NYC Eating
So, I have been eating three meals a day (a novelty for me) for the past week, well pretty much as soon as I discovered the NYC marathon was cancelled, what can I say of New Yorks Food?
Well, what I can't comment on is the fine dining, I can't afford it, I can't imagine being into fine dining, I don't do fine dining back home, and frankly I don't care about fine dining here there or anywhere.
I am a man of the people.
Another limitation of gastronomical experience is coming from cuisineless Australia, thus the novelty of having Chinese, Italian, Japanese eateries at my disposal is kind of lost on me, my strongest impressions of course of course, come from the NYC specialities...
Pizza by the slice, there is nowhere I have been that does it better. It's the greatest, the fucking best thing, Manhatten is the only place, other than Japan where I am able to adopt a 'walk-and-eat' lifestyle, walk by a sandwich from the deli, walk some more buy a slice for a dollar, walk some more buy a snickers ice cream. I love this lifestyle though ultimately know it to be unsustainable.
And the deli's, NYC has a love of the preserved vegetables and the savory meats that is probably not found except in small regions of Europe and the UK, but with none of the convenience, home cooked I presume. I don't know. But that's the big thing, the pickle, mustards, the use of vinegar, the pallet is vinegar heavy here. I like it, I fucken like it. You can't really get that in Melbourne.
Here too since I don't have much time to do shit like blog, is the kicker, I know Australia hosts the least affordable land, or real estate in the world now, but I'm pretty sure Manhatten costs like $53 per square foot - rent is high. yet food, food is cheap. Pie Face is next to CBS now, I don't have high hopes for the meat pie kicking off in NYC, nor a business as shitty as pie-face, the two eating dicks said it so it must be true. But while I can't be bothered ducking in to see if pie face has preserved Melbourne's unreasonable pricing model, that shit just wouldn't fly here.
Food is cheap, I walked past Jamba Juice, which is what an Australian brought back to Australia as Boost Juice, and I bought waffles last night from a food van in the west village, I understand Melbourne has a 'Gumbo Van' or some shit, here is what I sense the all too familiar pattern is.
Australian entre-preneurs go to NY, Los Angeles, Tokyo etc to see what is on trend because ironically they are risk averse, then they bring it back to Australia and release it as sterile tasting, polished decor overpriced novelty and we lap it up.
But NYC doesn't have to compare to any Melbourne food as far as the pallet is concerned. It isn't sterile and it is cheap. Today my sister took me to the Williamsburgh food market, and while Williamsburgh is dissappointing even to me whom was expecting something bad, it is probably one of the best food markets in the world, if not ever. I had a Brisket Roll, a Vanilla Bean Shake and fucking ace doughnuts for under $15, it was all sickeningly good, and as I commented to my sister, in America expensive or cheap there is one thing you never fear here: stinginess. You will always get a decent serving. I never realised it but this is my most common fear eating in Australia, the defining criteria for a place I like or dislike.
I never fear stinginess here, I hand over my money I know I am going to get as much food as I can handle for my dollar, from the pizza slice to the 'Medium' soda at the movie, it is going to be, perhaps unreasonably large.
But food, food in our cultural heritage must above all else be generous. Maybe this generosity is only possible thanks to the economic strangulation of South America or Unsustainable Borrowing from China, but whatever the reason - that ability to be generous with a plate is what they mean when they say you can taste the freedom.
Well, what I can't comment on is the fine dining, I can't afford it, I can't imagine being into fine dining, I don't do fine dining back home, and frankly I don't care about fine dining here there or anywhere.
I am a man of the people.
Another limitation of gastronomical experience is coming from cuisineless Australia, thus the novelty of having Chinese, Italian, Japanese eateries at my disposal is kind of lost on me, my strongest impressions of course of course, come from the NYC specialities...
Pizza by the slice, there is nowhere I have been that does it better. It's the greatest, the fucking best thing, Manhatten is the only place, other than Japan where I am able to adopt a 'walk-and-eat' lifestyle, walk by a sandwich from the deli, walk some more buy a slice for a dollar, walk some more buy a snickers ice cream. I love this lifestyle though ultimately know it to be unsustainable.
And the deli's, NYC has a love of the preserved vegetables and the savory meats that is probably not found except in small regions of Europe and the UK, but with none of the convenience, home cooked I presume. I don't know. But that's the big thing, the pickle, mustards, the use of vinegar, the pallet is vinegar heavy here. I like it, I fucken like it. You can't really get that in Melbourne.
Here too since I don't have much time to do shit like blog, is the kicker, I know Australia hosts the least affordable land, or real estate in the world now, but I'm pretty sure Manhatten costs like $53 per square foot - rent is high. yet food, food is cheap. Pie Face is next to CBS now, I don't have high hopes for the meat pie kicking off in NYC, nor a business as shitty as pie-face, the two eating dicks said it so it must be true. But while I can't be bothered ducking in to see if pie face has preserved Melbourne's unreasonable pricing model, that shit just wouldn't fly here.
Food is cheap, I walked past Jamba Juice, which is what an Australian brought back to Australia as Boost Juice, and I bought waffles last night from a food van in the west village, I understand Melbourne has a 'Gumbo Van' or some shit, here is what I sense the all too familiar pattern is.
Australian entre-preneurs go to NY, Los Angeles, Tokyo etc to see what is on trend because ironically they are risk averse, then they bring it back to Australia and release it as sterile tasting, polished decor overpriced novelty and we lap it up.
But NYC doesn't have to compare to any Melbourne food as far as the pallet is concerned. It isn't sterile and it is cheap. Today my sister took me to the Williamsburgh food market, and while Williamsburgh is dissappointing even to me whom was expecting something bad, it is probably one of the best food markets in the world, if not ever. I had a Brisket Roll, a Vanilla Bean Shake and fucking ace doughnuts for under $15, it was all sickeningly good, and as I commented to my sister, in America expensive or cheap there is one thing you never fear here: stinginess. You will always get a decent serving. I never realised it but this is my most common fear eating in Australia, the defining criteria for a place I like or dislike.
I never fear stinginess here, I hand over my money I know I am going to get as much food as I can handle for my dollar, from the pizza slice to the 'Medium' soda at the movie, it is going to be, perhaps unreasonably large.
But food, food in our cultural heritage must above all else be generous. Maybe this generosity is only possible thanks to the economic strangulation of South America or Unsustainable Borrowing from China, but whatever the reason - that ability to be generous with a plate is what they mean when they say you can taste the freedom.
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