THE BEST: Offal

[Sneakeater]

I had to fight to get Kang Suh to serve that to me. They didn't believe I would like it. I'll have to try it grilled now. Thanks.

[Pan]

Is beef tendon a kind of offal? If so, the beef tendon dishes at Spicy & Tasty, Grand Sichuan, and (New) Yeah Shanghai are excellent. Spicy & Tasty is probably the best of the three.

I also used to enjoy the pigfoot noodle soup at Chao Zhou in Flushing. I haven't been there for a while, but for a cheap, working person's offal dish, that's a good one.

Edited February 23, 2007 by Pan (log)

[Gastro888]

I like to order "Jah Dai Cheung" in most Cantonese restaurants. That's fried pork intenstine, aka chitterlin's. It's served with a sweet and sour sauce on the side and it's so bad for you but it's my favorite starter.

[larrylee]

I had to fight to get Kang Suh to serve that to me.  They didn't believe I would like it.  I'll have to try it grilled now.  Thanks.

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Awesome, I'm glad you got them to serve it! As I recall, the portion they served for the grill was probably enough for four. We were a party of two so we just ate it with banchan and rice and drank soju.

[Sneakeater]

I pretty much just eat whatever amount is put in front of me.

[Mayur]

My vote for best blood sausage goes to Landmarc, which also has decent (though unexceptional) kidneys and excellent sweetbreads. For tripe, my favorite so far is that at Momofuku Ssam Bar (which also has a veal's head terrine, pretty competent sweetbreads, and a "banh mi" with a high offal quotient), although the tripe at Yeah Shanghai Deluxe is pretty good in my book also.

Plenty of Irish places about town do black and white pudding, which is sort of "processed offal", I guess.

If you get into livers and sweetbreads, my feeling is that the list just gets too long.

Crispo does have the brain pasta still, and is the only place I can find that serves brain, something I happen to find utterly delicious. Anyone have any brain options?

[Sneakeater]

Set the Wayback Machine to 20 years ago and go to any of the Hungarian places on the UES.

Edited February 23, 2007 by Sneakeater (log)

[Nathan]

Crispo does have the brain pasta still, and is the only place I can find that serves brain, something I happen to find utterly delicious. Anyone have any brain options?

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Yup. Sri Lankan place in Flushing. They bring out a big pile of grey matter on a plate.

[Eatmywords]

Crispo does have the brain pasta still, and is the only place I can find that serves brain, something I happen to find utterly delicious. Anyone have any brain options?

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Yup. Sri Lankan place in Flushing. They bring out a big pile of grey matter on a plate.

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Are you thinking of the Indonesian we went to, Minangasli?

Meehan reviewed it. Was a little bland but def worth a try if you like that stuff:

http://events.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/dinin...ews/01unde.html

[Luckylies]

Degustation for sweetbreads

Les Halles for blood sausage

brain fart....

[Mayur]

Sneakeater and Nathan: Thanks for the suggestions!

Sri Lankan would be great, since they'd probably do chilli brain fry, which is a super-delicious use of the (chicken, IIRC) brain.

I find pigs' feet annoyingly difficult to get, given how tasty they are. The pig's-foot soup at Chao Zhou is indeed super-tasty (I love that place!), but I wish that some French staple recipes featuring it were more easily available.

[Sneakeater]

There's a very tasty (and surprisingly delicate, if you can believe that) gnocchi-with-pig's-feet dish at Sfoglia now.

[Sneakeater]

And also a great (and super-rich) grits with pig's trotters dish at Craft.

Edited February 23, 2007 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

Also, truly excellent pig's trotter's with lentils at db Bistro Moderne.

I also love the pig's trotters at LCB Brasserie, but some complain they're too mushy.

[ulterior epicure]

Is beef tendon a kind of offal? If so, the beef tendon dishes at Spicy & Tasty, Grand Sichuan, and (New) Yeah Shanghai are excellent. Spicy & Tasty is probably the best of the three.

Good question, and I would say, "yes." It's not an organ, but it is a "rare" cut, or "end" cut.

I just braised some beef tendon the other day - took five hours. Makes you really appreciate what Asian restaurants are doing when you think about how good it is. I especially love beef tendon pho. Any recommendations?

Thanks, larrylee, for pointing me to this thread. I'm a sucker for good offal. I really wish F. Henderson would open a bureau (if you will) on this side of the "puddle."

[edited for misspelling.]

Edited February 23, 2007 by ulterior epicure (log)

[ulterior epicure]

brain fart....

Not to be crass, but I hope you're not recommending, or suggesting, this as a dish to be tried...

If so, where?

[Gastro888]

I just braised some beef tendon the other day - took five hours.  Makes you really appreciate what Asian restaurants are doing when you think about how good it is.  I especially love beef tendon pho.  Any recommendations?

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Dynasty Supermarket on Elizabeth near Mott makes really good tendon. It's braised and availble for take-away near the BBQ meat counters which are on either side of the entrance of the block long store. It is so tasty! The tendon's sold unsliced so it's the entire chunk of tendon. From what part of the cow, I don't know but it is v. good. If you can, go tomorrow during lunch and get some. I think they run out towards the end of the day.

[larrylee]

Well, the thread was just sitting here ... I figured now was a good a time as any to dust it off. I'm particularly glad that folks (particularly the usual suspects) have chimed in with faves. Now I've got another list of places to hit...

[ulterior epicure]

I just braised some beef tendon the other day - took five hours.  Makes you really appreciate what Asian restaurants are doing when you think about how good it is.  I especially love beef tendon pho.  Any recommendations?

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Dynasty Supermarket on Elizabeth near Mott makes really good tendon. It's braised and availble for take-away near the BBQ meat counters which are on either side of the entrance of the block long store. It is so tasty! The tendon's sold unsliced so it's the entire chunk of tendon. From what part of the cow, I don't know but it is v. good. If you can, go tomorrow during lunch and get some. I think they run out towards the end of the day.

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Great suggestion, Gastro888. Unfortunately, I'm not a New Yorker, so I can't just skip down there for lunch any day. But, I'll definitely keep in mind.

Oh, and FYI, I think that most beef tendons are taken from the leg/shank of the cow. And yes, I especially love it when they leave it whole... as I did when I roasted them. A good friend of mine is a butcher, and is able to get me some really awesome cuts occasionally.

[tupac17616]

The tripe at Al Di La is damn good

[Sneakeater]

Yeah, the tripe at Al Di La is damn good.

[alexis lee]

Is there anyplace in the city to buy one of those Sicilian sandwiches filled with spleen and lung cooked in lard?

Okay... reading one of JJ's links above, it looks like a trip to First Avenue's Foccacceria for a vesteddi is in order. Who's up for it?

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My uncle told me about this sandwich as he grew up on the Lower East side. I had been searching for the place, but I think it's closed? Does anybody know where I can get one nowadays? It would be greatly appreciated!!

[Sneakeater]

It isn't closed. It's moved and is a little hidden. It's on First Ave. somewhere around 10th, on the west side of the street. (Someone can give a better address/location than that.)

There's also Fernando's Foccacciaria on Union St. in Brooklyn, which my unschooled self always thought was better anyway.

[slkinsey]

I've had the sandwich at La Foccacceria. It's awesome.

Since there has been a little in-thread discussion of what constitutes offal, I'd say that the easiest definition would be the "fifth quarter" -- which is to say, all the stuff that's left over after the animal is separated into the four primary quarters of muscle meat. This would include the organs and glands, of course, but would also include things like tendons, blood, feed, head, ears, nervous tissue, etc. -- and, of course, the products made from them, like scrapple, blood sausage, haggis, head cheese, pölsa, etc.

[ned]

I don't have any basis for this other than female intuition. . . but I don't entirely agree with your definition Sam. I think it's just organs and glands. No feet, no tendons, no head. Brains yes but not the head meat which is what goes into a head cheese.

Now I'll go and check.