Scott's Pizza Tours: SCOTT WIENER

NYC Pizza Expert Scott Wiener embraced his obsession with the popular Italian dish on tour with his rock band, where he kept track of every slice he ate on the road. When his journal of notable slices evolved into several volumes, Scott embarked on a separate quest to track patterns in pizzeria offerings by researching pizza history to better understand the "pizza universe." By "research," we mean filling his car with friends and a goal to visit as many pizzerias as possible. These day trips became so popular that his friends and colleagues wanted pizzeria-hopping to become a regular activity—in an organized fashion, by foot and by bus. With a NYC sightseeing license in tow, Scott's Pizza Tours has been running tours of pizzerias for the last three and a half years, and he has been recognized by NBC, the Daily News, AM New York, Fox News, and the Discovery Channel. 

Call us “cheesy” all you want, but we think that Scott’s Pizza Tours was fated to roam NYC, paying homage to one of the city’s greatest offerings: its pizza. Treat yourself to one of his fun and filling tours—we recommend the Greenwich Village Pizza Walk.

Chef: ANGELO SOSA

We were first introduced to Angelo Sosa on Top Chef Season 7, where episode after episode he was praised for his innovative creativity, impeccable technique, and adventurous flavor combinations. Despite dominating nearly every challenge of the season, Angelo failed to score the championship title because he fell ill (see: "Most embarrassing Top Chef moment?" below). However, our disappointment was relieved when he returned months later to compete for the Top Chef: All Stars title. Spoiler alert: he didn’t win, but he still proved himself as one of the top contestants, and his departure from the show left us longing to experience more of his culinary talents. Luckily for us (and for our blog), Angelo’s restaurant Social Eatz launched in NYC this Spring. At Social Eatz, one can indulge in some tasty, high-end, Asian bar food, and lucky visitors can also catch a glimpse of the talented chef himself (we did—it was awesome). Angelo has spent his career working in a diversity of restaurants from his early days at the Ocean Club restaurant, Dune, in the Bahamas, to Jean Georges in New York City, Spice Market in the Meatpacking District, and Yumcha in the West Village. Now Angelo has turned his efforts to building a reputation as a restaurant consultant--his client list already includes big names such as Stephen Starr's Buddakan, Morimoto, and Alain Ducasse's Spoon Food & Wine in Paris.

Prepare your forks and knives for the Top Chef extraordinaire, Angelo Sosa; we expect he'll be feeding New Yorkers for years to come.

Immaculate Infatuation: CHRIS STANG & ANDREW STEINTHAL

Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal are of the opinion that, “In a city with so many great choices, is there any reason to eat mediocre food? No dice.” And we couldn’t agree more. Luckily for us—and for other hungry New Yorkers—Chris and Andrew founded the acclaimed foodie-website “Immaculate Infatuation” to air their fresh perspectives on NYC’s culinary world. In addition to capsule reviews and recommended dishes, Immaculate also presents other original content ranging from “Friday Fives” interviews, to “Infatuation TV”, to general features. Despite the site’s wild success and professionalism, Immaculate Infatuation is only an early morning/late-night hobby of Chris and Andrew’s; their days are spent pursuing careers in the music industry--Chris at Atlantic Records and Steinthal at Warner Bros. Records. However, their jobs often require them to entertain clients with a meal before a show, and so they developed a list of go-to’s and misses that they would recommend or warn against to a circle of friends. Now, with Immaculate, that circle of friends has grown to be enormous—and their credibility is hard to beat for diners looking for restaurants with the perfect balance of price, atmosphere, service, and food.

We take our hats off to blogger-professionals extraordinaires, Chris and Andrew, for bringing a hobby to a whole other level. We don’t remember how we ever chose restaurants before Immaculate Infatuation.

 

Gramercy Tavern: MICHAEL ANTHONY

Acclaimed chef Michael Anthony has bridged the divide between town and country in both his career and his cooking, innovating traditional “classics” with his contemporary and “New American” approach to the culinary world. Chef Anthony made a name for himself when he served as the executive chef at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns, in Westchester, NY, where he was introduced to the wonders of cooking with locally sourced, farmed ingredients. Now at our personal favorite NYC restaurant, Gramercy Tavern, Chef Anthony brings the freshest of food from local farmers to the chic Manhattan tables in Gramercy. However, it was through an international affair that Chef Anthony first realized his life direction--with degrees in Business, French, and Japanese form Indiana University, Chef Anthony began work in a Tokyo restaurant under chef Shizuyo Shima, where he was ultimately inspired to follow his talent and enroll in the renowned culinary school, Le Ferrandi, in Paris. After learning in some of Paris’ most esteemed kitchens, Chef Anthony returned to New York with stints at Daniel and March, and took over at Blue Hill Stone Barns in 2002.  In 2006, Anthony moved into business with restauranteur Danny Meyer, and took over the helm of Gramercy Tavern from chef Tom Colicchio. And if his windy road of accomplishments isn’t enough, in both 2008 and this year Chef Anthony was nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in New York City chef among  impressive peers such as April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, Wylie Dufresne of wd~50, Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune and Michael White of Marea. 

So, we are left with two questions: 1. Can we trade lives with Chef Anthony? and 2. When can he cook for us next?

Joyride: LEV BRIE

The Joyride enterprise has hit the mark by combining the three things that almost every New Yorker regularly seeks: caffeine, convenience, and guilt-free sweets. Lev Brie, the founder of Joyride, first brought these essentials to the streets via foodtruck, offering highly delicious Stumptown Coffee, organic frozen yogurt,  and...drumroll, please... the world's first caffeinated fro-yo, "Buzzed" (genius, no?). The truck also offers other innovative menu options, such as the “Jeffrey Paul,”  a decadent coffee and espresso combo made with Stumptown's Hairbender roast and Mariebelle chocolate. Joyride has some of the friendliest staff of any food truck we’ve ever seen, and it is thoroughly “green” by diesel truck standards, using the “quietest, most efficient generator on the market,” as well as ice coffee cups that are bio-degradable and made of corn. Raised in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Lev has moved around quite a bit, and is a man of academics and business--he studied undergrad at Stanford and Columbia, earned a Masters in France at 'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and started a PhD at the University of Chicago. After dabbling in tutoring and web design, Lev is now an owner of Endeavor Tutoring and Test Preparation, in addition to Joyride Trucks and its successful spinoff venture, Joyride Coffee Distributors. Joyride Coffee Distributors is the official supplier of Stumptown Coffee and is the first company to provide “third wave” coffee delivery at almost any location in NYC.

So, if walking to the truck at its daily locations to get your Buzz on is too strenuous, call 917.670.3314 to get Stumptown delivered to your office or next event. And don’t forget to nominate the Joyride truck for the Vendy Awards on streetvendor.org!

 

Sir Kensington’s Ketchup: MARK RAMADAN

Heinz ketchup, meet your match—the days of only one ketchup option are over  thanks to Mark Ramadan and Scott Norton, founders of Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup, a high-quality, abundantly flavorful alternative to the pedestrian ketchup we’ve squeezed from the bottle our whole lives. Mark, a long-time lover of all things culinary, met Scott at Brown University, where he did “a lot of business-related stuff” while balancing not only a double major in Economics and International Relations, but also his personal food blog, Black Napkin. After graduating in 2008, Mark went on to work for the reputable consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York until this past June, when he left to pursue Sir Kensington’s full-time. Sir Kensington’s ketchup comes in two flavors, Classic and Spiced, and for $9/jar you can enjoy this high-end condiment with any dish (Mark recommends trying it with omelettes).
 

And if you were wondering, “Who is Sir Kensington, and what hath he wrought?” refer to the website for his full biography and priceless “Kensingtonisms.” Monocled, mustached legends do exist!

 

Rick's Picks: RICK FIELD

Rick Field’s passion for pickles developed at a young age, when he would make them with his family as a fun activity. In his 20’s he "rekindled that interest in pickle-making and picked it up again, at first as just a casual enterprise, but over time [he] became more invested and obsessed with it, and eventually started doing it every weekend." In 2004 he decided to further explore the world of pickles and capitalized on his obsession, opening popular pickle-joint Rick’s Picks on the Lower East Side. Rick’s Picks offers a unique selection of pickled vegetables, famous for their unusual and tasty flavor combinations, and they also carry a collection of fun pickle-y apparel as well as Rick’s own cookbook, Williams-Sonoma The Art of Preserving (co-written with Rebecca Courchesne). Rick’s pickles are distributed in over 400 locations across the United States, including major grocery retailers Whole Foods, Dean & Deluca, and Fairway, and Murray’s Cheese, as well as in many specialty stores and local farmers markets.

Rick’s “picks” are truly one-of-a-kind, and as self-proclaimed pickle-fanatics we suggest that you taste one of the many varieties immediately--we recommend the Pepi Pep Peps.
 

Big Girls Small Kitchen: PHOEBE LAPINE & CARA EISENPRESS

Phoebe Lapine and Cara Eisenpress are not intimidated by the age-old warning that “too many cooks spoil the soup.” The childhood friends have joined forces to conquer the kitchen in their blog Big Girls Small Kitchen: A Guide to Quarter Life Cooks. With a book on the way, they command a loyal following of readers, speaking to the experience of foodies in the college and early post-grad demographic who persevere in the kitchen, despite constraints of budget, space, and time. Yet these girls have a much wider audience hooked as they experiment with anything from “pork butt” to pumpkin chilli. A Sex and the City idea with a more wholesome twist, we love BGSK because it is about building a repertoire of cooking experience among close friends.

Phoebe and Cara have gotten the recipe right: a little fun, some fearless cooking, and sharing it all with an appreciative audience—it comes out well every time.

 

Swich: JOHN GARGIULO

To John Gargiulo, founder of creative sandwich stop Swich, happiness is sharing grilled sandwiches. Swich opened in 2005 and has expanded to its second location this past year. The secret to John's success: his obsession with finding flavor combinations that are as delicious as possible. From the "Tuna-na-na" to the "Trojan Horse" to the "Chickenlegs Johnson," John has clearly found a way to incorporate his humor into the dining experience. The sandwich your Mom packed you for lunch has gotten an extreme makeover.

We can't help but join him in saying: "HEY-OOHH!"

Top Chef: DALE TALDE

Known for his creative dishes, technically perfect skills, and hilariously stubborn personality, Dale Talde is undeniably our favorite Top Chef contestant to date. Born and raised in Chicago, Dale is now the sous-chef at renowned New York City restaurant Buddakan. His Asian-infused cooking style draws from his Filipino background, but Dale keeps his diners guessing by constantly experimenting with new flavor profiles and creations.

From where he's shopping to what ingredients he's using, Dale reveals to us his inner-chef personality.

Tom's Restaurant: MIKE ZOULIS

“There’s always been a funny side to Tom’s,” says Mike Zoulis, owner and manager of Morningside Heights staple, Tom’s Restaurant, favorite to the Seinfeld cast, Columbia students, and Upper West Siders alike. Having grown up in nearby Washington Heights, Mike was brought into the business 30 years ago by his father, who was in partnership with the original Greek founder.

Despite the morning rush, Mike was willing to sit with us and chat over a cup of coffee.

Nosh and Tell: WHITNEY EDWARDS & ARIEL KANTER

NYU juniors Ariel Kanter and Whitney Edwards prove that "Everything tastes better with a dash of sass" in their website (formerly blog) Nosh and Tell, launched in March 2008.   Ariel has the dynamic combination of a love for cooking and the vivacity and commitment to initiate the Nosh and Tell enterprise, while Whitney, who has cooking in her blood (her mom is a gourmet chef and caterer), adds the innate culinary expertise that powers these recipes.

Not only has this pair inspired many delicious recipe experiments among their thousands of followers (even Britney Spears!), but they have also inspired the execution of our own blog, QuestionNYaire.