VittlesVamp

We Can't Have Nice Things

What do we do when we find a hole-in-the-wall Chinatown treasure? We write about it so freaking much that I have to wait for 45 minutes on the street on a summer night to get to a ramshackle table with my BYOB beers and order dinner.

Not cool.

And yet, I get the irony. I'm part of the problem.

That said, Spicy Village, a dingy Henan spot in Manhattan's Chinatown, is already firmly on foodies' radar screens. But word has unfortunately spread further than necessary, as evidenced by the suburban neophyte diners to our left who were scared of most of the ingredients on the menu.

Thankfully, I was with a Chinatown pro (aka a Manhattan-raised Judaic pal) and he knew that we not only needed to order the Spicy Big Tray Chicken, but had the foresight to request "more noodles" to soak up the dish's deeply satisfying, tongue-tingling chili oil sauce and juices when we were starting to run low.

So, tomorrow I'm headed to Jackson Heights for a bit of a food crawl. My mission - not to say a word about the undiscovered momo counter I'm hoping to discover. Sometimes a well-kept secret is a food lover's best friend.

The Truth Is...

You're looking at this table filled to overflowing with barbecue goodness at Brooklyn's Morgan's BBQ, and you're thinking I'll regale you with tales of Papa Vamp introducing me to my first-ever taste of slow smoked brisket. Well, the truth is that I don't think Dad and I've ever gone out for real deal 'cue together.

But, it is Father's Day, so I felt that a meaty spread was a necessity in order to capture your attention. And, while my father didn't teach me about the beauty of Texas-style smoked meats, I do have one particular Papa Vamp food memory that makes me smile - his Sunday morning "Bagel Supreme" ritual. When I was a kid, every couple of Sundays or so, he'd come back from the local deli and sit at the kitchen table, cutting a sesame bagel in half, scooping out the innards, slathering cream cheese on both sides, layering each with belly lox, adding sliced tomato and lettuce before merging the two halves together to make a whole.

This was Papa Vamp's specialty.

And on this Father's Day, while I think I might need to take him out for some proper barbecue the next time we get together, I'm also hoping that we can share a "Bagel Supreme" at Sunday brunch.