The Park Slope Gastronome

lunch at restaurants I can't afford dinner: Del Posto

2010-04-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

The best lunch deal in New York can be found at Del Posto. This is a three star restaurant (possibly four in the near future) serving three courses plus a bunch of extra nibbles and bites for $29. The meal is worth every penny (and probably more, but don't tell the owners). Molly and I had a lunch date with a pair of Brits recently where we were spoiled rotten, starting with a round of complimentary Bellinis. Our party of four is then present with this trio of starters. In the foreground left are gougères-y type things studded with bits of mortadella. To the right are suppli, Roman rice balls with mozzarella in the mix. These are usually coated in breadcrumbs, but Del Posto rolled them in cooked rice and then sprinkled with gold dust. The cups are filled with stracciatella, a sort of egg-drop soup. So simple, yet so delicious, which sums up Italian cooking so often.

Wait, there's more! We then we get a second round of amuses: wedges of buffalo mozzarella dipped in shaved black olive (or was it cocoa...or both?), mini crostada with whipped cod and chickpea fritters filled with cheese. De-li-cious. Please give me only bite-sized tastes from now on.

Oozy, cheesy fritter innards.

For my first course I chose the roasted vegetables with robiola sformato and truffled hazelnuts. in addition to the veg, there were some bites of fruit, including a wonderful wedge of roasted pear. I am a sucker for robiola and have been from the first time I tried it at a little cicchetti stand in Venice some 8 years ago.

Instead of our second course, the kitchen sent out plates of the agnolotti dal plin with Parmigiano-Reggiano. They were served in a napkin nest and we were instructed to take a veal and pork filled packet (still a little wet from the pasta water), and dip it into the cheese before popping into our mouths. Incredible. I could have eaten these all afternoon long.

I had a doozy of a time deciding on a second course - pasta or protein? Once I saw my plate, I knew I had made the right choice. This is Carlo's stracchiotte with frutti di mare alla marinara.
Note the gorgeous two-toned pasta, first of all. The perfectly cooked pasta mingled with rings of perfectly cooked squid and lumps of scallop and this incredibly light, but flavorful sauce of tomato, onion and garlic. I would have a difficult time NOT ordering this on any return visit.

Before we move onto our dessert course, we get a modified cheese course, assembled table side by pastry chef Brooks Headley (a friend of Molly's, hence the extra special treatment. I know you were wondering!). But wait, I haven't even talked about the bread we were served. I didn't take any photos of it because I was too busy stuffing my face with grissini, olive rolls, mini baguettes and foccacia slathered with fancy butter and lardo! So Chef Brooks explains that Lidia, one of the owners, requires that he incorporate vegetables in his desserts, like this eggplant crostada. Here he spoons melted robiola (again!) over the slice.

And then drizzles chocolate over it. A weird combo, but the eggplant was so sweet and tender, it could have been mistaken for fig. The chocolate cut through the funk of the cheese and so it worked!

This was our palate cleanser - a rhubarb creamsicle. That would be rhubarb sorbet on the bottom and olive oil gelato on top and olive oil drizzled over it. The garnish was a piece of brown butter cookie. Yum.

For our official dessert course, we played pass the plate with four different offerings. TI can't remember all the components, but the base was some sort of chocolate, duh. There was also a chocolate twig and the ridged, potato chippy looking thing is actually crumbled penne rigate pasta!

Fennel pollen cheesecake with rhubarb and blood orange, with torn pieces of bread to be used to sop up the remaining juices. This was a cool flavor combination because we were at the tail end of blood orange season and the very beginning of rhubarb.

Chestnut cake with warm plum macedonia, crushed chestnuts and yogurt gelato. More yummmm.

This was the most interesting dessert of the quartet: sfera di caprino with celery & fig agrodolce & celery sorbetto. The little balls are goat cheese rolled in breadcrumbs (I loved the chef's use of bread in his desserts), the dark stuff is the fig and aged balsamic, if I remember correctly. And the green stuff is shaved celery and the sorbet. More veggies in dessert and more incredibleness! The celery was so refreshing.

But no, we're still not finished. We end the meal with more bites, this time sweet and charmingly displayed on a cheese grater. From left to right: mini bomboloni; roasted dates filled with cheese and sprinkled with sea salt; pineapple "jolly ranchers"; chocolate-olive oil popsicle rolled in breadcrumbs.

I thought we were done, but then the drawer was pulled out and there were more bites! Candied grapefruit flavored with Aperol (I think), another mini crostada but sweet this time, of course (I love the parallels with the savory bites), chocolate covered honeycomb (think of the deliciousness of a Crunchie bar and then multiply that tenfold) and caramels wrapped in edible rice paper.

ZOMG!

austin day 2: a three queso day

2010-03-19T19:12:00.001-04:00

breakfast tacos @ torchy's tacos trailer park edition. migas and the monk pictured here.

obligatory order of queso to round out breakfast.

later in the afternoon, more queso and a shiner at the iron cactus.

final queso of the day comes at the kerbey lane cafe by UT. with a side of Larry K!

austin day 1

2010-03-19T08:35:00.002-04:00

sandy's drive-in is a five minute walk from my hotel.

ordered a single - a thin griddled patty topped with mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, on a sturdy bun with bacon and cheese. the fries were forgettable, but the burger solid.

later in the evening, dinner at fonda san miguel: fish in vera cruz sauce washed down with a DIY michelada.

i think it's a good idea to post cannes photos before i post austin photos, right?

2010-03-16T22:56:00.001-04:00

escargot @ le petit lardon (3 Rue du Batéguier)

assorted provençale appetizers @ la cave (9 Boulevard de la République)

tasteless steamed cod and overcooked veggies saved by the crock of aioli that
accompanied @ la cave (9 Boulevard de la République)

poire et chocolat tarte @ la tarterie (33 Rue Bivouac Napoleon)

seafood risotto @ pierrot 1 er (51, rue Felix Faure)

scallops and vegetable fondue jammy @ pierrot 1 er (51, rue Felix Faure)

three man bouillabaisse preparation for sadly, not us @ pierrot 1 er (51, rue Felix Faure)

raspberry macaron

delicious frenchie snacks!

lobster veloute amuse @ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine)

roasted sea scallops with potato gnocchi and truffle whipped cream
@ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine).

dourade, baked onions, parsley and Chioggia beets
@ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine).

orange souffle pancakes, candied peel and caramelized citrus butter sauce
@ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine)

petit fours @ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine)

take home panettone type bread @ le mesclun (16 Rue Saint-Antoine)

homemade ho-ho

2010-03-11T14:09:00.000-05:00

From Bouchon Bakery, part of DMR's birthday box of treats. Not pictured: Twiggle (chocolate covered pretzel rod), caramel macaron and the bakery's massive, homemade Nutter Butter.

Dinner at Restaurants I Can't Afford Dinner: WD-50

2010-02-22T15:55:00.001-05:00

One of my oldest college buddy, Paris, was in town for the New Year and we decided to treat ourselves to the tasting menu at WD-50. I know, you're thinking we're like 5 years too late on this, but whatevs, Wylie was in the kitchen cooking our food!

Our bread basket turned out to be a wooden container of super thin sesame crisps that I'm sure were created using some sort of dehydrating machine with numbers in its name. Deliciously crunchy and plentiful! I was able to snack on these throughout the entire meal. Thank you servers for not removing this from our table. I hate when the bread basket is taken away. Hey you, I'm not done with that!

Amuse time! Peekytoe crab, celery root, golden raisin and miso. So tasty, I didn't even mind the raisin.

This is the bottle of wine we had. The restaurant is running a recession special of 50% off a bottle with the tasting menu, so this turned into a very good deal.

Everything bagel ice cream with smoked salmon threads and crispy cream cheese. This was brilliant - probably my favorite course of the night when take inventiveness into consideration with flavor. The cream cheese had the texture of a thin sheet of white chocolate. I made each bite a combo bite with a shard of cream cheese, sprinkling of smoked salmon and portion of ice cream.

Foie gras, passion fruit and Chinese celery two ways (thin shavings atop and crunchified at the base) . This is view one.

View two to show you the passion fruit innards. I loved the crunch of the celery crumbles but I think I'm just not a huge fan of passion fruit. Too sweet for my tastes. Still, a good accompaniment to the richness and unctuousness of the foie.

Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, seared kampachi and tiny, tiny home fries. I love the way the chef balances textures. Without the crispy potato bits, texture wise, this would have been too one dimensional a dish.

Cold fried chicken with buttermilk-ricotta, tabasco reduction and caviar. The ricotta was a great stand-in for rustic, mashed potatoes.

Langoustine, red pepper threads, black sesame and shiso.

Beef and bearnaise turned out to be nothing like what I was anticipating. These were crazy rich but light as a feather bearnaise dumplings in a very beefy broth. Silly me expected a piece of steak!

Lamb loin, black garlic romesco, soybeans and pickled garlic chive. This may have been my least favorite course of the evening. The lamb was a bit undercooked for my tastes. The silvery bit was left on the meat, making the chewy bites even chewier, nearly impossible to break down.

"Caramel apple" was apple ice cream with caramel on the inside.

Caramel apple insides.

Hazelnut tart, coconut, chocolate and chicory foam.

That's not a scallop! It's a caramelized brioche with dried apricot, buttercream ribbon and lemon thyme foam dollops.

To finish the evening, cocoa packets which reminded me of the old sample packs from Kiehl's and chocolate shortbread covered milk ice cream.

If it's any consolation to Motorino...

2010-02-17T12:34:00.003-05:00

Otis would have awarded two stars.

18 Hours in Madrid

2010-02-15T18:07:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you have 18 hours in Madrid? You drink a lot and you eat a lot.

Our first stop was Madrid Madriz. After a long day of flying, nothing like a heuvos fritos con bistec amid a sea of cigarette smoke to stave off the jetlag.

Molly agrees.

Lolo went with the morcilla.

And then it was off to the Mercado de San Miguel, a renovated, covered market with a couple dozen stalls each with their own speciality: pinchos, oysters, beans and grains, cheese and more. This was the jamon stand. We were too stuffed to try anything after that huge meal, but we got in a drink at the vermouth stand.

Expert carving at work.

Afterwards, we hit the restaurant at the top of an El Corte Inglés department store, where Lolo promised the best view of Madrid. I drank many of these - cañas - basically a small draft beer, kind of like a half pint you'd find in England. This is the only way I want to drink beer from now on.

He wasn't joking! It was overcast, but the view was still great.

And then it was off to meet some more people at another location which I can't remember, where more cañas and pinchos (patata bravas and tortilla de patatas). What I do remember is that despite the tiny size of this place, they had their own jamon and jamonera! I'm sure this is standard.

Our final stop was at Txangurro with Molly's friends Carla and Ernesto - more cañas, more tapas, more cigarette smoke. Pretty awesome despite the latter. We had bonito, and pulpo and more tortilla de patata and to end night, a round of gin and tonics. Want to know how gin and tonics are served in Madrid? You get brought a glass of ice and a bottle of tonic. The server then proceeds to pour and keeps going until you say when. You can make them pour all the way to the top of the glass and that would be fine. These people are crazy!

lunch at restaurants i can't afford dinner: eleven madison park

2009-12-10T22:33:00.006-05:00

Is there a more appropriate restaurant than Eleven Madison Park to continue our “Lunch At Restaurants I Can’t Afford Dinner” series? @SimpleSocial treated me to a belated birthday lunch here recently, where a two course prix fix meal is offered for $28. It’s still special occasion fare, but when compared to the unremarkable $19 burgers and insipid $12 make your own salads that are the norm in my work neighborhood, you realize even more just what a great deal you're getting. Eleven Madison Park was awarded four stars by the Times over the summer - I've never eaten at a four star restaurant before! It's part of Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group - I've never eaten at one of his restaurants before either! It's no joke when people talk about the high level of service at his restaurants. Our waiter was attentive without being overbearing and informative without being show-offy. He was knowledgeable about wines and even plated the desserts.

We began with a round of amuses. In the foreground, duo of beet marshmallows and foie gras with red currant atop a very delicate cracker. Both Molly and I broke our crackers between the plate and our mouths. We were both trying very hard to be proper and ladylike, but I guess we are too strong for our own good. Perfect, fluffy gourgeres, a dish of sea salt and butter are in the background.

Molly's first course: the slow poached organic egg with Parmigiano-Reggiano and mushrooms. Foamy deliciousness on top.

I opted for the balik salmon with pommes dauphine, frisée and crème fraîche to begin. There was also a bonus circle of salmon tartar in the middle. The balik salmon was so tender and perfectly smoked.

For my second course, I went with the day's special of pork loin, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. As with my first course, my protein was prepared two ways, which I didn't anticipate. Paired with the loin was basically a hockey puck made of pork, if hockey pucks were amazingly crisp on the outside and amazingly porky and fatty on the inside.

Fried pie. Just kidding! This was Molly's skate.

We indulged and got dessert. Two of them. Chocolate caramel tart.

Brown sugar and blueberry crumble.

Boerum Hill Green Chile Festival

2009-11-11T11:04:00.000-05:00

Oh, hello there! How's it going? Guess what? The PSG is back in Park Slope. Even back to the same street where the PSG originated. Clinton Hill, we already miss you tons. Before we made the move back, we attended the First Annual Boerum Hill Green Chile Festival at Sean and Rebecca's newish apartment. DMR and I were introduced to green chile in New Mexico two summers ago but had been since deprived of this wonderful member of the capsaicin family.

A beautiful spread of pickled, cured and cultured edibles greeted us.

The chiles arrived from Hatch, NM, but were roasted by hand in small batches in Boerum Hill. By Sean and Rebecca's hands! Or maybe just Sean's. They were chopped up and incorporated into an elegant version of cheese fries. The chiles, not Sean's hands.

And of course, the chiles were used as a topping for cheeseburgers. The burgers were six ounce patties of Pat La Frieda's original blend - a mixture of brisket, chuck, and short rib. If you're going to go pre-made patty route, this is the only way to go. They are super flavorful and create a very juicy burger. A colorful salad of tomatoes and greens with Rebecca's homemade ranch dressing shared the plate and helped move the healthy needle to the right just a wee bit.

To drink, the only proper beverage to pair with a burger - BEER. Bud longnecks, PBR extra-tall boys and a hodge podge of others. A truly lovely meal.

DMR posted some photos of not food.

Brunch at Roberta's

2009-10-25T21:31:00.002-04:00

Starting off the meal with a Hara-Kiri, Roberta's version of a bloody mary. Sake instead of vodka, and a pepperoncini garnish instead of a stalk of celery or olive skewer. The sake makes for a lighter, sweeter and smoother drink, but I much prefer the traditional version. I did like the extra large square ice cube that floated in canning jar.

Dan and I wound up splitting an order of Bane's fried chicken and a guanciale and egg pizza. I forgot to take a picture of the chicken before I started eating. When I remembered, my hands were already chickenified, plus I was holding a baby, so a photo was not going to happen. The chicken was incredibly moist and juicy, and came with a yummy buttermilk biscuit and a gently dressed, small bibb lettuce salad, but for $14, I want more than two small pieces of chicken. And some sort of potato, preferably mashed or au gratined, thank you very much. The pizza could have benefited from a tad more guanciale, but boy was it delicious. Just like you'd dip your toast into a sunny side up egg for breakfast, you could smush around a piece of the pizza crust in the yolk.

Schnitzel!

2009-10-09T12:21:00.003-04:00

This is currently my favorite thing to eat for lunch in the wasteland that is Midtown. It comes from a truck called Schnitzel & Things. They recently won the Vendy award for Rookie of the Year. Congrats, guys!

Here we have a pork schnitzel platter with a beet and feta salad and Austrian potato salad. A couple lemon wedges and a pesto mayo round out the meal. The cost? $8. This is a great deal. Most delis around here charge you $8 for a pre-made sandwich that's been sitting around for 6 hours. The schnitzel is the size of a small country. The pizza places around here charge over $3 for a slice so I repeat, this is a GREAT DEAL.

If you time your visit to get to the truck right when they've parked and set up, there's not much of a wait. Don't bother dealing with a knife and fork; the best way to attack the cutlet is to pick it up with two hands and chomp away. Sometimes the meat can get a little tough (a by-product of a very thinly pounded cutlet), but the crust is always delectably crisp. I've also tried the veal but pork is my go-to. For my sides, it's hard to stray from the beets and feta but I rotate in the potato salad and sauerkraut. I strayed from a mayo as my condiment once and paid for it big time! The ginger, scallion and garlic relish was an oily, flavorless bust. Mayo is the way!

Earth's Best Organic Rice Cereal

2009-08-30T22:01:00.002-04:00

We are Sammy and Otis and we are almost six months old. Last Friday, we ate solid foods for the first times. We ate the Earth's Best Organic Rice Cereals. Our mommy and daddy feed us the cereals. First we was confused because we only ate the liquids. Mommy and Daddy shoved this long plastic thing with the foods in our mouths. This is a spoon. We both like nipples better. Nipples rule, spoons drool. Eating from the spoon is a weird feeling. We got more cereal on our faces and bibs than in our tummies but we like eating the cereal. We are some again on Saturday and Sunday. And Monday, too but Daddy got some up Sammy's nose and Mommy had to clean it up. Yesterday we ate some more and we liked the cereal. We give this cereal a B+. - Sam & Otis

lunch at restaurants i can't afford dinner: nougatine @ jean georges

2009-08-22T22:16:00.001-04:00

Some coworkers and I decided to treat ourselves to the lunch special at Nougatine at Jean Georges. Three courses for $24.07. An expensive lunch, yes, but I thought of it as an early dinner, and an affordable one at that, at a restaurant that never fit in the budget before the arrival of Double Trouble and certainly does not fit in post DT.

I started with the tuna tartar, which was built atop a mash of avocado and adorned with radish slices on top. A ginger marinade, oozing with umami, was poured around the tuna by the server.

My second course was the grilled beef tenderloin with garlic, parsley and chili, served with sauteed spinach and a rough mash of potato. I normally get my meat cooked medium, but the kitchen suggested medium rare so I went with it. It was perfect. I am sold on medium rare meat now but only at places where I think they'll know how to cook meat properly.

Your final course is a choice of two desserts. I went with the molten chocolate cake, considering JG is credited with inventing it. Not ordering this would be like eating at one of Bobby Valentine's restaurants and not ordering a wrap sandwich.

it's cookie time

2009-08-12T23:14:00.002-04:00

TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo, I presume?) from Bouchon Bakery @ the Time Warner Center. Also sampled a blueberry cheesecake macaron and chocolate chip cookie which were both really, really good. The cherry pistachio brioche was just eh.

The Epic Fifth Anniversary Dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns

2009-08-07T13:30:00.006-04:00

July 24, 2009, was our fifth wedding anniversary! DMR and I contemplated a number of plans before settling on a day in upstate New York. We dropped off the boys at my parents' house and headed up to Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, about an hour's drive north. It was the first time since leaving the hospital that the twins had been separated from the both of us for more than an hour or two and it felt very weird. Storm King was serene (and very gnatty) and the tram ride around the grounds was a wonderfully, lazy way to take in the sculptures.

We then drove to Tarrytown to meet up with Nena at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, where we would be having dinner at Blue Hill. Not only did she help us get a reservation (our plans were very last minute and who knew a 5PM seating would be so in-demand?) but also took some time from her afternoon to give us a tour of the grounds. The Center is a really lovely place, as I first discovered during one of their annual Harvest Festivals. It sits on 80 acres of land donated by David Rockefeller, who still has a residence up the road. At 90ish, his favorite mode of transportation is apparently a carriage.

Dan and I went all out and opted for the Farmer's Feast, a tasting menu created around the day's harvest. The server presents you with a list of ingredients that the kitchen will use to craft your meal. If you have any aversions (DMR: large chunks of tomatoes) or allergies (SHR: stone fruit, sigh), the kitchen will work around them. Here, DMR double checks the list to make sure mushrooms are also not on tap.

Round 1 of drinks: my strawberry sangria + his purple basil mojito, as recommended by Nena. Just an hour earlier we had tried one of these strawberries straight from the plant and walked by the basil!

Thoroughly enjoying my refreshing sangria. Or should I say savoring. I made that thing last as long as I could. It came garnished with a cherry which I probably could have eaten and probably should have eaten.

Holy cow, it's veggies on the fence! Our first amuse bouche was one of Blue Hill's signature presentations. We got lettuce, fennel, succulent and carrots that were lightly kissed with citrus and salt. The big surprise here was the succulent, which was so bright in flavor. It provided a really satisfying slight crunch that I wasn't expecting either. I spied another table's fence and it looks like we got fennel in place of a Sun Gold tomato.

Holy cow, it's baby zucchini encrusted in sesame on a stick! Round two of our amuses really evoked memories of childhood for me. The first bite reminded me of the hobak jun my mother would make for me as a kid. Well, ok, she continues to make it for me when we visit. I felt like the food critic guy in Ratatouille when he takes his first bite of the dish. So simple and so perfect.

Another amuse! On top of a beautiful piece of slate, we were given a plain white bowl that had another dish on top acting as its cover. The server removed the top and set it next to the bowl. The dish held a homemade emmer wheat cracker with fava beans.

And below that was my favorite dish of the night, a green gazpacho. Words can't really do any justice to the joy I felt after the first spoonful. It was magic. I am not sure how such a little bowl held that much flavor.

Homemade whole wheat flat bread, mild padron peppers, fava beans in the shell, all grilled over housemade coals. This was amuse round four, by the way.

A sampling of the house made salumi: salami in the front, Berkshire pork chorizo in the back. We met some of the farm's Berkshire piggies on the tour, including a set of very new piglets (48 hours old! They looked like Boston Terrier pups!) and 440lb behemoths. As I type this I'm beginning to feel weird about it.

And then we were presented with bread (warm slices of Balthazar's potato and caramelized onion sourdough) and these accompaniments: Blue Hill Farm butter, Blue Hill Farm ricotta, arugula salt, Sun Gold tomato salt. The butter and ricotta were both made with milk from Blue Hill Farm, the family farm of the Barber brothers, located in Massachusetts.

Finally it was time for our first official course! Beet salad was beautifully presented with strawberries, purslane, sorrel and homemade yogurt. I love beets with yogurt and I love the shades of fuscia that get created from the juices melding. And speaking of purslane, I guess this is what I was expecting the succulent to taste like, flavor and texture-wise. Coming into this meal I wasn't the biggest fan of purslane but the gumminess that I found off-putting in previous tastings wasn't there.

Perfectly cooked Maine lobster in a mustard sauce with artichoke and corn. Each plate had a full claw and tail. Preceding this was a server who showed us a basket with some of the artichokes that would be used in the dish.

The morning's farm egg in a vibrant green broth of peas and pine nuts. Dan hates peas (a result of growing up eating mushy, canned ones) but he gobbled these up. I had one very teeny issue with this dish. The bowl was too deep! It was very difficult to spoon out all the broth, but don't you worry, I managed to get every drop.

Morning farm egg inside view. Delicious oozing yolk.

Gnocchi dough agnolotti filled with cheese and served with green and purple basil, corn and peas. Yummy, yummy, yummy, I love fresh, simple pastas. At this point, I was getting very full.

DMR can not believe he's going to eat peas two dishes in a row and enjoy both!

Our final savory course was a lamb chop with zucchini, wilted lettuce and a single strand of long, wide ribbon pasta, paired with pork loin medallions and braised pork belly. I'm not the biggest fan of lamb, but this marked the 2nd time in a week that I ate it. The first being a expertly grilled chop (thanks, Ezra!) the previous weekend up in the Catskills.

Dessert #1 - I forgot to take a picture, but it was red gooseberries and tapioca with a goat cheese sorbet. I didn't love it. The sorbet's flavor was eye-squinting tart and overwhelmed everything else.

Dessert #2 for me: cheesecake ice cream with blueberries and dehydrated yogurt matchsticks.

Dessert #2 for Dan: Basil ice cream on shortbread with stone fruit. They stuck little candles into squares of fruit paste to celebrate our anniversary. A cute touch. The desserts were my least favorite part of this epic meal, though. I thought the flavors were too similar. While I love fresh fruit and tartness, I would have loved some additional textures and flavors, like, well, chocolate!
We also had a cheese plate featuring two raw cow milk cheeses from The Dancing Cow Farm in Vermont. These were paired with a cashew caramel and cherry chutney and served with slices of brioche. I don't remember much about the cheeses because I was in a food coma. We did not need a cheese course, even if we were sharing, but Dan was quite insistent. I think we surprised each other because it's usually the other way around with us. I always over order and think we need more food when we don't and he's always trying to rein me in.

Along with our bill we received two little chocolate whiskey truffle squares and an equally petite bowl of fruit (blueberries, strawberries, currants, etc...) to nibble on.

The service was impeccable although with so many servers it was a little confusing who to order drinks from. But used plates were always cleared immediately, our bread basket refilled and water glasses replenished without skipping a beat. A truly special dining experience that I hope to have again one day.

Forgot to mention, dinner took over three and a half hours!

de-rolled!

2009-07-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

Looks like we've been removed from Grub Street's blog roll! Oh, well. No hard feelings Grub Street. I never knew why you wanted to link to us in the first place so it was an honor while it lasted. I still love you and read you every day even though I am not a fan of the site redesign.

P.S. Excited about the opening of Umi Nom. I hope they deliver!

First Taste: Buttermilk Channel

2009-07-15T16:30:00.001-04:00

Before Beth left for her Fresh Air Fund for Adults summer in Maine (by the way, Beth is indeed in Maine but this program doesn't technically exist, although it totally should. Adults need to get the hell out of NYC, too), we met for an eagerly anticipated meal at Buttermilk Channel. This was one of my first solo nights out since the arrival of Double Trouble and just a few weeks before I had to return to work. I started with a much needed cocktail - The Fair Harbor (Gosling’s dark rum light rum, ginger beer, pomegranate & lime). It was as tasty as it was pretty.

Diners are greeted with popovers that have been lightly kissed with honey. This is genius because it satisfies the bread craving without being heavy at all. We ordered some house-made pickles and sweet potato croquettes to nibble on before our entrees.

My bacon-wrapped brook trout with an onion jam and warm mustardy potatoes with ramps. I think this meal is from late May, when the city was going gaga for ramps. There was not a single thing wrong with this dish other than it could have used more ramps. Also when my plate first arrived, I thought the portion could have been a little bigger, but it turned out to be the right amount of food.

Beth's duck meatloaf with the world's largest onion ring. I think she should chime in in the comments section with some thoughts about her meal but she's probably too busy making a macrame bracelet.

A Dozen Donuts

2009-06-22T22:19:00.002-04:00

My dad brought over a dozen donuts from Peter Pan in Greenpoint on one of my last days of maternity leave. Hells, yeah.

I ate 7, I think, over the next couple days. This beauty was the first.

First Taste: Blue Smoke at Citi Field

2009-06-11T11:31:00.002-04:00

My second game at Citi Field, but first time hitting up the new fancy food stands. I had steak nachos at the previous game. Met up with Uncle Bethy at the Blue Smoke stand behind centerfield about half an hour before the game started. There was no wait at all! We hopped on line and before I had a chance to suss out the menu, I was up.

Kansas City spare ribs with pickles on the side. For $10 you get 4 ribs, which I found to be a really decent portion for a ballpark. The ribs weren't as tender as I had hoped, but this is miles and miles better than all the crap I've ever ingested at Shea, save for the Mama's sandwiches. Also, I loved the tangy, vinegary sauce that's available on the side. The only problem is that there is only one container of it for all of Blue Smoke's patrons at the condiments/napkin island. Also, the Wilpons need to add more tables to this area. It was an overcast, dreary evening and we still couldn't find a place to eat our food easily.

The fries! After seasons of mushy, cold, Nathan's fries, these fries are a god-send. For $4.75, I expected a larger portion, but then again, I think the Nathan's fries cost this much. Unlike those soggy potato strips, these fries were warm and crisp. And they taste even better when dipped into the barbeque sauce and washed down with the house ale, which costs a very reasonable $7 and change.

UB digs into one of her ribs. Next time I will hit the taqueria stand. I don't plan on Shake Shacking it up until next season because the lines are crazy long despite the time or weather.

Incidentally it was Fernando Martinez's first game! And Spongetech t-shirt night.

Brunch in Baltimore

2009-06-05T22:02:00.003-04:00

Fried polenta triangles with two eggs over easy, salsa fresca, house-made chorizo, tortilla and red and green chile sauce @ Golden West in Hampden with DMR, Keri, Sam and Otis. I ate one-handed as I held Sam during the meal. Otis snoozed in his car seat.

When Keri suggested this place for brunch, I was a bit skeptical because the name made me think of Golden Corral. Lesson learned, you should never judge a book by its cover! This was a whole lot of yum. A whole lot of home-made yum. And they served Zeke's coffee which was also yum.

Simple Social Graces Mobile Kitchen Unit stops by!

2009-05-28T11:30:00.001-04:00

Since the arrival of Double Trouble, friends and family have been making us meals and bringing by food, which has been incredibly useful and helpful, as you can imagine. The other day, Molly came by and cooked us a tasty, fresh dinner in our kitchen, using lots of produce and foodstuffs from the Union Square Greenmarket.

Clockwise from bottom left: tortilla de patata (I didn't have the proper pan, but M did a good job of improvising), mixed greens with homemade vinaigrette, a pyramid of chevre, whole wheat pain au levain and asparagus.

Thanks, Molly! She and Alex even cleaned up afterward!

Mother's Day feast at the Ssam Bar

2009-05-23T16:40:00.001-04:00

For my first mother's day, team Jewrean had lunch with my parents and my brother and his family at Momofuku Ssam Bar. It's hard to believe, but there are 11 of us now - six adults, two big kids and three tiny kids! Just six months ago, we were only 8! Dan and I have barely eaten out since the arrival of Double Trouble and I've pretty much given up any hope in ever eating at Ko, but this was a nice consolation.

We ordered a couple plates of pickles and pork buns, as well as the brussels sprouts to tide us over until the bo ssam feast arrived. That would have been more than enough food, but then some comp plates started coming out!

My family's been in the restaurant supply business for over three decades now. I've had many meals where the kitchen sends out special plates, but these took the cake. The cured hamachi arrived first. Linda wonders if the guy who does the ordering in the kitchen is in the house. He was not.

The Peanut shows off her chopstick skills, which are way better than mine.

The roasted brussels sprouts that I love so much. The puffed rice that goes in the dish was, I think, cheese flavored, like mini Chee-Toes, this day. A little weird.

Meacham and Broadbent's country ham, both from Kentucky, with redeye mayo on top. Bread with Vermont sea salt butter and whipped lardo below. The last time I had lardo, it was atop a pizza at Otto years ago. I remember being completely put off by the texture, which was like thinly sliced cartilage or plastic. Not that I'll make a regular habit of eating it, but whipped is the way to go.

Sichuan beef tendon with Chinese greens, peanuts and green mango. Tendon is not ever something I seek out, in fact I go out of my way at Vietnamese or Chinese restaurants to avoid it, but this was enjoyable. It had really deep beefy flavor and wasn't too chewy. The crunch of the peanuts and the freshness of the mango were good compliments.

We all momentarily ignore the food to stare at the Dumpling, who had just woken up from her nap.

~~Cabbage~~ lettuce patch kid!

Pulling apart the pork butt. The thing was huge. I ate a ton, the table ate a ton and we still had pounds of meat to take home. Served with the pork is a platter of oysters with a light kimchi consomme which I didn't love. I thought they were a little lacking in the briney taste of the sea that makes oysters so delicious. You also get rice and four condiments - kimchi, kimchi puree, ssamjang and a scallion ginger sauce. My style was to put a dab of all four on each lettuce purse I created.

In case you were wondering, Sam and Otis slept through the entire meal!

a post partum seder!

2009-04-14T21:32:00.005-04:00

This is my first post since these guys came along! Sorry to be M.I.A. but it's not like I've been eating out or even seeing daylight at this point. We took the boys out for brunch at Sidecar last week for their first restaurant visit, but other than that, it's been meals at home, until Saturday.

Double Trouble were the special guests at a seder hosted by Rebecca and Sean, the newest members of our bocce team. Beth aka the China-Latina Chowhound aka "she who never posts anymore" was also a host, but she doesn't live in that apartment.

DT are stirring and going to wake up any second and then I'll never ever finish this post so I'll cut to the chase.

Here are our hosts:

Rebecca, the only real Jew of the host trio. Today is her birthday and she is eating chicken wings as I type.

Sean the goyim. He helped make the matzoh balls and also busted out this amazing shirt featuring an image of his friend who bears a striking resemblance to a certain someone else!

Beth is a non Jew, but don't call her a shiksa. Here she is displaying some chicken livers wrapped in bacon. She also supplied the lovely haggadahs and tasty haroset.

I pigged out on smoked salmon with dill sauce on matzoh canapes before digging into this delicious soup. Sam had to wait a couple minutes while I took a couple bites before I fed him. You'll also notice two drinks before my bowl - my first drinks in over 10 months, save for a sip or two of beer I had in that time. The first taste of the Manhattan went straight to my head and I couldn't even finish it. We did not do any flogging with the scallions.

Dan on the other hand decided to feed Otis before eating.

A beautiful and bountiful plate with chicken, brisket, kugel and a brussels sprouts slaw. I went back to seconds which really did me in.

Coming Soon: Double Trouble

2009-03-05T18:21:00.000-05:00

I'm headed to the hospital in a couple hours to get induced! Double Trouble should be here at some point on Friday. These were our last meals out pre-DT.

Last brunch: No. 7
We love brunch at No. 7. The food is great and the service is attentive without being overbearing. It hasn't been overly crowded the couple times we've been so Double Trouble and I have had a little more belly room.

DMR and I split an order of waffles and half fried chicken for a DIY version of chicken and waffles. The waffle is good, though I prefer the thicker, Belgiany kind, as well it to be a little more on the crisp, well done side. It's served with two little dishes, one with candied almond slivers and one with an apple and raisin compote. I dig the apples pieces out and leave the raisins for DMR to consume. The fried chicken can be ordered in 1/4, 1/2 and whole portions. The 1/2 order is more than enough for us. You get 5 well seasoned pieces (a drumstick, a breast cut in half , wing and I think a thigh?). The batter gives off a nice crunch. I like alternating between dipping my chicken in the maple syrup and the home made hotsauce.

We also shared an order of latkes and a cinnamon bun the size of a squashed softball. This was the same exact meal we ordered the one other time we had brunch here, with a few minor tweaks. The latkes were all potato on our initial visit but the second time around some carrot and celery was mixed in. Our cinnamon bun was relatively straight up last time, this time it was studded with bacon bits.

Last dinner: iCi
I read about iCi's $25 3-course prix fixe on Grub Street or Eater and it sounded like a good deal. The restaurant offers up three appetizer and entree choices and then a choice of two desserts. DMR and I like different tastes, so we usually order and share our plates. To begin, we went with the crispy potato cake with goat cheese, apple sage chutney and a winter salad of frisee, radicchio and a roasted garlic vinaigrette. I let DMR eat most of the goat cheese as I'm not really supposed to eat soft cheeses, but at this point, it probably doesn't matter. The cakes were definitely crispy on the outside, but still tender and soft on the inside. The sage in the chutney was probably my least favorite part. We both could have eaten two cakes a piece easily, but the lightly dressed winter salad was a good partner and a good idea. Odd appetizer out: house cured salmon.

Dan ordered the roasted pork medallion with kale, pinenuts, currants and a sweet potatoes for his main and I opted for the Spanish mackerel with squash, red peppers and kalamata olives in a ginger lemon beurre blanc. The pork was unfortunately a little over cooked and tough, but the sauce and kale were delicious. My mackerel on the other hand was expertly sauteed. Odd entree out: tagliatelle with sun dried tomatoes.

There were only two options for dessert, so no feelings were hurt. We shared the chocolate pot de creme with chantilly cream and a coconut tart with almond brittle. Left to our own devices we probably would have each ordered the pot de creme, which is one of my favorite desserts ever. It easily blew away with the coconut tart, which was perfectly respectable (with the exception of the almond brittle, which contained some unexpected chewy citrusy ingredient). The pot de creme reminded me those melted chocolate bar cookies from The City Bakery. In a word, deliciousness. Dark chocolately decadent deliciousness.

First Taste: Momofuku Milk Bar

2009-02-26T12:15:00.000-05:00

On the way home from a doctor's appointment yesterday, DMR and I made a pit stop at Momofuku Milk Bar bakery. As this was a spontaneous visit, I wasn't prepared and immediately felt overwhelmed by all the choices. Did I want a slice or two of cake or pie? Wasn't there some sort of kimchi pork brioche I had read about? Could I leave without trying the soft serve?

In the end, I opted for three of the cookies: banana, compost and cornflakes-marshmallow-chocolate chip. The woman behind the counter also gave me a generous sampling of the cereal milk soft serve (take note, Chikalicious Puddin'), sating both my curiosity and craving.

My first tiny spoonful of the soft serve confused me, mainly because to me, cereal milk = Apple Jacks. I don't eat cereal regularly, mainly because milk upsets my gentle tummy. But my favorite cereal growing up was Apple Jacks and the little red flecked pinkish peach Os would create the most delicious flavored milk. So I guess I was expecting that and couldn't put my finger on the type of cereal the flavor of the soft serve was based on. With each additional spoonful though, I found myself liking the taste more and more. Wait, Alpha-Bits! Was it Alpha-Bits? There might have been a hint of oatiness to it.

At home, DMR and I shared this cornflakes-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookie.

According to Dan, it transformed me into a 5 year old. I won't dispute that. The cookie tasted like a rice krispies treat, only in cookie form, and better. It was crisp but also chewy, my favorite texture for cookies. All of the star ingredients mingled perfectly, not one overwhelming the others. I was reminded of cookies from a company coincidentally called David's Cookies that I loved growing up. They had stands at the mall and slice and bake logs available in the refrigerator section back in the 80s. Their cookies were perfect to me, crisp, chewy, chock full of chocolate chunks. Then the recipe changed and the brand vanished. Google tells me they still exist, but their logo and packaging looks suspiciously like Mrs. Fields'. Not the same.

Later in the evening, I polished off the banana cookie, also delicious and with that same chewy crispiness. We'll dig into the compost tonight. Hope it held up ok overnight!

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-22T10:50:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl XLIII feast at Erik, Rebecca and Sean's. Per custom, regional foods from the teams' cities are represented. Primanti Bros. style sandwiches were made to order by Chef Mooney.

Pittsburgh should be in the Super Bowl every year! DMR and I shared a pastrami and provolone, with the usual fixins: fries, cole slaw, lettuce and tomato. Yummmmmm.

Teriyaki wings by Jen and my pigs in the blanket to the right. Neither have anything to do with Pittsburgh or Arizona, but who doesn't like to eat them? I made a batch with cheddar, but most of the cheddar oozed out during the cooking. That did make for some tasty crispy bits to snack on during the baking.

Representing Arizona was Erza's Barry Goldwater's chili from and "mediocre" Mexican that Erik cooked up. Middle of the road is put in quotes because I think that's how it was originally described, but I thought Erik's tacos were tasty!

First Taste: The Farm on Adderley

2009-02-13T16:58:00.001-05:00

With Double Trouble on the way in just a few more weeks, this will be probably wind up being one of our last meals out for a very long time. Now that we have a car, we've been trying to visit some of the places we haven't made it out to yet before. When DMR suggested driving to dinner the other week, The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park was a natural choice. This post will be brief, because I can't recall anything these days and I can't be bothered to take notes either. But I can say the space was lovely and cozy, but not in a cutesy way, the food was super tasty and the service very good.

We shared the buffalo mozzarella salad to start. For my main, I opted for the braised lamb orecchiette, with butternut squash and baby spinach and DMR ordered the Farm Burger with cheddar. My dish was delicious! It had lots of flavor and different textures. The braised lamb was juicy and kept the pasta from getting too dry. Butter and parmesan finished the dish to give it another dimension of richness.

DMR didn't love his burger, though I can't remember why. I thought it was pretty delicious and wound up eating a third of it. Don't worry, I gave him many forkfuls of my pasta. The fries were definitely the star of the plate though, hand cut and expertly crisped.

Though we could have easily gotten by with one dessert, we wound up ordering two: the apple crisp and a banana chocolate upside down cake. The apple crisp was the winner and it was also a huge portion. The banana cake was kind of a mess. It sat in a pool of way too much sauce and was too sweet. I could barely taste banana as chocolate and caramel overwhelmed the dish, which isn't a bad thing necessarily but I was expecting more of a balance.

So Everybody Loves Bacon

2009-01-27T12:37:00.004-05:00

Anyone who has ever met me knows that I love bacon just about more than anything. I would happily throw my own grandmother under the bus just for a perfectly cooked strip of it, but I have to say, I am finding this current proliferation of public displays of affection for bacon irritating and played out. Granted, the bacon love has been growing steadily for a while now, but in the past year it has really reached a fever pitch.

Like many American desk jockeys, I spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook. Why, just this morning I became a fan of David Morse, but I will NEVER become a fan of bacon. At this point, being a fan of bacon is like being a fan of world peace – it should go without saying. But the current bacon loving climate seems to be all about talking incessantly about it and making sure everyone around you knows how much you love bacon because they supposedly love it too. In fairness, a lot of my irritation is self-inflicted as I don’t have to go on Facebook and see in my newsfeed that X and Y have become fans of bacon and that Z just baked some cookies using bacon spice, but I do and it annoys me. I am only human and enjoy a good kvetch.

But really, when and why did bacon get so cool? And why has the market become so saturated? Yes, bacon salt makes sense, but bacon messenger bags, bacon stationary and bacon bras? At this point, my poor co-blogger has more canisters of bacon band-aids than she knows what to do with.

Also, do all of these rather vocal lovers of bacon really even love bacon? Like, did everyone who started wearing Kiss t-shirts in 1999-2000 really love Kiss???? Just wondering… I guess what gets me the most is that bacon is not at all new. It is and has been a staple of much of the world’s cuisine practically forever. So this current faddism is disturbing to me.

I for one have been wrapping various fruits of the sea and other deliciousnesses in bacon (growing up my favorite hors d'œuvre was oysters wrapped in bacon), eating it for breakfast and arguing that it is the leading gateway meat for recovering vegetarians for years – back when I would imagine many of today’s bacon fans were gnawing on their Boca burgers.

That being said, I am in no way trying to be proprietary about the genuine love and affection one can feel for bacon – if someone started NAHBLA, I’d be the first to sign up. I have just grown tired of people blathering on about how much they love bacon and how it makes everything better, and so on and so forth. Truthfully, I prefer to love my bacon more privately and avoid this runaway bacon bandwagon altogether.

But just in case, maybe I should start a Facebook fan page for something more specific, like bacon nitrates. I do sort of like how they make me feel really hyper.

First Taste: Char No. 4

2009-01-07T16:58:00.000-05:00

The day started with a return trip to Rutt's Hut in Clifton, NJ. Despite what you see in the photo, I did not have 4 rippers all to my preggo self. DMR and I had two rippers each, accompanied by a cup of chili, sauerkraut and disco fries with gravy on the side. Very Jersey, very good.

Then we spent too much time at Best Buy and Babies R Us in Secaucus. And then even more time getting back to Brooklyn. So with some time to kill before Christy's birthday drinks at the Clover Club (where I wound up having a sour cherry fizzy thing, minus the egg whites and booze. Verdict: disappointing), we decided to get some food at nearby Char. No 4.

Much to our surprise, the place was packed at 6:30. All the tables were taken, and nearly every seat at the bar was, too. Thankfully there was an empty stool at the end where I could wistfully stare at the wall of bourbon bottles. We were told the wait would be about an hour or more, but were seated after only about 30 minutes.

DMR and I shared the apple and fennel salad with bleu cheese and pickled turnips to start. The turnips were hiding at the bottom of the bowl and I had completely forgotten about them. When I crunched into one thinking it was a piece of apple, it was a nice, salty and tangy surprise.

I wasn't super hungry so while DMR opted for the chopped pork sandwich (shown above with a side of baked beans and some pickled onions and peppers, and which he loved, loved loved), I made a meal of the smoked and fried pork nuggets appetizer and roasted delicata squash side. The squash was served as two roasted rings, with a mount of swiss chard on top. Chopped pecans were sprinkled into the mix and the entire plate was blanketed with parmesan. I would have liked either a little more salt or sweetness (maybe more caramelization from the roasting process?) but otherwise, this was enjoyable and I also convinced myself it was sort of healthy.

There were 5 nuggets to my order and much to my surprise, instead of whole pork chunks underneath the breading, there was rich, fatty minced meat. I'd probably order these again, but definitely not just for myself. DMR helped me out, but I did feel a little porked out.

To end the meal we shared the homemade butter pecan ice cream, which was super delicious. The description kind of undersells it as the super smooth ice cream is studded with nobs of praline. It's served with bourbon, but we asked for it on the side. DMR was able to pour it all over his ice cream for an even more decadent treat. In an act of jealousy, I poured a tiny drop onto a spoonful of ice cream for a wonderful bourbony bite all to myself.

field trip to De Lorenzo's

2008-12-31T13:43:00.001-05:00

On the way to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving 2.0, we made a detour and stopped in Trenton for some pizza, I mean tomato pies. DMR and I had been hearing about the greatness of De Lorenzo's for years now. Research led to me find two separate branches run by cousins and both called De Lorenzo's. We opted for the Hamilton restaurant mainly because the one on Hudson doesn't have a bathroom!

After a short wait, we were seated at a corner booth where DMR soaked in the decor: wood paneled walls, animatronic Santa and Mrs. Claus, servers in bow ties, a table of 5 dudes who had ordered so many pies that one had to be set on a chair. Good stuff.

Our large half sausage, half pepperoni, cut into 10 slices. To drink, two frosty birch beers served over ice in those red plastic cups. These pies are heavy on the tomato sauce and light on the cheese. The pepperoni pieces were normal sized circles, as opposed to the thicker sliced mini rounds that I generally prefer. The fennel studded sausage was distributed in good sized chunks. Total damage: $23 - $18 for the food and a $5 tip.

Close up of the crust, which was very, very crisp. It was also shiny and glazed from a brushing of oil to give it more of a crackling flatbread effect, which I enjoyed. We both agreed that this wasn't the best "pizza" we've ever had. I guess I'm a fan of less sauce. However, once you add in the ambiance and super nice service, the overall experience would easily rank very high on our lists.

Happy New Year, see you in 2009!

christmas snack pack

2008-12-28T09:28:00.007-05:00

I didn't do much Christmas shopping this year due to a lack of focus brought on by baby brains. I have been baking a lot, so the Christmas snack pack filled in. Clockwise from the left: chocolate chip banana bread, chocolate chip cherry cookies, chocolate gingerbread cookies. I also attempted raspberry thumbprint cookies for a little chocolate diversion, but the dough came out very dry and crumbly and had to be scrapped. I'm not a good enough baker to know how to remedy a problem like that. The gingerbread cookies came out the best. Thanks, Martha (and Amie P for hipping me to the recipe).

First Taste: No. 7

2008-12-23T08:06:00.001-05:00

No. 7 recently opened on Greene Street, its entrance tucked behind the stairwell to one of the Lafayette C stops. DMR and I met up with Kristy O for dinner the other week. It's a really handsome space that the owners make very good use of. The front area has a bar, along with some loungey seating. There are some mini u-shaped counters in the middle for more casual dining, or main dining overflow. Then there's the main dining area in the back - maybe a dozen tables, although don't quote me on that because I have baby brains and absolutely no ability to remember things that like properly these days. Might I add that the scented candles in the bathrooms smelled really good?

Upon being seated, the table was presented with a ramekins of house made pickles, and this white bean garlic spread. The pickles were thinly sliced cucumbers that tasted like they had a brief affair with vinegar. The not overwhelming acidity of the pickles was a great complement to the richness of the addictive garlic dip, which had the consistency and taste of the most delicious potato soup you could imagine. I could have called it a night after those two tastes and been happy!

To begin, DMR and I opted for the cold pork and Kristy the shrimp cocktail (off the bar menu). The latter came with a really delicious, spicy cocktail sauce, almost like a bloody mary. The very thinly sliced pork was a little dry and certainly overshadowed by the tempura'ed egg, which was halved on the plate to show off its gorgeous orange yellow, perfectly set yolk.

If you squint, the picture of my plate still doesn't look like much. DMR and I shared the shell steak special, 16 ounces of deliciousness served with mini latkes, a fennel salad and bleu cheese on the side. We ordered our steak medium and it was perfectly cooked and the portion was super generous. Above is my plate after I had given Dan half my food. The latkes were like homemade fancy schmancy tater tots and the fennel provided bites of lightness in an otherwise heavy meal.
Kristy ordered the roast chicken which arrived with flourish. It comes with a mini stainless stein (like the containers of cream at a diner) filled with truffled jus that you pour over the chicken. And continue to pour over the chicken, because why would you want to waste any jus?

For dessert, the butterscotch pudding (I am a huge pudding fan) was of course tempting, but DMR and I decided to share the warm chocolate gingerbread pudding which was studded with cherries and sprinkled with bits of minty crunchy things. So yummy. Oh and I spilled my decaf during dessert. I blame the cockamamie saucer the cup was resting on 60%, pregnancy induced clumsiness 40%.

Writing about this meal is making me crazy hungry. Even with a couple of wines and beers (and a club soda for me), the bill was totally reasonable. And the restaurant is a 10 minute walk from our house (well maybe more like 15 minutes these days as a Slowpoke Sally)! I'm looking forward to the follow-up meal. Also I hear they started serving brunch, including chicken and waffles!

The General Greene First and 2nd and 3rd and 4th tastes...

2008-12-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

Whoops, I started this post months and months ago and never finished it. The General Greene opened in Fort Greene to much fanfare in the cursed corner spot on Dekalb and Clermont. This finally might be the restaurant to not only stick around but also offer up some decent grub. DMR and I had a first taste dinner on a late summer evening. At this point the General Greene was only using the front space. There's also a very long hallway that runs past the kitchen and opens into a second dining room. I had read a lot about the rushed nature of the service and felt it throughout the evening. Also, this is a small plates place and I can never figure out how much to order at such establishments. On the first visit at least, it's difficult to gauge because portion sizes are different things to every restaurant. We over-ordered and our table didn't have enough room for all the plates.

The three bean salad - very basic, but very fresh and delicious.

The roasted beets in a yogurt chive sauce. Super good and a very nice portion.

Nasty nasty "crispy chicken" that was anything but. The meat was stringy and chewy and the skin rubbery.

The pork meatballs were a disappointment as well. They were on the dry side and overwhelmed by a too sweet tomato based sauce that was reminiscent of the sort of vodka sauce you'd get at a pizzeria. We also tried the candied bacon (yum, but nothing I'd need to order again) as well as the cheeseburger. The cheeseburger here is an interesting beast. The kitchen uses a crazy meat to fat ratio so even if your burger is overcooked, as it was in our case, it remains somewhat moist. It will also drip non stop with grease. No fries on the side, instead you get a handful of store-bought potato chips.

Ok, now fast forward to present day. The General Greene starts serving brunch and we head out one weekend morning to give it a shot and guess what, it's delicious! We've subsequently been back a number of times (I think we went three Sundays in a row) and have been very pleased overall. Dan really likes the steak and potato skillet eggs, where all the ingredients are heated up and served in a cast iron pan. The potatoes form a deliciously, crisp crust and the skillet lends itself to nice crispy bits at the bottom which I like to scrape off. Dan does not have the patience. He's also had the surprisingly not overly sweet sticky bun french toast with fruit and some sort of sweet cream, which was also declared a winner. The portion is not big enough to stand alone as a meal so he sticks with the skillet eggs.

I had the frittata once in an attempt to diversify, but it's the egg and gruyere sandwich that makes me happiest. It's got a whole grain mustard aioli and I get bacon added for a buck. On the side are some very lightly dressed greens and overall the dish makes a really delicious and economically prudent ($6, including the added bacon) meal. We always supplement with a baked good, twice the moist, exploding with banana goodness banana bread, which is served warm. Once when the kitchen was out, we opted for an apple turnover which was ok, but no banana bread. We're also fans of the fruit salad and yogurt parfait. It's been a trio of blueberries, apples and bananas the couple times we've ordered it. I'm just happy to see a side of fruit that doesn't contain melon. The coffee can be a little hit or miss, but when it hits, it's out of the park.

Joe & Pat's Pizzeria - Staten Island, NY

2008-11-30T08:16:00.003-05:00

Field trip to Joe & Pat's on Victory Blvd in Staten Island. These guys are known for a super thin crust, which lived up to its advance billing. We shared two large pies: one pepperoni and one meatball. I liked the pizza fine but didn't love it. The sauce was a bit too rich and salty and the pies suffered from being oversauced, making for really sloppy slices. The meatball pieces worried me at first as they looked old and dry, but they turned out to be tender. I did prefer the pepperoni pie, though.

Lunch at the HBistrO

2008-11-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

What a crappy, rainy New York Day. At least I didn't have to walk far to meet up with Lindsey for lunch at the HBO commissary. This place rules! It was Indian day, so I mostly loaded up on that. On my main plate I've got a piece of tandoori chicken (unfortunately super dry, yuck), carrot and onion salad, spicy cucumber salad, basmati rice pilaf, yellow peas, roasted cauliflower with a tomato sauce and a handful of mini papadums. There are also some roasted beets and a mozzarella, pesto and sun-dried tomato pinwheel. I also got some fruit - red grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew and oranges - and a solid tasting chocolate chip cookie. Today they also had a mac and cheese station which was especially tempting after I saw a big bowl of bacon bits.

Oh wait, how could I forgot, I also had three mini samosas! I think they got buried under the beets.

road trip to new haven

2008-11-08T06:07:00.002-05:00

I took an impromptu road trip with Mooney and Yu to New Haven, CT, for some pizza. Dan chose to stay home to watch the Mets march towards another late season failure. After careful consideration, we decided on Frank Pepe. Based on closing hours, Sally's was our fallback and then Modern. I've been meaning to get up to New Haven for years now, not just for pizza but because Dr. Abby's been living here for a while and I still have never visited.

Yu can't contain her excitement for a clam pie.

Small clam pie. I love the roughness of the pie's shape and non-scientific slicing method.

Large spinach and sausage. I never think to order spinach as a topping, but this worked out so deliciously! The crusts were super thin but held up well to the toppings.

It's me and Dr. Abby! We are both drinking beers, but I am drinking clear birch beer.

The aftermath.

The famous ovens and super long pizza peels.

We were all stuffed but felt it was our duty to head a few blocks over to Louis Lunch, home of America's first hamburger. The meat is cooked in these ancient vertical ovens and served on toasted white bread with a schmear of cheese spread. Tomato and onion are options, but ketchup is not! I got a gassosa to drink and could not finish my half of the burger I split with Abby. Mooney made good work of his. I think Yu had a bite. Next time, I will have to sample a burger on a slightly less full tummy.

Back to Bloomfield Bridge Tavern!

2008-09-30T21:24:00.001-04:00

I love Pittsburgh and one of my favorite things to eat in the Iron City is the Polish Plate at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern where the bar stocked with detritus and beers you've never heard of from Poland and beyond. Dan and I shared a few pierogis, some really overcooked potato pancakes (still yummy, but basically oversized potato chips) and the famous plate which comes with kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, two different types of noodles (one with cheese, one with cabbage) and pierogi.

Marfa, TX

2008-09-15T11:26:00.001-04:00

Marfa, TX was the last stop on our trip through the Southwest this summer. We experienced crazy weather, crazy art and a frustrating food scene. There aren't very many restaurants in Marfa to begin with and it seemed like every other one we tried to eat at was closed for renovation, for the summer, or because they just felt like being closed.

Dinner our first evening was at Maiya's, located on the busiest strip downtown, meaning there was a post office, book store and a couple art galleries. We started with a really wonderful corn salad. The juicy niblets of roasted corn were marinated in a juice of lime kicked up with some chili flakes. There was Mexican cheese sprinkled on top, creating salty, tangy, spicy bites. It was basically elote but off the cob and in a bowl. So yummy.

I can't remember what Dan got (maybe the sausage dish?) but I got the steak paillard over radicchio. I also can't remember if we got dessert or not. I think there was a pistachio ice cream that sounded good, but I might have been too stuffed.

Before heading over to the Chinati Foundation for a tour, we tried the Brown Recluse for breakfast, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. The coffee wasn't very good. Our food took a while to arrive and when it did, was barely lukewarm. Dan and I both got the migas and have had much much better. The tortilla was good, though and they had Wi-Fi, which was needed since our hotel failed to live up to expectations and provide services it claimed to provide.

Our favorite meal in Marfa came courtesy of the Food Shark food truck. It's located in covered lot right by the book store and train tracks. There's communal bench seating constructed in the modular style of Donald Judd. I think we spotted everyone we had seen around town here. We put in our orders and waited with our beverages - a Coke for Dan, a Topo Chico for me.

The standard menu is Middle Eastern vegetarian heavy but we opted for two of the day's specials. I went with the adobo chicken breast tacos with tomatillo salsa and avocado, served with a side salad of greens, pickled onions, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese.

Dan ordered the salpicon - marinated shredded brisket served over a salad of greens, pickled jalapenos, red peppers, avocado, queso fresco, peperoncini and tortilla strips. Both the tacos and salpicon were super yummy and I'd have trouble picking a favorite.

We ate our final meal at Cochineal, located a few doors down from the Brown Recluse, but tucked in towards the back of the street. There was some miscommunication with our reservation time, but since it was still early in the evening, there was no problem getting seated. We shared the gnocchi appetizer, which they split into two portions. I really like when restaurants do this. At this point, my camera begins to inform me that it is dying. So I'm able to get off one more shot...

My chilaquiles! I've never had them served like this before, but it was a really nice blend of chicken, cheese, chilies, cream and tortillas baked in a clay pot. It wasn't too rich, which was what I initially feared. Dan ordered the steak which came with yummy greens and even yummier onion rings. For dessert we shared a ginger pot du creme that was so outrageously delicious. Spicy, smooth, cool and creamy.

Weekend Eating Highlights

2008-09-08T22:36:00.006-04:00

I’ve decided to start making routine posts – AGAIN. Hopefully it will go better this time.

Friday night’s dinner

Was feeling nostalgic and in the mood for sushi, so met up with a friend at Sushi Samba 7. I was shocked to find that this place was still packed to the gills by the “fake” sushi eating masses at 10:00 pm on a Friday night in 2008 AND that people actually had thought to make reservations. I only went there as a joke, so couldn’t believe how many people were trying to eat there for real. Even though, based upon my best recollections, Sushi Samba 7 didn’t pop up on the grid, or rather below the grid, until the mid to late nineties, it definitely has a distinct American Psycho vibe. I literally expected to see Patrick Bateman come strolling in with some sort of gore stuck to the lapel of his Cerruti suit. Regardless, this is what we ate:

- Samba 7 Roll - crispy lobster, scallion, cucumber, celery & jalapeño with wasabi-chimichurri dipping sauce
- Neo Tokyo Roll - yellowfin tuna, tempura flake & aji panca
- Pacific Roll - king crab, avocado, asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema
- Two Kumamoto oysters and one Fanny Bay oyster (I ate these without the help of my friend)
- One piece of mackerel sushi (also a solo job)

Afterward, most likely because I was drunk, I got he idea in my brain that I was still ravenous, so we went to Rare, where I consumed what most would consider a proper dinner, but I categorized it simply as a snack/dessert. After carefully weighing my options, I ordered the M&M Burger, which is flambéed in whiskey, topped with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon. Just to be on the safe side, I also ordered a side of truffle butter. In hindsight, I think I was actually very hungry and not just eating my feelings, as I did not feel overly full upon finishing my second dinner.

Saturday evening hors d'œuvres

In honor of her adorable mother’s visit to New York, my friend Dani threw a little party at her apartment on Saturday night. Since I am a one trick pony, I promised to bring oysters and scallops wrapped in bacon (wrapped separately, not together). Since it is my only one, I feel very fortunate that it is such a great trick. Usually I buy my seafood for this exercise at the Citarella on Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street, but didn’t really give myself ample lead time so had to go to Provisions in Fort Greene. Despite eagerly anticipating the opening of the Greene Grape’s bougie grocery last spring, I have been avoiding it due to reports of how ridiculously overpriced everything is. But alas, my hands were tied and I had to pull the trigger on Saturday in order to procure my little fruits de mer.

Too many dollars later, I emerged from my maiden voyage to Provisions with one pound of Mexican dry scallops, a dozen Hurricane Harbor oysters and a pound of lovely d’Artagnan (did you know that this purveyor of fine frenchie meats was based in Newark, NJ?) uncured applewood smoked bacon. While I felt everything was absurdly overpriced, the fact that the butcher who assisted me with my seafood purchases (yes, butcher - apparently the regular fishmonger was off that day) looked like a more handsome, bearded, beefier version of Lukas Haas helped to cushion the blow a little bit. I was vaguely interested in posting a missed connections thingy, something like “You – cute Provisions butcher person with Social Distortiony looking tattoos poking out from under your chef’s coat. Me – short Asian with Huey Lewis pin who enjoys wrapping things in bacon”, but my inherent laziness got the better of me.

Anyway, I was planning on going to the Greene Grape wine shop to pick up a bottle of Prosecco, but felt like I had given them enough of my money for one day, so instead walked up the street to Olivino, where I purchased a nice and inexpensive bottle of Charles de Fère blanc de blanc. I am happy to report that my bacon wrapped deliciousnesses, accompanied by the above referenced sparkling, were very well received by the guest of honor and I hope to delight her with more bacon wrapped concoctions in the not too distant future.

The Omnivore's Hundred

2008-09-05T16:26:00.000-04:00

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The PSG's Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (a nibble, yes. the entire pepper, probably not.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (does port with a fat cigar count?)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (possibly, but I can't be sure)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (I don't understand why clay is on this list.)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. ~~Frogs’ legs~~ (I honestly can not deal with the way they look)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. ~~Chitterlings, or andouillette~~
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (we couldn't get it to turn cloudy)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (is this the same as rabbit?)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (probably only if I didn't know it was horse)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

The CLC's Omnivore’s Hundred
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - Only while being the banker during Monopoly.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi - I don’t specifically recall, but can’t imagine that I haven’t had this.
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - No, but I love pastis, which is different, but sort of the same in my brain.
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - I ate half of one as a child.
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. ~~Horse~~
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa - No to rose, yes to harissa, though I appreciate that is neither here nor there.
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

field trip to Rutt's Hut

2008-08-26T08:12:00.000-04:00

My first visit to Rutt's Hut did not disappoint. Despite growing up about 15 minutes away, I never made the trip. With Callahan's 5 blocks from my parents' house, there was really no need. I mean, I didn't even visit Hiram's (directly across the street from Callahan's) until 2 or 3 years ago. When it came to deep fried Jersey dogs, I was set.

New Jersey loves hot dogs. This place is just big enough to seat all the hot dog lovers of the Garden State.

I normally steer clear of relish but the stuff at Rutt's had many things going for it. It was yellow, not green. It was homemade. It didn't look sticky. It was delicious.

We started off with six rippers: one for Jen, two for Dave, and 3 for DMR and I to split. We wound up ordering two more.

Disco fries, another Jersey staple, with gravy on the side. These were beautifully done.

Gravy, onion rings and chili. The onion rings were too much batter, not enough onions, but the chili was over the top!

Full spread.

We ate in the dining room, but there's a order and eat standing at the counter annex next door.

Smitty's Pit Bar-B-Q in El Paso, TX

2008-08-24T08:41:00.005-04:00

Our last stop before Marfa was in El Paso, TX for some down home barbeque. Nothing says quality like a strip mall near the airport.

If restaurants were judged by their menu covers, then we were guaranteed a yummy meal. Dan may look like he's pontificating, but we all know he'll just be a copycat and order the same thing I do.

The beef sandwich lunch plate! With German fried potatoes, beans and cole slaw.

Close-up of the grill marks and smoke ring.

You could say we liked it! The beef was a hair on the dry side, but still incredibly delicious and flavorful. And nothing a little sauce couldn't fix. I loved the soft Portuguese roll-type bread the meat was tucked into. The beans were some of the best I've ever had, maybe even the best. They were smoky with just the right amount of saltiness and not too sweet. The cole slaw was super yum, too. All the components were chopped very finely and there were even bits of pineapple in the mix! The potatoes were essentially two huge wedges that were fried to extreme crispness on the outside but managed to remain soft and fluffy on the inside.

Yay Smitty's!

Taylor's Maid-Rites in Memphis

2008-08-22T12:44:00.002-04:00

Even shipped from Iowa to Memphis frozen and re-heated for 45 seconds in a microwave (Maid Rite's instructions) they were delicious. They came plain with little baggies of finely chopped onions and thinly sliced pickles to put on if you wanted.

I had them plain and with onion/pickle/plain yellow mustard. It tasted great no matter what you did. If you remember from Sandwiches You Will Like, they double grind their own Iowa beef in the basement and then cook it upstairs. You'd think that it would taste like a sloppy joe minus the sauce, but it doesn't because the meat is so fine and they boil it instead of frying it up.

Photo and text courtesy of Hot Tub Eric of Memphis, TN.

the rest of new mexico = mostly disappointing meals

2008-08-18T13:49:00.000-04:00

We had a reservation at Cafe Pasquale's but wound up canceling it. I just wasn't in the mood to spend that much money. The prices seemed a little outrageous to me - a plate of garlic fries for $11, a filet mignon for $39. The cheapest option is a veggie Thai green curry for $21. So we headed to The Famous Plaza Cafe, which is basically a diner with a Southwestern twist. We stared with chips and a trio of salsas and the three bean house salad, which also came with carrots, beets and jicama.

Salsa verde, salsa rojas and pico de gallo.

Dan's steak and enchiladas. I think he liked the enchiladas ok, but the steak was pretty terrible. It was tough and chewy and mostly inedible.

My carnitas platon with chile slathered on Christmas-style. Also underwhelming. The pork tasted like it was marinated in ketchup. Our entrees came out moments after our starters and we were seated by an a/c vent so our food cooled off before we knew it.

These sopapillas were really good though. Hot fried dough rarely disappoints. Squirt bottles of honey were available at all tables and made for a great accompaniment.

On our way to Texas, we stopped at Pete's Cafe in Belen, NM. We had high, high hopes for this institution which turned out to be a big dud. Dan's chicken enchilada's were dry and lacking in flavor.

My queso was even worse. It tasted like Play-Doh. What a shame. Honestly, it might have been the worst I've ever had. It mostly went untouched and I never ever leave even a drop of queso behind.

After sliding down sand dunes at the White Sands Monument, we settled in at the very comfortable and charming Hacienda De Mi Madre bed and breakfast in Tularosa. Tularosa is one sleepy town and a place where the restaurants shut down at 8pm. This made for very limited dinner options. I won't even say where we ate, but it was a chain and one we've eaten at on an entirely different continent. The next morning, we had a big breakfast waiting for us: eggs, bacon, fresh fruit salad, apple pancakes and homemade biscuits. Yum. If you're ever in the area, this is a recommended place to stay. We had an ensuite room, with the biggest bathroom ever. No tv or internet, but it was only for a night. There was a small pot of homemade strawberry spice jam waiting for us on the nightstand and upon checkout, we got some kettle corn courtesy of the gift shop down the street.

After eating, we sat outside for a bit and saw a ton of hummingbirds. I couldn't stop staring at them. The B&B also had a fig tree in the backyard, this one I found especially cute.

i am not sold on ippudo. there, i said it.

2008-08-05T11:26:00.001-04:00

Bar area at the front of the restaurant. It is stylish as hell, but certainly not even close to the best bowl of noodles I've ever had, much less in New York.

Bowl of Shiomaru ramen, hold the kikurage, please. Maybe I shouldn't have made that request, because the bowl looked a little pathetic and spare. The slices of berkshire pork were dry and the portion very stingy. For $13 I want succulent pieces that are thicker than a fruit roll-up. The broth wasn't anything to freak out over either. Maybe I should have gone with the thicker tonkotsu style Akamaru broth. To top it off, I think they lost our order because everyone seated around us was getting their food and our bowls took forever to appear. I couldn't flag down a server, so I didn't have a chance to inquire about the status but we easily ordered before some of the folks even sat down.

This photo isn't very good, but you can see DMR's short-lived summer stache.

I was very ready to love this place, but it fell way short of expectations. Will give it another try, but for the price, I'd much rather have a bowl at Momofuku Noodle Bar, where the pork practically melts in your mouth. The one plus was watching the guy make noodles in a little room downstairs by the bathrooms.

cheese break!

2008-07-29T12:18:00.005-04:00

My coworker Matty K returned from his homeland Wisconsin with some delicious treats to share with the office. He put together two beautiful plates.

Jim's Blue Ribbon garlic summer sausage, local crackers that tasted of Lipton vegetable soup mix and cubes of sharp Cheddar make up the first platter.

And little squeaky, creamy curds and crackers imprinted with "Dare Dare" on platter two. I think he did an excellent job on presentation. I'm off to get seconds!

Edited 7/29 @ 2:42 PM: I neglected to mention that this cheese was from the Carr Valley Cheese Company, the big winner at this past weekend's American Cheese Society competition. Matty K is quick to note that Wisconsin, or should I say, Wisco, won 91 ribbons compared to California's measly 46.

green chile in new mexico pt 2 - burger vs. burger

2008-07-23T14:42:00.001-04:00

Hmmm, we're in Santa Fe. What should we eat? Green chile cheeseburgers of course! We first tried Bert's Burger Bowl, which was a stone's throw from our hotel. These guys opened their doors in 1954 and claim to have invented this burger.

Dan manages to smile even though he is not happy with me making him pose in front of the joint.

We both ordered the house specialty and I got onion rings on the side and a lime coke to wash it all down. The mister got fries and a cherry coke. The patty was on the thin side and adorned with cheese, green chile, onions, pickle and mustard. There were no tomatoes due to the salmonella scare. I think they had a sign up explaining this.

Here's a shot of the lovely couple. The onion rings were awesome, perfectly crisp with a good balance of batter and onion. I just wish there were more than 6-7 to an order. The fries left much to be desired and it kills me to say this because Bert's is such an institution, but the burger did not live up to the hype either. The patty was overcooked and not moist at all.

But those onion rings!!!

The following day, on our way out of town to El Paso, we tried the Bobcat Bite, which is on the Old Las Vegas Highway (once a part of the old Route 66). I can't recall where I first heard about this place, but I've been dreaming about this burger for a long time. It's run by a husband and wife team, and on this afternoon, a person who I imagine is their son was working there as well.

Again, we opted for the green chile cheeseburgers, cooked medium. Instead of chips, we split an order of home fries. Everything was cooked to order and we got there during a brisk lunch service, so had a little wait for our food. We ordered the home fries extra crispy and they came out as such. My only issue was that once again, I tasted "butter flavored something." I don't know if it was oil or margarine, but in this case, at least the potato seasoning helped to overcome that strange flavor.

This is an entirely different beast than Bert's burger. The burger is 10 ounces of meat (ground daily in-house!) and the patty alone is probably thicker than a Bert's patty plus bun. On the side were a couple pieces of crisp green leaf lettuce and two slices of bright red plum tomatoes.

The cross section reveals a perfectly cooked medium burger. This thing was oozing juices and the heft of the meat completely crushed the bottom bun. I liked the use of white American cheese over standard issue orange. It was almost a perfect burger... The meat was a little underseasoned; an extra dash of salt and pepper would have made for a knock your socks off burger. Even so, it was still a very, very, very good burger. I managed to finish it, though that last bite was really tough.

green chile in new mexico pt. 1 - enchiladas and eggs

2008-07-20T17:41:00.001-04:00

Green chile is EVERYWHERE in New Mexico. Our first taste came in Albuquerque, at the Frontier Restaurant, a dive-y institution that sits right across the street from the University of New Mexico. We originally wanted to head to Monte Carlo Liquors and Steakhouse, but they were unfortunately closed on Sundays.

I got an order of the green chile stew, which had a really fierce heat level. It was a lot hotter than I expected. The stew had chunks of vegetables like potatoes and little nobs of ground pork. I also got a little side salad, which was pretty basic, but had a sprinkling of sunflower seeds which lent a saltiness and nutty crunch to each bite.

Accompanying my food were warm and fluffy homemade flour tortillas.

Dan got a half order of chicken enchiladas with green chile. It was pretty substantial and again, really, really firey. To wash things down, we ordered the intriguing sounding "raspberry rush" which turned out to be really bad, overly sweet raspberry flavored lemonade.

Exterior shot of the Frontier, established 1971. Afterwards, we drove over to Isotopes Park to watch the home team take on the Triple-A affiliate of the Mets, the New Orleans Zephyrs. Instead of spending the night in Albuquerque, we drove back north to Santa Fe.

Our first meal in Santa Fe was breakfast at Tia Sophia, just a few blocks from our hotel. I went with a breakfast burrito smothered in what else, but green chile. Tia Sophia's green chile was milder than the Frontier's, probably a good thing for our stomachs.

The insides reveal a carb love fest of has browns and bacon.

Dan ordered the huevos rancheros with blue corn tortillas. My dish was better so I shared. He asked for his eggs over medium, but they came out more like over easy and the entire dish turned into a runny mess. Also, it wasn't apparent from my food since everything was mushed together into a salty, cruncy, chile covered, delicious mess, but his potatoes tasted like they were fried in some sort of fake butter or butter flavored oil. I was not into the taste and much to my chagrin, it would be a recurring theme in Santa Fe.

mile high nachos and a chili cheese coney kick off a roadtrip

2008-07-19T19:50:00.002-04:00

I flew into Denver and met up with DMR, Balgavy and Erik who were on the last night of their Pioneer League excursion. After they picked me up t the airport, we drove around trying to find a Chik-Fil-A. Balgavy was given bad intel and we wound up at some mall that not only did not have a Chil-Fil-A but didn't even have a food court. Boo.

Beef nachos from Coors Field in Denver, CO later in the evening. The chips were bordering on stale, but overall a satisfying ballpark concession. Toppings included marinated beef, cheese sauce, a corn salsa, pickled jalepenos and sour cream. I think it cost $6.50. The chips at the bottom got a little too soggy.

After the game we walked to the Wynkoop brewing company. Erik caught up with an old college friend and the rest of us tucked into some warm pretzels with mustard and queso.

Oh, I nearly forgot, I had to change planes in Cincinnati before touching down in Denver. I loved the food options at CVG! First I had a chili cheese coney from Gold Star Chili. I was still hungry so I then hopped in the Chik-Fil-A line and ordered a chicken sandwich.

i think liquid nitrogen is burning a hole in my stomach

2008-07-16T15:58:00.001-04:00

Top Chef 4's Richard Blais, he of faux-hawk and "banana scallops" fame, was at the Garrett Popcorn store by my work to make some frozen popcornsicles. These were formed with Garrett's delicious and oddball combination of caramel and cheese popcorn and then dunked in liquid nitrogen to harden. It was great to see the sweet and salty balls emerge from the container of nitrogen. I thought I was at a Rush concert. The texture of the popcornsicle was weird - hard and cold like a sno-cone, but also a little crumbly like a granola bar or a brick of dry oasis. I would have liked a little more cheese popcorn in the mix. I enjoyed it, but three hours later, I have a bit of a tummy ache. Thanks to Balgavy for the head's up and Joe for letting me use his photos since I didn't have my camera on me.

catching up on june eatings

2008-06-29T16:45:00.012-04:00

Fort Lee, NJ: Somyun in homemade dashi, with zucchini and a semi-poached semi-scrambled egg. You add spoonfuls of a sauce of soy, sesame and chilies to taste. I can be heavy handed with this condiment.

Palisades Park, NJ: Pile of veggies and fishcakes ready to get Shabu Shabu'ed at Pho 32.

Hot tub time for a piece of napa cabbage, a clump of enoki mushrooms and a fishball.

Thinly sliced beef ready for dunking.

Park Slope, Brooklyn: The house omelet at Moim is filled with kimchi, steak, onions and mozzarella cheese and partially bathed in a sort of demi-glace sauce you'd find in a yoshoku style restaurant. The home fries were perfect - super crisp on the outside without a trace of wetness, soft and warm on the inside. And most importantly, they were well-seasoned.

Inside view of the omelet. I'd definitely get this again, but would probably ask for it without the cheese.

Fort Greene, Brooklyn: The fruits of a quick trip to the Brooklyn Flea. Even with the chili pepper on the label, these are a lot spicier than you'd think.

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn: A pre-bocce dinner at Hibino started off so positively, with this duo of obanzai. The chicken meatballs were moist and had a pleasing char. The eel croquettes were like arancini with a decidedly Japanese twist (panko breading, tonkatsu-style sauce drizzled over). Unfortunately, our main dishes took nearly an hour to arrive and one of our orders didn't even make it from notepad to kitchen. We had to rush and were late to the start of the game And we wound up losing.

Edgewater, NJ: Gyoza and congee combo from China Table Tokyo Hanten at Mitsuwa. I almost always opt for ramen here but was in the mood to expand my horizons. This was yummy, but not as satisfying as a bowl of noodles. I did really like the mug of consommé.

Fort Greene, Brooklyn: Pupusas (whoops, I've been spelling these with two As) from a Red Hook ball field vendor at today's Brooklyn Flea! Brought home a bean and cheese and zucchini and cheese a little before it started pouring. Only $4.50!

The bean and cheese pupusa was dry and seemed like it may have been sitting on the griddle for some time, but the zucchini was wonderful. Maybe the water content of the zucchinis helped to keep it moist? By the time I got home, some of the sour cream had melted and mixed in with the salsa to create a delicious cream sauce. Pickles make everything better, and in this case, it was pickled cabbage.

Sandwiches in Central Park

2008-06-22T19:49:00.003-04:00

I had a lunch date with Margo and her brood at the park. She picked up sandwiches from Bouchon Bakery. I had told her to surprise me and she did it right with wagyu brisket sandwich with arugula, ricotta salata, parsley pesto and aioli from Bouchon Bakery. The cheese was especially delicious. Sometimes I find ricotta salatas too salty, but this was much milder and also not as crumbly in texture.

Cuckoo for Coco500?

2008-06-17T17:35:00.001-04:00

Pictures from Coco500 in San Francisco, where Top Chef Season 4 contestant Jen Biesty is the chef. We were unable to catch a peek or her and her faux-hawk.

Moogle's purslane salad with radishes, boquerones and fried capers. I wasn't so much into the purslane as it had a bit of gumminess a la okra and fiddleheads. She's a vegetarian so she asked for the anchovies on the side. The table carnivores did not let those go to waste. Let's talk about fried capers for a moment - holy cow, what an unexpected bite of warm, salty, deliciousness.

The cheeseplate. I would tell you specifically what kind of cheese, but the server never told us, nor did she really give us a chance to ask, which I found annoying. We also had to ask for bread. I really like my cheese with bread or some other sort of carby vessel. Don't we all?

More cheese plate. I thought the blue could be a Point Reyes but I think the veining is a little different. There was also a wedge of manchego and some sort of aged chèvre with some ash which I am almost certain was a Cypress Grove Bermuda Triangle.

I'm not sure how I felt about the ahi ceviche, which was marinated with coconut, scallion and lime. I think I needed the temperature of the fish to be colder and the flakes of coconut smaller or maybe completely out of the recipe.

My chimichurri pork special! Halfway through it, I realized I was eating radicchio and not chorizo, which is what I misheard the waitress say. The pork was cooked wonderfully and worked nicely with the bitterness of the radicchio.

Moogle's asparagus pizza, featuring spring garlic, goat cheese, lemon zest, pink peppercorns. I had a bite and it was very springy and yummy.

Rob's whole fish of the day: a branzino with herb salad, capers, anchovies, lemon. I was too busy porking out to try a bite, but it looked really good.

To drink I had a couple of these Presbyterian cocktails: bourbon, ginger beer, lemon and seltzer. I need to recreate these this summer, they went down nice and easy, let me tell you. Anyone have a bourbon suggestion?

lunch at momofuku ssam bar

2008-06-02T15:31:00.001-04:00

The funny thing is that I ordered the pork bibimbop but they brought me the chicken. I had a couple bites before I even remembered I had ordered pork. Anyway, I forgot to retake photos but decided to post these because they are so mouth-watering. The lunch special also includes a side of your choice, pickles and a drink. It's pricey, but the leftovers made for a tasty dinner.

The worst egg sandwich ever. I'm looking right at you Europa Cafe

2008-05-30T10:30:00.002-04:00

Seriously, you're going to fuck up a ham, egg and cheese and then charge me $3.74 for the honor? I am not a fan of Europa Cafe, but out of desperation and for lack of time, I hit them up this morning. My sandwich was cold by the time it got to my desk (my office is a block away). The ham has the texture of rubber and why on earth is half the ham in one piece and the rest in little bits? Did they run out of a normal slice of ham? And I need to mention again that this sandwich cost me $3.74. GTLO!!!!

The Slanted Door - San Francisco, CA

2008-05-28T20:53:00.001-04:00

Blargh, I'm so behind in posting! Anyone who knows anything (at least anything I am interested in) will tell you that The Slanted Door in its current incarnation is overrated and not nearly as good as when it was at its original location in the Mission. But having never eaten at the restaurant on Valencia, I have no grounds for comparison, so shall we?

House and vegetarian spring rolls share a plate. We also got some crispy imperial rolls stuffed with shrimp and pork, which were meant to be wrapped in a lettuce leaf and dipped into a tart, fish-based sauce. The appetizers round also included the grapefruit and jicama salad and seared scallops in a red curry sauce with a crisp Asian pear slaw. When we ordered our dishes, we were told restaurant served their food family style. This mean that the kitchen was going to prepare the dishes at their speed and they would arrive at the table in unorderly fashion. And because our party of 8 was seated at a 6-top, there was not nearly enough room for all the plates. Speaking of the plates, I got a chuckle out of the ceramics credit listed on the menu.

Oh, I nearly forgot my choice of appetizer. I narrowed it down to the oysters, the yellowtail and the clams with pork belly, chilies and basil. Though we were sharing plates around the table, I think this may have been the least popular dish cause I wound up eating most of it!

I was indecisive when it came to ordering my entree. The stuffed squid called out to me, but in the end, the grilled Arctic char won out. I should have listened to the squid, because this was the least enjoyable part of my meal. The cucumber, icicle radish and mint salad were overwhelmed by a too salty ginger-soy sauce of which there was way too much.

All was redeemed by dessert. This is the caramelized pineapple with a crème fraîche blancmange and basil gelée and it was one of the most delicious desserts ever. I was surprised by the composition. The pineapple chunks made for a rustic looking plate and I was expecting something more refined. The basil jelly perplexed me on every bite. It was light and watery but at the same time packed an intense, herby flavor. The blancmange was basically a bonus. Oh, look, there's even more deliciousness at the bottom. I also had bites of the chocolate midnight cake and coffee pot de creme.

Breakfast at Lulu Petite

2008-05-22T15:59:00.001-04:00

Sausage and egg sandwich from Lulu Petite for breakfast at the Ferry Market Building. Yum. Yum. Yum. The pre-made baked egg was my least favorite part of the sandwich but it was good enough. The sausage was super tasty and had that somewhat loose texture that I'm really into. The grilled vegetable jam that was spread on the bread was also really intensely flavorful and I found myself wanting to lick the wax paper clean of it.

P.S. I forgot to mention that the cheese was delicious, melty fontina.

Limon - San Francisco, CA

2008-05-16T07:50:00.000-04:00

After my big lunch, I was hoping for a light dinner. It didn't quite work out that way. We wound up at Limon, a Peruvian restaurant in a modern space in the Mission.

I shared a potato-beet timbale with avocado, fennel, more potato and celery greens. It was the yummiest dish of our meal. My carnivorous colleague and I also shared the ceviche de corvina which was disappointingly tough and rubbery. The chunks of fish were rather large and impossible to cut, forcing you to eat the entire piece at once.

Niman Ranch pork ribs: despite being overly sauced for my personal tastes, I liked my first rib (after scraping off the excessive, sweet barbeque sauce). The second rib was fatty and not enjoyable. By this point, I got weary of the sauce. I don't mind sauce on my ribs, but the meat should be the centerpiece. Also, can we get some wetnaps? These were messy, messy, messy and cloth napkins don't do the trick.

The centerpiece of dinner was the fried red snapper. The flesh was tender and flaky, but the skin didn't quite crisp up and stayed elasticy. The coconut rice that accompanied was probably my favorite part of the dish though.

Taylor's Automatic Refresher - San Francisco, CA

2008-05-12T14:50:00.002-04:00

San Francisco makes me feel very healthy. Maybe it's the clean, crisp air, or all the hills that make an eastward trek to Prospect Park seem like a cakewalk. So I chose to celebrate this feeling with a HAMBURGER, haha!

The walk from my hotel to Taylor's Automatic Refresher in the Ferry Building was a straight shot, and quick. I debated ordering the ahi tuna burger but settled on a classic bacon cheeseburger: a thinner, California style patty, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles and secret sauce on a toasted egg bun. While I waiting for my order, I sat by the grill and watched the cooks in action from behind the glass. There was a lot going on in a small amount of space.

My burger was tasty, but lukewarm. This temperature issue prevented the cheese from melting into that satisfying ooey, gooey consistency. The hamburger patty oddly broke in half, as well. But the lettuce was crisp, the tomatoes ripe and the little wax paper jacket did help to control the juice and drippings.

To go along with the burger, I ordered some garlic fries, which are tossed in garlic butter & parsley. These were a fantastic shade of green and the camera doesn't do any justice to the neon hue of the fries. They were perfectly crisped and the seasoning was well distributed.

Washing the meal down was a Trumer Pilsner, an Austrian beer that a few years ago opened a brewery outpost in Berkeley. If I could find it on the East Coast, Trumer Pilsner would be what I drink all summer. It was so refreshing.

Dinner at Yakitori Torys

2008-05-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

I'm in San Francisco without the cable to connect my camera to the computer, so here are some photos from a dinner at Yakitori Torys I recently had with the CLC.

Outside signage. Throughout the evening, I was reminded of Gonpachi - the menu, color scheme, etc...

Blistered shishito peppers with a dab of mild Japanese-style kkochujang.

Age-dashi tofu. We were served a cube each of soft and firm. I preferred the soft.

Another shot of the peppers, with a skewer of garlic to the left. The grilling softens up and mellows out the garlic, basically making it even more delicious.

Little stackable dishes of black pepper and salt. I just like anything mini.

Chicken meatballs! I ordered the one on the left, which was mixed with shiso leaf and plum.

Kuro buta negi pon - organic pork with ponzu and scallions, so yummy!

We also ordered a couple skewers of chicken oyster, part of the "chicken limited" menu. Luckily we were dining early in the evening and Torys had not sold out yet. I just noticed that the above pork skewer is listed in the "chicken limited" part too! Beth got an order of "pork gut" which was one of the specials of the day.

Work dinner at Po Brooklyn

2008-04-25T18:51:00.004-04:00

Although it's listed on the menu, our table were served an amuse of the white bean bruschetta. It was generous with the oil and beans, but miraculously not soggy.

I shared a couple appetizers with my boss: polpetta di carne and marinated anchovies with barley. The meatballs were good, but I found the sauce overwhelming. I loved the chewy density of the barley, a very interesting and successful pairing with the little fish.

I loved, loved, loved my linguine vongole, a dish I grew up eating at the local pizzeria. As a kid, I felt exotic ordering it. You want that mixture of clam juice, white wine and garlic to coat the pasta, but not drown it. But you certainly don't want it dry. It's got to be soupy enough so you can sop it up with a nice hunk of bread. And it has to have just the right amount of parsley to provide a bite of freshness every so often. Po's super garlicky version met all the criteria. Plus there was pancetta and as we all know, everything tastes better with pork.

Amsterdam Part II (mostly about pancakes)

2008-04-21T23:07:00.001-04:00

Caulils is a fantastic "delicatessen" that was down the street from our apartment (Haarlemerstraat 115). For an early lunch/late breakfast, while someone was still snoozing, I picked up an assortment of meats and cheeses from Caulils as well as an unremarkable baguette from the Albert Hein. I also bought a couple bottles of the house label AH beer that might have cost 20 Euro cents but we didn't get a chance to drink them. We alternated between yummy bites of Jamon Serrano Reserva, a fennel salami called Finnochiona, chorizo Pamplona and a wonderful organic Gouda called Wilde Weide. The next morning, the leftovers were turned into a sandwich that was a great alternative to dreadful, overpriced airport food.

After a fruitless search the night before, we finally found Japanese Pancake World (2e Egelantiersdwarsstraat 24a). The restaurant was a lot smaller than I had imagined. It was a bi-level space with a few tables downstairs and a couple stools upstairs at the grill.

Okonomiyakis in progress.

Dan ordered the o7 Shogayaki special with beef, spinach and onion, Osaka-style. The bonito shavings sprinkled on top are charmingly referred to as "dancing fish flakes."

I ordered a Hiroshima-style Butama, which came with pork, cheese and mushrooms, in addition to the noodles which are standard in this type of okonomiyaki, and one of the main differences from the Osaka-style.

After pancakes part 1, we weathered the line for the nearby Anne Frank Haus. We had been gauging the line our entire stay in Amsterdam and it never appeared to get shorter (except for once at 7:30PM when we walked past and there was no line). It was very cold outside. When we were finished with the tour, we were greeted with snow. We started walking back to the apartment but as we passed The Pancake Bakery (Prinsengracht 191), Dan decided we needed to end our trip with more pancakes.

This was the traditional style with cheese and green apples. Rod Stewart was playing on the hi-fi and if you watch the movie above, you'll notice Dan rocking out to our favorite bocce namesake.

I opted for the poffertjes - mini pillowy pancakes with lemon and syrup, blanketed with powdered sugar. These were soooo good. They were so chewy and delicious and not heavy at all like pancakes can sometimes be.

Lunch at tHe BistrO (aka the HBO cafeteria)

2008-04-16T23:14:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine recently started working at HBO and invited me over for lunch at their employee cafeteria. Despite its silly name, I was psyched.

Sensing my arrival, the featured cuisine was Korean! Thanks, guys. By the way, $0.30 an ounce is not a typo.

Even though I didn't like they way they spelled kimchi, I thought it was very bold of the HBO cafeteria workers to serve it for lunch. As much as I love to eat the food of my people, it makes me paranoid as hell. It's so pungent and the smells really freak people out. Even though Korean food is I guess a bit trendy these days, I am scarred for life from all the times that people made fun of me or made a big stink (no pun intended).

I had a little bit of both kinds: cucumber and carrots to the left, cabbage and of all things, water chestnuts on the right. Both were tasty! I'm going to guess they had a ringer on hand or imported the goods from a Korean market.

For the main portion of my lunch, I opted for the hanger steak special.

A very generous portion of steak, potato wedges and roasted cauliflower for $5.99! I had enough left over for lunch the next day. You know what $5.99 gets you in midtown? Not much! I'll scoop some beets onto my plate at Dishes and it's going to cost me $5.99! $5.99 barely gets you a medium soup at Hale & Hearty. THe BistrO is a dream come true. I also had a huge rice krispie treat and a Tea's Tea that, ironically, cost almost as much as my entree!

Lindsey had the salmon burger as a platter, with a trio of salads. One was jicama and some other stuff. I think it cost fifty-five cents. I wonder if Omar's eaten here.

pre-bocce pie at lucali's

2008-04-13T21:27:00.003-04:00

Finally ate at Lucali recently before heading to a bocce doubleheader. Ok, it was over a month ago but I forgot to post the photos. Dan and I shared a large pie with pepperoni and garlic, probably my favorite toppings combo. The pie was delivered piping hot with a crisp but tender crust (with a char on some pieces bordering on burnt) and blanketed with a generous sprinkling of grana padano. It was a lovely site and with a deliciousness to match. I should have stopped at the third slice, but the idea of an uneaten slice upset me so I powered through the fourth. At the time I felt great, but this would not be the case later in the evening.

Amsterdam Part I

2008-04-11T11:27:00.003-04:00

On our first night in Amsterdam, we ate at the very cozy Eetcafe Rosereijn (Haarlemmerdijk 52) just down the street from the apartment we rented. We shared the beef stew special and a mozzarella, tomato and pesto salad.

We also drank many little glasses of Jupiler.

The most delicious frites with deliciously unctuous frits saus (aka delicious Dutch mayo) from Cafe Stevens Nieuwmarkt B.V. (Koningsstraat 3hs). I had a couple Palms and Dan also had a mint tea that was made by pouring hot water over a bunch of mint leaves. It was nice and refreshing. Did I mention it was snowing? What started off as a whipping rain, turned into a really beautiful snow of large flakes.

Tampopo (Haarlemmerdijk 168) is a stylish Asian specialty food shop, also located down our street. It looked great, but smelled kinda funky. I didn't appreciate the can of kimchi being lumped in the Japanese section but other than that, it's hard to not love a store named for a movie about the pursuit of a perfect bowl of ramen.

Ok, so we had some special baked treats at went to the Van Gogh museum. Afterwards I tried to lead us to Japanese Pancake World, but as my cognitive functions were still failing me, we wound up getting lost in the tiny streets of the Jordaan neighborhood. Eventually, we got back to the area we were staying in and we were starving. De Vries (Haarlemmerijk 1o8A was right across the street and we stumbled in. We ordered steak sandwiches and I, not realizing our sandwiches came with salads, also ordered a salad. Then Dan thought he saw nachos on the table across the way, so we asked for that. Moments later Dan realized the the nachos were not nachos, but in fact a floral centerpiece. But it turns out that De Vries does serve nachos and they were awful. They were made with paprika flavored Doritos. The food took forever to come out and because the meat was thrown on the grill in a lump half of it was cooked and the other half was raw.

Paris

2008-04-06T22:12:00.000-04:00

Chocolate and salted caramel macarons from Pierre Herme (72, rue Bonaparte).

The plat du jour at bistrot Le Troisieme Chinon (56, rue des Archives) on March 18 was a steak bernaise.

Close-up of the crisp and delicious potatoes.

Korean in Paris! Japchae and plump mandoo, washed down with Hite at L'Arbre de sel (138, rue de Vaugirard)

Bulgogi for Dan and dolsot bibimbop for me. I had to request the kochujang! Dan's bulgogi could've used more garlic and sesame oil, but I guess you have to adapt a bit for a culture not accustomed to such spice and pungency.

Kimchi pancakes sound so exotic when written in French.

A beautiful and delicious roasted veggie salad from Il Croccantino (139, rue de Vaugirard), a tiny traiteur we sought refuge at on our rainy, last evening in Paris.

Pizza with parma ham made in the oven at the back of the store and served piping hot. We had the salad, pizza, a large piece of lasagna (nothing notable), three drinks and a couple cookies for 32 Euro, not bad at all even with the crummy exchange rate.

Birra makes DMR a happy man. So does making iMovies about Paris.

SXSW - Day Four and Five

2008-04-02T19:49:00.002-04:00

March 14
Las Manitas - Trip 3

chilquiles verdes

chilaquiles verdes shot 2, with cantaloupe aguas frescas and cinnamon coffee

High Places @ Emo's

Iron Cactus

queso! sadly, this was cold and watery.

Koriente

tofu bibimbop with lots of fresh, crunchy vegetables. the kkochujang was surprisingly fiery.

Best Wurst Stand

a bratwurst with onions and kraut after the kill rock stars showcase signals the end of my sxsw.

March 15
Salt Lick Annex at Bergstrom International Airport

my flight was delayed a couple hours due to mechanical failure. i ate half a brisket sandwich.

brisket sandwich (view 2)

SXSW - Day Three

2008-04-01T07:47:00.001-04:00

March 13
Las Manitas - Trip 2

i had back-to-back meetings here but i forgot to take a picture of my food. during the first, i just drank a small glass of carrot juice. for the second, i ordered some cinnamon coffee and the migas especiales con hongos. delicious.

Ironworks

meat combo platter with a big red to wash it down. i know it's hard to keep up with the volume during sxsw but this was a bust. the sausage was moist and juicy, but the brisket was dry and the beef rib mostly inedible.

brunch at downtown atlantic

2008-03-30T20:12:00.004-04:00

i have no intention of ever eating at downtown atlantic again. the pan-seared corned beef hash was a mushy pink lump that looked like a mound of wet dog food. a few bites in, the texture reminded me too much of a beef mousse and i had to put my fork down. i found the accompaniment of "hash browns" to be redundant, especially when the "hash browns" turned out to be very wet home fries. a very good bloody mary and a generous portion of yummy, gratis carrot cake prevented this from being perhaps the worst brunch meal i've ever eaten. despite eating only one of my two eggs and leaving more than two thirds of both the potatoes and hash on my plate i am strangely not hungry 7 hours later.

SXSW - Day One and Two

2008-03-29T17:35:00.008-04:00

March 11
Torchy's Tacos @ Little Woodrow's

green chili queso with chips

green chili pork taco, mr. pink taco

March 12
Las Manitas Visit 1

huevos rancheros (not picture: side of chorizo, watermelon aguas frescas)

Weinermobile!

Maggie Mae's

mini vanilla cupcakes from babycakes

R.E.M. @ Stubb's

Hot Dog King

austin dog: smoked jalepeno sausage on a gigantic roll with pickles and mustard. took away a little bit of the sting from a disappointing r.e.m. show.

Enzo's of Arthur Avenue

2008-03-24T21:06:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, we hit the Bronx with Big Nellie, Little Nellie and Oda. First we enjoyed the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The adults didn't eat anything but I think little Nellie had some Cheerios. Afterwards it was off to Arthur Avenue for some lunch.

Our first choice, Zero Otto Nove, was unfortunately closed as it was that sad time between lunch and dinner. We wound up at Enzo's down the block and were very pleased.

The Enzo house salad. We polished off two of these.

Polenta with sausage and beans. This was a last minute selection that I think Dave suggested.

The four people at the table with a full set of teeth shared two huge bowls of pasta: rigatoni bolognese and cavatelli studded with big hunks of sausage and lots and lots of broccoli rabe. Nothing fancy or unique at all about either of these, but both were superdelicious.

What we ate over President's Day Weekend

2008-03-23T18:41:00.000-04:00

President's Day weekend of eating started in Fort Lee, where Dan and I picked up my mom's car to drive down to Silver Spring. There was fried chicken waiting for us. My parents are pretty damn awesome. They don't just love us, they love us TWO BOXES worth!

We had tastes of both the garlic soy and spicy, and the latter especially did not disappoint. The chicken had plenty of flavor as well as a penetrating heat that I've found lacking at other Korean Fried Chicken joints.

The leftovers were consolidated into one box and came along for the trip. Moments after arriving at Dan's parents house, Stone Groove attacked a drumstick in a way that reminded me of that famous scene from Nature or Wild Kingdom. You know, the one where the cheetah gets eaten by the hippo in the river, or something like that.

For dinner, we headed to Jackie's, located in a converted garage on Georgia Ave., in downtown Silver Spring. The space was....eclectic. There was mood lighting and clunky furniture like these oversized plastic chairs that reminded me of jelly beans. The rounded edges made it very difficult to drape your coat and hanging your bag was out of the question, too.

Dan and I split a beet, goat cheese and grapefruit salad to begin. I think beets belong on the list of delicious foods that Dan that did not realize he loved for no good reason before meeting me. There are a bunch, but Buffalo wings and bleu cheese are the only two I currently recall. Oh I nearly forget that despite having snacked on a chicken leg before dinner, Stone Groove attacked the bread with the same ferocity he had shown earlier! Someone get my father-in-law a pastrami on rye!

The evening's blue plate special was roast beef, which is what Stone Groove and I ordered. Meowrilyn, Amy and Dan went with the hanger steak. The beef was really peppery, which I liked a lot and I cleaned my plate, which was not difficult because there was not a lot of food on it. The trio of steaks caused some problems. No one was given the doneness that was requested and Dan unfortunately got stuck with a well-done steak even though he ordered it medium rare to medium. The servers took it away and promised a replacement but it didn't show up until after the rest of us were finished eating!

The cut of the second steak made it look even smaller than the original and the portions of sides had shrunk, too. I was annoyed. I'm not sure if the owner saw us talking to the server or if the server went to the owner afterwards, but within moments a lady was at our tableside. She turned out to be JACKIE! She explained that the kitchen was having issues and then offered to comp not just one of the hanger steak dinners, but two, a gesture we all thought was super cool. I was thinking best case scenario, they'll comp Dan's dinner and we just won't ever come back. Now, we'd consider eating here again for sure.

To cap off the evening, we ordered a trio of desserts: cheese, fruit-base, chocolate base. I was in charge of ordering the cheeses and chose the Oregonzola, a Maryland cheese and a third, possibly the Pleasant Ridge reserve.

The following day we went out for barbeque at Urban BBQ, suggested to us by Mooney. I had the pulled pork platter with macaroni and cheese and cornbread on the side. I didn't have high hopes when I saw the mac and cheese, but it turned out to be pretty good! The meat was a little on the wet side and the bread for those who ordered sandwiches did not hold up too well.

The space is a little cramped, but it's cute. There's a sauce bar in the back, baskets of atomic fireball candies and they use those little pats of butter sandwiched between a piece of cardboard and wax paper.

That evening we ate at a place called the Potomac Grill in Rockville. The food was whatever, but the service was truly bizarre. The waiter sort of looked like this Donald Lynch from that show Home Movies.

His shtick was to repeatedly ask us how everything was and while we were answering or in some cases before we could answer, he'd repeat himself or go onto a new question. Like while asking us if we wanted water. If you told him you didn't need more water (because say, your glass was already pretty full), he'd go ahead and pour out an eighth of inch of water anyway. Throughout the evening, his manner fluctuated from obsequious to standoffish without warning. It was difficult to tell if he was being an asshole or as DMR put it, acting in a one-man performance art piece.

edible sxsw

2008-03-16T14:50:00.002-04:00

more details and photos to come soon, but here's my snapshot of consumption in austin.

meals at las manitas: 3 (huevos rancheros, migas especiales con hongos, chilaquiles verdes)
times i walked through the wrong door to get to the bathroom at las manitas: 1 (whoops, sorry guys)
aguas frescas: 2 (watermelon, cantaloupe)
barbeque: 2 (a disappointing sampler plate from the not great, but normally satisfying ironworks and a sandwich from the salt lick stand at the airport while waiting for my flight back to new york.)
dentyne ice 3-packs procured: 2 (1 in my swag bag, 1 on the street)
late night sausage: 2 (smoked jalepeno at hot dog king, brat at best wurst)
queso: 2 (not enough)
bottles of fuze: 0 (this stuff is so gross. i hope there's a better official drink sponsor next year, like izze)
ice cream bars: 1 (mango, thank you ice cream man!)
tacos: 4
mini cupcakes: 4 (actually it may have been 5)

Dan turns 35. We eat giant pork chops. Hooray!

2008-03-14T09:40:00.001-04:00

A happy belated birthday to DMR! We celebrated the occasion with a big family style dinner at Two Tom's restaurant. The last time this happened, well, we all looked a lot younger.

Baked clams to start and antipasto start off the evening.

Pasta action shot. We got liguine and a cheese stuffed tubular pasta, both with a simple red sauce of tomatoes and garlic.

The pork chops arrive. They are even bigger, maybe even 4 fingers thick.

And I thought they were a bit dry this time around. Still, nothing like eating a chop the size of your face.

Chez Molly's

2008-03-05T23:58:00.006-05:00

My coworker Molly made me a pizza last week! She had a bunch of dough and ingredients leftover from an Oscar party and offered to make me a pie to pick up on the way home from bocce, which we play not too far from her place. We lost to the Sweet Meats again, by the way.

The pie was just out of the oven when DMR and I arrived at her place. Our dejection (well, mine at least) dissipated once I got a look at this glorious, carby bugger. It was still warm by the time we got home.

Here's the bird's eye view aerial shot. The toppings were kalamata olives, sauteed red onions, rounds of zucchini and fresh mozzarella atop the homemade pizza sauce. No mushrooms, however, as she remembered DMR's unreasonable aversion to that vegetable.

A closer, blurry look at the thin crust, which had a dusting of semolina that provided a satisfying nuttiness and crunch.

I really need to get a pizza stone.

Ramen Santoka @ Mitsuwa Marketplace, Edgewater, NJ

2008-02-28T13:04:00.000-05:00

Tagged along on a Mitsuwa/Trader Joe's run with Dave and Jen last week. I've loved shopping at Mitsuwa since it first opened (as Yaohan). My brother even worked as a stock boy during in high school.

We first hit the food court. After a once around looksee, the three of us decided on Ramen Santoka. If little Henry could have voiced a vote, he would have opted for ramen as well.

I ordered a regular miso ramen set, which came with a side of rice topped with bonito shavings and a blanket of green onions, as well as hard boiled egg flavored with soy sauce. The egg was dumped into the bowl of noodles, as were the green onions which I don't like to eat raw.

Jen ordered natto with her rice side dish. She is a brave woman. Oh, she also ate all of the shredded black mushroom which I picked off my ramen. I love mushrooms, but not those!

For those inquiring minds, part of my Mitsuwa haul included stew meat pre-cubed for curry (which I made for dinner that evening), a couple bottles of Orion beer, frozen gyoza and a package of vanilla bean Kit-Kat.

Valentine's Day dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar

2008-02-25T09:08:00.001-05:00

DMR made a surprise visit to Manhattan on Valentine's Day. He was trying to find me a Wii, but 15 months after its launch, those things are still impossible to track down. So instead, we had an impromptu dinner at the Ssam Bar which I'll take as a consolation prize any day.

Here's the house pickle plate, featuring radish and cabbage kimchi along with Tokyo radish, jicama, Korean pear, carrots, fennel, celery, cucumbers, beets and shitake mushrooms. Sweet, spicy, tangy and crisp.

The cured hamachi comes with radish sprouts, horseradish cream and edamame. Sprinkled atop is a furikake of dried seaweed and little round rice crackers, whose crunch works great against the butteriness of the yellowtail.

You can't eat at Momofuku without ordering the pork buns. Melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly tucked into spongy white buns with cucumber slices and a schmear of plum sauce. Addictive.

I've previously had this dish with cauliflower, but here it's the brussels sprout that gets the fish sauce, chili and puffed rice treatment. I never imagined talking so lovingly about either of these vegetables.

For the entree, we split the spicy sausage, Chinese greens and rice cake stir fry. Rice cakes take on such an amazing texture when they are fried - the outside begins to puff and crackle like pork skin, while the inside remains chewy.

The meal was washed down with a couple OB beers, which is basically the Bud of Korea.

On the way to the subway, we encountered the Wafels and Dinges truck and I ordered up a liege waffle. I was disappointed to get a pre-made waffle that was heated up on the iron, rather than one made-to-order. The waffle didn't even get very warm.

miscellaneous photos from france relating to food

2008-02-21T18:01:00.002-05:00

Room service breakfast. That there's a glass of jus de pamplemousse. The Europeans really do their juice right. I also liked the way my fruit was cut in a uniform dice.

I would like to spotlight the yogurt from my breakfast, which in addition to being delicious as it was not overly sweet, came in an adorable glass container.

Jambon and gruyere on a baguette from a boulangerie in the old town. A perfect sandwich.

I went to the Monoprix to buy some snacks to go along with my ham and cheese sandwich. I love going to markets in other countries to see what is offered on their shelves. Here we have some hermetically sealed headcheese and a ready-to-go choucroute platter. These did not make the cut. I got some chips and cookies instead.

Picked up some macarons from L'atelier Jean Luc Pele. The guy behind the counter was not very friendly and I was too scared to take photos inside the store. He also shortchanged me 10 Euros. I was 10 steps outside the door when I realized so I was able to get my money back. He handed me my money a little too quickly, which made me wonder if he did it on purpose. Anyway, the jerkiness is worth enduring as these things are delicious and addictive with the most wonderful chewy-crisp texture. They are also expensive as hell and do not travel well. The ones I had purchased totally shrunk overnight or on the plane or a combination of both and the colors lost their vibrancy. Still they made for a nice gift for my parents and nieces.

My last meal in Cannes was via room service as I was too tired to go out. Got a cheese plate and a nicoise salad, which were washed down with a beer I got a stand in the festival hall earlier in the day. The butter they gave me is apparently fancy-schmancy. It's an A.O.C. product and served at places like Le Bernardin. Ooh la la.

Lunch at Katsuhama

2008-02-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

Katsuhama, the only tonkatsu restaurant in New York, is three blocks from my work! There is little section up front that offers bento boxes, onigiri and made-to-order udon, but behind a sliding door is a sit-down restaurant. Similar to its sister restaurant, Menkui-tei, seating is available at tables or the long bar.

I ordered the pork cutlet lunch special. Pickles, miso soup, rice and a mound of paper thin shredded cabbage accompanied the duo of deep fried pork pieces.

The dish of pickles came out first. On this day, there was spicy and non spicy cabbage and a pickled plum. I was also presented with sesame seeds in a grooved bowl. Using a pestle, I ground up the seeds to mix with the restaurant's homemade katsu sauce.

My pork cutlets arrived on a plate with the cabbage and a squirt of hot mustard. The panko breading was enjoyably crunchy, not to mention non-greasy and the pork moist. The Waiters walked by with tongs offering up even more cabbage. The sesame salad dressing they have at Katsu Hama is addictive. I'd have no problem eating an entire head of in a single sitting, in addition to everything else!

Soup and Sandwich at Wichcraft

2008-02-12T08:02:00.000-05:00

Potato cheddar soup with parsley oil and half a chicken salad with walnuts, roasted tomatoes, pickled red onions and frisée on multigrain bread studded with lots and lots of seeds from 'Wichcraft on 46th St between 5th and Madison.

I can't help but feel really healthy when I eat multigrain bread.

cannes dinner 2: not at soleado

2008-02-10T20:41:00.000-05:00

I can't remember the name of the place I had dinner the second night in Cannes. We were planning to eat at a Mexican place called Soleado but they were closed for the night due to some unforeseen incident which was explained in French on a piece of paper tacked onto their doors. So our group of seven decided to head back to the neighborhood we had eaten in the night before but any place that looked halfway decent was booked up or not overly enticing for the three vegetarians in the group.

Eventually we wound up at some place where we had the pleasure of breaking the dining seal. Though the restaurant was completely empty, the hostess asked us if we minded being split up into two tables. Uh, yes. So not only were these people insane, but the restaurant was also such a clusterfuck with a flat screen television (airing a bizzaro dubbed version of the the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" video when we walked in), a waterfall, color changing lights and oversized chairs. And they momentarily misplaced my sweater at the end of the night!

I ordered a tomato, mozzarella and pesto salad to begin with and the onglet (hanger steak) but because it wasn't available, settled for the flank steak with pommes dauphinois. My starter was surprisingly enjoyable (aside from the store-bought, uniformly sized croutons), but the meat got tougher and chewier as the night progressed. My coworker Madeline, who sat next to me, ordered a pasta with grilled prawns, which were comically huge.

Ce que j'ai mangé pour le petit déjeuner le premier matin à Cannes

2008-02-08T14:29:00.000-05:00

This simple meal of a pair of sunny-side up eggs, bread with butter and jam and coffee was one of my favorites of the trip. The bread had a wonderfully crusty shell and soft and spongey inside and the egg yolks such a vibrant shade of orange.

The small cafe was called Cannes 'Eveil (7 Rue Jean Jaures)and was located by a small square that held a daily market. On the way to the cafe, I passed a butcher shop that had an 8 foot tall rotisserie filled with roasted chickens that gave off the most delicious odor.

cannes dinner 1: commes chez soi

2008-02-06T22:39:00.000-05:00

Dinner the first night in Cannes was a company affair. I met my coworker Molly in the lobby of the hotel (we were the only two staying there) and walked down the Rue D'Antibes to Commes Chez Soi (4, Rue Batéguier) to meet the rest of the crew. The restaurant is on one of those hidden, tiny side streets that make you forget where you are. So very European, or West Village even, I guess. Inside, it looked like someone's house...in Jersey! The place was so ornate! There were painted vines and accoutrements throughout that reminded me of Carmela Soprano and surprise, surprise, there was a basset hound snoozing in an armchair near the bar area where we first congregated. Our hostess reminded me of a character from The Triplets of Belleville, with her exaggerated features and personality, and heavily lacquered eyelids. Come to think of it, that dog reminded me of the hound from the movie.

Plates of cod fritters were already on the table when we sat down. Our table of eleven was then presented with an amuse. It was a square piece of raw salmon marinated in olive oil, which then served as a dipping sauce for bread.

I went with the carpaccio of scallops with purple potatoes and roe to begin, followed by an asparagus risotto. Though the latter was under seasoned, I didn't mind because that just meant I could liberally dip into the tiny, adorable bag of fleur de sel over and over. Also, the risotto was really impeccably cooked with the grains of caronoli rice having just the right amount of the al denteness that I enjoy so much.

For dessert, I bounced between a trio of ice cream (including some of the most delicious mint chocolate chip ever and a brilliant dark chocolate) and some sort of chocolate bonbon flight.

And in between it all, I had a lot of wine. A lot.

the first meal in cannes was...

2008-02-05T19:46:00.000-05:00

a delicious ham and gruyere crepe!

I arrived at my hotel at 10am, desperately needing a shower and a nap, but of course the Frenchies wouldn't let me check in until 3pm (actually i wound up not getting to check in until closer to 3:20). With five hours to kill, I walked all around, picked up my badge and then walked around and around some more. At this point I realized I was starving and luckily found a little place called Restaurant Esmeralda (6 Rue Tony Allard).

Had absolutely zero complaints about this place, except for the weird tie-dyed tablecloths that would get accidentally pulled off and in different directions. Loved the haricot verts in my little bit of salad and the steak fries were cooked through (nothing worse than an undercooked steak fry). To drink, I had a glass of the house red which cost less than 4 US dollars. As an extra bonus, the family next to me had a dog eating with them!

in-flight menu

2008-02-02T09:23:00.000-05:00

I know airplane food sucks, but I look forward to it on every flight. I love all the little compartments that fit perfectly on your tiny tray and the potpourri of foodstuffs (often in mini form).

On this Air France flight, we were given out little paper menus describing our food options. You can tell why I thought the meal might have an Asian twist. Seriously, what is up with the illustration?

According to the menu, my meal consisted of (counter clockwise from bottom left):

Satueed beef with chasseur sauce accompanied by baby vegetables and mashed potatoes (I also had the option of a cheese ravioli with aurore sauce and shrimp as my main course)

Seven-grain salad served with sauteed chicken

Cheese (in this case a wedge of President brand Camembert)

Kozy Shack rice pudding (the menu does not list pudding, instead entrements)

Coffee-chocolate chip cake

To drink I had a bottle of the Vin de Pays d'Oc Cabernet Merlot 2006 Castel.

The grains in the salad weren't cooked long enough and the chicken was rubbery. The dish was ice cold as well. The main was a typical airline dish - mushy protein in a salty sauce, and the cake was dry and crumbly. But I ate all of it because I was starving. The rice pudding was vanillay and delicious. There are few things more homey and satisfying than a container of Kozy Shack.

Before landing, we were served breakfast - a yogurt, orange juice from concentrate and a pastry. I opted out of the first two things and tried the baked good which turned out to be a nasty roll, completely devoid of any softness and dotted with about 5 "chocolate" chips the size of those tiny silver dragee balls you see on fancy wedding cakes.

House of Dreams

2008-01-29T23:20:00.000-05:00

My friend Nate, the one whose mom makes the tastiest brisket, constructed this glorious dream home over the holidays. I asked him if it was okay to post it, but have not heard back yet. I decided that it was just too beautiful to keep to myself, so here it is:

A friend of mine thinks that the front of the house is made of trotters. I used to think that as well, but upon closer inspection, it occurred to me that it was probably made of the same material as the chimney – sausage (is it weißwurst???). I am fairly certain that the front path is made of sauerkraut, but I am still unsure about the lawn. I have peered and squinted at this photo so many times since it landed in my inbox and the best guess I can come up with is shredded daikon… Despite loving it absolutely, in many ways this house is still a complete mystery to me.

Bo Ssam Feast

2008-01-27T23:07:00.000-05:00

After hearing rave reviews, I finally made it to Momofuku Ssam Bar back in December for the titular feast. As many of you know, SHR and I are huge fans of the Noodle Bar, so I was especially excited to try the Ssam Bar, and more excited still to eat the Bo Ssam.

The Bo Ssam is colossal and not served during peak hours, which makes it incredibly tricky to schedule. For maximum enjoyment, you really need eight solid eaters for this meal to prevent yourself from feeling completely overwhelmed. You could probably get by with six SERIOUS ROCKSTAR eaters, but if you have anyone in your party who you suspect might not be able to pull their own weight, you should try to have more like ten, especially if you want to sample some of their tasty apps. Unfortunately, since we had to reserve for either before 6:00p or after 10:00p, getting the correct amount of eaters was impossible. There were only five of us and I won’t name names (initials are TB), but one of us was not doing the sort of quality eating that was really required for such an endeavor.

We started with a bottle of Albert Mann Gewurztraminer (we actually ordered the Albert Mann Crémant d'Alsace, but were brought this by mistake – it was very tasty, but just not what I wanted) and one of the country ham plates. Truthfully, I have no recollection of which one as I was suffering from a nearly terminal case of Bo Ssam brains. Since SHR wrote about it in September, let’s just pretend it was the Edwards’ Wigwam Smoked Ham.

Not recommended for one who keeps kosher, the Bo Ssam consists of an entire pork butt, a dozen oysters, kimchi, rice and bibb lettuce to wrap it all up in. YUM. The things I love most in this world are pork and oysters, so I was basically living out my dream, wondering what I had done to be so lucky. The oysters were brought to the table first, along with all of the aforementioned accoutrements and the bottle of sparkling we initially ordered (bubbly and oysters – a classic combination, reminds me of New Year’s in Paris…). You’re supposed to wrap the oysters up in the bibb lettuce with the pork and all of the other deliciousness, but I couldn’t wait another second and had to slurp one down immediately. And then it arrived - the pièce de résistance:

The pork butt was so phenomenally delicious and succulent that I cannot believe I have let forty-six days go by without eating it again. And the fact that there are people out there who have never even eaten it is an absolute injustice. Despite the fact that it would never make it past the mezuzah, the pork butt was so tender that it reminded me of eating brisket at Seder (my friend Nate’s mom makes the best I’ve ever tasted, by the way). I loved tearing off pieces of the gargantuan pork butt with my chopsticks and wrapping them up in the lettuce, experimenting with the various sauces and creating new taste sensations. My favorite combination involved plying the lettuce leaf with a layer of spicy red sauce, a layer of spicy green sauce (very similar to the light green sauce commonly served with Peruvian chicken, which I guess is called Aji?), the whole kimchi (as opposed to puréed) and an ample portion of pork. I made one oyster and pork combo wrap, but I found that I actually preferred keeping those flavors separate. While I love oysters and could easily polish off three dozen in one sitting, I felt like the pork was just TOO GOOD and that the former was compromising the integrity of the latter.

The Bo Ssam was not only one of the most perfectly delectable things I have eaten in years, but it was very reasonably priced as well. I would even go so far as to say it was exceptionally cheap at $180, which split by six or eight people is an absolute steal when you factor in all of the deliciousness. Anyway, I would like to do it again soon. Like I said, I need five SERIOUS eaters to accompany me – let’s make it happen!

Hill Country – Finally!

2008-01-24T21:59:00.001-05:00

I spent the better part of the first week of 2008 trying to eat at Hill Country with little success. The first time, after spending roughly two hours at the bar doing shots of bourbon, it was announced that the restaurant had run out of food. As compensation, I believe one of the bartenders bought us a round, but like I said, I had been doing shots of bourbon for two hours… We ended up having to go across the street to Black Pearl for some of the most abysmal tasting and overpriced food I have ever eaten. The raw clams on the seafood plateau were not terribly fresh and if given the choice between eating them again and eating a colleague’s pencil shavings, I would choose the latter.

The second time I tried to eat at Hill Country, just two days later, we arrived a little before 7:00 and were informed that the restaurant would be closing at 8:00 that evening for the staff holiday party. After careful consideration of the stakes, my friends and I decided that we should abort the mission and eat elsewhere. Though, before heading a few blocks north to K-Town for some consolation BBQ, we downed a couple of cocktails and a snack (the sort of snack many would consider dinner) of the following:

• 2 Kreuz sausages (one regular and one jalapeno)
• Moist brisket
• Pork ribs
• Market chicken
• Longhorn cheddar mac & cheese
• Smokey chipotle deviled eggs

With the exception of the deviled eggs, everything listed above was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t wait to eat more. This disappointed me, as I am a huge fan of deviled eggs and never thought I would see the day I encountered one that I did not love.

Later that week, SHR and I decided to try sneaking in an early dinner at Hill Country before the barbecue hungry masses devoured all of the food again. We cruised in around 6:30 and were seated immediately. Finally – SUCCESS. I quickly ordered a Kreuz margarita (garnished with cilantro – v. tasty) and then we headed up to the counter to order our much anticipated feast, which was comprised of this:

• 1 Kreuz sausage (regular) – Very complex flavor, in my opinion better than the jalapeno variety and I LOVE spicy food, so that is really saying something.
• 1/2 lb. of moist brisket – So fatty and succulent. Anyone who would opt for the “lean” variety clearly does not know how to live. Perhaps they will outlive all of their loved ones, but spending every moment wishing they had experienced more deliciousness.
• 2 pork ribs – No surprises here, very tasty.
• 1 bone-in pork chop – SHR and I both thought it would be more juicy because of the presence of the bone, but it was disappointingly dry. The good news is, it was still a pork chop, which is nice…
• 1 Beer can game hen – The first surprise hit of the meal. One of my friends feels that this dish sounds too gimmicky, but I paid him no mind and found it to be perfectly juicy and delicious.
• Small serving of green bean casserole with fried onions – Second surprise hit of the meal. Obviously, this dish is a classic, but Hill Country’s preparation was especially tasty. The fried onions atop the mushroom soupy green beans were flavorful and resilient, never losing their crispiness.
• Small serving of longhorn cheddar mac & cheese – This side was almost as amazing as the first. One of my friends took a cooking class with Elizabeth Karmel, the executive chef, and asked her for the recipe. Not surprisingly, Ms. Karmel would not give up the goods.

For my second drink I had a Hill Country Cooler, which is made of Tang and I have no idea what else, and SHR had just about the biggest Arnold Palmer I have ever seen, served in an enormous Mason jar. Suffice it to say, the feast was well worth the wait. We even got 15% off of our bill (on my last failed visit, the hostess felt awful and gave us 15% off cards) AND I ran into a friend and gave him some golf balls and tees that I had in my purse. Here are some pictures SHR took of our visit to Hill Country:

Random pre-carnage table shot:

What everyone has been waiting for - the meat money shot:

Day trip to Carluccio's aka Oda's Birthday Part IPlus, a Cheese Plate

2008-01-21T13:18:00.000-05:00

For part one of Oda's birthday day of eating, we visited Carluccio's in Bensonhurst for some heroes. This sandwich shop is located on a block mostly occupied by specialty food shops. There's a Lioni meat store, a Lioni's latticini and then Carluccio's. I have no idea where that name comes from because their eight page menu reads Lioni Brooklyn Italian Hero's [sic]. The tiny shop is filled with Italian food staples - from dried pasta to a variety of olives, fresh mozzarella from their latticini next door and breads, as well as, of course, the neighborhood locals.

Though I studied the menu in the car, I still had no idea what I wanted to order. Moments after we walked in, I was further thrown off by all the signboards and the Frankie Valli that began flowing from the store's speakers. Dave and Jen, being old pros, didn't need much time to put in their orders. Dan and I hemmed and hawed before deciding on two sandwiches to split:

#16 - The Phil Rizzuto "Holy Cow It's Good"
Roast beef, Lioni fresh mozzarella, lettuce, mayo, salt and black pepper

#139 - Doo Wopper Hero "Your 1950's Early 60's Doo Wop"
Prosciutto di Parma, cappicolla, sopressata, fresh mozzarella, provolone, bruschetta and balsamic vinegar.

Yes, all sandwiches (all 150 of them) are named after someone from Brooklyn or who has something to due with Italian culture and come with their own tag line. Our #139 was one of a handful not named after a person. So in addition to the Scooter, you can order the #132 Paul LoDuca (featuring banana peppers and the house basil mix), the #61 Tony Danza (Sicilian salami, cappy, fresh mozz and dressing) or the #95 Ann Bancroft which features of all things, olive loaf! The menu is definitely required reading, just don't do it in the car or you'll get nauseous like I did.

While we waited for our heroes to be created, I noshed on a piece of Italian bread with some of the aforementioned bruschetta topping from a platter that was put out at the register. The topping, featuring tomatoes, fresh herbs, bits of Parmigiano-Reggiano and pine nuts, made for an excellent sandwich condiment. I imagine the basic mix is made from the same blend of ingredients, minus the tomatoes.

Though it was a little nippy outside, we decided to eat at the picnic table in front of the store instead of inside the car.

Moments before the unwrapping:

Close-up of the Phil Rizzuto:

Extreme close-up of the Doo Wopper after I took a bite:

Little Henry eyes the prize:

And once again, it's a near miss as Dave pulls the deliciousness away at the last second:

The Doo Wopper was the winner of the afternoon, with its two types of cheeses and bruschetta mix. I found the roast beef to be underseasoned. A drizzle of balsamic and maybe some of that basil mix would have done wonders for it. I was stuffed and I still had 1/3 of my Doo Wopper plus 1/2 minus three bites of the roast beef left over. Dan had his half of the roast beef left over as well. We ate those leftovers for the course of the next two days! The next morning, I polished off the rest of the Doo Wopper. For lunch I panini pressed the roast beef after adding Maldon salt (which I've recently become obsessed with and need to sprinkle on everything, black pepper, sweet red peppers and balsamic vinegar. The following evening, I did the same with Dan's half of the roast beef and made an antipasto plate to accompany it and we had a dinner for two!

Clockwise from 1 o'clock: Parmigiano-Reggiano, Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue, Pecorino Pepato, dry cured sausage, Peppadew peppers, cornichons and in the middle a round of soft Italian cheese.