New York Series - Meatballs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatball

America is a melting pot of different cultures, which leads to an interesting approach to food and restaurants, especially in a city like New York, where there are hundred of different cultures all mixed together.  What's also interesting in New York is that foods from other countries and cultures get adopted and then taken as their own.  Of course this is true in many countries, there something unique about the way New Yorkers adapt food and grow its popularity. This can be seen with all sorts of food, most notably Pizza, but I also noticed that the humble Meatball also gets the New York treatment.

When wandering around New York, I kept finding Meatballs on the menu of many restaurants, and in fact found a restaurant chain dedicated to the humble fare.  Many countries have a variant of the meatball, countries like China are made with pork and usually steamed, while Danish meatballs are a mix of pork and beef and are often fried.  Many European countries have their own types of meatballs and each lay claim to having the original meatball, but the style of meatball most common in New York closely align with Italian Meatballs.  

In the United States, meatballs are most commonly associated with spaghetti, as in spaghetti and meatballs. There was a large number of Italian migrants that entered the country in the early 19th century, who assimilated the humble meatball dish (along with Pizza) into what is now known as Italian American cuisine.  I managed to get to a few restaurants in New York where Spaghetti and Meatballs were the focus and found that while there were similarities in the dishes, there were some very different approaches to this almost ubiquitous food.

New York Series - Momofuku Noodle Bar

http://momofuku.com/new-york/noodle-bar/

New York is a city that is filled with great restaurants, chefs and restauranteurs, many of whom are well known and/or celebrities in their own right.  David Chang is a chef that is transcending the current concept of a chef and taking on the world while doing so.  Chang is the owner of the Momofuku group, which is not only dominating the New York scene with various restaurants and cafes, has also started a worldwide expansion, with his Sydney restaurant Momofuku Sieobo winning three prestigious chefs hats.

While chefs hats are well regarded in Australia, it's Michelin stars that matter in this part of the world and Chang is well known for his East Village gem Momofuku Ko, which has two Michelin stars and has an outstanding three restaurants ranked in the top 100 in the world.  These are some serious achievements for a guy who is not even 40.

While we were not going to visit the better known and highly accredited Momofuku restaurants while in NYC, we did find Momofuku Noodle Bar in our travels.  (I had a general rule while here, if I could visit a restaurant in Australia, I would not do its equivalent here).  SC and I were wandering around the East Village and found a very nondescript restaurant and after careful inspection saw that it was a Momofuku.  It was early in the day and the joint wasn't open just yet, but I added it to our list of must dine places and we continued on our way, with a plan to return in a few days.

New York Series - WD-50

http://wd-50.com/

There are few restaurants around the world that excite me as much as WD-50.  I love experimental chefs and restaurants that push the boundaries of food and one's perception of dining.  Of course there have been the better known restaurants that are seen as the absolute pinnacle of experimental dining, such as elBulli, Fat Duck and Noma, but I personally put Wylie Dufrense's self named restaurant, WD-50, in the same category.

Located in Manhattan's Lower East Side, the restaurant is named WD-50 after Wylie's initials and the street number, 50 Clinton Street.  It's not a huge restaurant, seating around 65 people, but it is a very intimate restaurant that is only open for dinner, seven days a week.  There is an exciting vibe in the area that feels gritty and real, with narrow streets and lots of action occurring at all times of the day and night in any of the great restaurants or bars and clubs.

I had always planned to visit WD-50 and early on in our trip to Manhattan, we had scoped out the restaurant when were were checking out the Lower East Side.  There is so much to explore, I was pretty stoked when we first 'found' WD-50.  It's very unassuming from the street with an exposed brown stone facade with the only clue that this was one of the cities best restaurants, a small neon sign that barely lights up in the daytime (but as I would find out, was like a beacon when the sun finally set).