Greenwich Village, 1968

Just came upon this Greenwich Village Cookbook sitting on my bookshelf, and started flipping through the pages, dreaming of all the restaurants I went to as a child.

I was startled to find so many esoteric recipes: almost every trendy modern food was on somebody’s menu, and while the pesto might contain cream cheese (at Fellin), the restaurant also proudly served rabbit.  The eel in the unadon at Shoei was frozen, but what other restaurant was serving eel in 1968?  And the basic recipe section at the end includes tahini, pita, tortillas, green noodles, crepes and - remarkably, I think - the recipe for home-made filo dough below. 

The glossary describes ackee, brocolli di rape, tamalina, ugli fruit, rice sticks, tree ears and tiger lily flowers. To my amazement the shopping index tells you where to buy them all.

On this summery hot day I’m offering up two of the dishes I loved best as a child. When we went out to eat I begged my parents to take me to Sevilla for green clams, or Steak Casino where I gobbled up the clams casino.  Even today, when either dish appears on a menu I find them impossible to resist.

One small note: If you're making the first recipe, it's definitely worth purging the soft shell (steamer) clams before using them.  This is how you do that.

And now that filo recipe.... Note the warning at the end!