NBA Cookbook

      

Because of this, we have another Clevelander contributing to our fine site. Angelo Benedetti’s work can be found on the great Cavs blog Fear The Sword and the funny yet topical & informative basketball blog I Go Hard Now. A Cavs fanatic, Angelo hangs out with Nick Gilbert on the regular and even taught him how to tie a bow tie (this is not true but if you truly imagined it, you should be smiling which was my intent).

Follow Angelo on Twitter.

1. Your morning caffeine drink of choice. 

Absolutely a coffee guy. My usual go to is a cup of hazelnut from either Dunkin Donuts or Seattle’s Best. I know it’s not the fanciest coffee in the world, but it’s good day in and day out. In the summer I’ll mix it up and go with cold brew iced coffee, sticking with the hazelnut. Regardless of hot or cold, cream only. Sugar in coffee is an abomination and an affront to all things good in this world.
 

2. Thought’s on Byron Scott’s goatee.

Not a good look. Not at all. See, Byron can rock a simple mustache and look perfectly normal, which is rare. As such, it is his obligation to rock a simple mustache to save that facial hair style fromBrooklynand dudes that work at coffee shops. Not only is he doing all of mankind a dis-service by not helping the mustache maintain credibility when he grows out the goatee, it’s just a straight up shitty goatee. It’s patchy and doesn’t connect to the mustache (which I like to think is the mustache saying “keep that gross shit away from me), and just generally makes him look like a disheveled mess. Though that may also be caused by having to play Omri Casspi and Luke Walton simultaneously. Regardless, it’s bad. Shave your chin, Coach. Set a good example to the team.

3. The best Halloween costume you ever wore.

Definitely wasn’t my Snake Plissken costume I wore last year. I don’t know what I was thinking, but the eye patch kept me from wearing my glasses, so I couldn’t see anything since I don’t have contacts. It also kept me from having any depth perception, so I was stumbling around a party bumping into everything in a mullet wig and constantly having to explain to everyone what “Escape fromNew York” was. That said, my Mario costume from a few years earlier was probably the best. Everyone understood it and I got to wear a mustache for a night.

4. Best place to get food before a Cavs game? After?

I really hate missing tip-off, so I generally try to eat in the Q before a game. Thankfully, the food options there are actually pretty awesome and Michael Symon has a burger stand called B-Spot (which is also a stand alone restaurant that has two other locations in the area) that makes a really solid burger, good fries seasoned with rosemary and has a good beer selection. You can get a Brooklyn Ale for about the same amount you’d be paying for a Bud Light at other stands, so it’s really the best you can do in the Q.

Afterwards, East 4th street is a block away that has some of the best restaurants in Cleveland. My personal favorite is Greenhouse Tavern. Pretty much everything there is delicious, but you have to split an order of the “Animal-Style” Frites with someone. Not only are they some of the best, most perfectly friend up and delicious fries you’ll ever have, but they’re smothered in melted mozzarella, gravy, stone ground mustard, bacon and fried eggs. Oh yeah, they also come served on a plate shaped like a pig. Cool place.

5. The Best Polish Boy in Cleveland…

…is actually a Polish Girl. Nothing against Polish Boys, they’re delicious, but the Polish Girl at Hot Sauce Williams is one of my favorite things in the city. It’s got the typical polish sausage, coleslaw, fries and BBQ sauce that you’ll find on every good Polish Boy, but it’s then covered in a heaping mound of pulled pork and more BBQ sauce.

It’s really no accident that Cleveland is such an overweight city. So much awesome food everywhere.

Angelo’s Recipe: Asian BBQ Pork Sandwich

One of my best friends lives in New York, so I’ll try to get out there every now and then to visit. My first trip out there was probably one of the best weeks of my life when it comes to eating. I had my first Shake Shake burger, we ventured into Brooklyn to grab BBQ at a place called Fette Sau that was easily the best BBQ I’ve ever had and I fell in love with steamed pork buns and Banh Mi sandwiches. After getting home, I was inspired to start experimenting with my cooking more and eventually came up with this sandwich, which is part BBQ, part Banh Mi and part testament to my love of pork. It’s super quick, easy and is ridiculously good.

Makes a whole bunch. Invite some friends over and have a party or something.

Ingredients
5 lbs pork shoulder/Boston butt roast
1 bunch of green onions, roots removed, split and washed
6 cloves of garlic, diced
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup and one tbsp kosher salt
1 cup and one tbsp white sugar
One cucumber
Vinegar based cole slaw (feel free to make your own, but I like this because of how quick it is to assemble)
Hoisin sauce (same as above)
Sriracha sauce
Cilantro (unless you’re one of those awful people that hate it, then leave it out)
French baguette

1. The night before, mix one cup of kosher salt and one cup of white sugar together. Rub the pork shoulder with the mix and wrap in heavy tin foil. Refrigerate overnight in a casserole dish or something else with high edges. The salt’s gonna pull a lot of juice out of the shoulder and you don’t want to get raw pork juice all over the inside of your fridge. I’ve made that mistake. You’ll want to leave this to sit for at least 8 hours if not 12.

2. The next morning, throw the cleaned onions and garlic in the bottom of your crockpot. Place the pork shoulder on top of the onions (obviously without the foil at this point) and pour the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce on top. Cover, turn your crockpot on low and go to work or something like that for the next 8 to 10 hours.

3. Get home from work to the amazing smell of a delicious pork shoulder. By this point, you should be able to easily pull the pork apart with a pair of tongs or shred with forks. Shred the pork in the liquid and let it sit while you prep the rest of the sandwich.

4. Cut your cucumber into thicker slices. Mix the remaining tbsp of sugar and salt together and toss with the cucumber slices. Let them sit for 5 minutes and you’ll have some super fresh, quick pickles. It’s a neat trick.

5. Toast your baguette. Spread some hoisin on one side of the bun and pack the sandwich with pork, your slaw and some of the pickles. Top with Sriracha, some cilantro and enjoy.