First Taste: Buttermilk Channel

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

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.

a post partum seder!

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.

First Taste: The Farm on Adderley

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.

First Taste: Char No. 4

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.

First Taste: No. 7

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

A Red Hook Eating Day

Started the day with some huaraches at the Red Hook food stands.

A vendor sprinkles cheese on the double layered shell.


Two plates needed for the finished product, which is touched with three of the four hot sauces they had available. I thought the lighter green one was going to be guacamole-based and mild. I was wrong. Thank goodness for the extra large horchata that did a very good job of cooling things down.


Hot Tub was visiting with Memphis. Amie had brunch plans with a friend so Hot Tub dug into the corn all by himself. He did pick up a horchata and bean and cheese pupusa for her on the way out.


Then it was a short drive down the road to get some Swingles (a frozen mini key lime pie on a stick and dipped in chocolate) from Steve's.


Dave taunts young Henry.


That evening, dinner at Lucali's gets thwarted by the two hour waiting time, so we headed over to Schnack. We got an order of fries and onion rings for the table. I got a kielbasa and single as well as a Sprecher root beer for myself. I think Hot Tub got the same kielbasa and single combo. Amie ordered the most delicious looking root beer shake and a single. Mooney went with the chili and Chris Larry got the RC Cola ribs. Dan got the two singles - one with bacon, one with cheese - pictured below. By the way, Schnack is now BYOB, but you can still order beer shakes.

Another Jewrean Wedding!

I've been delinquent in posting about the eatings at the wedding of Glen and Jane. Sadly (or should I say, typically) there are no photos of the food to share.

The ceremony took place in the Japanese Gardens at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Guests were served champagne on arrival. The bathrooms were a bit of a walk away so I hesitated a bit before finally deciding to have a drink. This has nothing to do with food, but Jane's little niece was possibly the cutest flower girl ever. She was so focused on strewing the petals evenly, that she got a little off-track and wound up going a few feet down the wrong path. It was adorable.

The reception took place at the Palm House. As the sun went down, we snacked outside on passed hors d’oeuvres and nibbles from a bountiful table filled with crudite, breads and cheeses. The passed snacks were top notch and included crab and apple salad served in crunchy endive leaves (my favorite), two bite pieces of sesame chicken (DMR's favorite) and baby lamb chops. The dinner was held under the glasshouse, which is pretty stunning at night. We began with a lovely salad with blue cheese and candied nuts and then a wedge of baked polenta blanketed by a rich, portobello mushroom sauce. DMR and I both opted for beef as our main course - filet mignons in a mushroom sauce with potatoes and crisp vegetables. Dan put in a good effort with his steak. I should have passed on those final two endive munchies because I was completely stuffed before dinner even began! Dessert was a trio of sorbets (mango, coconut and lemon) served in a martini glass with a cookie cigar as well as a plate of bite-sized cookies and chocolate covered fruit.


The cake was topped with a cute little birdy couple that Jane had created.


Mazel Tov!

We move out of Park Slope and a Korean restaurant finally moves in

When I lived in Park Slope, I dreamed about the day that a nice bakery or Korean restaurant would finally open in our neighborhood. It was just my luck that both moved in when Dan and I were on our way to Clinton Hill!

The Korean place I refer to is Moim, a very modernly designed restaurant housed on the ground floor of a Garfield Place brownstone. Moim, which means gathering in Korean, is owned by a Park Slope family who in 1991 made the real estate decision we all wish we had. They purchased a full brownstone for less than the price of what a 500-600 square foot 1-BR apartment in the same area goes for these days.

Dan and I got to Moim a little early so we sat at the bar and had a drink. I was delighted to see they had Hite on tap. Hite is a Korean lager that's not really great, but I love it nonetheless. It's pretty similar to OB, which is like the Bud of Korea. Anyway, Hite reminds me of being in Korea last summer with my best guy. Christy and Carl arrived and we were seated at a table towards the back of the restaurant. We noticed a lovely, renovated outdoor space that was empty and pondered its function.

I had read that banchan was not really served here (a big pet peeve of mine with newer, more Westernized Korean restaurant) so I suggested we order the namul (seasoned vegetable) trio to start. But we did get served a trio of house banchan, so more to eat for everyone. There were little black beans (콩) in a sweet, sticky soy glaze, a favorite from my childhood, some kimchi, marinated beansprouts and tangy shreds of snow-white radish.

The rest of our meal was highlighted by how many dishes with kimchi we could order. To start we shared the stir-fried kimchi with pork and tofu, and the kimchi dumplings stuffed with our favorite fermented spicy cabbage and even more ground pork and tofu. The dumplings came five to an order and we let Carl have the extra one - he was psyched!

Our entire table opted for the dolsot bibimbop, but then we decided to order a fifth entree of kimchi fried rice for everyone to share. I love fifth entrees!

The bibimbop is served very regally here, with the stone bowl sitting atop a pedestal.


I was a little wary because I had also read the bibimbop came pre-sauced and that the bowl wasn't hot enough to create the much desired rice crust at the bottom. The former turned out to be true - the kitchen places a dollop of red pepper paste atop your rice. I think this is really ill-advised. There's nothing wrong with offering it up in a side dish, where the diner can add and adjust to their desired level of spiciness. My rice was a little spicier than I normally like it to be. The latter turned out to be a false alarm - it couldn't have been further from the truth. My dolsot bibimbop created one of the best crusts I've ever had for this dish and I've had plenty in my life. There was a period when I was in my pre-teens where I probably ate this practically every Saturday or Sunday, as I accompanied my parents to dinner, or at lunch after church.


The portions are smaller than what you'd find in Koreatown so the fifth entree was a wise choice. I think the fried rice came with shrimp, but I don't remember eating any.


For desert we shared some green tea ice cream and a tangerine (or was it orange?) chocolate cake, which Christy astutely pointed out smelled just like Froot Loops!

I'm hoping this place will succeed. It's got charm, the food is good and I don't think the prices are out of line with what the rest of Park Slope charges. Moim doesn't offer a take-out option yet but they should consider it for the items on the menu that could travel ok. If I still lived in the neighborhood, I'd probably be calling in for a pick up once a week.

A perfect Brooklyn day

The day started off at Totonno's in Coney Island. It was my second time there this summer, and in fact, ever! Oda and DMR had both been before, but Nellie and Jimbo popped their Totonno's cherry. It was also Little Henry's first visit, but he's still trying to master pureed foods so no pizza for him! Our group had to wait about 10 minutes outside as we arrived before doors even opened but that meant we got the first pie of the day! They were not quite as delicious as I recalled my first taste of Totonno's, but pretty close.

Then it was off to catch the Cyclones take on the Staten Island Yankees. But first, I took a quick side trip to Nathan's to grab a hot dog. Well, I thought it would be quick when I took my place on line and saw there were only 4 or 5 patrons in front of me. In a cruel twist of fate, the cashier turned out to be a moron. She was incredibly slow and then she disappeared for 10 minutes! She just walked way from her register and couldn't be found. We tried to flag down managers and assistant managers to find her, but nobody could (or care less, actually). Finally, she reappeared and she did a crappy job of putting together my very basic dog with sauerkraut and onions. I lost 30 minutes of my life to get hot dog in a wet bun. Sigh.

At the Cyclones game, I had tons of water and a lemonade to keep myself hydrated. By sheer coincidence, members of the Sweet Meats, our bocce rivals (well, can you call it a rivalry when you have never beat a team?) were seated next to us.

Then it was off to Avenue U in Bensonhurst to stuff our faces at and with Russian Style Ravioli! We had to split up into two tables as our crew had grown in number since Totonno's and the restaurant denied us the VIP section up front. DMR and I shared a table with Anne and Alex and we began with a pitcher of kompot, a non-carbonated, non-alchoholic drink made with cherries. Tasty, but it was not very cold and a few ice cubes in our glass would have really upped the ante.


Anne and Alex went with a couple variations on pelmeni (Siberian and chicken) and an order of fried cabbage vareniki. Dan and I ordered potato vareniki, Siberian pelmeni and a beef stroganoff (with a choice of kasha or potatoes, we picked the latter).

The vareniki and pelmeni portions at Russian Style Ravioli are huge and super cheap - less than $5 for an order. Did you know that there is a pelmeni eating record? Dale Boone ate 274 of them in just six minutes. He deserves a round of applause.

Potato vereniki served with intensely caramelized onion bits. They need to add the onions as a side dish.


Siberian pelmeni, simply prepared and served. What can I say, I love any sort of dumpling. Dump 'em into a bowl, give me a fork or spoon and get outta my way.


The stroganoff was served in a bread bowl! It was like the most delicious, rich, creamy chowder ever, with a bounty of tender beef strips and vegetables. Anne abstained, but Alex, Dan and I all put in solid efforts.