The Starbucking of New York

The city I've called home twice in my career has changed -- and not for the better, in my opinion. I just returned from a business/pleasure trip to New York and I didn't care much for what I saw.

Midtown Manhattan has been overtaken -- conquered might be a better word -- by Starbucks. There's one on every block. Sometimes two. And New Yorkers are famously so blase about most everything, I think that maybe they haven't even noticed.

The last time I lived in New York (paying more in rent for my one-bedroom apartment than my wife and I paid for the mortgage on our three-bedroom home), there was a sense of community in each neighborhood in Manhattan. Yes, despite the massive skyscrapers and never-ending traffic, the luxury retailers and department stores, Manhattan is actually a conglomeration of neighborhoods. And each has its own character.

Even Midtown used to have locally-owned coffee shops, diners, groceries and the like. They're still there, but not in the numbers they used to be. Companies like Starbucks have squeezed out most of the independent coffee shops and diners, not unlike Wal-Mart decimating downtown retail everywhere it builds one of its massive boxes.

I was actually on a mission to bring back a piece of New York that I truly miss: full sour kosher dill pickles. These are not available anywhere else in the world except in New York delis. And the delis that I used to patronize for lunch are long gone. Even the 800-pound gorillas -- the Carnegie Deli and the Stage Delicatessen -- are out of business. A piece of New York that's gone forever.

Now that doesn't mean that New York doesn't have good places to eat. It's still the center of the American culinary universe. Happily, I did eat some excellent meals and not once did I ever have to tell a bartender that a martini without vermouth is not a martini.

Here are a few of the dishes we had at Cellini, a well-known and long-established Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan: From top to bottom: Caprese salad with roasted red peppers, capers, yellow tomato slice, fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic syrup; Tuna carpaccio; Seafood Rissotto; and Rack of Veal.

Coincidentally, this week's Kitchen Guy episode is also an Italian dish: Flank Steak Tagliata. Here's the video and the recipe:

2 lbs. flank steak
Coarse salt and black peppercorns
Several sprigs of rosemary
6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
Extra virgin olive oil
Arugula or Radicchio
Parmesan or Pecorino Roman wedge
Lemon wedges for garnish

Lay flank steak on a baking sheet and season well on both sides with coarse salt and ground black peppercorns. Strip the rosemary sprigs and press leaves and garlic slices into the meat. Then coat the flank steak with a thin film of olive oil and "massage" the meat. Leave the meat at room temperature for about an hour.

While the meat is marinating, heat the oven to 450 and place a cast iron pan or grill pan on the bottom rack and let it heat up with the oven.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven and place the flank steak in the pan and return it to the oven to cook for about 5 minutes. Then flip the meat (make sure the bottom is well-seared) and cook for an additional 4 minutes for medium rare, longer for medium.

Remove the pan and place the steak on a cutting board to rest for about 10 minutes.

Cut the meat against the grain, on the diagonal. Arrange on a platter on top of arugula or radicchio and garnish with lemon wedges. Shave Parmesan or Pecorino from the wedge with a vegetable peeler.