Posted by Adam Kuban, January 30, 2006 at 10:10 AM
Late next month, I'll be going to Amsterdam. Full disclosure: The trip is part of a junket for bloggers put together by Holland.com, the web presence of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions. Holland.com is paying for the flight as well as five nights in a hotel near the city center, and an Amsterdam public-transport pass. In exchange, I've agreed to sit for an interview with the board of tourism that may appear online or in print, place the "Bloggers in Amsterdam" logo in my navigation bar for one year, and provide Holland.com with one month of premium advertising space on Slice.
Bloggers invited over to A'dam are under no obligation to blog about the trip, but—and this is what Holland.com is counting on—I'll likely file a few dispatches from the Netherlands concerning pizza. I'll likely file some concerning burgers, too, for A Hamburger Today. And any other nonpizza, nonburger food adventures that are interesting enough will likely wind up on Bite by Byte, my new nonpizza, nonburger foodblog.
I wrestled with this offer ethically for a couple of days. After all, it gives the appearance that Slice can be bought. I decided to take the offer, however, because the arrangement is part of an attempt by the Netherlands to draw foreign tourists to the country and in no way involves pizza or hamburgers. If this came from, say, the Chicago Tourism Bureau, offering to pay my way so I could review deep dish pies, I'd have to decline. Others, however, would not let me off the hook so easily. In some circles, the lot of us going on the trip are being compared to Jack Abramoff. Heh. But perhaps the most insightful post of I've read has been the one from Spot-On: The Netherlands 25.
I hate to have to tell you, but pizza here is awful. No - not just awful...gawd awful. There was one place a few years back - Manhattan Slice, on the Damrak - but that was years ago (it seemed to change hands in the past couple of years) and now it's boarded-up. The best pizza in town now is - sbarro. Feh.
Part of it is because the dutch prefer gouda to mozzarella (sacrilege!), part of it is because the sauce is often just weak or barely there, part of it is their in-bred suspicion of weird, foreign spices like...oregano. Forget about crushed red pepper.
I'm from the NY/NJ area, so pizza here make me just want to scream. Good luck!
Jim in Holland: Thanks for the info. I suspected as much.
Say ... I'm going to be terribly cliché here, but I have to ask: Is there anywhere to get a pot/weed/hash-topped pizza? I think that would make a really fun entry for Slice.
Dude, that's SO AWESOME. Free! Trip! Shilling for Amsterdam doesn't sound so bad. If I went, I'd eat all the stroopwafels I could get my hands on. And cake, if it doesn't have weed in it.
Hash pizza? Why would anyone want to ruin perfectly good hash? Seriously though, go to a coffeeshop and you can do the hash brownie thing for dessert. Now I wish I paid attention to my stoner friends so I could recommend someplace decent... ;)
Yes, Dutch pizza is awful, but that is the point. A lot of Dutch food is awful. You will have to try two things: one is crokette. A crokette is an egg roll sized wad of flour-roux-gravy rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried, the Dutch national fast food for post midnight chow. Number two is : you must try it at a FEBO. FEBOs are automat chow places usually located on downtown corners (remember automats?) that stay open all night. When those drunken Ajax Football fans are leaving the bars hungry for a crokette - a cold one, hopefully something that has been sitting in a FEBO automat for a couple of hours waiting for your one Euro fifty Euro cents... It is either FEBo or McDonalds... and yes, they have already introduced the McCrokette.
All this said, yes - croquetten are great, and I agree with Febo. It's like a slyder, sometimes you just gotta go that road. Also great at Febo: Specialtjes, small breaded and deep-fried meatloaf blocks with a bit of onion. And if you want a burger, say no to McD's - go to the counter and ask for a Shwarma Burger - they only do them fresh - but oh, how nice they are.
Word to learn - "lekker" - that means "tasty" or "delicious". Another word to learn - "niet", meaning "not", as in "Nederlands pizza is niet lekker!"
Absolutely Febo. The shops make me smile like a loon, especially the fact that when you want fries, you have to talk to the person at the counter (that also stuffs the hot food into the huge automat).
I had surprisingly good pizza in Maastricht, in southeast Holland. It was in a super-friendly Italian restaurant right on the town's main square. While it obviously didn't match New York's best, I remember it very fondly and would consider another visit if I was in the country.
Maastricht - That's only 2.5-3 hours away by rail...almost a reason to go. Actually, there's really decent italian in Amsterdam not far from the Spui, Casa di David, on the Singel. I've only eaten there once, but I had really wonderful pasta with spinach and sausage. Real, i-tralian sausage too, not that "worst" junk. Next time I give them a try, I'll see if they do pizza and I'll send some feedback...
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Late next month, I'll be going to Amsterdam. Full disclosure: The trip is part of a junket for bloggers put together by Holland.com, the web presence of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions. Holland.com is paying for the flight as well as five nights in a hotel near the city center, and an Amsterdam public-transport pass. In exchange, I've agreed to sit for an interview with the board of tourism that may appear online or in print, place the "Bloggers in Amsterdam" logo in my navigation bar for one year, and provide Holland.com with one month of premium advertising space on Slice.
12 Comments:
I hate to have to tell you, but pizza here is awful. No - not just awful...gawd awful. There was one place a few years back - Manhattan Slice, on the Damrak - but that was years ago (it seemed to change hands in the past couple of years) and now it's boarded-up. The best pizza in town now is - sbarro. Feh.
Part of it is because the dutch prefer gouda to mozzarella (sacrilege!), part of it is because the sauce is often just weak or barely there, part of it is their in-bred suspicion of weird, foreign spices like...oregano. Forget about crushed red pepper.
I'm from the NY/NJ area, so pizza here make me just want to scream. Good luck!
Slice JimInHolland at 2:03PM on 01/30/06
Jim in Holland: Thanks for the info. I suspected as much.
Say ... I'm going to be terribly cliché here, but I have to ask: Is there anywhere to get a pot/weed/hash-topped pizza? I think that would make a really fun entry for Slice.
Heh.
Adam Kuban at 2:43PM on 01/30/06
Ethics, schmethics. Someone offers you a free trip, and you go!
Slice michele at 4:33PM on 01/30/06
Dude, that's SO AWESOME. Free! Trip! Shilling for Amsterdam doesn't sound so bad. If I went, I'd eat all the stroopwafels I could get my hands on. And cake, if it doesn't have weed in it.
Slice roboppy at 5:27PM on 01/30/06
Hash pizza? Why would anyone want to ruin perfectly good hash? Seriously though, go to a coffeeshop and you can do the hash brownie thing for dessert. Now I wish I paid attention to my stoner friends so I could recommend someplace decent... ;)
Slice JimInHolland at 5:50PM on 01/30/06
Yes, Dutch pizza is awful, but that is the point. A lot of Dutch food is awful. You will have to try two things: one is crokette. A crokette is an egg roll sized wad of flour-roux-gravy rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried, the Dutch national fast food for post midnight chow. Number two is : you must try it at a FEBO. FEBOs are automat chow places usually located on downtown corners (remember automats?) that stay open all night. When those drunken Ajax Football fans are leaving the bars hungry for a crokette - a cold one, hopefully something that has been sitting in a FEBO automat for a couple of hours waiting for your one Euro fifty Euro cents... It is either FEBo or McDonalds... and yes, they have already introduced the McCrokette.
You are going to have so much fun....
Slice z at 9:11PM on 01/30/06
All this said, yes - croquetten are great, and I agree with Febo. It's like a slyder, sometimes you just gotta go that road. Also great at Febo: Specialtjes, small breaded and deep-fried meatloaf blocks with a bit of onion. And if you want a burger, say no to McD's - go to the counter and ask for a Shwarma Burger - they only do them fresh - but oh, how nice they are.
Word to learn - "lekker" - that means "tasty" or "delicious". Another word to learn - "niet", meaning "not", as in "Nederlands pizza is niet lekker!"
Slice JimInHolland at 2:53AM on 01/31/06
Absolutely Febo. The shops make me smile like a loon, especially the fact that when you want fries, you have to talk to the person at the counter (that also stuffs the hot food into the huge automat).
Slice Chris H at 8:34AM on 01/31/06
I had surprisingly good pizza in Maastricht, in southeast Holland. It was in a super-friendly Italian restaurant right on the town's main square. While it obviously didn't match New York's best, I remember it very fondly and would consider another visit if I was in the country.
Slice Greg at 10:59AM on 01/31/06
Maastricht - That's only 2.5-3 hours away by rail...almost a reason to go. Actually, there's really decent italian in Amsterdam not far from the Spui, Casa di David, on the Singel. I've only eaten there once, but I had really wonderful pasta with spinach and sausage. Real, i-tralian sausage too, not that "worst" junk. Next time I give them a try, I'll see if they do pizza and I'll send some feedback...
Slice JimInHolland at 11:51AM on 01/31/06
errrrrr.....indoenesian food anyone?
Slice blah at 8:08PM on 02/02/06
I'm jealous! The fries.. er.. frites.. are good there, esp all the crazy dressings they have.
Slice Gerald at 1:17AM on 02/03/06