Kitty Murtagh's (Nantucket, MA)

Shepherds Pie

Late June on Nantucket Island has been abnormally cold and rainy, this year. We've been braving the damp weather, anyway, and going for long treks to the shore, where the ocean, dark and brooding, tries its best to swallow sections of land in greedy bites.  Even the seagulls, normally fearless, veer away from the waves in this mood.

On a recent afternoon, after one such chilly expedition, we were well primed for a stick-to-your-ribs dinner to warm us from the inside out. This is just the kind of meal that Kitty Murtagh, which calls itself Nantucket's only Irish pub, is locally famous for serving all year round. Even in the warmest days of summer, nights on Nantucket can be cool enough to inspire appreciation for a hearty bowl of Irish beef stew.

Brick Bistro (Nantucket, MA) -- CLOSED

The Brick Bistro, Inside

It's really not all that often that I rave about a restaurant on Nantucket. I love this island for many, many things -- its wild, fierce beauty in parts; the down-to-earth locals; the remarkable histories; the wild blackberries in the summer; the surfing -- but in truth, the restaurants have never had much of a draw. If you can forgive my snobbery for saying so, the fancy pants places, here, just don't compete with their NYC counterparts. And I'm conceited enough to think that I make much better lobster rolls and other sandwiches, salads, soups and maki at home than any of the casual joints on the island.* 

* Pupusas at the now defunct El Rincon Salvadoreno were the one great exception. I will miss them so very much. 

This baseline snobbery on my part is one reason why I was so pleasantly surprised to discover Brick Bistro, the new restaurant by Michael Sturgis (former proprieter of Cinco), tucked inside the Jared Coffin House. The place is legitimately good. 

Executive chef Alex Sigeti's menu ought to appeal to both conservative diners, with its requisite steaks, lobsters and roast chicken, and to more adventurous ones with its duck confit taquitos and Buffalo-style pork belly. But even simple dishes are more deftly prepared and ingredients better chosen than at many restaurants, on the island and off. 

Palio Pizzeria (Hyannis, MA)

Margherita Pizza

Palio Pizzeria calls its product "Cape Cod thin crust pizza" made with "homemade Neapolitan style dough" and for that, it wins points for truth in advertising: The restaurant doesn't make true Neapolitan pizzas. Their crusts are not chewy enough and they don't have those isolated bubbles of char that are symptomatic of the fiery 905° F heat of a regulation Neapolitan pizza oven. But if Palio's pizzas are not truly Neapolitan in style, they are pretty darned delicious, nonetheless. 

Formosa Taipei (Lexington, MA)

Taiwanese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

Justin, Julius and I were running errands around Lexington this a.m., looking for something other than white sport socks for Justin to wear to a black tie wedding, when we drove by a sign that instantly commanded our attention. "Formosa Taipei", it read. The small, non-descript type held all the allure of a Siren's song, since Taiwanese is a difficult cuisine to find, even in NYC. In Manhattan and Queens, the vast majority of restaurants serve mainland cuisines like Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghainese or, more infrequently, Fujianese fare. There are one or two places in Queens that specialize in Taiwanese cuisine, but the last time Justin and I actually had it was last October, at the mediocre Taiwan Restaurant in downtown Berkeley, California. A break from sock shopping was clearly in order. 

Formosa Taipei has a pretty extensive weekend dim sum menu with all the Taiwanese standards like shao bing (flakey sesame flatbread) you tiao (fried, savory crullers often stuffed inside a shao bing for a completely carbolicious, but delicious breakfast); soy bean milk; savory soybean soup; oyster pancakes; cold, marinated beef tendon; and congee. There was a single small table in one corner of the clean, but barebones, restaurant where diners could eat in. Most of their business seemed to be takeout, however, and we decided not to buck the trend. 

Koryodang Bakery Macarons (New York, NY)

Korydong Bakery Macarons

One of my favorite cheap thrills in the summertime is to stop by Koryodang Bakery for one of their delicious ice pops. They are not overly sweet and have a touch of milk in the form of milk powder, I think, which imparts a rich, creamy, yet pleasantly light, flavor. And they come in wonderful, not-too-artificial-tasting flavors like red bean, melon, green tea, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Although their $1.25 price tag is up from $1 a few summers ago, these popsicles still cost tiddly winks compared to their more frou frou brethren at Pop Bar and People's Pops.

I was in the bakery, today, for my first green tea popsicle of the summer, when I noticed something new (to me) behind the glass bakery case: macarons in all sorts of interesting colors, from aqua to spring green and yellow, stuck together by some filling in between. Some were very strangely shaped, with a huge -- HUGE -- rise (a.k.a "foot") on both cookies. The filling appeared to be a pidding afterthought in comparison. Despite my reservations, I had to give them a try.... in the interests of research, of course.

Food Gallery 32: Korea House (New York, NY)

Bibimbap with Panchan

Korea House is one of 10+ small take-out places in Food Gallery 32, the Koreatown food court on 32nd St. that opened up late last year. There's a seating area upstairs on the second floor and everything still looks shiny new and very clean. The options are interesting. Pastel offers Koreanized European (or is it Europeanized Korean?) food, including spaghetti with curry sauce or bulgogi, gratins with "bulgogi sauce" and seafood spaghetti with cream sauce. JinJ jaRoo offers Chinese Korean dishes like jja jang myon. Bian Dang ("lunch box" in Mandarin) offers a variety of Taiwanese options. Up front, there's a Red Mango for frozen yogurt and upstairs on the second floor, there's a place that advertises "Japanese-style crepes".

The Lobster Place -- Closed For Renovations Until Spring 2013 (New York, NY)

Lobster With Drawn Better

The Lobster Place has long been one of our favorite fishmongers for the fair prices, excellent oysters, fresh fish and competent chowders and bisques. (Prepared maki sushi is less stellar.) But only recently did we discover the joys of ordering a whole lobster, asking the very sweet and friendly staff to steam and crack it for you in the store, and then having the immediate gratification of eating it right in Chelsea Market while thumbing our noses at envious passersby.

El Cocotero (New York, NY)

Arepa Pabellon

One great thing about having friends visit us in NYC is that Justin and I end up partaking in a lot of fun, "touristy" activities, in our own city, that we would ordinarily be too lazy or occupied to partake in. On a recent weekend afternoon, we took a long, leisurely walk on / around the Highline and Union Square with an old college friend, stopping to nosh in various places along the way (People's Pops for shaved ice and popsicles, Buon Italia and the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market for a pre-dinner snack). By and by, we found ourselves at at El Cocotero in Chelsea, hungry for dinner, despite our snacky afternoon.

El Cocotero is a cozy, charming little Venezuelan restaurant tucked away on a quiet little street, right across from a post office. Tables are somewhat tight, but on the evening we went, the restaurant was 3/4 full and our group of six had just enough room to maneuver without feeling completely claustrophobic. The walls are painted a pretty dark blue and the two large windows facing the front of the restaurant were wide open to catch the cool evening breeze.

Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls, Takes 1 and 2 (New York, NY) -- CLOSED

Orchid Vanilla Cream Snowball

Just about every culinary culture that develops in a place where the summers are hot seems to have a dessert that involves shaved or crushed ice. The Taiwanese have bao4 bing1 (刨冰); Puerto Ricans have piraguas; Mexicans raspados; Koreans bingsu; Japanese kakigōri; Brazilians raspadinha; Costa Ricans copos; Salvadorans minuta; Filipinos halo halo; Hawaiians shave ice; Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians es kacang; Indians gola; and Cubans granizados -- just to name a few! Residents of the Big Easy have snowballs.

Snowballs are aptly named. They are, in texture, similar to bao bing and all the other varieties of desserts where ice is shaved to a feathery light, soft, snow-like texture, much finer than the larger grains of ice found in snowcones.

Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls, which the smiley, friendly Neesa Peterson opened just a week or two ago in the space that used to be Birdbath Bakery West, serves New Orleans style snowballs. They come in a mind boggling array of flavors -- literally about thirty -- including everything from king cake and birthday cake to orchid vanilla cream and tiger blood (all flavors carried by SnoWizard Inc., evidently). Peterson uses a machine to shave ice for each customer, to order, into Chinese takeout containers before applying your syrup of choice, plus any additions you choose like condensed milk or flavored whipped cream.

L'Artusi (New York, NY)

Asparagus a la Plancha

I'm the first to admit it. I'm a bigot. I'm a bigot against Italian food as a category, though there are a lot of dishes I like on an individual level (i.e. Ligurian farinata!). I just have it in my head that I hate the cuisine -- probably a result of having eaten too much of the horrid, red sauced slop served at Olive Gardens in the Midwest, as a child, and sampling only tourist slop on trips to Italy as a poor college student. That's my excuse for why I'd never bothered to try L'Artusi, anyway, despite living only a hop and a skip away.

D & H Jamaican Cuisine (Newark, DE)

Curry Goat Roti 

I have to admit I don't know a lot about Delaware. I know it's a good state to incorporate in. It was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. And its city of Newark (pronounced "new ark" rather than "nuwerk" like the one in New Jersey) requires drivers to make more U-turns per capita than any other place I've been.

I made at least five U-ys getting to D & H Jamaican Cuisine. Admittedly, four were unnecessary, since my GPS was having a conniption and kept guiding me past the turn I was supposed to take. It was like being in an Austin Powers movie. By the time I finally turned into the small strip mall where the restaurant is located, I felt as though I'd really earned myself a good meal.

Ali Baba (Newark, DE)

By the time I was able to begin grubbing about for dinner on Saturday, the town of Newark, Delaware was largely kicked. Earlier, Newark Night -- an annual event that began as a resident's celebration of University of Delaware students leaving town at the end of the school year, but has since degenerated into a drunken, rowdy festival that rivals the most inspired of college celebrations -- had whirled through downtown Newark like a hurricane. The celebration left in its wake paper plates, greasy napkins and empty plastic cups littering the streets, a bunch of drunk, giddy kids, and a hefty contingent of police officers eyeing them suspiciously.

My mission was to find a place to eat in all the ruckus. Newark doesn't seem to be a town that caters to late-night diners, even on Newark Night and a quick scan down East Main Street, the town's restaurant row, didn't seem promising. Other than Coldstone Creamery, a fast food chain restaurant the next street over (which seemed to be the scene of a drug bust), and a number of rowdy bars, there was just one establishment in sight that still appeared to be serving food: Ali Baba, a small Middle Eastern restaurant, whose narrow front patio housed several contingents of hookah smokers and a few diners digging into delicious-looking plates of kebabs and hummus.