Kyle Bailey, chef of Allen & Delancey
Kyle Bailey of Allen & Delancey “All night long we taste everything that goes out in the kitchen, so after all this refined food, at the end of the day, I just love to eat a big, greasy, juicy burger with tangy barbecue sauce and smoky bacon.”
Ed Brown of eighty one “Nothing beats a tuna sandwich made by my wife Kelly, just the way I like it with toasted bread, finely chopped celery, a pinch of mustard, a room-temperature slice of ripe tomato, plenty of good mayo and butternut lettuce.”
James Distefano of Rouge Tomate “The best thing I’ve eaten lately is leftover beef pad see yue from one of my favorite Thai restaurants: Song in Park Slope. I enjoy it the most for breakfast, when it’s cold from the refrigerator and I’m standing at my kitchen counter in my robe and reading the newspaper.”
Michael Ferraro of Delicatessen “The best thing I’ve eaten recently was homemade sopressata that my brothers and dad made this year.This was last week at my brother Mark’s house and it was the first batch of the sopressata that just finished curing.We use a hand meat grinder with gives the sausage a more course grind, which is not the case with the common (and usually more expensive) sausage that comes from your local specialty shop.We enjoy it with cured olives, Parmesan cheese, ciabatta bread, vincotto and olive oil.”
Fabio Hakill of Fabio Piccolo Fiore “Pasta alla Vongole, either my own or from L’Incontro in Queens. It’s the most cheap, healthy and delicious dish, recession or not.”
Harold Moore of Commerce “Polenta—it’s creamy, inexpensive, everyone likes it and it’s as hot and smooth as you want it to be.”
Nick Morgenstern of The General Greene “As a pastry chef and maker of ice cream, I inevitably go for the sweet.
After
work, and often during work, I pop into any nearby deli to get a quick
fix of fresh and sweet: the frozen fruit pop. All delis carry them and
New York delis are always open. Plus, each carries a different variety
so you never know what you’re gonna get. My favorite flavor is
watermelon, but I also love the hard-to-find cherry flavor.”
Sinan On of Sahara’s Turkish Cuisine “Chicken dishes tend to be inexpensive and nutritious, and I love the Turkish chicken dish, Adana kebab. At my restaurant it’s very inexpensive, juicy, and tasty—we make it with hand-chopped chicken that’s seasoned with spicy red peppers and then char grilled, served with onion salad and bulgur rice.”
Gavin Portsmouth of Pranna “I think my favorite afterwork snack, without a doubt, is baked beans on toast (must have white Wonder Bread to have the full effect). It’s the English in me!”
Jason Weiner of Almond “The best thing I ate recently are beef empanadas—as authentic as you can get and prepared homemade by one of my prep cooks, Lidia, who’s Ecuadorian and made a huge batch for her family the night before and brought the leftovers to share with the restaurant staff. She’s also one of the Latin American vendors who sells them over the summer at the Red Hook ball field.”
