THE PEOPLING OF NEW YORK: MHC @ Lehman

I have visited the Arthur Avenue Market a number of times, and each time it seems to get better. When I went with my whole group, we strolled through the aisles and saw everything from cigars to plants to fresh fruit and vegetables to pizza to skinned rabbits. One need not even buy anything here but simply get lost among the surfeit of Italian specialty foods that line the shelves of one little niche; stare in wonder upon the delicacy with which cigars are rolled; salivate at the sight of endless rows of sausage, meatballs, braciole, steaks of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, and even (if it is your style) tripe, kidneys, pigs’ feet, cows’ hooves, and calf brains.

Most recently I had the pleasure of sampling a prosciutto panini and the famed eggplant parmigiana of Mike’s Deli. It was this eggplant parmigiana that defeated Bobby Flay’s in a Throwdown—and no surprise, for Mike’s eggplant parmigiana truly stood out as one of the finest I have ever had. There was an exceptional balance of sauce, cheese, and eggplant, and the eggplant itself was cooked to perfection, which is no easy task. It is so easy either to overcook this tricky vegetable and leave it a pile of mush, or else to undercook it and find oneself engaged in an epic war of teeth vs. eggplant, teeth eventually winning a Pyrrhic victory at the cost of a satisfactory textural and flavor experience. But neither of these was not the case with the eggplant parmigiana from Mike’s Deli, which managed to strike gold with the ever-elusive equilibrium of sauce, cheese, and, of course, eggplant.

A focal point of gastronomic, economic, touristic, and ethnic convergence, the Arthur Avenue Market encapsulates the neighborhood of Belmont as a whole. Storeowners are Italian (of course), Hispanic, and Albanian, reflecting the types of products offered. There is even a kind of fusion amongst the products and the vendors: a Hispanic lady sells Italian specialty foods, or an Albanian girl rings up your order of octopus salad. Yet there remains the dominant Italian presence fostered by the food, clientele, and the speaking of Italian by little old Italian ladies.