BQBeats

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Paulie Gees - Explosive flavor combos

If you are as obsessed with finding great pizza as I am, you need to make the trek out to Paulie Gees in Greenpoint. The story behind this much-hyped Neopolitian joint is damn interesting - and the pizza does not disappoint.

Paulie spent 30 years working some day job with computers, but now we know he was secretly dreaming of starting his own pizza restaurant. Obsessed with pizza, he went anywhere he heard it was good, documenting each slice on his Flickr account. Then he build a Nepalese-style wood fired oven in his backyard in Jersey, and hosted pizza-making parties for food bloggers. After perfecting a few mind-blowing flavor combos, he quit his day job and went pro.

Now, he seems to make the rounds each night, talking to guests to check on their meals.

Now to the pizza itself . .  .

Invited by our excellent friends, Brad and Anna, we ordered 4 pies to share (think personal pie), along with a bottle of sparkling red (which I learned is the traditional pizza wine in Naples).

Pictured from left to right:

Red, White And Greenberg - Fior di Latte, Berkshire Guanciale, House Pickled Red Onions and a Baby Arugula Garnish.  I would not have ordered this on my own, but the pickled red onions make it an exceptional pie. With the peppercorn, it's a spicey, sweet combination that I won't soon forget. The onions are nice and juicy so the sweet vinegar taste hits your palette last. On my personal scorecard, this was a close second to . . .    

The Cherry Jones - Fior di Latte, Gorgonzola Cheese, Prosciutto di Parma, Dried Bing Cherries and Orange Blossom Honey.  This was my favorite. The cherries and Gorgonzola are an amazing combination. Be sure to order this one if you go. 

The Delboy - Fior di Latte, Italian Tomatoes, Berkshire Sopressata Picante and Parmigiano Reggiano. This was the most traditional of those we ordered. Delicious tomatoes, and the sopressata will make you want to shun peperoni for life. (Paulie refuses to serve pepperoni - for obvious reasons once you've tried the Delboy).  

Not pictured:

The Greenpointer - Fior di Latte, Baby Arugula, Olive Oil, Fresh Lemon Juice and Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano. This was a big hit, hence no slices left to photograph. The Lemon and arugula makes a great bitter-sweet combo. I preferred the other three to this, but still very, very good.

Overall, if you like all kinds of pizza, you don't want to miss Paulie Gees for his eclectic favor combinations. In terms of best overall slice, he can't compete with DiFara's of Lucali's but he isn't trying to. His pies are way less oily and way less cheesey, but still powerfully tasty.

Great ambiance, with Brooklyn austere-hip decor, and six point on tap. If you are lucky, you can watch them slide each pizza into the amazing Nepalese wood-fired oven.

If you can't handle the G train, it's easy to park. Just one block from the East River, so bonus views for those who take the time to look.

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Korean Double-fried Chicken @ KyoChon

Problem: On my way to karaoke in K-town and needed to nosh. 

Solution: fast food, Korean style!

The Korean chain KyoChon has locations in Midtown, Flushing, LA, and Korea (duh).

These extra-tasty wings have a simple secret - extra frying. Fast and served with three sauces on the side (honey, garlic, jambalaya), you can't go wrong.

Except $6 for 5 wings is not exactly a bargain (and these are small wings - not the jumbo buffalo wings you often find).

In fact, we were still hungry and had to get dumplings before meeting our friends . . . unfortunately, those were simply too yummy to photograph before eating. One more reminder that it's not a complete meal until you've carbo-loaded.

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Poutine from Mile End

As promised, I returned to Mile End (this time with a friend) to try the matzah ball soup and the poutine (pictured above). As before, it smelled amazing, and I’m now convinced that’s the pastrami roasting. 

Contrary to the NYT, it wasn’t packed or impossible to get a seat - and this was Friday night at 7pm - but maybe that’s because it’s a little overpriced. Regardless, I’m no longer going to believe every word they publish.

So here’s my quick take:

Matzah ball soup - so so. Can’t say I’ve had it that often, but seemed fairly bland to me.

Poutine - amazing. Never had it before, but can’t go wrong with cheese curds, fries and gravey. Add smoked meat for $2 more, and you’ve got a healthy $11 snack. It was so refreshing, that we decided to skip the entrees and catch a movie (pays to order only a few things at a time).

Knish - very tasty, and unlike any I’ve seen before. It was more like an everything bagel stuffed with pastrami. Served sliced, with that spicy deli mustard I want to eat by the spoonful. 

The guy next to us at the counter ordered the pastrami sandwich, but seemed outraged that it didn’t come with a pickle. I think I’m with him on that one. Sometimes giving people the smallest things can pay you back many times over. Clearly, he was there more for the deli and less for the trendy BK restaurant. Guess it’s still true that you can’t be all things to all people.

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Mile End's breakfast sandwich - Montreal Bagel, Quebec Aged Cheddar and "Chazzer" (bacon).

If you enjoy a breakfast sandwich as much as I do, it's hard to go wrong ordering one. Mile End shows how right you can go - skinny Montreal bagel (imported, but fresh), delicious melted cheddar from Quebec, and thick Canadian bacon (notice a theme?).

As delicious as it was messy, I sat at the counter at this uber-small, uber-cool deli and soaked in the savory scents while the friendly staff were busy preparing their afternoon dishes.

I'll be back to work my way through the eclectic menu - don't see "beef on weck" or "poutine" everyday.

97A Hoyt Street, Brooklyn (just South of Atlantic)

www.mileendbrooklyn.com

Click here to read the NYTimes review

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What an absurd name for a restaurant! Like calling a place the Utah Kitchen of Grand Canyon.

But you have to hand it to the New York Times and Sam Sifton. They do a great job of covering Chinese food in Flushing as a food beat in and of itself.

A restaurant like this in China would probably advertise itself with the phrase "Chairman Mao's Hometown Cooking" aka 毛主席家鄉菜 way more prominently than they do in the U.S., like this place in Shanghai. But I don't think that would go over so well here. You do, however, see a Mao's Home Cooking (sans "Chairman") section at just about every Sichuanese restaurant in NYC.

My absolute favorite from the Mao menu is braised pork or 紅燒肉. Most Westerners are squeamish with how much fat they leave on each pork morsel but the fat is what gives the dish such great taste and texture. Looking forward to trying the rendition of it here.

Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan

★

42-47 Main Street (Franklin Avenue), Flushing, Queens; [phone].

ATMOSPHERE Modernist Mao.

SOUND LEVEL Conversational and pleasant.

RECOMMENDED DISHES Wood ear mushrooms, pumpkin cake, cucumber with scallion sauce, sliced fish and sour cabbage soup, big fish head in hot pot, BBQ fish, BBQ pigs’ feet, braised pork “Mao’s style,” lamb with cumin flavor, sliced cured pork with dried turnips, white-pepper smoked beef, sautéed and dry string beans.

WINE LIST Tsingtao and Coke.

PRICE RANGE Appetizers and soups, $3.95 to $8.95; entrees, $9.95 to $22.95.

HOURS Daily, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

RESERVATIONS Recommended but imprecise. Be prepared to wait awhile.

CREDIT CARDS All major cards.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS The restaurant is at street level and is accessible through a foyer. Restroom is in the rear of the restaurant and is quite large.

WHAT THE STARS MEAN Ratings range from zero to four stars and reflect the reviewer’s reaction to food, ambience and service, with price taken into consideration. Menu listings and prices are subject to change.

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NYTIMES: Gottscheer Hall Tap Room

GOOD spirits make for rousing dinners, but on the evening of the annual Jaegerball, they nearly crowded out our kassler rippchen and baked spaetzle. The local rod and gun club, joined by hundreds of friends and family, had assembled for dinner and dancing in the main ballroom of Gottscheer Hall. But many lingered in the public taproom, clustering near the television — and nearly screening off the server from our table — to follow football.

Most nights in Ridgewood, Queens, the Gottscheers (got-SHAY-ers) are fewer, and mellower. The hall was dedicated in the 1920s by immigrants from Gottschee — once an enclave within Austria-Hungary, now part of Slovenia — and revitalized with another wave, displaced by World War II. The surviving members of that later generation are advanced in years, and their adult children usually speak in long-settled New York accents rather than the Bavarian dialect called Gottscheerish.

Gottscheer Hall Tap Room

657 Fairview Avenue (Gates Avenue), Ridgewood, Queens, [phone], GottscheerHall.com.

BEST DISHES Italian wedding soup, krainerwurst, goulash with spaetzle, sauerbraten, kassler rippchen, bread pudding.

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