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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Well, we've been through gun safety, an intergenerational climate lawsuit, and the teacher's contract, so now you all deserve dessert. For dessert, we will have a call-in on your most tasty and unusual New York restaurant or dish discoveries. What kind of dish did you discover in a New York restaurant that made you think, "Only in New York"? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Again, a call-in on your most tasty and unusual New York restaurant or restaurant dish discoveries. What kind of dish did you discover in a New York restaurant that made you think, "Only in New York"? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Why do I ask? Well, Katie Honan, senior reporter for the nonprofit news site The City became so fixated on a sandwich she encountered by chance that it spurred a year-long investigation culminating with a dedicated piece about this sandwich and its history for Bon Appétit. The Sandwich, as she lovingly calls it, is an artichoke Parmesan. Have any of you ever encountered an artichoke parm? It's not on the menu in most Italian sandwich shops, which sparked Katie's initial curiosity.

What's that odd dish on the menu in your favorite local eatery that might be overlooked, but that delivers magic in every bite? Call or text us on that unusual and tasty New York restaurant find or New York restaurant dish. It can be an individual dish like the sandwich that made you think, "Only in New York." 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or text it to that same phone number. We have Katie Honan from The City, and now guest writer at Bon Appétit here to tell us more about this elusive sandwich. Hi, Katie. Welcome back to WNYC.

Katie Honan: Thanks for having me on, Brian. I appreciate it.

Brian Lehrer: You're usually out there writing about hardcore city politics, and now it's about a sandwich in Bon Appétit. How did you encounter the artichoke parm for the first time?

Katie Honan: I was visiting a friend in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, and I parked my car on Rutland Road, which is where the deli is. I'd never heard of it before, but seeing the sign. It's called Mama Louisa’s Hero Shoppe. That's shoppe with two Ps and an E for really fanciness. I just saw this growing up in New York City and frequenting places like this before, it just felt familiar to me.

A few hours later, when I left my friend's apartment, I popped in. I had to pick up lunch, actually, for another friend that was visiting. As soon as I walked in, on this old menu, I see an artichoke parm, which I'd never seen before. There was a guy in there also getting a sandwich. I think I spun around to him like, "Have you ever seen that before?" totally crazed. I got it. It turned out to be very delicious, which set me off on this. It was the factor of the fact that it was rare. I'd never seen it before, and then also really good. I think it contributed to this year-long obsession. I started searching online to see if it was another delis. I used property records to see who owned the building, who previously owned it, to try to trace the owners, and that is what culminated in this article for Bon Appétit.

Brian Lehrer: Should you give people more details of the sandwich perhaps? Artichoke parm obviously tells people that there are artichokes in it, and there's some kind of cheese, but describe it further.

Katie Honan: It's funny you say that. I was helped a lot with the Bon Appétit editors because as you know, I'm not a food writer. I had to really tap into an unused skill of just describing food the way it tastes, the texture, the smell.

When I would bring up this artichoke parm to people, they would ask like, "Oh, is it a deep fried artichoke heart?" and it wasn't. It almost became-- there was a binding agent that at first I thought was cheese, but it turned out later it's actually scrambled egg, which some people are initially turned off by, but it creates a binding factor.

This sandwich is- it's just creamy. It's delicate parm. Sometimes you'd have an eggplant parm or chicken parm, and it's a really heavy sandwich. This was something that was both meaty and fulfilling, but not too filling. It actually is the type of sandwich that tastes better when you let it-- You can't eat it right away. I would let it sit for a few minutes just to really settle in there. The bread they use is great, which really adds to it. I think it's the novelty of I'd never seen this before, but it is a sandwich.

If you're vegetarian, obviously, for vegans you can't because of the eggs and the cheese, but it really was this to me a perfect parm of-- and just getting that flavor of the artichoke not being overpowered by the sauce and the cheese, the egg really just acting not to distract from the taste of the artichoke, but to really pull it all together. It is, to me, this really delicious sandwich. I've had people around the country now reaching out to me trying to recreate it. I've never made it myself. I just go to the deli and get it, but I think there's some variations you can take on it as well.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Listeners, what's your version of the artichoke parm? I keep wanting to say pom, but it's not. It's parm.

Katie Honan: It's the Queens in you coming out.

Brian Lehrer: Parmesan. That's right. Discovery. What's your version of this? What's your equivalent? What kind of dish did you discover that made you think, "Only in New York"? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or share your artichoke Parmesan recipes if you want, 212-433-9692. Here's Nicole in Pelham to start that off. Nicole, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Nicole: Hi. I was calling because when you say quintessential New York dessert, I think of the spumoni from Spumoni Gardens on 86th Street in Brooklyn. Their cremolata spumoni, I've never seen it anywhere, and it is the most delicious. As a person who grew up in Bay Ridge, when we were kids, we used to go up there, sit outside, eat a square with the sauce on top and get a cremolata for dessert. Now, of course, you see people from all over the world coming and ordering it, but it's amazing.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Nicole. Was this a "only in New York" moment for you, Katie, when you discovered the artichoke parm?

Katie Honan: I think my frame of reference, because I am usually only thinking about New York City, I don't know if you could find this in other places. I've done the research nationally. I'm sure in other parts of the country where you have a large migration of Italians, but it felt-- especially when I got into the history. You had two Italian families who owned the deli from the 1900s up until 2014. The current owner is this great guy, Edga Luinavictoria, who's from Ecuador. I found that to be a very New York story. His first job when he came from Ecuador to the United States was working at Fortunato Brothers in Brooklyn, which is another iconic Italian bakery.

I like learning about the family stories. In the piece, I got to get into the history of just-- The other very New York thing that I liked was this corner, the three families that owned it all referred to it as different neighborhood names, Pig Town, Crown Heights, and now Prospect Lefferts Gardens. There was that historical element of the way New York's always changing, but in some ways still retains its history and its culture.

Brian Lehrer: Well, you say in the piece that you went around asking people from all walks of life, sandwich experts, politicians, friends, if they had ever heard of or tried an artichoke Parmesan sandwich themselves. Had anyone else heard of the sandwich, or do you think anyone else makes it outside of Mama Louisa's?

Katie Honan: Well, when I would ask people, they had never really heard of it, but then they were interested. It sustained me on this year-long thing, which a lot of times I felt crazy that I was so obsessed with the sandwich, but people were genuinely interested in it. I spoke to Roman Grandinetti who owns Regina's Grocery, which there's a few outposts of it. He said at his deli, they make some version of it for vegetarian, but on a menu no one had ever seen it before.

When I was doing my internet research, I'd only seen it listed on one other menu, another Mama Louisa's in New Jersey, which was the second owners, the Louisa Conigliaro and her husband. They opened a place in New Jersey briefly. That was the only-- it was all tied back to the same deli.

Yes, people were genuinely curious. Even when I first started talking to people about it, they recreated it at home using artichoke hearts, sometimes frozen artichoke hearts or sometimes from the jar. I've seen people steaming whole artichokes and pulling the heart out for it as well. There's a few ways to get the artichoke there.

Brian Lehrer: Let's hear about some more finds. Mook in Carrboro, North Carolina. You're on WNYC. Hi, Mook.

Mook: Hi, Brian. I was visiting New York City a couple of months ago, and I stumbled upon this great place called Le Botaniste. It's somewhere near the United Nations. It totally blew me away. It's a plant-based gluten-free restaurant. I had a coconut curry, I had quinoa, I had this wonderful salad, I had this crisp flatbread. I had some avocado with some sesame seeds on it. The topper was this quinoa cookie that I just had at the end, which is absolutely fantastic. I might have spent $40 on this meal, but it was fabulous.

We also love about this place is that they talk about the environmental impact of food. They mentioned the emissions of all their products, and it's really just a great place to go to eat. I was talking to your screener who also mentioned it was her favorite restaurant, and she might be going there for lunch today. Nice to find another one who also likes that place.

Brian Lehrer: Tell me more about that quinoa cookie. What's in it?

Mook: Oh my goodness. I ended up eating lunch at the place, but I actually was going to the Metro North to go upstate. I didn't have time to eat the cookie properly at the restaurant.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs]

Luke: I remember just sitting down in the Metro North just eating this quinoa cookie. It was crispy. It was just savory. It was sweet. I think there was chocolate chips in there. It was just everything all at once. I just was on the Metro North going upstate. Just always remember the experience, thanks to that cookie.

Brian Lehrer: Nice, and good for the world too, it sounds like. Marilyn in Chelsea's got one. Marilyn, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Marilyn: Hi, Brian. Thank you for welcoming me on your great show. First of all, I fully agree with Luke, Le Botanist is a wonderful restaurant and it's actually a mini-chain. It's got locations all over Manhattan, so Luke, you've got four possibilities. My only in New York dish is okra kimchi. I had that recently during lunch in the Kjun Korean restaurant.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Marilyn: Which is called Kjun, K-J-U-N. It's on East 39th Street. It's an absolutely wonderful tiny little restaurant that serves all kinds of wonderful fusions between Korean and comfort food.

Brian Lehrer: That is so cool. Kjun spelled that way, obviously, usually C-A-J-U-N referring to New Orleans kind of Louisiana cooking, that's the okra, and the kimchi is Korean, so kimchi okra.

Marilyn: Exactly.

Brian Lehrer: That is awesome. I've got one like that, Katie, because I live in a part of the city that has a large Dominican population. There's a restaurant near me on Dyckman Street called Mama Sushi, that's Dominican/sushi preparations-

Katie Honan: Oh, wow.

Brian Lehrer: -as one of the things that they do. I copied down a couple of things from the menu. They have sushi rolls. One of the rolls is called a 237 Dyckman. It's shrimp tempura, sweet plantain, avocado, cream cheese, and eel sauce. Another one is called the chimi roll, Dominican chimichurri style meat with special sauce and cabbage in a sushi roll prep. How do you like that Dominican Japanese food?

Katie Honan: That really feels like an only in New York. You see a lot of these fusions of just different cultures. People meet and they marry other people and then they say, "We both love food and we both want to present this in a fusion way." I think the word fusion gets a weird wrap of like the food is diluted in some way depending on who you ask, but I think that's a unique take on things, which is what I seem to find.

Especially for me, I feel like I've been eating parms my whole life and you get used to the chicken, the meat mall, even the shrimp parm, which is rare. To be surprised at my age by something, that was a nice surprise part of it as well.

Brian Lehrer: Steven in Highland Park, you're on WNYC. Hi, Steven. What you got?

Steven: Hi, how are you? Thanks for taking my call. Years ago, when I went to Wesleyan, there was a pizzeria nearby that served Schiacciata. It was a square stuffed pie with meat and/or vegetables. I don't remember if there was cheese or a little bit of tomato. We loved it. I haven't encountered it anywhere since. I haven't even heard the word anywhere except at that one restaurant.

Brian Lehrer: There you go.

Steven: Scott Chop.

Katie Honan: How do you spell that? That's interesting.

Steven: Sorry?

Brian Lehrer: How do you spell it?

Steven: I guess it'd be S-C-A-C-I-A, Schiacciata, T-H.

Katie Honan: Wow. It sounds like a calzone but square.

Steven: Yes, but it didn't have the ricotta.

Katie Honan: Oh, wow.

Steven: It was more like a meat and vegetable pie.

Katie Honan: Oh, interesting.

Brian Lehrer: Another unusual dish. Maybe only in New Jersey, from Steven in Highland Park. Kyle in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kyle.

Kyle: Hey, Brian. Thanks for having me on. A very New York dish that I have near me is there's this bagel place Between the Bagel. They have a fusion with Korean there. They have the classic bacon, egg, and cheese, but without the bacon. They have a bulgogi beef and cheese. I think they call it their seal meets bagel. [laughs]. It's just so delicious. The beef and the cheese and the bagel, it works really well together.

Brian Lehrer: You broke up just as you were saying the name of the dish. What do they call it?

Kyle: Call it an SMB, seal meets bagel.

Brian Lehrer: Pretty unusual. Thank you very much. How about, let's see if we can get-- Oh, here's another unusual one, I think. Ron in Hamilton Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ron.

Ron: Hi. Love your show. I remember a rice dish. I love rice. I've been all over the world and I was trying to find new rice dishes, but right here in New York in a Persian restaurant called Rivage on Madison Avenue at 33rd and 34th is a rice dish with red sour bean cherries and it's the best.

Brian Lehrer: Rice with cherries.

Katie Honan: Wow.

Brian Lehrer: Katie, I never heard of that one.

Katie Honan: That sounds fantastic, though.

Brian Lehrer: I'm not a big fan of fruit in my savory dishes, but I know people do have that. Sometimes I like Indian food, but I don't know about fruit in the main dishes.

To wrap up, you conclude your story in Bon Appetit with a proclamation that your year-long fixation on the sandwich helped you better understand your own city. How?

Katie Honan: Well, I think you can get jaded being in a place for a long time. That's maybe how I felt, and to see something different and brand new in a place that actually looked for familiar to me, to see this in an Italian deli that's now gone through different iterations, and then hearing the story. I heard from the three families, and just learning about them and the cycles the city goes through of different immigrant groups come and they start something and they build their families and that is the New York promise and that is the New York dream.

It's the American dream, but it feels like a New York dream as well of this is what you could do here in New York City. The fact that it's still on the menu after the sandwich was invented in the 1950s and that it hasn't spread, but it's sustained here in this community that also has gone through some changes over the last couple years like a lot of neighborhoods in New York City, that was what felt like the takeaway for me, and to really spend more time looking at places and trying new things. I encourage people to do the same. Just go to a place you've never ben before-

Brian Lehrer: So much fun-

Katie Honan: -and see what's on the menu.

Brian Lehrer: So much fun. Listeners, you can usually read Katie Honan in the news organization, The City, writing about things like her last two articles, which are on the Hot City Council race in Harlem, and the resignation of Police Commissioner Sewell. This detour has her published in Bon Appetit in an article called The Sandwich about the artichoke parm. This was fun, Katie. Thanks a lot.

Katie Honan: Thanks so much, Brian.

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