AMO the ARG: alto palermo pit-stop (day 5-parte uno)

the weather on day 5 was beautiful (they are transitioning from summer to fall in BA, but the day felt and looked remarkably like spring)...

loving the sky on day 5...

we decided to spend it at the mall. (?!!!) (z had to return her new camera and buy a new luggage. i went along to offer translation services and took photos while i waited. i eventally hit a few stores myself.)

we were there for a couple of hours, and it confirmed that a mall is a mall is a mall...it's is not vastly different than any we have here (all kinds of retail, electronics, plus a movie theater).

though, unlike the scene in my hometown, where we have 7 malls (maybe more?) and traffic is heavy year round (and crazies get up at 4am on winter holiday weekends to get to the big sale right when the doors unlock), this place wasn't terribly crowded on that saturday morning...




but things were swinging at the food court. on a sensory level, BA wins the battle: no stale grill/fry/cinnabon smell, and it's appealingly bright and clean. food court fare looks good, but i can only properly speak to the pizza, which was...delicious.

really fresh cheese, with a long tail. a well-baked crust. they don't pit their olives, but i won't hold that against them.

jamon chica... "ham girl," that's me.

all photos ©anita aguilar

beyond the regular: artichoke pizza

the spinach and artichoke slice...

from artichoke basille's pizza, 14th street, nyc. may 2, 2009

there are many moods and occasions when a mere slice or two of pizza will do:
when you've been out all night carousing.
when you need a quick lunch, on the cheap.
or any good morning, cold, right out of the fridge.

but there are times, when pizza is more than a mere slice. it's the whole magilla: it's rhyme and reason, and some great reward.

i went to artichoke pizza for the first time today, and ordered the spinach and artichoke slice. it is a fat and juicy-looking affair, and i was slightly intimidated. but to paraphrase jonathan richman, ate it with gusto, damn! you bet.

it is an untraditional slice. and it an evocative experience--you may forget for a moment or two that it's pizza you're enjoying. buttery, creamy sauce, coyly hiding under a blanket of chewy mozzarella, on a crust that is hearty but light, and with a proper crunch: you can imagine you're picnicking on the left bank, enjoying oozy brie on french bread (but without the brie funk)...
or you're dining in a courtyard in italy, un-shyly taking whatever slices are left in the bread basket to sop up a creamy white sauce...
or you're in new england, tearing a roll into bite-size pieces and soaking it in your clam chowder...

but then you realize you're on a bench, under the trees in union square park, on sunny and cool may day, with a big slice from the little pizza shop down the block...

that's a damn fine place to be.

***
artichoke pizza
328 e 14th st
new york, ny 10003
212.228.2004

pizza pizza

pizza tasting party at the white house roosevelt room, april 10, 2009. photographed by pete souza, via the official white house photostream.

ok, i can't stop looking at the official white house photos. a terrific peek into events both official and ordinary.

like this pizza tasting party.
how much do i love the newspapers lining the table?
let me count the ways.
so hysterical. so down home. and a terrific re-use of the daily rags...