Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Smith

Ursy, Nikki and I had a fabulous pre-holiday dinner at The Smith. Nikki had some subway complications and showed up at the restaurant looking a wee bit tired, but the bread, butter and wine melted the stress right out of her! I've read multiple reviews of The Smith by various bloggers and New York Magazine and was really excited to try this place out. I always have to wrack my brain when I try to think of a reasonably priced restaurant that serves a good mix of pasta, seafood, steak and other miscellaneous entrees in a laid-back and fun environment. The Smith fits the bill perfectly and I think I might have found a new favorite place!

I was the first to arrive, so I took a seat at the bar and waited for the others to arrive. The bar takes up the entire length of the right side of the restaurant and can seat approximately 25 people. While I sipped my glass of wine quietly in the corner, I had time to note the details of the decor. The Smith is located in what used to be the Pizzeria Uno on 3rd Avenue and 11th street. And although I never stepped foot inside the Uno, the floor tiles in the restaurant looked similar to the floor tiles of Uno's that I have eaten in: small dingy white octagonal tiles with pieces of black tiles interspersed throughout. The walls are also covered with shiny white tiles, sort of like bathroom tiles, which sounds gross but it looked quite nice actually. Once the others arrived, we were seated in a cozy wooden booth that had wooden hooks on the side (thank you! All restaurants should have more space to hang coats and bags!)

Ursula and I split the green bean salad, which was really delicious. Crisp green beans tossed with thin slices of ricotta cheese, cherry tomato halves and toasted almonds, the dish was delightfully cool with several different layers of texture. For my main, I ordered the chopped steak with a side of salad. The chopped steak looked like a cross between a meat loaf and a hamburger patty. It was a small round of meat that had a stiff and thick crust-like texture on the outside. When I cut into the middle of the steak, the meat was crumbly and juicy, like a hamburger almost but only much better. The mushroom gravy that came with my dish was thick and flavorful and I generously slathered the sauce all over my steak. Another great dish I need to note is the side of roasted brussels sprouts. The Smith's brussels sprouts have a, to quote Nikki, "great citrus-y flavor, there's lemon rind in here or something." For dessert, we split the Pink Pussy Cat: red velvet cake with two scoops of strawberry ice-cream, fresh strawberries and whipped cream. REALLY good. Who can hate strawberry ice-cream and whipped cream?

I want to come back here again for dinner, for brunch, for drinks at the bar, for drinks AND dessert at the bar! Our waitress was friendly, attentive and came at all the appropriate moments. The whole place just made me really comfortable and I left completely satisfied, and you can't ask for much more than that.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Dos Caminos

We went to Dos Caminos last night to celebrate Kashmira's birthday...she wanted to have dinner at a place that was "fun and fabulousth". Walk through the heavy red velvet curtains at the front entrance and you'll find yourself on the ground floor of a spacious bi-level restaurant. The walls are painted a soft pink color and chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The crowd is a mix of tourists, couples old and young and many groups of females in sparkly tops out for what appeared to be mostly birthday dinners. We were seated at a long table on the basement level of the restaurant and directly in front of me was a DJ in a fedora and tight v-neck tank top spinning Britney - lots of it. The music gave the restaurant a clubby atmosphere, although most of the diners were pretty quiet and reserved, eating and chatting away. Even though the music was quite loud, we were still able to talk across the table without too much yelling...ahh the magic of good acoustics.
I'd read numerous reviews lamenting the poor quality of service, but our waitress was very polite and prompt, taking our orders right away and making sure our water glasses were always full. We started with the famous guacamole (which you can see bits of inside Kashmira's mouth) and it was quite good. There were plenty of sizable pieces of avocado and the texture was a perfect balance between smooth and chunky. I ordered the Pescado Tacos, served with grilled filets of mahi mahi, spicy cabbage slaw and fresh tomato salsa, all wrapped up in two warm flour tortillas. The fish tasted great - fresh and meaty. The thin strips of cabbage was tart and crunchy, with the fresh tomato salsa giving the dish a nice cooling effect.

My favorite part of the meal came at the end in the form of a pistachio flavored chocolate cake served with a scoop of pistachio ice-cream. The ice-cream had a nutty texture and the chocolate cake was rich but not too thick, with a few pieces of pistachio in the middle.

Dos Caminos is a fun spot for group dinner, festive and loud, but no so much that you can't hear your friends.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Chocolate Truffles

Twas Amar's birthday last week and I made he-who-has-a-major-sweet-tooth (seriously, the dude belongs in a Cathy comic) bittersweet truffles. I tried to make truffles last year and all I got was a hard lump of brown goo. This year, I measured everything to the T and hunkered down for 6 hours to make these damn things. Truffles aren't particularly hard to make, just extremely time consuming. So if you're just lounging around at home on a blustery winter day, tis a good time to make truffles. My truffles tasted pretty good but looked a bit off...I got sick of waiting for the truffle base to solidify, so i started rolling the chocolate concoction into balls before it was fully firm...thus my little balls of chocolate wouldn't hold up..it started to droop and flatten out as soon as I placed them back in my baking dish. So, wait at least 4 hours before you start rolling them into truffles...you can try to put them in the freezer for an hour, that might speed up the process.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
9 1/2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped - for the truffle base
8 ounces of bitter sweet chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped - for the outside shell
3-4 handfuls of walnuts, finely chopped

Instructions:
Bring cream to a simmer, remove from heat and pour over the 9 1/2 ounces of chopped chocolate
Stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is fully melted
Refridgerate the base until it is firm enough to roll into balls, at least 3-4 hours
Once it's firm, take a large spoonful of the chocolate mixture and roll into a small ball, repeat until you've used up all the mixture
Chill the balls for another hour
Place the other 8 ounces of chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and melt the chocolate by stirring the chocolate chunks until its smooth and completely melted
Take each ball of truffle base, roll it in the melted chocolate and then roll in the chopped walnuts
Refridgerate the truffles for another hour.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Spaghetti Bolognese


I craved pasta and meat the whole time I was in Spain...one can only eat some much ham, cheese and hard as rocks bread. I wanted to feel the comfort one gets from eating a bowl full of heavy pasta. Cold little bocadillos just don't do it for me. So i made Spaghetti Bolognese at my earliest opportunity. This dish was both tasty and economical. Recipe makes enough for 4. Prep and cook time: approximately 50 minutes.

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 boxes of whole wheat pasta
- 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 lb of ground beef
- 1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup of chopped basil
- 1/4 cup of grated pecorino romano cheese
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Instructions:
- Heat the olive oil in a pan, saute onion and garlic for about 3 minutes or until the onions become translucent
- Add carrot and green pepper and saute for another 5 minutes
- Add ground beef and saute for about 10 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink
- Salt to taste
- Add can of crushed tomatoes, simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes (sauce should thicken up)
- Salt to taste
- Add chopped basil and cheese at the end

Monday, November 12, 2007

Molly's Birthday and Red Velvet Cupcakes

Most of the gang was down in DC this past weekend to celebrate the disappearance of Molly's youth and the onset of middle age. We had a great meal at Indique, although I spent of the rest of the night feeling my food slosh around in my stomach alongside champagne, bloody mary mix and birthday cake shots. Yum.

During the day we made a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. For my first attempt at baking red velvet cupcakes, it came out decent enough, although it was more pink than red and was a little bit on the dry side. It also didn't have that hard to pinpoint red velvet "flavor". I used a recipe from Epicurious and had to substitute skim milk for buttermilk. After doing a bit of research on the web today, I think that the lack of buttermilk was the cause of the pink-ness of my cupcakes. Apparently, the chemical reaction from combining white vinegar and buttermilk is, in addition to the red food coloring, what gives the cupcakes that deep red color. (See! I told you people there is some sort of chemical reaction involved!) Also, most recipes called for three eggs and I only used two. An extra egg and buttermilk is probably what gives the cupcakes that moist and rich texture. Word to the wise: don't think that skim milk is an acceptable substitute for buttermilk.

Click Here to read the recipe I used. I would recommend adding an extra egg and another 1-2 teaspoons of red food coloring. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Chicken and Vegetable Orzo Stew

Daylight Savings Time is in effect and that means the sun sets at approximately 4 in the afternoon. Which means that it's soup season! This soup is very easy to make, takes only about 45 minutes. If you like hot, steamy soup and mushy vegetables, then this dish is for you.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 zucchini, diced into big chunks
- 1 package of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon of thyme
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 teaspoon of basil
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup of orzo
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
- Sautee the diced onion in olive oil for a few minutes, until the onion pieces are translucent.
- Add the chicken and sautee for another few minutes
- Add the zucchini and spinach and sautee for another few minutes
- add the can of diced tomatoes, 2 chicken bouillon cubes and 2 cups of water
- add all of the spices
- bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes
- stir in the orzo and simmer for another 15 minutes
- add generous amounts of salt and the tomato paste at the end
- stir continuously throughout the cooking process

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Sariwa

I noticed a new restaurant...actually I wouldn't call it a tiny restaurant, it's such a tiny space...it's more of a take-out place, on 16th street at Prospect Park West. The new restaurant, a Filipino place called Sariwa, has a short menu and serves up foods like Chicken Adobo and Beef Empanadas. Best part has to be the fact that it delivers to my neighborhood! Amar and I decided on an order of Chicken Adobo, a beef empanada, Vegetable Lumpia (spring rolls stuffed with green beans, jicama, carrots and tofu) and Pancit, a traditional Filipino dish of rice noodles sauteed with cabbage, carrots and green beans.

Overall, the food was pretty good but it appears that Sariwa is still working on its delivery skills. The food was a bit late and while Amar's food was piping hot, my Chicken Adobo was icey cold.

The Chicken Adobo reminded me of a dish my Dad often cooks back home: he stews chicken or pork, potatoes and hard-boiled eggs for hours in a soy sauce mixture until the the meat is falling off the bones. It's the ultimate comfort food and is just the right thing on a chilly and windy night. Anyways, this Chicken Adobo had a very similar taste. The Chicken is stewed in a soy sauce, vinegar and garlic mixture until the meat is tender and has both a salty and tangy flavor. The extra soy sauce and vinegar sauce was a perfect dressing for the rice. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner, too bad I had to reheat it first.

Amar decided to order a mish mash of things: two empanadas, spring rolls and a noodle dish. The Pancit was very good - the noodles were also cooked in vinegar so it had a very tangy and tart flavor. The spring rolls had a very distinct taste - different from Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai spring rolls. The spring rolls are lightly deep fried and stuffed with green beans, so the flavor is light and subtle, but has an almost meaty texture. I can't say much about the empanadas - it was dry and cold by the time I got to it.

Given a few more weeks, maybe a month or two, I think Sariwa will be really good. I'm just so excited that there's a new delivery option in my neighborhood! Click here for the menu.

PS - the Izzy/George storyline on Grey's is really getting on my nerves.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Billy's Bakery

Today has been one of those days when you are woken up at 6 AM by the sounds of garbage trucks and migrating birds and everything goes downhill from there. The train was packed, at the deli I got white toast instead of whole wheat toast with my scrambled eggs (i know i'm being nitpicky, but I am very particular about my breakfast sandwiches and I am not going to apologize for that!) And THEN at work, I come down with a severe case of writer's block and i'm sitting in front of my computer staring blankly at the screen and getting annoyed because i can't read my boss' handwriting and you know how there are those days when everyone at work is getting on your nerves, for no particular reason? All the while thinking about how much work I have to get done by the end of the day. Ugh.

So, I decided to march out of my office and over to Billy's Bakery on 9th Ave to buy myself a chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream icing. Even though I am still a little pissy for no reason, this perfect little mound of chocolate, butter and sugar has made me feel much better. The cupcake looks and tastes exactly like the cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Creamy icing, moist and cakey cake. They also offer yellow cupcakes w/ vanilla icing, red velvet, german chocolate and carrot cake. Goodbye.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is a small, easy to miss shop located on Bayard at Mott Street. I went on a Saturday night and the line was out the door. The shop offers "regular flavors" like Lychee, Red Bean, Green Tea, Black Sesame, Chocolate Pandan, Zen Butter and "exotic flavors" such as Pistachio, Mint Chip, Coffee, Vanilla and Strawberry. The Chocolate Pandan was amazing. According to Wikipedia, Pandan is a type of tree whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking to add a distinct aroma to rice and curry dishes such as nasi lemak, kaya preserves and desserts such as pandan cake. Pandan is said to be a restorative, deodorant, indolent and phylactic, promoting a feeling of wellbeing and acting as a counter to tropical lassitude. It may be chewed as a breath sweetener or used as a preservative on foods.

The chocolate was rich and creamy and the pandan added a level of nutty flavor that's hard to describe. All I know is that I want more and I need to make a trip back to Chinatown to get the another scoop of the Chocolate Pandan really soon.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Chilean Sea Bass with Cauliflower Polenta and Asparagus

I got my hands on some really fancy totally awesome Chilean Sea Bass (courtesy of Merrill Lynch) this weekend and I wanted to use it as the centerpiece of a great meal. I cooked with the fish with an Asian-ish marinade and paired it with a polenta side dish I whipped up on the spot and a few stalks of braised asparagus. It came out pretty well, although the polenta needed a lot more salt and the fish marinade could have used a lot less mirin (turns out mirin can be cloyingly sweet.) The meal was a wild carnival of tastes, textures and colors!

First the recipe for the sea bass marinade (adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe)
-1 tablespoon of miso (white or red)
-1/2 tablespoon of mirin
-1 tablespoon of soy sauce
-juice from one lemon
-2 dollops of yellow mustard

Whisk all the ingredients together, pour over the fish and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
Would probably work well with salmon as well.

Now, the recipe for my very own baked cauliflower polenta:
-1/2 head of cauliflower, cut up into small florets
-2 cloves of garlic, sliced into large pieces
-1/2 cup of course corn meal
-1 1/2 cup of water
-salt
-generous amount of parmesan cheese
-optional: shredded sharp cheese, like a gruyere or something

- mix the garlic and cauliflower and steam for about 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is soft
using a potato masher, mash up the cauliflower into small bits, stir in a pinch few pinches of salt
- bring water to a boil, add the corn meal and cook for about 8 minutes (you might have to add more water if the polenta is starting to look really thick and dry)
- combine the mashed cauliflower, polenta, parmesan, generous amounts of salt and the optional sharp cheese
- transfer the mixture into 4 greased ramekins (if you don't have any ramekins, a small baking pan will probably work)
- bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

Turn the ramekin upside down onto your plate and voila you have the cutest little mound of baked polenta!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Atlantic Antic

This post is a week late, so lets see if I can remember everything. Amar, Jordan, Ursula and I strolled through the Atlantic Antic last Sunday, tasting all the offerings of the festival vendors and of the restaurants residing on Atlantic Ave between 4th ave and Hoyt street. First the good: Key Lime pie, Red Velvet cake, mozzarepa (surprisingly!), and the bad: corn dog (that thing was as dry as a bag of popcorn) and cucumber-flavored lemonade (vegetable does not mix well with lemonade.)

We started with veggie samosas from a Thai (or was it Malaysian?) restaurant close to 4th ave. They were pretty good, the samosas tasted strongly of curry sauce and were awesomely greasy and drippy. It was a little hard to eat these things and walk at the same time...so I think we were all walking around with our mouths wide open, hunched over our little styrofoam plates (see picture.)

Next up: mozzarepas, the bi-racial child of an arepa and a mozzarella cheese stick. I was a little skeptical, but one bite and my uncertainty - over a food that sounds like something Rachel Ray would come up with - quickly disappeared. Cause that thing was good! Gooey cheese sandwiched between soft cornmeal pancakes...a little bland perhaps but also oddly satisfying. (Hey, nice mani!)

I made a beeline for the stand that was selling red velvet cake. No complaints here...moist and rich, with a nice cool cream cheese icing. This cake was pretty good, but i think i still prefer Sugar Sweet Sunshine's red velvet cake with chocolate almond-flavored icing. I like the cream cheese icing, but i like a chocolate icing better. Also, Sugar Sweet's cupcake is more dense.
And finally, Key Lime Pie from Steve's Authentic Key Lime in Red Hook. I'd heard a lot about his key lime pies and had been wanting to try one for a long time. It was good - not as amazing as I had originally expected. The pie was very tart and although I'm not sure if authentic key lime pies are supposed to be so tart, but I definitely prefer pies that don't taste so much like a sour patch kid.

It was really interesting to walk down Atlantic and see how the ethnic/cultural make up of the neighborhoods change so quickly and so suddenly...from West Indian to yuppiehood to Middle Eastern to old, rich Brooklyn.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Pesto Sauce and Brown Rice Vegetable Medley

This meal was all about getting rid of all the stuff in the my fridge. I had a bunch of basil and parsley left over from Ursula's bday dinner, plus a container of extra brown rice from another meal I made earlier in the week. I also had a piece of frozen seasoned mahi mahi from Trader Joe's in the freezer and a container of sauteed shitake mushrooms and snow peas from Woorijip. I decided to throw all this stuff together and it came out pretty well. I made a pesto sauce, grilled the fish for about 8 minutes (4 min per side), combined the brown rice with the mushrooms and dinner was done!

Recipe for Pesto Sauce:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 clove of garlic
juice of one lemon
dash of salt
1/3 cup of chopped basil leaves
3-4 tablespoons of chopped flat leaf parsley
handful of walnuts

Directions:
mix all the ingredients together in a food processor

Monday, September 24, 2007

Tiny's, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Le Grainne

A-man and I spent this past Sunday strolling around the city. We checked out Mike Nelson's exhibit "Psychic Vacuum", did some light shopping, of course, ate lots of good food continuously throughout the day. After I had a mild tantrum over not wanting to eat sandwiches, we went to Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop on Rivington Street. Tiny's is a small shop serving a variety of sandwiches and not much else. They serve the basics - turkey, BLT, ham and swiss, tuna, veggie, grilled cheese, roast beef, plus a few twists on basics: Chicken Po'Boy, Crab Cake sandwich, "Silly Philly Portobello", which is a philly cheese steak made with grilled portobello mushrooms and onions. I ordered the Crab Cake sandwich and Amar ordered the Chicken Po'Boy. My sandwich was pretty good...although I tasted more breadcrumbs than actual crab meat. Amar's sandwich was by far the better choice. The chicken was tender and the cheddar was perfectly melted and gooey. The toasted semolina bun had a crunchy outside and soft inside. Tiny's doesn't seem to serve up anything creative or particularly memorable, but it is a good choice if you find yourself on the Lower East Side and don't feel like spending too much for a fancy schmancy meal. Prices range from $4 - $8.

After our lunch at Tiny's, I of course had to pop into Sugar Sweet Sunshine and pick up one of their amazing cupcakes. I always pick the Ooey Gooey: dark chocolate cake with chocolate almond butter cream frosting. But this time I forced myself to pick something different. I settled on the Sassy Red Velvet: red velvet cake with chocolate almond butter cream frosting. Look at it...isn't it a beauty? I sunk my teeth into that cupcake and squealed with delight. I hate to say this, but I think the Sassy Red Velvet might have a slight edge over the Ooey Gooey. The frosting holds its shape, without being too stiff, a problem that a lot of cupcakes have. It's thick, creamy, melts in your mouth and has a delicious hint of almond underneath and initial taste of chocolate. The red velvet cake is moist and not too dense - my favorite kind of cupcake.

Later in the day, we ended up in Chelsea on 9th ave. Had I not already had something sweet just a few hours ago, we would have ended up at Billy's Bakery. But instead, we crossed the street over to Le Grainne Cafe, a French bistro, to get something to drink and to rest our feet. Le Grainne Cafe is really cute and laid-back...the interior has a rustic feel, the tables are covered by brown butcher paper, there are rooster motifs everywhere and ceiling fans whirl gently overhead. The restaurant serves all the things we provincial Americans think of as being French: mussels, crepes (savory and sweet), croque monsieur, coq au vin, ratatouille, croissants and tarts and a extensive list of coffee drinks and wines, and a bad attitude! (I kid I kid.) Neither of us were very hungry, so we just ordered iced tea and Tartine: a toasted french baguette served with soft butter and apricot jam. Since we didn't really eat there, I can't vouch for food, but the restaurant itself is nice and has that rare neighborhood feel to it. I can't wait go back to Le Grainne on a chilly winter night and warm myself up over a nice glass of red wine and some entree that sounds really French. And speak in an obnoxious fake French accent the whole time, of course. How romantique!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

My Google Map of Favorite and Queued Restaurants


View Larger Map

Juice Truck in Chelsea

There's this awesome new juice truck that's parked at the northeast corner of 19th street and 6th avenue. The truck (i didn't see a formal name) serves up 25 kinds of fruit shakes and 10 kinds of vegetable juices for prices starting at $3 for a small. I got the #25: a pineapple, strawberry, mango and orange juice shake. It was cold and refreshing. It could have been a little thicker, but that's about the only complaint I have. It definitely beats waiting in line at Jamba Juice for 20 minutes and paying $5 for a tiny little drink. I spied a vegetable juice that includes celery, spinach and ginger. Gross or tasty? I'm not sure. The juice truck is on location at least Mon-Fri 9-5 (i'm not sure if it's there on the weekends) and is parked about 5 steps away from a Halal truck. It's a brilliant idea really - why aren't there more juice trucks around the city? Lets hope it cuts into Jamba Juice's market share...that place annoys me. AND they still use syrofoam cups in this day and age.

Flurt Yogurt

On my way to dinner in Battery Park last night, I walked past a bo bo Pinkberry. At first I thought to myself, "hmm, is this another new Pinkberry store? What a random out-of-the way place for them to open up a store..." The logo of Flurt is similar to the Pinkberry logo, their whole concept - minimal interior design, plain yogurt with fruit toppings is exactly the same as Pinkberry's whole shtick. But, with a plus: the prices are cheaper. No green tea flavor though, which is unfortunate. Curious about the taste, I had to sample Flurt's yogurt. The taste is virtually the same, but the consistency of Flurt's yogurt is creamier and thicker than Pinkberry's yogurt. While Pinkberry has that light, almost grainy consistency, Flurt is much thicker and heavier (although it claims to be as calorific as Pinkberry.) I - a self-proclaimed P'Berry fan - might have to side with Flurt. The consistency is much better, I don't feel like I'm sour-flavored airy puffs of yogurt. Flurt has one location in Battery Park on South End Ave and one location in Gramercy on 3rd ave between 22nd and 23rd streets.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Daniel by guest bloggers "Urandalla"

Ursula: Hiiii! Randall and I are guest blogging today to tell you guys all about our experience at Daniel. How exciting! We went there last night for my 25th birthday and it was pretty ridiculous. First, a quick background on Daniel. I was interested in going after reading Ruth Reichl’s book, “Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise”. She used to be the food critic for the New York Times and I remember her always mentioning Daniel as the best restaurant in NYC, giving it the maximum 4 star rating, and since then I’ve been itching to try it. Its French cuisine, owned by chef Daniel Bouloud (Top Chef guest judge!) and it’s located on the UES, on 65th and Park. We knew it would be pretty chi -chi, especially since the suggested attire was tie and jacket, but we were excited for the food and service, which we knew would be amazing and make the night memorable.

So we arrive at the restaurant, the décor is really fancy…red velvet chairs, chandeliers, high ceilings, mostly couples-only tables, very romantic. We were greeted by the hostess, who was wearing a very conservative black suit (as was most of the serving staff) and chic prada glasses. As Randall excused himself to the bathroom, she immediately ushered me to the “lounge” so I could have a drink while we waited for out table. I ordered us a couple of glasses of champagne, the house of course which was also name Daniel (that guy has some serious ego…can you imagine naming a restaurant Ursula or Meng?), and the waiter brought us this delicious olive cracker to munch on. We were shortly escorted to our table…we were lucky to have a corner table so we could snuggle closely (ha) and were offered the wine list. Ok, so the wine list had a table of contents! There were bottles for $10,000, no joke! We decide to continue and stay with the house champagne since it was a celebration (and the cheapest thing on the menu)! The amuse bouche soon arrived, lobster on a bed of cauliflower mousse, broccoli mousse with goat cheese, and a parmesan cracker with more goat cheese, it was delicious. For dinner, which was a 3 course prix-fixe, I got the pressed poularde and foie gras terrine with black trumpet gelee, young turnip salad and a port reduction to start and a paupiette of black sea bass in a crisp potato shell with tender leeks and a syrah sauce as my main course. I was super bummed the special course of the day wasn’t available, “milk-fed baby pig”! The food was pretty delicious, but I must admit that it wasn’t the best that I had, I think David Burke and Donatella was much better.

A note on the service and then I’ll let Randall finish the post with what he ate and the rest of the night. All the waiters and waitresses had a charming and thick French accent, and when they served you or removed plates from the table they did it in unison…so it was like, “1, 2, 3 remove plate” or “1, 2, 3 place plate” ha! They actually covered our table cloth with a matching cloth napkin so that our food stains wouldn’t be visible (and believe me there were a few food stains, I blame it on the champagne!). They had a bread guy with 6 or 7 different types of breads, including a delicious olive loaf which I think I had two pieces of…they were all super nice, our waiter even took a picture of us (I know, super cheesy, but we were excited!), so it wasn’t pretentious and they definitely didn’t discriminate because of our age (we were the youngest couple there by 20 years!)

Randall: In my attempt to make this the best and most memorable birthday for Ursula, I felt I needed to pick a place that you would only go to on special occasion. I couldn't have found a better restaurant as this was the most fancy décor I have ever seen and from the moment I walked in we felt like English Royalty. Everyone in this beautiful house was there for a special occassion and that made it extremely special (especially to be so young, but feel so mature). I was wearing a suit and felt underdressed!!! Many restaurants take on a unique character, whether it is in the decor, the service, or most importantly the quality of food. I must say that this was top notch in each of those categories. For an appetizer, I had the tasting of heirloom tomatos which included a chilled soup with aged feta, “en salade” with goat cheese, red bell peppers bavorais and socca “nicoise” and for my entrée I had the trio of colorado lamb which included roasted chop with garbanzo-fava bean croquettes, fig leaf shoulder papillotte and tenderloin with fennel confit. The appetizer was amazing... the vegetables were so ripe and everything was prepared so delicately. Our waiter made us feel very important and had his eye on our table, ready to serve us for every time we finished a small glass of champagne. I must say that it was the best LAMB I have ever had and will have for the rest of my life (I am sure of it). It was tender yet dry and still possessed a very strong juicy flavor even though nothing was bleeding on to the plate.

My only reservation about the entrées at Daniel (and many other restaurants in NYC) was the size of the portion. I felt like I could have indulged a bit more and for the price and maybe gotten a little more meat, but I was so happy with my surroundings so the food was not the only priority... The high ceilings, polite waiters and overall sense of Royalty makes Daniel a top notch restaurant in my book. As we finished our entrees we had another glass of champagne (which was being poured in our glass at the perfect time) and went in for the final celebration... DESSERT! This was quite cute because they broke the dessert menu into Fruit and Chocolate so that you could satisfy your cravings with one theme or the other. I thought that was very neat because Ursula ordered raspberry-lemon vacherin with thai basil topped with lemon meringue and raspberry marshmallow and I ordered the warm chocolate financier with bergamot (a type of orange) gelee and lady grey earl tea ice cream recommended by our waitress. As we were smothering ourselves with chocolate and fruit (was not a big fan of Ursi's dessert -- too candy oriented) they brought out the b-day desset which was just awesome. YESSS I took a picture because in fine chocolate cursive, they wrote "HAPPY BIRTHDAY URSULA" and it was just amazing. I had a tear in my eye for my girlfriend. Romantic and well done... and the birthday dessert itself was a mix of chocolates that just excited the taste buds.

At that point I decided that this was one of the best restaurants I have been too (I’m only 23) and one of the best birthdays I had planned. It couldn't have been better executed and I noted that when pointing out to Ursula what was different about our table. Yes, it was the flower arrangement that I bought from L'Olivier who delivered it to Daniel that the morning and which they had placed on the table when we arrived.... It was an arrangement of the most beautiful fall sunflowers in a nice wide square glass vase...They escorted us out and then we went to finish off the night with an after-dinner drink in the lounge (where we first started). I think the food was top 5 in my book and rates 2nd to all the restaurants I have been too. My rankings are below:

1. Buddakan (braised short ribs -- spectacular)
2. Daniel
3. David Burke and Donatella
4. Mercer Kitchen
5. Smith & Wollenski's / Elephant

Ursula: So yeah it was a great time, the flowers were a great surprise and such a nice touch…definitely worth blogging about as I sit here at work feeling hung over from the champagne. Thank you Randall for an amazing dinner and thank you Meng for letting us write about it!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Whole Wheat Pasta with Broccoli Rabe

This dish is cheap, healthy and easy to make. Three factors that are very important to me. It's a good meal but not good as leftovers. This dish dries out really quickly and I haven't figured out how to make it not taste like dry pasta and shriveled greens after it's been re-heated. If you can fix this problem let me know.


Ingredients:
1/2 box of whole wheat pasta
1 package of broccoli rabe
3-4 cloves of garlic
salt
olive oil
lots of parmesan cheese
reserved pasta water
3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar or more depending on your preference

Instructions:
Boil the pasta, drain and save about 1/2 cup of the liquid
Chop the garlic into thin slices, saute garlic in olive oil for a few minutes
Add the broccoli rabe and saute on medium heat until the stems are tender, approximately 10-15 minutes
add salt and stir in balsamic vinegar
Stir in the cooked pasta
Add the reserved pasta liquid
Add the parmesan cheese

Sultan Grill

The General and I biked all the way down to Coney Island Avenue and Newkirk one night with the intention of eating at Bahar, this Aghan restaurant I read about. It was a pretty hot night and the restaurant wasn't air-conditioned, so we nixed the idea of eating there pretty quickly. We wandered a few doors down to the corner of Coney Island Ave and Parkville and saw what appeared to be a spanking new restaurant called Sultan Grill. We gave it a go and it turned out to be a really good find. The restaurant has two menus - a Pakistani menu and a Turkish menu. We ordered the Chicken Tikka, Daal, Roti and Naan off the Pakistani menu. The Pakistani menu offers the basics: curry, tandoori, grilled meats, biryanis, etc. The portions were perfect, not too big so that we were stuffing ourselves but just the right amount of food for two people. The Chicken Tikka was smokey and juicy, without much excess oil. The Daal was also very good...a little different from daals I've had at other restaurants. The lentils weren't as mushy and the dish wasn't as liquidy as most other ones that I've had. The fresh ginger topping was a little bit too strong but other than that the dish was very light and non-greasy. My favorites might actually have been the breads. The naan and roti appeared to be freshly baked and steam was still coming off the top as the waitress placed it on our table. The naan was light and fluffy without any charred burnt bits that you often see. A good, simple meal that didn't make me feel the slightest bit sleepy afterwards. The atmosphere isn't great - bright florescent lighting, drab walls and tiled floors, but the food is fresh and satisfying. Thank you Mr. Sultan for making my stomach happy. Now I am going to watch Britney's VMA video for the 11th time and THEN watch her I'm a Slave for U VMA performance and cry tears of longing for the old awesome Britney.

Province

Alright, so I'm not sure whether or not i've already written about Province, but I'm going to plug it again. Every time I go in there, it's always empty and I don't understand why because the food is EXCELLENT. Really good. Really authentic Chinese sandwiches. I blame it on the not so great location of the restaurant - it's at the corner of Church and Walker streets in Tribeca. It's kind of a random spot...straddling both Chinatown and Tribeca, but not in the center of either neighborhood. It's really too bad because if it was on a busier street, I think it'd do really well. The buns they serve are much better than the crap that's being doled out over at Momofuku Ssam. My favorite is the braised pork shoulder sandwich. The thick slabs of pork are tender, fatty and salty. A couple sprigs of cilantro, a few slices of pickled cucumbers and a thin layer of hoisin sauce accompany the meat. All of this is sandwiched in between two slices of chinese-style bun: soft and pillowy pieces of white bread that tastes much better than your average ho hum baguette or ciabatta. Province also serves chicken, steak, kimchi and pork sandwiches, soups, salads and dumplings. Best of all, each sandwich only costs $4.25. A pork sandwich and a cold Tsing Tao will only cost you $10. Side of shrimp-flavor chips included. Ok now I'm going to go watch Britney's VMA performance for the 10th time and cry into my pillow.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Madeleine Patisserie

I walked by Madeleine Patisserie on the south side 23rd between 6th and 7th a few weeks ago and did a double take. A cute and clean little bakery in an area mostly inhabited by hardware and 99 cent stores? It can't be. But indeed, my eyes weren't playing a trick on me and my stomach. I ventured down into the below ground-level store and was immediately engulfed in rich and buttery air. The bakery is bright and sparsely decorated, there are a few tables, chairs and coffee tables pushed up against and walls. The first thing you see when you walk into the bakery is the display case full of madeleines in all different colors. The flavor of the goodies come in interesting combinations: hazelnut and prune, chocolate and lemon and pistachio among others. They also sell croissants, loaves of various breads and the standard assortment of coffee drinks. The chocolate croissants are fantastic: the chocolate in the middle is rich and heavy and the croissant is buttery and flakey.

Madeleine Patisserie is an oasis of chocolate and deliciousness in an otherwise grimey and run-down stretch of 23rd street. They sell these mini chocolate croissants for 75 cents a piece that are the perfect after-work snacks, for that loooong walk from the store to the F train.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Supper

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post, but the restaurant was very dimly lit and all of my pictures came out fuzzy and blurry. You're just going to have to use your imagination, aren't you?!?! So, Nikki, Alex and I went to Supper in the East Village Monday night. The restaurant felt very familiar, even though I'd never been there. The ambiance and decor reminded me of Lil' Frankies, the little hard to spot pizza place on 1st Ave and 2nd Street. Come to find out, Frank, Lil' Frankies and Supper are all owned by the same (going out on a limb here, assuming he's Italian) dude. The decor of both Lil' Frankies and Supper is very clean and simple - smooth wooden floor boards, dark wooden tables and chairs, minimally decorated white walls and dim lighting. We arrived around 7:30 and the place was about half full. We got one half of a curved six-person table in the back room, past the open kitchen. The waiter presented us with an amuses-bouche of spicy and tangy cannellini beans mixed with red pepper flakes, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. The chewy sourdough bread that came with the beans was the perfect receptacle for sopping up the leftover oil in the bowl.

Nikki and I both ordered and Priest Stranglers with marinara sauce and fresh ricotta cheese. Priest stranglers, also known as strozzapreti, got its name from a popular legend about a priest who choked and died after eating the pasta too quickly, because it was so delicious. The priest stranglers looked like stretched out rigatoni - thin and hollow tube-shaped pasta, but with the texture and taste more closely related to gnocchi - chewy and tender, with an almost creamy consistency. I've never had this type of pasta before, but it was excellent! Oh and I haven't even talked about the sauce. The marinara sauce was perfect - sweet and salty at the same time with a little hint of tang behind the flavors. The fresh ricotta cheese served on top of the pasta and sauce was also pretty much perfect - adding another level of creaminess to the dish. I was literally still scraping the sauce off the sides of my plate as the waiter was clearing our dishes off the table.

Nikki also ordered a side of french cut green beans in garlic sauce, which was had a beautiful light green color that made me think of spring....OH SO FAR AWAY. Sigh. Alex ordered the half roast chicken with mashed potatoes. I didn't try the chicken, but the mashed potatoes were dense and rich. Oh yeah, and we got dessert! We ordered the hazelnut panna cotta, which came surrounded by apple slices, strawberries and the biggest raspberries I've ever seen. We were about to tuck in to our dessert, but oh, it wasn't complete yet. A runner came to our table with a brass pot of bubbling chocolate sauce, which he proceeded to pour all over our lovely dessert. The panna cotta was really thick and gooey, it was actually hard separating a spoonful from the rest of the dessert. A few drizzles of chocolate sauce might have been nice, but our plate was drenched in the stuff and it was just a bit too much for me.

All in all, it felt like a very decadent dinner, even though it really wasn't. The atmosphere is very laid back and casual, the prices are reasonable. This would be a great place to go either with a group of friends or one on one date-style. I definitely plan on making a trip back.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Mushroom Barley Pilaf

I got this recipe from newly discovered blog called 28 Cooks. I love mushrooms and barley is packed with fiber, so this is the perfect recipe for me.

Ingredients:
1 cup of pearl barley
2-3 cups of water
1 box of baby portobello mushrooms. loosely chopped
1 1/2 onions, diced
2 pieces of garlic, chopped
handful of parley, chopped
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinagrette
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Instructions:
- combine barley and water and simmer for about 45 minutes - 1 hour (or until the barley is soft)
- cook the garlic and onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add the chopped mushrooms. Sautee until the mushrooms are cooked through
- Whisk together the balsamic vinagrette, lemon juice, olive oil and a dash of salt
- combine the barley and mushrooms, stir in the sauce, add the chopped parley
- stir until everything is mixed together

It's super easy and tastes good with a side salad or as a side with some grilled/roasted chicken.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Babbo

My highly anticipated birthday dinner at Babbo has come and gone. The food was excellent - I highly recommend the gnocchi with oxtail and the duck. The wine was fabulous - the Sommelier recommended exactly what we wanted. The service was impeccable - the waiter, runner, house manager and sommelier worked seamlessly together. Everything came out at the right time, my wine glass was constantly full, we weren't bothered too much and yet I still felt everyone was very attentive. The atmosphere was great - we got a corner table on the second floor, prime location for people watching! Babbo was such a treat...the perfect choice for a special occasion.

I think the following snippets of conversation throughout our dinner pretty much sums up the whole experience.
"I think I saw Larry David downstairs."
"No you didn't!"
"Is that Lauren Bush? Nah, too old."
"That dude's moustache is nasty!"
"Yeah, but he's probably a Sultan."
"Chianti is an Italian wine, right?"
"Do you think they imported the Sommelier from Italy?"
"Definitely. Look at him, he's so foreign and intense."
"Oh man this wine is good."
"Do you taste the wood?"
"No."
"I think our runner has a French accent." (He's Latino.)
"No he doesn't!"
"Wow, the gnocchi just melts in your mouth!"
"I know."
"This is like beef butter."
"I know."
"Dude I'm drunk."
"Me too."

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Di Fara Pizza

On a balmy and breezy Tuesday night, the A-man and I made a pilgrimage to Di Fara in Midwood. If you've never biked down Ocean Parkway in the early evening hours, i highly recommend it. The benches lining the street are packed - old smelly dudes playing chess, their counterpart old lady friends sitting around gossiping, little brown kids squealing and running around, Hasidic couples strolling along with their 9 kids, young Eastern European guys lounging around and staring at you suspiciously...it's like a tour of the EU. Anyway, after biking down a quiet and deserted stretch of Avenue J, we arrive at our destination: an unassuming, almost run-down pizza parlor at the corner of Avenue J and 15th street. We walk in and immediately smell fresh out of the oven pizza and see the herd of people crowded around the counter. The most adorable old Italian man, Dom DeMarco the owner of Di Fara, is slowly and methodically making pizza after pizza: stretching the dough, pouring the sauce marinara sauce, spreading the mozzarella slices and sprinkling the parmesan cheese, drizzling the olive oil, adding the finishing touches once the pizza is out of the oven. It seems like he's in his own world, barely noticing the crowd gathered in front of him, anxiously waiting for a taste of his amazing pizza. The decor isn't anything to talk about - bright and uncomfortable florescent overhead lights, grimy tables and chairs, aged linoleum floors.


The walls are plastered with articles from every major magazine and newspaper proclaiming Di Fara as the best...best pizza, in brooklyn, in new york, in America! The pizza is good. Damn good. Probably one of the best slices I've ever had (although Totonno's in Coney Island is pretty good too.) The crust is thin and both crispy and chewy. The cheese has a slight tang and saltiness to it and the sauce is just perfect - a tad sweet. The pizza is greasy, but not in a gross-i-feel-sick-after-three-bites sort of way. The olive oil increases the intensity of all the other flavors and gives the pizza an added richness. I'm not quite sure why this pizza tastes so much better than all the countless ones I've eaten...maybe it's the combination of sweet and salty that just hits your taste buds spot on. Make the trip to Di Fara, it's worth it. Oh and stick with the plain slices, the best parts are the sauce and cheese.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Sugar Sweet Sunshine

The Zagat Guide named Sugar Sweet Sunshine best cupcake bakery in NYC. And I completely agree. I'm not impressed by the cupcakes at Magnolia, the frosting is too sweet and heavy. I've have cupcakes from another bakery in midtown somewhere, run by someone that either used to work at Magnolia or owns Magnolia and I wasn't impressed by that either. The Ooey Gooey cupake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine is my favorite - dark chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream. The cake is moist and fluffy and the frosting is amazing - creamy and buttery with that perfect subtle almond taste. I always want to try something different, like the red velvet cupcake, pistachio cupcake or carrot cake, but I always end up getting the Ooey Gooey. Chocolate on my mind, makin me crazy.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese spring rolls are the perfect summer dish - simple, light, healthy, satisfying and no stovetop cooking necessary (well if you include rice noodles in your spring rolls then you'll have to cook the noodles, but other than that, you don't have to get near the stove.) It's also surprisingly simple, once you have the right ingredients and know how to make the spring roll wrappers. (Before I made spring rolls myself, I never understood how the wrappers were so translucent.)

Ingredients:
10-12 round rice spring roll wrappers (available at asian grocery stores)
handful of dry rice vermicelli (also available at asian grocery stores)
1/2 lb of cooked shrimp (or cold shredded chicken)
1 cucumber, thinly sliced length-wise
handful of mint leaves and/or basil leaves
spoonful of hoisin sauce
spoonful of rice vinegar

Directions
For the spring rolls:
1. Boil the shrimp until the meat is turns pink (about 5-6 minutes), boil the vermicelli (approx. 5 minutes), slice the cucumber and arrange all the ingredients plus the mint and basil on a dish:
2. Fill a large bowl halfway up with room temperature water.
3. Submerge a piece of the rice wrapper in the water for about a minute or two, or until the wrapper is soaked through and soft.
4. Put the slightly wet rice wrapper on a flat surface, place a few pieces of the shrimp, cucumber slices, 3-4 mint leaves and a pinch of the rice noodles in the center-bottom of the wrapper and roll everything up like a burrito.





For the dipping sauce:
1. Combine the hoisin sauce and and rice vinegar in a little dish, whisk until the sauce is smooth.






See? Really simple and fast - prep time is only about 20 minutes. You can serve this as an appetizer or as the main meal.

Red Hook Ball Fields

I finally got the chance to try some of the offerings at Red Hook Ballfields a few weeks ago, when Jia (chinese school friend/fellow food enthusiast) was in town. There was so much to choose from - tacos, quesadillas, empanadas, ceviche, tamales, roasted corn, papusas, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed fruit juices...I didn't know what to eat first! After wandering out in a salivating daze for about ten minutes, I decided on a bean and cheese papusa. The dough was chewy interspersed with a few chewy crispy bits. The bean and cheese filling was salty and soft - a perfect consistency.


To wash down all the salty goodness of the papusa, taco and empanada, I bought a fresh watermelon juice from the vendor selling the roasted corn and fruit juices. There's a lot of talk on the internet about all the great food available at the ballfields, but how come nobody ever talks about the fruit juices? I don't know if it was because I was really thirsty and sweaty, but I swear that watermelon juice was the best drink i've ever had. It was refreshing and slightly sweet, without being too sweet. I could have had another two cups of the juice, but I was already on the verge of bursting. Anyway, I would back just to get the juice.


I might have been very full, but I still had enough room in my belly for a roasted corn on a stick. It was a little bit shocking to see the cook scoop a gigantic chunk of mayo out of a Costco sized mayonnaise jar and slather it on the roasted corn, but oh well. The cook then rolled the stick of corn in a large box filled with cheese (parmesan i think?) The corn was juicy, the cheese was crumbly and salty and even the mayo didn't taste bad. Cafe Habana can suck it.

The food stalls at the Red Hook Ballfields are open on Saturdays and Sundays through October. Go and get some delicious and cheap Mexican, El Salvadorian and Ecuadorian food.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Les Halles

After watching Kitchen Confidential I had to read the actual book. After reading the book I had to eat at Les Halles. The whole experience - the food and the service - was bad. Almost comically bad. Our waiter was literally completely cracked out, he could barely keep his eyes open and was having a hard time standing up. He comes up to our table, leans against a chair and mumbles the specials to us, stuttering through most of it. His eyes have that droopy look, you know when you're in class and you're really bored and tired and doing your best to stay awake. Then i watch up knock over an entire bottle of wine at another table, candle wax gets on everything and everyone's fumbling around, trying not to get red wine on their clothes. Again, the waiter looks utterly confused and out of it, like he has no idea what's going on.

The food was completely forgettable. I'm pretty sure I've had better steak at TGI Fridays. I ordered the Les Halles "classic": steak, frites and salad. The salad seemed like a complete afterthought, as if the chef was thinking, "oh crap, this dish comes with salad. Oh well, who the fuck cares, lets just drench some limp mesclun greens with dressing and serve that." The salad had no flavor whatsoever, the leaves were limp and disgusting, there was way too much dressing...the whole thing tasted like balsamic vinaigrette soup. The steak also lacked any sort of flavor or juice. I had a really hard time cutting through the steak, even though I ordered it medium. The edges of the steak were extremely tough and hard the chew. AND it was lukewarm by the time it got to our table! Nothing is worse than almost-cold steak. The fries were pretty decent, but uh, I'm pretty sure I didn't come to Les Halles to eat fries.

The decor was decent albeit a bit dingy. Looks like the place could use a good scrub down. The restaurant felt a little humid, and our neighbors must have complained about it, because our idiotic waiter pointed this huge fan in our direction, completely drying out my eye balls.

And to end the whole thing, our droopy-eyed, idiotic waiter comes up to us and mumbles, "uh, so, do you guys want to see the dessert menu or something?" We respond with a polite "no" and he shrugs his shoulders and slinks away. And he proceeded to pass out and drop dead in the middle of the restaurant. Ok the last part didn't happen.

Les Halles isn't much more than a gussied up 99/Ground Round/your local crappy steakhouse. Bourdain makes his food sound amazing in his books, too bad it's terrible in real life. AND! I also read online that he and his high school sweetheart got divorced a few years ago and he remarried some Italian woman. And they just had a baby! Tsk. Tsk.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Ramen Setagaya

So there's been a lot of hype about Ramen Setagaya being waaaay more authentic than anything you can find at Rai Rai Ken, Momofuku, Minca, or the dozens upon dozens of other Japanese noodle bars around the city. As I'm always on the quest for the best noodle bar, I had to go to Setagaya, even if it meant waiting in line for 45 minutes. Jia, Jordan and I got there at 7 on a Friday night and the line was out the door. (Note: the restaurant is tiny and not conducive for big group meals. You shouldn't go with more than three other people.) We patiently waited in line for about 25 minutes, enviously watching the eating customers pick bouncy noodles out of their bowl and slurp their broth with gusto.

We are seated at the bar facing the chefs (yes! I get to wink and wave at the solemn Japanese cooks grilling pork!) I ordered the Shio (salt broth) ramen with BBQ pork (you have the choice between ramen, ramen or more ramen...not a restaurant with too much variety.)

They're not kidding when they say salt broth...cause that shit was salty! I mean like unbelievably salty...like I had to drink 2 pints of water afterwards before I felt normal again. That said, the broth was really flavorful...i can't believe they can make water taste that good without adding even a sprinkle of msg. The pork was soft and came apart really easily, almost like shredded chicken. The grilled edges added a nice bit of crunch to the meat. The egg was perfect - the yolk wasn't too runny, but also not chalky and crumbly...soft without feeling like you're drinking raw yolk. The bland taste of the egg white was a great compliment to the salty broth.

Oh and those noodles. The noodles held up incredibly well in the broth - they didn't get at all soggy or mushy, even after 15 minutes. It had the most interesting texture...it almost didn't taste like ramen. The noodles were chewy and had a slightly elastic feeling to them, like i was pulling long rubber bands out of my bowl.

Rai Rai Ken vs. Setagaya? Setagaya is the clear winner. Although, I prefer Rai Rai Ken's atomosphere. Hopefully Setagaya won't be such a zoo in a few months. I think I'll be making quite a few trips back to this place in the wintertime.

Update: I don't know a fig when I see one

Ursula notified me of a grave error in my previous post, when I called a fig a passion fruit/guava/some fruit or other. The fruit adorning the deliciously creamy yogurt I had at Reservoir restaurant in Montreal was indeed a black mission fig.

It looks like a....well you all know what I think it looks like.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Montreal and Vermont Recap

I was just in Montreal for the Jazz Fest and in Grand Isle, Vermont for some R&R. It was a serious eating fest...here are some highlights:

Chez Doval
corner of Rue Marie Anne and Rue Bullion, Montreal

Chez Doval is a small neighborhood restaurant near our hotel serving amazing Portuguese food. I've been dreaming about their steaks ever since last summer, when I had it for the first time. Amar and Carrie both ordered the Portuguese steak, which is a huge chunk of grilled steak with a fried egg on top. Our waiter made the executive decision of ordering Carrie the "lady" portion of the steak.





If you can't tell, the huge white blob on top of the steak is the fried egg. The combination of the two was delicious. The meat is ridiculously tender and juicy. It felt like the pieces of meat were literally melting in my mouth. Even though the steak was cooked medium, the meat wasn't stringy or too bloody. I think it's the best steak I've ever had, anywhere.

The restaurant is an awesome neighborhood place with cute old-man waiters, what a find!



Reservoir
corner of Rue Duluth and Rue Hotel de Ville

Someone on Chowhound recommended that we go to brunch at Reservoir restaurant around the corner from our hotel, off of St. Laurent Boulevard. After pulling on the wrong door and pressing my nose up against the window like an idiotic American tourist, we got a table and ordered our food. I started with the fruit and yogurt. I've never had the fruit that was on top of the yogurt; Carrie told me it was passion fruit...or was it guava? I don't remember. Whatever it was, it was really really good. The fruit had a hint of sweetness and had a meaty texture. The yogurt was really creamy and didn't have much of a sour aftertaste. I couldn't tell if they added honey to the yogurt or if it was a special type of creamy yogurt. Look at the picture, doesn't the yogurt look like gelato?


I also ordered the scrambled egg with truffles dish. You know how I feel about mushrooms and this dish did not disappoint me. The scrambled eggs were incredibly rich and the mushrooms had a great thick, woodsy, almost smoky flavor. The eggs came with watercress in a light vinagrette and a sourdough-like bread with a soft chewy center. This meal was perfect - I need to find a place in New York that serves eggs with truffles!




Onto Vermont.
We had some pretty great meals in Vermont, notably our dinner at the Ruthcliffe lodge. I had an amazingly fresh steamed lobster, which i hacked to pieces and shoved into my mouth. I must have looked like a complete barbarian - cracking the shell with one hand, pulling out the meat with the other.

We also went back to the Vermont Pub and Brewery, located in downtown Burlington. The food is your standard pub fare - burgers, steak and cheeses, a few basic pasta dishes, breaded and fried shrimp,
breaded and fried calamari, breaded and fried fish, breaded and fried chicken...you get the point. We started with the breaded and fried shrimp and I also ordered the mushroom philly cheese steak - sauteed portobello mushrooms and onions sandwiched between a toasted roll, topped with melted cheese. After a long day of biking around Isle La Motte, it felt really good to eat some heavy, fried food. The food was pretty good - pretty familiar territory, nothing too exciting, but well made. The best part about the restaurant is the wide selection of microbrews, brewed in the basement of the restaurant. And at rock bottom prices! Amar and I were shocked that a pint of beer costly only a measly $3.00. For that much money in New York, I wouldn't be able to get a bartender to even look in my direction.

I ordered the six-beer sampler, with flavors ranging from a light and fruity to dark and bitter. The beer on the far left was very light and freshing, with what seemed liked a hint of fizz somewhere in there. The one on the far right was the heaviest of all the beers and tasted like it was brewed with coffee grounds. All the beers were excellent, I think my favorite was the Baseball Lager, #3.















The best way to drink the beers was like this: take sips from two different beers, swish it in your mouth and feel the frothy goodness slide down your throat.