Famous Food

I usually don’t spend much time in front of the television. When I do, I watch either cartoons or cooking shows. Since moving to NY, I’ve only had access to Food Network and Cooking Channel, so I’ve been catching up on the latest shows. Right now it’s chocolate all the time since it’s the season of love.

Needless to say, I was very excited when I stumbled upon The Best Thing I Ever Ate, which features a lot of restaurants in NY. Being new in town, I need all the pointers I can get. And who better to point me in the right direction than people on TV, right?

Heard about a small place in my neighborhood called Porchetta, so we tried it out a few days ago. The place specializes in pork prepared Italian-style. They also have a couple of sides (beans and greens) which my husband and I didn’t try since we played it safe and shared a sandwich. Thank goodness we did. The freakin’ sandwich on TV looks moist and delicious and very beckoning. The sandwich in real life was dry as hell with cracklings from the pig that only invite a dental bill. My Filipino husband said the meat tasted like lechon (Filipino pig) which I agreed with. Granted we were there on a non-busy evening and the pork might have been sitting in the warmer kinda long, but that’s no excuse. Being featured as a dope spot in NY on national television means you better deliver. In Porchetta’s place, maybe they shouldn’t deliver….

The only other time we’ve been to a celebrity restaurant in NY was during one of our visits. Last year we ate at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant at The London hotel. The guy is hyped up everywhere so I was eager to try it. Can’t remember what my husband ordered but I had the duck breast, which I’m sorry to say was not crispy but overdone. A couple of drinks and dessert later, we broke the bank for a disappointing meal.

Of course I’m not saying that we’ll rule out all celebrity restaurants or reviews but our first two experiences left bitter tastes in our mouth. However, I am actually curious to try a couple of other ones – Morimoto by Morimoto and The Spotted Pig by Mario Batalli. Let’s hope that pig is better than the last one I had.