Colonel Sanders and Foucault have the same glasses.

Columbia College sophomores, think of the hours you’ve spent teasing out subtitles of Nietzsche’s will to power and Freud’s Oedipal complex. Now think about fried chicken. Yeah, we don’t really get the connection either, but, in a daring thematic maneuver, your class reps will be offering free KFC fried chicken, buiscuits and Mac ‘n’ Cheese, CC study guides, and a screening of Chicken Run this evening in the Lerner Ramp Lounge and Cinema. The food is out at 7:30 pm and the movie starts at 8 pm.

Smiling face of poultry hegemony via Wikimedia.

M2M recently debuted a new burger that got us excited, so we decided to go and check it out. Chief Poultry Correspondent Brian Phillips Donahoe pens our review:

Bwog was already giddy with anticipation when we saw the signs: M2M was introducing a new chicken burger. Come dinner time, we joined the disorganized and agitated crowd spilling into the cookie aisle that constitutes the M2M ordering line, and a mere half hour later we were ready to hit the Steps, chicken burger in hand.

Perhaps we should have been tipped off by a member of the M2M kitchen staff who, when asked if the new menu item was popular, answered only with a quiet, “not today, not today.” It might have been the culinary ecstasy that is the M2M cheeseburger deluxe with grilled mushrooms that ruined us, but Bwog had mixed feelings about this latest creation.

The patty (and it is a patty, not, as we had heard rumored, a filet) has a strange tangy taste to it, and lacks its bovine counterpart’s succulence. That being said, the burger was more than tolerable, and unlike the original, the chicken burger doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve just downed a glass of bacon grease.

So we say, go! Try one for yourself! At $4.50 ($5.50 with fries) the chicken burger is a gamble worth taking. You probably won’t switch from your twice-a-day cheeseburger deluxe routine, but you will learn something new and profound about the idiom “variety is the spice of life.”

Consequences of Manhattanville! (NYPost)

Inefficient mayors! (New York Times)

More tiny apartments! (NYPost)

Chicken run in Midtown! (NYPost)

Santas! So many Santas! (Gothamist)

Katharine Abrams, Bwog’s culinary expert, reports

Still dreaming of butternut squash soup and sage ravioli, I hope to soon see Community Food and Juice without brown paper lining its windows.  However, Community’s indefinite close does have its advantages, namely forcing me to explore other dining options near campus. In its wake, Pio Pio, a Peruvian rotisserie chicken restaurant on 94th and Amsterdam, has become my go-to for delicious and comfortable neighborhood dining.

Pio Pio features an extensive menu of authentic Peruvian dishes but only one of them really matters—their specialty, the Chicken Pio. Whole chickens are roasted rotisserie style and marinated in a pungent Peruvian sauce that seeps into the meat. Peruvian grilling usually incorporates spices such as cumin, paprika, oregano, cloves, garlic, and lime. The result is a heavenly crisp skin encasing moist meat—the chicken alone can withstand any culinary test. Just in case you’re left unsatisfied, Chicken Pio comes with a side of green sauce that compliments the dish and adds a little kick. Read more…

Spring is in the air and lovers are marrying on the steps today.  Or, at least, pretending to.  Hangama, the annual Pakistani mock wedding, will be on the steps today from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.  They’re already setting up, although no one has yet spotted the majestic white horse that will ride through the gates.

The Chicken and Rice cart (officially “The Halal Guys”), however, is almost done setting up.  The famed questionable combination will be on the steps this evening.  It’s not free, but one tipster associated with the event says the food will be available at a “reduced price.”

And while you’re gorging yourselves, enjoy performances by Bhangra, Taal, Dhoom, and Raas.  It’ll be a good show, so enjoy the mild weather and last bit of freedom before the dash to finals.

Photo by AB

Gimme a B! Gimme an I! Gimme a CYCLE!

Blazer, jacket, messenger bag, collared shirt, sweater vest: the Eye’s guide to sartorial humanity

(Wait, what just happened here)

Do you know what a cooked chicken breast sounds like?

South Africa has redeeming values despite its lack of a Metropolitan Museum of Art!

Kate Moss gets a “hearty” congratulations for getting clean

Republicans… they’re just like us!

Maven reporter Lydia DePillis contacted Bwog just moments ago with this alarming and amazing tip:  “Chicken and rice stand on 116th–with a tv!”  Any guesses on what the Chef is watching? Josh Brolin on SNL tonight, must-see-TV perhaps? 

Last night, Culture Editor Tony Gong went to CCSC’s massive multicultural event “Passport to Columbia,” and returned a little more appreciative of diverse foods, arts, and Columbia, the nation. His account of the night follows.

Some people (naysayers and cynics, mainly) don’t think you need a passport to go to Columbia. “Columbia is a university, not a country,” they may argue. Well, last night, the CCSC Campus Life Committee finally showed us that Columbia is actually a country with over twenty smaller countries inside of it. Correspondingly, we’ve got a pretty kickass flag (see picture to the right). And yes, you do need a passport to enroll, naysayers. More proof and pictures after the jump.

Read more…

Free Rotisserie Chicken, rice and beans in the Lerner lobby! It’s delicious. Bwog already had some. Hurry up!

Welcome back to Cooking with Bwog. Bwog’s resident chef is doing a one-week tour at a Navy mess hall, but in her absence we present a full Southern meal, a recipe that was handed down for generations after this week’s chef’s family had forfeited all its Southern roots by moving to New England in the 1920s. Enjoy now, y’hear?

Fried Okra

1 package okra (shoot for 3/4 lb)

about 1/4 cup white flour

Vegetable oil

Okra can be obtained at West Side Market. This is frankly unbelievable, seeing as it is currently early March. Don’t take it for granted.

Okra gets a bad rap because most people haven’t had it cooked correctly. In fact, the one true way to make okra is to fry it, ridding it of the goopiness that damages its reputation in soups. Chop the stub ends off each piece of okra (not the pointy ends, though, which are delicious) and discard them. Slice the okra into 1/4″ thick pieces, lengthwise. Put it in a bowl with the flour, cover and shake. Read more…

Overheard in Ferris Booth:

Guy 1: “Was he up?”

Guy 2: “No, I don’t think so.”

Guy 1: “If you’re going to fuck a chicken on stage, get hard.”

Thanks to tipster Lars Dabney and his sharp ears.