New York City's IMAGE, peeled like an onion

NYC24.com, in its fifth issue, shows how New York City is obsessed with image - both personal and public.

Our reporters uncovered the places where perception and reality conflict. We probed the boundary between where a person's image ends and where his or her identity begins.

We caught New Yorkers stealing glances at themselves in plate glass windows and half-empty subway cars. We watched them pluck the most healthful-looking products from grocery shelves and apply makeup before begging for a job. We listened to they way they cheered for presidential hopefuls and examined foreign lands and unfamiliar cultures.

In 11 stories, our reporters uncovered the places where perception and reality conflict. We probed the boundary between where a person's image ends and where his or her identity begins.

As the issue unfolded over the last month, we began to see the world as a series of images cascading, one behind the other, layers of an infinitely complex onion that as reporters, we had pledged to peel.

We canvassed Staten Island, lost tapes of DMC of Run DMC rapping against domestic violence and for NYC24, gawked at hot pants, flirted with getting a Mohawk, learned how to scrum and nearly fainted while filming eye surgery.

We hope you enjoy digging beneath the image of NYC.

Lisa Biagiotti, Executive Editor & Lizzie Stark, Managing Editor
nyc24image@gmail.com

City Picklers revive local food, one pickle at a time

City Picklers: Reviving local food, one pickle at a time, has launched its multimedia website.

In the age of pre-packaged, processed food, who would bother to take the time to pickle? But in New York City, mason jars bubble over on home counter tops, hand-crafted pickles line the aisles of gourmet grocery stores and fermentation newbies are raising glasses to salute the pickle.

CityPicklers.com is a website devoted to New York pickles--in all varieties, including vinegar, lacto-fermented, Jewish, Indian, Chinese, and so on. Every culture has its pickle, and we found that pickling still thrives in the historic pickle district on the Lower East Side, in ethnic enclaves of the outer boroughs, in farmer's markets and in pickling classes.

Through multimedia and text, CityPicklers.com tells the story of:

• new pickling businesses and the local food culture surrounding home and artisinal pickling, including interviews with Rick Field of Rick's Picks, and Al Kaufman of the Pickle Guys
• the benefits of pickling and ancient traditions of lacto-fermentation, including interviews with fermentation expert, Sandor Ellix Katz
• how-to make the crunchers, with instruction by hipster pickler Bob McClure of McClure's Pickles and Inside Park chef Matt Weingarten

The site is best viewed in the Firefox browser.

We'd like to thank the more than 70 chefs, cookbook authors, historians, purveyors and picklers we interviewed over the last six months.

Happy pickling!

Lisa Biagiotti and Lizzie Stark
CityPicklers@gmail.com
CityPicklers.com

A tasty and crowded Chinese eatery in the heart of Elmhurst

My go-to spot for an inexpensive and fresh lunch is Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House on Whitney Avenue in Elmhurst. For $2.25, I order fresh pork and chives friend dumplings and a wonton soup.

"It's really good, fresh, homemade and amazingly cheap," said Johnny You, 31, chef's assistant/expediter at David Burke & Donatella Restaurant on the east side of Manhattan. "I don't know how they survive. The hand-drawn noodles are the best I've ever tasted."

Teenagers come on their way home from school or after hanging out at Broadway Park to eat along the wrap-around bar or the single communal table. Mothers stop by with young children and take orders to-go. I have never seen the shop empty, and during peak times, there is a line out the door. The items on the menu are limited to dumplings, buns and soup.

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House
80 Whitney Avenue
Elmhurst, NY 11373
718.639.3996
Open seven days a week from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Thai the Way You Want It (if You Dare) in Elmhurst

The New York Times reviewed and recommended the new Thai restaurant, Nusara, on Broadway and Whitney Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens. The NYT placed Nusara on the short list of great Thai restaurants in Queens. Nusura is located at 82-80 Broadway, (718) 898-7996.

According to the article: BEST DISHES Fried pork jerky; tod mun (fried fish cakes); Siam grilled chicken; som tum; whole fried fish (try the chu-chee curry or thai chile sauces); khao mon gai. PRICE RANGE Appetizers and smaller dishes, $3.95 to $7.95; Main courses, $6.50 to $18.95. Bring your own beer, wine or liquor. CREDIT CARDS Cash only. HOURS 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.