A Weekend of Incredible Deliciousness

Posted by Ed Levine, October 2, 2006 at 1:00 PM

Although I have always vowed not to give ELE a bite by bite description of everything I eat, this past weekend I had so much good food I feel compelled to tell all of you about every incredibly delicious bite I took:

Friday 6 p.m.: A fantastic white pie at the Totonno's at 26th St. and Second Ave. Anyone who thinks the only way to get a great Totonno's pie is to go to Coney Island is just plain wrong.

Saturday 1 p.m.: I went with a couple of friends to the Red Hook Soccer Fields, where we proceeded to eat at every stall. The Red Hook Soccer Fields are one of those life-changing NY food experiences: great home cooks from many Latin American countries cooking for the rest of us. Real food, honest food, in an incomparable setting. I will have lots more to say this week on this not-to-be-missed experience, and I would urge all of you to go this weekend to the corner of Bay and Clinton Streets in Red Hook.

Sunday 1 p.m.: I bought my mother-in-law lunch from Bouchon Bakery. The sandwiches (a roast beef and a turkey) were disappointing (rolls didn't seem fresh, turkey too peppery, flavorless roast beef), but the sweets I brought made my mother-in-law amd me very happy: two chocolate bouchons, one incredible nutter butter cookie (or whatever it is they call their incredible peanut butter cookie), and a coffee eclair that was good but not worth the $3.75 price tag.

Sunday 7 p.m.: I bought a first-rate Eli's apple pie to bring to Calvin Trillin's house for dinner. As I exited Eli's I bought a cup of terrific vanilla ice cream and a cup of equally good grapefruit sorbet from Eli's sidewalk gelateria.

At Trillin's we had some amazing pimientos de Padron, small, vaguely smokey and only occasionally hot peppers, flash-fried and salted. Then Trillin brought out the big guns: boiled pork and chive dumplings from Super Taste on Eldridge Street. Best dumplings I've ever had in my life; remarkably delicate wrappers, porky filling with a slightly roughhewn texture, and something that gave the dumpling a vaguely sweet taste.

Trillin knows more about where to find great food in Chinatown than anyone else I know. He is also one of our greatest writers, whether he's writing about food or politics or anything else. "Bud" Trillin is, as I've said before, a national treasure. If you don't already own The Tummy Trilogy and Feeding a Yen (which contains his story on the above-mentioned peppers) them log on to Amazon and buy them immediately.

For dessert, the apple pie, a friend's very fine flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream, and melon sorbet and hazelnut gelato from Cones on Bleecker Street. More about Trillin's Chinatown favorites will be coming in a separate post.

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Tags: bakeries, Calvin Trillin, ice cream, New York, New York City, NYC, pie, pizza