The Best Fried Chicken Sandwich at Williamsburg's Diner

I hate to post something that is probably no longer available, but two weeks after eating it, I still can't get the fried chicken sandwich served at Williamsburg's Diner out of my head.  A lunch special the day I visited, the sandwich was stuffed full of some of the juciest and most flavorful fried chicken I have ever tasted.  The chicken was clearly fresh from the fryer, not the refrigerator like almost every other fried chicken sandwich I have ever had.  As if the chicken needed anything else, the sandwich also contained bitter dandelion greens and a peppery ramp aioli to moisten the bread.  I feel safe in stating that there is no better fried chicken sandwich out there.  While you will most likely have to wait until next spring to have the sandwich with ramp aioli, the reviews of Diner that I have read indicate that renditions of the fried chicken sandwich make frequent appearances on the restaurant's specials list.  I suggest you make your way to Williamsburg as fast as you can.  The neighborhood isn't for everyone, but Diner's fried chicken sandwich is. 

Diner
85 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Shrimp Rolls from Luke's Lobster

 

With great excitement, I discovered that Luke's Lobster, a lobster roll shack in the East Village known for serving one of Manhattan's least expensive lobster rolls, is opening a larger restaurant just a short walk south of my apartment.  It is rare that a restaurant that is both newsworthy and wallet-friendly opens on the Upper East Side, so I am eagerly counting down the days until Luke's arrival.  Nonetheless, Significant Eater and I could not resist a recent craving for buttery seafood served in a toasted hot dog bun, so we decided to make Luke's shrimp rolls at home, thanks to this recipe from New York magazine.  All the credit for the shrimp rolls goes to Significant Eater, who briefly earned the slightly more functional but no more lovable name of Significant Cook for making these beauties.  She had the great idea to top each roll with a dash of Old Bay Seasoning, which we are pretty sure is done at the restaurant but is omitted from the recipe.  For one night only, my studio turned into a seafood shack... well maybe not quite that big.      

Pan Bagnat

There's no need to buy a sandwich press to make a great pressed sandwich. Pan Bagnat (pronounced "pan ban-YAH") is a classic cold pressed sandwich from Nice, France. Essentially, it's a Nicoise salad on bread, but even better as the bread, tuna, and vegetables all soak the vinaigrette when the sandwich is pressed together with a heavy object for 20 minutes. It's lightly more labor-intensive than a standard sandwich, but so much better. I used this recipe from The New York Times, and I followed my lunch with lots of minty gum.

Egg Salad Sandwich with Pickled Green Tomatoes

During one of my trips to the Greenmarket in late November, looking to break up the monotony of apples and root vegetables in my tote bag, I picked up a jar of GT1000s from the Rick's Picks' pickle stand. I usually don't care for pickles, but the description on the jar
persuaded me to give these a try: "curried green tomato condiment." Green tomatoes make me nostalgic for the years of my childhood that I spent in the South, and I am a sucker for curried anything, so the purchase seemed like a no-brainer at the time. However, like many of my more whimsical food purchases, the jar of tomatoes sat untouched in my pantry for a couple of months. It was only while making an old standby, my mother's recipe for egg salad, that I found a use for the GT1000s. I am glad I did, as the tomatoes added a nice component to one of my favorite sandwiches. I have since added the pickled green tomatoes to bratwurst and sliders with great results, but nothing beats them with egg salad.


Egg Salad Sandwich with Pickled Green Tomatoes
Makes enough egg salad for more than 1 sandwich
Ingredients:

• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 tsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. celery seeds
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 to 3 slices pickled green tomatoes
• 2 slices sandwich bread

Directions:

1. Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl. If mixture seems dry, add more mayonnaise. Taste for salt and pepper.
2. Top one bread slice with egg salad. Top with tomatoes. Cover with second bread slice to make sandwich.

A BLT to Celebrate the First Day of Summer

I try to make it to the Union Square Greenmarket bight and early every Saturday, before the crowds of tourists (and the heat) set in. Usually, I am half asleep as I make my way through the market shopping for a week’s worth of meats, veggies, eggs, and cheese. Today was no exception, until I happened upon my first sighting of beautiful New York tomatoes at Cherry Lane Farms. I was quickly reminded that today was the first day of summer, and what better way to celebrate the day than to make a nice BLT for lunch? Among the rest of my bounty from the Greenmarket were a $4 beefsteak tomato from Cherry Lane, a $1 head of romaine from Paffenroth, a $13 package of bacon from Violet Hill, and a $4 loaf of multigrain bread from Bread Alone. Combined with some very non-local Hellman’s mayo (I’m not quite ready to make my own mayo from local eggs…yet), I have the result of today’s Greenmarket excursion:

A pricey BLT, indeed, but well worth it. Happy first day of Summer 2k8!