Arthur Avenue Retail Market

[SobaAddict70]

*drools*

We need a drooling emoticon...

*drools*

heheh

Soba

[Rachel Perlow]

Look at the prices of the crabs in these two pictures. I was chatting with another woman who noticed that the crabs in the 3 for $3 bin weren't moving as much as the crabs in the 3 for $4 bin, while the ones in the 3 for $5 bin were quite fiesty. I pointed out that they probably reprice the bins each day, and the 3 for $3 crabs were probably the oldest. Spend more and buy fiesty crabs. I mean, what would you even do with crabs that weren't fiesty fresh?

Meanwhile, the vongole were quite fresh. They smelled great and you could even see some of them moving their feet in and out of their shells.

[Rachel Perlow]

Re: Cannolis

The best cannolis are at Madonia Bakery. In fact, I don't even like cannolis except for the ones at Madonia. However, Jason got an inexperienced countergirl yesterday. She was very skimpy with the cannoli filling. It was embarrassing when we were at our friend's house, raving about these cannolis and then we opened the box and they were only 2/3 full. You could hold them up and look through them, there was air space between the filling and the top of the shell. Very very dissapointing. I mean they still tasted great, and really, 2/3 full is enough filling, but it was just wrong.

Next time we go, I'm going to wait for the countergirl who I know is good. Hmm, you guys won't know who that is, so check the first one before letting your girl fill the rest.

This is what the cannolis should look like

Oh! Jason got a picture of my favorite countergirl last year. Not a great pic, though, I should just ask her name!

[Jason Perlow]

Made tonight using #2 Borgatti noodles:

Fresh Spinach Noodles with Porcini and White Mushrooms and Chicken in a Veal Glace Sour Cream Sauce with Parmigiano Reggiano, Parsley and Peas

[Rachel Perlow]

Borgatti's pasta is excellent. The egg noodles are $1.20/lb, the spinach is $3.30. We bought 2 lbs each and they automatically wrap it in 1 lb bundles. I put them straight into the freezer, and cooked pretty much from frozen (the package sat on the counter waiting for the water to boil). I don't think it took any longer than 2 minutes to cook, even from frozen, so make sure your sauce and strainer are ready to go before the noodles hit the water. Cheap, great texture and mmm.

As a comparison, I checked Fresh Direct's prices. Egg and Spinach Noodles (angel hair, linguini or fettuccini) are both $2.69/lb. So the Spinach pasta price is more at Borgatti's. But, Jason commented last night that you can really taste the spinach in their pasta. Also, you can select wider widths of pasta. The cut of the pasta pictured above is #2, which is like a very wide fettuccini. We got the egg pasta in #1, which is even wider, more like tagliatelli.

[Jason Perlow]

Tonight, the inlaws were coming over after attending a local party at a friends house, so we decided to shop in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx for some stuff to serve as antipasto:

Pizza bread from Madonia Bakery

Tomato and Basil from the Produce section of the Arthur Ave Retail Market

Marinated Artichokes from Mike's Deli

Various Antipasti, clockwise from top left: (from Mike's Deli:) Stuffed Cherry Peppers, a spicy sausage spread, marinated mushrooms, assorted olives, pickled beets (I made those), provalone cheese (Teitel Bros), gorgonzola cheese (TB), aged provalone (MD), basket cheese (MD), some soft creamy cheese that I don't know the name of (MD), there's those artichokes again.

Closeup of the spicy sausage spread, it was out for tasting at Mike's. It was so spicy, Jason was the only one who liked it!

Fried buccatini (mozzarella balls), with some of my tomato sauce.

The buccatini were wrapped in prociutto then breaded and fried. Reheated easily in the toaster oven.

I bought Littleneck Clams at Randazzo's Seafood, made a filling with hot and sweet Italian sausage from Peter's Meat Market, bread crumbs from Addeo Bakery, and fresh oregano from the Produce Guy at the Arthur Ave Retail Market (and some dried oregano and olive oil from my pantry). I steamed the clams open, then removed half the shell. Topped with the precooked sausage mixture, it waited while we started in on the antipasti, then I broiled for two minutes and served immediately with lemon wedges.

Captions/Commentary by Rachel Perlow

[Rachel Perlow]

I added captions to Jason's pictures, above. The fried buccatini were amazing. We were all surprised by the prociutto wrapping, and didn't notice it at first, but they were so tasty and meaty without being obvious, a closer inspection of the second bite revealed the prociutto. My clams casino-like preparation came out pretty good. A little more olive oil next time.

[Jason Perlow]

A nice but short peice in the Village Voice about Arthur Avenue:

You Like Fresh Clams? A Market Tour of the Other Little Italy

[Pumpkin Lover]

Thanks to Jason for starting this thread. I tried a little of the pizza rustica yesterday at Mike's while reporting on AA. It was really beautiful when David cut it open to show me the inside (I'm doing a story on Easter foods, and I wanted to check out the pizza rustica). That sweet crust just cut through the fat and the dense cheese. Heaven.

The stores weren't crowded at all. I think I'll have to take a few mid-week trips on the Bx12 to prepare for Easter.

Plus, the generosity of these people is enormous. That what I enjoyed the most about hanging out in the neighborhood. When I met up with David, he was taking care of customers, and he asks me--a little grad student--"Hon, relax, take a look around, enjoy yourself. Can I get you anything to eat?" He sent me over to the cafe to talk to Antoinette about the pizza rustica, and the first thing she asks me: "Sweetie, can I get you something to eat? A cappucino? Something?" You don't get this generosity in New York anymore! It was all fantastic, and I have to go back before spring break!

[bilrus]

I am headed to the Botanical Garden on Sunday and was hoping to go to Arthur Ave. to get a little (or more likely a lot) lunch and other goodies to bring back to DC.

Are the food shops in the neighborhood open on Sunday mornings before noon?

[bilrus]

I am headed to the Botanical Garden on Sunday and was hoping to go to Arthur Ave. to get a little (or more likely a lot) lunch and other goodies to bring back to DC.

Are the food shops in the neighborhood open on Sunday mornings before noon?

←

To answer my own question - most of the shops on Arthur Ave. are not open even after noon on Sunday. The retail market was open, but only about 1/3 of the vendors were around (including Mike's Deli and Pete's butcher and a produce vendor). Only one or two other food shops along the street were open.

Pretty disappointing, but I guess I should have done more research.

I did end up with hot and sweet sausages, some sausage patties, ricotta, mozzarella, prosciutto, and pancetta.

[silentbob]

I'm visiting from DC tomorrow and would like to stop by Teitel Brothers. Do they accept credit cards? Also, if I want to buy a case of canned tomatoes, are there unopened cases on the floor or would I need to ask for one?

[Jason Perlow]

I'd like to report that it is now possible to have a Yankee Stadium Sandwich IN Yankee Stadium.

Mike's Deli has now opened an outpost -in- the House that Ruth Built. I asked Dave Grecco what it cost to put one in there, and he looked at me quite seriously and said:

"You don't wanna know".

I promised Dave I would tell everyone about the newly redesigned Mike's Deli web site:

http://www.arthuravenue.com

[Jason Perlow]

Some new Arthur Avenue photos:

[mascarpone]

My god! The photos are so vivid and the food looks so fresh it seems as though it is alive. . . like it will jump off the screen and bite me. I feel like I am reading National Geographic.

[Pan]

Lots of good-looking stuff. I especially like the looks of those subs! Jason, do you remember how much they were charging for the torrone?

[Jason Perlow]

No, unfortunately I don't. But on the Mike's Deli website, its $18 a pound:

http://www.arthuravenue.com/Dispatch.jsp?s...o&pno=2&pid=241

[Pan]

I really don't understand why it costs so much in New York. Just supply and demand? I don't remember torrone being expensive at all in Italy.