Mother's Day feast at the Ssam Bar

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!

First Taste: Momofuku Milk Bar

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!

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

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.

Valentine's Day dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar

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.

Ramen Setagaya First Taste

My office closed early last Friday so I headed to the recently opened, much-hyped Ramen Setagaya for a late lunch. Although the restaurant wasn't full and the lines hadn't formed yet, it was a pretty good showing for 4PM on a dreary day. I took a seat along the bar in front of the food preparation area, hoping I could get an insider's look, and ordered a shio ramen and pork gyoza combo. I have to say, I wasn't all that blown away. No photos unfortunately as my camera decided to stop working.

The ramen was good enough, but nothing I'd wait in line for. The noodles came nestled in a bowl with slices of pork, seaweed, marinated bamboo, half a boiled egg and thinly shaved green onion slivers. A tiny sprinkling of pulverized, dried scallops topped off the dish. The pork was flavorful, but on the dry side. I did love the egg. The yolk was barely set, with just a thin layer closest to the white having firmed up. For some reason, seeing the kitchen crew slice the eggs using a piece of fishing wire tied to a cabinet handle delighted me to no end.

The dumplings were a disappointment. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see them being pulled frozen from a bag. I imagine most places use frozen gyoza. But there was a strange taste from either the dipping sauce or the dumplings themselves. It was sort of familiar and though I couldn't quite place it, I knew it was a taste that didn't belong.

At the back of Ramen Setagaya, near the lone bathroom, is another restaurant! It's a completely different place serving pasta and sushi! The other surprise was that the kitchen staff was clearing speaking Korean. So were some of the waitresses. I thought this was a Japanese joint! I'll have to return to investigate.

Three delicious meals sans photos because the camera stopped working or I just forgot: Momofuku Ssam Bar, Brio, Snack Taverna

Snack Taverna: This is the slightly fancier older sibling to Snack, a tiny Greek inspired place in Soho. It's not much bigger than Snack either. Our table ordered a two small plates to begin: Pikilia, a trio of melitzanosalata, taramosalata and tzatziki served with warm pita and dolmades, and the pan cried cod cakes.

I never pronounce it correctly, but wow, do I love taramosalata. There's a jarred version that's sold in stores in case you can't get to a Greek joint. I usually say, "taramotsola" or "taramasala" by accident. Whoops. I love the way the tiny beads of roe feel against your tongue. They are like some ancient, piscine version of pop rocks. Pita arrived cut in quarters and warm, as promised. We quickly polished off the first basket and asked for a refill. I could eat warm pita and dips all day long. The cod cakes were pretty good but didn't blow me away. I did especially liked the tangy dressing that accompanied the greens the two cakes sat atop.

For our mains, DMR had the pastitsio, which came in an individual crock making it look like a gigantic french onion soup. Nils ordered the roast pork tenderloin with orzo in a spicy avgolemono sauce. I had the enormous whole roasted branzino filet served with an equally large portion of roasted fingerling potatoes, mizuna and two roasted tomato halves. The potatoes were a little bland, but the tomatoes were bursting with sweetness and, I don't know how better to describe it, but intense tomato flavor. As I had filled up on bread, as usual, so I was not able to finish my fish. Actually, I put up a really weak showing, which was unfortunate because it was perfectly seasoned and cooked.

Momofuku Ssam Bar: Can I tell you how excited I was to eat here and take photos? This is the night my camera died. It refused to take a single photo. This is the story of my life. Anyway, this was a dinner with a bunch of work people, including super special guest star Emma C. all the way from the UK.

I think David Chang is awesome. He's kind of the first celebrity chef of Korean heritage, right? I guess there's Edward Lee who used to own Clay in Noho, before moving to Louisville to start Magnolia, but he's not nearly the household name that Chang is. I love his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, even though it's cramped and sometimes the a/c is on so high it cools down your soup way too quickly. I don't care. I love that he doesn't cook Korean cuisine but inputs lots of Korean personality and history into his food.

We ordered a whole mess of plates for everyone to share, with the exception of Molly, the lone vegetarian, who managed to find an heirloom tomato and tofu dish she could eat. The pickle plate was a rainbow of colors and tastes featuring shitake mushrooms, cucumbers, hot and spicy radish and cabbage kimchi, carrots, beets, tangy fennel, celery and even some pickled melon! Edward's Wigwam smoked ham from Virginia was served in paper thin slices, a la prosciutto, and along with a little dish of what our server called a red eye gravy. It was not your typical red eye gravy. In the dark light of Momofuku, it looked like a mustard, but it was actually mayo based. It sounds gross, but the combo of coffee, drippings and Kewpie created this savory butterscotch flavor which I became I addicted to. The ham came with two warm pieces of bread and we immediately asked for more and to that we were told we could order the bread and butter dish. Well, they told us. Their bread plate was basically a warmed baguette with two types of butter: sea salt from Vermont and St. Helen's Farms goat butter from England that definitely tasted like it came from a goat. I preferred the salty butter. A plate of cured hamachi featured nearly translucent pieces of one of my favorite fishies in the world. We were informed it was one of the house specialties and it did not disappoint. Toasted seawood, edamame and wasabi sauce rounded out the plate. There were also these round, pale yellow, circular mystery crunchy bits. I have no idea what they were, maybe from a furikake mixture? These too were pop rockish and I hope I wasn't being too rude as I picked them off the plate. To meet our vegetable quotient, we also got the roasted cauliflower, with came sprinkled with toasted puffed rice and bathed in a light fish sauce. I've become a recent convert to cauliflower. I had no idea it could taste this good.

Then came the mains, three porcine variations: spare ribs, steamed buns and saam. I'll start with the steamed buns, because this is the homerun dish at both Momofukus. A hunk of braised Berkshire pork belly with glistening fat that melts in your mouth is tucked into a white, slightly sweet bun. It gets dressed with a little hoisin and cucumber slices add a necessary crunch. It is a magical combination that sadly disappears in like two bites. Onto the pork ribs, a pile of meaty bones slathered in a subtly, spicy sauce that recalled the kochujang (red chili pepper paste) based concoction my mom would slather on her ribs, which she'd cook on an aluminum foil covered pan in the oven. Did I mention the ribs were sprinkled with toasted shallots, which is another one of my favorite things in the world? The ribs came with a small dish of pickled green tomatoes and a creamy potato salad.

The third dish was probably my least favorite, but still tasty. Eating this variation of ssam is like eating Vietnamese spring rolls, but instead of a spring roll, slabs of coarse ground pork sausage (kinda in the shape of SPAM, no less!) served as the centerpiece. You could pack your piece of bibb lettuce with pork, pickled carrots and radish and then dip into the fish sauce based dressing. To drink, a couple bottles of Hitachino Nest Ale for me, of course. Just like its sister space, Momofuku Ssam bar is loud and crowded. They cram in too many seats and you don't have any leg or elbow room. But it also serves some of the tastiest food ever.

Brio - We were served an enormous amount of cheese, including two plates of burrata, which I had never had before and now can't stop thinking about. There was also a plate of sopressata, prosciutto, and bresoala. For my main, I got the parpadelle with sausage, cherry tomatoes and cremini mushrooms. But since I had stuffed my face with burrata and Parmigiano-Reggiano, I barely made a dent. I managed to rally to try the assortment of desserts: ricotta cheesecake, panna cotta with balsamic, tiramisu and an addictive Napolean cake.

Lotsa Eating, Little Writing

Some meals of late:

Taro Sushi - Jim popped his sashimi cherry this night, while Beth and I tried the omakase here for the first time. I went with the sushi and sashimi combo, while Beth was sashimi all the way. We started with an appetizer of monkfish liver atop a ponzu dressed sunomono. The liver had a really interesting texture. It was denser than I thought and reminded me of a smooth version of mentaiko, which I ate a lot of when I was younger. Anyway, everything tastes great with ponzu, IMHO. Next came the fish parade, including sardine, mackerel, butterfish, hamachi and a red-skinned whitefish which I think was called kinmae. Following that was a fatty tuna roll and a California roll made with real crab. But there was still so much more to be had, including variations on tuna such as bonito, which I love and some uni, which is not really a favorite. The uni nigiri was composed of two small orange oblong pieces atop the seasoned rice and I ate one of the pieces but left the other. I was incredibly stuffed after the meal, which I feel does not happen often when eating sushi.

Jim tried many new tastes and I think hamachi and mackerel came out on top as favorites. Hooray for Jim for trying new tastes!

Kushi Q - I discovered this futuristic hole in the wall Japanese place the other week when I had to stop by a friend's office to drop off Mets tickets. Though only half a block from Oms/B, where I go for lunch from time to time, I'd never noticed it before.

I ordered a atsuage tofu bento set with salad (you can also choose rice) and miso soup for $6.50. There was a trio of sticks, each with three cubes of battered tofu. Underneath the light and crispy shell was soft, creamy tofu. The salad was basic, composed of chopped romaine, carrots and corn, but filled me up nonetheless. I'd like to go back and try the butabara (bacon) and so-se-ji (little Berkshire sausages with pineapple). I've read some complaints about the portions not being big enough, but I felt more than satisfied.



Hibino - I did a bunch of small plates with the CLC and Dani before heading over to Floyd for bocce practice. The presentation on the fresh tofu is so cute, it's hard to pass up. It's amazing how rich and nutty tofu can taste. On this night, it was like eating a custard. It's also difficult to pass up the beef kakuni, a big hunk of braised short rib sitting atop a round of daikon. I rounded out the meal with one of the special daily obanzai - shitake and shisito pepper tempura, which unfortunately came sitting in sauce. I prefer to keep the tempura as dry as possible to maintain crispiness and do my own saucing.



Brio - I had lunch at this Upper East Side restaurant on Thursday with my coworkers Molly and Kendel to celebrate the latter's birthday. Molly knows the family who owns it, so we got treated to some lovely surprises, like a bottle of Prosecco and these two ginormous portions of tiramisu for dessert. To begin we noshed (am I allowed to say that to describe an Italian restaurant?) on a cheese plate and carciofi fritti, pan-fried baby artichokes. The cheese plate featured aged provolone, parmegiano and a deliciously milky salted fresh mozzarella. Kendel and I then shared the garganelli in salsa aurora rivista, which was a tomato-bechamel sauce, green peas, prosciutto and porcini. It was super rich, so a half-portion was the perfect amount. Then I wanted to take a nap, but I had to go back to work. Boo.

Sura - This Korean restaurant has undergone a bit of a makeover since I've last been. The setting seems a lot more serious and mature as the servers now dress in hanboks. The food was just as tasty as I remembered. Heidi and I shared the "pear and pork delight" to begin with. Layers of barbequed pork alternated with slices of Asian pear to create a nice contrast in textures. I just wish the kitchen was a little stingier with the sauce, which was a mixture of chili miso, raspberry and soy. It was too much and too gloppy. A light brushing of one of those flavors would have been more than sufficient. My main, the doobu kimchi bokeum suffered from the same over saucing but otherwise it was pretty damn tasty. The kimchi was gently sauteed with discs of rice cakes and surrounded by wedges of plain, steamed tofu. It was served with a small ping pong sized ball of mashed potatoes with cubes of Asian pear, what I guess is one of their trademark touches. It sounds weird, but provides a nice, cooling crunch in between bites of spicy.

Dinner at Prune

It's only taken about 7 years, but I've finally eaten at Prune. Their Chicago Matchbox Bloody Mary, rife with pickled vegetable garnishes, is what initially piqued my interest. Unfortunately, they only serve Blood Marys at brunch and I was there for dinner.

DMR and I were joined at this meal by Fleck and Margie J, who by the way is celebrating her birthday today. Happy Birthday MJS!!! I hope you had good sushi! We began with a bottle of wine which I really enjoyed but now for the life of me can't recall. I though it was a 2003 J.L. Chave Offerus, but in one of the pictures below I noticed the label on which "Barrie" is clearly legible. I should really write these details down but I don't have my act together. I wasn't quite as fond of the second bottle, which I'm almost positive was a Pinot Noir.


For my starter, I ordered the pasta kerchief, which was a pasta sheet draped over a poached egg and french ham, and covered with Parmesan cheese shavings and pine nuts. I tried to make each taste a combo bite, so that the saltiness of the ham and cheese would balance out the simplicity of the pasta. I think I could eat something like this all day.


Fleck went with the sweetbreads (pardon the poor photo), something I had never tried. I was unable to resist fried paired with capers and bacon. I must say it was pretty tasty, but nothing I would ever order for myself. Sorry, but I'll never be a foodie. The consistency reminded me of croquettes from Japanese bakeries - crunchy on the outside, dense and creamy on the inside. Actually they remind me of something else too which I have on the tip of my tongue and can't quite put my finger on. This is going to bother me for days.


One of the special starters this evening was a bed of julienned radishes in a butter sauce, topped with bright orange pearls of trout roe. Margie's ears were perked first by the radishes and then the roe. If tobiko is on one end of the fish egg spectrum and ikura on the other, trout roe would be well-placed right in the middle. I tend to stay away from the huge ikura because I'm not into all that liquid that gushes out when you bite into them.

On to our mains.

Margs and I both went with the grilled whole branzino on a thin layer of lemon peppercorn oil and accompanied by a small ramekin of coarse salt. I loved the way the salt dissolved once it made contact with the warm meat of the fish. We were both very pleased with our choice.


DMR went with the special entree of the night - ginormous beef ribs braised in Asian spices. Our table was intrigued by this dish. Would you need a knife and fork or could you eat with your hands we wondered. The knife and fork won out, but I think the real winner here is DMR, who has truly learned to embrace bone-in foods in the past year or so. I doubt a year ago he would have willingly ordered ribs. Congrats, DMR!

Not pictured is Fleck's lamb shank and it's a shame because the presentation was really nice. The hunk of meat arrived at the table tied up in a parchment pouch.

We also ordered some sides to round out our meal.

To the left are mini sweet potatoes drizzled with a brown butter viniagrette. Prune loves brown butter! These were a bit disappointing because after unwrapping the skin, you were left with two small bites of sweet potato at the most. On the dish to the right are the roasted beets, along with their swiss chard-like green tops, served with aioli. I had never had beet greens before (at least knowingly, who knows what my mother served us back in the day) and really took a liking to them.


M holds up the plate of greens, sauteed in lemon juice and olive oil, served with a sprinkling of pignoli and raisins on the vine! I stayed away from that last part of the dish, although I will say raisins on the vine are pretty cool looking.


Dessert was my least favorite part of the meal. DMR and I shared a panna cotta which was served rather strangely. First off, it was a very thin and liquidy panna cotta. A milk glass didn't seem like the best choice of serving vessel. I wasn't sure what the orange slice was for. I did take the piece of vanilla bean that was resting over it and place it in the panna cotta glass.

The meal was quite satisfying, but I didn't leave the restaurant feeling overwhelmed by greatness. Don't get me wrong, it was a delicious meal and I was very happy with the friendly and attentive service as well as with the little touches, like the chunks of dark chocolate that accompany the bill and the spicy papadums when you first sit down. Maybe I was just bummed the suckling pig, which I had decided during pre-meal research would be the dish for me, wasn't available that night?

DMR just asked, "What are you writing about?" To which I replied, "Prune." His response: "When did you go to Prune?" Oh, DMR!

Park Slope Gastronome #9 - The Return of the Pig

Don't worry, I have been stuffing my face like I always do, just not writing about it. Anyway, last night's dinner experience has motivated me to write about 3 places I have recently dined at. Let's start with the most recent.

DeMarco's Pizzeria
So last night, the Listmaker (my huband, for any of you bibimbop newbies) had dinner at DeMarco's Pizzeria. DeMarco's is sort of an offshoot of the legendary DiFara's. I think some of DiFara's children or in-laws are the proprieters of DeMarcos but other than that, the two restaurants are not related. I'm sure Slice can give you the skinny.

There are actually two parts to DeMarco's - one is smaller and used for take-away orders, while the building on the corner is a sit-down restaurant. We chose the sit-down option and although the pasta offerings were tempting, we of course had to opt for a pie. The first sign of trouble was the price - DeMarco's charges $18.50 for a round pie of 8 slices. The second sign of trouble was when we got our pepperoni pie. While we approved of the type of pepperoni (smaller, thicker coins that curl up into little cups - favored by the best coal-oven joints), we were disappointed to see no more than 20 or so slices on the entire pie. That comes out to less than 3 pieces per slice. There was even a slice that was pepperoni-less. Unacceptable! The restaurant was not busy - we were the first diners to sit at a proper table, so it's not like the kitchen was busy throwing one pie after another. When we entered the restaurant, there were a couple diners eating at the bar and for a second I thought they were employees having their staff dinner. It prompted me to ask, "Uh, are you guys open?" and have my question go unanswered.

Both Listmaker and I were less than impressed with our $21.50 pie (most toppings are $3). While the sauce was tangy and the grated hard cheese sprinkled atop a nice touch, we both found the crust to be way too hard. When I first picked up a slice, I was struck by how firm it was. It amazingly didn't bend or sag. After the first slice, eating the crust became a chore and hurt my jaw. There was no chewiness to it. The final nail through the coffin was when we got the bill. The bottle of Peroni consumed by Listmaker cost $7! We could only laugh it off and promise to never come back to DeMarco's ever again.

We wonder how long this establishment will last with its mediocre food served at outlandish prices and poor layout of tables. As Listmaker remarked, a restaurant shouldn't feel cramped when you're the only customers.

I was amused by the party of three sitting at the table next to us (2 Japanese women, and a British man) erroneously talking about how this place was written up in the Mug Newsletter with pictures of the tops and bottom of the slices.

Food: C
Service: I'm going to stop grading service. If it sucks, I'll just write about how awful it is.

Kenka
Let's just say I only spent $20 and got stuffed on the following:
- glass of shochu
- pint of Asahi
- bowl of beef curry and rice
- plate of Japanese pickled vegetables
- half an okonomiyaki (shared with margie j.)
- third of an ear of sweet and salty corn cob
- miso covered grilled rice ball
For dessert, they present you with a little plastic cup of granulated sugar. By the entrance there is a cotton candy machine. Self-serve fairy floss! Brilliant! That day's flavor was grape.
Food: A- (didn't love the pickled vegetables. it was not the variety of oshinko i was expecting)

Stone Park Cafe
This is the foofy resaturant that recently opened up at the end of our block. Listmaker and I have hemmed and hawed about eating dinner there a bunch of times, but it wasn't until they started servicing brunch that we became fully motivated. While Stone Park's dinner menu is a bit on the pricey side, the brunch is rather reasonable. We've beben there 3 times in the last 3 weeks - twice during one weekend, even! Each visit has been very satisfying, which is a positive sign, since despite all the restaurants in the area, a good brunch remains elusive. It was the first visit that really knocked our socks off. FIrst off, we liked the music - while we were there we heard Elliott Smith and Low. Second, it was not baby carriage central. As you all know, I love love love the children, but sometimes when you dine in Park Slope, you just get so overwhelmed by the fleet of Bugaboos and scent of baby powder. Third, the wait staff was pleasant. We both opted for omelets and we each got to choose up to 4 fillings! Listmaker chose garlic, jack cheese, sausage and one more filling which I can not remember. I chose garlic, house-smoked bacon, mushrooms and bleu cheese. Choosing garlic was a bold move, but one that proved to be out of this world. I'm equally in love with the bacon at Stone Park Cafe. It's thick and has a full smokey flavor. The omelet was really perfectly done, with all the fillings portioned out equally throughout. Nothing worse than starting on one end of an omelet and realizing halfway through, you've eaten all the mushrooms and only have tomatoes left or something like that. The eggs were served with chewy sourdough toast and delicious roast potatoes with sauteed onions. Coffee was included in the $11 price. The one minus I would say is that I really wanted a bloody mary but did not want o pay $9 for one. That's just ridiculous. Anyway, having Stone Park Cafe just a few steps from our front door is a very welcome addition. Now we can be even lazier on the weekends!
Food: A (for the first visit)

Park Slope Gastronome #3 - A Field Trip

ok, so i was only going to write about restaurants in my neighborhood, but decided that might be a bit too limiting. last night, i took my girl heidi to chikalicious as a belated birthday present. chikalicious is a newish restaurant in the east village that only serves desserts. they offer a 3 course prix fixe, which consists of an amuse, dessert entree and petit fours. the space is a stark box of white and metal - heidi likened it to a muji store.

we both began with a small bulb of lemon ice cream set upon a mound of lemongrass jelly. the jelly was so incredibly delicate, i was amazed at how it was able to keep its solid shape. it melted in your mouth, releasing a crisp, clean and tangy burst. the lemon ice cream was smooth and tart - why don't more people make it? you see lemon ice and sorbets all the time, but lemon ice cream is so rare! for my main course, i chose the warm chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and red wine sauce. i splurged for the wine pairing and was presented with a glass of mas amiel maury cuvee special 10 yr. i have no idea what that means, but the mas amiel was a delicious accompaniment. not overly sweet and very smooth. the warm chocolate tart was essentially one of those chocolate volcano, molten lava cakes. the crust was made out of a butterly tuile batter and its crunch contrasted nicely with the smoothness of the warm chocolate batter. i enjoyed the red wine sauce, but probably would have preferred it to have been reduced down a bit more. the ice cream was a mound of blushing vanilla. heidi opted for a seared plum half that was served with a ginger vanilla anglaise and something else i couldn't remember. i had eyed that dish too, but i've developed an allergy to stone fruits in the last five years which means i can't eat plums, peaches and cherries. it's a total bummer because i love all three! i think it's ok when the fruit is cooked or pastuerized, like in cherry garcia ice cream. that doesn't affect me.

our petit fours course had a coconut marshmallow, black peppercorn biscotti with hazelnut and a green tea chocolate truffle. i tried the marshamallow first, and upon first touch was swept to the clouds. no, really, i was! the texture was so amazing. it was like squeezing a mogu pillow, only daintier. the biscotti was interesting and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that a half hazelnut gets placed in each one by hand, rather than being mixed in with the dough. the truffle disappeared into my mouth with a puff of cocoa powder. it was the perfect size, slightly bigger than a marble. it was a delicious capper to a delicious meal of sweets.

Food: A
Service: A

Coda: we went across the street to rai rai ken for noodles afterwards. how i love that place!