Too busy eating to post . . .

For only the second time in three and a half weeks, I've had to buy my own lunch at work (scheduled lunch got cancelled at the last minute -- sad!), so I will take the time to start posting about various meals I've had so far.

My first day lunch: Tao
My associate mentor took me out on the first day -- I knew we were well paired when she told me that she and her husband had to go by the butcher shop where Bill worked in "Heat" on their recent trip to Italy -- and I really enjoyed it. If the two-story Buddha were a bit smaller, it would be ridiculously, but luckily it is so huge as to cross over into cheesy-awesome.

We shared the TAO Angry Dragon Roll with Eel & Kabayaki Sauce to start -- not sure what made it "angry," just seemed to be a pretty normal avocado and eel roll, but quite tasty -- and L says I get credit for introducing her to eel, of which she is now a fan. I got the Crispy Filet of Red Snapper with Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce -- pretty much what that description claims it will be, and I really enjoyed it, although I didn't find it or anything else we had to be particularly spicy (and I'm a bit of a spice wuss). Spicy Hoi Yin Eggplant was also good, but the garlicky Asian Green Stir Fry was fantastic. I'm a sucker for garlic + greens. Sugar Dusted Doughnuts with Sweet Yuzu Dipping Sauce were competent doughnuts, and their presentation in a white Chinese food container meant that I was able to take the leftovers back to the office for later-in-the-day snack.

Summer of Food = off to a strong start.

Summer of Food (and Work?)

So on the shuttle down to NYC tonight, I started reading Julie & Julia. (About a woman named Julie who decides to spend a year cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.) It's actually much more entertaining than I'd expected, and as a pesca-vegetarian who loves to cook, I find her more lurid descriptions of meat preparations -- excavating the marrow from a cow bone, for example -- both horrifying and fascinating. Like the food memoir equivalent of watching a car accident.

But I have a point. And it's almost related. The point is this: Maybe I won't cook my way through a famous cookbook this summer (okay, it's definite), but I'll certainly eat my way through some of the best restaurants in the city. So I am going to pick up blogging again, because how could I not? And the best part? As a summer associate, the majority of these meals will be paid for by my firm!

Stay tuned . . .

Once More With Photos

So back in Cambridge, with its relatively lackluster restaurant options (though there are a few gems - more on that later), but made our (now customary) stop at Stone Barns on the (painfully long) drive up. As usual, we wanted to eat more than the menu options (i.e. number of courses) would provide, and as usual, they were very nice about letting us order as much as we wanted (we ended up being charged for the farmer's feast, which was a good deal for us). Our waitress turned out to be a girl with whom Adam had gone to HS (she was, I believe, a year or two younger, but they'd been on yearbook together), which was a random coincidence. The reason I'm writing about this restaurant again is mainly because I finally brought a camera along. Given the candlelit setting, some are rather dim/blurry, but some are lovely.

Amuses first (obvi): the usual beet burgers were replaced w/ mini tomato burgers, which were absolutely wonderful. I would have eaten platesful. The fried green beans were also tasty, but not as good as the Red Cat ones or the burgers. (I've also included the second picture, when I moved the camera, b/c I think it is neat.). The tomato lollypops (I think that was how they were described - just cherry tomatoes) ripely delicious. The shot of cucumber soup was also good, but not nearly as good as a subsequent tomato water "gazpacho" that came later (and which I somehow managed to forget to photograph, probably in my eagerness to drink it - more on that later).

The normal bread (which we have always called bookbread to ourselves, but which the waitress called papillon - French for "butterfly" - when we asked) has been replaced by a long (I'm talking loooong, like five feet - they carry it out and slice it on the center island in the main dining room) loaf. Crusty on the outside and deliciously chewy and soft on the inside, it was very good (better than the papillon for sopping) but we missed the other. Apparently it's so labor intensive to make that they are looking for alternatives, and trying different things. However, she was able to find us some in the kitchen, which was brought out later.

I lovelovelove the BHSB tomato water, which we'd drunk in unbloody marys (and then in virgin ones - just the tomato water) the summer before. This time, the delicious, clear liquid actually tasted like gazpacho, with an appropriate hint of vinegar. The lovely waitress we'd had on our last two trips came over and said hello around the time we received the "gazpacho" (maybe she brought it? have forgotten), and we were lamenting that we'd been told by our waitress that the unbloody maries weren't on the menu this time around. She offered to see if there was enough tomato water in the kitchen that we could have cocktails made, and shortly after they brought us this gorgeous concoction. Tomato water and vodka, with a tomato rim (very similar to the "tomato couscous" at el Bulli), drizzle of olive oil on top, and a skewer of ripe little cherries and pears. Fantastic, apparently made up just for us, and subsequently to be added to the cocktail list later that week. Unfortunately, after we'd had one round and asked for another (virgin), we were told apologetically that they didn't have enough of the water available.

So I saved and never finished this post, and now it's been so long that I am not going to bother with extensive descriptions but just give the dishes, photos, and perhaps brief comments.

GREENHOUSE GREENS AND HERBS . . . summer beans, hazelnuts and this morning’s soft/fried farm egg. Variation on the salad that is always on the menu -- good but probably not my favorite incarnation.

TOMATOES . . . ricotta cheese, basil and tomato sorbet

Salad with fried zucchini blossoms (yay!), fruits (a theme of the salads at this time of year, apparently), etc.

SUMMER . . . combination of summer fruits and vegetables. Cooked fruits and vegis, very good.

CORN SOUP . . . summer corn relish. Mmm.

Dish of crab, zucchini, some sort of green (soy?) broth

WILD STRIPED BASS . . . guanciale, dairy-less corn and clam chowder.

GRILLED GOLDEN TROUT . . . crushed stone barns new potatoes, golden frills, garlic scape sauce - not this sauce...corn, bits of green, etc

GNOCCHI . . . four cheeses, shiitakes, pine nuts and stone barns peas. Their gnocchi are sort of like ravioli made with potato dough, deliciously stuffed with cheese.

CAVATELLI . . . sun gold tomatoes, basil and tomato sauce

Along with dessert, our waitress recommended a grape juice made in the style of dessert wine, so that it was sweet and dessert-appropriate (as well as non-alcoholic). Not exactly like a real dessert wine, but the Navarro Gewürztraminer Grape Juice was a great alternative.

For the desserts, we got a stewed apricot with foam and granita (which I found too crunchy/too big chunks). I preferred the cheesecake with blueberries.

The tea cart was a new addition -- basically just a cart loaded with pots of fresh herbs to select your own combination infusion. The resulting "tea" was subtly flavored, but it's a cool concept and pretty good.

"Petite fours" and c'est fini.

minibar redux

Last night we went back to minibar. While my first trip since last summer, it was Adam's third of this summer...including having gone the night before! I know I wrote about it last summer, but despite some repeats, there are lots of new things and also pictures this time! It's the same six seats, though we were the first party to have actual chairs (apparently cast offs from Zaytinya) instead of the annoyingly-backless stools. Quite a comfort improvement.

We started with the "passion fruit 'tequila sunrise'" cocktail. Ryan, the chef at our end of the bar (Michael, who served us last year, was at the other end) said that real tequila sunrise is oj, grenadine, and tequila. This one had a lovely fruity foam on top, a few sprinkled passion fruit seeds, and a sort of thickened grenadine syrup at the bottom. Didn't really taste tequila-y, but I don't really like tequila, so not complaining. Tasty.

Next we got two little crispy snacks, one new and one a repeat. The "crispy apples" were basically thinly sliced, dehydrated apples, one lined with saffron and the other with fennel seed. Simple but clean flavors, very nice. The "tumbleweed of beet," the repeat, was as I remembered - intense beet flavor, fun texture.

The "olive oil bon bon" was one of my faves from last year, still great this year (though I think a little smaller). Sweet shell with the oily (mmm) center. I asked how they're made, and apparently they take a layer of the isomel (or whatever it is), place it over a little ring mold, and then the weight of the oil droppered on top pulls the sheet into the drop shape. I mentioned that I vaguely remembered Marcel on last season's top chef doing something similar, but it didn't work. Ryan sort of smirked and pointed out that it was humid in DC and they managed to make it work, and said that Marcel ought to come learn how to do the techniques from the people who know how. Apparently the minibar chefs had gone the Aspen Classic (or whatever it's called) and met the Top Chef candidates. Sounds like Marcel is, as expected, sort of an arrogant jerk (as is Ilan), who doesn't really know how to do the technical stuff as well as he fronted (which makes sense, given how often his attempts seemed to fail). I complained that I'd never liked Ilan, and all his best "creative" ideas were just off the Casa Mono menu anyway. Ryan said that Sam was apparently very nice, which was cool, since I love him for being talented (not to mention hot).

Anyway, back to the courses, since I'll go on a tangent again soon anyway. Next we got the "mojito" (another repeat, but a good one), which used the spherification technique and was vaguely sparkling when it exploded. I was commenting to Alex and Dina that I'd bought Adam the Texturas chemicals for his birthday last year (so, more than seven months ago), but that we hadn't used them yet b/c don't have an electronic scale. Ryan offered that there's a shop on 12th where I could get one...as well as porno and a tattoo (apparently it's actually a head shop). He was really nice and full of useful tidbits. :)

The next course was "bagels & lox," which was a crispy cone filled with a light cream cheese (chived, I think) and salmon roe. Good, but as Alex pointed out, not as good as the NYC-original and partly suffers from the inability to get all the flavors in each bite. Dina, who doesn't eat seafood, got some sort of tomato cone that looked pretty good (possibly better?).

The "cornbread" was the first new-this-year dish since the apple slices, and it was surprisingly light! A very light, slightly crunchy layer on the bottom, then a corn cream, then little bits of crushed corn chips (Fritos!) on top. Alex was the first to ask if they were Fritos, which Dina and I cautiously echoing that we'd thought the same.

Next came the "cotton candy avocado," a substitution for one of the minibar signatures, the cotton candy foie gras. Good, but again mostly exciting for its cotton candy content. Ryan said the best place to get a little home cotton candy machine would actually be ebay (hint hint, my birthday is in November).

The "conch fritter," a staple order when we eat brunch at Cafe Atlantico, was as good as ever. Alex is also a big fan, having had them as a dinner appetizer there. Fried dough outside, liquid conch chowder center.

This was some sort of "ravioli"...while I remember really liking it, I can't remember what was in it. It was a substitution, so the menu was no help at all. The ravioli skin was mango flavored (it could have been thinly sliced mango, but don't think so). I feel like the inside was some sort of seafoody cream or foam. Ugh, I have a bad memory. Edit: Adam says that the seafood used was anchovy, which sounds right now that he mentions it. Surprisingly good, not excessively anchovy-y at all.

I don't remember having liked the "salmon-pineapple 'ravioli' with crispy quinoa" as much last year as I did this year. The bits of cooked salmon were covered in a sliver of pineapple. I believe the green foam was avocado, and then supremes of orange. The quinoa was sprinkled on top. Eaten all together, each bite was delicious.

Next came what's probably minibar's signature dish, the "deconstructed glass of white wine." The flavors on the wine gelee, from right to left (the order in which we were instructed to eat) were: lemon zest, orange zest, apple (I wasn't sure between pear and apple, and others had thought pear - oops), coconut, mint, pineapple, passion fruit, almond (we didn't get this, though it was obviously nutty - walnut was the favorite guess), pomegranate (Kathy was the only one to correctly guess this one - the rest of us were guessing berries), cinnamon, and vanilla. Lots of fun trying to guess everything.

The "zucchini in textures," like the salmon ravioli, was something that I had last year and had remembered not loving. Gelee of zucchini water on top, soft suspension of zucchini seeds next (apparently the zucchini is steamed, and then they hand pick uniformly-sized seeds!), and then a zucchini cream on the bottom. The dish was clearly zucchini-flavored, but also a lot creamier than I'd remembered it being last year, which made it much more delicious for me. I asked Ryan if the recipe had changed, but he said that it hadn't. Who knows.

The "'sun dried tomato' salad" was one of the best of the new dishes we tried. The "tomatoes" were actually spherified sun dried tomatoes, which were then dehydrated so they had an intense tomato flavor but not the bursting, liquid center. The white spheres (no dehydration on these) were greek yogurt, and the air was lemon. Apparently air is so light that when you turn a spoonful of it upside down, it won't fall off (unlike a foam). So, of course, we all had to test this, and it's true. The little purple blossoms on top were chive blossoms, which have an intense chive flavor, in addition to being very pretty.

The deconstructed "ceasar salad," another repeat, was eaten sushi-style. Little lettuce rolls, topped with shavings of parmesan on one stack and a raw quail egg yolk on another. Fun twist on familiar flavors.

The "egg 63 degrees with caviar" had been one of my favorites last year, but I actually think that Dina might have gotten a better substitution - hers was covered with a layer of black truffle shavings instead of the caviar. Ryan peeled the very softly-boiled quail egg with a knife, without puncturing the egg inside! Very impressive skills. Attempts at home to boil an egg at a low temperature have never worked properly. The picture is after I'd taken a bite, breaking the yolk inside. I thought it was a cooler picture than just the layer of black caviar in the dish.

The "sea urchin 'ceviche'" was not one of my favorites. The air on top was hibiscus (so Adam tells me, I hadn't remembered), which was sort of fun to eat, but the urchin in the bottom didn't make much of an impression. Beautiful, though, in it's lovely glass bowl. I love the dishes and utensils both here and at El Bulli (which, in some cases, were the same).

The "corn on the cob" was another tasty repeat, and Ryan pointed out that everything in the dish was corn. Baby corn on a corn liquid, crunchy little kernels on top. Even the corn shoot along side had a light but clearly corny flavor.

The "guacamole" was another fun repeat. A tomato sorbet was piped onto the thinly slice avocado, which was then rolled around it (kind of like making sushi). It was garnished with tiny diced tomatoes, crushed Fritos, micro cilantro, and more of the chive blossoms (where can I get some of these?!).

I think I liked the smoked "smoked oyster and apples" reasonably well, though I don't remember that much about it. I do remember that the oyster had a bit of an odd flavor (as though it wasn't entirely raw), and I loved the bits of smoked oyster on top. Tasted kind of like bits of bacon (love the smokiness), which I miss greatly (c'mon food scientists, grow me some pork fat in a lab!).

Instead of the "New England clam chowder," which contained bacon, we got a liquid potato tortilla. Apparently they could have just done the chowder without the bacon, but since Adam had tried it the night before, they were nice enough to give him (and consequently Dina and me) something different. The so-called tortilla was very tasty, so I wasn't really disappointed. The foamy top layer tasted an awful lot like the potato foam from the brunch menu, but as I love that dish (which vanilla), I certainly liked it again. Basically, imagine the lightest, creamiest mashed potatoes possible. The bottom layer was a sort of roasted onion paste or puree, and it was garnished with tiny diced potatoes and what I think Ryan said was chive oil.

The "breaded cigala with sea salad" was one of Alex's least favorite, because he objected that it was too salty. I think I liked it more than he did, though the seaweed/sea bream salad was, obviously, salty. The cigala itself was nicely cooked, and I continue to love the smoked sea salt on top (though it only made this dish more salty). Apparently they smoke the salt in house in an electric smoker. Another excellent potential gift for me. :)

The last savory dish was the "philly cheesesteak." The crispy cone was filled with a soft sort of cream cheese (not sure exactly what kind of cheese), and our version was covered in a layer of shaved black truffle instead of the wagyu beef. I liked this last year, and I liked it this year. Alex, who lived in Philly for many years (Penn undergrad), gave this his cheesesteak-loving stamp of approval (though he did confirm that the best authentic version should use what is essentially cheese wizz, as I remember from my childhood NYC street fair cheesesteaks). Mmm, processed cheese product (cheese-in-a-can is an under-appreciated trashy treat).

The first dessert was the "pistachio-beets and mixed berries." In addition to being vividly beautiful, it was delicious. The little rectangles of light, crunchy beet flavor had a great texture. Apparently they make meringues, then dehydrate and slice them. Dehydration was big on this year's menu (and Ryan said they're trying to move away from spherification). Delicious, creamy pistachio flavor on the bottom layer, nice (raspberry?) sorbet on top, plus a bit of fresh blackberry on the side. Pistachio nuts added a harder crunch.

The "thai dessert" was one of my favorite dishes of the entire meal. It was absolutely fantastic! Coconut sorbet sat under a peanut wafer, a squiggle of not-too-heavy peanut butter, and chopped nuts. The tamarind swirl ringing the sorbet added a slightly sour, citrusy contrast, although wikipedia informs me that the fruit is actually a pod-like legume. A sprinkling of cayenne pepper on the edge of the plate added a powerful kick to any bit that included it. I think the micro herb was cilantro, but I don't remember. So amazing, though.

Unfortunately, the printed menu told us that we had missed out on the "matcha ball." When we asked, Ryan said that it couldn't be made in the humidity. Apparently it would have been a sort of ball of cotton candy rolled in matcha. Sounds really cool, and I was sorry to have missed it.

The little petit fours at the ended included a "saffron gumdrop," "maracuya marshmallow," and "pina colada injection." The gumdrop was good, with the expected jellied texture. Maracuya is another name for passion fruit, and a bit of passion fruit syrup was injected into the marshmallow (lovely soft texture) before serving. Dina was excited to finally get the pipette, which we had seen through the glass all evening. It really tasted like a pina colada, with the pipette contents being heavily coconut flavored and mixing well with the fresh pineapple. A much better end than last year's cough drop lollypop.

<-- picture of Ryan

While we were waiting for/paying the check, we were chatting

with Ryan some more. I could see some micro herbs growing on the window sill, and he told us that one of the plants (which was flowering near the top) was something that he'd been growing for fun, called stevia, although they hadn't used it in anything. He told us that it was a very sweet herb, sweeter than sugar, and let us try the blossoms. It was extremely sweet, though with a bit of a slightly bitter aftertaste. Very interesting though.

One of the nice things about having all six seats is that I didn't feel worried about disturbing others with the camera. Random other pictures taken throughout the evening:

Alex and Dina -->

<-- Paul and Kathy. Aren't they adorable? (correct answer: yes)

Adam, and Alex -->

Good company + fun food = great evening. Can't wait to go back! (Maybe can arrange a dinner during fly-out week, which I imagine will take me to DC?)

Holiday in Spain Finale: El Celler de Can Roca

Unfortunately, thanks to restaurant closures on Sunday/Monday, we didn't have time to do both Can Fabes and Can Roca. On the advice of eGullet responders, we decided eat lunch at Can Roca and skip Can Fabes for this trip. It turned out to be a great way to celebrate the Fourth (insert bad pun about culinary fireworks? no, let's not). Since we'd decided to drive back to BCN for our last night, we'd made the earliest possible lunch reservation - 1:00PM, oh late Spain hours! The restaurant is tucked behind a small front garden, small and unassuming (especially given the rep). Although we arrived about 15 minutes late (a few wrong turns), we were one of the first tables to be filled. We asked to sit in the back room (with views of a small pool and garden), which we had all to ourselves for the first few courses.

We were soon served a (presumably complementary, since served before we ordered anything) glass of cava (Cava El Celler de can Roca Albet i Noya) and offered a selection of breads. The large rectangular basket must have held at least 8 choices, although I only remember the ones we tried - olive (Adam), tomato (me), and onion (both). Once verifying that substitutions could be made, we ordered the most extensive tasting menu and asked for wine pairings. Since the printed menu we were given at the end included descriptions of the (surprisingly few) dishes for which we substituted, I'll include the descriptions for interested carnivores.

The "snacks" included: crunchy cod chips (which, while clearly fishy, were surprisingly good), "peanut caramel" (essentially a very good, fancy peanut brittle), "black olives crunchy" (a ripe olive in a sweet tuile - a great contrast, really delicious), "cucumber with vinegar" (according to the menu - I'm pretty sure it was actually squash, vinegar gelee, just okay), and "carrots with coconut and orange" (very Stone Barns-y, but the non-carrot flavors could have been less subtle so that it seemed less like just eating a raw carrot). Our menu listed "parmesan biscuit," but the cod chips seem to have been a substitution for that. In case it's not obvious, the descriptions move clockwise around the photo from the top.

The "tapas" course was the only place that we had substitutions for meat dishes. The best of the tapas was a sort of play on a tomato salad - tomato water, vinegar sorbet, some sort of gelee on the bottom, but also with apple flavor (maybe that was the gelee? can't remember). I do remember loving the hint of apple sweetness, and this dish was great in general. A sort of herb custard with one raw clam was good (though same raw shellfish apathy made this less enjoyable). The brownish gel was so fishy that I didn't want to finish it. I could have sworn that it was described as a mussel dish at the time, but the menu listed a "fennel veloute with see water [sic] and barnacles," which it could easily have been. We didn't receive either the "pigeon parfait, Bristol Cream, orange and spices" (sounds interesting) or the "fig's terrine with bitter tender almonds and foie gras." I believe this is where we got the Palacio de Otazu 01, which was a very interesting, big chardonnay.

The "oyster with Champagne, apple, cumin, curry and species bread," paired, unsurprisingly, with another glass of the cava, was a slightly interesting take on a classic combination. In addition to the actual champagne liquid poured over the dish, the green, bottled shaped dish was lined with a gel and studded with bits of apple. I don't remember cumin or curry, and I could have sworn there was some ginger, but I can't be sure. No particular bread was served alongside.

The "Spring mushrooms could [sic] soup with avocado and pines ice cream" was a very cool concept, but the flavors left a bit to be desired. Despite the menu, I'm almost positive that the mushrooms were described as (and tasted like) white mushrooms. While the clear gel had a very distinct mushroom flavor, it would probably have been amazing if more interesting mushrooms had been used. The thin ribbons of avocado also tasted a tad underripe. Still, a good, creative vegetarian dish, if not outstanding. I think this is where we got Lustau Oloroso Abocado 89, a sherry that seemed a sort of odd pick for early in the meal, but I remember thinking that the pairings were well thought out and surprisingly successful throughout.

When the "Mussels with Riesling" arrived, I'll admit I was a bit disappointed--not more raw shellfish!--but this one was really excellent. Which is saying a lot about raw mussels, from me. Similar to the minibar deconstructed white wine, the concept was that the underlying flavors of the reisling were each emphasized individually (but where minibar used gelee, Can Roca used mussels). The flavors, from bottom to top (the order in which we were instructed to eat) were bergamot (vaguely like eating perfume), apple (tasted like a bright, not too sweet applesauce), citrus, something fruity (peach, I think?), salt (for the "mineral" in the wine), and white truffle (a rich foam that tasted strongly of white truffle - and not just truffle oil - heavenly) . Like with the oysters, the wine pairing was obvious, an A.Chrissman Konigsbacher Idig 05 (semi-sweet, not at all syrupy, paired nicely).

Like the mushroom and avocado dish, I really wanted to love the "artichokes with sunflowers and orange," but it fell a bit short of its potential. While I did enjoy it a lot, the sunflower puree was a bit overpowering for the artichoke puree. However, the crispy artichoke slices were good and the citrus of the orange supremes cut the rich creaminess of the purees very well. This course was paired with the Edetaria 05, which was an extremely interesting, very nutty white wine. I would love to be able to find it in the States.

For the next course, a glass dome was removed at the table to release a thick, white cloud of smoke, which had the familiar, comforting smell of a campfire. The smoke cleared to reveal the "white asparagus souffle on embers." This was one of my favorite dishes of the entire trip. A picket fence of thinly sliced white asparagus encased a luscious, soft asparagus souffle. While this sounds simple enough, it was just amazing. I scrapped every bite off the plate that I could, and stared enviously at the table next to us when they received their own souffles a while later. We got another pour of the Edetaria, which was actually great since we'd enjoyed it so much.

The "hot veloute of prawn with cacao onions and mint" was the sort of rich dish that one would expect to eat in a more traditional, French restaurant. However, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it in a French restaurant and certainly did so here. The shrimp were covered in a thick, rich sauce, but what made this dish really excellent (instead of just overpoweringly creamy) was the puree of caramelized onion at the bottom of the bowl. When all the components were eaten together, it was more balanced and absolutely delicious.

The "noodles prawns 'fideua' topped with young garlic museline" was probably my least favorite of the savory dishes since the oysters. I guess I just felt like the ingredients didn't mesh well into something particularly interesting. The "noodles" were a bit sticky and didn't really have a strong flavor. The shrimp were well cooked but not particularly flavorful, though better w/ some of the thick foam. Overall, this one just didn't leave a strong impression, either positive or particularly negative.

I enjoyed the Can Roca skate, which they called "ray fenouil and green olives," much more than I had enjoyed the skate at El Bulli the night before. Although I couldn't really taste the fennel, the tan sauce had an intense green olive flavor that was delicious. There were also bits of sea bream and some greens garnishing this dish.

The "codfish with pumpkin and red paprika oil" was probably my least favorite of the savory dishes, which made it a disappointing place to end. I think this was more a function of the fact that I don't love codfish all that much, especially the texture (too dense?), than any fault of the cooking. I did think it was very cool to discover that the "pumpkin," which I had thought was just chunks of pumpkin meat cooked soft, was actually a pumpkin-flavored gel pasta. I'm not sure the pumpkin and other ingredients, which were on the sweet side, really went all that well with the cod.

The "lactic dessert ("dulce de leche," sheep milk ice cream, sheep cottage cheese foam, sheep's yoghurt and lactic cloud)" was my favorite of any dessert we ate in Spain. The components got more dense as I ate my way from the cotton candy "lactic cloud" on top, to the icy salmon-colored sliver, to the yoghurt and foam, and finally to the dense, rich caramel layer on the bottom. When I was little (maybe 8 or 9), a Brazilian friend taught us how to make ducle de leche by boiling a can of condensed milk (which I loved). That is exactly what the dulce de leche in this dessert tasted like, scoring nostalgia points as well as flavor points. It was great to be able to taste the distinct milk flavor in so many different forms, and the slightly sour flavor in the yoghurt and the lightness of many of the parts kept this dish from being too sweet.

The second dessert was a "roses souffle with chocolate and pistachio's ice cream." It was a very interesting dessert. The "souffle" wasn't really a souffle so much as a sort of foam being confined within a fine, cylindrical (edible) shell of some sort. It was sort of like eating airy perfume. The combination of rose, chocolate (sort of like a brownie), and pistachio was good, but I was too full to finish it. I really liked that neither dessert was too heavy (or overwhelmingly chocolatey), given how full (and borderline drunk) I was.

After the Edetaria, there was a Ino Masia Serra N.V. Garnatxa (I believe it's a local varietal in the region), Martin Berdugo 03 tempranillo, Muscat Rivesaltes Ambre, and an Albersweiler Latt Auslese 02. In case it wasn't obvious, there was a LOT of wine paired with the meal. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly where the last few paired (I was feeling the first, oh, four or five glasses). By the end, we were waiving away the waiter and leaving glasses half-filled. Because Adam had to drive, I actually don't think he finished a single glass. The picture is from the end of the meal, after about half the glasses had been finished (by me) or cleared half-finished (Adam).

The petit fours included a little citrus (I think) gelee, candied raspberries, chocolate covered poprocks (I always get a kick out of poprocks in haute food), and some sort of meringue (can't remember the flavor. The watermelon lolly pops looked like solid rock candy, but were actually melon balls covered in a thin, gelled layer (giving them the hard candy sheen). I think I would have preferred real lollies, if only because I wasn't quite ready for the meal to end and the real melon was too quickly eaten.

This was a great end to our food-centric vacation. The eGullet posters who steered us here were definitely right, especially given the fish-heavy menu. Looking over the photos from El Bulli and Can Roca later, we loved the reminders of excellent meals from the trip.

Holiday in Spain - The Big Show: El Bulli

July 3rd, the day of our reservation, had finally arrived! Our reservation was for 8:30, but we left Mas de Torrent at around 6:00, intending to stop to see something touristy along the way. However, after three trips through the same roundabout near Pals, we gave up on seeing its medieval city. We arrived outside the Dali museum in Figueras at around the time (7:45) of the last entry, at which point we turned around and headed for Roses. While the directions on the El Bulli website were pretty useless (we never saw the street/location signs they indicated), we finally saw a few El Bulli signs that directed us the right way. We turned up a winding road just past the second El Bulli sign, whose few adjacent buildings quickly became farther apart, until the only buildings to be seen were across the water, on other mountain peaks. I wasn't prepared for this last leg of the drive, which, if Rhonda (what Adam inexplicably named the car's GPS) is to be believed, was a 7km mountainside climb that would its way up and then slightly down steep, curvy roads. The views of the opposing peaks and open water below were breathtaking, but from my seat, the road seemed to drop steeply off into nothing for much of the ride, making the view also a little nauseating. From a few minutes into the drive until we finally saw the El Bulli sign at the end, we were half convinced that we had made a wrong turn and would be late. I kept thinking that if we veered off the road, we would most definitely plunge to our deaths. Adam loved driving it, of course, and we arrived with five minutes to spare. Here's the view from outside restaurant...imagine it from high on railingless road.

After a quick trip to the kitchen (where Ferran was standing front and center - I've never seen such a clean, orderly kitchen), we were shown to our table against the back wall. We sat side by side, where we could see most of the other tables in the room. After verifying that they remembered out dietary request (no meat/juices), the courses quickly began arriving. Unfortunately, some of the pictures are kind of blurry - in my eagerness to eat, I often didn't pay that much attention to how the picture looked on the little camera screen. Oh, and in case it seems weird to be taking pictures in a restaurant, two of the three tables surrounding us also pulled out cameras!

The "gin fizz" looked normal enough, but the foam (which was squirted out of a whipper tableside) started steaming a bit when it was added. I assumed it was because it was so cold, but when I took a sip, it was warm! The bottom, liquid layer was cold, with tiny ice crystals. While the gin flavor was pretty standard, the texture and temperature contrasts made the starting cocktail one of my favorites of the night. I have no idea how they managed to make the foam warm, since my experience with nitrous canisters is that they turn the canister (and its contents) cold.

The "spherical olives," while delicious, were functionally identical to the "olives" we'd had at minibar last summer, except that minibar gave us both green and black olives. Because of that, they lacked the element of surprise that we'd felt at minibar when the sphere's thin skin exploded into liquid olive. I think our familiarity with the molecular gastronomy techniques made many parts of this meal less wowing than it otherwise might have been, and I think both Adam and I had tried to keep that in mind (essentially, we didn't want to be less impressed with Adria for the effects of other restaurants' imitating his style). Given that we still thought it was a great experience, despite few really surprising dishes, we seem to have done so successfully.

The "golden nuggets" were essentially crunchy parmesan croutons in some sort of shiny coating. In fact, they weren't described as golden nuggets when they were served, but as some sort of parmesan thing, but I'm assuming from the printed menu. I am a fan of anything made from cheese!

The next few little bites were served at the same time. The "salty 'catanias'" looked like chocolate bonbons dusted in cocoa powder, but collapsed into a liquid center. Kind of cool, but I don't love the taste of bitter cocoa powder. The "parmesan 'airbag'" was essentially a hollow cracker dusted in sesame seeds. Adam's reading of egullet forums seems to suggest that these were our vegetarian replacement for some sort of pork rind snack. I didn't love this one, especially after the nuggets, which had a much stronger parmesan flavor. The "beetroot and yoghurt meringues" were my favorite dish since the gin fizz, light and very crunchy, with a clear, slightly sweet beet flavor. The printed menu listed "LYO fruits" as the dish before the golden nuggets, but as we didn't receive anything at that point and googling seems to indicate that LYO refers to some sort of freeze-drying, I'm assuming that this is the name for the pineapple sticks (which otherwise weren't listed on our menu). They were crunchy, with an intense pineapple flavor, very delicious. The "salty chocolate with cassis, yoghurt and pistachio" weren't actually chocolate at all, although molded to look like mini chocolate bars. Intense flavor, a bit sour (especially the cassis), and I was left with the impression that they were a bit gritty in texture. The yoghurt was my favorite.

"Tangerine bombons [sic], peanut and curry": the little disk tasted like a tiny peanut butter wafer with a hint of curry powder, very tasty. The bonbon exploded into a liquid tangerine center. Delicious.

The "pistachios sponge cake with acid milk mousse" seems to be a bit misnamed. The cake was crunchy, with an almost biscuity taste under the pistachio flavor, and not at all spongy. The mousse tasted like a sour yoghurt (and I believe might have been described as such). We were instructed to put a dollop on top of the cake. While delicious, it crumbled immediately on the first bite. Might have been better as a smaller, single-bite dish, to make it less messy. Still ate (almost) every crumb.

The "sesame sponge cake with miso," unlike the pistachio cake, was extremely spongy and light. I have no idea how they gave it such an interesting texture, which made this dish very interesting despite an as-advertised flavor.

The "flowers paper" was essentially tangy, edible flavors in a flattened layer of slightly sweet cotton candy. Not baffling as to how to was made (as some of our favorite dishes were), but very beautiful.

I really enjoyed the "rasberries [sic] fondant with wasabi and rasberries vinegar." The sweet raspberry was warm inside its sugar coating, and melted in my mouth. We had been advised to eat half of the raspberry, drink the spoonful of vinegar, and then eat the rest of the berry. The first bite was very sweet, and the second bite (after the sourish vinegar) less so. I don't remember really tasting the wasabi, and I'm generally very sensitive to spicy flavors. My one complaint is that I think this dish might have seemed better placed as one of the dessert courses.

The "tiger nut milk flowers" came out on a beautiful metal platter with rippled edges (they sell the platter, we bought two as gifts), with a layer of ice on the bottom to keep the flowers from melting. They begin melting almost as soon as you touch them (I transferred the photographed one to my plate, and it appears a bit melted along the edge from my touch). The flowers had a bit of a nutty flavor, but were actually kind of bland. They brought out the nuts for us to see, as well.

The "oysters yoghurt with px in tempura" was probably my favorite dish up until that point in the meal. The glass mug contained a creamy, slightly seafoody soup. The "px" stands for Pedro Ximenez, the varietal commonly used to make sherry. The tempura essentially tasted like a deep-fried sip of sherry, very surprising (I was expecting a more solid grape) and very delicious.

I was not a fan of the "mussels with lemon and fennel." The tiny balls (at the top of the picture) each tasted different (fennel, lemon, maybe something else?), and we were advised to eat an oyster and then a ball. While the balls were surprisingly strongly flavored, the raw mussels were stronger. In fairness, I don't really like raw shellfish, especially since my first raw mussel experience (at an old, well-regarded Boston restaurant, no less) gave me the worst food poisoning I've ever had. I imagine people who do like raw shellfish would have liked this one.

The "Fever-Tree tonic meringue with strawberries and lemon" was lovely to look at, but the tonic taste (of which I'm not really a fan, without vodka or gin to cut it) was very strong. The bottom of the dish had bits of what tasted like icy lemon sorbet, which made the bites that included it much better. The freeze dried strawberries taste like what comes out of my cereal box. The best bites included bits of everything (including the micro mint).

The "dashi with miso caviar" was the only dish to use the fake caviar technique that I've read about. It's a very cool technique, but tasted like a bland miso soup with interesting texture. Yet another example of Spanish restaurants seeming newly-enamored of Japanese ingredients (see description of tartar at Bar Mut). I would much preferred to have gotten to try a fruit caviar, but am looking forward to attempting our own with the Texturas chemicals I bought for Adam for his birthday.

The "fresh pine-cone and pinions dacquoise" tasted like a very fancy, crunchy, slightly different peanut butter sandwich on white bread. The table next to us got this dish shaped like a large ring, which was sliced into wedges tableside.

The "pine-nut shell" was edible and cold, and started to melt as I ate it. The pine nuts inside were very soft, and sat in a clear gel. Basically, it was pine nuts in textures. A bit bland in flavor, and we'd had so many nut-flavored things already that it lost some of its effect.

The "tomato cous-cous with oil-olives, basil and parmesan cheese" was a mostly excellent dish. The glass of clear liquid was richly parmesan flavored. I would love to know how it's made. Parmesan stock reduced and filtered? The red "cous-cous" tasted like little chilled crystals of Campbell's tomato soup concentrate. While very good, I think it would have been amazing if it tasted like fresh tomatoes. The oil-olives looked like regular olive oil, but had the intense olive flavor of the fruit. We were told not to mix the ingredients, but they tasted even better together (not sure if the instruction was a mistake?). The only disappointment was that the basil sorbet, which I've had many times on appetizers or desserts, was actually pretty bad. It didn't have a strong, fresh basil taste, and marred an otherwise outstanding dish. Beautiful, rich colors.

The "gnocchi of polenta with coffee, safran yuba and daisy buds" was one of my two favorite dishes. The gnocchi was very soft and light, sitting in a rich sauce containing capers and bits of egg. My only complaint (well, besides the fact that the serving wasn't huge) was the sprinkling of coffee powder on top, but that's just because I don't like coffee at all. Even with the subtle coffee flavor and the capers (which I often don't love), I still savored every bite. I recognize that most people would love it even more. However, this didn't seem like a very technically complicated dish...it could have been on any creative Italian menu.

The "Padron ravioli" were another great dish, like a variation on classic fried, salty tapa. The thin, clear skin contained a course filling that tasted like a dice of peppers and seeds. Bits of sea salt brought the dish alive. I could have taken or left little dots of licorice flavor (another food I don't like). Another egullet poster described this dish as very spicy, but ours wasn't, a product, I assume, of the variation in the spiciness of the peppers themselves.

The "razor clam with seaweed" was by far my least favorite dish (didn't even bother to eat more than one). Perhaps if I liked raw shellfish more, I would have finished this dish. It reminded me of swallowing too much salt water at the beach. Very fishy/seaweedy/salty. However, the very vocal American at a nearby table (who told a waiter to call him "Big Jim") loved it. I overheard the following: "We all love to eat the ocean. . . . I on [didn't catch the name] beach, looking out. I love it!" At which point, I'm pretty sure someone at the table shushed him. When the waiter returned, Big Jim said "I feel like I am a whale, riding in the ocean, dreaming of mermaids." It took a great deal of self control not to laugh out loud.

The printed menu indicates a course called "enokis to cream" at this point, but nothing like that was served. Very disappointing, since sounds like it would have been delicious. I'm not sure what happened to this dish, but very weird.

The "codfish with 'topinambour'" was the other of my two favorite dishes. Chunks of sunchoke and a luxurious layer of shaved white truffles sat on the cod skin (no actually cod meat). I don't remember what the cream on the side tasted like, but I remember this entire combination was rich and absolutely delicious.

The "skate" wing was accompanied by a hazelnut foam and some noodles of either soy or seaweed (I can't remember which - definitely salty). I'm not sure this combination worked all that well together. The feta noodles at minibar were a far better use of the flavored noodle technique. The skate dish was fine, I certainly ate it all, but wasn't a standout. Pretty sick of nut flavors by now.

The "sea cucumbers with 'roes' - sea lettuce and salicornia," however, was a outstanding. I've never had sea cucumbers before (and A suggests that they are endangered, which makes me iffy on eating them in future), but they were delicious! The roe stuffed inside them looked like salmon roe, but without the overwhelming saltiness that makes me less than enthused about it. While a waiter we asked said that it was, in fact, roe, the menu quotation marks suggests that they were another synthetic caviar. The "lettuce" was some sort of thin green layer (couldn't tell if it was an actual cooked green or some sort of jellied layer) wrapped around individual pieces of sea bream. Whatever was in this one, we loved it.

At this point, we transitioned into sweet courses with "eggplant to the honey," which served as a sort of bridge between savory and dessert. It was very interesting, but I didn't love it. The chunk of deep red eggplant tasted sweet (as though marinated/poached in honey), and looked vaguely (unappetizingly) like a chunk of meat. Light yoghurt and a smear of sesame paste finished the dish. For some reason, the contrasts didn't quite work for me.

The "sweet frost fruits" were blackberries in a crisp meringue, accompanied by a pipette of berry juice. We were instructed to squirt the juice into the meringue before eating, which didn't work so well. The juice kept dripping out, no matter how centered I positioned the pipette. In the end, I ate the meringues and squirted the pipette directly into my mouth. Very tasty, not overwhelmingly sweet.

The "orchid" was an amazing dessert, but unfortunately I can't remember many specifics beyond my lingering impression of amazement. I had expected the trail of chocolate to be bittersweet, but it was surprisingly fudgy. I loved it! I believe there was a saffron ice cream, some sort of moist bite of cake, plus the orchid itself. I can see some other bits in my photograph, but can't remember what they are! Very frustrating.

At this point, we were asked if we wanted to move to the terrace for coffee and the remaining desserts, which we did. We hadn't sat outside before dinner as some diners had, so it was a nice change of scenery. In the dark, we could only hear the waves lapping against the beach below. The weather was perfect. An absolutely lovely setting to end the evening.

The first of our "Morphings...." was a strawberry with vinegar: a wonderfully ripe strawberry with a little round of vinegar (same technique as the olives) that exploded in my mouth. Or, in Adam's case, slid off the top of his strawberry to splat on the table. Luckily, the waiter graciously fetched a replacement.

The final offering was a sleeve of styrofone containing "paper candy," which was essentially a wafer-thin, sugary confection. Very sweet, cool technique, but not as amazing in flavor as many of the other things we ate.

In terms of wine, we started with a Remelluri Blanco 04, which was fine but unremarkable. Looking for something a little more exciting (and eyeing the golden white on Big Jim's table), Adam then ordered a bottle of Batard-Montrachet Lemoine 02, which was very big and apricoty. Really lovely, but unfortunately, we had to drive back, so Adam couldn't drink that much, and I figured he'd rather a soberish navagator. We took the remaining half of the bottle to go, but other than Adam's one glass nightcap later that evening, we didn't get a chance to finish it. Sadly, thanks to no liquid security regulations, we had to abandon it when we left.

Overall, we had a great time, and would definitely go back (though preferably with more people - I imagine it's more fun with a group, especially with friends who haven't eaten this sort of food before). In terms of pure food enjoyment, we probably liked minibar more, thanks to the novelty and some really outstanding dishes. However, the El Bulli food, location, and the effect of knowing we got a sought-after, almost-impossible-to-get experience all made the night great. Unlike some stories I've heard, we didn't leave hungry (nor stuffed, which is also good). The service couldn't have been better, and the drive is certainly a fitting dramatic prelude. Luckily, the return trip was a lot less scary in the dark!

Holiday in Spain - first night

Just got home from our long weekend in Spain last night, feeling like I'd done nothing but eat for the previous five days. I'll be sure to blog extensively (with photos!) about elBulli and El Cellar de Can Roca (since I'll probably post on egullet as well - I've recently joined), but figured I devote a bit of space to talking about other places we ate as well.

Our first night, we ended up napping for awhile and didn't make it down to the concierge to talk about dinner until around ten (maybe later?). We'd asked about doing tapas (Cal Pep or similar), but a few quick phone calls determined that waits were prohibitively long (or the restaurants weren't even taking more customers) at a few popular places. We ended up going to a seafood restaurant on the recommendation of the concierge. She described Neyras as a casual place, as though apologizing for its lack of pomp, which led us to expect a little authentic hole in the wall (sounded perfect). The restaurant turned out to be a nice bistro-esque place, with a more casual-looking front room and a nicer back room (where we were seated). Both were almost entirely empty, which was disconcerting. We were handed menus in English, which is also a bit disconcerting. The food actually was decent, though pretty expensive for what it was (~150 euros, no dessert, and a decent bottle of house white was only 17 euros). Ended up feeling as though we'd be steered to a place that caters to foreign tourists who pay for the English fluency. Not exactly what we'd wanted.

For appetizers, I ordered a salad of cheese, tomato, and black truffle. It turned out to be very similar to an Italian caprese (though the cheese - not sure what it was - wasn't quite mozzarella), very un-trufflely (despite the black slivers), and very un-Spanish. The tomatoes weren't super-ripe, but it was fine. Adam got a lentil stew, which was more soupy than the thickness I expect of a lentil stew, but it was pretty good. The entrees were much better. I got a sort of paella made with black squid ink and seafood. Ever since a memorable black ink risotto eaten on the Croatian coast, I can rarely exist ordering inky rice dishes. Adam got fideos (crispy noodles instead of rice - though it was spelled differently - I assume the Catalan spelling). Both dishes had a similar assortment of clams, shrimp, and fish, and both were tasty (though I would have assumed the fideos would be crispier, but never having had the dish before, this could just be my expectation).

Certainly a generally tasty meal, and had it been half the price and seemed like a more authentic local restaurant, I would have been very happy. But by the end, we were full and exhausted, ready to go home and sleep.

Best. Review. EVER.

Okay, okay. I haven't eaten here. I don't even eat steak. But I found this Times review to be HILARIOUS.

http://events.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/reviews/28rest.html

What time is it? It's Valentimes!

Once again, it's V-Day, perhaps the most overrated food day of the year. Besotted (or perhaps just obligated-feeling) couples trek to fancy restaurants, where they are forced to order inflation-priced tasting menus full of expensive ingredients like caviar and truffles. When I'm out for a special meal, I want to be able to pick what I want off the full menu (or at least have the option), not have what the restaurant thinks is "romantic" forced upon me. But oh well. I like the chance to try somewhere new. I'm pleased that Adam made time to have dinner with me on a random Wednesday, which happens to have been the worst weather day of the winter so far. We awoke to a blanket of fluffy, white snow (yay!), only to have it turn into wind-driven, freezing rain by the time I headed to class around 1:00 (pain!), only to turn once again into rain and the accompanying slush by about 4:30 (gross!). Perhaps the most romantic thing to be done on a day like this is to curl up somewhere inside, but that's not really celebratory, is it?

Anyway. Adam and I made a last minute reservation at Craigie Street Bistro, which we've been meaning to try for awhile. Typically, their regular menu was replaced by a $130, "5-course" menu. Although some of the courses only had one fish course (we checked the menu online), I assumed before going that they would also have a vegetarian alternative. What restaurant, in this vegi-friendly day, doesn't? Craigie Street Bistro. The chipper waitress informed me vaguely apologetically that they no, they didn't really. She seemed momentarily worried that this would be a problem for me, but since I'd eat the fish, I let it go.

I listed the number of courses is quotes because this count included the amuse (who does that?), which the waitress did not warn me (after having told her I didn't eat meat!) was sliced duck breast and lardo. We discovered this when someone else put it down on our table, and we sent it back. No effort was made to apologize, substitute something we would eat, or discount the cost of our meal for the missing course. The glasses of wine we'd ordered both arrived too cold, though Adam's red was noticeably less cold than my white, as though an attempt was made to chill them differently. Weird. My white was fine, nothing distinctive (though it was described as similar to a Reisling w/ a hint of nutmeg), but Adam actively disliked his. Not off to a great start.
The "second" course was the only one in which there were two seafood dishes. Adam ordered the "Pastis- and Citrus-Cured Salmon: baby potatoes, fennel, preserved lemon, mache." The combination was good but nothing at all original. I would have preferred something light and creamy in the dish to lighten the flavors. If you're going to serve me a cliched combination of flavors, go for all the elements of the cliche. In fairness, Adam thought it was fine as is. I ordered the "Just Warm Wiley Maine Oysters: oyster and oyster mushroom veloute, American Osestra caviar." This was probably my favorite dish of the meal. While that's not exactly high praise, this was genuinely very enjoyable. I normally don't love oysters (except for Keller's heavenly Oysters and Pearls), but this was essentially a lovely, smooth, rich mushroom soup w/ an appropriately salty, sea flavor from the oysters and caviar. We wiped the bowl w/ the bread.

The next course was "Curry-Poached Dayboat Cod Cheeks: fresh Maine shrimp, celery cauliflower, blood orange emulsion." I think I liked this one more than Adam, though neither of us loved it. I'm just not a fan of poached fish in general (it's a flavorless texture thing, I think), unless the sauce is really something special to compensate. This combination reminded me a bit of a sort of sour, citrusy relish. Eh.

The final savory dish was "Butter-Poached Nova Scotia Lobster: pink peppercorns, radishes, Macomber turnip puree." I enjoyed this dish, as it was as rich and buttery as one would expect. It was very classic French, nothing new there. While it was delicious to eat, it was disappointing in its lack of any originality. When we'd first ordered, the waitress had extolled the virtues of the black truffles (available on this course for a $25 supplement), which apparently had been flown in from Italy, having been collected the day before. Adam ordered the supplement, and his lobster arrived with three or four slices of black truffle on the top. The truffles were disappointingly mild, having almost no discernible aroma or flavor. Emblematic of the overpriced blahness of this meal, perhaps?

I ordered the "CSB Profiteroles: maple sugar ice cream, red chile-Valrhona chocolate sauce," mostly because I figured it was a waste not to try both options and it generally falls to me to order the chocolate option in such cases w/ Adam. I couldn't taste any particular flavor in the ice cream, despite my efforts to isolate the maple flavor. The chocolate sauce did have a discernible hint of chile, which was a welcomed contrast to its otherwise overwhelming richness. Fine as profiteroles go, I just don't tend to love them (or really any overly chocolate dessert). Adam got the "Organic Sour Milk Panna Cotta: blood oranges, candied fennel, raspberry coulis." The panna cotta, while lacking the normal elegance of presentation (rather than a nicely-shaped sloping cone, it was a square cut out of a larger pan), was very delicious. I do like a nice berry coulis.

After some unmemorable "mignardises" and the presentation of a single red rose w/ the check, Adam and I headed back to Gannet. Sadly, class work doesn't respect Vday. While this whole post might make it seem as though I had a horrible Valentine's Day, I actually didn't. I love having dinner with Adam. The food and service weren't bad, just disappointing in its expensive uncreativity and the general feeling of lack of eagerness to accommodate, respectively. It just goes to show how disappointed expectations can leave a bad taste (no pun intended) in one's mouth w/ regard to what's otherwise a perfectly adequate experience.

I miss NYC!!!

Dean Kagan refers to Harvard as the "New York of law schools" so often that it's become something of a campus cliche. While HLS has been pretty great so far (caveat: I have not yet gotten any grades, so we'll see if I revise that opinion), my new town can't hold a candle to NYC food-wise. Cambridge has a couple of good restaurants (Rendezvous and Oleana are two faves), but in general the variety and quality leaves something seriously to be desired. So, when unhappy circumstances led to a last minute trip to New York yesterday, we decided, at the very least, to take culinary advantage. Korn is always game for a good meal (at least since he started having money to burn) and we convinced Chilton to come along with promises of red meat on the menu. Anyway, we finally got around to trying Scott Conant's Alto! Seeing him on the Top Chef finale* recently had reminded me that I wanted to try Alto, and it's been awhile since we've had really good Italian, so ended up there for a 9:15 reservation on Friday night.

Our table wasn't quite ready, so we clustered around the smallish bar, ordered cocktails and generally (apparently) made asses of ourselves. Adam got some slight variation on a Negroni, which was done in the classic style, singed orange peel and all. Andrew and I ordered the zenzero, which had white tequila, honey, ginger, and lime (I think?). Very delicious, but when the indecisive Chilton decided that he wanted one, the bartender told him that we'd gotten the last of his ginger. Since it was pretty obvious that Chilton was looking for an easy-drinking cocktail, the bartender offered to make a unseasonable cocktail that was currently off the menu. Gin, sugar, lemon, and lots and lots of fresh basil! The G&B Combination (or something like that) was fantastic! Apparently it's so popular that he keeps the ingredients around all year, because people will ask for it even when it's off the menu. Anyway, here we were--the guys all in suits since we came straight from the wake--making jokes about unsavory (i.e. potentially disease-ridden) ex of Chilton's current gf, and generally questioning whether it would be wise of us to share drinks w/ Chilton as a result, when the bartender asked how we all knew each other. After the moment of slightly sheepish silence that always accompanies this question, we said that we'd all been debaters. The bartender sort of chuckled as though this was what he'd expected...apparently he'd gone to Stuy years ago and had known the debate coach/team there. Here's to fulfilling stereotypes so many years after graduating from high school...oy.

Anyway, we're seated soon after, and quickly decide that the four course prix-fixe is the way to go. Andrew looked enthused over the tasting menu, but as all but one course had meat in it, Adam and I were not so keen on the idea. In the end, because we ordered two raw fish dishes and one cheese course a la carte, it was functionally a six course meal. So, finally, to the food...

The "Branzino Tartare: avocado, gremolata, and preserved lemon vinaigrette" was very good, nicely lemony, but the "Yellowfin Tuna "Susci": preserved truffles, baby watercress and sea salt" was amazing. The deep red tuna was rolled around the fillings, and it was so rich that it was practically meaty in its intensity. Even Chilton really liked it, and he doesn't generally like fish (much less raw fish).

For our real appetizers, I got the "Puree of Curried Butternut Squash Soup: whipped burrata and guanciale." I was assumed that the stock was vegetarian (which seems rare), but the soup was delicious. The "Seared Diver Scallops: caramelized potatoes, mushrooms and sunchoke puree" were also very good, basically as described. The boys liked the "Wagyu Beef Albese Style: shaved parmiagiano and picked baby mushrooms" and the "Slow Braised Short Ribs of Beef: vegetable and farro risotto," though obviously didn't try them.

For the pasta course, since I'd asked about vegetarian options, the waiter offered a polenta with mushrooms and some sort of semi-soft cheese which melted into the dish. It was absolutely fantastic! I have no idea why it wasn't on the regular menu. By far the best of the pasta course, in my option. The "Chanterelle and Braised Lumache Ravioli: truffled watercress puree" were good (didn't really taste snaily), but the watercress puree, though a lovely vivid green, could have been less intense...maybe something else in the sauce to cut the cress a bit? Adventure-averse Chilton ordered the "House Made Spaghetti: fresh tomato and basil" (the vegi pasta on the menu), which, while an excellent version of what it was described as being, was nothing more than that. The waiter had recommended it highly, but how could he think it could compare w/ the polenta? Korn got something with meat...can't remember...

For entrees, we got the "Imported Turbot: caramelized leeks, onions, endive, salsa verde and lentils" and the "Poached Dorade: caponata and golden raisin-pignoli mostarda." Both good, but weaker than the amazing tuna and polenta. Korn and Chilton both ordered the "Grilled Dry Aged Ribeye of Beef (18oz): hen of the woods mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, truffles and parmigiana." I'll admit, I tried the things underneath, which were sort of all stuck together w/ the melty parm, and it was sooo great. I'm sure it was soaked in meat juice or something, but I'm going to ignore this.

For dessert, I got the cheese, which included some sort of fresh cheese (a ricotta salata?) w/ figs, parmesan with truffle honey (SO GOOD), and something else...can't remember. Too busy remembering black truffles suspended in sweet, golden honey. Mmm...and the parmesan was good too. However, definitely enjoyed this board. I whined about two people wanting to get the "Apple "Tatin": muscovado gelato, dry fruit compote," convincing Chilton to order something else for variety, which was probably a mistake. This was the best of the desserts. The pumpkin creme brule with an espresso granita (I think) and the cardamum panna cotta with grapefruit (in sorbet, supremes, and foam) were both fine, but not nearly as good as the apple dessert. I can't remember anything in particular about the subsequent petit fours, except for one. Chilton (reaffirming his discerning palette) tried a chocolate one, said he liked it but couldn't identify the filing, so I tried it and discovered it was coffee-filled. I choked it down, unwilling to spit it out in my cloth napkin and making faces at Chilton the whole time. He was then like, "yeah, you're right, it was coffee!" Bad Chilton.

Anyway, a really fantastic meal, probably one of the best we've had in awhile. The service was friendly and attentive in the non-stuffy way we enjoy. Even if the dishes weren't all equally strong, all were at least enjoyable and some were outstanding. Definitely on the list to revisit! Why can't Boston have restaurants this good?

*Random side note: I love this show! Adam (and Korn) ate at Casa Mono about a month ago and saw Ilan still working the line, which led him to assume that this meant Ilan didn't win...but I guess he proved the old saying about what happens when you assume...Anyway, last week, Adam and I were sitting around Gannett w/ the gf of the VP, who told us that she's known Ilan since they were 14 and she's the one who, having been a big Season 1 fan, suggested he try out for the show! Now Ilan is Top Chef, I'm the VP gf, and Adam will likely become even more imaginary...

Don't call it molecular gastronomy!

So I haven't posted in (gasp) almost a year. It isn't that I haven't been eating anywhere, so I will blame it on a combination of severe laziness and the business of starting law school. However, last week I got news that most foodies worldwide would kill to get...I HAVE AN EL BULLI RESERVATION. Next July 3rd, Spain, here I come! I can tell how much my friends value food by their reactions to this news ("HOLY GOD" from Helen to "wait, you're going to Spain just for dinner?" from various skeptical law school friends, with degrees of enthusiasm in between). I'd sent my email request on October 14th (almost midnight, Spain time), so every week that passed without word made me more excited. The email came Tuesday morning, which was a perfect way to purge the ickiness of the previous week's stress. Funnily enough, Adam still has an outstanding email request...could you imagine if we got two reservations this year? I realize the odds are astronomically small, and we wouldn't go twice in one year, but still an amusing musing.

Anyway, given my upcoming El Bulli reservation, I figured that this would be as good a time as any to finally blog about a meal from this past summer. Adam was working DC for the summer, which meant that I was spending a lot of my weekends down there, and of course we did a lot of eating. His Penn Quarter location put us smack in the middle of three of Jose Andres's restaurants (Cafe Atlantico, Jaleo, and Zaytinya). We ate at all of them multiple times, and they each have their charms, but hands down the best of the meals was at minibar in Cafe Atlantico. Apparently Andres and some of his chefs have all trained w/ Adria in Spain, and Adria's influence is openly acknowledged. However, we were told not to call the type of cuisine "molecular gastronomy." Anyway, here is the menu for the evening...as this meal was a few months ago, I don't remember details on everything, but what I do remember is correlative to what was memorable.

Snacks:
"Mojito": one of the coolest techniques - a small, delicate balloon resting on a spoon with a tiny sprig of micromint (Andres seems a bit fan of microherbs!), its liquid center was a pretty standard mojito flavor
Passion Fruit Whiskey Sour: I remember liking this shot...not sure there was anything special beyond passion fruit and whiskey being an unusual combination
Pork Rinds w/ Maple Syrup: we obviously did not eat the pork rinds - I forget what replaced them, but I don't think we loved whatever it was
Salmon Roe Cone: fine, but sort of a poor rendition of Keller's salmon tartar cone. I never love salmon roe, just too big and salty.
Beet Tumbleweed: this dish looked sort of as you'd expect from something called "tumbleweed," a deep purplish-red tangle of airy crunch. Not super strong on flavor, but a clear beetiness and cool texture.
Saffron-Yogurt Meringue: this little bite-sized meringue was fine, not a super strong saffron flavor and its not like meringue is an amazingly inventive technique
Olive Oil Bon-Bon: OMIGOD!! By far one of the simplest and best dishes we ate the whole meal. A thin, sweet candy shell explodes into a pool of deliciously smooth oil.
Ferran Adira "Olives": like the mojito, little balloons that explode in your mouth w/ olivey essence. One green, one black. I won points for correctly guessing that these would be "olives" while they were being plated. Fantastic. Makes me glad I've forced myself to develope a taste for olives.
Crispy Fish: little fish, less than an inch long, eyes and all, fried crisp, served in a paper cone...they were salty and fishy and once you get over the weirdness of fish that small, not anything amazing.
Cotton Candy-Foie Gras: in our version, the foie was replaced by a chunk of avocado. I love cotton candy, so that's never a complaint, but the combination of cotton candy and avocado was a bit bland.

Flavors & Textures:
Salmon-Pineapple "Ravioli" w/ Crispy Quinoa: this dish doesn't stand out, I remember thinking it was okay but not particularly amazing. I do like quinoa, though.
Deconstructed Glass of White Wine: this was one of those dishes that's more conceptually cool and fun than anything. Basically a thin layer of white grape jello on which are arranged a series of flavor essences...a small shaving of zest, a tiny microherb leaf, a drop of a fruit, a sprinkle of spice. A fun guessing game to identify the flavors, and we got almost all of them right.
Corn on the Cob: I don't remember exactly, but I think they were tiny baby corns, similar to some corn dish on the brunch menu.
"Ajo Blanco": A very cool deconstruction. Top layer was white, snowish shavings, working down to a pool of garlicky olive oil. Definitely one of our favorites.
Organized Caesar Salad: a sort of salad spring roll...the lettuce is rolled up, one stack is topped with a tiny egg yoke (quail? cannot remember) and the other is topped w/ parmesan shavings. The roll was wrapped in something white and crunchy...sliced jicama, maybe? A cool take on the standard salad.
Conch Fritter: this dish is also on the brunch menu, so we'd had it a few times before, but really like it. The fritter is filled w/ a liquid center of conch (I assume) soup. As best as we could figure out, you basically freeze the soup and then batter and deep-fry the frozen cube, which melts during cooking. Definitely something I want to try at home.
Smoked Oyster w/ Apples: nothing particular stands out...I don't love oysters, so this was unlikely to be a fav
Zucchini in Textures: basically a zucchini gelee w/ zucchini seeds in it, if I remember correctly. I don't particularly love zucchini, so this one wasn't a favorite.
Hot & Cold Foie Gras Soup: we got a shot of gaspacho instead, very tasty (Zaytina and Jaleo both also do good gaspacho).
"Guacamole": A sort of guacamole sushi roll. Tomato sorbet rolled in thinly sliced avocado. It was topped with some sort of corn chip...fritos? Cool concept, tasty and refreshing.
Feta "Linguine": another fantastic favorite of the meal! Apparently the water in which feta sits (everyone who's ever bought feta can picture this, I assume?) can somehow be turned into these clear noodles. The noodles, very lightly dressed (some sort of creamy sauce), were absolutely full of flavor...I think I would have eaten a whole bowl, though Adam wondered if it'd get old after a few more bites.
Egg 63 degrees w/ Caviar: very very soft egg, topped with caviar. Good in the what you'd expect from description sort of way. I really want to learn how to properly slooooow cook an egg.
Lobster Americaine: a bite of lobster through which was stuck a pipette of containing greenish liquid. The point is to squeeze the pipette into your mouth w/ the lobster. Better not to think too much about what made the greenish sauce. Kind of eh.
New-New England Clam Chowder: I don't remember this on at all. Oh well.
Breaded Cicala w/ Lemon: don't remember this one either...perhaps the wine and food were starting to fog my brain by this point in the meal.
Philly Cheese Steak: we had something else replace the meat, of course...eggplant? who knows...can't remember...though I think I liked whatever it was.

Sweet End:
Japanese Baby Peaches w/ Yogurt: the tiny green peaches were very very cool. I like minifruits, like baby kiwis. A nice, light dessert.
Apples w/ Red Wine "Fredy Girardet": I think I remember liking this one, but can't remember exactly...I think it was little apple balls, sorbet, and a red wine gelee, but wouldn't swear...
Pina Colada: a dessert on the regular menu, but I really like it. Pineapple gelee under (I believe) coconut foam or something similar.
Saffron Gumdrop in Edible Wrapper: cool concept, sort of eh taste
Fruit Cocktail Injection: another pipette, this time through fruit, but this one was better than the mystery innards green one.
Maracuya Marshmallows: no real memory...I always like marshmallows (we'll just ignore that they're made from ground up horse hooves or something...)
Chocolate Covered Corn Nuts: can't remember...
Halls Lollipop: okay, so I understand that this is conceptually cool or something, but kind of eww...seriously, who really wants to end a good meal with the taste of cough drops?

So, end thoughts? Some things were amazing, some were cool, and some were just okay. However, the meal was not super expensive (around $100 for the food, I believe) as long tastings go, and probably the most fun nice meal we've ever had! Since it's counter seating, it was social. We talked to the couple on either side of us and were able to ask questions to the chefs as each dish was prepared/served. We definitely want to go back again...perhaps sometime next summer, so we can directly compare to El Bulli. CANNOT WAIT.

BHSB2: Return to Stone Barns

Since Adam goes back to school this weekend, we wanted to do another dinner at Stone Barns before he left. We wondered if we would be remembered from our last visit, but weren't sure how to find out. Luckily, we didn't have to do anything at all. We were seated right away, and I noticed the maitre d' who had shown us the kitchen on our last visit speaking to our waiter immediately before he (the waiter) came to our table. Since the waiter greeted us with a casual familiarity instead of the normal "so, is this your first time dining with us" routine, I suspected that the maitre d' had recognized us and told the waiter (who looked like a cross between Christian Asmar and Jimmy Kimmel). This was confirmed when the maitre d' himself came to the table to welcome us back and say that "the chef would like to cook for you tonight." We were going to do the tasting menu anyone (not realizing that the menu had changed since our last visit), but how can you say no to that? So, we specified that we don't eat meat or poultry, and without knowing what to expect from there...

Cocktail sidebar: I ordered the "carnivale" cocktail, which included some sort of pumpkin puree, campari, orange juice and vodka...at least, I think it was vodka. Couldn't really taste a lot of the alcohol, but it was very interesting, savory and refreshing (odd, I know). I could really taste the pumpkin. Adam ordered the elderflower champagne cocktail, which he had before, tasted pretty much like a slightly off (not in a bad way) champagne.

We were brought an array of amuses to start. I'm not sure if this (and the petite fours at the end) are part of the newly revamped restaurant (they were closed last week for "renovations" in the kitchen - no idea what - and the menu structure is totally changed) or a tasting menu perk. Anyway, in the order they were set down:
-celery root soup: warm, as good as could be expected, don't love celery flavor
-herbed parmesan crisps on a stick (so they looked like giant lacy lollipops): as advertised, but I'm the perfect audience for that sort of thing
-whole mini white turnip: ate the green too, plain but crunchy and fresh, better as a concept ("here! eat this lovely fresh vegi from our garden") than an actual amuse
-fresh sardine on spice bread: amazing, and I expected to think it was awful. The spice bread tasted almost like gingerbread (but with a softer, breadier texture), and you could taste the freshness of the sardine for all its fishy saltiness. Baffling, but it worked
-beet "burger": beet tartar on a mini bun, surprisingly sweet, with just a hint of mustard

The first course of our tasting was a large sardine with a sauce of soy beans, apple, fennel, and parsley. It was a bright green color from the soy beans and parsley, and each flavor of the sauce was detectable on its own while blending together in a light, wonderful combination. Had it been with some other fish, I think this could have vied with the second course as my favorite of the meal. However, while I now appreciate sardine as something more than just the slimy, canned, absolutely foul pizza topping, I am not a fan of its strong taste.

The second course was fluke with roasted fennel, blood orange, and mustard. The sauce was a bit sour on its own - I wasn't sure at first if the citrus was grapefruit or orange, but it worked amazingly well with the delicious fluke. Fluke isn't a fish with which I'm familiar in its cooked form, as my only previous experience with it has been in ceviche form (like the appetizer at Le Bernardin, which I had enjoyed last Christmas). This was our favorite of the meal.

The third course was ricotta ravioli (in a gnocchi style, not sure what made it ravioli) with parmesan foam, pureed sweet potato, roasted chestnut, and mini brussel sprouts. I have no idea where Stone Barns gets these mini brussel sprouts (having never seen them in a store), but I love them in any way they are included in a dish. This very wintry vegetarian dish was perfectly suited to my tastes, and I enjoyed it a great deal. However, it wasn't surprising in the way that Barber's outstanding fish dishes can be. The chestnuts were oddly starchy, almost dry tasting (in the way that a wine is "dry," not actually a wetness classification), which were interesting with the richness of other parts of the dish.

The fourth course was a faro stew with "two hour" poached egg on top. I'm not sure how an egg is poached for that long, but the results was a creamy, light, so-barely-cooked-it-melts-on-your-plate garnish. The taste of cinnamon was pleasantly and surprisingly strong in this stew, which was much better than the faro dish Allison had on our last visit. The whole thing was very comfortable and hearty, another excellent winter vegetarian dish. I am starting to have a greater appreciation for faro, a grain that I've often associated with too "granola" for my taste vegan cooking.

The last savory dish was poached lobster with cabbage. Since we weren't really sure how many courses to expect, this was a pleasant, not-entirely-expected end to the savory part of the meal. The large pieces of poached lobster were soft and succulent, and the cabbage, which had been stewed overnight in port and raspberry vinegar was a nicely sweet-and-tart accompaniment. I'm not usually one to rave about lobster (just not my thing), but I really loved this preparation of it.

We did the cheese assortment before dessert, since I've never had their cheese and was in the mood. The cheese itself was good but not outstanding: a fixed combination of a cheddary cheese with a smooth, fruity jelly, a creamy, rinded (is that a word? it had a rind) goat with candied pecans, and a mild stilton with pickled fennel. The condiments were suprisingly good, especially the pickled fennel. I'm now will to declare that I don't actually dislike fennel.

We ordered our regular desserts, but were first brought a pre-dessert of apple cider gelee, apple puree, and a green apple sorbet. This was similar in structure to the quince dessert from our last visit, but the execution was much better. It was a fresh, light palate cleanser that I ate in its entirety, enjoying each part and the combination of textures and apple flavors. We ordered the same pumpkin souffle, again enjoying it. Our second choice was the seckel pear, which was poached and stuffed with walnuts, with a walnut cake and saffron sabayon. The walnut stuffing was a good addition to an otherwise very normal poached pear, but it was an enjoyable dish nonetheless.

For the first time in our Stone Barns experience, there were petit fours at the end of the meal: coconut-coated marshmellows (loved them!) and cocoa-coated almonds (a bit bitter in the way of real cocoa powder, very good but I think Adam enjoyed them more than I did - I was just too full).

Needless to say, the service was excellent throughout the meal, with both an attentive waiter and a maitre d' who stopped by a few times to check in and chat. Unsure of what to expect from the bill, since we hadn't seen a menu, we were pleasantly surprised to see that although we'd been charged $125 for the tasting menu, they had deducted $100 from the bottom of the check. We asked to see the menu after paying the bill (which has been completely restructured) and realized we'd essentially gotten a 5 course tasting for the price of the 3 course. I'm not sure where the $125 figure came from (not listed on the menu), but can't complain. Sadly, since Adam will be back in Cambridge for the foreseeable future, I'm not sure when we will return, but I can't wait!

Del Posto Birthday

As Helen is pretty much our only foodie friend in New York (sadness), Adam and I decided that we would take her out for dinner as a combination Chrismukkah/birthday gift (she's an Epiphany baby). After many fruitless conversations about where to go, Helen decreed that while she wouldn't pick a restaurant (drat!), we ought to go to one where none of us had previously eaten. Places to which we had been considering returning, including Bouley and Stone Barns, were out, so we decided on Del Posto, the newest Batali/Bastianich endeavor.

On Friday, we got a 5:30 reservation for the following day, and practically fasted in anticipation so that we could be as hungry as possible. We drove in from White Plains, where we'd been staying with Adam's parents. The valet parking was a nice touch, especially since, at $29, it was about the cost of a garage and much more convenient on a rainy night. As the first step in Batali's bid for four stars, the room is much more grand than any of his other restaurants. It has a forties glamour, with dark, curved railings flanking the wide staircases (going both down to the wine cellar and up to the mezzanine) and the edge of the seating areas on both floors. The ceiling is two stories high, and the color scheme is all black, brown, and tan, including the geometrically tiled floor. We were shown to a table on the first floor against the windows (gauzy curtains semi-obscured the view of alley-like 16th Street). While the room is massive and obviously seats significantly more than Babbo, the tables are well spaced and the room doesn't feel crowded. I liked the decor, but Adam thought it was too stuffy and formal, reminding him of a hotel lobby. The piano music coming from the bar area was, I'll admit, a bit much.

So, by the time we sit down, everyone is famished. We start with a glass of white wine each. Wine is sold by the (rather expensive) glass instead of by the quarto as at Babbo. The cheapest ones seemed to be about $10, with most hovering in the $15 range and some going more than twice that high. I had a glass of the Quinterella (or something like that), and Adam and Helen both had something that was printed on the bill as "Fiano." Fine, but nothing astounding. Bread was actually very good. The warm-from-the-oven assortment included mini foccacia, baguettes, and crispy breadstick-like pieces. While Adam and I didn't try the whipped lardo, Helen said that it was good, bacony and smooth.

After some menu translation, we settled on four antipasti, three pastas, a risotto, and two entrees. It was a bit too much in the end, but not overwhelming, and we wanted to try as many things as possible. The waitress was very helpful in telling us which dishes did not include meat (not many, especially in the pasta section) and very accommodating when we asked about ordering a la carte off the tasting menu.

The antipasti course was the best in overall quality of dishes. Everyone seemed to agree that the "Carciofi alla Romana" was our least favorite. The artichokes were too crunchy for my taste (not in the nicely roasted way), requiring the use of a knife to cut and seeming barely cooked. They bore little resemblance to the deliciously roasted, marinated vegetables we remembered from our trip to Rome a year and a half ago. The pickled red onions were good, though, and the remaining liquid of olive oil, lemon, and probably some vinegar, with the spice of a little red pepper, was great for bread dipping. The "Fungi Misti with Puntarelle" was Adam and Helen's favorite, though I was torn between that and the "Cauliflower Sformato with Skate Salad." The assorted mushrooms were both tender and crisp in parts, with an array of earthy flavors expected with different varieties of good quality mushrooms. The vinaigrette included anchovies, which worried me (not an anchovy fan) but was actually fine. The bitter puntarelle was surprisingly good, especially since I normally dislike bitter greens. The cauliflower sformato was a cylinder of light, creamy flavor, and the skate salad (which included cooked spinach, grapefruit supremes, and small bits of cauliflower) was a nice mix of flavors and textures. I think I liked this so much because the sformato reminded me of an extremely airy quiche or even (and I know Adam and Helen found this a bit horrifying) a very dressed up version of one of my favorite childhood comfort foods, broccoli casserole. Our fourth appetizer was "Swordfish Carpaccio with Lemon and Borage," ordered off the seafood tasting menu. We all enjoyed this one, but didn't really rank it among the other appetizers because it is very difficult to compare directly. Good fish carpaccio is more about the quality of the fish rather than an innovative mixture of ingredients or skilled cooking. It is recommended if you love raw fish, but not if you're looking to be surprised by the dish.

Our pasta choices were, in the end, very simple. According to our waitress, there were only three options that did not include meat, so we ordered those. However, if you do eat meat, much of the menu will likely require translation. We asked, for example, what "cibreo" (with the pici) was, and were told it was a combination of testicles, coxcombs, and some other animal part that I missed amid my suppressed giggles. Yes, apparently I have a twelve-year-old's sense of humor. Oh well. One thing about the pasta menu that we did find a bit puzzling was the option at the bottom of the list. For $23 and $27/person respectively, you can have a choice of two or three pastas for the table. It is unclear to me why any party of more than a person or two would do this, as it just doesn't make economic sense if you would order a dish a person anyway. There are only two pastas that cost $27 or more, and we were told that the "for the table" portions per person were "slightly less than a third" of a normal order. Also, the waitress said that they would split normal orders between plates if we requested it. In the end, our three pastas ended up averaging less than $23 a person and we were happy to pass our plates around the table.

So, on to what we actually ordered. Helen was insistent, even before we realized how our meatlessness limited our options, on the "Spaghetti with Crab, Scallions, and Jalapeno." This sounds like a very innovative combination, and it was good. I like the prominent use of scallion in many dishes we tried, and the spice of the jalapeno added an unusual heat to a pasta dish. The pasta was a bit on the al dente side, however, and the crab, which didn't seem to be of the most overwhelming good quality (not bad, just not amazingly fresh) didn't seem to add a great deal. I think it would have been just as good (and probably a good bit cheaper) to have the dish without the crab. The "Ricotta and Chard Nudi with Caciocavallo" was very good, but in the way of comfortable, homey dishes that are exactly what you expect them to be. The butter could have been a little more browned and the grating of caciocavello could have been a little more generous, but the gnudi were nicely plump and pillowy. Caciocavello is a mild cow's milk cheese, and not head cheese, as I had guessed from my knowledge of other ingredients used on the menu and a shot-in-the-dark attempt at translation from a language I do not speak. The "Gnocchi with Passato and Pesto" got a bit of a three bears review. Adam thought the passato (a tomato sauce) was among the best he'd ever had, I thought it wasn't quite sweet enough, and Helen thought it was too sweet. I had assumed from the menu that it would be a mixed tomato and basil sauce, but instead half the gnocchi were dressed with the passato and half with a thick pesto. Still, the gnocchi were a perfect texture and this dish falls into the same simple but good category as the gnudi.

Before our main courses, we had the "Risotto with lobster." All the risottos are listed as for two or more, and this one served up a hearty portion for three. The flavors of this dish were excellent, rich and red with nice chunks of lobster and a good use of sliced scallion for a fresh, oniony tang. As a testament to the kitchen's risotto-making skills, however, it was a sad disappointment. The rice was too crunchy, and excess liquid made it almost soupy rather than the thickly creamy as risotto ought to be.

Sometime before the entrees, Helen and Adam both ordered a glass of red wine. The waitress got descriptions and they ordered without looking at the menu again, though she did offer to bring it. Adam's fine Barola, we later learned, bore an unmerited $35 price tag. Helen got a Bastianich Vespa Rosso, which came out of a new bottle and needed to sit for a bit to mellow a scotch-like sharpness.

By the time entrees arrived, Helen and I were starting to struggle with fullness and I was relieved we had only ordered two. The black bass came on a bed of mushrooms (there were also crispy bits on top), tomato, and a bright green scallion puree with some larger scallion pieces in it. This dish was probably the best of the entire meal. Again, I loved the use of those scallions. The "Cod with Hake Mantecato and Clam Salad" vied with the artichokes for the worst of the meal. The Cod itself was plain, on the mantecato, which was a creamy pool that had a nice texture but lacked strong flavor. The clam salad turned out to be three clams on their shell (which were a bit fishy), a few pieces of dark red grapefruit, and small slices of artichoke. This is one of those dishes that is decent if you get a bit of everything in the bite, but once we'd finished the so-called salad, no one was eager to eat the remaining, rather boring fish.

Before dessert, we did the selection of three parmesians (2 year, 4 year, and 6 year). I was disappointed that there wasn't a more extensive selection of cheeses (especially since Otto has a good one), but the parmesians were good. Condiments were tasty: a spicy marinated pear slice with horseraddish, a wonderful 25-year-old balsamic, a lambrusco jelly, and a piece of honeycomb in a pool of rich honey.

Nothing jumped out at me from the dessert menu, which I always find disappointing. We were tempted by the zabaglione, which we could see being made is copper pots at a station next to our table, but decided against it after Helen chose the "Budino di Fichi: Warm Fig Pudding, Pomegranate Sorbetto, Zabalione, Salty Caramel." This was our favorite of the desserts. While the caramel was not a prominent flavor, the cake was moist and rich and the sorbet was good. The "Kremeschnitte: Semolina Mousse, Celery Marmellata, Celery-Apple Sorbetto" was the most interesting dessert. The semolina mouse had a thick, almost gritty (but not in a bad way) texture that was surprisingly good, and it was sandwiched between these great cookies made from puffed pastry that had been weighted down during baking so that they were crisp and flaky. That's a baking trick I will definitely try at home. The celery-apple sorbetto was very light and refreshing, though the candied celery wasn't particularly good. Celery, while creative in a dessert, is not really an ingredient that I ever think adds much to a dish. My least favorite dessert was was the "Palacinke: Chesnut Crepes, Persimmon Semifreddo, Rum Glassato." The crepes were pretty plain, not stuffed with anything. The rum flavor was too strong for my taste and overwhelmed the semifreddo and crepes.

Finally, after dessert, the extensive petite four cart was rolled over. This was a meal highlight, in my opinion. There were probably about 12-15 different treats, and we asked to try all of them. My favorites were a light, crisp orange meringue, sour cherry and passion fruit gelees, and a mint pastille. More interesting offerings included rosemary shortbread, pignoli nut cookies, and anise biscotti, though the pignoli cookies were the only of these that we particularly liked. There were some rich chocolate-based offerings if that's your preference (it wasn't ours).

After lingering over tea and petite fours, we didn't leave our table until 10:00PM. Although we were a bit late for our reservation, that was still over three and a half hours of solid eating plus the time we remained even after the check was paid. Service was attentive throughout the meal (the staff is very extensive), but at no time did we feel rushed through our meal or out the door. The star-struck foodie in us was minorly thrilled by Lidia's almost constant wandering through the dining room, and even an appearance by Mario at a neighboring table. However, given this celeb presence, we were disappointed in the food. Nothing was bad, and some things were very good, but it was not what we had hoped for or would expect from a place that covets four stars. I am willing to acknowledge that if we ate his meat dishes, we might have had an entirely different experience. Still, given that it is more expensive (though only slightly) and more formal than any of Batali's other restaurants, if you're looking for great Italian, go to Babbo. I am glad to have tried it, but won't be heading back anytime soon.

The Best Thing About Suburbia: Blue Hill at Stone Barns

One of my favorite New York restaurants isn't in Manhattan at all. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is located in Pocantico Hills, New York (I believe it is near Tarrytown) on the old Rockefeller Estate. Dan Barber, of NYC's Blue Hill, opened the restaurant in a complex of renovated stone buildings (hence the name), and his menu is heavily influenced by the produce and animals raised right on the estate's farm. As a result, many dishes will feature the same seasonal ingredients. Since Adam's parents live in Westchester, Stone Barns is a convenient drive when we stay with him. For Adam's birthday, we all went out to dinner there. This was Adam's fourth visit and my third, and it never fails to impress us. The menu is priced by two, three, or four courses, and you can pick any dishes to make up those courses. We did four courses each, covering everything on the menu that Adam and I would eat.

For our first course, we had the "Winter Salad...baby fennel, marinated button mushrooms, pistachios, cauliflower and this morning's soft/fried farm egg." The ingredients, as always, were fresh and delicious. On our previous visits, we had gotten the 11 herb salad with the egg. Bottom line, order whatever salad incarnation contains the fried egg, you cannot go wrong there. The "Maine Crab Salad...soy bean vinaigrette and yogurt sorbet" was better than I had excepted from the description, with the beans adding a surprisingly bright, slightly crunchy texture to the otherwise soft salad.

Second course was the "Cauliflower Soup...white tomato parfait and poached shrimp." The soup was a nicely warm contrast to the previous courses, and the shrimp were tender. I don't particularly like plain cauliflower (though I wonder if anyone does, it's pretty boring), but this soup was rich and flavorful. The "Hardwood Island Mussels...marinated fennel, pistachios and saffron tapioca" were a surprising dish. The shelled mussels rested in a bath with a hint of sweetness, including champagne vinegar (though I don't think that accounts for it, but I've forgotten what else the waiter mentioned) . The saffron tapioca didn't have as much flavor as I would have expected/liked, but they added a nice texture.

The third course had the "Farona Beet Fettuccine...poached maine lobster and beet sauce." I hadn't been quite sure what to expect from this one, but we ordered it because it sounded interesting (and didn't contain meat). The fettuccine itself red streaked with (presumably) beet juice and had the lovely tenderness of fresh pasta. The chunks of lobster were large and succulent, and the thick, red beet sauce was slightly sour and surprisingly good with the lobster. The other dish with this course was probably the most disappointing of the meal (or of any meal we've had at Stone Barns): "Wild Striped Bass...pistou of winter vegetables." While the pea broth was good, the bass was a bit tough to cut (though it tasted fine) and the vegetables (an assortment that included bits of cauliflower) seemed like it could have come out of a frozen package. I imagine that they didn't, but the dish would have been better without the boring assortment.

The fourth course had the best dish of a very good meal: "Sturgeon...celery root puree, hedge hog mushroom and lobster-turnip sauce." The sturgeon had a wonderful smoked flavor that added an unexpected dimension to the flavors of the mushrooms and sauce. I wanted to savor every last taste off this plate. The other fish in this course was the "Poached Cod...crushed fingerling potatoes, portobello confit, braised fennel, capers, cauliflower and almond sauce." Adam had eaten a similar entree on his one trip to Blue Hill in the city (I wasn't there), and he was a fan. While I really liked the mushrooms in this one, the caper flavor was a bit strong for my taste. However, I recognize that it's still pretty good, and if you like capers, you'll probably think it's fantastic. Allison also had a vegetarian farro dish (not on the menu) that was prepared like a risotto with vegetables. Pretty good, in a hearty grain sort of way.

Sadly, Laurie and Allison decided against dessert, which meant two fewer things we could try. However, I immediately settled on the "Pumpkin Souffle...poached cranberries and ginger cookie." The souffle came out and it wasn't in a ramekin! We were baffled as to how it had been done, musing on parbaking. It wasn't as tall as a ramekin souffle, but was still light and delicious. We later found out that they chill it, wrapped in plastic, and then remove the plastic for baking and it keeps its shape. Definitely need to attempt this at home. Anyway, the souffle was atop the ginger cookie, with a layer of pure pumpkin between the cookie and the souffle that probably served a structural purpose of some sort but had the benefit of adding a hint of greater pumpkin intensity. The cranberries tasted like an excellent cranberry sauce, in the Thanksgiving tradition, went well with pumpkin. Jerry got the "Apple Cobbler...oatmeal, cinnamon ice cream and apple cider gelee," which was very good cobbler but nothing innovative. The third dessert was the "Quince...cranberry cocktail gelee, candied almonds and farmer's cheese sabayon." This one was like a very fancy jello parfait, sort of an interesting mix of textures: the congealed gelee, chunks of quince and nuts, and the smoothness of the sabayon on top. Interesting to try, but not high on my list to have again.

Stone Barns has an interesting selection of teas and herbal infusions, and it is worth giving them a try. I had the chocolate mint tea, which had a deliciously sweet smell of chocolate and mint, though the tea itself was mostly minty.

Service throughout the meal was fine, the waiter was perfectly nice and the water glasses were frequently refilled. However, food was very slow coming out of the kitchen. While I think this was not really the waiter's fault, he could have made more of an effort to notice how long we'd been waiting between the clearing of one course and the arrival of the next (more than half an hour between second and third, and over twenty minutes on others), and at least reassured us that we hadn't been forgotten. This has never happened on previous dinners, so I'm willing to chock it up to an off night. As the food didn't suffer, no real complaints.

At the end of the meal, we asked if it would be possible to see the kitchen. The maitre d' came over after we'd paid the check and escorted us into the kitchen. He pointed out the various stations, answered our questions (including about the souffle), and was generally very gracious and pleasant. When we asked how often Barber was in the kitchen, he said pretty much every night and then asked if we'd like to meet him, calling someone to get the chef. Barber himself is a slightly goofy looking man, skinny with wild hair. He introduced himself as "Dan" and was exceedingly nice. Adam mentioned how much we love his food, having eaten here a number of times before, etc. Dan said that we should let the kitchen know when we are next in, and they'll send out something special. I'm not sure if this will come to anything, but definitely intend to find out. As we were leaving, I asked if I could have a copy of the menu, which the maitre d' happily pulled out of its leather folder and handed to me. With that sort of attention and the excellence of the food, the slowness of the meal was forgotten in my eagerness to return.

Cru Birthday

The best thing about my birthday in recent years is the food. Granted, I don't particularly like birthdays, but they are, at the very least, the excuse for a nice meal out. This year, at my insistence (it only took five birthdays!), Adam made the reservation. Actually, he made a number of reservations, but we settled on Cru.

Cru does four amuses, but one (a variation on a monte cristo) contained meat, which rarely happens to us. The other three were all solidly good: a delicate cone filled with goat cheese, a fried risotto ball, and a small, soft cheese tartlet.

After looking over the menu and talking to the waitress, we decided on two tasting menus, the regular one and a three course white truffle menu. Disappointingly, she was very inflexible about substitutions and said that any changes would require that we be charged the a la carte price for any dish we subbed in. We've never had a non-vegetarian tasting menu that doesn't require at least one substitution, and I've never been told that I would have to pay an additional item cost. The service throughout the meal wasn't bad in any specific way, but didn't feel particularly good either. Since the regular tasting menu was four courses and only three courses of the white truffle tasting menu did not contain meat, we decided to add an additional trio of crudos to even out the flighting.

The first course of the regular tasting menu was "Gently cooked Cobia, Tart Pear Puree, Cauliflower and Yogurt Dressing," though it was announced as hamachi when set down on the table. I wasn't a huge fan, thought the flavors were too mellow, but Adam liked it pretty well. For the crudos, we got "White Tuna, Olive Praline, Caper-Espresso and Frisee," "Langoustine, Green Papaya-Truffle Salad, Gooseberry and Gin Sauce," and "Kinme Dai, Micro Shiso, Red Salt, and Laudemio Olive Oil." The menu descriptions made the preparations seem very complex with all these ingredients, but actually the garnishes were very tiny and only added a hint of flavor. As the fish was all excellent quality, that is not necessarily a bad thing, though I would have preferred a bit more intensity. The tuna was excellent and much more subtle than I would have expected from the strong flavors of olive, caper, and espresso. The langoustine was my favorite, and the kinme dai, which was the most bland tasting, was my least.

The second course gave us our first truffle course, which was absolutely amazing. It was the "Truffled Mozzarella: Toasted Almond & White Polenta Soup, Braised Fennel and Quince Puree." Imagine a savory pool of slightly melting, fresh mozzarella in a pool of buttery, truffly deliciousness. I'm not sure that this is so much a testament to the innovation of the chef as to his ability to combine wonderfully luxurious ingredients, but I did not complain. The other dish was diver scallops with mushrooms and some sort of cooked greens (can't remember exactly). The greens tasted vaguely like creamed spinach, and this one wasn't amazing.

Third course was "Pullet Egg: Parmesan Broth, Cracked Irish Oats with Guanciale, Olive-truffle Sauce." Like the previous truffle dish, this one was dominated by the taste of creamy decadence rather than any particularly subtle flavors. Again, delicious. The "Carnaroli Risotto, West Coast Sea Urchin, Basinga Tomato, Capers and Tarragon" was very good, well cooked, one of the better dishes of the meal.

Fourth course on the truffle menu was "European Turbot: Green asparagus and Lentils Passatina, A Sea Urchin Sabayon." This was the most disappointing of the truffle dishes by far. The fish was pretty plain, despite it's coating of white truffles. The regular tasting dish, however, was the best of its menu. The "Main Lobster, Lobster-Squash Bisque, Shiitake and Apple Hubbard Squash Tatin" was rich and delicious. We savored every last bite of it.

The regular tasting came with a pre-dessert of "Plum-Sake Consomme, Yogurt Sorbet and Yuzu Cloud." Nothing amazing, but a nice, light taste before dessert. We selected the "Sweet Potato Beignet, Huckleberry Compote, Vanilla-Pernod Ice Cream & Boylans Root Beer." This was absolutely delicious. Like Hearth's doughnuts, this was a well-done, dressed up version of a sweet comfort food. The "Passion Brulee, Coconut Tapioca, Strawberry Mouse and Basil Ice Cream," was also good, though not as good. The strawberry mouse just tasted like sorbet, though the basil was interesting and refreshing. Tapioca is always fun. The petit fours were excellent. There was a warn, soft chocolate truffle, a pineapple gelee (I've become a big fan of gelees) , and a molasses candy that tasted like gingerbread.

We also had a number of good to interesting glasses of wine, which sadly I don't remember. I'd love to go back with a true oenophile. In the meantime, I will enjoy a newfound appreciation for the potential of white truffles.

Spotted Pig

We went to the Spotted Pig early on a warm, sunny summer evening. With its doors open onto the sidewalk, the gastropub let in the beautiful weather. We were shown to a small table with two little stools. While it wasn't super comfortable, the place has a cute charm that is made more irrestible by the delicious food.

We started with two salads, one with carrot, avocado, cilantro, cumin and orange and the other with radish, parmesan, lemon, olive oil, and basil. Both were excellent, light and seemingly simple, but much harder than expected to recreate at home. (Attempts with the carrot one were respectable, the raddishes came out much worse.)

The much-lauded "Sheep's Ricotta Gnudi with Crispy Sage and Brown Butter" were delicious, exactly as described but then, that's a description I was sure I would love. This was the first time I had ever had gnudi. These cheese-based, soft dumplings, like gnocchi, lend themeselves well to being coated in a thick, smooth sauce. Perhaps it would be better suited to a colder day, but I was glad they are a year-round menu item.

"Smoked trout salad, red onion, egg, taragon" was the sort of dish that would lend itself well to a brunch dish. As I am a big brunch fan, this is not a complaint. It tasted pretty much like you would expect from the ingredients included.

The only entree we ordered (the rest were appetizers) was a halibut with pea puree & pea shoots. The fish was well cooked, and the bright pea flavor was delicious (and inspiring - we played with pea foam at our next dinner party). A bit of hot pepper added a bit of contrast to the almost sweet peas.

Excellent, reasonably priced meal. Can't wait to go back.

Hearth

Hearth turned out to be one of the few really great meals we have had recently. Many meals have been good, with some outstanding parts, but it's rare these days that a new restaurant wows me or an entire meal is impressive. Hearth succeeded where places like Craftbar, Bolo, Fleur de Sel and others have, to varying degrees, failed.

The amuse was a shot of warm fennel soup. While Adam pointed out that a cold soup might be more summer appropriate, I thought this was pretty good, especially given that I am not a huge fan of fennel. It did not have an overly anise-y taste and did have a lovely texture.

Bread was slow in coming (which turned out to be the theme of the service - more on that later), and nothing special. I really think that more places should have great bread! It's the first thing you're likely to taste in a restaurant, and it should make a great impression. Bouley is one of the few places were bread is really stellar (I still think about those apple rolls!), and more restaurants should follow that example. The fact that Adam and I were both very hungry wasn't helping our desire for great bread.

However, bread was basically the only part of the meal that left something to be desired in my opinion. The "Fava and Pecorino Salad with spring onion and sicilian oregano" was a perfect summer salad. Served cold, the fava beans were appetizingly bright green and with a slightly crunchy texture, but tender enough not to be undercooked. The simple dressing of olive oil, onion, and oregano was was fresh and light enough to allow the clean flavors of all the ingredients to be tasted. The small cubes of pecorino and halved beans made each bite include all the elements of the salad.

The "Snapper Crudo with Lemon, Red Pepper and Rosemary" had thin slices of snapper atop a mince of snapper with the other ingredients. Tiny leaves of fried rosemary added a crunchy texture to the smooth, cool fish. The flavors were light and simple without being simplistic. I know I keep saying things like "light" and "simple," but that's what the dishes were, and that's exactly what a good summer menu should be.

For entrees, Adam got the "Wild Alaskan King Salmon with Eggplant, Yellow Wax Beans and Capers" and I got the "Steamed Black Bass with Peas, Spring Garlic and Mussels." While both were excellent, I preferred my own. The black bass still had the skin on it, which I don't particularly like, but otherwise it was well cooked. There was a pea broth that would have made an excellent soup, especially as a summer amuse, and it complemented both the fish and the mussels. Peas are an ingredient with which I am becoming increasingly enamored and I'd like to learn to cook with them in interesting ways. I think they are a prime ingredient for experimentation with my nitrous canister, but I'll have to see how that goes. The salmon was also very good, but less light and summery than the bass. Sadly I don't really remember anything specific to say.

We also ordered two sides: the "Hen of the Woods" mushrooms were sauteed with salt and pepper, deliciously crunchy and earthy. The "Gnocci" were melt-in-your-mouth tender, with a simple sauce of butter and parmesan cheese. Both of these sides were essentially identical to ones we ordered at Craft years ago (where the Hearth chef, Marco Canora, used to work). At the time, we were disappointed by the expense of the food, while appreciating that it was very well cooked and used excellent ingredients. Hearth, however, provided more complex dishes than Craft while still maintaining that quality. These sides are great carry-overs. They do, however, make me wonder about what, if any, limitations there are on ownership of recipes/menu items. Are chefs allowed to take recipes from restaurant to restaurant at will? Unfortunately, consultations with various law student friends (the best legal resources available to me!) lead to very different answers on this. Oh well.

We weren't really hungry when the dessert menu arrived, but we figured that when everything else was so good, we had to give them a try. I ordered the "Blueberry Doughnuts with Blueberry Compote and Frozen Yogurt." The doughnuts came warm and the purplish glaze was still wet. As it cooled, it hardened into a gooey, sweet icing crust. The doughnut itself had the consistency of the top of an excellent muffin: just crunchy enough on the outside with a moist center. The frozen yogurt had the surprising tang of real yogurt, and it went well with the blueberry compote.

Adam ordered a special, a pistachio and rhubarb financier with creme anglaise. I don't normally love pistachio (though Adam does), but this thin tart-like dessert was a subtle combination of flavors that I really enjoyed. The creme anglaise was a luscious, creamy (duh) contrast to the dense financier.

Hearth does wine by the half glass, which is particularly good for trying varieties without getting particularly drunk. Glasses we ordered: "Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Fiore, Montenidoli, 2003 Tuscany," "Montlouis sur Loire, Les Tuffeaux, Francois Chidaine, 2003, Loire Valley," "Akakies, Kir-Yianni, 2004 Amyndeon," and "Marzemino, Battistotti, 2002 Trentino." Liked them. I can't really speak (or write) intelligently on wine.

We were offered apricot thumb print cookies at the end of the meal, which weren't particularly good. They were too hard and dry for my taste, without any strong apricot taste. Sad to end an excellent meal with a mediocre taste.

As I mentioned before, the service was well below expectations. The waiter was friendly, but rarely checked back during the course of the meal, and food was slow in coming. By the end of the meal, we felt abandoned. When our waiter failed to return in any reasonable timeframe (it had been a good twenty or thirty minutes from the arrival of our desserts), we ended up flagging down another waiter to request our check.

Despite the poor service, the food more than redeemed the experience. However, the menu isn't really extensive enough, given our meatlessness, to temp us back immediately. Come the next seasonal menu change, I'd love to return.

Summer Saturday - Greenmarket/Street Fair

This past week, there has been absolutely nothing redeaming about the weather: cold, wet, and just all around disgusting. So when yesterday turned out to be sunny and warm, my plans to go into the office early were postponed in favor of a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket.

As Adam and I like buying organic when possible, and we're big impulse buyers when it comes to food, a farmer's market is a lot of fun. On the first circuit around the park, we just looked at everything (food window shopping...mmm), but ended up buying some fingerling potatoes and tomatoes to cook with this week.

My favorite thing is the cheese, though. I love cheese. I'm sure this comes as a big surprise to anyone who found their way to my website url. :) The brilliance of the Greenmarket is the samples. Our first stop was the Coach Farm stand. While there's something less exciting about products that you can get from Fresh Direct, but I do so love those lactating goats. Anyway, ever since the Le Bernardin goat cheese in oil from years ago (I think I mentioned this in my Le Bernardin post?), we've been looking for something similar. We ended up with a jar of small disks (like slices from a chevre log) marinated with oil and herbs. While the cheese needs to be left out for awhile to get nicely softened, and the ideal goat-in-oil wasn't herbed, it's still delicious. We also bought a tangy, smelly blue from the Cato Corner Farm stand, which is more interesting that your run-of -the mill blue (though leave it out too long and it starts to smell up the living room).

On our way back to the apartment, ladened down with the potatoes, tomatoes, cheese, some unhomogenize milk from Ronnybrook farms, and two potted herbs (lemon thyme - great on the potatoes when we cooked them later - and purple sage), we hit the street fair on Sixth Ave. I passed on crepes, fruit smoothies, and most other standard street fair offerings, but then I saw a stand with various deep fried delicacies. Now, I can resist funnel cakes and zeppoles (and all the associated memories of "Fair Day" in high school...that's right...that one day a year that we got off from school in honor of the state fair), but they were offering me deep fried oreos. They were golden and delicious on the outside, and on the inside the cookie and cream had gotten all melty and soft. I hadn't expected that the cookie would soften, but it was delicous! Things like deep fried oreos are the reason that I cannot own a deep fryer. I would fry everything. If you can eat it, I would try it fried. Mmm...fried...

Speaking of fried deliciousness eaten outside, I highly recommend hitting up Danny Meyer's Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. Apparently they have amazing burgers (I wouldn't know), but one thing I have tried is their 'Shroom Burger. Essentially, it is a portobello mushroom filled with cheese and deep fried, then put on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and shake sauce (whatever that is). The fried mushroom itself is to die for, and even the tomatoes used are surprisingly ripe and delicious for food you buy from a metal shack. I like it with an Arnold Palmer (iced tea/lemonade mix) for a refreshing drink, but their milk shakes and concretes are also very good. While I've heard raves about frozen custard over regular ice cream, I can't say that I can tell a significant difference. The custard treats are delicious but not the reason to eat here. And eat here I do, practically whenever I walk by...

A break from the apartment hunt at Craftbar

I haven't blogged in months! This is disgraceful. It's part laziness/business (as in being busy), and partly because we haven't eaten out as frequently recently. Adam's still gimpy, but while on the hunt for a summer sublet for him (mostly in the Union Square/Flatiron area), we ate dinner at craftbar. The restaurant is extremely accessible, and I liked the modern, high ceilinged room.

We ate at craft almost three years ago (with Korn) the summer we were all living in NYC. At the time, we had thought the food was technically excellent but did not warrant the expense. However, I still remember how good the white beer with raspberry puree was (probably the only time I've ever ordered a beer over another alcoholic option)! Anyway, we were hoping that the less expensive craftbar would provide a similar quality at a lower price.

Our waiter was not particularly friendly, though it's unclear if he was a little shy or a little aloof. Once we told him that we didn't want anything with meat (including stocks), he did tell us what foods were not pesca-vegi friendly, though it did take more than one trip to the kitchen to make sure. The two soups and a risotto were rule out as a result, but we did find two appetizers and two entrees that sounded good.

The young pecorino fondue, pepperoncini, acacia honey and hazelnuts was excellent! This is obviously just the sort of dish I would like, but the shallow layer of cheese was a delicious balance of tangy cheese and sweet honey. Hazelnuts are put to good use here and elsewhere on the menu (dessert...keep reading). The salad with soft-cooked egg was overdressed, almost to the point of being soggy. I like egg in salad (Stone Barns does a GREAT salad that includes it), but this one was not particularly memorable. We got the house-cured anchovies on the side. I didn't bother to try them, and Adam sampled one but did not add them. However, I realize that some people really like anchovies on salad and I'm just not one of those people, no matter how lovingly made in-house those fishies are.

For entrees, one fish was eliminated because of meat stock in the broth. We ended up with a skate wing with morels and ramps (some sort of bean was removed because it was precooked in stock). A white fish (I believe is was loup de mer) was cooked with leeks, fingerling potatoes, and some sort of tomato puree. The skate was well cooked and the vegetables (morels, ramps, leeks, etc) were all good, but nothing was particularly memorable. The loup de mer was had too much pepper on it, and the tomato seemed a bit too similar to glorified ketchup.

Despite being pretty full at this point, we ordered dessert anyway. I got a carrot cake and Adam got a hazelnut flan. I should know better than to order carrot cake in a restaurant. Thanks to a family recipe from my mother's best friend, I grew up eating and making carrot cake better than anything I've ever had in a restaurant, and I am invariably disappointed. This one was not particularly moist (not particularly dry either, but I like a moist cake) and a bit bland. However, the sort of caramel and nut brittle that came with it was very good. Adam's flan came in an orange sauce with orange segments. I thought the flan was too soft, but Adam liked it a lot. The carmel popcorn that is craftbar's version of petit fours was also very tasty.

When we got our check, Adam noticed immediately that we had been charged for two of everything we'd ordered, effectively doubling our total. The fact that no one noticed this (nor was particularly apologetic when it was pointed out) was indicative of the entire meal. Not a huge deal, nothing hugely wrong, but not up to the peak of performance that makes an impression. Craftbar was good, but not great and not particularly memorable.

Mary's Fish Camp

There was a 45 minute wait at Mary's Fish Camp when Adam arrived (I showed up a short while later). The extremely friendly hostess, Heather, took his cell number and promised to call when the table was ready. When we returned after her call, we still had to wait a few minutes while a party paid its check and the table was cleared. However, our stint standing by the door gave us a good view into the open kitchen. The restaurant is not particularly large and flows casually from table seating to counter seating to the open kitchen beyond. The whole place has a casual, un-New York (in a good way) feel that lacks any pretension. Instead, the three waitresses exude good humor, with a certain un-urban cheerfulness. (This not-from-the-city vibe was reinforced when our waitress asked if we knew what we wanted for "supper").

After a brief consultation with the waitress, we decided on what we wanted to order. We quickly settled on cockles with lemon butter garlic broth. The broth was delicious and we asked for bread to mop it up. The conch chowder was eliminated after the waitress told us it contained bacon (an ingredient also removed from our scallop entree), so we settled on a salad. The salad was good, but a sort of tomato compote came on the side on toast and was inadequately distributed throughout the salad.

Our entrees were lobster pot pie and scallops on a bed of risotto (a special). The lobster pot pie was excellent, a perfectly decadent comfort food. The pastry top was flaky without being too dry, and the filling was a rich, creamy blend of vegetables and large bites of lobster meat. The scallops were well seared, and the risotto was very good, despite the removal of the bacon. We were stuffed by the end of the meal, but I couldn't resist ordering banana pudding (complete with Nilla wafers). I've loved banana pudding since I was little and my grandmother use to make it for me, and Mary's was good, though perhaps would have been better if I'd left off the whipped cream. We left with the happy feeling of lots of good food and a friendly atmosphere.

Valentine's Day Take Two - 'inoteca and cupcakes

For actual Valentine's Day, Adam and I went to Azafran, which is a tapas place on Warren. It was alright, some dishes better than others, but given how good other tapas places are, it's nothing special and not really worth writing up.

The next night, we decided to go to 'inoteca. This Italian restaurant is a place that we've been meaning to try for quite awhile. It also happens to be about a block and a half from one of the best cupcake bakeries in the city. Sugar Sweet Sunshine is located on Rivington at about Essex, and their cupcakes are GREAT. Adam loves the pistachio ones, I love the pumpkin, but other flavors (including coconut) also get raves. In addition to coming in more interesting flavors than your run of the mill vanilla or chocolate cake with buttercream (though they do those too), they're deliciously soft, moist, and not too sweet. The pistachio and pumpkin in particular both seem like really light muffins, with the icing (cream cheese on the pumpkin) adding enough sweetness for the cupcake to become an indulgent snack instead of a breakfast food. Being the impulse food buyer that I am, I bought an assorted dozen (but only ate 3 myself that night/the next day...self control!...the rest I gave away at work) before we walked down Rivington to Ludlow for dinner.

The 'inoteca menu is divided up into many sections, with most dishes being on the smallish side and great for sharing. After a fair amount of consultation with our very friendly and helpful waiter (who bore a striking resemblance to the shockingly fair actor Jake Busey), we decided on 5 dishes.

We started with the assorted pesto bruschetta and the suppli. The 3 "pestos" were a classic pesto (excellent, probably the best of the three), noci, which is a nut spread kind of like a thin, nuttier peanut butter (very good, and gets points for uniqueness), and an olive tapanade (good, but no different from olive tapanades at many places). This was probably our least favorite dish in retrospect. The suppli were fried risotto balls. They were fantastic! The risotto was indulgently creamy with the occasional small chunk of melting cheese, and the lightly fried outside added an interesting contrasting texture to the risotto without being overly greasy or heavy.

Our next three dishes were the truffle egg toast, polenta e funghi, and lasagnette di melanzane. We opted for the egg toast without bottarga. I'm not sure what made it truffled, but picture a thick slice of good bread with a runny egg in the middle, topped with lots of nicely browned cheese. It tasted like a great brunch dish, with its rich mixture of eggs and cheese all running together. As odd as this may sound, its a dish I'd definitely order again. Either this or the suppli was my favorite of the night. The lasagnette was described as like a lasagna without noodles. However, I feel like eggplant lasagna without noodles is really just more like an eggplant Parmesan without mozzarella. The thinly layered eggplant, tomato sauce, and cheese (goat?) made for an excellent take on a familiar dish, but it was too familiar tasting to be the standout of the evening. Worth trying if you like eggplant, though. The polenta and mushrooms don't come all mixed together, as I had expected, but rather two independent mounds come together in one bowl. This was actually a very nice way to serve it, as it allowed us to appreciate the taste of the polenta (very smooth and creamy) and mushrooms (fantastic! a nice, perfectly oily sauteed pile) separately. However, mix them together for a nicely balanced, delicious dish.

Despite being pretty full (and having a box of cupcakes sitting at my feet), we decided to order dessert. Adam got a ricotta cheesecake (he LOVES ricotta cheesecake, and rarely turns it down). The cheesecake was good but I didn't like the fruit on the side. I got a special, some sort of apple torte. Both were good, but neither was as good as the best of the savory dishes that came before or the cupcake I ate later that night. Adam wasn't feeling like a cheese plate, though they have a pretty extensive list relative to the length of their regular menu. I'll be back, if only for cheese and more egg toast!

Mercadito - again

I've already talked about Mercadito, so I'm not going to make this long. However, we've been back twice since my original post: brunch w/ Beth and dinner w/ Joe and Will.

The brunch menu is pretty limited, but its biggest attraction is that it's pretty different from most NYC brunch places. Adam got an Mexicany egg sandwich, and I got pancakes with manchego and strawberries. They were very good, though I couldn't really taste the cheese (which is really too bad). Not my favorite brunch by any means (Public is probably winning that), but a nice change of pace with some great drinks. The fruit mojitos (pineapple, mango, blueberry, or strawberry) make for good brunch or dinner drinks.

When we returned for dinner, we called ahead and were told we could have a table at 8:00pm. While they don't take officially reservations for small parties (though I've heard rumors that this is starting?) and it was a Friday night, we waited an hour and fifteen minutes before being seated. We wouldn't have bothered to wait except that we kept being told it would only be another five or ten minutes. We passed the first hour at a bar across the street (calling to check in periodically), and by that point the sunk cost kept us there. However, to the restaurant's credit, we were comp'd a trio of guacamole and a round of drinks (preordered while we were still waiting so they hit the table immediately). We ordered many duplicate/similar dishes when we returned for dinner, but the one appetizer I want to recommend is the queso fundido with mushrooms. It was FANTASTIC! It was sooo cheesy and the mushrooms were wonderfully savory. Order it!

Ethiopian class

Last night* Adam and I took an cooking class called "A Feast from Ethiopia" at the Institute of Culinary Education. I felt a little bad leaving work on time, because of a massive indexing project that the Mikes and various staff attorneys worked through the night to finish, but we'd made the class reservation a few weeks ago and the project was last minute. We showed up at the building, finally found our way to the proper floor after taking a dead-end elevator the first time, and got to the "Red Kitchen." The large room had a long table set up against the back, with pitchers of water and platters of bread, cheese, nuts and grapes for snacking. At first it seemed odd to me to have snacks provided for a cooking class, but we devoured everything while waiting for our dishes to cook. There were three ranges on the opposite wall and three island tables in the middle of the room. The front wall was tiled in various reddish-orange hued tiles, which I assume gave the kitchen its name.

The instructor, Myra, had us go around the table with typical why-are-you-here chat, and then spent a while talking about the ingredients we'd be using (specifically some of the more unusual spices, red and brown lentils, and teff flour) and some of the dishes we'd be making. She had us smell the spices and taste some of the spices, including one that someone else informed us is a basic ingredient in Listerine. It tasty smoky to me, sort of like cumin, with a sort of cold aftertaste.

We then gathered around the middle table as she made the berbere (which she pronounced ber-ber-ee) and the spiced clarified butter (ghee, I think it's called?). The toasted and ground spices for the berbere paste smelled so fantastic, as did the melting butter. I've never clarified butter before, so it was good to see it bubble and recognize the condensing, browning milk solids on the bottom of the pan.

We'd be given a packet of recipes (six dishes total) to prepare for our dinner. We split up into three groups, with each group taking two dishes. One group took a chicken stew and a collard green dish. As we don't eat chicken and collard greens are my least favorite Ethiopian dish, I was glad that these two were grouped together. Another group made a spicy squash dish, which was very original and very good. The cubed squash maintained much of its textural integrity after preparation. I would have preferred it to be less spicy, but then that's often my taste (unfortunately - I realize I miss out on the full flavor of many ethnic cuisines as a result). Their second dish was a red lentil stew. I'd not realized that red lentils naturally cook down into a soft puree, though it's one of my favorites. We made more clarified butter (good practice, and great for dunked bread snacking). Our two main dishes were a brown lentil stew (does not cook down like the red lentils) and a vegetable stew (heavy on the cabbage - love that cabbage!).

The injera is obviously the most daunting part of the home Ethiopian meal, as many of students said in our intro conversation. We made two versions. One was essentially a teff crepe that got a small amount of sponginess from the additional of club soda to the batter. I wasn't a huge fan. We made a true sourdough with a sourdough starter Mya had prepared ahead of time. While this one ended up better (thicker and more sour), it wasn't spongy enough or nearly sour enough. Mya claimed that the use of baking soda instead of baking powder would increase the prevalence of the sour flavor. We were sent home with a sourdough starter, which is still growing in our fridge 2 months later.

All the dishes were pretty good, but the lack of really good injera was a big drawback. The vegetables themselves lacked something...I'm not sure what, maybe the use of more butter/oil in the preparation, more spicing, the intangible quality of restaurant experience? I'm not sure $90 was worth the experience overall, but I enjoyed the evening and look forward to attempting this cuisine at home. However, we're seriously considering trying to buy our injera from a restaurant and just make the vegetables ourselves.

*I began this post in January (when we took the class), but only got around to finishing it now.

So what are my favorite Ethiopian restaurants in the city? We've eaten at a bunch of places.
Obviously, I can only comment on good vegi food at these places. Massawa (on Amsterdam and ~119th) was still around as of last year (when I graduated from Columbia), and it's pretty good. It's especially nice that they deliver to the area, and made for a number of good late night snacks. Awash on 109th(?) and Amsterdam has a better vegetarian selection, but their dishes aren't as consistent. My favorite place in the city is Ghenet, on Mulberry around Prince or Spring (maybe between the two?). They have an extensive vegi selection and everything's delicious. However, the service has been pretty slow the couple of times I've gone. Take out is (generally) really fast, and I'd recommend that if you're in a hurry. Meskerem has two locations, but I've only gone to the one on MacDougal, just north of Houston. The other is in the West 40s, I believe. Not as many vegetarian dishes as at Ghenet, and the place is a little more of a hole in the wall, but service is better and the food is consistently good.

Brunch at Five Points

One of the big problems with many of the popular brunch places in the city (Public, for example) is that it's difficult/impossible to make a reservation. However, we called Saturday night and got a 1:30 (perfect timing, IMO) brunch reservation at Five Points in the East Village.

The room is long and the surprisingly elegant (not that it's particularly elegant...just more than I'd expected). A long hollowed half-log table runs down the center of the room, with large vases adorning it and a shallowing stream running off the end. The front of the room is too dark for my taste, but we were seated in the back, where sunlight pours into the open kitchen and back tables through a glass ceiling. Wood beams it this back section add additional warmth. We were seated next to where the log stream runs off into a rock-lined pool. I managed to knock over two large rocks with a pretty terrific crash during the course of the meal.

Our initial waiter disappeared after taking our drink orders and telling us the specials. The milk that was sitting on the table curdled slightly in Adam's coffee (ewww), but the replacement waitress was very nice and swift about replacing it. We started with the ricotta fritters with carmelized apples and belinis. The fritters were delicious, soft, dough, but still nicely light. The carmelized apples made a great accompaniment. However, they don't quite live up to oliebollen (literally "oil balls," these great fried round doughnuts dusted in powder sugar that are available around the holidays and at fair year-round in the Netherlands). No one does doughy goodness like the Dutch! Adam got a classic peach bellini, but I got a Belle du Jour bellini made with some sort of peach brandy (it was sweeter and less fizzy than Adam's, but we each liked our respective choices).

Adam ordered the roasted tomato & eggs with soft polenta & parmesan. He said later that it reminded him of something he'd eaten at a Moroccan restaurant, but his dinner partner at that meal said that it is typical Israeli fare. I really liked this dish, but with its mixture of tomatoes (more saucy than distinct tomatoes), cheese, polenta, and slightly runny eggs tasted more like a big comfortable mix than an innovative combination. The polenta wasn't particularly distinct, but rather added thickness and texture to the flavors of the tomatoes and cheese.

My lemon ricotta pancakes were the lightest, creamiest pancakes I've ever had. The lemon isn't overwhelming, but at the same time I felt like the dish needed something to contrast with the mellow lemony creaminess. Syrup helped, but I hesitated to drown them in it. In retrospect, I think some sort of fruit sauce (a thin raspberry puree, perhaps), would have added an extra element of complementary flavor.

After having finished our bellinis, Adam decided he wanted to try a Bloody Mary (despite thinking he probably didn't like them). I ordered a Pisco Sour, equally unsure if I would like it. Adam feared that I would make him end up drinking both of them (as I had done with much of my mojito at Mercadito brunch), so he made me promise ahead of time that I'd drink my share! Then, when they arrived, he couldn't force down his drink ("tasted like something you should dunk shrimp in") because he was so full (a likely story). I ended up finishing mine, though I didn't love it. However, it wasn't so bad if I drank it quickly, and I left the restaurant nicely mellowed.

Service seemed vaguely inattentive and poorly timed. There was a long lag time between our fritters and entrees, and our second drinks (which we'd ordered before the entrees arrived) didn't show up until we'd almost finished eating. However, these are minor enough complaints, and I'd go back. The possibility of reservations and pitchers of brunch drinks make this seem like a particularly good destination with a group of brunch-loving friends.

I love tapas - Part 2 - Tia Pol

It's been awhile since we last ate at Tia Pol, but I've been intending to write about it for awhile. This intention was reinforced the other day. I recently installed a tracker on this blog that has the neat feature of showing by what google searches people have come to see my site. On Tuesday someone googled "Tia Pol" and ended up here (from my Casa Mono post), and I felt bad that I hadn't yet put up a thorough description. So here goes...

Tia Pol is a narrow strip of a restaurant, with high stools clustered around the few small tables. They don't take reservations for parties smaller than 6 (and can't accommodate more than 8), so the first time we went we had to wait for about fifteen minutes. We ordered a pitcher of solidly good sangria, which we drank standing by a ledge on the wall. We were soon enough seated at own tiny table.

There's not a menu online anywhere that I can find, which will mean my identifications of dishes won't be menu quotes, but I'll try to reconstruct as best I can with Adam's help (his memory is freakishly accurate for these sorts of things).

They do three tapanades for an odd version of pan con tomate: one of peppers and onions, one of pureed lima beans (very similar to the lima bean puree dish we ordered on our second occasion), and olive tapanade. All are very good, especially the light lima bean puree. The bread has tomato rubbed on it like the traditional version. Fried chickpeas come out hot and explode with crunchy flavor in your mouth. Surprisingly fantastic, though not worth eating once then get cold (not that they're likely to last that long). A small dish of assorted olives did well as part of my ongoing attempt to acquire a taste for olives (Adam's making the same effort, though with greater success so far). A special of mushroom carpaccio was excellent (other reviews have raved about the specials, and while I don't unilaterally agree, this was great). Some sort of shrimp dish was very good. I don't remember the exact preparation, except that they were large, succulent shrimp that required peeling and beheading. Their deviled eggs put a different spin on a classic that I've always liked (and Adam had never tried). Perhaps we tried other things (we certainly didn't leave hungry), but I can't remember anything else right now.

On our second trip we'd made a reservation and were seated at a cozy recessed table with benches on each side and a stool at the end. When we arrived, Patrick, Amanda, Joe, Andrew, and Tim were already there, having finished at least a pitcher of sangria. Everyone ordered a few dishes and we shared (dietary restrictions aside - Adam, Tim and I don't eat meat). I ordered the fried chickpeas, and they were such a table favorite that we reordered them. The pan con tomate combination was again good. Pureed lima beans on bread with a little grating of cheese on top were a vegetarian favorite with the table (leading to another reorder). A special winter salad that included greens, avocado, beets, cheese (goat, I believe), and also some sort of citrus (grapefruit?) was good but basic...not nearly as surprising as many of their better dishes. Another special was a soup with oysters and dill was good, but again not as good as many of the menu items. Patatas bravas were perfectly crunchy, well seasoned and delicious. Absolutely fantastic! Amanda ordered a cheese platter (not that I objected!) which came with a variety of delicious cheeses and some great little condiments (though not in as large quantities as I would have liked, given how many people wanted a taste). The tortilla was excellent, as this basic tapas dish goes.

The carnivores at the table raved about a suckling pig special and reordered a lamb skewers dish.

For dessert we ordered three desserts (possibly everything on the menu?). The coke float with red wine ice cream was weird, and got mixed reactions from the table (Patrick liked it). Orange flan was good, as was some sort of cake/torte thing that I can't remember specifically (this is what happens when I wait over a month to blog!).

Two low points of the meal both involved the wine. First, a second pitcher of sangria tasted very vinegary and no one could drink it. Andrew claimed that the bottle of wine with which it was made must have been corked (and even informed of us the particular type of bacteria, but that's Andrew). However, when we complained, the waitress was nice enough about it and brought us clean glasses and another pitcher (MUCH better). Later, after we'd switched to wines by the bottle (Andrew's selections, we always leave that to him when we're out), the waitress managed to poor a glass of wine on Adam's pants. Other at the table joked that she was venting about us sending back the sangria. While she brought us white wine and seltzer and a small towel to blot it up (which, in conjunction with an immediate washing at home, amazingly worked!), she was not particularly apologetic about it, nor did she make any effort to offer him something as compensation (another dish, dessert, etc). As the wine came out, no harm done, but while the waitress was nice enough she was nothing spectacular. The food certainly more than makes up for any lacking service. As Pat and Amanda took another couple back the following week, it appears that others agreed with our suggestion.

Not a bargain at half the price- per se

After two months of anticipation, Adam and I finally ate at the New York temple to Thomas Keller's haute cusine, Per Se. Sadly, I can't say it lived up to our expectations. We'd been to French Laundry about two years ago, and I'd been disappointed then, but we'd figured the reviews and hype made it worth the effort to go.

We had a 5:30 reservation. I find it weird that they don't open the doors until exactly 5:30, meaning that everyone with a 5:30 reservation who arrives early ends up standing outside. Also, this means a lines to check in when the doors finally open. Adam was late, due to terrible traffic, so I ordered a Tonic with Gin while I waited in the lounge area. It was the best gin & tonic I've ever had (they make the tonic themselves, and it has a very limey taste that I liked), but the $17 cost was a bit much.

We were finally seated, on the upper level at a table near the stairs, against the railing. The view is nice, but the railing is so high (at about eye level) that it partially obstructs the view. The room is actually much nicer than I had expected. Adam thought the fireplace against the windowed wall was visually jarring, but I actually liked it. I love the smell of a real fire, though I understand Adam's point about the design. Adam ordered the Per Se cocktail, and we looked over the menu. I wasn't a fan of his cocktail, which I thought had a very strong taste, oddly raisin-y. I was surprised by how long it took to get our menus, and then how long it took before any food came (almost half an hour).

The menu itself looked very interesting. Though, I'd like to say that I think it overuses quotation marks. Either the "dish" is named with an accurate description (the "puree" sure seemed like a puree to me), or, a culinary metaphor that was sufficiently descriptive to get the job done. We ordered one vegetarian tasting menu and one chef's tasting. Since we don't eat meat (but do eat fish), we had to substitute the last two savory courses of the tasting menu. At first, the waiter suggested subbing in from the vegetarian menu, but we objected as we wanted to try as many different dishes as possible. He said he'd speak to the chef, and we ended up getting two dishes off the five course menu (no choice).

We asked for the sommelier to come over to discuss wine choices with us. We asked about pairings, since we like variety, but expressed concerns about getting so drunk that we didn't appreciate the food. We are used to having glasses, beyond those on the by-the-glass menu, paired with a tasting menu. The sommelier offered only half-bottles and glasses on the somewhat-limited glass menu. Adam asked about a big white that we'd had at French Laundry and he's been trying to track down ever since. The sommelier immediately claimed to know what we were talking about, pointing us to a 2000 Chateau Laville Haut-Brion Bordeaux Blanc. However, for 400+ a bottle, we weren't feeling like spending that much on wine. Instead he suggested we go with half bottles to arch over a few courses, perhaps three for the whole meal. This seemed reasonable to us.

Our first course was the famed amuse of "ice cream" cones: one salmon with creme fraiche, and one with a tomato mixture. Both were excellent, as was the fantastic "Oysters and Pearls": Sabayon of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and American Ossetra Caviar. This dish is a perfect complement of salty and creamy, with the interestingly round textures of the tapioca and caviar. The cones and oysters were among the best dishes we had all night (as they had been at French Laundry). While I appreciate having signature dishes, I find it disappointing that two of the best courses at a very expensive restaurant were the exact same as what we'd eaten two years ago at a different restaurant. Anyway, the vegetarian first course was Tahitian Vanilla Bean-Scented Parsnip Soup: Glazes Parsnips and Pomegranate Seeds. This soup was delicious, a rich broth, with the pomegranate seeds adding a nice textural contrast with the smoothness of the soup. However, they didn't add a flavor that I could discern. However, so far, so good. For wine, we started with a 2001 Zind (assuming I can read the handwriting) Riesling. It was good, not too sweet, but nothing out of the ordinary for a good riesling.

The second course was salads. The vegetarian menu had a "Degustation" of Winder Citrus Fruits: Fennel Bulb Salad and Nicoise Olive Emulsion. This salad was fine. The olives provided an interesting contrast to the citrus fruit, but some of the fruit was too sour for my taste. The chef's course was Salad of Hawaiian Hearts of Peach Palm: Roasted Heirloom Beets with Truffle "Coulis" and Bulls Blood Greens. The various elements of this salad were all fine separately, light and crisp, but by far the highlight of this course (both dishes) was a sort of puree of hearts of palm with truffle essence. It almost had the small, granular consistency of couscous, with a rich, delicious flavor (the truffle essence, I assume).

Our third course for the vegi menu was a "Stuffed Cabbage": Roasted Savoy Cabbage and Butternut Squash "Puree" (again with the quotes!). This small, surprisingly bright green leaf was filled with a deliciously savory chopped cabbage. The butternut squash made for a nicely sweet contrast. Overall, a good dish, making use of a vegetable that I generally only like in Ethiopian food. The chef's dish was Crispy Skin Fillet of Suzuki: Saffron Braised Cauliflower, Picholine Olives, Meyer Lemon "Supremes," Spanish Capers and Globe Artichoke-Mustard Vinaigrette. This dish didn't really come together very well, but merely seemed like small bits of different ingredients that ended up on the same plate. If we made the effort to get a bit of everything on a fork at once, it was pretty good, but basically it was a excellently cooked piece of fish. (And, the lemon section was too sour for my taste, oddly harsh in this dish.) It was solidly prepared but didn't wow us. Nothing was particularly interesting or complex. This is a complaint we had about French Laundry. I love fish in broths or sauces so delicious and creative that one wants mop them up, lick the plates clean, and bathe in them! This sauce didn't begin to make me feel that way. With this course we moved into another half bottle of wine, an 2002 El Molino Chardonnay. It was shockingly caramel-flavored, not oaked, very interesting. However, I don't know how well it paired with the food, especially the later courses.

Course four on the chef's menu was "Macaroni N' Cheese": Nova Scotia Lobster "Cuit Sous Vide" with Creamy Lobster Broth and Marscapone-Enriched Orzo. This dish was no more surprising than the description could make you imagine, but excellent at what it purported to be. The orzo was creamy and delicious, and the entire dish had a pervasive lobster flavor. It's indulgent richness was high class comfort food at its best. The vegetarian course was Jerusalem Artichokes "Cuits Sous Vide": Crusted in Tarragon, Crushed Hazelnuts and Toasted "Brioche" with "Sauce au Beurre Noisette." Jerusalem Artichokes (also known as sunchokes) are a versatile "mixture of a potato and an artichoke" (metaphorically speaking- it is, indeed, its own vegetable) with which Adam and I have enjoyed experimenting at home, and we also enjoy seeing what chefs do with them. (On an unrelated note, 50 Carmine does a fantastic Jerusalem Artichoke dish). This single sunchoke was perfectly tender, with a nice breading and sauce. However, it would have benefited from more sauce to sunchoke ratio. Adam suggested slicing the sunchoke before breading (or, he later adds, using several, smaller chokes if the intent is for them to maintain an organic, truffle-like shape), and I tend to agree.

Course five was by far the standout on both menus. The chef's menu was our first substitution: Celery Root "Agnolotti": Celery Root and Branch with Grated Black Winter Truffles. The bowl contained five tiny ravioli-like pouches and had a strong, buttery aroma that hit me as soon as it was set down, asking to be eaten. The waiter opened a wooden box containing a half dozen black truffles to show us, before taking one out and finely grating a small mountain of black truffle over the dish. This was an impressive (if vaguely pretentious ;)) display that I certainly enjoyed. I don't know what it is about celery and truffle (a combination we also tasted at Le Bernardin), but it was fantastic. The agnolotti had a surprisingly sweet filling (the branch? No idea what that is) which complemented the richness of the butter and truffle amazingly well. The vegetarian course was "Ravioli" of Forest Mushrooms: Crosnes, Garden Herb Salad and Port Wine "Emulsion." The one large ravioli was filled with and surrounded by an abundance of earthy, delicious mushrooms, and the port wine emulsion was much lighter (a good thing, especially given the heaviness of mushrooms) than I would have expected.

The final savory course was anticlimactic, at best. The second chef's substitution was Sauteed Fillet of Florida Black Grouper: Melted Savor Cabbage, Satur Farm's Red Beets, Golden Delicious Apples and "Sauce au Raifort." The apples' sweetness was a surprising bright flavor in the dish, and the fish was perfectly cooked (as expected). The cabbage was good, though beets seemed overused (already in the salad earlier). Eaten together, it was a nice mixture of flavors, but again, nothing spectacular. When I go to a great restaurant, I want to be really impressed with the chef's creativity, not his skills with cooking a simple fish fillet, and certainly not three of them (simplicity has its place in a course or two, but try something more exciting as well). The last vegi course was "Pot Pie": "Ragout" of Celery Root, Chestnuts, Pearl Onions and Sweet Carrots in Black Truffle "Bouillon." The flaky crust was good but overpowered the relatively mild vegetable broth (very thin, in my opinion) underneath. It was good, but good in the way that you could find in any very good French bistro.

When we were offered bread to go with the cheese course, Adam and I were both shocked that we'd reached the end of the savory portion of the menu. We sat there counting courses in our head to make sure that we'd gotten everything, as it felt like the meal had gone too quickly, without building to any sort of culinary crescendo. Perhaps if the fifth course had been the sixth, we might have felt different, but the sixth was a let down.

Keller does cheese well, with nice accompaniments (something we'd remembered from French Laundry). The chef's menu cheese was "Fleur de Lis": Plumped Michigan Cherry Marmalade and Celery Seed "Biscuit." This cheese was my favorite of the two; and while I enjoyed the accompaniments, the second cheese plate was more interesting. The other was "Ibores": Almond Bread Pudding, "Petite Oseille" and "Sauce Romesco." The bread pudding was unexpectedly light, and the sauce was delicious and unusual. Adam said that, while not a real romesco, he could taste the similarity. I don't think I know romesco well enough to judge.

First dessert course: Pineapple Sorbet: Black Licorice Powder, Campari "Gelee" and Yogurt "Creme" on the chef's tasting. I normally don't like licorice flavor, but this was much better than I'd expected. Perhaps real licorice flavor is a vast improvement on the sickening flavor in licorice candy. The Campari Gelee was a weird, rubbery layer on the bottom of the plate, which I did not like. The pineapple sorbet itself was very good. Overall, this dessert was too weird and jarring for me, though I think Adam liked it a bit better. (Note: from my WD-50 experience, I can say that I am not opposed to "weird" desserts "per se.") Vegetarian dessert was "Vitre Glacee Print Aniere": Frozen Verjus and Chamomile "Infusion." The flavor of this was mild, but the frozen layer over a snow cone-like layer underneath was light and sweet with interesting frozen textures. It was described as looking like "spring frost," an accurate description of the very impressive, visual effect. I preferred this to the other dessert, without loving it.

The second dessert course was the most elaborately plated, and they were gorgeous "modern" "art" creations. Second dessert course: "Bread and Chocolate": "Beignet" of "Brioche" and "Araguani" Chocolate, "Cremeux au Gianduja" and Condensed Milk Sorbet with Sweet and Salty Hazelnuts. The chocolate "beignet" was a fantastic triangle of chocolate pastry. The chocolate ice cream was extremely rich, and as we're not huge chocolate fans, this wasn't great for us. However, everything worked well together (the sorbet was much lighter), and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The vegetarian menu dessert was "Parfum D'Hiver": Muscavado Sugar "Genoise," Italian Pistachio "Bavarois," Dried Apricot "Coulis" and Spiced Bread Ice Cream. The pistachio disks and ice cream were both very good, but I thought the cake-like strips were too dry.

We then had an extra course of creme brulee and fig pot au creme. The creme brulee was burnt, nay "charred" (more burnt than it's supposed to be) and too bitter to be good. Creme brulee is a simple enough dish that this shouldn't happen in a good restaurant. The fig cream was delicious, with a light, yogurty cream over the heavier fig flavor. After the more complex desserts that came before (with questionable success), this was a clean, simple delight.

The final offering was "Mignardises" (at least this is what I think was meant by this listing on the menu). It was described as an "optional" course, and we were shown a tray of 16 little chocolates in 8 flavors. We were told we could choose as many as we wanted, but there was a few awkward exchanges as we expressed our desire to try them all and the waitress tried to determine if we wanted 8 to share or the full 16. We were told we could have them all, which we took. I don't understand why we wouldn't just be given them to begin with. Would someone not choose to try all possibilities? If not, would the tray be offered to someone at another table? Just odd. Chocolates were good, especially the fruity (guava) ones. This menu was way too dessert heavy, in my opinion. I wasn't feeling disgustingly full for most of the meal, but the chocolates at the end put me over the top.

The petit fours were nothing special, with small chocolate truffles being coated in a bitter chocolate powder. We were given macaroons to take home, and we haven't yet tried them.

The check was brought immediately with the petit fours, before having been asked if we wanted anything else. Since Adam wanted coffee (he'd been asked before the first dessert-3.5 courses earlier- but turned it down at the time), they had to take it away again. We found it odd that we had not been asked if we wanted anything else at various points in the meal, and especially that we were not offered dessert wine. We had also not seen the sommelier after our second white, though he had originally suggested ending with a red. I don't know if it's that we weren't ordering expensive enough wine to be worth their time (our two half-bottles came to a total of $110- we are accustomed to and would have spent more had the sommelier ever returned), or they were just thoughtless. Service was beyond efficient; we felt very rushed throughout the meal, as though they wanted to make sure we cleared the table for the next seating. Relatively speaking, we are not "lingerers" and are always enthusiastic about trying the next course, but the speed at which the food was being served was outrageous. The entire meal took about two and a half hours from the time we sat down to the time we got up, which is pretty fast considering the number of courses. Given the constant rush, I almost felt surprised when they took the time to refill Adam's coffee cup and allow us to linger as he finished his second cup.

This is by far the most expensive meal we've had outside of Paris, and the food and service failed to live up to any of our expectations. Adam posthumously adds that the food is technically impressive (it would be very difficult to reproduce many of the items on the menu), but the overall experience was not.

One nice touch was that when we wanted to see a menu again before we left (just to compare descriptions with what we tasted), the waiter offered to have the menus left for us at hostess stand (accounting for my verbatim descriptions). However, we had originally asked the sommelier to write down the name of the Bordeaux that we did not order, then reminded the waiter about this, only to find that it had not been written on our menu as we'd been told (though the wines we did order were). The hostess did get the sommelier to write it for us at this point. Much too quickly and with a fair amount of disappointment, we were finished and back out into the Time Warner Center. It was a solid meal, but by no means the religious experience that we sought on our "pilgrimage" to the "temple" of Keller, per se.

A week of deliciousness - Part III - Lupa

So this was a few weeks ago at this point, but I should still finish it up!

On Saturday, as the snow was starting, Beth headed to Pelham, Adam went home, and I went to work. By the time I was ready to leave in the early evening, it had been snowing heavily all day. Even though the weather reports had been predicting heavy snow, the city still seemed unprepared to deal with it. Insufficient plowing and salting made for treacherous conditions. Despite that, I love the way New York gets quiet and beautiful in a blizzard. Anyway...to food. Adam and I have been meaning to go to Lupa for awhile. I even waited there for half an hour one night, but when Adam arrived and it was still 45 minutes, we gave up and went to 50 Carmine (another great meal!). Adam suggested that the snowstorm might make for a good opportunity to try Lupa, and he was right. At first one woman at the hostess stand told us it would be about 30 minutes (unless we wanted to sit on the enclosed porch). However, when another woman came over, she said we could be seated right away at an empty table on the far wall. Just goes to show how much discretion hostesses have in a popular restaurant.

Finally seated, we looked over the menu, spoke to the waitress, and made our choices. Rather than do a normal appetizer, we ordered three sides. Sea bream with garlic was amazing, perfectly garlicky and salty and fabulous. We tried the tuna all'Arrabbiata, despite a questionably appetizing description that it was preserved in olive oil in a way similar to canned tuna (a comparison I question being true). Its tomato sauce was good, but it was my least favorite of the three. Adam had wanted polenta, which they didn't have, but instead the waitress had recommend a side of a sort of cheesy semolina pudding. While Adam liked it, especially mixed with the sauce from the tuna, I really really liked it. It was just a deliciously gooey, the sort of food that I love. Yes, it's obvious, but what can I say.

I got a special pasta: a cheese (marscapone?) and black truffle ravioli. There were also mushrooms, I believe, all in a buttery sauce. It was good, but more bland than I would have expected. The sauce was very thin, barely coating the ravioli and lacking any rich creaminess to want to mop up. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm unimpressed with truffles relative to their desirability in the culinary world. [An added disappointment was that the dish turned out to be $25, even though the waitress had original said it was $20 when describing the specials.] The better of our entrees was Adam's choice of "Zuppa di Pesce with Sweet Corn Fregolone & Perilla." I'd voted for this dish over the tuna belly, as it seemed more snowy-weather appropriate. To call it a soup is misleading, as it didn't have much broth and wasn't even served with a spoon. It was a hearty mixture of various seafood, crying out for bread to mop up the leftover broth.

Adam and I were both pretty full at this point, but we opted to split the "Apician Spiced Dates & Mascarpone." This dish was a surprise, as I'd expected the dates to be dried, like dried apricots or cranberries as a cheese condiment. Instead they were warm, sticky and sugary, with a fantastic smell. They paired nicely with the soft marscapone, and it made for a great way to end the meal. I'm glad we finally got to try Lupa, and I'd probably go back. Not everything wowed me, but everything was fine and some things were great!

*As an unrelated side note, we saw Willem Dafoe come in with a bunch of people. Despite years in New York, I still get a kick out of the random celebrity citing.

A week of deliciousness - Part II - Public

Beth stayed over Friday night, and the three of us decided to go out to brunch before she took the train to the burbs and I went to work. Adam and I had been wanting to try Public, even having gone by one Sunday afternoon, but it's perennially popular these days and the wait was too long. Because it was early and a Saturday, there wasn't a wait when we got there around 11:30ish.

The room is airy and interesting, with oil lamp scones (not lit in the morning, I bet they're nice at night) and odd (but kind of cool) awning over our table. Menus show up on clipboards. Paul pointed out a week later (after his brunch there with Natasha) that there's a school theme, which makes sense given the name but I hadn't really noticed.

The menu is interesting, with standard brunch fare (pancakes, french toast, eggs) and more interesting breakfasty variations. We were brought 3 small, deliciously biscuity scones. I didn't use to like scones, since the coffee shop variety always seem hard and dry as rocks. These were a lovely little snack, and I ate Beth's when she didn't want it.

Adam got the sweet potato and feta tortilla with minted lemon raita. It was FANTASTIC, a great blend of creaminess from the raita, tangy feta cheese, and sweet, smoky (paprika) potatoes. I got the "Corn, saffron, and blueberry pancakes with poached quince, fresh ricotta, and sweet red wine syrup." I'd expected this dish to be an assortment of distinct pancakes (one cornmeal, one blueberry, etc). Not quite sure where I got this idea, but instead the batter contained all three ingredients, and they were very good. Just enough fruit (and corn kernels...weird, I know, but I happen to like corn!) to distribute properly into every bite, and the quince was a nice sweet complement. Beth got yogurt and fruit, I believe, but we didn't try it.

Our total check came to about $40 (including coffee for them and juice for me). I've gotten so used to trendiness equally expense that it was a nice surprise to find how cheap Public was. Service was fast, which was good considering that it started to snow around noon, making Beth increasingly anxious about making her 12:3something train. The large plate glass windows gave us a great view to the street outside as it quickly covered with a layer of white. There were plenty of things on the menu that I wanted to try, making me excited to go back.

A week of deliciousness - Part I - Mercadito

So this past week has been really fantastic, food-wise. On MLK day, Adam and I decided to trek to Alphabet City (Lower East Side? I don't know what anything's called) for Mexican. I don't know where Adam reads about places half the time (though NYmetro, Chowhound, and the Times are definitely on his list), but he'd heard good things about Mercadito on Avenue B between 11th and 12th (I think).

We started out with the trio of guacamoles: one traditional, one with mango and chipotle, and one with pineapple and some other kind of chili. Adam and I each preferred one of the fruit guacamoles...he liked pineapple and I liked mango, though I couldn't be sure. I liked the less spicy one, because sadly I'm a bit of a spice wuse. The portions of guac were pretty small, I thought, but it was enough for a few good bites of each. Besides, no need filling up on avocado with so many other things to try. However, the trio isn't enough for sharing with more than 2 or 3 people max, I think.

We then got the ceviche combo. Adam's favorite was probably the tuna, but he always loves tuna. I don't remember its preparation specifically...mango? citrus juice?...but I remember it being tasty but pretty standard. He wasn't as much a fan of the shrimp with coconut and pineapple, but I actually liked it a lot. He thought it tasted a bit too much like pina colada. We got another fish (robola?) with strawberries, which I thought was an interesting ceviche ingredient and we both enjoyed it. All three were definitely good, though good ceviche can be gotten at many places in the city, so that wasn't the standout.

Next we did tacos. The orders normally come with three, but (for a proportionate charge) they will do an order of four and mix two different kinds. Perfect for sharing with another person, and I was glad that the waitress suggested doing it this way. We got the shrimp tacos, which were deliciously smoky (from chipotle?) without being overly spicy. Our other taco choice was the salmon wrapped in potato. These were much lighter than I'd expected from the description (normally I think of salmon and definitely fried potato as being heavy and oily). They were delicious, a surprise standout.

We moved on to the last section on the menu. We initially ordered the cactus, which the waitress suggested. Although I don't remember the exact preparation, I do remember it being pretty tasty. Besides, it's fun to say you've eaten cactus. After asking for desert menus, Adam decided that he wanted to try another savory dish first. We ordered the oysters with manchego and chorizo, hold the chorizo, since we'd heard good things about it. However, I think the oysters were a little too oystery without the sausage to distract. It was still cheesy and enjoyable, but I wouldn't order it again.

We finally got to dessert. Our waitress again offered that they could do three desserts together, so we got carmelized plantains with roasted nuts, pumpkin flan, and...I want to say it was a rice pudding of some sort. All were good, but the plantains were FANTASTIC. Our waitress raved about them in agreement, saying she always asks for "Talia-sized," extra large orders.

We each ordered one margarita with our meal, just to try some from their interesting menu. Adam got one with chipotle chilies, which was smoky and a bit spicy and I enjoyed (though would have liked it more without the salt rim, I'm just not a fan of that). I got one with hibiscus (I believe it was) that tasted pretty much like cranberry but was still good. They seemed reasonably strong.

The waitress was friendly and full of recommendations, most (if not all, I don't remember exactly) I agreed with. Oddly enough, all but one dish on the "specials" blackboard were also on the regular menu, which I found odd. Her spiel included describing the menu as set up like a tasting menu, where you try lots of things. While I see where she was going with this (we did do each section in a flight), I think it'd be better to think of it as tapas...try a lot of things until you're full. The restaurant is tiny, so you're practically on top of the person next to you, though perhaps this is better in the back room. Another problem with sitting in the front was that there was a draft whenever someone opened the outside door (despite a thick curtain), and we ate the meal with our coats on. If I came back I'd make a reservation and sit in the back room if possible...especially with a large group so that we can order lots of things!

I love tapas - Part 1 - Casa Mono

Small plates have always suited Adam and my eating habits, as we like to try lots of things, but recently we've eaten a lot of tapas. We've returned to two great (but different) places. Tia Pol is a little hole-in-the-wall on 10th Avenue (near 22nd). Casa Mono (and its neighbor Bar Jamon), on Irving Place and 17th, is the newest (I believe) of Mario Batali's restaurants.

Our first trip to Casa Mono was for the first night of Hanukkah. We showed up about half an hour early, and since the restaurant was busy and didn't yet have our table, we went next door to Bar Jamon to wait. The room was tiny, without enough stools to go around, but we were standing next a the end of a table close to the bar, which was good for ordering. It wasn't packed when we showed up but got significantly more crowded by the time we left. I think it is really unfortunate that the menus at these two places do not overlap, because Bar Jamon has some really great dishes. We started with glasses of Tempranillo and pan con tomate. Their pan was great bread starter, we could see them rubbing it with tomatoes just like the places we had eaten at in Spain over a year ago. One of the best Casa/Bar dishes is on the Bar menu, artichokes with a poached egg and a tomato-y sauce (similar to if not the same as the romesco on the scallions next door). After that and another glass of red wine (not sure what kind, Adam ordered and I know next to nothing about wine, especially Spanish), we headed next door to our table.

At Casa Mono, we settled in to ordering, though hit fewer dishes than we would have without our snacking next door. Pumpkin goat cheese croquettes were delicious, little fried balls, tasting pretty much as you'd expect them to taste. Cockles with huevos revueltos came with ham bits(which wasn't listed on the menu), so we had to send it back the first time, but the waitress was nice about this. The cockles and (essentially) scrambled eggs were good, but I find cockles/mussels/clams to be annoyingly labor intensive to eat. Scallions with romesco sauce were surprisingly good, not too oniony with a thick sauce that accompanied it nicely. Setas (mushrooms) with garlic were deliciously garlicky (you can never have too much garlic!) and tender. Brussel sprouts a la plancha were surprisingly good. Brussel sprouts have always struck me as a bland, generic vegetable, but the grilled sprouts were crisp and flavorful. For dessert, I got a trio of Manchego cheese, good but not amazingly distinct. Adam ordered a bread pudding, which was also very good. However, the Bar Jamon menu had churros and hot chocolate, so we went back next door. The chocolate was rich, thick, and delicious, and the two small churros were cinnamony and crisp. Dunked into the chocolate, the churros were a perfectly sweet end to a great meal. The portion was small but actually perfect considering how full we were.

We ordered another glass of wine with dinner, as well as trying 3 sherries (1 at Mono and 2 with the churros at Bar). Casa Mono has a few blended red wines which we tried (on this visit and the next). All were pretty good and reasonably priced. I like how sweet sherry is, without having the cloying syrupiness of some dessert wines. There's a distinct raisin flavor in some of them that I found interesting and delicious. I wish I was better at remembering the names and varieties of unfamiliar wines, so that I could know more specifically what I preferred.

A few weeks ago, while my sisters and Tori were visiting, Adam offered to take them out for tapas, which they'd never had. Cat's going to Spain this summer and Ari seemed up for anything, so he figured they should have the experience. We ordered some repeats, so I won't go into those, but only talk about the new things. The razor clams a la plancha were nicely garlicky, with a great sauce left on the plate that we mopped up with bread, calamari, whatever. Patatas bravas were delicious, spicy without being overpowering for my wimpy palate. A nice smoky flavor was the result of black truffles, according to our waitress. The ensalada mono with manchego was good but basic. I wasn't as huge a fan of the calamares fritos (too much dry batter for my taste), but improved significantly when dredged in the razor clam sauce. The dorado (on potatoes, I believe) was good but not particularly striking. Cat ordered the guinea hen (since it was the closest thing to chicken on the menu) and actually liked it. I tried the vegetables on her plates (I try to avoid vegis cooked with meat/stocks, but oh well on that). I think it was a combination of turnips, potatoes, and some other sort of root vegetable. They were deliciously carmelized and probably one of my favorite vegetables of the night.

Adam and I tried a few white wines in addition to a red (another blend, I think). I especially liked a vaguely effervescent white. Ari wasn't a huge fan of the wines or sherry, but did enjoy a glass of cava. For dessert we all split the Mono sundae, which was plum or prune flavored (not sure which...aren't prunes just dried plums anyway?), that was a surprisingly good. However, given how good the rest of the menu is, I find it disappointing that nothing else really excited us enough to be worth ordering. With a few glasses of wine and a lot of food in me, we were then off to Paul's, pre-kareoke, which is a whole other story!

WD-50 Disaster

Work is really slow today, so here goes more posting. The meal at WD-50 was perhaps the worst "nice" meal I've ever had. We went on a random weeknight after I got off work, and the place was pretty dead.

For appetizers, we got the "Endive soup, squid cous cous, champagne grapes, hazelnut" and the "Hamachi, pear, mushroom streusel." Maybe our first mistake was ordering a second appetizer when the hamachi was the only meat-free, good-sounding appetizer. I don't normally like endive, but we figured we'd give it a shot. Dufresne is known for his wacky combos that work, so why not? BIG mistake. The soup had such a bitter and horrible aftertaste that we couldn't eat it. We each attempted a few bites (maybe it would get better?) and then gave up. The hamachi was at least edible, but vaguely bland and uninteresting. The fish seemed to have just coincidentally ended up on the plate with the accompaniments, and nothing really came together cohesively.

At least there was more than one entree that met our dietary needs, and we decided on the "Cod, smoked mashed potato, pickled mushrooms, red pepper oil" and the "Monkfish, oyster mushroom, squash, pumpernickel cocoa, pear consomme." The cod was probably the best dish of the meal, solidly good though would have been unexceptional in a better meal. The dish tasted nicely smoky and the sauce had a barbecue taste to it. Since I haven't eaten barbecued meat in years and always liked it, it wasn't a bad association, but nor was it particularly inventive. The monkfish was mediocre, with a watery "consomme" that tasted vaguely pear flavored. The pumpernickel cocoa paste that lined the bottom of the bowl was more odd than anything, and the whole dish was a weird combination of too strange and too bland flavors.

The only thing that spared this meal from being an entire culinary catastrophe was the desserts. And they were FANTASTIC. We got a carrot-lime ravioli with tapioca pearls. The "ravioli" were small, creamy squares wrapped in a thin orange layer, with large pearls on the side. A weird combination of textures and flavors that were totally surprising and yet worked. The second dessert was a beet cake with beet ice cream. It sounds weird, I know, but the cake, while a little dry on its own, went well with the ice cream and made for a delicious dessert. These two dishes allowed us to leave with a good taste in our mouths, and made me consider going back in the future to just eat my way through the dessert menu. Despite this ending success, I still left the restaurant feeling robbed. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that their meat dishes might be fantastic and we missed out limiting ourselves to fish. But just because your foie gras is great, that isn't an excuse for lackluster fish (at best). It'll take a miracle or a return to carnivorousness for me to give the main menu another shot.

Le Bernardin on Christmas

I made a reservation at Le Bernardin for Adam's birthday. We ate here once, about three years ago, before going to the HITWGC fundraiser "The World of Nick Adams" at Avery Fisher. I had remembered the meal as being excellent, but it was the first really nice meal I'd eaten out, so I didn't have a frame of reference.

Because it was Christmas, they didn't have the two normal tasting menus. Instead, they had a $150 six course Christmas tasting ($330 with wine pairings, I wonder how good the wines were), which is what we ordered. Because we eat seafood/fish but no meat or poultry, we substituted the foie gras second course and the capon fifth course. I've copied these descriptions of the Le Bernardin website and included them. This menu was more luxurious than their normal tasting (caviar, foie gras, lobster, truffles, etc), which I assume accounts for the inflated price. We didn't pair wines but got a few glasses throughout dinner, which I'll try to include later (I think they're printed on the receipt, which I have at home, and will wait to look at that rather than attempt to remember what they were).

The amuse was a cold lobster salad with these two thin, waferlike strips on top. It was good but nothing amazing/surprising. The salad tasted like you'd assume a seafood salad would, vaguely mayonnaisy and with no unusual flavor. The first course was three scallops with Iranian Osetra caviar in a rich, buttery sauce. They were served on a half shell on a bed of salt, which made for a nice presentation but gave me the urge to slurp them off the shell rather than using a utensil (I resisted this temptation). This dish was delicious (I wanted to mop up the buttery sauce), but it seemed like a very classic preparation and didn't present any surprises. So far I was enjoying the meal but had yet to really love anything.

The second course was our first substitution. I had the "Fluke: Progressive Tasting of Marinated Fluke: Four different Ceviches; From Simple to Complex Combination." Adam had the "Hamachi Tandoori: Seared-Rare Yellowtail Marinated in Tandoori Spices; Pickled Cucumber and Mango Salad." The ceviches were all excellent. The first two tasted very similar to anything you've had in a good Latin American restaurant, light and not particularly complex. The latter two were by far my favorites of the four. The third was more Asian-y, though Adam would be better able to describe what's in it. The four was in coconut milk and tasted very Thai, which I really enjoyed. I'd actually been expecting a buttery sauce when I took the first bite, so I was pleasantly surprised. Adam's hamachi was also very good, though the description from the menu pretty much sums it up. The plate was drizzled with excellent olive oil and a tandoori spice emulsion, and even the pickled salad was worth eating on its own. The fish was perfectly cooked, as I found all their seafood to be.

Our third course was a lobster bisque. It was fantastic! Rich, creamy, which small chunks of apple lining the bottom of the bowl for a lovely burst of sweetness to counterbalance the decadent soup. I'm sure there were lots of other ingredients, but sadly I couldn't pick them out/can't remember now. This was the first dish to really wow me, and we got every drop out of our bowls that we could. On our previous dinner here, I remember loving a bouillabaisse, and this just reaffirmed how well Le Bernardin does seafood soups.

The fourth course was a poached halibut on pureed celeriac with grated black truffles. I have no idea how to poach fish properly (I sear or bake at home), and so I loved the tender, perfectly-cooked texture of the fish. I think this is the first time I can remember distinctly tasting truffles, as it's normally mixed into a sauce or in such small pieces. I ate a few slivers of the truffle on their own, and while I appreciate their flavor, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Sure, it was a delicious addition to a great dish, but worth hundreds of dollars a pound? I don't get it. The sauce was delicate and buttery at the same time, without being boring or watery (as a broth as WD-50 tasted...Maybe I'll complain about that meal at some later point).

The last savory course was our second substitution. I had the "Skate: Poached Skate Wing; Marinated Green Papaya; Lobster-Cardamom and Harissa Emulsion," and Adam had the "Codfish: Pan Roasted Codfish, Sautéed Baby Artichokes, Pistachio and Parmesan in a Sage and Garlic Perfumed Broth." Both were fantastic, I believe both of our favorite dishes of the meal. The descriptions from the menu are pretty all-encompassing, and include more ingredients than I would probably have been able to pick out on my own. Both sauces were delicious, especially the codfish broth. It was sad to let the waiter clear our plates (well, bowls, really) with dregs of the sauce still in them. My one complaint on the meal was that service was often inattentive, and we weren't offered bread frequently and weren't brought it promptly even when we asked. More on service later.

We did a cheese course in addition to dessert, which in retrospect was a mistake. At our first Le Bernardin meal, we had the best cheese we've ever had in a cheese course (and I am a girl who does not turn down a cheese course). It was very simple, a soft round of goat cheese soaked in olive oil, but was melt in your mouth fantastic. (Note: I need more words to express my enjoyment...I realize I've used fantastic too many times). This time, however, the cheeses came out with little placards stuck in them advertising that they came from Artisanal. I love that restaurant, and their cheeses are great, but why advertise that your cheese course is something that one could get (for a much lower price) at another restaurant? Also, quince paste was a selection in place of a cheese, and no condiments came with the cheeses. We got four cheeses, a blue, a Spanish goat, a soft creme cheese, and Mimolette. For as much as I love cheese, I'm terrible at remembering the names afterwards, though perhaps I'll go to the Artisanal website and try to figure out what the other three were called. All were fine, I especially liked the Mimolette (which I'd had before but didn't really remember, it's just that its bright orange color is so distinctive), but nothing to rave about. When you realize that more than one cheese on the cart is something that I have/recently had in my refrigerator, ordered from Fresh Direct, the result in underwhelming.

The tasting menu dessert was a right (and yet surprisingly light...almost mousse-like in texture) round of chocolate cake with a cinnamon ice cream. There was a decorate wafer curl on top and a drizzle of something (chocolate? I can't remember) on the plate. I got this one, and enjoyed it, though chocolate desserts rarely really floor me. The ice cream was very good. Since Adam doesn't really like chocolate desserts, he ordered the "Banana Crème Brulée, Citrus-Pistachio Biscuit, Beurre Noisette Ice Cream, Peanut Caramel" off the regular dessert menu. This dessert came in four little, creamy squares on the center of the plate, and was very good. Because the squares were cut the way they were and so small, it didn't really have the rich creaminess that one associates with a big spoonful of creme brulee. While I enjoyed both desserts, I think Adam and I agree that the dessert menu is the weak point in Le Bernardin's creativity.

The meal ended with petit fours. A rich, fudgy square of chocolate was good but predictable. An orange jelly was a sweet, refreshing last bite. Tiny nut tarts (pecan?) were delicious, and Adam actually asked to have another (we were brought a tray of four more). I can't remember the fourth one, actually. Maybe Adam does.

The Le Bernardin room is alright, though the art on the walls is very weird. Setting isn't a reason to eat here. The service was not up to the standard that I would have expected from a restaurant like this. I've already mentioned the bread problem. We had to ask for a wine menu from three different people before finally receiving it at one point in the meal, and in general there wasn't much checking in to see that we were alright. While hovering service can be oppressively weird, inattentive service is just annoying.

Our bill came to about $560 with wine, cheese supplement, tip, etc. While this is among the most expensive meals we've had, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I left feeling full but not disgustingly so (as was the case at RM), and certainly not robbed (as I did after WD-50). Some dishes really impressed me, and I liked everything. There are so many great places to eat in New York, so I doubt I'll make a point to go back anytime in the immediate future. However, I do walk by it every day on the way to and from work, which is a constant reminder of how delicious their fish is, so I'm sure I'll want to go back at some point.

So I've decided to start a food journal, and Adam points out that blogging would be a good way to do it. Here goes...