Two new favorite restaurants in NYC

On my trips back to NYC over the past six months or so, I've tried several new restaurants but these two stand out in my mind: Hundred Acres in the West Village and Ippudo in the East Village.

Hundred Acres: was all-around fantastic. I made a reservation for 8 PM on a Friday night and we were taken to our table by 8:10, which is pretty good for New York. The atmosphere was warm, relaxing and casual. The tables were spaced far enough apart so that we didn't feel like we were sitting on top of the other diners and the noise level was just right. The wine & beer list was thoughtfully curated, with a focus on local brews. The butter that came with the bread was ridiculously good - we asked for two additional baskets of bread, just so we had an excuse to eat more of the butter. It was creamy, soft, with a slight sweet hint. Later, the waiter told us that the butter is made with honey. All of our entrees were delicious and appropriately portioned. I recommend everything. It's a great place to go to catch up with old friends!

Ippudo: hands down the best ramen shop in NYC. And everyone else in the city seems to think so because I went for lunch on a random Tuesday and the wait was 30 minutes! This place blows Ramen Setagaya out of the water. I finally figured out what it means to have a broth with depth and complexity, because Ippudo's ramen has both. After drinking a full bowl, I wanted more because with every sip, I tasted a new ingredient. The pork was tender and fatty, with just enough salt. The noodles were the perfect consistency, chewy but still tender. I had a truly delightful dining experience at Ippudo and left the restaurant with a full belly, runny nose, flushed cheeks and feeling like I had just eaten something really special.

Spinach Quiche

Ok it's been awhile since I last posted...and that's because school has been crazy hectic and I've been eating frozen meals for the past month. Pretty sad.

Anyway, I had a couple of friends over for dinner last night and I decided to make Spinach Quiche, mostly because I already had most of the ingredients in my pantry. It was very easy (took less than 1/2 hour of prep time) and a big hit, so I think I'll be making this more often. I cobbled this recipe together from a couple of other recipes I found online and added a couple of ingredients of my own:








Ingredients:
1 9" pre-made pie crust
1 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 scallions, 1 thinly sliced and 1 cut into long pieces
1/2 cup of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of roasted chicken, chopped
4 eggs
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Saute onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the thawed out spinach and saute for about 8 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add two liberal pinches of salt and a pinch of pepper.
While the spinach and onions are cooking, combine the eggs, various cheeses, chicken, 1 sliced scallion.
After the spinach and onions are cooked and have cooled down, add that in to the egg and cheese mixture.
Pour everything the pie crust, garnish with the long pieces of scallion
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 40 minutes, or until the quiche has developed a golden brown color on top.

Treats Truck

I finally caught up with the elusive Treats Truck this afternoon. Parked down the street from my office, at the corner of 6th Ave and 19th street, it was a silver gleaming thing of beauty. For a mere $1.50, I got a "chocolate trucker treat", or as the Treats Truck lady described it, a home-made oreo cookie. It's a generous-sized cookie, consisting of a thick slab of vanilla buttercream sandwiched between two moist chocolate chip cookies, which had the consistency closer to a brownie. I chatted with the lady briefly and she'll be parked at this corner for the most of the summer from 12-3 on Fridays. Hooray!

Bar Q

Bar Q, Anita Lo's new restaurant in the West Village, doesn't look like your average bbq restaurant. Everything is crisp and white - the walls, the seats, the linens. The food also isn't what you'd find in your average bbq restaurant...all of the dishes have an asian twist to ithem: baby back ribs with a korean-style sauce, kimchee seafood stew. Everything on the menu sounded inventive and promising, so I was expecting a lot. But, i was sorely disappointed. Every dish i had was underwhelming and slightly off, and at a minimum of $20 an entree and $11 for a small plate, that shouldn't have been the case. We started with the baby back ribs and the unagi and scallion fritters. The ribs were all bone and very little meat and what meat was therewas quite tough and chewy. The unagi and scallion fritters were extremely bland and tasteless and every bite was all dough and no fish. I might as well have been eating a greasy funnel cake with a slight hint of fish flavor.

I ordered the Tea Smoked Chicken with Sweet Rice and Chinese Sausage for my main entree and that was also mostly forgettable. The chicken was on the dry side and the skin was incredibly oily. The chicken was seasoned unevenly, some bites were bland and some bites were very salty. The dish came with a bed of sauteed chives, which were tasty but soaked in a puddle of residual oil from the chicken.

The only redeeming part of the meal was my cocktail. I got a bubble tea spiked with vodka and it was frothy, green and refreshing. I won't be coming back here for dinner, but I'd recommend stopping by for a nice drink at the bar.

Broadway East

Whoah i haven't written a post in 4 months! Life got really busy and for about two months i was eating really crappy food like bland whole wheat pasta with semi-cold pasta sauce dumped on top. But I'm going to start posting more regularly now. So, last night I went to Broadway East with Ursula and Nikki after checking out the Cai Guo Qiang exhibit at the Guggenheim. Which, by the way, was really great. I'm really glad I got to see it before the show closes later this month. My favorite piece was the snake in the bag, aptly called "Snake Bag". Broadway East is situated at the far end of East Broadway, past all of the Chinese bakeries and shops and basement restaurants. The restaurant has a very simple, almost sparse decor - polished wooden floors, dark wooden tables and velvety red banquettes lining the sides of the main dining room. The restaurant is very dimly lit, with the only light coming from small round globes that appear to float down from the ceiling.

I was a little skeptical at first, $21 for a plate of vegetables? Seemed a little outrageous to me. But, the food turned out to be delicious. I ordered a dish that came with grilled polenta, bread crumb encrusted and fried portobello mushrooms, a ragout made of porcini mushrooms and sauteed leafy greens (said kale on the menu, but i'm pretty sure what i ate wasn't kale.) The polenta was the perfect consistency, the ragout had a rich and salty, but not completely overpowering flavor. The light sauteed greens balanced out the hearty ragout perfectly. Our pear crostata dessert was a little disappointing - there was too much crust and too little pear. The presentation of the dish was also unappealing, the caramel sauce was hastily drizzled around the plate, the crostata looked like it hadn't been formed perfectly before it was baked. That said, the other dishes on the dessert menu sounded really good, there was a spiced chai bread pudding and a fig and hazelnut tart.

Overall a very good experience. This is a good choice if you're in the mood for vegan/vegetarian food, but don't want to eat at some hippy crunchy restaurant. Broadway East presents haute hippie food in an upscale setting without a hint of patchouli scent.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 25^th 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 65^th 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!

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.