Lunch at the End of the Line series.

But that’s not all. You (yes, YOU) possess the power to write an awesome food feature. Did you just make a rad new chimichurri sauce? Did you just discover the secret to growing the perfect carrot? Did you put together the perfect picnic? Send your ideas to submissions@pitchknives.com. We love photo galleries, too.

So, go on! Make our mouths water!
–The Editors

Name that Cooking Utensil

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I like gadgets as much as the next person, but I can honestly say that I don’t own a single one of the objects pictured below. Can you guess what each of these historic utensils was used for? (I am aware that a dog is not actually a utensil, but give yourself a bonus point if you can guess that one.)

The answers… Continue reading →

Grub Match: Tri-borough Showdown

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“I expected to be disappointed in one, and I was. The other one I expected to like, and was disappointed in that one, too. Oh wait, is this the part where I’m supposed to be nice?”

That was the kind of feisty, go-for-the-jugular attitude evidenced in our three Grub Match contenders before the match had even begun. Monisha, Marie and Roger had gathered to defend the honor of their own restaurant picks and discuss the merits and shortcomings of the other contenders’ choices. The sun was hot. The beer was cold. They looked ready to rumble.

ready to rumble

Let’s get this match started…. Continue reading →

Lunch at the End of the Line: Woodlawn Odyssey

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flying colors of katonahThe dead people of Woodlawn are a lot easier to find than the living and eating ones. Step off the end of the 5 line and the mammoth cemetery is right in front of you, shrouding most everything else from view.

I knew nothing of Woodlawn, but I thought I should make some trips away from the more southerly subway ends with which I am more familiar. So I plucked Woodlawn pretty much at random from the Bronx possibilities and took care not to look too much at a map—that seemed like cheating. Surveying the vast empty expanse of the cemetery on one side and Van Cortlandt Park on the other, however, I was having second thoughts. I had a vague memory that civilization lay somewhere to the northwest, on a street that started with a K. I struck out in that direction.

I like walking, but walking with the nagging possibility that you are going the wrong way is not so fun. I decided that if I kept the cemetery always on my right, like Captain Vancouver hugging the Pacific Northwest coast, I couldn’t get too lost. But there really weren’t many landmarks save for a giant sign reminding me that I could get special “under construction” pricing on mausoleum crypt space. Continue reading →

Marie’s Grub Match Pick: Taverna Kyclades

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marie's grub match pickOur final fierce contender in this month’s Grub Match is Marie Argeris. A seasoned New Yorker, Marie was torn between many NYC favorites but decided to go with “her people” at Taverna Kyclades. Here’s more from Marie:

What is one item that is always in your refrigerator? Feta cheese, preferably imported from Greece and purchased in Astoria where they have the real deal out of a barrel.

You’re on death row and they’re warming up the chair—what’s your final meal? I don’t think they put limits on a last meal, so this will be la grande bouffe:

Appetizers: Greek country salad, grilled octopus, calamari, fried formela cheese, taramasalata, tyrokafteri, spanakopita, tyropita, two dozen oysters sampled from east/west coasts, stuffed quahog

Entree: Maine lobster, Dungeness Crab, lamb chops (Greek style), lemon potatoes, vleeta greens, some mushrooms I once had in Dali, China

Dessert: Dark chocolate covered caramels with sea salt, galactoboureko, blackberry pie with ice cream Continue reading →

Lunch at the End of the Line: An Oasis in Bay Ridge

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An Oasis in Bay RidgeAfter last week’s ocean of loneliness, I thought that perhaps it was time to admit some basic facts about human nature—strangers in New York do not seem to want to eat lunch with me and asking them fills me with dread. As I headed to Bay Ridge, the end of the R line, I decided upon yet another strategy. I would canvass the streets, asking people what their favorite lunch spot was, and when a consensus emerged, I would go there.

This new plan filled me with fresh optimism and brazenness, and I immediately got a few recommendations for a couple of Irish restaurants on 3rd Avenue (O’Sullivan’s and Chadwick’s). And then I happened upon John, a sad-eyed Syrian man who considered my question long and hard.

“What country are you from?” he asked.

“Um, America,” I replied.

“No, no, I mean, what kind of food do you eat?” He eyed my dark hair and made a tentative guess. “You like Italian food?” Continue reading →

What Will Oscar Eat?: Spring Greens Edition

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what will oscar eat?My cat Oscar has always had rather peculiar tastes for a feline. The smell of white beans has the same effect on him as catnip. In summer months, he answers to the nickname Tomato Slayer because of all the mornings we have woken to find heirlooms that have been rolled from a high shelf in the middle of the night and gruesomely mauled on the kitchen floor. If any sauce is left foolishly unattended on the stovetop, Oscar is sure to come slinking into the living room with a guilty little beard of it staining his white chin fur. And though all of these habits are exceedingly irritating, I won’t pretend that they don’t also fill me with a strange kind of pride: maybe my pet is special, a feline gastronome.

The boundaries of Oscar’s tastes have never been scientifically tested, however, and if my claims of his spectacular feline palate are to hold any water, they should be well documented. So I set up a little experiment with some salad greens to see if Oscar would demonstrate his omnivorous tendencies. Here are my scientific observations:

in the laboratory

With red leaf lettuce, baby spinach and kale spread out before him, the subject headed straight for the kale. (The researcher initially attributed this to the fact that it was the only organic number in the bunch, but then discarded this hypothesis after remembering that the subject has been known to eat the puke of other cats. The kale was also closest to the subject.) Continue reading →

Roger’s Grub Match Pick: St. Anselm

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roger's grub match pickAnd in this corner of the Grub Match ring, it’s Roger LaMarque (in the photo, he’s the one in the sweater). His pick is Saint Anselm, home of the Axe Handle Rib Eye and the Bourbon Brined Chop.  Here’s more from Roger:

You’re on death row and they’re warming up the chair—what’s your final meal? They warm up electric chairs? I guess something that would take a long time to arrive. The Indian joint near my house takes forever. I could get another appeal in.

What’s the single most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten? The most memorable meal would be my most recent one, since I have a terrible memory. And it was…er… Continue reading →

Lunch at the End of the Line: Ocean of Loneliness Edition

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Ocean of LonelinessIn the interest of honesty, let me say that I was not in the best of moods when I arrived at the end of the B line in Brighton Beach, and I desperately needed a cup of coffee. But though I found a steaming vat of pierogis inside of a minute, a coffee shop was oddly difficult to locate. I started to feel keenly how little I knew about Russian food in general and this neighborhood in particular. Don’t the Russians drink coffee? Or tea or something? What are they doing with all those samovars in the Chekov stories?

Coffeeless, I ate half of a poppy seed pastry and felt a little better, so I headed to the boardwalk to put my new strategy into action. Since last week’s anxious canvassing of Flushing’s sidewalks did not do the trick, I had decided to advertise with a sign my intention of taking a stranger to lunch (see below). This lower impact approach would be perfect, I thought, and have the hungry hordes flocking to me in no time. Continue reading →

Monisha’s Grub Match Pick: Yerba Buena

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Monisha's Grub Match PickThe first contender in this month’s Grub Match is Monisha De La Rocha. Here’s a little about Monisha and her pick, cocktail haven Yerba Buena.

Do you have any food pet peeves? Many. Cold salads, cold butter that you can’t spread. The taste of burned garlic. Lemon juice from a bottle. Pre-grated parmesan cheese (wax, much!). Being served at a restaurant on a plate that’s clearly either just come out of the fridge or oven. Having my wine poured for me by my server the second my glass looks empty (I’m going to order a second bottle anyway, just let me drink in peace!).

Let’s pretend you’ve come into uncountable gobs of money—who do you hire as your personal chef? The truth is that if I had uncountable gobs of money, I’d quit my job and spend most of my time cooking each meal in my humungous Barn kitchen, and make all those things that require ridiculously expensive ingredients. I’d have every color and variation of salt, and I would think it made a difference in the food.

What is one item that is always in your refrigerator? An extra 4-stick box of unsalted butter. Butter makes everything better. Continue reading →