Staten Island
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 10, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Nostalgia goes a long way. This vintage 1956 Harvester International Metro van, home to Skippy's Hot Dogs, all but begs you to stop—even if you're full of pizza, as we were when we visited recently.
"First time here," said Skippy's proprietor Dawn Bellach, issuing not a question but a statement.
"Yeah," I said. "Do we look like that much like flustered newbies?"
"I've been here 30 years," Bellach said. "I know who's new and who's a regular."
So we did as any newcomer would do and asked for the most popular thing on the menu: the chili cheese dog. For good measure, we also ordered a hot dog with mustard only.
"You want that chili dog with hot or mild sauce?" Bellach asked.
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Posted by ninalalli, October 23, 2008 at 11:30 AM
As a New York kid, I regarded Staten Island only as a strange place where one visited elderly Italian relatives a few times a year. A place where dimly-lit, doily-strewn rooms had their own color themes and frilly glass dishes of ancient hard candies sat on coffee tables. Eating out on the Island was exotic, in its way—this is where I learned that spaghetti could be a side dish.
Now I'm all grown up and the old ladies have moved on to boroughs in the sky, but I'm still compelled to travel to Staten Island to eat, on occasion—much to my own surprise. The fare is more likely to be enjoyed standing up, though, and without a giant spoon for twirling noodles. Victory Boulevard, in Tomkinsville, a short stroll from where the ferry spits you out in Saint George, is home to a handful of Mexican delis and taquerias well worth the boat ride.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 1, 2006 at 3:29 PM
By popular demand, here's a list of my top ten pizza slices in NYC:
1) DiFara (you all know where it is)
2) Adrienne's (Old Stone St., Wall Street)
3) Patsy's (117th and First Avenue)
4) Joe and Pat's (Staten Island)
5) Nunzio's (Staten Island)
6) Sullivan Street Bakery
7) Sal and Carmine's (102nd and Broadway)
8) Joe's (Carmine Street and Park Slope)
9) Grandma Slices at Maffei (22nd and Sixth)
10) Louie and Ernie's (Bronx)
Anybody beg to differ?
Posted by Ed Levine, April 1, 2006 at 12:29 PM
A reader e-mailed me about the Pala post and asked if I was a fan of Denino's, a Staten Island pizzeria. In Pizza: Slice of Heaven
, my book about pizza, I wrote the following about Denino's:
At Denino's, the pizza box says it all: IN CRUST WE TRUST. They should trust their crust, because it is light and crisp and plaint. Denino's is a classic red-brick tavern pizzeria (with a separate dining room), but it is just as welcoming to kids after a little league game as it is to middle-aged softball players coming in for a pie and a brew after a game. I'm crazy about Denino's sausage pie, which features fine sweet Italian sausage made fresh every day by a local butcher. If you want to go vegetarian, try the white pie, made with mozzarella, onions, fresh garlic and a splash of olive oil. After fifty-four years you might think the Denino family has gotten bored with making pizza. Not so, according to third-generation co-owner Michael Denino: "We still put our heart and soul into every pie.
Posted by Ed Levine, March 30, 2006 at 12:40 PM
I find most chicken and/or turkey sausage dry and tasteless. So when I discovered DiPaola's Turkey Sausage at my local greenmarket a couple of years ago, I was thrilled. DiPaola is a local poultry farm located in Trenton, NJ. Its sweet turkey sausage actually tastes like good Italian sausage. It has enough fat in it to keep the turkey meat moist and the right amount of fennel seeds. It tastes great formed into turkey sausage patties, crumbled into pasta sauces (I just brown the sausage and throw it into some Patsy's Marinara Sauce), or served alongside a couple of softly scrambled eggs in the morning.
DiPaola Turkeys, Trenton, NJ Ph: 609-587-9311
At 16 New York greenmarkets, including Union Square on Wednesdays and Fridays; Grand Army Plaza, Fort Greene, Borough Hall and Cortelyou in Brooklyn on Saturdays; Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on Wednesdays; West 97th Street on Fridays; St. George and Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island, on Saturdays; Columbia University on Sundays.
