Ninety Acres

Out in a quaint little town in New Jersey, a young man had a dream. His dream was to build an enormous ranch style farm-to-table restaurant pushed back from the road for the entire town to marvel. Ok, maybe I made some parts of that up. Ninety Acres might be set far back from a quiet road, but it’s one of the many indulgences of Sir Richard Branson. (I have to add that the website is crazy fancy).

It took us 45 minutes to get there from Hoboken. I don’t know my way around Jersey, but luckily my driver snagged the very detailed directions off the website.

As we made our way up the drive (I’m assuming once entrance is fully built it will be even more fancy looking), we came upon a gorgeous setting. The ranch-style restaurant was lit up from within. It was so quiet and calm outside that we thought maybe we were the only ones there. Granted, it only opened a month ago. But, we can’t kid ourselves. I found out about the place from Urban Daddy. If I know about it, everyone does. That’s just how it goes. We valet parked because the other parking is kind of far away and it was cold outside! Luckily, the inside was warm and inviting. The clientele seemed to be a little older and it sounded (from my eavesdropping) that everyone there knew each other in some way or another and a lot of the people knew the front of the house. There is an open and brightly lit area by the kitchen they will use for tastings and private parties.

Food:
Bacon wrapped Quail – I have never had quail, but I think I may think twice before having it again. First, just like when I saw people eating rabbit, I can not stand eating a leg so small… I felt like I eat eating a baby (bird). Second, it was not very flavorful. Also, I like a crispy bacon wrap, not one that slides around the food just adding fat and oil. Shouldn’t bacon be crispy?
Venison Carpaccio – excellent. This was my second time having venison. The first time was at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where I imagine that everything you have for the first time basically ruins you for all other times. But, the carpaccio was very good. It was nicely cooked, topped with cranberries and bitter arugula. They all combined to make a very tasty dish.
Salad – greens, cauliflower, apples, vinegar, manchego. There were quiet a few menu items that called for apples. Do apples have a season? I don’t even know. But, these apples (I prefer green, as these were), were intensely flavorful. The flavor spiced up the otherwise bland dish (no knock on the salad maker, just because lettuce and cauliflower aren’t crazy flavorful). The manchego cheese added a smooth, rich taste, while the cauliflower slices added a crunch. The salad dressing tasted like pure vinegar…and I liked it.
Faro – lobster, carrots. Farro is the “oatmeal of pasta”, according to my foodie boyfriend. Who cares? Lobster anything is good, and I actually liked the faro. Pasta itself never has a real taste to it, it is all about texture. The small pieces of faro lent nicely to the lobster chunks (yes, tail meat!) and the sauce was the kind you wipe up with your bread – and we did.
Brussel Sprouts with bacon. These were ok. Blue Hill in the city had better brussel sprouts. These were a tad squishy instead of their normal crunchy texture.
Ricotta and Kabocha Squash ravioli – very good. We have had Kabocha squash once before, and the still-closed but totally amazing Annisa. I looked it up…kabocha is a generic Japanese word for squash. (The website I found had 15 different kinds of squash!) I’m so cultured. Actually, the only way I’ve had this type of squash is in a ravioli form. The standout here was the pasta. As I said before, it is all about the texture. You can tell this pasta was hand-made. It was so delicate and smooth.
Leg of Lamb with parsnip gratin – Parsnips are relatively boring. But, au gratin pretty much makes everything better. I even went out and bought parsnips today. We will see... They are like potatoes. The lamb was not as tough as I was expecting. It was cooked medium rare, which was suggested by the waiter. That suggestion was the only helpful thing he said all night. I like a waiter, especially at a new place, that talks a lot, makes suggestions, and makes us want to come back. This guy just stood around doing nothing. Or maybe we just weren’t that interesting…

Overall, I liked the place a lot. I can’t wait until it’s finished. They claim they aren’t trying to copy Stone Barns, but we will see. If I lived in the area, I would go here a lot more often. I’ll be interested to see how much progress they make before the summer.

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.

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.

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.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

It’s magically delicious.

This was my third foray into the Blue Hill experience. First, at the illustrious Blue Hill at Stone Barns, next @ the Blue Hill in NYC and back again for the winter menu at Stone Barns. The main difference is that time I went with three other couples, instead of just me and N (whose friends all said should be writing this blog, as he is the real foodie, but he will not participate.) Thanks for spending the 3 hour meal with us B, L, J, H, C and E!

The Experience:
When you first pull up to Stone Barns, you realize you are in for an experience. The restaurant is in the middle of an enormous farm. I have been during the day, and suggest it as a nice weekend trip. Stone Barns is a self sustaining farm, which produces all the food for its restaurants. The valet takes your car and you walk into a beautiful courtyard where anyone in their right mind would want to hold a wedding (we saw one there last night, ended at nine, so pretty unusual). The restaurant bar area looks like a hotel bar area to me, with a fireplace, plush chairs surrounded by wooden benches, it is a little stuffy. One of the four greeters comes to take your coats and valet card (so they can call your car when you are paying for dinner). We sat right away once everyone got there and you can tell immediately you are not in NYC. There is enough arm room to move around and you can talk across the table without having to yell. The dining room is decorated simply, dimly lit with a big wooden table in the middle of the room, more for decorating and storage than anything else. Serving our meal were 8 doting men and women. All of our plates for the courses came out together in a grandiose sweep of plates and people. The head server explained what we would be having for that particular course.

The Meal:
Although the five course meal has the main amount of food (bigger portions per serving), we opted for the seven course tasting menu. Before the medley of courses began, we were served a series of amuse-bouche. First we were served a deliciously warm parsnip consume with crackers made of dehydrated parsnip. The second selection was vinegar coated baby carrots, small pieces of cauliflower and edemame, all served on a seemingly home made serving dish. Next came the pancetta wrapped winter vegetable (some sort of root). The piece de resistance was the beet sandwich. The sandwich consisted of a quarter sized sweet pastry puff bun filled with crushed beet and goat cheese. Even though we actually had this same amuse-bouche last time, it stole the show. The sweetness and fluffiness of the tiny bun along with the tart of the cheese and supple homegrown beet was music to my taste buds.

The eight courses begin:

Beet and Fluff Salad with Pine Nut Butter. The combination of the sticky nut butter and the sweet fresh beets were a wonderful start to our very long meal.

Fois Gras (Scallop). Not the best scallop I have ever had, but still nicely done, soft and sweet. I hear the Fois Gras was very good too.

Bread crusted soft boiled egg over lentils.

Bass in vegetable pistou. Pistou sauce, or just pistou, is a cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. I am in love.

Bacon wrapped butternut squash (mushroom gnocchi). When my mushroom gnocchi came to the table, I initially thought it was a plate of mushrooms. In fact, it was very delicate and flavorful pasta.

Venison (yes, I ate this too!). Tender and juicy.

Yogurt/Ice cream in sauce (creamsicle). I do not eat ice cream, but I heard this dish tasted like a creamsicle.

Chocolate cake with ice-cream/fruit and nut cake with ice cream
Second serving of the Chocolate. Everyone at our table was commenting about the fact that we did not all get the same dessert for this course. There were two options and everyone wanted the chocolate. Moments later, the head waiter brought us out four more plates of the chocolate cake! Great treat.

Chocolate, marshmallow, pecan all coated with honey. An amuse bouche dessert. All of the items were on separate dishes. I opted to eat them as a Smore. The honey was a sweet addition.

This is an amazing restaurant for special occasions. The combination of the service and delicious food make it a wonderful overall experience. You just have to be up for the drive. I suggest going in the summer when the vegetables are more plentiful and you can go a bit early and check out the gorgeous self sustaining farm.