Kefi is a nice family restaurant on the upper west side that just recently moved to a bigger space, which I assume, was to accommodate its many adoring fans. By “family” restaurant, I mean to say that it’s not a fancy date place or a girl’s night out destination. Normally I try to stay close to home, so don’t head north, but luckily for Kefi, I was going to a concert uptown. Two years ago, I went on a wonderful honeymoon-like trip with one of my best girlfriends. So, I can say I have had my fair share of Greek salads, entrees, the works. Maybe that was the cause of my slight disappointment in Kefi, after hearing the rave reviews from friends and family. Or, maybe it was the fact that my Greek boyfriend (did you see My Big Fat Greek Wedding? He’s nothing like that…except for the name!) wasn’t overly enthused either. Guess, as the saying goes, nothing beats grandma’s cooking!
We started with the Meatballs, Roasted Garlic, Olives, Tomato and the Greek salad. My Greek boyfriend told me that they tasted just like his grandma’s! I find that pretty impressive. Considering that the only meatballs I have had since starting to eat meat again are the frozen chicken meatballs from Costco, these were a delightful treat! They were soft, plump and flavorful. The Greek salad was quiet a disappointment. It was more like a chopped Italian salad. The dressing was overwhelming and the chopped lettuce fennel (I think that was fennel?) just made the dish look sloppy. In Greece, the salads have large slices of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes with a light dressing, if anything.
Next we tried the Sheep’s Milk Dumplings, Tomato, Pine Nuts, and Spicy Lamb Sausage. These were kind of like the Gnudi @ Spotted Pig but bigger, softer and… ok not really like them at all. They are very soft and smooth. I don’t even know how they can make food items that feel like you are eating silk (ignoring the taste of fabric…). The sausage was a step too spicy for my palate. But, it was a good contrast to the dumplings, rounded out the dish.
Our other entrée was the Brazied Lamb Shank, Orzo. Not the best lamb shank I have ever had… who am I kidding, I think it’s the first lamb shank I ever had. But, my date thought it wasn’t the best one he has ever had, so I had to agree. It was on the small side, dry and the sauce just wasn’t good enough to mask the poorly cooked meat. Its kind of sad when you can actually say that the Orzo, a relatively bland from of pasta (as if there are tasty kinds?) was a highlight…
Maybe we just made bad ordering choices. I think this restaurant has potential, especially if you find something you love. The service was prompt the atmosphere upbeat. Good neighborhood spot, not necessarily good for a date (at least not a beginning-of-the-relationship date: too bright!) But, just make sure you don’t travel too far.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Joseph Leonard
http://www.josephleonard.com/
Is that seriously a website? Way to not seem pretentious…
I guess that is what happens when you are the owner of a couple of the best and hippest restaurants in the west village. I did blog a while ago about Little Owl didn’t I? I will remember the soft shell crab with asparagus risotto forever.
When I first heard about Joseph Leonard, which is apparently the names of the owners grandfathers, all I heard about was that it was a place for “daily candy girls with ponytails and skirts” and that the oysters were for some reason not on ice (kind of gross and probably not healthy…). So, I had a wait a bit to let them work out the kinks and stereotypes. Ok let’s be honest. I am the stereotype. But hey, we “ponytailed girls in pairs” drop some dough on a good wine list.
The dimly lit joint had a romantic overtone, while still having an upbeat and lively vibe. The ex-little owl front of the house man turned owner of JL, Gabe Stulman, is on the scene each night serving up drinks and talking to patrons. We sat at the bar, so we were front and center. The bartender and the owner were ribbing each other the entire time about not paying enough attention to the drinks they were making.
We started with the Shrimp and Grits, because I had read that it was one of the top apps. But, it didn’t jump out at me as anything special. I actually thought the grits were rather bland and the sausage and shrimp just didn’t have enough umpf to get the dish going. Now, I’m told that grits is always bland? What’s the point of that then? I would much rather have a risotto! (I’m obsessed…). For entrees, we had the Skate, which was actually pretty phenomenal, and the turkey. Yes, a restaurant was serving turkey for dinner and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving (too bad, I love Thanksgiving). The skate was lightly battered and cooked. It was easy to peel apart, which is my favorite quality of a skate fish/wing, besides the taste. The turkey was a special that will be added to the menu in the winter. Nothing like a heavy, tryptophan(ic) meal to start off your night! It’s well worth it.
I like to count Joseph Leonard as one of those places that you can go for the scene as well as the food. Btw – we went on a Saturday night with no reservations and were seated relatively promptly at the bar.
Is that seriously a website? Way to not seem pretentious…
I guess that is what happens when you are the owner of a couple of the best and hippest restaurants in the west village. I did blog a while ago about Little Owl didn’t I? I will remember the soft shell crab with asparagus risotto forever.
When I first heard about Joseph Leonard, which is apparently the names of the owners grandfathers, all I heard about was that it was a place for “daily candy girls with ponytails and skirts” and that the oysters were for some reason not on ice (kind of gross and probably not healthy…). So, I had a wait a bit to let them work out the kinks and stereotypes. Ok let’s be honest. I am the stereotype. But hey, we “ponytailed girls in pairs” drop some dough on a good wine list.
The dimly lit joint had a romantic overtone, while still having an upbeat and lively vibe. The ex-little owl front of the house man turned owner of JL, Gabe Stulman, is on the scene each night serving up drinks and talking to patrons. We sat at the bar, so we were front and center. The bartender and the owner were ribbing each other the entire time about not paying enough attention to the drinks they were making.
We started with the Shrimp and Grits, because I had read that it was one of the top apps. But, it didn’t jump out at me as anything special. I actually thought the grits were rather bland and the sausage and shrimp just didn’t have enough umpf to get the dish going. Now, I’m told that grits is always bland? What’s the point of that then? I would much rather have a risotto! (I’m obsessed…). For entrees, we had the Skate, which was actually pretty phenomenal, and the turkey. Yes, a restaurant was serving turkey for dinner and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving (too bad, I love Thanksgiving). The skate was lightly battered and cooked. It was easy to peel apart, which is my favorite quality of a skate fish/wing, besides the taste. The turkey was a special that will be added to the menu in the winter. Nothing like a heavy, tryptophan(ic) meal to start off your night! It’s well worth it.
I like to count Joseph Leonard as one of those places that you can go for the scene as well as the food. Btw – we went on a Saturday night with no reservations and were seated relatively promptly at the bar.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Yes... I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!: Corton
Corton
http://www.cortonnyc.com/
The website says the restaurant reflects a light and intimate style. I was thinking more muted and stark. When we first walked in, I wanted to turn around and walk out. You can tell on your first step through the door that the restaurant has no viable atmosphere. The walls are bright white, with a small smattering of colored flowers on tips of whiter embossed vines. It’s tough enough that that area where this restaurant is located is fairly frightening. I felt like I was walking down a dark alley without any mace… except its 2 feet from the Holland Tunnel and in an “up and coming” neighborhood.
There is that man called Paul Liebrandt running the kitchen. I guess he’s a 30ish year old dynamo who just received two Michelin stars. I’m going to be 30 next year…this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel old, boring and unaccomplished (even though I’m young, vivacious and quite generally amazing).
So, all ambiance aside, lets get down to the dirty dirty.
I would call this place a “special occasion” restaurant. Most of the people were about 30 years my senior. The elders know whats up. I went on a Wednesday night (happy bday N), which doesn’t necessarily show the pizzazz a restaurant can have on a weekend night. But, it can show its ability to sustain in a recessionista environment, it was packed when we left.
We had the three course prix fixe menu. The restaurant offered a three course and an overwhelming 10 courses. You know me, I like to eat, but I just wasn’t feeling the whole shebang when I saw how many plates the people next to us actually had at the table. Overwhelming isn’t the right word… it was down right absurd. But, they were loving every second of it, and so did we.
I started with the dish “From the Garden”, its one of their most well known appetizers. It was one of the most beautiful displays of fresh vegetables I have ever seen…on a plate. There were baby carrots, two different color beets, corn puree, and some other vegetables, some of which I could not even identify, but wish I could because they were delicious. The vegetables were topped with numerous delicate, edible flowers. I felt like I was eating something that they had grown in the backyard (ok, so I hope not a backyard in the middle of Tribeca, more like a backyard in the middle of a farm upstate). We also had the Corn appetizer, the name for which does not do it justice. Three dishes came, one with a light corn puree in a bowl, which was topped with sweetbread (which I actually do not care for at all – why do they call something sweet bread, when it is neither sweet, nor bread?). The smaller dishes along side were consommé with a ravioli and corn with shrimp. For mains, we had the Rabbit/Scallop, with artichoke, sweet potato and black garlic, and the Maine Lobster, with heirloom beets, parmesan crumble and bergamot. Poor little baby rabbits, getting eaten again. I couldn’t deal with eating the small little rabbit ribs in Sonoma, and still can’t. Poor Peter and his family (anyone? Peter Cottontail? No? Bueller?). Scallops on the other hand, they are lonely creatures, no family bonds and they aren’t particularly cute either (nor do they have children’s tales written about them). While we are at it, lobsters are probably one of my favorite foods. High in cholesterol, high in taste. The lobster was tender and perfectly cooked, not overly buttery (darn). The parmesan crumble was more like a parmesan crisp and the Bergamot added just the right around of citrus infusion to the dish.
At the end of the meal (after the dessert I didn’t even want) they served the French style macaroons – which are 100% better than the Kosher of Passover ones… sorry mom – and a series of chocolates that I wanted to take home, but thought that would be too tacky… agree? Even the shortbread cookies that were given with the check were great. So to wrap up, Corton is short on atmosphere but it has excellent food from a young chef on the rise.
http://www.cortonnyc.com/
The website says the restaurant reflects a light and intimate style. I was thinking more muted and stark. When we first walked in, I wanted to turn around and walk out. You can tell on your first step through the door that the restaurant has no viable atmosphere. The walls are bright white, with a small smattering of colored flowers on tips of whiter embossed vines. It’s tough enough that that area where this restaurant is located is fairly frightening. I felt like I was walking down a dark alley without any mace… except its 2 feet from the Holland Tunnel and in an “up and coming” neighborhood.
There is that man called Paul Liebrandt running the kitchen. I guess he’s a 30ish year old dynamo who just received two Michelin stars. I’m going to be 30 next year…this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel old, boring and unaccomplished (even though I’m young, vivacious and quite generally amazing).
So, all ambiance aside, lets get down to the dirty dirty.
I would call this place a “special occasion” restaurant. Most of the people were about 30 years my senior. The elders know whats up. I went on a Wednesday night (happy bday N), which doesn’t necessarily show the pizzazz a restaurant can have on a weekend night. But, it can show its ability to sustain in a recessionista environment, it was packed when we left.
We had the three course prix fixe menu. The restaurant offered a three course and an overwhelming 10 courses. You know me, I like to eat, but I just wasn’t feeling the whole shebang when I saw how many plates the people next to us actually had at the table. Overwhelming isn’t the right word… it was down right absurd. But, they were loving every second of it, and so did we.
I started with the dish “From the Garden”, its one of their most well known appetizers. It was one of the most beautiful displays of fresh vegetables I have ever seen…on a plate. There were baby carrots, two different color beets, corn puree, and some other vegetables, some of which I could not even identify, but wish I could because they were delicious. The vegetables were topped with numerous delicate, edible flowers. I felt like I was eating something that they had grown in the backyard (ok, so I hope not a backyard in the middle of Tribeca, more like a backyard in the middle of a farm upstate). We also had the Corn appetizer, the name for which does not do it justice. Three dishes came, one with a light corn puree in a bowl, which was topped with sweetbread (which I actually do not care for at all – why do they call something sweet bread, when it is neither sweet, nor bread?). The smaller dishes along side were consommé with a ravioli and corn with shrimp. For mains, we had the Rabbit/Scallop, with artichoke, sweet potato and black garlic, and the Maine Lobster, with heirloom beets, parmesan crumble and bergamot. Poor little baby rabbits, getting eaten again. I couldn’t deal with eating the small little rabbit ribs in Sonoma, and still can’t. Poor Peter and his family (anyone? Peter Cottontail? No? Bueller?). Scallops on the other hand, they are lonely creatures, no family bonds and they aren’t particularly cute either (nor do they have children’s tales written about them). While we are at it, lobsters are probably one of my favorite foods. High in cholesterol, high in taste. The lobster was tender and perfectly cooked, not overly buttery (darn). The parmesan crumble was more like a parmesan crisp and the Bergamot added just the right around of citrus infusion to the dish.
At the end of the meal (after the dessert I didn’t even want) they served the French style macaroons – which are 100% better than the Kosher of Passover ones… sorry mom – and a series of chocolates that I wanted to take home, but thought that would be too tacky… agree? Even the shortbread cookies that were given with the check were great. So to wrap up, Corton is short on atmosphere but it has excellent food from a young chef on the rise.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Marea
Marea is directly off Central Park South, with view a (past the traffic) from the main dining room and bar. The bar area is great for a before dinner drink or after work with a client. Its backdrop of a glowing cross section of a tree nicely compliments the dark wood interior. The stairway to the bathroom was slightly disorienting. It is very dark, shiny, with almost mirror-like dark wood and quite steep. It felt as if I was walking into a fancy funhouse. However, at the bottom it opens up to a fancy private dining room and nice clean and big bathrooms. I heard that if you sit too close to the street side of the restaurant that it gets noisy. We sat in the back and it was busy yet quiet. The restaurant, although full, was quiet and calm, with servers moving about seamlessly. The sommelier introduced us to a chardonnay that I actually liked! Very impressive in itself.
Trio of Crudo: In general, if you need a like pre-appetizer, crudo is the way to go. We tried the trio because, being us, we can not decide on one thing, and aren’t interested in being confined to things like… dishes or… price. So, we got the trio (which in actuality wasn’t overpriced).
- Scallop with orange and cucumber – This was my favorite. The diver scallops were delicious. They were large slices, not so large that you even got a whole scallop, but for a crudo, it was a decent size.
- Tuna with cucumber. This was just ok. The tuna was good, nice and dark, but it was nothing special. I would have liked some wasabi, spicy sauce and a roll instead.
- Branzino with caviar. We got this because we never get sea bass crudo. It was unimpressive and lacked taste. I don’t suggest getting this.
Zuppa. I can’t find it on any of the menus online, and don’t remember the full name. But, it was a delicious creamy pea soup, garnished with my new favorite vegetable, cauliflower. Ok, so this might sound slightly to very slightly like the soup I had at Convivio. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I was ordering a soup, I thought I was ordering scallops, which is what is in the middle of the soup, topped with trout roe. I only read what I want to read on the menus, I guess! The scallops tasted divine and melted in my mouth. I liked the scallops in this dish even better than the scallop crudo. Plus, I’m one of those few people who actually like the large fish eggs (roe). Yes, they can be a bit scary, but when they pop in your mouth its fun right? You eat chicken eggs why not fish eggs?
Lobster appetizer: Astice – Nova scotia lobster, burrata cheese, eggplant al funghetto and baby basil. My boyfriend loved this dish. The lobster was sweet and tender, which was nicely complimented by the creamy burrata cheese (which is an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream). It was an appetizer portion, so we didn’t expect much, and neither should you. It was probably a small tail wrapped around the dish in a circle. Still good and worth trying.
Mare – Shrimp, clams, scallops and basil risotto. As usual, I got the risotto. The risotto was just ideal for me, not too creamy and not too al dente. Since I love all things crustacean, mare risotto is a never fail dish choice. The only thing I could ask for here is a few more little guys in there. But, even splitting the dish, there was more than enough to eat.
Sturgeon - with spring garlic, morel mushrooms and a sweet sauce. We chose this dish because we never had this fish before. It was a meaty white fish. Not as meaty as swordfish (which I don’t like) but not as flaky as Halibut (which I love). I’m branching out one small meal at a time. I would not even be able to place spring garlic. According to another site, spring garlic is “immature garlic that hasn't yet developed its garlic bulb and has a much milder flavor than the mature bulbs, yet still has that distinct garlic flavor. It can be used in any recipe in place of regular garlic or leeks, and can be used raw or cooked.” Ok… well, that makes sense. It looked like a leek with a small garlic knot on the top, but didn’t smell or taste as potent. This dish was great, simple but a good use of fresh seasonal vegetables that I never would have thought of using. But, that’s why I just eat food, I don’t cook it.
Michael White has done it again. I loved Convivio and now I love Marea. I loved both so much; I am already telling out of town guests and my parents that I want them to check them out. Pretty good response from me, since I rarely have good experiences dining at brand new restaurants. He is one of my new favorites. Not only does he circle the restaurant talking to almost every patron (I obviously did not seem important enough, for he looked right at me and walked away… granted we had just ordered so didn’t have any food and probably looked desperate), but he now has cooked me two good meals in a month. Plus, he looks like a nice jolly fella.
Trio of Crudo: In general, if you need a like pre-appetizer, crudo is the way to go. We tried the trio because, being us, we can not decide on one thing, and aren’t interested in being confined to things like… dishes or… price. So, we got the trio (which in actuality wasn’t overpriced).- Scallop with orange and cucumber – This was my favorite. The diver scallops were delicious. They were large slices, not so large that you even got a whole scallop, but for a crudo, it was a decent size.
- Tuna with cucumber. This was just ok. The tuna was good, nice and dark, but it was nothing special. I would have liked some wasabi, spicy sauce and a roll instead.
- Branzino with caviar. We got this because we never get sea bass crudo. It was unimpressive and lacked taste. I don’t suggest getting this.
Zuppa. I can’t find it on any of the menus online, and don’t remember the full name. But, it was a delicious creamy pea soup, garnished with my new favorite vegetable, cauliflower. Ok, so this might sound slightly to very slightly like the soup I had at Convivio. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I was ordering a soup, I thought I was ordering scallops, which is what is in the middle of the soup, topped with trout roe. I only read what I want to read on the menus, I guess! The scallops tasted divine and melted in my mouth. I liked the scallops in this dish even better than the scallop crudo. Plus, I’m one of those few people who actually like the large fish eggs (roe). Yes, they can be a bit scary, but when they pop in your mouth its fun right? You eat chicken eggs why not fish eggs?
Lobster appetizer: Astice – Nova scotia lobster, burrata cheese, eggplant al funghetto and baby basil. My boyfriend loved this dish. The lobster was sweet and tender, which was nicely complimented by the creamy burrata cheese (which is an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream). It was an appetizer portion, so we didn’t expect much, and neither should you. It was probably a small tail wrapped around the dish in a circle. Still good and worth trying.
Mare – Shrimp, clams, scallops and basil risotto. As usual, I got the risotto. The risotto was just ideal for me, not too creamy and not too al dente. Since I love all things crustacean, mare risotto is a never fail dish choice. The only thing I could ask for here is a few more little guys in there. But, even splitting the dish, there was more than enough to eat.
Sturgeon - with spring garlic, morel mushrooms and a sweet sauce. We chose this dish because we never had this fish before. It was a meaty white fish. Not as meaty as swordfish (which I don’t like) but not as flaky as Halibut (which I love). I’m branching out one small meal at a time. I would not even be able to place spring garlic. According to another site, spring garlic is “immature garlic that hasn't yet developed its garlic bulb and has a much milder flavor than the mature bulbs, yet still has that distinct garlic flavor. It can be used in any recipe in place of regular garlic or leeks, and can be used raw or cooked.” Ok… well, that makes sense. It looked like a leek with a small garlic knot on the top, but didn’t smell or taste as potent. This dish was great, simple but a good use of fresh seasonal vegetables that I never would have thought of using. But, that’s why I just eat food, I don’t cook it.Michael White has done it again. I loved Convivio and now I love Marea. I loved both so much; I am already telling out of town guests and my parents that I want them to check them out. Pretty good response from me, since I rarely have good experiences dining at brand new restaurants. He is one of my new favorites. Not only does he circle the restaurant talking to almost every patron (I obviously did not seem important enough, for he looked right at me and walked away… granted we had just ordered so didn’t have any food and probably looked desperate), but he now has cooked me two good meals in a month. Plus, he looks like a nice jolly fella.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Cornertable does Nashville: Loveless Cafe and Pancake Pantry
Wow… Nashville is quite a town. I barely know where to begin. If you have never been to a Honkey Tonk, its time to go. It’s a mix between a random college bar, the set of Days of Thunder and the Talkhouse in Amagansett, NY. The first time I went to Nashville, we went to a bar called The Stage. There was a live band, and it was obvious they had followers (some cougars, some servicemen and women). A guy even proposed to his girlfriend on the stage. How romantic… I’m sure they will remember everything with fantastic beer goggles.Onto the good stuff… about a week before I went to Nashville for the first time, I was watching the food network and they had an entire episode dedicated to the wonderful food of Nashville, TN. The two takeaways I got were the Pancake Pantry and Loveless Café.
Pancake Pantry… let’s just start with the line. They don’t take reservations and won’t take your cell phone or even your name. You just have to stand in line…in the heat and sun. They do give you water in Dixie cups, which is nice. Anyway, I heard this place makes the “best pancakes ever.” This is coming from people who actually live in Nashville and are still willing to wait in line. So, that is a good sign. I tried the regular pancakes. I know what you are thinking… when there are a million pancakes to choose from, how could I possibly choose the regular ones?! Well, its simple, people. I just like to keep it real. The Food Network show just went on and on about the special recipe. I wanted to taste it, in it's true, unaltered form. Turns out, it was delish. BUT, I can honestly say that I have eaten a better pancake… I haven’t been to Clinton Street Bakery yet, but my fave pancake is at The Place in the West Village. They are twice as fluffy. The Pancake Pantry’s pancakes were just flat and regular looking. Maybe I was expecting too much out of a pancake. But sorry… it is what it is… just a pancake.
Now, Loveless Café is in a whole world of its own. It’s about 20 minutes outside of the city of Nashville. When I asked a couple people around, would they prefer Pancake Pantry or Loveless Café, they said Loveless for real down-home cooking. Since I had already been to the Pantry, I went with my parents and boyfriend to Loveless Café. Then, 1 hour and 45 minutes later, we were able to sit. Yes, it was that long of a wait. Granted, they are situated in a small make-shift town like atmosphere, so if you have 20-30 minutes to fill, you can. But almost two? No thanks… So, we drove off with their beeper and came back in an hour. (One issue with doing this is that the beeper makes a really annoying and constant beeping sound since it out of range).
Loveless Café is famous for their biscuits (of which Martha Stewart was denied the recipe) and the fried chicken. So, since I’m a fake-a-tarian now, I ordered the chicken fingers. I really couldn’t go all the way like my fellow diners and order the sampler. I would have passed out. Even the chicken fingers came with two sides, of which I got creamed corn (best I’ve ever had) and hash brown casserole. Yes…. I ate chicken fingers, creamed corn and hash brown casserole for lunch. There goes the last nine years of low blood pressure and low cholesterol. I gross myself out.Back to the biscuits. They were awesome. In my humble opinion, the secret ingredient is pancake mix… because they really did smell, taste and feel like pancakes. That is it. You heard it here first folks. I am the master of secret recipe discovery.
The sampler was three of your choice of meatloaf, fried chicken, pulled pork, catfish or ham (don’t forget the two sides, in case the entrée wasn’t enough). It is hard for me to even explain what the plates looked like when they came to the table. I mean, the four of us (granted mine was considerably smaller) could have fed a family of 15 with the amount we had. But, no one was willing to compromise and share. When in Rome/Nashville!
Speaking of Athens… ok maybe not, but I needed a segue and figured since I was talking about Rome and it is in Europe and so is Greece..., if you have never been to Nashville, you must also check out the full size replica of the Parthenon. No good reason to tell you… just wanted to.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
I heart Restaurant Week...
http://nycgo.com/?event=view.article&id=171992&cid=srw_coke_event_062909
Reason 41 to not like Restaurant Week... Who are they catering too? Don't you think that they should be catering to real NYers? The people that actually live here and might go to these restaurants more than once in every 6-7 years (assuming that tourists visit here that many times in their lifetime). How about people that work? Make money for the city's economy? Those people cannot go to a summer event from noon-2 on a weekday. When am I going to see something that is geared towards people who eat their breakfast and lunch at their desk? Then, I will accept restaurant week....maybe.
Anywho... back to your regular scheduled programming...
Reason 41 to not like Restaurant Week... Who are they catering too? Don't you think that they should be catering to real NYers? The people that actually live here and might go to these restaurants more than once in every 6-7 years (assuming that tourists visit here that many times in their lifetime). How about people that work? Make money for the city's economy? Those people cannot go to a summer event from noon-2 on a weekday. When am I going to see something that is geared towards people who eat their breakfast and lunch at their desk? Then, I will accept restaurant week....maybe.
Anywho... back to your regular scheduled programming...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Convivio
Tucked away in the corner of Tudor City, which someone not from NYC may not even know exists, is the cool little spot Convivio. Even though I saw the sign, I still did not think we were in the right place. I am not sure what I expected, but this was not it. The inside is decorated in a hip chic fashion, with bright oranges against a stark white background. The entire restaurant is understated, in a good way. The tables are not too close together, although I did hear a great conversation from the loud talker to my right. She was very into the NYC foodie scene and apparently has been EVERYwhere and wasn’t afraid to tell EVERYone. Her friends were über impressed. Sadly, I was slightly impressed also. She not only knew about the hip restaurants, but also knew about the owners/chef/gossip, etc. Nevertheless, she just sounded so ridiculous and annoying, yet made good people watching/listening. The mother and daughter next to me weren’t quite as exciting. Ok, ok, I know… This isn’t craigslist’s missed connections (awesome – check it out if you never have).
“OUR MENU IS RECOMMENDED AS A $ 59.00 FOUR COURSE PRIX FIXE”
That is awesome btw. Only $59 for a 4 course meal? Granted, I’m sure the dishes are smaller and you are forced to order a dessert, but still great!
We chose a number of the specials for the evening as our dishes, so you won’t be able to find them on the menu. We had the 4 course tasting menu, starting out with the prawn salad special and the fritedda. Usually I would not start with a soup, since it’s so filling and I like to be able to eat the rest of my meal. But, I went for it. The fritedda is a soup made from fava beans, English peas and artichoke toped with ricotta cheese and pancetta. It was amazing. I love a good pea soup, but this wasn’t heavy on the pea taste. It was a nice combination of pureed artichoke, fava beans (which I happen to love) and peas. The soup was not overly thick and creamy either. I am going to pretend that it had no dairy… just puree of vegetables. The cheese and pancetta just added a meaty flavor to balance out the dish.
This pasta tasted fresh and different. Squid Ink pasta with squid… that’s a lot of squids. Yet, this squid confused me… the waiter told me it was “like calamari” but, I didn’t taste calamari… It was chewier and tasteless. I could have done without it.
Malloreddus – Sardinian saffron gnocchetti, crab, sea urchin – This pasta was excellent with a great balance of the tender gnocchetti, the buttery uni, and crab.
I had some sort of fish. I think it was halibut. I remember thinking it was good, but can’t for the life of me remember what it came with! Oh well for YOU. You should go out to dinner with me more. I can’t continue to do this on my own!...
Costolette di Vitello: The veal chop was crusted with parmesan and was served with polenta croutons, onion salad, veal juice. Ohhhhh polenta croutons. Why do I always flock to the interesting and fun side dishes rather than the main? Granted, there is only so much you can do to a main, in this case veal chop. The veal was good, perfectly cooked, juicy, but it was the sauces and additions that made the dish.
The waiter and sommelier were very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. I tried the flat prosecco on the sommelier’s suggestion and it was excellent. I tend to drink prosecco when out with the girls, but never had (or knew that it was available) it flat. He also chose me a nice dry white for my dinner. The evening was calming and delicious. I definitely recommend this spot for a date, dinner with your parents, or really, anytime. I did try to make a reservation for 8 people and they only have one table available to seat that many, so it is not good for large groups.
I’ll be updating the blog with one of Michael White’s other restaurants shortly… because I just can’t get enough.
“OUR MENU IS RECOMMENDED AS A $ 59.00 FOUR COURSE PRIX FIXE”
That is awesome btw. Only $59 for a 4 course meal? Granted, I’m sure the dishes are smaller and you are forced to order a dessert, but still great!
We chose a number of the specials for the evening as our dishes, so you won’t be able to find them on the menu. We had the 4 course tasting menu, starting out with the prawn salad special and the fritedda. Usually I would not start with a soup, since it’s so filling and I like to be able to eat the rest of my meal. But, I went for it. The fritedda is a soup made from fava beans, English peas and artichoke toped with ricotta cheese and pancetta. It was amazing. I love a good pea soup, but this wasn’t heavy on the pea taste. It was a nice combination of pureed artichoke, fava beans (which I happen to love) and peas. The soup was not overly thick and creamy either. I am going to pretend that it had no dairy… just puree of vegetables. The cheese and pancetta just added a meaty flavor to balance out the dish.
This pasta tasted fresh and different. Squid Ink pasta with squid… that’s a lot of squids. Yet, this squid confused me… the waiter told me it was “like calamari” but, I didn’t taste calamari… It was chewier and tasteless. I could have done without it.
Malloreddus – Sardinian saffron gnocchetti, crab, sea urchin – This pasta was excellent with a great balance of the tender gnocchetti, the buttery uni, and crab.
I had some sort of fish. I think it was halibut. I remember thinking it was good, but can’t for the life of me remember what it came with! Oh well for YOU. You should go out to dinner with me more. I can’t continue to do this on my own!...
Costolette di Vitello: The veal chop was crusted with parmesan and was served with polenta croutons, onion salad, veal juice. Ohhhhh polenta croutons. Why do I always flock to the interesting and fun side dishes rather than the main? Granted, there is only so much you can do to a main, in this case veal chop. The veal was good, perfectly cooked, juicy, but it was the sauces and additions that made the dish.
The waiter and sommelier were very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. I tried the flat prosecco on the sommelier’s suggestion and it was excellent. I tend to drink prosecco when out with the girls, but never had (or knew that it was available) it flat. He also chose me a nice dry white for my dinner. The evening was calming and delicious. I definitely recommend this spot for a date, dinner with your parents, or really, anytime. I did try to make a reservation for 8 people and they only have one table available to seat that many, so it is not good for large groups.
I’ll be updating the blog with one of Michael White’s other restaurants shortly… because I just can’t get enough.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Basta Pasta
In case you were wondering… some restaurants do not open until 6pm on a Saturday night. What happened to me that I 1) went to dinner that early on a Saturday and 2) didn’t care? I love Basta Pasta. It is a great neighborhood spot… that really isn’t in a neighborhood in particular since its on 17th between 5th and 6th; pretty random area. A group of super friendly Japanese guys runs it and they have a knack for making updated Italian food.
We started out with the Insalata di Cesare - Basta Pasta’s original romaine lettuce Caesar salad. Wow… fancy. Just kidding. It was just a way for us to get an appetizer with greens. I enjoy a good starter salad.
One of my biggest food pet peeves is a crab cake without any crab. You know what I’m talking about; the crab dishes that come with mostly breading and something crunchy but not enough pieces of crabmeat. Luckily for them (cause I’m kind of a big deal), Basta Pasta’s crab dish had plenty of meat to go around (plus, not fried!) I could have done without the grapefruit jelly. However, that is only because I can’t stand grapefruit. I think the citrus and the consistency of the jelly is probably a good combination with the crab… maybe orange jelly? Just a thought… the apple and daikon were a nice side. I love green apples and daikon, although seemingly tasteless, does add a bit of a crunch to the dish. BTW – if you are thinking of ordering: Tortino di Granchio – Crab Meat, avocado, Green Apples, Yukon Gold Potatoes and basil aioli with grapefruit jelly, daikon radishes & chayoteAnother patron tipped us off to the specialty of the house was the pasta in a cheese wheel. What is that exactly? See here (to the left). They bring out a huge block of parmesan, melt a bowl
shaped area, put the pasta in and toss it around. It was definitely the biggest piece of cheese I ever cut… I mean saw… On the menu its called Spaghetti con Prosciutto d Parmigiano, which is spaghetti with parmigiano reggiano & parma prosciutto. I actually thought it was going to be a little too cheesy and greasy, but it was not at all. It tasted as if the pasta was cooked lightly in butter and then fresh partially melted cheese pieces were tossed throughout. The prosciutto was a nice salty addition to this savory dish.My date got the Orecchiette al Pollo Organico as his main. Kind of a change from the usual for him, as the meat he orders tends to be closer to the gamey type and farther from the ordinary. The dish is Orecchiette pasta with free-range chicken ragu, fresh tomatoes and sliced prosciutto. The chicken ragu was a step up from what I could make at home (I’m assuming here since its pretty obvious that I don’t cook from all my posts).
The pasta here is just good. Not as good as Babbo (which will be talked about in a future post) but, for a random neighborhood spot, it just can’t be beat.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Anthony David's: CornerTable does Hoboken
Yes, sometimes I find myself in Hoboken. I used to be scared. Scared of admitting there was a place in Jersey that wasn’t too bad. Scared of leaving the little city I live in. But, I’m over it. I’m getting over myself one day at a time.
On my way to self destruction…I mean discovery… I am allowing myself to experience the culinary mastery that is Hoboken, NJ. I have eaten at a couple places around town, but never went so far to blog about it! Whoa. Calm down there.
Anthony Davids wasn’t our first choice, but it was on “the list” so I’m glad we got to it. It was Mother’s Day, so there were people dressed up with families and babies and mommies. There I was in a t-shirt and a baseball cap (Go Marlins!). So… no worries, they take all kinds. Onto the purpose of this blog, since I can wax poetic all day.
We started with a hearty yet crisp romaine salad with caesar vinaigrette, parmesan (shaved and sliced) and a crostini dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and an olive tapenade. Of course I needed to try the Lobster Risotto with saffron and crisp peas. My only complaint was that the rice was more my-mom’s-paella, less good restaurant’s risotto. Granted, the description did say saffron, but I was thinking just yellow rice. The crisp peas were great as peas always are, so that made up for it a little bit. I had a taste of the lamb, which was very meaty, like a steak, not the tender juicy lamb I’m used to. Yet again, the dish was saved by the accompaniment, the blue cheese mashed potatoes. You can only imagine the smelly creaminess of it all.
The outdoor seating was a plus, as Hoboken is a cute little town, which I will soon call home. But, I’m a little scared if this is some of the best that Hoboken has to offer. I’ll still come back into the city for the good stuff.
On my way to self destruction…I mean discovery… I am allowing myself to experience the culinary mastery that is Hoboken, NJ. I have eaten at a couple places around town, but never went so far to blog about it! Whoa. Calm down there.
Anthony Davids wasn’t our first choice, but it was on “the list” so I’m glad we got to it. It was Mother’s Day, so there were people dressed up with families and babies and mommies. There I was in a t-shirt and a baseball cap (Go Marlins!). So… no worries, they take all kinds. Onto the purpose of this blog, since I can wax poetic all day.
We started with a hearty yet crisp romaine salad with caesar vinaigrette, parmesan (shaved and sliced) and a crostini dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and an olive tapenade. Of course I needed to try the Lobster Risotto with saffron and crisp peas. My only complaint was that the rice was more my-mom’s-paella, less good restaurant’s risotto. Granted, the description did say saffron, but I was thinking just yellow rice. The crisp peas were great as peas always are, so that made up for it a little bit. I had a taste of the lamb, which was very meaty, like a steak, not the tender juicy lamb I’m used to. Yet again, the dish was saved by the accompaniment, the blue cheese mashed potatoes. You can only imagine the smelly creaminess of it all.
The outdoor seating was a plus, as Hoboken is a cute little town, which I will soon call home. But, I’m a little scared if this is some of the best that Hoboken has to offer. I’ll still come back into the city for the good stuff.
Monday, June 15, 2009
CornerTable Barcelona Edition! : Commerc 24
Well, my boyfriend is, as you might have realized, very into food. When we decided to go to Barcelona, Spain for a quick jaunt, I knew I would be in for it on the eating front. So, he did a bunch of research and found this place Commerc 24 (named for its location’s number and street). It was a quiet, dark and loungy restaurant, decorated with a modern bourgeois flair, with a lot of red, black and yellow. We weren’t seated for 10 minutes when the waiter asked if we had been there before and started to explain the menu, which was the point where he was quickly stopped and told that we wanted the Grand Festival Tasting. Yes, even the name of the tasting menu sounded crazy. 12 courses later, I had finished one of the most unique meals I have ever had.
Luckily for me, they were nice enough to give us a list of the dishes we had on the menu. Two of the 12 courses, amuse bouche and dessert, were actually multiple small items. For the amuse we had: Olives stuffed with anchovies, golden macadamia nuts, chicharróns with guacahina, filo/parmesan/lime and basil, avocado and lobster makisand French oysters (Marennes d’oleron). Now, that may seem like a lot of food, and we were actually very shocked that this all came out at once, it was a little overwhelming and we tried to guess how many courses they would count it as. Turns out it was the first of many.
Course three: Cold infusion with flowers, vegetables and clams. Wow. Not only was this dish really pretty and cool looking but it was also a great soup. The soup wasn’t too salty or heavy, it was just a perfect blend of light and flavorful.
Course Four: consommé with truffle, parmesan and egg. This dish was equally as interesting as the last. In the soup dish, as you can see pictured, was a trio of encased fillings. The white parmesan, the black truffle and the yellow egg. I tried each of them separately at first, and they tasted as they should (which was only a guess because I have never tasted a bubble of yellow egg, let alone a black truffle), but the kicker was to crush them all together to flavor the consume. I believe this was how it should have been eaten, but I couldn’t pass up tasting the flavors one by one.
Course eight: Kinder Egg. After two basically mundane dishes, the eighth course came back with a vengeance. The hard shell of the egg was filled with a frothy, salty foam made of the egg whites. I have never eaten egg foam before, nor have I eaten out of an egg shell. It was almost like a salty dessert, because who really eats foam for a meal?
Course nine: Duck rice with foís gras. I didn’t eat this. Who really liked fois? WHO? Where are you and can you please explain to me why this is so popular? The rice was sticky it was flavored like duck....can't go wrong there...
Course eleven: sirloin with roses and berries. Again with the flowers. Now I know I love roses in every form. The steak was a little well done, but the presentation, thin slivers of roses and a berry sauce was a great combination, bringing a little life to an otherwise dull piece of meat.
Luckily for me, they were nice enough to give us a list of the dishes we had on the menu. Two of the 12 courses, amuse bouche and dessert, were actually multiple small items. For the amuse we had: Olives stuffed with anchovies, golden macadamia nuts, chicharróns with guacahina, filo/parmesan/lime and basil, avocado and lobster makisand French oysters (Marennes d’oleron). Now, that may seem like a lot of food, and we were actually very shocked that this all came out at once, it was a little overwhelming and we tried to guess how many courses they would count it as. Turns out it was the first of many. Course two: Marinated sardines with blood orange and wasabi. Ugh sardines… they are little gross and slimey. I tried my hardest to eat one, but I couldn’t even put it in my mouth.
Course three: Cold infusion with flowers, vegetables and clams. Wow. Not only was this dish really pretty and cool looking but it was also a great soup. The soup wasn’t too salty or heavy, it was just a perfect blend of light and flavorful.
Course Four: consommé with truffle, parmesan and egg. This dish was equally as interesting as the last. In the soup dish, as you can see pictured, was a trio of encased fillings. The white parmesan, the black truffle and the yellow egg. I tried each of them separately at first, and they tasted as they should (which was only a guess because I have never tasted a bubble of yellow egg, let alone a black truffle), but the kicker was to crush them all together to flavor the consume. I believe this was how it should have been eaten, but I couldn’t pass up tasting the flavors one by one.Course five: Razor clam and tangerine Yakisoba – I don’t remember this one at all. I have been avioding clams in general ever since I found out I'm slightly allergic.
Course six: Pizza-sashimi with tuna. This is one of the favored dishes in the restaurant. It was decent, but not as wonderful and unique as the rest. The tuna sashimi, as with the next dish, was good, but the pieces were so small and I’m not totally sure that it should be considered pizza. It was more a cracker topped with tuna.
Course seven: Tune tartar. Same as above. Nothing special, but still good.
Course eight: Kinder Egg. After two basically mundane dishes, the eighth course came back with a vengeance. The hard shell of the egg was filled with a frothy, salty foam made of the egg whites. I have never eaten egg foam before, nor have I eaten out of an egg shell. It was almost like a salty dessert, because who really eats foam for a meal? 
Course nine: Duck rice with foís gras. I didn’t eat this. Who really liked fois? WHO? Where are you and can you please explain to me why this is so popular? The rice was sticky it was flavored like duck....can't go wrong there...Course ten: Sardines… I don’t really have much to say about this. I tried it, because hey… when in Rome (Spain). But, sardines are just gross little slimey things.
Course eleven: sirloin with roses and berries. Again with the flowers. Now I know I love roses in every form. The steak was a little well done, but the presentation, thin slivers of roses and a berry sauce was a great combination, bringing a little life to an otherwise dull piece of meat. Course twelve: Dessert overload.
Mandarin-passion-mint
Muesli-yogurt-passion
Sable with pineapple and meringue
Bread, oil, chocolate and salt
Nougat with tuille cigar, chocolate and coffee
Black sesame Oreo with vanilla
Chocolates
Its too hard to go into the exact description of every dessert. There was A LOT of them. I was surprised when they brought everything out, the waiter didn’t say “TA DA!” at the culmination. My favorite dessert was the bread, oil, chocolate and salt. Not such a great menu description? Actually it was. It was literally a piece of bread, pieces of chocolate and an accompaniment of oil and salt. All my favorite things wrapped into one: starchy, sweet, salty, oily goodness. Ok, fine, some of the other dishes were more imaginative, but sometimes less is more, especially at the end of a 12 course meal. There was only so much I could take.
At least we didn’t have the wine pairing. I think that would have put me over the edge. Instead, we had a nice bottle of white which the server poured us throughout the meal. I really liked everything about this restaurant. I like to non-overbearing, yet great service; I liked the wine; I liked the interesting and unique food combinations and the glamorous presentation. I’ve only been to Barcelona for 3 days in my life, so I can’t say it’s the #1 place in the city and you definitely need to go there (ok, I’m pretty positive that Il Buli is the #1 place… in the world…) but, if you are looking for some place to spend the evening and perk up your sense, Commerc 24 is a good start.
Ok, ok, we also went to the famous Bar Pinotxo in the Boqueria. You MUST try it if you head to Barcelona. The Boqueria is the coolest food market on earth (that I have been too…). The seafood is ridiculous looking; huge lobsters with claws as big as my hand, crabs as big as my head, tuna steaks as big as my thigh (which is huge...I’m a food blogger). The owner/chef of Pinotxo, Juanito is awesome. Stop by and let him pick the plates for you. He is a legend in Barcelona and quite possibly the most photographed 
person in the Boqueria. He has been written up in magazines and is the cutest little funniest looking man ever. He served us wonderful cockle clams, squid with white beans and langoustines. They were all great.
Ok, ok, we also went to the famous Bar Pinotxo in the Boqueria. You MUST try it if you head to Barcelona. The Boqueria is the coolest food market on earth (that I have been too…). The seafood is ridiculous looking; huge lobsters with claws as big as my hand, crabs as big as my head, tuna steaks as big as my thigh (which is huge...I’m a food blogger). The owner/chef of Pinotxo, Juanito is awesome. Stop by and let him pick the plates for you. He is a legend in Barcelona and quite possibly the most photographed 
person in the Boqueria. He has been written up in magazines and is the cutest little funniest looking man ever. He served us wonderful cockle clams, squid with white beans and langoustines. They were all great.*Random Note: Gwyneth Paltrow's random blog/email called GOOP mentioned this restaurant!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Allen and Delancy
The first time I went to Allen and Delancy was, I believe, one of my first dates with my boyfriend after officially becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. While some might think it would hold a special place in my heart, I must admit that it only holds a place in my subconscious because I was half-asleep (its amazing we are still together after that showing). I am not sure what it is about that place that raises my melatonin levels so much. Maybe it is the fact that there are no windows, or that it is so dimly lit you can barely see across the room, or the quiet lull of the background muzak. This time around, I was a little perkier.
There is a tasting menu, but we passed since we wanted other things. I’m not into seared/charred octopus. I started with the Vialone Nano Risotto with baby shrimp, English peas, peas shoots and mint. As I have said many times in the past, I love risotto. It’s really difficult for me to pass it up, especially with peas! Remember that Top Chef episode when Carla made the side of peas? My mouth was watering like crazy. The risotto was made perfectly, not too creamy, not too al dente. The worse thing that can happen to risotto is cooking it al dente. What’s the point? We also had the diver scallops with Israeli couscous, lemon confit and cauliflower capers. The scallops (my other fave) were great as well. This was the scallops off the appetizer section, not the raw bar, where I prefer the smaller Nantucket bay scallops. There were 4 huge scallops in the dish, which is more than I would normally expect for an appetizer, so I was pleasantly surprised. The scallops were seared to perfection, with no heavy salt water or fishy taste or smell. I’m glad cauliflower is sticking around in dishes. I was introduced to cauliflower puree as a substitute to mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and never turned back. Anything with an accompaniment of cauliflower puree is already on the right track.
For entrees, we had the Cioppino of Day Boat Halibut with Great South Bay clams, and seafood sausage and the Beef Ribeye with morels, asparagus, white pearl onions, potato purée. The Halibut was decent. It was well cooked and served in a broth filled with clams. I am not a huge fan of clams, especially now that my allergist told me I was allergic #2 out of 5. Nevertheless, I still went for it since he said it was not that big of a deal and it was up to me if I wanted to avoid them. So… of course… I ordered them immediately. One day I will listen and care about what I put into my body. The seafood sausage was ok, its just seafood mashed together and stuffed in a sausage like shape. I have seen it on multiple menus recently and still have no idea what’s actually in it. I guess it’s a part of new wave of side dishes. The ribeye was fantastic and cooked to perfection.
Even though we didn’t get this dessert this time, I can not fail to mention the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Tart with whole milk sorbet and whiskey-vanilla milkshake. I’m told (as I am not a dessert eater) that it is heavenly.
Our waiter was mostly M.I.A., which was not too bad because we were served in a decent amount of time after ordering. The drinks there are tops. They have a decent and random beer selection if you, or whomever you are with, is some sort of beer connoisseur. The bar scene is slightly more upbeat than the restaurant itself (maybe because you are near a window?) and you can eat at the bar and chat up the cute knowledgeable bartenders.
The LES is not as scary as it seems (for us west-siders). Yeah, it’s far, but it also has a lot to offer in terms of hot new restaurants and even two year old A&D. There are a couple of cute after dinner drink spots for a solid romantic date, but I don’t want to give away any (more) good secrets.
There is a tasting menu, but we passed since we wanted other things. I’m not into seared/charred octopus. I started with the Vialone Nano Risotto with baby shrimp, English peas, peas shoots and mint. As I have said many times in the past, I love risotto. It’s really difficult for me to pass it up, especially with peas! Remember that Top Chef episode when Carla made the side of peas? My mouth was watering like crazy. The risotto was made perfectly, not too creamy, not too al dente. The worse thing that can happen to risotto is cooking it al dente. What’s the point? We also had the diver scallops with Israeli couscous, lemon confit and cauliflower capers. The scallops (my other fave) were great as well. This was the scallops off the appetizer section, not the raw bar, where I prefer the smaller Nantucket bay scallops. There were 4 huge scallops in the dish, which is more than I would normally expect for an appetizer, so I was pleasantly surprised. The scallops were seared to perfection, with no heavy salt water or fishy taste or smell. I’m glad cauliflower is sticking around in dishes. I was introduced to cauliflower puree as a substitute to mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and never turned back. Anything with an accompaniment of cauliflower puree is already on the right track.
For entrees, we had the Cioppino of Day Boat Halibut with Great South Bay clams, and seafood sausage and the Beef Ribeye with morels, asparagus, white pearl onions, potato purée. The Halibut was decent. It was well cooked and served in a broth filled with clams. I am not a huge fan of clams, especially now that my allergist told me I was allergic #2 out of 5. Nevertheless, I still went for it since he said it was not that big of a deal and it was up to me if I wanted to avoid them. So… of course… I ordered them immediately. One day I will listen and care about what I put into my body. The seafood sausage was ok, its just seafood mashed together and stuffed in a sausage like shape. I have seen it on multiple menus recently and still have no idea what’s actually in it. I guess it’s a part of new wave of side dishes. The ribeye was fantastic and cooked to perfection.
Even though we didn’t get this dessert this time, I can not fail to mention the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Tart with whole milk sorbet and whiskey-vanilla milkshake. I’m told (as I am not a dessert eater) that it is heavenly.
Our waiter was mostly M.I.A., which was not too bad because we were served in a decent amount of time after ordering. The drinks there are tops. They have a decent and random beer selection if you, or whomever you are with, is some sort of beer connoisseur. The bar scene is slightly more upbeat than the restaurant itself (maybe because you are near a window?) and you can eat at the bar and chat up the cute knowledgeable bartenders.
The LES is not as scary as it seems (for us west-siders). Yeah, it’s far, but it also has a lot to offer in terms of hot new restaurants and even two year old A&D. There are a couple of cute after dinner drink spots for a solid romantic date, but I don’t want to give away any (more) good secrets.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Momofuku Ko
The piece de resistance: Momofuku Ko. What kind of restaurant doesn’t have a phone? (or at least claims it does not have one). A good one. What kind of restaurant stays alive with only 24 patrons a night? A great one. What kind of restaurant has a chef that consistently wins awards, yet still works in your face with only two other people helping out? An amazing one. And there we have Momofuku Ko. You can barely tell where it is on the street, as there is no sign (just the peach). Then, once you get inside, show your email and ID, you are seated in front of a pretty small and very clean kitchen. Just you and the 11 other chosen ones. The seatings are spread out so, if you are lucky, the people next to you or down the way are a course ahead, so you get a little bit of a preview. You can close your eyes, or pray for the first seating, if you want. It doesn’t matter anyway, the food is better than it looks from a far, so not matter what you see, you will be more than happy when it comes your way.
For your reading and drooling pleasure, I have done my best (with a little help from a friend… ok, a lot of help) to let you know what could possibly be in store for you on your adventure into eating a 10 course meal.
Pea amuse w biscuits – pea soup. I love pea soup. Specifically I love a thick, puree of split pea soup. This was better than that. The sweetness outshined the thickness and even though it was only a small portion, it was wonderful. The pea amuse was paired with a small freshly made biscuit topped with a honey syrup drizzle. A perfect way to start to meal, a little sweet and a little savory to open up your taste buds.
Fluke sashimi buttermilk, white soy. This was our second time at Ko. The first time, we had the fluke sashimi as well. Having this before did in no way alter its brilliance. The sashimi was fresh and thickly and precisely sliced by David Chang himself. The buttermilk and soy added a creamy texture to an otherwise meaty fish dish.
Dashi soup, uni, chives, pea shoots. This salty light soup was a nice segue into the heavier courses. Typically I avoid uni because it’s a weird color and weirder texture. But, like a good little eater, I just went for it. I’m glad I did. I am not longer totally afraid of uni….only slightly now. The pea shoots were split open with the peas seemingly placed one by one in their pockets, as they were crispy and shelled.
Smoked egg, caviar, fingerling potato chips, onions. The smoked soft boiled egg was also a part of our first meal at Ko. It was also the most memorable for me and one of the most unique dishes they serve. To be honest, I do not believe I had a soft boiled egg before Ko. They’ve ruined me forever since every soft boiled egg I have from now on will never live up to this.
Hand torn pasta, pecorino, chicken skin, snail sausage. Everyone loves their sausage… not sure about that chicken skin…. This dish was an interesting mix of textures, with the crispy skins, the smooth soft pasta and the rubbery cheese and sausage.
Foie Gras, Riesling jelly, lychees, peanut brittle. Am I the only one on earth that doesn’t like this dish? It’s tough, since I don’t like fois gras or lychees… so… how can I comment?
Snapper – so I had this instead. A small but fresh and tasty piece of snapper. It wasn’t the most impressive dish, but my bad for not wanting the specialty of the house.
Soft shell crab, celery noodles, hearts of palm, old bay. I talked to David Chang. Yes, I did. I asked him when they started serving soft shell crab. I knew it was just starting to come into season and knew it wasn’t actually in season in the northeast. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. (Does anyone watch the Simpsons anymore?) They just started serving them that week, and imported them from the Carolinas.
Deep fried short ribs (sous vided for 48 hours), scallion purée, onion Way too fatty for me, but my boyfriend LOVED them.
Guava sorbet with cream cheese skin I actually tasted dessert… a cold ice cream like dessert. I only did it because I was interested in the cream cheese skin. You know when you bite half way through a watermelon jellybean? You can see the green skin around the red middle? This was kind of like that. It was red sorbet with a white candy shell (except cream cheese, not candy).
Funnel cake with black sesame ice cream, lemon curd, coconut milk. WOW. I love funnel cake. Love it. I can’t help but like fried dough. It was the prefect ending to the perfect meal, a little playful and something I can never imagine making for myself but I would dream about it.
Take it from someone who has been there twice and will be going again and again, if the internet allows… It is worth putting an Outlook reminder 10am every morning for the opening of the week’s reservations. And even a little random checking in case of cancellations. Also, make sure you cancel any plans you have that night because unless you are going out partying with some famous people for free at a club you never would be able to get into any other way and it will make you an instant star, anyone who would consider themselves a foodie, or even a person who just likes to eat good food should go to Ko when the green check mark says they can.
For your reading and drooling pleasure, I have done my best (with a little help from a friend… ok, a lot of help) to let you know what could possibly be in store for you on your adventure into eating a 10 course meal.
Pea amuse w biscuits – pea soup. I love pea soup. Specifically I love a thick, puree of split pea soup. This was better than that. The sweetness outshined the thickness and even though it was only a small portion, it was wonderful. The pea amuse was paired with a small freshly made biscuit topped with a honey syrup drizzle. A perfect way to start to meal, a little sweet and a little savory to open up your taste buds.
Fluke sashimi buttermilk, white soy. This was our second time at Ko. The first time, we had the fluke sashimi as well. Having this before did in no way alter its brilliance. The sashimi was fresh and thickly and precisely sliced by David Chang himself. The buttermilk and soy added a creamy texture to an otherwise meaty fish dish.
Dashi soup, uni, chives, pea shoots. This salty light soup was a nice segue into the heavier courses. Typically I avoid uni because it’s a weird color and weirder texture. But, like a good little eater, I just went for it. I’m glad I did. I am not longer totally afraid of uni….only slightly now. The pea shoots were split open with the peas seemingly placed one by one in their pockets, as they were crispy and shelled.
Smoked egg, caviar, fingerling potato chips, onions. The smoked soft boiled egg was also a part of our first meal at Ko. It was also the most memorable for me and one of the most unique dishes they serve. To be honest, I do not believe I had a soft boiled egg before Ko. They’ve ruined me forever since every soft boiled egg I have from now on will never live up to this.
Hand torn pasta, pecorino, chicken skin, snail sausage. Everyone loves their sausage… not sure about that chicken skin…. This dish was an interesting mix of textures, with the crispy skins, the smooth soft pasta and the rubbery cheese and sausage.
Foie Gras, Riesling jelly, lychees, peanut brittle. Am I the only one on earth that doesn’t like this dish? It’s tough, since I don’t like fois gras or lychees… so… how can I comment?
Snapper – so I had this instead. A small but fresh and tasty piece of snapper. It wasn’t the most impressive dish, but my bad for not wanting the specialty of the house.
Soft shell crab, celery noodles, hearts of palm, old bay. I talked to David Chang. Yes, I did. I asked him when they started serving soft shell crab. I knew it was just starting to come into season and knew it wasn’t actually in season in the northeast. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. (Does anyone watch the Simpsons anymore?) They just started serving them that week, and imported them from the Carolinas.
Deep fried short ribs (sous vided for 48 hours), scallion purée, onion Way too fatty for me, but my boyfriend LOVED them.
Guava sorbet with cream cheese skin I actually tasted dessert… a cold ice cream like dessert. I only did it because I was interested in the cream cheese skin. You know when you bite half way through a watermelon jellybean? You can see the green skin around the red middle? This was kind of like that. It was red sorbet with a white candy shell (except cream cheese, not candy).
Funnel cake with black sesame ice cream, lemon curd, coconut milk. WOW. I love funnel cake. Love it. I can’t help but like fried dough. It was the prefect ending to the perfect meal, a little playful and something I can never imagine making for myself but I would dream about it.
Take it from someone who has been there twice and will be going again and again, if the internet allows… It is worth putting an Outlook reminder 10am every morning for the opening of the week’s reservations. And even a little random checking in case of cancellations. Also, make sure you cancel any plans you have that night because unless you are going out partying with some famous people for free at a club you never would be able to get into any other way and it will make you an instant star, anyone who would consider themselves a foodie, or even a person who just likes to eat good food should go to Ko when the green check mark says they can.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
River Cafe: CornerTable goes to Brooklyn
Let me set the scene: it was a gorgeous night, no clouds in the sky; a perfect early summer night in NYC… or should I say Brooklyn?
Yes, I went to a borough.
The River Café’s famous setting is why people go there, for the views of Manhattan and the flowery surrounding garden (which smelled amazing). The décor and the view made you feel like you were on a boat on the river. Yet, what they are lacking is the reason people go back to restaurants time and time again… the food. Who cares about the view when you are spending $98 a person (all meals are price fixed) for food you can get anywhere. It is just not as impressive as the skyline.
The tasting menu sounded meek (and was $125 btw), so we went for the two app, two entrée scene. Of course, now that it is summer time, there was a soft shell crab appetizer special, which we promptly ordered. We also went for the rabbit and ravioli. The soft shell crab appetizer was a rather large crab with…to be honest; I don’t even remember what was on the side of the crab. It was decently cooked, but considering I had a decent soft shell crab entrée the night before at a random restaurant/bar in Hoboken, I wasn’t enthralled. The Rabbit and Ravioli appetizer was rabbit loin wrapped in panchetta on top of hand-made cheese ravioli. I was expecting the cheese to be of the stinky, flavorful variety to balance out the gamey taste of the rabbit. To my chagrin, both the rabbit and the ravioli were bland, nearly tasteless, considering all the potential it had.
Now, before I go onto the entrees I must tell you the real reason I will never go back to River Café. It should be obvious that I didn’t care much for the food, but it was the despicable service that did me in. Consider this… I had no idea who was actually our waiter. There were about 5 people working for us, filling water, clearing silverware, folding napkins, etc. But, until we were seated for, let’s underestimate it at, 20 minutes, we were not asked what we wanted for drinks. Then, once we actually ordered a bottle of wine and some prosecco, we waited, again underestimated, 20 minutes until we were asked if we were ready to order. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for a leisurely dinner, but there comes a point where you are sitting there at the table with your menu closed with no one in the restaurant acting like you are there, when you realize that something has gone wrong. Did our waiter quit? Do we not have one? Oh! There he is. Once we ordered, we got our food within another 20 minutes (rather quick actually). But, at the end we were completely ignored for the check. After 3 hours of dining, when half the restaurant was empty… we just sat there…wondering…maybe we should have dined and dashed?!
So, onto the entrees. I had the branzino with tomatoes and some lemon sauce that I chose not to put all over my fish. They unhappily left the sauce at the table for me when I told them I wanted it on the side. The fish wasn’t horrible. It was covered with a baked almond crust and stuffed with shrimp and chorizo, which is the reason our “waiter” (and I use that term loosely) told me it was a better choice than the sea bass with artichokes. My date had the rack of lamb, which was supposedly one of their specialties. I found the lamb to be extremely fatty, so much so that there
were huge chucks of fat left on the plate with each piece. The dessert was decent, and came with the price fixed menu. I don’t normally order a dessert, so I ordered the fancy Brooklyn bridge mousse, where chocolate was formed in the shape of the bridge. It was cool. I took a picture.
One we were finally able to pay and leave, we found that we were at the edge of Brooklyn with no way to get home! Luckily, I scored a cab, where we got to hear the end of the Cavs game (Lebron is ridiculous) and got safely back to the city.
By the way, if you have been there, please let me know if you also think that the dining room is slanted towards the water? It was a little disorienting.
Yes, I went to a borough.
The River Café’s famous setting is why people go there, for the views of Manhattan and the flowery surrounding garden (which smelled amazing). The décor and the view made you feel like you were on a boat on the river. Yet, what they are lacking is the reason people go back to restaurants time and time again… the food. Who cares about the view when you are spending $98 a person (all meals are price fixed) for food you can get anywhere. It is just not as impressive as the skyline.
The tasting menu sounded meek (and was $125 btw), so we went for the two app, two entrée scene. Of course, now that it is summer time, there was a soft shell crab appetizer special, which we promptly ordered. We also went for the rabbit and ravioli. The soft shell crab appetizer was a rather large crab with…to be honest; I don’t even remember what was on the side of the crab. It was decently cooked, but considering I had a decent soft shell crab entrée the night before at a random restaurant/bar in Hoboken, I wasn’t enthralled. The Rabbit and Ravioli appetizer was rabbit loin wrapped in panchetta on top of hand-made cheese ravioli. I was expecting the cheese to be of the stinky, flavorful variety to balance out the gamey taste of the rabbit. To my chagrin, both the rabbit and the ravioli were bland, nearly tasteless, considering all the potential it had.
Now, before I go onto the entrees I must tell you the real reason I will never go back to River Café. It should be obvious that I didn’t care much for the food, but it was the despicable service that did me in. Consider this… I had no idea who was actually our waiter. There were about 5 people working for us, filling water, clearing silverware, folding napkins, etc. But, until we were seated for, let’s underestimate it at, 20 minutes, we were not asked what we wanted for drinks. Then, once we actually ordered a bottle of wine and some prosecco, we waited, again underestimated, 20 minutes until we were asked if we were ready to order. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for a leisurely dinner, but there comes a point where you are sitting there at the table with your menu closed with no one in the restaurant acting like you are there, when you realize that something has gone wrong. Did our waiter quit? Do we not have one? Oh! There he is. Once we ordered, we got our food within another 20 minutes (rather quick actually). But, at the end we were completely ignored for the check. After 3 hours of dining, when half the restaurant was empty… we just sat there…wondering…maybe we should have dined and dashed?!
So, onto the entrees. I had the branzino with tomatoes and some lemon sauce that I chose not to put all over my fish. They unhappily left the sauce at the table for me when I told them I wanted it on the side. The fish wasn’t horrible. It was covered with a baked almond crust and stuffed with shrimp and chorizo, which is the reason our “waiter” (and I use that term loosely) told me it was a better choice than the sea bass with artichokes. My date had the rack of lamb, which was supposedly one of their specialties. I found the lamb to be extremely fatty, so much so that there
were huge chucks of fat left on the plate with each piece. The dessert was decent, and came with the price fixed menu. I don’t normally order a dessert, so I ordered the fancy Brooklyn bridge mousse, where chocolate was formed in the shape of the bridge. It was cool. I took a picture.One we were finally able to pay and leave, we found that we were at the edge of Brooklyn with no way to get home! Luckily, I scored a cab, where we got to hear the end of the Cavs game (Lebron is ridiculous) and got safely back to the city.
By the way, if you have been there, please let me know if you also think that the dining room is slanted towards the water? It was a little disorienting.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
TBSP
On a quiet Saturday morning after a night of horrible heartburn, all I wanted was pancakes. I figured I deserved them, because I had not eaten for 24 hours. The line at Clinton Street Baking company was over an hour long (at 9:45 am…it opens at 10). So, we went over to a neighborhood spot that we had walked by a number of times. Spoon catering company is a quiet family owned business, which opened a small restaurant, TBSP, with delicious looking brownies behind the counter and a very pleasant staff. Last time we tried to go, there was a very long line. So, this time, we weren’t expecting much. But, maybe this sleeper spot actually serves the sleepy and doesn’t wake up until after noon.
“tablespoon is founded on the idea that fresh, local ingredients and quality recipes make for culinary success.”
I agree. I like the new locavore movement. If I had any natural light coming into my apartment or any type of balcony and/or open air space, I would probably be growing my own herbs and possibly my own small fruits or vegetables (I would also probably be a bit happier). But, being a poor New Yorker, I must rely on restaurants stepping up and serving the freshest food they can. The menu (to the left) had no simple options; everything was unique sounding and filled with flavor. We had the breakfast pizza (egg pizza) and the blueberry pancakes. The pancakes were wonderfully buttery, but undercooked, almost raw. The bacon was a little fatty, but, because bacon supposedly cures all ailments, I had to eat it…The breakfast pizza was two poached eggs, on top of a salad of greens, tomatoes, manchego cheese and bacon. The bread was crisp and starchy… 
The base for it was "pan tomate", a Barcelona specialty, which I hear is actually an excellent segway into my upcoming posts on the food extravaganza that is my trip to Barcelona, Spain!
The base for it was "pan tomate", a Barcelona specialty, which I hear is actually an excellent segway into my upcoming posts on the food extravaganza that is my trip to Barcelona, Spain!All that being said, I was sick so I can’t 100% say with confidence that it was the best meal I have ever had, but it is definitely worth a stop by if you are in the neighborhood. Ah, I love Chelsea.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Co.
A pizza place, that’s all it is right? Well, this is not Pizza Hut or Pizza 33 (ok, that second one is actually a favorite of mine). Check out the menu, this place is gourmand. Want a regular cheese pizza? Don’t be a loser. You didn’t go to Co. just for a cheese pizza. You have to order the one with the salad on top. Sorry to include me in my inner monologue…Co. (or as the sign reads on the store front: Company) just recently opened for lunch, so I had to check it out. You can see by my other post about this restaurant that I tried to go to lunch there a couple weeks ago and it was not an option. What a waste of a 5 block walk (lazy bum… sorry... inner monologue). I don’t know
what to say about this place. It’s pizza. The dough is excellent, but a little burnt on some parts (which you may like). It’s very dusty, i.e. when you eat it your fingers turn black with soot (char?). I ordered the Popeye (pictured..half eaten). It was a crispy spinach salad on top of a pizza pie. There was supposedly cheese on the dough, but I barely tasted any. Not to say it was bad, because it wasn’t. It’s a lot less greasy than the normal pizza I tend to eat and
way more unique. I’ve become a fiend for pepperoni and was slightly disappointed that there was no pepperoni option, only a couple different sausages. But again… unique is the operative word here. I also had a piece of the Ham and Cheese (pictured). Again, not too much cheese here, way more ham, or really prosciutto. It was nice and salty, which I love. The picture doesn't even do it justice, since it looks like I took some bread in my kitchen and threw prosciutto on top. I might even actually try to make this one, as it seems pretty simple.The décor is a mix between restaurant and pizza parlor. It is very non-descript… I probably shouldn’t be saying that considering I’m trying to describe it… I guess I should say, it was just simply decorated, yet not as simple as the typical pizza joint in the city. Co. is much more upscale and more like a restaurant.
There are a bunch of small two tops and some big tables in the middle. It would have been nice if the restaurant, which lets in semi decent light, was a little more open-air accessible. There is a rather large wine selection considering it’s just a pizza place (I know I keep saying that, but its true.) There are another menu options, including choice of the oh-so-minimalist cheese. I don’t have to go back. I’d say give it a try once, maybe for an early Sunday dinner, but you are going to go back to your local shop or the old staples like Patsy’s (actually in the same area and they deliver...) and Grimmaldi’s which are still tops in my book. I would have wanted to see a bigger selection of pizzas. Maybe that will come later. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if this place wasn’t around for too much longer unless they really come up with something special to keep people coming back.
Time magazine article mentioning Co.: http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1896713,00.html?cnn=yes
Nobu
Today I googled Nobu. Not, the restaurant or the chef, but the actual word. It means prolonged or stretched in Japanese. I know you wanted to know that…
Friday night, went out on a raining night to the original downtown location (I try to generally avoid midtown when not at work or in the park). I wanted to go to Nobu for a long time. It was on the list. I felt that as a good New Yorker, I needed to experience the restaurant that everyone has been to; I’m just a jealous person.
Happily, I came across a promotion that Continental (my new airline of choice) was running called International Restaurant Week. I am going to Barcelona in a couple weeks, so I wanted to check it out in case they were running some special at a restaurant there. Unfortunately (and fortunately?), the restaurant week was actually for internationally themed restaurants in NYC. Does that not encompass every restaurant?
Well, it did have Nobu, and for every $100 you spend there, you get $50 in Continental money. So, we figured, we were eating for ½ off! Nice recession thinking….
Speaking of recessions, wow… Nobu was getting hit pretty hard on that front. We walked in for an 8:45 reservation and the place looked like it was 4:30pm. I think there were about 5 tables full of people. Granted, by the time were were ½ way done with our meal, it had filled up. Yet, there is no bar scene, there were no people waiting for tables. Is this because I’m the only one left in NYC that hasn’t been to Nobu? Is this because it was raining? (We all know that this sadly deters people in the city from going out and people outside from coming in.) Is it because Nobu is overplayed and overpriced? It could be any number of those reasons.
We originally thought about ordering the Omakase. But, when hearing what it was (just a parade of the signature dishes, nothing off the menu or special), we decided to take a little cheaper route and order the dishes we actually wanted. Granted, some of those were the signature dishes, although after eating them, I can’t really understand why…
We started out with the Bigeye and Bluefin Toro tartar. The dish was very small and the poor presentation made it look even smaller. The toro itself was good, but that’s what you pay a heafty price for it. Our next dish was the Yellowtail Sashimi with jalapeno (pictured). I was told I needed to try this by a co-worker. While it was good sashimi in a nice sauce, the jalapeno was extraordinarily hot. No one's fault here but my own. I just can’t handle the heat! Next, I think because of the continental special, we were given a free appetizer by the chef. It was a lobster salad and was the worst dish we had the entire meal. It was lobsert claw meat (which isn’t the tastiest part, or the meatiest) in no sauce and served on random pieces of butter lettuce. Thanks? We were then partly saved by the Black pepper crusted Ahi Tuna salad. The tuna was good, but the sauce/dressing overwhelmed the dish. The lettuce on top was dry and the lettuce in the bottom was sopping. Granted, the 
dressing wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like how it was used. To end our foray into the cold apps, we had the squid pasta. I thought this was going to be pasta with squid. I probably wasn’t listening to the explanation… ok, I know I wasn’t, because we got a bowl of squid. It wasn’t like sautéed calamari. It was different. These were huge pieces of squid tenticles. If it sounds gross. That is because it was.
Our first signature dish, the Rock Shrimp Tempura (pictured) with creamy spicy sauce was decent. It was not spicy at all (good for me and explained as such by our waiter when we ordered). But, everyone makes rock shrimp tempura nowadays. If you are going to eat this, go to Lure Fishbar. Its amazing. Also, try the calamari there while you are at it. That dish was followed by the Black Miso Cod (pictured). I didn’t like this at all. All restaurants serve a version of this now, and Nobu’s was probably the worst I have tasted. The miso sauce was excellent. Yet, the fish was dry and tasteless. Cod isn’t the most tasty fish out there, actually I think its pretty bland. But, restautants have been able to transform this boring poor mans fish to a culinary hit. Nobu just failed me. Yes… there is more… We had to try the sushi. We ordered the house special roll (all of the
other rolls sounded incredibly boring) and some extra pieces of Spanish mackerel, Red Snapper, Eel. The sushi was decent. But, I guess there is no point in expecting good sushi from a restaurant not known for its sushi. You are better off going to Yama, Blue Ribbon, Sushi Yasuda or Sasabune.
Since its also the week of the Tribeca Film Festival, there were interesting characters in the restaurant. Next to us was a table of complete randoms. Maybe a film crew? Maybe the mob? The table was filled with about 12 people that had very heavy accents and were abnormally tan (considering we have only seen 2 days of sun this spring). It was someone’s birthday. They got him really odd gifts and probably thought I was a freak by starring at them. Whatever, I love people watching.
Maybe I should have gone to Nobu when people actually cared about it. There are so many new and better restaurants. Nobu was acclaimed for its innovation years ago, but now that all restaurants with the same theme make the same dishes, but better. There is no reason to return. I feel bad for myself and my boyfriend that we dragged ourselves there with high expectations.
Friday night, went out on a raining night to the original downtown location (I try to generally avoid midtown when not at work or in the park). I wanted to go to Nobu for a long time. It was on the list. I felt that as a good New Yorker, I needed to experience the restaurant that everyone has been to; I’m just a jealous person.
Happily, I came across a promotion that Continental (my new airline of choice) was running called International Restaurant Week. I am going to Barcelona in a couple weeks, so I wanted to check it out in case they were running some special at a restaurant there. Unfortunately (and fortunately?), the restaurant week was actually for internationally themed restaurants in NYC. Does that not encompass every restaurant?
Well, it did have Nobu, and for every $100 you spend there, you get $50 in Continental money. So, we figured, we were eating for ½ off! Nice recession thinking….
Speaking of recessions, wow… Nobu was getting hit pretty hard on that front. We walked in for an 8:45 reservation and the place looked like it was 4:30pm. I think there were about 5 tables full of people. Granted, by the time were were ½ way done with our meal, it had filled up. Yet, there is no bar scene, there were no people waiting for tables. Is this because I’m the only one left in NYC that hasn’t been to Nobu? Is this because it was raining? (We all know that this sadly deters people in the city from going out and people outside from coming in.) Is it because Nobu is overplayed and overpriced? It could be any number of those reasons.
We originally thought about ordering the Omakase. But, when hearing what it was (just a parade of the signature dishes, nothing off the menu or special), we decided to take a little cheaper route and order the dishes we actually wanted. Granted, some of those were the signature dishes, although after eating them, I can’t really understand why…
We started out with the Bigeye and Bluefin Toro tartar. The dish was very small and the poor presentation made it look even smaller. The toro itself was good, but that’s what you pay a heafty price for it. Our next dish was the Yellowtail Sashimi with jalapeno (pictured). I was told I needed to try this by a co-worker. While it was good sashimi in a nice sauce, the jalapeno was extraordinarily hot. No one's fault here but my own. I just can’t handle the heat! Next, I think because of the continental special, we were given a free appetizer by the chef. It was a lobster salad and was the worst dish we had the entire meal. It was lobsert claw meat (which isn’t the tastiest part, or the meatiest) in no sauce and served on random pieces of butter lettuce. Thanks? We were then partly saved by the Black pepper crusted Ahi Tuna salad. The tuna was good, but the sauce/dressing overwhelmed the dish. The lettuce on top was dry and the lettuce in the bottom was sopping. Granted, the 
dressing wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like how it was used. To end our foray into the cold apps, we had the squid pasta. I thought this was going to be pasta with squid. I probably wasn’t listening to the explanation… ok, I know I wasn’t, because we got a bowl of squid. It wasn’t like sautéed calamari. It was different. These were huge pieces of squid tenticles. If it sounds gross. That is because it was.Our first signature dish, the Rock Shrimp Tempura (pictured) with creamy spicy sauce was decent. It was not spicy at all (good for me and explained as such by our waiter when we ordered). But, everyone makes rock shrimp tempura nowadays. If you are going to eat this, go to Lure Fishbar. Its amazing. Also, try the calamari there while you are at it. That dish was followed by the Black Miso Cod (pictured). I didn’t like this at all. All restaurants serve a version of this now, and Nobu’s was probably the worst I have tasted. The miso sauce was excellent. Yet, the fish was dry and tasteless. Cod isn’t the most tasty fish out there, actually I think its pretty bland. But, restautants have been able to transform this boring poor mans fish to a culinary hit. Nobu just failed me. Yes… there is more… We had to try the sushi. We ordered the house special roll (all of the
other rolls sounded incredibly boring) and some extra pieces of Spanish mackerel, Red Snapper, Eel. The sushi was decent. But, I guess there is no point in expecting good sushi from a restaurant not known for its sushi. You are better off going to Yama, Blue Ribbon, Sushi Yasuda or Sasabune.Since its also the week of the Tribeca Film Festival, there were interesting characters in the restaurant. Next to us was a table of complete randoms. Maybe a film crew? Maybe the mob? The table was filled with about 12 people that had very heavy accents and were abnormally tan (considering we have only seen 2 days of sun this spring). It was someone’s birthday. They got him really odd gifts and probably thought I was a freak by starring at them. Whatever, I love people watching.
Maybe I should have gone to Nobu when people actually cared about it. There are so many new and better restaurants. Nobu was acclaimed for its innovation years ago, but now that all restaurants with the same theme make the same dishes, but better. There is no reason to return. I feel bad for myself and my boyfriend that we dragged ourselves there with high expectations.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Blue Ribbon Sushi
I always tell people that it is un-New York to not eat sushi. It’s my little way of getting back at the people who tell me it’s un-American to not eat ice cream (which I do not like). What are the best sushi places in NYC? Probably the ones I cannot afford to go to…
Citysearch has an interesting list , with Blue Ribbon coming in a strong 4.
Of those, I have also been to Yama (love it – on Irving), Morimoto (on the most expensive blind date ever, excellent food…) and Bond Street (decent, but more sceney than foodie).
Most of these places have been in NYMag’s list for years. I won’t spoil this entry with talking about my experience at Sasabune (because nothing compares). I guess good sushi will always be a staple in New York's diet.
I had only been to Blue Ribbon Sushi once before, so it was like the first time all over again. It’s difficult for me to describe sushi. I’m just hoping most people know what it is…
The Sake Tataki (salmon tartare) is one of the best in the business. I am not a huge salmon fan (too fishy and boring) and I really liked this dish. A couple of years ago, I had my first face off with a quail egg on top of tartar. Are raw eggs good for you? I know body builders love them, why shouldn’t I?
The Kanpachi Usuzukuri (thinly sliced amberjack with yuzu pepper) was next. I have never tasted amberjack. As usual, I looked it up. There are many pictures on the web of very excited people holding up their catches. Being from Florida myself, it’s a wonder that I have never eaten amberjack, yet they are found there.
Wakame (seaweed with sesame dressing): This is just a general favorite of mine. I think it’s the sweetness and the different textures. I would much rather have seaweed salads than 8 pieces of iceberg lettuce with ginger dressing.
Spicy Tuna & Tempura Flakes with cucumber inside out… do most real sushi eaters find spicy tuna a non-choice? It is definitely the one I, and all my friends, tend to go after at every place. For a while, I told myself that I was on a quest for the best spicy tuna roll in the city. Then, I realized that was a dumb quest and that tuna are filled with mercury and I shouldn’t be eating it more than once a week.
Where have I had a spicy tuna roll you ask? Let’s go through a few places: Yama, Aki Sushi, Sumile, Taka, Lure Fishbar, Blue Ginger, Blue Ribbon, Bond Street, Haru, Hakata Grill, Natsumi… ok ok you get the point? Some spicy rolls are overly spicy (Hakata! Thankfully the one by work closed), but Blue Ribbon has hit the mark. The roll is not overloaded with the spicy mayo nor is it 90% rice, 10% fish/mayo combo.
Spicy Crab Roll (blue crab & shiso) This is just another twist on a spicy tuna roll… with crab. I happen to love fake crab (kani). However, you really need the real crab in the good rolls, which Blue Ribbon had.
Madai (japanese red snapper). This was my “random sushi piece” choice of the night. I’m sorry to mention this, but Sasabune’s snapper sushi put this piece to shame (I mentioned it again...)
The Karai Ise Ebi (spicy lobster with egg wrapper.) I decided to test this one out because it was the most unique of the sushi choices and one roll just isn’t enough to fill me up. The egg wrapper was interesting. It reminded me of a crepe, very thin, no overpowering taste. The sushi piece came with a sizeable piece of lobster, no skimping here.
Blue Ribbon Sushi is a great choice if you don’t mind spending some dough to get some grub. We waited in the entrance way and were allowed to order drinks and appetizers (people were even eating full meals there) and waited 40 minutes on a Wednesday night at 8, table of 3. As a side note, I believe the people next to us were on a date, even though they were both married. Very awkward, yet, as usual, great NYC people watching.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Braeburn
I needed a place to bring my parents. This is not easy task. It was requested that I bring them somewhere like the places I write about, yet it can’t be too expensive (so I couldn’t go crazy) and it couldn’t be loud (which took out about 95% of the restaurants I would normally try). Therefore, off I went on a search for the perfect place.
I thought I knew the west village. Yet, another restaurant has popped up that I never knew about and never would have considered going to, if not for an equally obsessed foodie friend. Thanks Nick! (No not my nick, another nick). Its reasonably priced and reasonably quiet, not to mention they liked the food (and the company, which can’t be beat!)
I feel like we all really got to know Braeburn. There were four of us. We ordered 4 appetizers and 4 entrees, basically the entire menu. For appetizers, we ate the Clam Chowder with littleneck & razor clams, chorizo, dill, the Spring Mache Salad with breakfast radish, bacon, sherry shallot vinaigrette, the Quail “Sausage” with baby white turnips, smoked mustard sauce and the Roasted Beet Salad with Braeburn apples, spicy walnuts, goat cheese fondue. I don’t really feel the urge to discuss the salads, other than to say that they were good, as salads go. The clam chowder was excellent. It was what I would consider in a light cream sauce. It’s no Capital Parker’s, but sometimes you can do without the heavy appetizer. The chowder was nicely spiced, a bit “crunchy” for my mom’s taste, which was because of the crispy dill. Sounds gross? Tasted great. The quail “sausage” not only was an interesting dish to eat, but it was also a conversation piece. What is a quail sausage you ask? Well, I assumed it was quail spiced and in the shape of sausage. I was incorrect. I still think I am correct. My dad… disagrees. Yet, we did agree that it was rather tasty and uniquely creative. I suggest that you try it, if you are adventurous enough to taste a small helpless bird that never did anything to you anyway. Sorry – a little of the old vegetarian coming out there… back to reality (oh there goes gravity).
Continuing on our tour of Braeburn, we ordered the Top Sirloin of Lamb with crushed peas, mint, and garlic sausage, the Skate with bok choy, honshemeji mushrooms and maine mussel broth, the N.Y. Striploin with grilled radicchio, pickled cippolini, and balsamic vinegar and the Petite Veal Rack with fava beans, red shallot puree, and Madeira jus. To be honest, we only ordered all of these things because everyone else, less me, wanted to order to the lamb. I told them that was ridiculous, and because I’m boss they listened... How can I write a blog about one entrée? I’m selfish… So, we all ordered different items. I had the Skate, which is like a sting-ray. You can tell if you buy it in a store, or go to a restaurant that serves you hefty portions, the you are getting a big chunk of wing (yummy thought…). I love it. I first fell in love at Lure Fishbar (excellent). But Braeburns’s skate was equally as good. I like the way you can peel apart the fish in segments. I can’t help playing with my food. I did try everything. The lamb was excellent, and although I found it to be a little fatty, it was the better of the other three entrees. The steak was cooked well, but its just a steak… The veal rack was also well received. All in all, we had a good time and an excellent meal.
Random side note that I think is cool: They also have a $30 comfort menu that you can substitute with Passover menu until April 15th (I posted too late for this to matter; assuming anyone even reads this blog and/or takes my recommendations?)
I thought I knew the west village. Yet, another restaurant has popped up that I never knew about and never would have considered going to, if not for an equally obsessed foodie friend. Thanks Nick! (No not my nick, another nick). Its reasonably priced and reasonably quiet, not to mention they liked the food (and the company, which can’t be beat!)
I feel like we all really got to know Braeburn. There were four of us. We ordered 4 appetizers and 4 entrees, basically the entire menu. For appetizers, we ate the Clam Chowder with littleneck & razor clams, chorizo, dill, the Spring Mache Salad with breakfast radish, bacon, sherry shallot vinaigrette, the Quail “Sausage” with baby white turnips, smoked mustard sauce and the Roasted Beet Salad with Braeburn apples, spicy walnuts, goat cheese fondue. I don’t really feel the urge to discuss the salads, other than to say that they were good, as salads go. The clam chowder was excellent. It was what I would consider in a light cream sauce. It’s no Capital Parker’s, but sometimes you can do without the heavy appetizer. The chowder was nicely spiced, a bit “crunchy” for my mom’s taste, which was because of the crispy dill. Sounds gross? Tasted great. The quail “sausage” not only was an interesting dish to eat, but it was also a conversation piece. What is a quail sausage you ask? Well, I assumed it was quail spiced and in the shape of sausage. I was incorrect. I still think I am correct. My dad… disagrees. Yet, we did agree that it was rather tasty and uniquely creative. I suggest that you try it, if you are adventurous enough to taste a small helpless bird that never did anything to you anyway. Sorry – a little of the old vegetarian coming out there… back to reality (oh there goes gravity).
Continuing on our tour of Braeburn, we ordered the Top Sirloin of Lamb with crushed peas, mint, and garlic sausage, the Skate with bok choy, honshemeji mushrooms and maine mussel broth, the N.Y. Striploin with grilled radicchio, pickled cippolini, and balsamic vinegar and the Petite Veal Rack with fava beans, red shallot puree, and Madeira jus. To be honest, we only ordered all of these things because everyone else, less me, wanted to order to the lamb. I told them that was ridiculous, and because I’m boss they listened... How can I write a blog about one entrée? I’m selfish… So, we all ordered different items. I had the Skate, which is like a sting-ray. You can tell if you buy it in a store, or go to a restaurant that serves you hefty portions, the you are getting a big chunk of wing (yummy thought…). I love it. I first fell in love at Lure Fishbar (excellent). But Braeburns’s skate was equally as good. I like the way you can peel apart the fish in segments. I can’t help playing with my food. I did try everything. The lamb was excellent, and although I found it to be a little fatty, it was the better of the other three entrees. The steak was cooked well, but its just a steak… The veal rack was also well received. All in all, we had a good time and an excellent meal.
Random side note that I think is cool: They also have a $30 comfort menu that you can substitute with Passover menu until April 15th (I posted too late for this to matter; assuming anyone even reads this blog and/or takes my recommendations?)
Friday, April 10, 2009
Union Sqaure Cafe
Has anyone in NYC not been to this restaurant? It’s been on the Zagats top restaurants since… I don’t know how long (literally no idea; just know it has been a while). Its part of the Union Square Hospitality Group (thanks Danny Meyer! http://www.ushgnyc.com/_pdf/company_overview.pdf).
So, I love the restaurant Cookshop. It’s not only close to my apartment, but its also consistently great food. I tend to get a lot of the same thing over and over again, but I have never been disappointed. I have heard that one of the faults of Cookshop (never in my mind) is that the menu is too small. The food is good, but there’s nothing to choose from. So, here comes Union Square Café.
They don’t have a brunch menu, its called lunch. I’m scared.
It was 1pm. Do you know where you are going to eat? (How annoying is that news channel slogan?) Turns out that lunch at USC far surpassed my imagination. In a very not-me move, I didn’t even check the menu. It wouldn’t have mattered. The menu is so large that I wouldn’t have been able to just decide in advance and stick to my decision; especially after I saw all the plates going by. I never thought I would be having seared scallops on a random Sunday lunch. That is my normal dinner go-to. We ended up splitting the scallops and the tuna salad sandwich. Yes, I typed it. Tuna Salad sandwich. I consistently refused to eat that as a child. Mayo really isn’t my thing. My mom would make my brother and herself a sandwich, and I would make my own… with honey mustard dressing. More healthy? Maybe, but that wasn’t my concern 20 lbs and 10 years earlier. I just think mayo is disgusting. (Melanie – if you are out there, feel free to post photos of the greatest all time mayo fight). I try to avoid lobster rolls with a lot of mayo (hello Klee). I make them at home with just the plain lobster on a toasted bun. Why ruin the goodness? But I digress….
As I mentioned, we split the Seared Sea Scallops (with brussels sprout-bacon farrotto and black trumpet mushrooms) and the Tuna Salad Sandwich on Tom Cat White (with slab bacon, arugula and garlic potato chips). The scallops were a no-brainer. I saw them pass. I love black trumpet mushrooms, even though I think they look like a charred green vegetable. I love USC’s scallops (check out the other link to the restaurant). They did not disappoint. As you can see to the left, the scallops were large. As you cannot see, they were also tender and cooked to perfection. The tuna sandwich was probably the best I have ever had (sorry mamma). Yes, there was mayo, but the overall taste, including the slab-o-bacon and the delicious bread glazed over my hatred. I’m glad we split it because it was enormous (my half pictured – which I couldn’t finish). USC, being the delightfully elegant place it is, split our dishes so we didn’t have to pick them apart.
I suggest that everyone give USC a try. I have now eaten there for dinner (pre-blog starting so you didn’t get the pleasure of reading what I thought on my first try) and now lunch. There’s a reason that this place has been on the top of everyone’s list for years: it’s a wonderful restaurant with excellent food, great service and a non-disturbing atmosphere. It doesn’t try to be something its not, but it puts all those places to shame. You can just ask the guy I sat across from: with hair down to his bum, covered with a doo-rag, a Redskins jersey (why?) and workman boots, the guy was enjoying a Sunday Funday with two buddies wearing their softball uniforms, drinking three bottles of red wine and some beers and eating everything on the menu. I don’t judge, I’m just glad that I wasn’t the least dressed up person in the joint.
So, I love the restaurant Cookshop. It’s not only close to my apartment, but its also consistently great food. I tend to get a lot of the same thing over and over again, but I have never been disappointed. I have heard that one of the faults of Cookshop (never in my mind) is that the menu is too small. The food is good, but there’s nothing to choose from. So, here comes Union Square Café.
They don’t have a brunch menu, its called lunch. I’m scared.
It was 1pm. Do you know where you are going to eat? (How annoying is that news channel slogan?) Turns out that lunch at USC far surpassed my imagination. In a very not-me move, I didn’t even check the menu. It wouldn’t have mattered. The menu is so large that I wouldn’t have been able to just decide in advance and stick to my decision; especially after I saw all the plates going by. I never thought I would be having seared scallops on a random Sunday lunch. That is my normal dinner go-to. We ended up splitting the scallops and the tuna salad sandwich. Yes, I typed it. Tuna Salad sandwich. I consistently refused to eat that as a child. Mayo really isn’t my thing. My mom would make my brother and herself a sandwich, and I would make my own… with honey mustard dressing. More healthy? Maybe, but that wasn’t my concern 20 lbs and 10 years earlier. I just think mayo is disgusting. (Melanie – if you are out there, feel free to post photos of the greatest all time mayo fight). I try to avoid lobster rolls with a lot of mayo (hello Klee). I make them at home with just the plain lobster on a toasted bun. Why ruin the goodness? But I digress….
As I mentioned, we split the Seared Sea Scallops (with brussels sprout-bacon farrotto and black trumpet mushrooms) and the Tuna Salad Sandwich on Tom Cat White (with slab bacon, arugula and garlic potato chips). The scallops were a no-brainer. I saw them pass. I love black trumpet mushrooms, even though I think they look like a charred green vegetable. I love USC’s scallops (check out the other link to the restaurant). They did not disappoint. As you can see to the left, the scallops were large. As you cannot see, they were also tender and cooked to perfection. The tuna sandwich was probably the best I have ever had (sorry mamma). Yes, there was mayo, but the overall taste, including the slab-o-bacon and the delicious bread glazed over my hatred. I’m glad we split it because it was enormous (my half pictured – which I couldn’t finish). USC, being the delightfully elegant place it is, split our dishes so we didn’t have to pick them apart.I suggest that everyone give USC a try. I have now eaten there for dinner (pre-blog starting so you didn’t get the pleasure of reading what I thought on my first try) and now lunch. There’s a reason that this place has been on the top of everyone’s list for years: it’s a wonderful restaurant with excellent food, great service and a non-disturbing atmosphere. It doesn’t try to be something its not, but it puts all those places to shame. You can just ask the guy I sat across from: with hair down to his bum, covered with a doo-rag, a Redskins jersey (why?) and workman boots, the guy was enjoying a Sunday Funday with two buddies wearing their softball uniforms, drinking three bottles of red wine and some beers and eating everything on the menu. I don’t judge, I’m just glad that I wasn’t the least dressed up person in the joint.
Bar Blanc to Reopen as Bar Blanc Bistro
Bar Blanc to Reopen as Bar Blanc Bistro
Random rant: I’m not sure if this is justified, but when restaurants tout their menu as cheaper “recession friendly” and the prices are the same, something smells fishy (no pun intended). Granted, at Bar Blanc Bistro, the bar menu is cheap eats; but it’s not nearly as appetizing as the “bistro” menu.
Random rant: I’m not sure if this is justified, but when restaurants tout their menu as cheaper “recession friendly” and the prices are the same, something smells fishy (no pun intended). Granted, at Bar Blanc Bistro, the bar menu is cheap eats; but it’s not nearly as appetizing as the “bistro” menu.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Socarrat Paella Bar
On an unassuming street (2 blocks from my apartment, also unassuming…) in Chelsea – the best neighborhood in NYC – there is a small 20 seater restaurant called Socarrat Paella Bar. Seemingly run by a family (the guy who took my coat seemed very vested in how much I enjoyed my meal), Socarrat has been getting a lot of buzz. Therefore, because I am into the new and buzzed, I went last night to see what everyone was talking about.
The dimly lit restaurant was crowded with a different scene. The lighting and atmosphere makes you feel like you may just be in a small restaurant in Spain. The staff was extremely friendly, clearing, cleaning, suggesting dishes, partially (mostly?) because they are hurrying you along so the next person can sit. Usually, I would be annoyed by this, but I think their attitudes and the fact that the paella takes 30 minutes to cook, makes it feel like you, not them, are dictating the time. It is hard to come by a restaurant with one long table, high chairs and such a mix of old and young, business and casual. That must speak volumes of the place if so many different people are willing to give it a go (or at least speaks of the people that have reviewed the place before). They do not take reservations and I heard that the line on a Tuesday night could lead you to an hour wait. So, at 7:30 on a Thursday, I was prepared to wait at least an hour. Either the food gods were looking down on me, or the recession is taking its toll, because we only waited 5 minutes.
We started with some tapas, even though we had read that they were more or less a waste of your stomach space compared to the paella. We ordered two of the specials, the white asparagus (a favorite among us) and the lamb chop. The asparagus (available year-round, spring is the best season for fresh asparagus. Crops are harvested from late February to June, with April being the prime month) tasted and felt like they came out of a can. They were very soft in texture and overly pickled, served on a yellow cheese sauce with crispy serrano ham on top (actually the tastiest part of the dish).
The dimly lit restaurant was crowded with a different scene. The lighting and atmosphere makes you feel like you may just be in a small restaurant in Spain. The staff was extremely friendly, clearing, cleaning, suggesting dishes, partially (mostly?) because they are hurrying you along so the next person can sit. Usually, I would be annoyed by this, but I think their attitudes and the fact that the paella takes 30 minutes to cook, makes it feel like you, not them, are dictating the time. It is hard to come by a restaurant with one long table, high chairs and such a mix of old and young, business and casual. That must speak volumes of the place if so many different people are willing to give it a go (or at least speaks of the people that have reviewed the place before). They do not take reservations and I heard that the line on a Tuesday night could lead you to an hour wait. So, at 7:30 on a Thursday, I was prepared to wait at least an hour. Either the food gods were looking down on me, or the recession is taking its toll, because we only waited 5 minutes.
We started with some tapas, even though we had read that they were more or less a waste of your stomach space compared to the paella. We ordered two of the specials, the white asparagus (a favorite among us) and the lamb chop. The asparagus (available year-round, spring is the best season for fresh asparagus. Crops are harvested from late February to June, with April being the prime month) tasted and felt like they came out of a can. They were very soft in texture and overly pickled, served on a yellow cheese sauce with crispy serrano ham on top (actually the tastiest part of the dish). 
The lamb, which you can see a picture of on the website or in real life to the left, was overcooked. Yet, it was nicely seasoned and the sauce and potatoes were good. Generally, I like my potatoes a little more crisp, but we were not ordering home fries with brunch, so what can I expect? Our third tapas was off the menu, the Canelones, which are a wrap of thin pasta stuffed with shrimp, spinach manchego and drizzled with vizcaina sauce. I was not in love with this dish, although it was creative and relatively good. It was one of those dishes that is hot and cold at the same time. The wrap was cold and the inside was hot. On the other hand, maybe it was sitting for a while? I don’t know.
Onto the main course: The Paella we have all been waiting for… This isn’t your mom’s paella (my mom makes a mean dish). No yellow rice and saffron. See to the left the picture of Socarrat, which refers to the sticky rice at the bottom of the pan, where the servers scrape the bottom of the cast-iron dish in order for you to get the good stuff. We ordered the Paella Socarrat. The rice was topped with chunks of chicken, fish & beef, shrimp, cuttle fish, edemame, mussels and cockle clams. You have to order the dish for 2 or more people. Its huge an takes up to 30 minutes to cook, so come prepared. At a semi-steep rate of $21/person, this paella did not disappoint. To be completely honest, the rice was awesome. However, that’s where it ended for me. I had one bad shrimp, which was overcooked, soft and hard the weirdest texture and I was done. It was really hard to get over that. My date, on the other hand, said all the shrimp he ate were great. So, guess it was just a bit of bad luck on my part. The mussels, clams and even the beef (coming from a semi-non-meat eater) were all properly cooked, which has to be hard when everything is possibly cooked together. Usually the “meats” in a paella dish are overcooked and chewy, but this was not the case here (less the bad shrimp).They deliver and do take-out for lunch only, which may be good for office orders. This is a good place to try if you are in the neighborhood and looking for something different than the typical Asian-fusion cuisine that abounds in Chelsea.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Corner Table goes to Wine Country
Welcome to Healdsburg
When planning a trip to wine country, everyone has their own suggestions about where to go, where to stay, where to eat. Well, here is where I went, drank and ate. Do with it what you may:
Gary Farrell - full tasting and complimentary cheese. Our tour guide sure did know a lot about Gary Farrell. This is a great starting off point. We had a 10:30am reservation and were the only ones there. The tour was long enough to learn about how they make the wine, but short enough to not get bored. See below for info:
Gary Farrell Wines10701 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 473-2900Website: http://www.garyfarrell.com/Daily tasting and tours by appointment. View & Spacious Tasting Room, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay.
Grove Street Wine Brokers
Merry Edwards – full tasting – Our pourer was very knowledgeable about wines. I definitely learned more about the region and wine country than I did about Merry Edwards (a change from Gary Farrell). We were sat in a private room, with no interruptions. I assume that if you are there at a busy time and not such a big group (we were 6 people) that you may share your table with others.
Siduri – This is a random spot in the middle of a business park, great small family winery
http://www.siduri.com/
Twomey – very nice building and outdoor space. Extremely friendly wine pourer. Gave us good restaurant recommendations. $5 fee, but get a wine class for free.
Twomey Cellars – 3000 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 942-7120Website: http://www.twomeycellars.com/
Rochioli – said to be first pinot makers in the area, contested – give grapes to gary Farrell
J. Rochioli Vineyards & Winery6192 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 433-230511am - 4pm. Picnic Area, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc.
Papapietro – small family owned in group of wineries
Papapietro Perry Winery4791 Dry Creek Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 433-0422Website: http://www.papapietro-perry.com/ Open Daily from 11 am - 4:30 pm. If you have a passion for Pinot, come join us in our tasting room.
Bella Caves – horrible wine, in caves, so interesting.
Bella Vineyards & Wine Caves9711 West Dry Creed Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 473-9171Website: http://www.bellawinery.com/
Martinelli – quick tasting, no personal attention.
http://www.martinelliwinery.com/
Gary Farrell - full tasting and complimentary cheese. Our tour guide sure did know a lot about Gary Farrell. This is a great starting off point. We had a 10:30am reservation and were the only ones there. The tour was long enough to learn about how they make the wine, but short enough to not get bored. See below for info:
Gary Farrell Wines10701 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 473-2900Website: http://www.garyfarrell.com/Daily tasting and tours by appointment. View & Spacious Tasting Room, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay.
Grove Street Wine Brokers
Merry Edwards – full tasting – Our pourer was very knowledgeable about wines. I definitely learned more about the region and wine country than I did about Merry Edwards (a change from Gary Farrell). We were sat in a private room, with no interruptions. I assume that if you are there at a busy time and not such a big group (we were 6 people) that you may share your table with others.
Siduri – This is a random spot in the middle of a business park, great small family winery
http://www.siduri.com/
Twomey – very nice building and outdoor space. Extremely friendly wine pourer. Gave us good restaurant recommendations. $5 fee, but get a wine class for free.Twomey Cellars – 3000 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 942-7120Website: http://www.twomeycellars.com/
Rochioli – said to be first pinot makers in the area, contested – give grapes to gary Farrell
J. Rochioli Vineyards & Winery6192 Westside Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 433-230511am - 4pm. Picnic Area, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc.
Papapietro – small family owned in group of wineries
Papapietro Perry Winery4791 Dry Creek Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 433-0422Website: http://www.papapietro-perry.com/ Open Daily from 11 am - 4:30 pm. If you have a passion for Pinot, come join us in our tasting room.
Bella Caves – horrible wine, in caves, so interesting.
Bella Vineyards & Wine Caves9711 West Dry Creed Road, HealdsburgPhone: (707) 473-9171Website: http://www.bellawinery.com/
Martinelli – quick tasting, no personal attention.
http://www.martinelliwinery.com/
Hop Kiln: We learned that mustard is planted to supply nitrogen to wthe soil when wineries replant. So, when we were told at Twomey that there was a mustard tasting at Hop Kiln winery, we couldn't pass it up. Whats better than 100 bottles of wine to taste? 100 different kinds of mustards? Could go either way... Well, this change I enjoyed. I ended up with four different kinds of mustards, probably more mustard than I will ever need.
Lunch: Willie’s Seafood
We went to this place on a recommendation from one of the pourers at the winery. It was totally overrated, but the crab cakes and the calamari were excellent. Granted, you have to consider that we went here after a serious stop for mustard tasting at Hop Kiln and with four wineries under our belt. So, it could have gone either way.
Dinner:
In town: http://www.scopahealdsburg.com/
Scopa is a great little Italian place in the center of town. Seating is limited, with only one large table (semi-outside). But, it was packed. Even after 10pm, which I would assume in a quiet wine country town is pretty late for a neighborhood spot, people kept pouring in. The service was good, with a just-off-the-boat Italian guy helping out our knowledgable waitress. We went with a bunch of small plates, the best being the Burrata Cheese (some of the best motz I have ever had), Polpette Calabrese (Meatballs) and Lamb (small but spicy). Great thin crust pizza, but regular is the best way to go, you can skip the special.
Madrona Manor: The restaurant was very quaint yet extravagant in an old era type of way. It is expensive to stay there, but definitely worth the dinner stop. Great for a special occasion. http://www.madronamanor.com/ . There is a very liberal tasting menu – can choose you own size (3,4,5 courses and your own menu, or get the traditional tasting). Extraordinarily nice service, chef came out to greet us (young and to be honest… pretty cute). Standouts from the tasting menu included an asparagus course, with quail egg, the rabbit tasting, rabbit four different ways, fois gras tasting (I’m not a fois gras fan but I hear it was great: seared, terrine and torchon, stone fruit, savory popovers, uplandcress) and the halibut. No need to order the tuna appetizer (Oh-Toro Tuna Crudo sea beans, edamame, ginger, ponzu "froth"), it was two extremely small pieces of raw tuna on a huge plate, never a good idea.
We went to this place on a recommendation from one of the pourers at the winery. It was totally overrated, but the crab cakes and the calamari were excellent. Granted, you have to consider that we went here after a serious stop for mustard tasting at Hop Kiln and with four wineries under our belt. So, it could have gone either way.
Dinner:
In town: http://www.scopahealdsburg.com/
Scopa is a great little Italian place in the center of town. Seating is limited, with only one large table (semi-outside). But, it was packed. Even after 10pm, which I would assume in a quiet wine country town is pretty late for a neighborhood spot, people kept pouring in. The service was good, with a just-off-the-boat Italian guy helping out our knowledgable waitress. We went with a bunch of small plates, the best being the Burrata Cheese (some of the best motz I have ever had), Polpette Calabrese (Meatballs) and Lamb (small but spicy). Great thin crust pizza, but regular is the best way to go, you can skip the special.
Madrona Manor: The restaurant was very quaint yet extravagant in an old era type of way. It is expensive to stay there, but definitely worth the dinner stop. Great for a special occasion. http://www.madronamanor.com/ . There is a very liberal tasting menu – can choose you own size (3,4,5 courses and your own menu, or get the traditional tasting). Extraordinarily nice service, chef came out to greet us (young and to be honest… pretty cute). Standouts from the tasting menu included an asparagus course, with quail egg, the rabbit tasting, rabbit four different ways, fois gras tasting (I’m not a fois gras fan but I hear it was great: seared, terrine and torchon, stone fruit, savory popovers, uplandcress) and the halibut. No need to order the tuna appetizer (Oh-Toro Tuna Crudo sea beans, edamame, ginger, ponzu "froth"), it was two extremely small pieces of raw tuna on a huge plate, never a good idea.
They are famous for their homemade ice cream ($250 a lb vanilla from Tahiti, Cart "à Glace"Ice Cream Sundae, instantly hand "churned" tableside using -324º nitrogen. Served with chocolate sauce, almonds, whipped cream, cherries on top). Not an ice cream eater myself (I know, sacreligious) I was told from all the other diners that this sundae is the greatest sundae of all time. No joke.
Harbour
Too bad this isn't Harbour Island...
When I received the email from Thrillist (one of the many list serves that I read to find out NYC happenings), I though that Harbour was a place I would like. It had everything I needed: In Tribeca (I’m trying to spread my wings away from the west village), seafood (everyone knows my love of scallops, et al) and brand spankin new. Ok, so I don’t have the best record when it comes to picking restaurants. Most of the good places I have gone to have been because my boyfriend is obsessed with food, and therefore obsessed with reading reviews and picking the best places. I, on the other hand, love going to new places, even though the first week a restaurant opens isn’t necessarily the best time to go. Restaurants need time to come into their own. But, this place was different. There are 10 wines under $20. That is unheard of in NYC, let alone anywhere. I needed to give it a chance.
That was the only chance I will ever give Harbour. An almost eerie copy of one of my all time favorite NYC restaurants, Lure Fishbar, Harbour is decorated like the inside of a ship. No, not a spaceship, which would have been super dope, but, more like a super fancy sailboat. The decorations reminded me of something my parents would have picked out for their home in 1989. Not ugly, just not right. But again, there was the wine under $20. I just kept repeating to myself…
Let’s get something straight before we start: Just because you serve an amuse bouche and a light dessert/palate cleanser at the end of the meal, doesn’t make you a four star restaurant. For appetizers (we were with another couple) we ordered the Sea Bream sashimi, scallop ceviche, clam chowder and the topneck clams. Let’s start there… the sea bream sashimi, although I did not taste it, looked proper enough. The scallop ceviche wasn’t THAT bad. Remember my complaint about L’artusi’s scallop ceviche? Sea urchin… I’m not 100% sure why restaurants think it’s a good idea to mix soft, supple raw scallops with tough unappetizing sea urchin. I guess it’s an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire. The scallops and the sauce were good, although I’m not sure which kind of scallops they were, as they were not whole, they were more like slices. The clam chowder, again I did not taste, looked really odd. That’s the best way I can start describing it. I’ll finish by saying that clam chowder should not be brown. Or, if you are going to be serving brown clam chowder, at least note it on the menu that it will be as such. The topneck clams, all three of them, were mediocre as well.
Then comes dinner (after our first bottle of, actually great, $19 liter bottle of Gruner)… I ordered the Red Hake. The menu was very small, so the options few. I had never heard of Red Hake, but for the sake of trying new things, and because I didn’t want to eat chicken at a seafood restaurant, I gave it a go. Red Hake is a tough white fish with no apparent taste. It was a bad choice, although the other choice, mussels, didn’t seem that good of an idea either. Mussels are a boring substitute for a meal. But again, no choices here. The red hake had no taste, was tough, and was covered with spicy yellow curry foam. The only saving grace of the dish was the two small shrimp shu mai, if you could find them.
No reason to go to Harbour, unless in the next couple of months you feel like it will improve in some way… note: the only other restaurant that is worse in the city is AGO. I went there the first week it opened and the only good part of the meal was the fresh parmesan cheese on top of the salad. I hear that it is still bad there.
I almost forgot to mention that on a Saturday night at 9pm in NYC, there was not a soul at the bar. Ok, so that street in Tribeca isn’t the first place one would normally choose to hang out, but still not a good sign.
But, $20 wine…
Late Addition: I was told to say that two of the diners at this dinner had the best part of their meal before we entered the restaurant. I should have taken it as foreshadowing when the boys insisted on ordering two CrifDogs before dinner.... we would have been better off staying and going to PDT. But, please dont tell anyone that...
When I received the email from Thrillist (one of the many list serves that I read to find out NYC happenings), I though that Harbour was a place I would like. It had everything I needed: In Tribeca (I’m trying to spread my wings away from the west village), seafood (everyone knows my love of scallops, et al) and brand spankin new. Ok, so I don’t have the best record when it comes to picking restaurants. Most of the good places I have gone to have been because my boyfriend is obsessed with food, and therefore obsessed with reading reviews and picking the best places. I, on the other hand, love going to new places, even though the first week a restaurant opens isn’t necessarily the best time to go. Restaurants need time to come into their own. But, this place was different. There are 10 wines under $20. That is unheard of in NYC, let alone anywhere. I needed to give it a chance.
That was the only chance I will ever give Harbour. An almost eerie copy of one of my all time favorite NYC restaurants, Lure Fishbar, Harbour is decorated like the inside of a ship. No, not a spaceship, which would have been super dope, but, more like a super fancy sailboat. The decorations reminded me of something my parents would have picked out for their home in 1989. Not ugly, just not right. But again, there was the wine under $20. I just kept repeating to myself…
Let’s get something straight before we start: Just because you serve an amuse bouche and a light dessert/palate cleanser at the end of the meal, doesn’t make you a four star restaurant. For appetizers (we were with another couple) we ordered the Sea Bream sashimi, scallop ceviche, clam chowder and the topneck clams. Let’s start there… the sea bream sashimi, although I did not taste it, looked proper enough. The scallop ceviche wasn’t THAT bad. Remember my complaint about L’artusi’s scallop ceviche? Sea urchin… I’m not 100% sure why restaurants think it’s a good idea to mix soft, supple raw scallops with tough unappetizing sea urchin. I guess it’s an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire. The scallops and the sauce were good, although I’m not sure which kind of scallops they were, as they were not whole, they were more like slices. The clam chowder, again I did not taste, looked really odd. That’s the best way I can start describing it. I’ll finish by saying that clam chowder should not be brown. Or, if you are going to be serving brown clam chowder, at least note it on the menu that it will be as such. The topneck clams, all three of them, were mediocre as well.
Then comes dinner (after our first bottle of, actually great, $19 liter bottle of Gruner)… I ordered the Red Hake. The menu was very small, so the options few. I had never heard of Red Hake, but for the sake of trying new things, and because I didn’t want to eat chicken at a seafood restaurant, I gave it a go. Red Hake is a tough white fish with no apparent taste. It was a bad choice, although the other choice, mussels, didn’t seem that good of an idea either. Mussels are a boring substitute for a meal. But again, no choices here. The red hake had no taste, was tough, and was covered with spicy yellow curry foam. The only saving grace of the dish was the two small shrimp shu mai, if you could find them.
No reason to go to Harbour, unless in the next couple of months you feel like it will improve in some way… note: the only other restaurant that is worse in the city is AGO. I went there the first week it opened and the only good part of the meal was the fresh parmesan cheese on top of the salad. I hear that it is still bad there.
I almost forgot to mention that on a Saturday night at 9pm in NYC, there was not a soul at the bar. Ok, so that street in Tribeca isn’t the first place one would normally choose to hang out, but still not a good sign.
But, $20 wine…
Late Addition: I was told to say that two of the diners at this dinner had the best part of their meal before we entered the restaurant. I should have taken it as foreshadowing when the boys insisted on ordering two CrifDogs before dinner.... we would have been better off staying and going to PDT. But, please dont tell anyone that...
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Charles
WE HAD A FEW CANCELATIONS THIS EVENING AND WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD STILL LIKE TO JOIN US AROUND 8… LET ME KNOW
CHARLES
234 W.4TH ST
(THE CORNER OF W4TH @ W10TH)
Oh… thanks… although considering I already had a reservation confirmed for 7:45, I’ll pass. If only I saw this before I got there! We sat immediately at 7:45 on a Saturday night and there were probably only two other tables filled at the restaurant. I guess that is what you get for having your windows boarded up as if they place is condemned and don’t take walk-ins. Anyway, enough complaining (for now).
The Charles is actually a very cool new spot in the west village. Like I said, it looks like it’s a boarded up place outside (be careful of the door with no window). Inside is a different story all together. The design is so cool that it reminded me of the architectural digest exhibit I went to when the Time Warner Center opened a couple of years ago. The walls were grey, studded leather (or so I thought) and the dim lighting made it feel like you entered into a speakeasy. The music was awesome. We Shasamed (IPhone app) ½ the songs and sang along to the other half throughout the meal. The only issue was the seating. When we sat at the two top, we were the only ones in the section. This lasted for about an hour until the place really got packed. We were then smashed in between two tables of 8 like sardines. To be honest, I actually felt a little claustrophobic. Because of the last table that joined in on the fun, we had to move our glasses or water and wine to the other side of the table. One of the girl’s hair almost dropped into my water, and she knocked my friends martini into her food (not 100% her fault as there was really just no where to go, although she seemingly did not notice). Luckily, we were done with our meal and moved to the bar area, which was small but hoppin. Great for a quick drink before dinner or to meet up with a friend to catch up (although very few seats available, they did have hooks for our coats!). The drinks were good as well. I had one of the drinks on the menu that the waiter said would “put me on my ass” but, no fears, it did not. Still good and different. Oh, right and the drinks were $16 a pop. Nearly forgot to mention that little fact. Might make some recessionistas steer clear until they come back down from the moon.
Ok, onto the food. Immediately upon sitting down, our waiter told us that everything on the menu was made without butter. What? NO BUTTER? But then how will my food taste good? Isn’t that the point of going out to dinner? Taste? But, ok, I’ll embrace it and hope to be pleasantly surprised…. Which I was!
My date (thanks for joining me HH) and I each ordered appetizers that were the specials. I had the crab cake (as the waiter said – made with all crab) and she had the tomato soup (remember… no butter or cream). In between ordering and getting our apps, we were able to enjoy the hot grilled flatbread with olive tapenade. (Remember, no butter, so they had to get creative with what they served with the bread.) The tomato soup was amazing. My friend asked if it was more like a gazpacho, but it was not (since warm). I was still expecting a puree. This was more than that, as it didn’t have the chunky consistency of a puree. I was very flavorful and creamy, without the cream. The crab cake was as called, all crab. I didn’t notice any bread filling. It was slightly pan seared to a light brown, served with a small salad with light dressing. For entrees, my friend went with the salmon (semi-reluctantly, as we both think salmon is pretty boring) and I had the scallops (I’m going to try going forward not to order the same thing over and over again… but we will see). The salmon was nicely done, nothing terribly special. The Scallops were very tender and tasty, not fishy whatsoever and not overcooked. They were over a cauliflower puree, which is the winter favorite for NYC restaurants. I think this is because it’s a lighter and tastier mashed potato-like option. In addition, the scallops were topped with a sliced green apple salad, another favorite for restaurants to prepare with scallops. Overall, the food wasn’t overly imaginative, but it was still simple and good. Its worth the email traffic to score a reservation. Plus, any out of town guest will think you are in-the-know. Definitely easier than getting into the Waverly Inn, and although most likely not actually chicer, it does look like it.
To get reservations you can email: reservations@restaurantcharles.com
Tell them Jackie sent you… or not since they apparently have no idea who I am (re: email above).
CHARLES
234 W.4TH ST
(THE CORNER OF W4TH @ W10TH)
Oh… thanks… although considering I already had a reservation confirmed for 7:45, I’ll pass. If only I saw this before I got there! We sat immediately at 7:45 on a Saturday night and there were probably only two other tables filled at the restaurant. I guess that is what you get for having your windows boarded up as if they place is condemned and don’t take walk-ins. Anyway, enough complaining (for now).
The Charles is actually a very cool new spot in the west village. Like I said, it looks like it’s a boarded up place outside (be careful of the door with no window). Inside is a different story all together. The design is so cool that it reminded me of the architectural digest exhibit I went to when the Time Warner Center opened a couple of years ago. The walls were grey, studded leather (or so I thought) and the dim lighting made it feel like you entered into a speakeasy. The music was awesome. We Shasamed (IPhone app) ½ the songs and sang along to the other half throughout the meal. The only issue was the seating. When we sat at the two top, we were the only ones in the section. This lasted for about an hour until the place really got packed. We were then smashed in between two tables of 8 like sardines. To be honest, I actually felt a little claustrophobic. Because of the last table that joined in on the fun, we had to move our glasses or water and wine to the other side of the table. One of the girl’s hair almost dropped into my water, and she knocked my friends martini into her food (not 100% her fault as there was really just no where to go, although she seemingly did not notice). Luckily, we were done with our meal and moved to the bar area, which was small but hoppin. Great for a quick drink before dinner or to meet up with a friend to catch up (although very few seats available, they did have hooks for our coats!). The drinks were good as well. I had one of the drinks on the menu that the waiter said would “put me on my ass” but, no fears, it did not. Still good and different. Oh, right and the drinks were $16 a pop. Nearly forgot to mention that little fact. Might make some recessionistas steer clear until they come back down from the moon.
Ok, onto the food. Immediately upon sitting down, our waiter told us that everything on the menu was made without butter. What? NO BUTTER? But then how will my food taste good? Isn’t that the point of going out to dinner? Taste? But, ok, I’ll embrace it and hope to be pleasantly surprised…. Which I was!
My date (thanks for joining me HH) and I each ordered appetizers that were the specials. I had the crab cake (as the waiter said – made with all crab) and she had the tomato soup (remember… no butter or cream). In between ordering and getting our apps, we were able to enjoy the hot grilled flatbread with olive tapenade. (Remember, no butter, so they had to get creative with what they served with the bread.) The tomato soup was amazing. My friend asked if it was more like a gazpacho, but it was not (since warm). I was still expecting a puree. This was more than that, as it didn’t have the chunky consistency of a puree. I was very flavorful and creamy, without the cream. The crab cake was as called, all crab. I didn’t notice any bread filling. It was slightly pan seared to a light brown, served with a small salad with light dressing. For entrees, my friend went with the salmon (semi-reluctantly, as we both think salmon is pretty boring) and I had the scallops (I’m going to try going forward not to order the same thing over and over again… but we will see). The salmon was nicely done, nothing terribly special. The Scallops were very tender and tasty, not fishy whatsoever and not overcooked. They were over a cauliflower puree, which is the winter favorite for NYC restaurants. I think this is because it’s a lighter and tastier mashed potato-like option. In addition, the scallops were topped with a sliced green apple salad, another favorite for restaurants to prepare with scallops. Overall, the food wasn’t overly imaginative, but it was still simple and good. Its worth the email traffic to score a reservation. Plus, any out of town guest will think you are in-the-know. Definitely easier than getting into the Waverly Inn, and although most likely not actually chicer, it does look like it.
To get reservations you can email: reservations@restaurantcharles.com
Tell them Jackie sent you… or not since they apparently have no idea who I am (re: email above).
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