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M & I International Foods is the place to go to for Russian imports and other Eastern European produce here in New York City. “Brighton Beach” came from a naming contest that reminded the developers of a beach resort in Brighton, England. In the 1950s, the neighborhood welcomed its first settlers of second-generation Americans from Holocaust survivors. Twenty years later, refugees from the former Soviet Union started calling it their own Little Odessa.

After the long subway ride from the upper west side, we finally reached the Brighton Beach stop on the Q. The weather was damp and gray, but I couldn’t imagine a more perfect setting to stay in one place and eat. And then I realized I didn’t bring my camera! Ack! Good thing Cameron brought hers and it saved the day.

Pickles and Slaws:

I love a good slaw. Take away the mayonnaise and I’ll eat crunchy cabbage with bite. I also couldn’t get enough of their cucumber pickles. I ended up taking home two pints and they were all gone three days later.

Fish:

I love me some herring, but for the sake of pacing ourselves and trying something new(ish), I opted for the trout, the sturgeon and the sardines instead. The trout was smoked and naturally sweet; the sturgeon salted and dried; the sardines icky and fishy. We pulled the guts out and I just couldn’t finish eating it. Somehow, it was very different from a refined slice atop sticky rice and some nori.

Fat and Meats:

I’ve looked forward to the Russian lardo ever since I watched the Andrew Zimmern episode about New York City. Because everyone behind the counter at M & I only speaks English when prodded, I found it painful to ask the surly old lady to slice it for me like prosciutto. Our plastic utensils didn’t help slice through the large chunk of fat when we tried to consume it at the store, but it was so lovely when I got home! One swipe of my Global knife and the Dr. and I were picking at it and drinking it with a bold red wine. It’s still in the fridge, but we’ve been doing damage ever since.

The smoked belly was one of the prettiest things I saw at the store. I mean, just check out the mustard seeds on it! As expected, each small bite was soft and fatty, but very succulent and sweet.

Probably the best thing we ate all day was the pressed beef tongue. You’ll devour it as fast as we did if you could just get past the gristly look of it. Don’t let the appearance fool you, though. The texture is smooth and jelly-like and each slice goes down like a well-cooked piece of beef.

Warm Food:

Upstairs in the small café, we pointed at a few pieces to try: baba ghanoush, bell peppers and eggplants, cabbage leaves stuffed with pork, potato lattkes stuffed with chicken and mushrooms.

There were plenty of freshly-baked breads, phyllo-wrapped everything and interesting-looking pastries made of honey, almonds and apricots. I even drank a coriander soda that tasted like a watered-down Robitussin. (No, that wasn’t good.) Four hours later, we’ve gone up and down the three-level grocery and deli store and have sampled all kinds of familiar and not-so-familiar delicacies from very far away places. All we had to do was take the subway.

M & I International Foods is at 249 Brighton Beach Avenue in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

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M & I International Foods photos on Flickr
Where to buy international produce and groceries in New York City

Here’s a stocking stuffer for your discerning friends: Biscotti Di Vecchio. These traditional twice-baked Tuscan cookies get a twist from Danielle Di Vecchio, who works the dough by hand using her grandmother’s original recipe.

From the savory, at $7.95 per dozen:

The sun-dried tomato with basil and cheddar cheese was awesome with a glass of Malbec because of its saltiness. It was flakier and more floury because of the cheese. It smelled good, too, even though the basil taste was barely there.

It was hard for me to tell the difference between the black pepper Asiago Parmesan from the rosemary and thyme walnut because I was eating them one after the other, but the black pepper was definitely present when I ate it separately. It remained my favorite savory flavor after everything else.

For the sweets, at $16.95 per dozen:

The cranberry in the cranberry orange zest added a good chewiness to the biscotti’s texture, but it was the zest that lingered and made an impression. I thought it would have been great with some peach or apricot-infused tea.

The pistachio chocolate chocolate chunk, according to my mother, was like eating a dark chocolate bar in a biscotti. (Twice the chocolate in the name!) She had no complaints. The white chocolate macadamia had a subtle vanilla taste. I wanted a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows with it. The simplest one, toasted almond, was the most biscotti of them all, and just comforting with a cup of hot barley tea.

I think my favorite was the cayenne cherry chocolate chunk. The flavors came in stages: the chocolate was strong at first, followed by the faint tartness of the cherry; the spiciness gradually hit my tongue and then slowly settled in. I loved the unexpected combination and I think any recipient will be surprised.

All in all, Biscotti di Vecchio biscottis are not tough like the ones you buy in stores. They remained pleasantly crunchy even after a weekend in their plastic packaging and I was able to keep the leftovers fresh just by putting them in a resealable container.

I think these biscottis make classy gifts especially during these tough times. If you can’t decide which flavor to give, there is a sweet and savory gift combination for $44.50.

Related post/s:
Biscotti di Vecchio ship 3-5 business days after confirmation.

Since I’ve been mentioning gift ideas with sausage and cheese in the same post recently, I can’t ignore Di Palo’s new online store, Di Palo Selects, as another option for the holidays. New Yorkers and die-hard Italian tourists know that they can get the best of Italy from the Di Palo family on Grand Street, but now they can get the same products without spending money on airfare. The Web site is powered by iGourmet.com but it’s less confusing because they’ve trimmed down the content to Lou Di Palo’s favorites. While there are the useful related items cross-sells, descriptions are not as overwhelming. I love the glossary page and the Ask Lou feature: you get both in person when you visit the store, which is the main reason why wait times are usually longer than my allotted lunch hour.

Some of my favorite meats and cheeses that I buy regularly from Di Palo’s:
- Piave
- Truffle cheese
- Crucolo
- fresh mozarella
- Prosciutto de Parma
- Prosciutto de Coto
- one of the sausages hanging from the ceiling
- spicy soppressata

I also restock on Di Palo’s olive oil, those glass-jarred tuna, marinated olives and artichokes, as well as Illy coffee. Lou’s brother, Sal, is my favorite. He sounds like Raymond from Everybody Loves Raymond and he makes sure that I always leave with a free treat. When it’s your turn at Di Palo’s, it’s really your turn and no one else’s. Now you can go online and every good thing is just a click away.

Di Palo’s Fine Foods is at 200 Grand Street corner of Mott in Little Italy, New York.

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Order your Di Palo’s goods online
And then pickle that soppressatta with herbs

At my last job, I ate lunch with a big group of people almost everyday. You can imagine how difficult it was to agree on a place that everyone liked, so one of the developers wrote a quick script where we could sort out our list of lunch places downtown and picked one for us with a click of a mouse, slot machine style. (We started with a pair of dice and each total was assigned to a restaurant, but we turned classy.)

It’s not technically food or drink, but a deck of City Shuffle’s downtown and Brooklyn Diner’s Deck came in the mail this week and I couldn’t stop showing them off because it reminded me of that story. The idea is that when you can’t seem to decide where to eat, you leave the decision-making to the cards. Each deck features fifty-two of the staff’s favorite restaurants. My deck included the ones below 23rd Street in Manhattan and some from Brooklyn. There’s also a Manhattan ($29.95) and a Bar and Lounge deck ($19.95).

They’re sleek and nicely-designed with the restaurant’s info including very useful cross streets. The best thing about it? Each card is also a $10 coupon you can use at the restaurant after you spend a minimum of $30 before alcohol, tax and tip. If a restaurant has closed, you can “swap” the card by sending it back to City Shuffle and you’ll get a replacement card to another eatery of their choosing.

They’re great as a stocking stuffer or a corporate gift to your employees.

Related post/s:
Buy your own deck at City Shuffle