Monday, July 31, 2006

Thomas-Would-Be-Proud Sandwiches

Ingredients:
4 Thomas’s English Muffins
4 slices pancetta
2 avocadoes
1/3 lbs Coach Farm triple crème goat cheese
2 cups arugula or spicy lettuce

1. Crisp your pancetta in a fry pan to your liking. I like crispy.
2. While pancetta is frying, peel, pit, and mash avocadoes in a small bowl.
3. Split and toast the muffins. Spread the goat cheese on one side of each muffin. Spread the avocado on each muffin’s counter-side.
4. Evenly disperse your lettuce on the muffins on the avocado side.
5. When the pancetta is finished crisping, lay each piece on a goat cheese slathered muffin. Press muffin sides together so now you have sandwiches with avocado, then lettuce, then pancetta, and then cheese. Makes 4.

Enjoy!

Oven Found in Nooks and Crannies

Many think of New York City as a bagel town; Samuel Bath Thomas might disagree. This Thomas is the Thomas of English muffin fame, and his premier bakery where he started the “crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside” magic was once on the corner of West 20th Street and Ninth Avenue. Last Thursday, in a nook of the Metro section of the New York Times, was news of this “Muffin House,” as the coop building at 337 West 20th Street calls it.

While a tenant was removing his radiator, he pulled up a few floorboards to expose what looked like a black hole of bricks. Where there should have been a basement, the tenant recognized an oven.

With further investigation, headed by Joan H. Geismar, an urban archaeologist, it was determined that this was, indeed, the original muffin oven. The structure of the oven reveals that the oven was built on site, meaning that the bricklayer crafted the piece specific to its spot. Thus, if the oven is moved, all one will be left with are bricks. Both the tenants and an engineering representative from the bakery who currently oversees Thomas’ wanted to have it moved to a company sanctioned spot; however, the nature of the oven will keep it in its place: beneath one apartment and the back courtyard.

So with the Muffin House reclaiming the Muffin Oven, the only question that remains is: will the Muffin Man, or at least a disciple, return to start preheating? Until a response is heard, keep toasting your store bought Thomas’ and spreading jam in all the ‘nooks and crannies.’

A Second Taste

After seven years of running a restaurant out of a kitchen smaller than those in most Manhattan apartments, the owners of The Tasting Room have moved into new digs on Elizabeth Street.

August 1st marked the first taste, and devotees nibbled on pork loins, Swiss chard, sweet corn, and ripe tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farms.

Though the space is much larger, the original Tasting Room aesthetic remains. In a restaurant known for turning comfort into luxury and classic into unique, it is apropos that an amber, resin-cast coelacanth is displayed over the bar. The fish, a prehistoric amphibian dating back 380 million years, seems like a breath of fresh air.

Beneath the fish, bartenders remake timeless drinks using all homemade ingredients. The new space is more accommodating to large parties and to celebrations. More to come on The Tasting Room in the following weeks—In the meantime, grab a table fast; it’s only big in comparison.

264 Elizabeth Street; 212.219.9478