Coney Island and Brighton Beach

[docsconz]

After Totonno's as seen on page 18 of The NYC Pizza Survey, a hardy group remained to brave the frigid reaches of the Coney Island Boardwalk and then Brighton Beach Avenue. Here lie the chronicles of those hearty adventurers and culinary explorers.

The Coney Island Boardwalk. It was a cold foggy day filled with a gray melancholy, although our furnaces had just been stoked with superb pizze and our moods were fortified by each other's company.

Of course, some of those furnaces were so stoked they needed ice cream to cool off.

The more intrepid of us decided to sample the local wares of raw bivalves (aka litllenecks) and bellied up to the bar at Gyro Corner at 1205 Boardwalk.

It was here that the talented "Joey Clams" shucked his stuff.

The very local artwork.

Sam, the Clam man.

Yours truly doing some slurpin'. Man they were good. as wonderful as the pizze were, this was IMO the most memorable part of a very memorable day. The clams here, we were told, come from Long Island and Rhode Island.

We then ventured on to Brighton Beach and Little Russia, another fascinating and delicious part of NYC. Although I took few photos there, there was a lot to see and a lot to eat. Unfortunately, most of us were still pretty full and could do no more than nibble. One nibble spot was a storefront stand selling freshly fried stuffed Russian breads (Eric or Pan, please weigh in here). Samples tried included chicken-stuffed and pea-stuffed breads. They were extremely tasty

We walked and walked for awhile and ventured into some fascinating Russian food markets. I have to admit, Russian food is a cuisine of which I am particularly ignorant. Nevertheless, there was a cornucopia of attractive items available at inexpensive prices. We shared a light dinner at a small, but excellent restaurant with the unlikely name of "Cappucino" on Brighton Beach Ave. Dishes sampled included eggplant caviar, borscht, chicken soup with knish (stuffed with chicken and quite delicious), assorted cold meats, meat stuffed Russian ravioli (pelmeni), awesome potato pancakes and blinis.

[slkinsey]

This was a fun time. Now that the pictures have been posted, I'm sure everyone will be wondering what "Bumbershoot" is. Owen?

[phaelon56]

I was wondering when someone would ask

The Bumbershoot Festival

It's an annual music and arts festival held at the Seattle center every year on Labor Day weekend. Ever think it would be nice to get a four day mix of music, independent film, spoken word performance, an independent film festival and a whole mix of aging hippies, families, chic young Seattlites and tourists like me.... all congregating together for four days? It is.

It's worth the trip. I pick up a cheap Priceline hotel room every year and the four day festival pass is about $50 or $60. The musical lineup is incredibly diverse and althought the food served on grounds is not up to the standard of what NO's Jazz and Heritage festival offers, it's pretty damn good for festival food.

Best of all (for some of us) is that opportunitu to do the espresso crawl all over seattle in the monring before the festival fires up. The only low point is the fact that only Starbucks has a concession to serve coffee at the festival but I can live in frozen Frappuccino when the weather is warm enough.

I think I should arrange a Bumbershoot eGullet confab this year - might be fun.

Edited to add: I'm really svelte in real life - the camera and the Totonno's pizza adds pounds in the picture

[alacarte]

Brighton was fun, I enjoyed it more than the pizza. I brought back a menu from "Gina's Cafe" (Cafe Gina....Cappuccina...Cappuccino...get it?). It's located at 409 Brighton Beach Ave, if anyone else wants to go, it was right by the Brighton Beach train stop. Even the take-out menu is in Russian and English!

The vodka selection is NOT on the take-out menu.

I should add that we found this place because JosephB charmed all the Russian matrons walking down the street, and asked them where the good restaurants were located. All the matrons directed us back to the boardwalk, where the banquet halls are located (National, Winter Palace, Tatyana are the names I remember), but all were empty...and we were still kind of stuffed with pizza anyway...apparently the scene doesn't kick in until about 10PM or so.

So we hauled ourselves back to the main drag and found Cappuccina (also recommended by one of the matrons -- PS, underneath that poufy hair and flashy gold jewelry, they were remarkably warm and welcoming, it was a bit like chatting with a relative).

Another OT aside: If Cappuccina was the highlight, my personal "lowlight" was passing through the original Nathan's on Coney Island...and noting that they serve frog's legs there, with a side of french fries and corn bread. I kid you not.

[markabauman]

John- great pictures-bravo! Wish I could have been there. Just returned from Seattle-heard a bit about Bumbershoot. If memory serves me right- bumbershoot is British slang for an umbrella- I presume a play on Seattle's weather conditions and an essential personal item.

[Lisa1349]

Just before the Island of Coney, there is Bath Beach, next to my old home of Bensonhurst. On 86th st and 27th ave is L&B Spumoni Gardens the BEST PIZZA in Brooklyn, possibly all of NY. Their Sicilian pie has cheese on the bottom, sauce on top of a double risen dough. The homemade spumoni is unbeatable, and the mozzarella in carozza from the restaurant is always a fave.

They also get over the top points for having a giant rice ball parmesean, which should be under the menu heading, 'Just Because We Can'

[Varmint]

Edited to add: I'm really svelte in real life - the camera and the Totonno's pizza adds pounds in the picture

However, compared to bergerka, you didn't have any chance but to look a bit, er, ah, full-bodied!!!

[docsconz]

Just before the Island of Coney, there is Bath Beach, next to my old home of Bensonhurst. On 86th st and 27th ave is L&B Spumoni Gardens the BEST PIZZA in Brooklyn, possibly all of NY. Their Sicilian pie has cheese on the bottom, sauce on top of a double risen dough. The homemade spumoni is unbeatable, and the mozzarella in carozza from the restaurant is always a fave.

They also get over the top points for having a giant rice ball parmesean, which should be under the menu heading, 'Just Because We Can'

L&B Spumoni Gardens was considered for its spumoni dessert on Friday, but it was in the opposite direction from Brighton Beach. Although stylistically different from the other pizzerie surveyed by the eGullet team, it is on the short list for surveying as well. It is a place my family would go to often when I was very young.

[bergerka]

Edited to add: I'm really svelte in real life - the camera and the Totonno's pizza adds pounds in the picture 

However, compared to bergerka, you didn't have any chance but to look a bit, er, ah, full-bodied!!!

I'm pretty sure that was a compliment, right? Thank you.

Our buddy Phaelon got the "cutie pie of the day" award* though...what a doll, and SO nice.

K

*after, that is, the itty bitty teeny tiny doggie that we saw right outside Totonno's. I have never seen anything quite that cute except for my ferrety babies.

[Eric_Malson]

Unfortunately, most of us were still pretty full and could do no more than nibble. One nibble spot was a storefront stand selling freshly fried stuffed Russian breads (Eric or Pan, please weigh in here). Samples tried included chicken-stuffed and pea-stuffed breads.

I, on the other hand, had NO trouble finding room for a fried meat-filled dough snack by the time we got Brighton Beach. The chebureki were 8-10" long half-moons of phyllo pastry stuffed with a very subtly spiced (read: bland, but in a nice, comforting way) combination chicken-and-meat filling. And at $1 apiece, the price is just about unbeatable. The ones from the stand in the picture looked the best of the ones we saw, but I think comparison tasting is in order the next time!

Those potato pancakes at "Cappu-Gina's" were absolutely the best I have ever tasted.

A lovely afternoon, with charming company!

[Pan]

We should go down there again when the waterfront is hopping and check out one of those upscale places for goose liver or something.

In addition to other stuff, I also got two very good pastries from a sundries shop, of which there seem to be a bunch in that area (traiteurs, whatever you want to call them). One was like a strudel filled with high-quality fig puree, and the other was especially and surprisingly good - filled with walnuts, raisins and - surprise - candied pineapple! For $1 apiece.

That was a really fun occasion, and I'm glad John got a picture of that old parachute thingy.

[therese]

I'm adding on to this thread, as we just paid a similar to visit to Coney Island and Brighton Beach (except that it was hot and sunny) anybody who find this thread might find our experience at Primorski Restaurant helpful.

Primorksi is located on Brighton Beach Ave, so not directly on the boardwalk. There is apparently entertainment in the evenings, but we were there for the lunch special ($4.99 for three courses as per the web---it might have been another $0.50 or so more on our visit, but still pretty remarkable).

The room is large and dark, with a dance floor at the back. The tables were dressed for dinner (seems like there were pink tablecloths), and the whole enterprise feels very nightclub-ish even during the day.

Not surprisingly I had to ask for the lunch special menu, but service was otherwise correct, if not exactly jovial (and not particularly anglophone, but then that's part of the charm).

Lunch started with salad of cabbage and carrots, dressed in a fairly sour vinaigrette. I also ordered an assortment of salads from the a la carte menu (which included potato salad and red beans with walnuts and other things I don't recall, possibly because I decided to drink not one but two 16.9 oz Ochakovo beers, which each run a whomping $4.00 and are pretty tasty).

I had borscht (Ukrainian, a hot version with lots of vegetables, pretty hearty) and the others had kharcho, a lamb and rice soup that they all liked (though my daughter eschewed some of the less meaty bits of lamb).

For my main I had kupaty (Georgian sausage) served with mashed potatoes, husband had stuffed veal (stuffed veal breast with some sort of forcemeat stuffing, which of course he wasn't expecting, and bothered to ask what I thought "stuffed veal" might be), son had blintzes stuffed with meat (reportedly tasty), and daughter had Russian crepes with jam.

Lunch comes with coffee or tea at the end, but we skipped it and dessert as well, as we were stuffed, and anticipating possible consumption of sweets later that afternoon at Coney Island.

All in all a very pleasant (and inexpensive) lunch. I've not eaten elsewhere in Brighton Beach, so have nothing to compare it to, but we enjoyed it.

[docsconz]

Wow, Therese, thanks for resurrecting these fond memories. Brighton Beach is certainly a unique community within NYC and possibly the US, well worth a visit .