It’s a bi-coastal feud son! Maxie Smalls vs. Epac March 26, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentFor fashion, for fraduelent investment schemes and for Broadway, New York is the mecca. For movies,weather and ”get off a bus and get discovered” fame, LA is the place. But when it comes to rap, you might get shot arguing the whole east coast vs. west coast. The debate still rages – Which coast has better rap? While neither Max nor I consider ourselves connoisseurs of rap music (XXL mag rejected my article ”The Tizzity talmud: Influence on lyrical verses 1998-2003″) we do believe we know a bit about food. So now that Max has become a NY’er the debate rages sasha fierce. Which coast offers better food??
For people working in the food industry and even passionate tasters of great food worldwide(im phasing out foodie), New York is the mecca.
You are a great cook in Milwaukee? In NY you are about to beg to peel carrots for 6 months. You were an exec chef in San Antonio? You’re now working overnights cleaning pork loins and peeling potatoes.
People laugh off the NYC vs. LA food scene argument as if LA doesn’t have a chance. But, these irrefutable facts above do not force me to alter my never ending battle to rep LA’s food scene in the face of the bigger,snottier,more established NYC scene. And since Max and I are brothers, its perfectly natural that we argue about everything. When he was living in Ann Arbor, it was no contest. It’s a great college town, but is no match for LA in terms of food scene. So when he moved to NYC just 2 short months ago, I had to endure constant text messaging, tweeting and emailing as Max tried to make up for lost time and regain food tasting superiority in our relationship.
So upon arrival this past weekend to visit Max,our feverish debate continued in person over which coast has ”the best food.” But food is an objective pursuit. Who’s to say that a person cannot draw greater satisfaction from a $3 pupusa than a $46 ribeye dry aged steak? How impossible is it to compare two cuisines at two seperate price points in two seperate cities? Who determines whether an In-N-Out burger is not a finer dining option than that of a handmade ravioli at Del Posto?
As the coastal debate raged, I found myself drawing similarities between myself(LA) Max(NYC) and biggie and tupac’s east coast – west coast fued.
See the rap game is exactly like the food game…
There are big name stars that don’t do now what originally made them famous(Emeril and Dr. Dre) Guys who don’t work anymore but have amazing street cred (Bourdain and Rev Run),Talent producers who churn out hits for themself and others(Batali and Timbaland), Cocky young guns who run their mouth and get into trouble (T.I. and Chang), Charismatic young stars with more to prove and show (Drake, Shook and Dotolo) and those that everyone talks shit about but America loves unabashedly(Soulja Boy, Guy Fiere).
The similarities were so clearly staring me in the face with our bi-coastal fued. It was just like Biggie and pac. They loved each other and they loved rapping but they could never just agree on who was better. Same thing with me and max.
As anyone will attest to, Max back in the day used to let his tape rock till his tape popped, smoked weed and sip on private stock (usually from our parents liquor closet) and now of course he is in the limelight cuz he cooks tight. Max was out to prove he could spread NYC food love the Brooklyn way.
Me on the other hand – I welcome everybody to the wild wild west and my supper clubs are untouchable like Elliot Ness. LA’s food’s all good from Diego to the Bay, my city is the bomb NY is yesterday.and even more so… I ate Mexican today, but you ate KBBQ yesterday, selling food outta trucks to the kids, well hey, that’s just the way it is.
New York is No-No-Notorious as a foodie snob city where one can get any type of ethnic fare found no where else in America. But to live and die in LA eating seasonal fare, finding food trucks via twitter is many a foodie’s dream. So how would we be able to determine who’s city had better food?
There was only one way.
To eat. and to talk.
and to eat. and to argue.
(We drank a ton too).
Our parents were there which meant that while we were so excited to reunite the family and spend QT, it also meant Max and I could go absolutely fucking bonkers ordering because it wasn’t on our dime. ( Now this sounds like we are taking advantage here, but actually its not. Max is a up and coming chef and I am working on opening a top secret restaurant project in LA,so for us,and we needed to settle this coastal food fued, so this was really market research at its finest)
Our NYC stops: Brasserie,Katz’s Deli,Cafe Gitane,The Breslin,Locanda Verde,Luz,Pulino’s
Katz’s
The famed Pastrami counter. Sliced fresh to order.
Max pondering his next bite.
Max has never been to Langer’s… 0hhh #19 how I dream of thee… (http://www.langersdeli.com/) so this one is a bit unfair, but honestly, in pure flavor Langer’s edges Katz’s Pastrami in a head to head battle. If you need a secondary source, David Sax, author of Save The Deli will confirm (http://www.savethedeli.com/).
LA – 1 NYC – 0
The Breslin http://thebreslin.com/
Max works here 5-7 nights a week during the dinner rush meaning he’s tried every single thing on the dinner menu. So we decided to head here for brunch. Here’s the menu : http://thebreslin.com/i/menu-brunch.pdf
We ordered all the pastries. The housemade scones were as close to a scone can be to remarkable and the Peanut Butter deep fried sandwich made a full grown man at our table giggle with delight. The pumpkin pancakes with chili pecan butter were aromatic and had surprising subtle hints and flavors. Max had the house smoked ham and 3 cheese grilled sandwich with egg. As he held it in between bites, egg oozing down his fingers with soft pink peices of ham peeking out from the perfectly toasted bread, I realized the Breslin was putting any brunch I had ever consumed to shame. I ordered the lamb burger because well, I don’t eat eggs after 11am ever, under any circumstances and the lamb burger hype was deafening. It arrived and was the most perfectly hand formed burger I have ever seen. 100% hand ground lamb done in house… cooked to absolute perfection. Not gamey or too strong and the cumin mayo was a genius compliment. After eating the thrice cooked chips you may as well redefine your priorities on life because you will be salivating over these for the rest of your days. They are far greater than the hype. This wasn’t Joan’s on 3rd, or Quality or even Pann’s. It was a reinterpreted classic brunch menu that was all Breslin.
LA – 1 NYC – 1
Locanda Verde
This Italian Tiverna in TriBeCa came very highly reviewed and regarded. Andrew Carmellini from Gramercy Tavern. It would be our second Ken Friedman meal of the weekend. This dude is everywhere. Here is what we ordered:
Crostini: Sheeps’ Milk Ricotta with sea salt and herbs
Wild Mushroom with parmesan and watercress
Blue Crab with jalepeno and tomato
Antipasti :Mediterranean Sardines in saor
Marinated Beets with pistachio pesto and gorgonzola
Smoked Duck Terrina with roasted delicata squash, pistachio and mostarda
Pasta :My Grandmothers’ Ravioli
Fonduta Ravioli with wild mushrooms and parmigiano reggiano
Orecchiette with rapini pesto, sweet pepper and pine nuts
Secondi:Roasted Sea Scallops with sicilian cauliflower and citrus
Porchetta Sandwich with grilled onions & provolone
Dessert:Banana Walnut Brown Butter Cake
banana gelato, walnut brittle
Lemon Tart
buttermilk gelato, limoncello granita
While we all agreed there was nothing jaw dropping about this meal, the beauty of the food was in it’s accessibility and for the most part, simplicity. The meal was incredibly consistent and delicious from top to bottom. Considering we ordered 1/3 of the menu, ate for nearly 3 hours and had not one moment of bad service, we thought this was place was worth recommending onward. There are better Italian places I’ve been to in LA, and definitely better places in NYC, but let’s let this one be a push. If you are going to be in TriBeCa, it’s worth a visit.
NEXT POST: The rest of NYC including Luz in Brooklyn, Pulino’s on the LES and the conclusion of this bi-coastal food battle.
