Fidel Gastro Travel - Part 4 - New York City
Matt Basile, the undisputed cooking champion of the
Fidel Gastro team travels to the world famous
New York City to try out some of the most well known, and some would say best ever, local dishes.
The first stop on his traveling adventure was
Midtown Manhattan, also known simply as
Midtown. Midtown is comprised of the entire central lengthwise portion of the borough as well as the island of
Manhattan in New York City. Midtown is home to the
Chrysler Building, the
Empire State Building, and also happens to be the headquarters of the
United Nations. It also contains the
Times Square and the
Rockefeller Center. Midtown Manhattan separates
Lower Manhattan from
Upper Manhattan. Matt chose to stop here specifically for the diversity in food with the added bonus of getting a closer look at the busting central hub of New York City.
Matt chose to try out the well-known local soup dumpling restaurant
Joe's Shanghai. The first Joe's Shanghai was actually founded in
Flushing, New York in
1995. Their two main dishes, crab and pork dumpling soup, became a
New York favorite in no time at all and soon they opened up two more locations. Over the years they have been named as
Best Restaurant by
New York Times Restaurant
Guide,
Travel and Leisure,
New York Magazine,
Gourmet Magazine, and a
Zagat Survey. They have also been featured on the
Japanese Fuji TV show and in multiple gourmet magazines circulating in the country. Needless to say he certainly wasn't disappointed.
His next stop was
Katz's Delicatessen on the
Lower East Side of the city. In
1888 a small deli going by the name of "
Iceland Brothers" was established on
Ludlow Street. In 1903
Willy Katz took a stake in the business and the name was officially changed to "Iceland & Katz". Willy’s cousin
Benny came on-board in 1910 and bought out the Iceland brothers to officially form what is known today as
Katz’s Delicatessen.
Katz’s Deli was moved across the street during the construction of the much needed subway system and has remained there ever since. Matt sampled several dishes at
Katz's and if the video is any indicator of the outstanding flavor of the food he had there it must have been to die for. There are few, if any, delicatessens on the entire
East Coast that can hold a candle to Katz's making it an absolute must on Matt's trip.
Moving on to his next extravagantly delicious meal Matt made a visit to Ferrera.
Ferrara has been open for
120 years and has been handed down through the family for 5 generations. Ferrera's roots run deep. It was originally created to fill a void that existed in the 1890's. There was no place that an opera lover, after a night of
Verdi or
Puccini, could relax and drink a cup or two of espresso. This situation was remedied when Enrico Scoppa and
Antonio Ferrara, an opera impresario and well-known showman, opened a cafe called
Café A. Ferrara. This cafe has changed with the times but at it's core remains true to the original ideas of Enrico Scoppa and Antonio Ferrara and is a tribute to the hard work and dedication they put into making Ferrara what it is today. Matt ate his fill of various mouth watering dessert items as well as consuming what appears to be several apertifs and it is safe to say he certainly did not walk away disappointed.
New York city has a long and storied history. It has seen great success and great tragedy but one thing about the city has remained constant. You can't hold back progress in New York City, there is a good reason there are so many I ♥
NYC shirts in circulation today. It is the gem of the East Coast and a shining example of what
Americans can accomplish when they work together as a team regardless of the hardships they face.
Thank you for watching another
Episode of Fidel Gastro
Travel, more to come soon so please stay tuned!
For delicious food and specialty cocktails stop by the
Lisa Marie restaurant in
Toronto. You can see their menu as well as the Fidel Gastros food truck and catering options at their website:
http://www.fidelgastros.com
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00:01 Fidel Gastro Travel - New York City begins
00:05
Landing in NYC
00:24 Matt takes a taxi to Midtown Manhattan
00:39 Matt eats at Joe's Shanghai
01:02 Matt heads to the Lower East Side
01:17 He eats at Katz’s Deli
01:26 He heads over to Café Ferrara and eats there as well
01:42 Fidel Gastro Travel - New York City wrap up
02:02 Fidel Gastro Travel - New York City end