I had it all planned out. I had brats in the freezer and at least a dozen different cheeses ready to spread out on platters to serve to my Super Bowl party guests. I'd had the New England seafood recipes ready to go since mid-October, when it became apparent that Brady and Co. were the anointed ones of the AFC.

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Then, in overtime, Brett Favre threw a completely inexplicable pass that was picked off, and suddenly my menu was thrown into disarray.

What in Hades do they eat in New York? Don't they just drink coffee and shout at each other a lot?

Of course that's not true. In fact, if any city could be said to be the epicenter of cuisine and culinary development in America, it would be New York City. Here is where luminaries like Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain and Masaharu Morimoto strut their stuff. Here is where new restaurant concepts stand or fall in the most brutally competitive environment in the country.

But this is, after all, the Super Bowl. Our spreads should more resemble the chow from the Hello Deli than from Bourdain's Les Halles. We want chow that is quick to make, edible without utensils and tasty. A little bit of a theme wouldn't be bad, either.

Well, friends, read on and add a bit of your own creativity and you'll have an appetizer layout that will have your friends talking about the munchies more than the game.

First off, let's take care of the Patriots side of the equation.

Seafood Snacks

Seafood is best when it's not prettied up too terribly much. If it's fresh (and it should be), it just doesn't need a lot of help to be tasty. So get yourself some shrimp, boil them until done and slap them on a bed of ice. Be sure to provide lemon wedges and cocktail sauce and a container for the shells.

If you don't have a reputable seafood shop or grocery-store seafood counter nearby, though, there are options for frozen or canned seafood aplenty! Steam some frozen snow crab legs, break them into bite-size sections and serve with drawn butter or buy some frozen clams and fry up a batch of clam strips.

You can even go the "kid" route and bake up some fish sticks. This is especially good for those of you who are Giants fans and wish to thumb your nose at your northern rivals. Be sure and lay out some malt vinegar and other condiments.

You'll want something from the dip family, of course, and here's where you'll go with canned seafood, specifically crab meat.

Easy Crab Dip

1 8 oz package cream cheese
3-4 ounces canned crab meat, drained (need not be jumbo lump)
2 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. lemon juice
Hot sauce to taste

Melt cream cheese in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add crab meat, lime juice and lemon juice. Heat until bubbling, stirring constantly to avoid scorching. Add hot sauce a little at a time. Remember: once you've added too much you can't take any out! Serve either in a fondue pot or in a heavy crock pre-warmed in the oven to keep the dip nicely liquid.

Variation: Stir in some chopped black olives (well drained) or capers … use your imagination!

Now, to get into a New York state of mind …

Perfect Pizza

There are many, many different foods that call New York home, but if you ask most lifelong Big Apple residents what they most identify as a New York food, they'll point you to one of the roughly two million pizzerias that dot the landscape across the boroughs.

Don't tell my Chicago pals this, but New York style pizza is the finest in the world. However, unless you've got a master pizza chef in your kitchen (preferably using a brick oven), you likely won't want to spend valuable football time making your own pizza crust, tossing it, etc.

I've got a quick and easy pizza that will not only taste great, it will make a great centerpiece for your game-day table!

Touchdown Pizza

Get the good pepperoni for this, Boar's Head or similar. Buy it whole, as you'll be slicing it into footballs for the pizza.

1 tube refrigerated pizza crust dough
8 ounces pepperoni
3 cups shredded "pizza blend" cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 jar pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice the pepperoni on a sharp angle so the slices make oval "footballs" to put on the pizza. Chop the ends pieces up to scatter as "cleat marks" around the surface.

Lightly grease a sheet pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll out the pizza crust to the size of the pan and place it inside. Bake for 6 minutes.

Remove crust from oven. Spread the sauce evenly edge to edge, leaving a small open crust space all around. Top with the pizza cheese, then pepperoni. Make football-field lines with the mozzarella.

Bake another 6 or 7 minutes, until desired doneness.

If you prefer, you can also use the pepperoni footballs on individual mini-pizzas made with your favorite crackers.

What else to serve to represent the New York side of the menu? From Katz's to the Carnegie, New York is famous for fine deli meats and cheeses. The variety is mind-boggling and the quality is generally very high. This is a city where a pastrami on rye is treated with artistic fervor equal to that of a sculpture or symphony.

So here's your excuse to go deli hunting! Find that small shop with the meat the owner gets from "back home," preferably somewhere within the New York city limits. Ask for what he or she recommends as far as the perfect combination of meat and cheese. Buy it.

Get some good bread, some stout mustard and make a big deli sandwich you can cut into wedges that will disappear faster than the point spread!

I could go on for hours, but kickoff is in a few days and I've got to hit the couch ...

Recipes:

• Pesto Pizza
• Crab & Swiss Pizza
• Crab Cakes
• Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
• Seafood Chowder