Jeanne-Marie B / Frenchy Love Food

5.20.2016

JOE'S PIZZA

A few weeks ago I went in New York for the first time. I spent 5 amazing days there and ended up walking 72km around Manhattan, Brooklyn and Williamsburg. Before my trip I made a list of some places and restaurants I wanted to try. Joe’s Pizza was one of them.

Opened in 1975, Joe’s Pizza became an institution in Greenwich village by specialising in authentic New York style pizza and now has three different branches across New York. It's also featured in some movies and counts some celebrities as their loyal customers.

While we were walking down Bleecker street, we tried to go to their Carmine Street’s branch which is their ‘flagship' but it was too busy so instead we went on a different day to Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.

The service was pretty efficient, when you get to the counter you only need to tell them which slice you want and they call your name when your slice is ready.

My boyfriend and I tried a lot of different slices, we ordered the white, the fresh mozzarella, the pepperoni and the any topping’s special.

We both added some extra grated parmesan and oregano on each of our slices. My boyfriend’s favourite was the any topping’s special, mine was the white slice.

What I liked about Joe’s pizza slice was the quality of the crust. It was stretchy and chewy at the same time, which made it easy to fold without being to floppy. The tomato sauce was great and each slice had the right amount of cheese.

It was a really good value meal. The slices at Joe’s Pizza are priced from $2.75 to $3.50 (equivalent to £1.88 to 2.39). It is a huge bargain if you consider the fact in London, places like Voodoo’s Ray, NY Fold or Paradise slice sell NY Style pizza at twice the price (between £3.50 to £4 for a slice).

I won’t say Joe’s Pizza is the best pizzeria in New York because I tried only one other pizzeria in the lower East side when I was there so I can’t really judge. However if you love pizza, Joe’s pizza should be on your to do list if you are in New York, and it tasted better than the ones I had so far in London.

10/10

'Any topping' slice

The White slice

Pepperoni slice

The white slice & The Fresh mozzarella slice

Joe's Pizza

216 Bedford Avenue

Brooklyn NY 11249

Twitter: @joespizzanyc

LE BUN UK

Recently I went to the new residency in Leicester House of Le Bun UK with some friends.

Le Bun team turned Leicester House into a temporary diner for a few weeks until the 22nd of May. Le Bun offers a selection of American burgers based on some French classic recipes and ingredients. Everything on the menu sounded great and tasty: "pigeon & foie gras", "truffle Mayo", "Bourguignon glaze"... I'm stopping the list as I am starting to drool right now !

Two of us ordered the truffle cheeseburger, one of us had the duck bun and the last one challenged himself with the truffle double double with extra "bacon salt".
When the food arrived we were told they had sold out of bacon salt so my friend had a huge slice of bacon in the burger instead which made the whole burger look gigantic.
On the side we had two fries with signature truffle Mayo and a few cocktails.

The cocktail's names and what seemed to be their origin were quite interesting. My New Yorker friend and I went for the Super Skinny Bitch cocktail which she never heard of before despite the fact it mentioned New York next to it. Our other friends had a few lagers and a Drive Thru Bubblegum Daiquiri. The Cocktails were all great and not too pricey.

Back to the food, the truffle cheeseburger was just amazingly faultless. The juicy meat was perfectly cooked with a generous slice of melted cheese and huge amount of truffle Mayo. My friend and I regretted we didn't order the truffle double double like our friend because to be honest even if it was surely full of fatty meat, cheese and bun, it was actually light in taste and very easy to eat...maybe to quick to eat too!
The fries were simple but good but the portion was a bit small. Again what made the difference was the succulent truffle mayonnaise, we did requested some extra for the table.

The duck bun was in my opinion great too with a slightly juicy pulled confit duck. My boyfriend who ordered it thought it was less good than a Frenchie's confit duck burger.

We ended our meal with their delicious tarte satin.

Their residency ends this weekend on the 22nd of May so I would highly recommend you go and try their delicious burger otherwise you will have to wait for their next pop up.

8/10

Le Truffle cheeseburger (New York) - aged rare breed patty, truffle mayo, American cheese, brioche

French fries

Le Truffle double double (California) - Double patty, Double cheese, Double Truffle, two aged rarebreed patties, truffled veal jam, truffle mayo, American cheese, brioche

Le Duck frite bun (Les Landes) - Pulled confit duck, straw frites, Bearnaise, Champagne slaw, brioche

Super Skinny Bitch cocktails (New York)

Drive Thru Bubblegum Daiquiri (Lafayette)

Apple tart tatin

Le Bun UK

1 Leicester Street

WC2H 7BL London

Twitter: @LeBunUK

THE QUALITY CHOP HOUSE

Recently I went to dine at the Grade-II listed dining room of The Quality Chop house in Clerkenwell. I am a huge fan of their shop next door which sells top quality food, especially the meat. I never had the chance to go for dinner at The Quality Chop House before as it was always packed every time I walked past.

To not miss the chance this time I decided to book a table, as we were 5 people we got one of the booth tables. I really liked the decoration of the whole room with black and white tiles on the floor, wood furniture, old long narrow tables and bench which makes the atmosphere quite cosy. They also had some small and discreet details of decoration such as mirrors & flowers.

While I decided to kick off this dinner with a fresh Scottish langoustine, two of my friends had some pork & pistachio terrine served with some Pommery mustard and two lucky people managed to get the two last plates available of morcilla.

All starters were great. I liked the freshness of the langoustines and the mayonnaise was perfect. The terrine tasted light and the mustard gave a kick of heat. The morcilla was tasty and earthy and went very well with the duck egg.

For mains, two of us had their traditional Galloway mince, the dish was rich and very juicy. The mince came with some bread and watercress and was delicious as it sopped-up all the great flavour from the dish.

The rest of us ordered the duck dish. It was the best piece of duck breast I ever had in terms of quality, cooking and taste.This breast was ridiculously perfectly cooked: pink and juicy. It was served with salsify, morels and Madeira.

To compliment our mains we had some confit potatoes as I heard so much about it that I demanded that my friends order it. It was for sure the second highlight of my meal just after the duck. Their confit potatoes are one of their signature dishes and if you try them you will surely know why it's a 'must try' dish.
The wine list at The Quality Chop House added an extra level to our meal thanks to the great selection they have.

Overall, my friends and I had a great evening at The Quality Chop House. This restaurant is my idea of the ideal place to spend an evening with friends (or maybe a romantic dinner on a different occasion). I loved the fact there is nothing extravagant in this place, the decoration is old and traditional, the service was faultless and our waitress was very friendly and not intrusive.

I will definitely come back to The Quality Chop House, I hope they will have some of this delicious duck again next time.

10/10