How much is that cheese in the window?
Who is Joey Jamms?
Born into an Irish Catholic family with seven brothers and sisters, food was always on my mind. Mostly how to get it before it was gone. As a cook, my mother was precise, fast and dealt in large quantities, feeding as she was, the proverbial army. To her credit, the food was always hot, it was always on the table at five and there was plenty to go around.
On the weekends, my mother would take the time to cook a family meal (usually two roast chickens, boiled or mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli) and for dessert she would bake a cake or pie. It was on those weekends I first learned how to cook. My mother taught me the difference between liquid and solid measures, how to correctly hold a knife when deboning a chicken (pinch grip), what the purpose of running flour through a sifter is, how to crack an egg with one hand and how to break down and debone a chicken—skills I still use to this day.
It wasn’t until I moved to New York City that my passion for food really took off. Dining out I was introduced to ingredients I had never heard of, Israeli cous-cous, black star anise and artichokes. I began eating out every night and exploring this brave new world. Bartending at some of the top restaurants in the city, (Balthazar, and Il Buco to name two) I was introduced to the behind the scenes world of commercial kitchens. Watching the chefs work with restaurant portions of onions, soup or meat seemed oddly familiar to me–I was back home.
Pretty soon my love of food led me abroad. The discovery of white truffles on a trip to Italy, and my subsequent exploration of Italian food from Milan to Naples to Emilia-Romagna, changed my life. Seeing the care with which the Italians treated their food I realized that my passion could become a way of life. Food became more then away to sustain myself, it was the connection between me and my world.
Through my blog I am going to take you with me as I visit some of the great places I have discovered in the city and hopefully find some new gems I didn’t know about before. Join me on my culinary treasure hunt—where each meal is another opportunity to find something new and exciting. Now let’s go eat this city.
Eatin’ the City:
Eatin’ The City is an exploration of the vast culinary experiences New York City has to offer. Created by gastronome Joe Plummer (Joey Jamms), the program seeks to inform viewers where to find the best of all things food, why these places are superior, and to interact with the chefs and owners of these foodie havens. Eatin’ The City is filmed, directed and edited by Eric Mahoney, a Brooklyn based T.V. producer and musician. He and Joe own and operate the NYC based film and television company, Borrowed Camera Productions.