Apologies in advance for the blurry photos – I didn’t drink, so I’m not sure what caused the shake… excitement, perhaps?  Our appetizers arrived quickly, ‘bruschette’ were really a basket of crostini served with the topping you’d requested in a small dish on the side, for you to top yourself… and if you ordered more than one, to mix and match as you pleased.  Choice of one ran $5, but three came to $10, so we chose three: the red, roasted red peppers, smoked almonds and pecorino romano; the green, rapini pesto with walnuts and pecorino romano; the brown, lily confit – which a check with our server informed us that it was garlic, onions and shallots.  The lily confit was the surprising favorite, while the rapini pesto bordered on a bit too bitter at times.  I really enjoyed the red pepper one with its light smokiness, but mixing a bit of each on top of a piece of bread actually worked out fantastically as well, with the sweetness of the lily confit tempering a bit of the bitterness from the rapini pesto, yum.  Not a bad start to the night. 

Hungry chose to start with the bay scallop crudo, a light appetizer that I know she enjoyed, remarking that it was a good, light beginning to her meal, which is what she wanted. 

I love beets, so it was no surprise when I chose the roasted beets with candied fennel, radish vinaigrette and pecorino romano.  The sweetness of the beets with the creamy saltiness of the cheese was perfect, and I happily ate the entire thing pretty fast. 

We’d all heard the pastas at dell’anima were phenomenal, so we all chose pastas as our main course.  KC went with the orecchiette, with roast cauliflower, onion, celery, walnuts, parmigiano reggiano – and I know she really enjoyed it quite a bit.  I’m not sure why I didn’t try a bite, but she said a few times how good it was, and it certainly looks delicious. 

I believe Hungry chose the garganelli, though I’m afraid I don’t recall exactly, so I’ll let her insert her thoughts (or a link to her post!) in the comments section…

A side of broccoli rabe also appeared on our table.  A nice green counterpart to our heavier dishes, I wasn’t complaining. 

I chose the pappardelle integrale, with duck ragu, pancetta, mushrooms, asiago.  You might think it was too rich, but it was just perfect – every strand of pasta perfectly cooked, clearly fresh pasta, but the best part was definitely that it was topped with something crispy.  We thought it might be bits of pancetta – just perfectly crisp, offering an amazing textural contrast to the soft pasta, the rich, tender duck, and meaty, earthy tomatoes.  Everything was just so well-executed, thoughtfully put together… I was in heaven as I cleaned my plate.  Not a bite wasted, that’s for sure… delicious. 

Though we were all pretty full, the dessert menu beckoned with some appealing choices.  Unfortunately, the dessert menu doesn’t appear to be online, though I recall the word ‘espresso’ in the description – and all of us commenting that we thought a cake with espresso in it would be darker.  The cake was crumbly, almost like a cornmeal cake, but the ice cream pulled it all together very nicely, and we all enjoyed the cake very much.  I apologize for being unable to offer further details on the contents… I know the caramel drizzle was salted though   

Then we exchanged cookies and walked into the night, sated, happy, full… and having spotted Glenn Close in the restaurant!  She didn’t stay – I think there wasn’t enough privacy and a bit too many people staring at her, she’s much shorter than I thought she was! – but that was a pretty awesome celebrity sighting (props to KC for spotting her)! 

Yvo says: I enjoyed everything I ate here, though I particularly enjoyed the pasta – there’s something about a well-executed pasta dish that just makes my tastebuds sing.  With perfectly cooked pasta and exactly the right complementing textures and flavors, that dish is a really fond memory right now… and I will definitely be back to try more.  Lovely. 
recommended

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Post tags: Pasta

My darling KC, one of my very favorite people in the world, had only one birthday request: “I want pizza.”  Easy enough, I gave her a list from which to pick, and Rubirosa came up the winner.  The menu tantalized her for weeks beforehand; every other day I received a new message with another suggestion for something she wanted to eat there, and I agreed – the menu looked like it was tailored entirely to the things she likes to eat.  I was excited. 

Since we were a group of six, and the small pies came with 6 slices each, it was quickly decided we’d order two pizzas to start for sharing, and then our own dishes.  First up was the mushroom pie, with prosciutto, peas and pecorino.  The peas added a nice brightness to the rich pie, but I loved the soft prosciutto melting on top.  And while I’d seen pies being delivered to the tables around us, I’d nervously wondered at the thinness of the crust – I’m pretty against cracker crusts, that’s not pizza, that’s flatbread – but I was happy to note that though the crust was impossibly thin… it was not cracker-like.  It had give to it, while still being super thin.  I have NO idea how they do that! 

The other pie was pesto, with fresh mozzarella and a scattering of cherry tomatoes.  I LOVED this pie; though it was a somewhat warm December evening, the brightness just was so intense, and the pop of the sweet cherry tomatoes with the creamy mozzarella… perfect.  My only complaint would be that I wanted a few more tomatoes – I noticed some slices didn’t have them, or only had one while others had 2 or 3 – but I know they were way out of season.  In any case, I would not hesitate to order this pie again – it was so freaking good.  SO good. 

A few people ordered bruschettas – duck, shrimp & chiles, and meatball.  I heard no complaints about the bruschettas, though I didn’t try any.  Someone said the meatballs were fantastic, and I know people enjoyed the duck one as well. 

Since I love brussels sprouts so much, I added on this side, but unfortunately, they were slightly mushy and overcooked.  It tasted like they were drowning in butter, which is about the last thing I want from my vegetables (no, really; there have been a few times when I cooked all my veggies in butter and it just makes me get very, very sick).  We didn’t finish this. 

CT ordered the veal milanese and based on the moans coming from her side of the table, I would say it did her very well, thanks.  Hahaha.  I don’t know why I didn’t try a bite…

The birthday girl ordered the brick pressed chicken.  I tried some of this and thought it was very tasty, though we both remarked on it being served a bit cold, which put me off.  Tasty, juicy, but… cold. 

TC ordered the black & white tagliatelle – I know he’ll pipe up with his thoughts!  (Thanks!) 

CheeeeEEEEse ordered the pappardelle – which I totally would have ordered, as I LOVE pappardelle, but I had my eye on something else.  I almost regret not getting it because he cleaned his plate – I’m not sure if he licked it clean, because I was at the other end of the table from him, but he held the plate aloft for me to see, completely clean, hahaha.  It must have been goooooood. 

Earlier that day, I’d talked to Noah, who told me that the meatballs were fantastic at Rubirosa.  He mentioned this at least 5 times, so I decided to get spaghetti and meatballs – sounds fabulous! – but unfortunately, my meatballs were cold, and as a result, a bit hard.  Actually, the one I started eating was cold, but when I shared one with someone else later, they said that meatball was fine temperature wise, so I ate that one and it was slightly better.  The pasta itself… well, I don’t like thin noodles, so I was a little disappointed that the pasta wasn’t thick the way I like.  Overall, though, the dish was perfectly tasty- I just wish my meatballs were served hot.  That would have made a world of difference…

Hungry ordered two entrees, FBM represent! – tripe first.  I’m sure she’ll share her opinion – either in comments or a link to her own post?

Her second entree was short rib ravioli.  I tried one and thought it was OK, but everyone else who tried it said it was really good.  Maybe I just have a different set of standards for this… I wanted some more oomph from it. 

Dessert time!  A trio of sorbets for the bday girl, apple, pomegranate and lemon.  We all raved about the apple – it tasted literally like an apple had been blended down, then frozen.  It tasted just like an apple, but super cold.  I really loved that apple sorbet and could totally eat an entire bowl of it.  So refreshing! 

I ordered the trio of gelato – pistachio, mascarpone and salted caramel.  I liked the pistachio best – it tasted like pistachios, bits of them interspersed throughout.  Creamy… the other two flavors were all right but nothing that stood out or made me giggle with glee. 

The last dessert, zeppole with nutella, powdered pillows of warm donut goodness… I thought they were very good, if messy.  I think everyone enjoyed them… we had fun taking turns dipping them and eating them with gelato and sorbet, anyway. 

Our service was great, and the place was casual, fun, and had a good vibe.  Do note that we sat in the back room, away from the crowds out front, because as we exited, all happy and commenting what a great place and great meal we’d just had, I suddenly noted “oh goodness, all the [expletive] hipsters are out front, how annoying” – which could definitely hurt your enjoyment if you have to sit at a table near the bar where they’re all jostling into you…

Yvo says: All of us were very happy and satisfied with our meal, and I am sure I will be back.  Return visits are already being planned by KC and myself, because there are so many other dishes on the menu that we want to try – so good, and a fun place to go with friends for a laidback meal.  While some of the dishes were cold, overall, the food was great, the prices pretty reasonable, and we had a great time.  Yum!
recommended

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Post tags: gelato, Pasta, pesto

DLS ordered the fruit tart, which looked really tasty… but I didn’t try any.  As I told him on the spot – fruit tarts are for boring people!  I’m anything but boring. 

Since I’ve written about Veniero’s quite a bit already, I wrote this post mostly just to show off this photo.  I ordered the pistachio tulip or something… I just pointed at the picture they had in the menu.  A thin chocolate shell wrapped around a bland sponge cake, layered with pistachio cream that was a bit too buttery and had too little pistachio taste to it, the dessert was less substance and more show.  That’s more than I can say about a lot of people… at least this one was pretty.  Ha.

As always, though, Veniero’s is a great end to any night. 

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Post tags: DLS, pastries, tarts

Exactly a week after we went to Le Bernardin, DLS took me to Jean Georges because… much like Le Bernardin, the executive pastry chef of Jean Georges, Johnny Iuzzini, was leaving at the end of 2011.  Of course, I’ve actually ‘worked with’ Johnny in the past (click the link earlier, you’ll see) and sampled desserts that he literally made on the spot, but it would be different to eat what he makes at the restaurant, right?  Right, and that was reason enough to have dinner here (I had lunch there earlier in the year).  

I joked how ‘lucky’ DLS was that Dominique Ansel had already vacated the executive pastry chef position at Daniel – and how lucky I was to have already been to Daniel.  Ha! 

Our amuse bouche: fluke sashimi with tarragon salt; black mission fig with house made mozzarella; roasted pepper soup with black truffle emulsion.  I particularly enjoyed the fluke sashimi, which was nice, bright, and the salt added another layer of flavor to the piece.  The soup was also a wonderful sip, and while the fig/mozzarella combo was lovely, it didn’t stand out compared to the other two. 

This time, we each did a different tasting menu so we could try more things.  We didn’t even ask last time if we could each get a different one, whoops.  DLS’s autumn menu began with ‘egg toast’ which had thin slices of toasted bread, sous vide’d egg yolks, topped with a ton of caviar.  My bite was pretty salty, even in light of what I had…

My first course on the regular Jean Georges menu, titled simply ‘egg caviar’ was served in an egg, reminiscent of the egg from Le Bernardin.  But first bite and I was overwhelmed with salt; I’m no stranger to caviar, and in fact love salt as well, but I just felt overwhelmed with this dish.  Even after I tried DLS’s, which was also pretty salty… we both agreed that this was unnecessarily and overwhelmingly salty. 

The menu has since changed, so I’m unable to give an exact description, but I believe these were scallops in a green apple and pomegranate sauce of sorts.  The scallops were either raw or barely cooked, and fabulous, with a slight sweetness from the sauce.  I enjoyed my bite very much!  (seasonal menu)

Sea scallops, caramelized cauliflower with a caper raising emulsion… quite tasty, with perfectly cooked scallops, and cauliflower that’d been perfectly caramelized on one side to develop all the sugars, delicious. 

From the autumn tasting menu: semolina gnocchi and black winter truffle; literally the pillowy-est gnocchi either of us had ever had, it barely tasted like gnocchi but instead like clouds, just puffs that were barely there.  It was almost disconcerting to think of this as gnocchi. 

JG’s menu: young garlic soup with thyme and sauteed frog’s legs; the soup itself was magnificent in its garlic fragrance.  I really enjoyed it, though I did think at one point that it would make a fabulous sauce for pasta or some other carby item.  As for the frog’s legs, I was encouraged to use my fingers and dip the frog in the soup (I was assured that rose water would be brought for me to rinse my fingers afterwards), which I did; frog tastes like a very mild white meat chicken to me, and this was no different.  Dipped in the soup, it simply served as another vehicle to ingest the delicious soup.  I shared with DLS, of course, and was amused to note that two bowls of rose water were brought over for us to each rinse our hands, with the server smilingly telling us, “I noticed you were sharing, so I brought over another bowl for [DLS] to rinse as well.”  Thoughtful, observant and not intrusive.  I can get behind that. 

From the autumn menu: crispy skin black sea bass, roasted brussels sprouts, and spiced red apple jus: very tender and tasty, though not particularly a stand out. 

From the JG menu: turbot with chateau chalon sauce; I don’t know exactly what sauce that is (and I’m sure I can Google it), but I wanted to lick my plate clean.  The turbot was firm, a very dense meat, and it was topped with a really nice mix of zucchini and tomatoes… but the sauce, oh the sauce, it pulled everything together, just delicious. 

From the autumn menu: poached lobster, saffron tapioca and Gewurztraminer foam: I don’t remember trying this, actually, but DLS said that the foam and tapioca wasn’t that good but the lobster was lobster, and good as far as that goes. 

From the JG menu: I was probably too busy eating this, lobster tartine, fenugreek and lemongrass broth, pea shoots.  Perfectly cooked, with a delicate yet flavorful broth… I’m not even sure I shared any of this. 

From the autumn menu: I don’t think this is on the menu anymore, but I believe it was venison with grilled endive.  Very meaty and cooked exactly right… not gamey… a good end to the savory portion of the menu. 

The JG menu: broiled squab, onion compote, corn pancake with foie gras: I recall this being really difficult to eat, as I struggled to cut the squab into bite size pieces… a combination of too much to drink and just the awkward shape of the bird makes this a dish I barely touched… though I liked the corn pancake with the foie gras. 

Then, the reason we were there: dessert!  The autumn menu came with the above: pomegranate sorbet, sweet potato souffle, cranberry parfait, and a white wine tart.  The item in the back right – the top part was lovely, like a toasted marshmallow.  The others were just… mmm.  Not particularly amazing in my opinion. 

The JG menu came with the chocolate dessert: roasted white chocolate sponge, chocolate peanut butter ganache, a bitter chocolate sorbet, and…

JG’s chocolate cake.  With all this fanfare, you’d think I was about to tell you how amazing it all was… nope.  The desserts were all the weakest part of the meal, and actually quite disappointing.  I don’t know what it was – did I expect more?  I just wasn’t too impressed and both of us literally left most of each dessert on the table.  Meh. 

Lovely macarons graced our table a few minutes later. 

Signature house made vanilla marshmallows, which were lovely as usual – not sticky, and just puffs of sweetened air, really. 

Pomegranate and spiced apple jellies, along with jasmine, coconut, praline and hazelnut chocolates – I definitely didn’t touch the coconut one.  Then, as the check was paid, our server came over with a small bag containing a small box of chocolates “for the lady to enjoy later” – ha, cute. 

I was wholly disappointed that dessert – the sole reason for this particular visit – was such a letdown.  Overall, though, I enjoyed the majority of our meal, even with a few dishes I’d rather forget.  A few notes, though – now that I’ve gone to three of the top restaurants in the city, and in such quick succession, I do note that Jean Georges was easily the ‘worst’ – that isn’t to say it’s bad, not at all, but relative to Le B and Daniel, I would say it would rank 3rd.  It felt slightly less posh/luxe than the other two as well; we had one server for pouring wine, explaining our dishes, and at one point he even served the bread as well – and I hope it’s abundantly clear that I’m not all “I need a team of servers for a table of two” but rather that relative to the other places, it’s something that might be expected at such a place.  Other than that, though, service was impeccable per expectations, and we had a lovely time. 

Yvo says: The food here was excellent, solidly above average, and though I didn’t like everything I ate, I still had a wonderful experience (and again, sincerest thanks to DLS!).  However, given the choice of any of the top Michelin restaurants I’ve visited now (if you include Eleven Madison Park, which I visited when it had only 1 Michelin star), Jean Georges would be last on the list.  Any of the other places would be recommended over JG for a special occasion, though it was definitely way cheaper than Le Bernardin and Daniel, so that may be something to consider.  Special occasion dining on a smaller budget for sure. 
recommended, but if I had to only pick one expensive fancy pants dinner for the year, this wouldn’t be it

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, Jean Georges, Michelin stars

And that’s how we wound up at Fish Kebab. 

Since I’d been eating at home right before he arrived, I wasn’t all that hungry and decided to just choose a bunch of things to nibble on.  Pita came with our mezze platter. 

Hummus, which was perfectly tasty but nothing mind blowing (I LOVE hummus, and have a favorite brand and all). 

The mezzes: from the front left clockwise, babaghanoush, tzatziki, garlic-potatoes, stuffed grape leaves, and … mmm… taramasalata.  I’m not a big eggplant person, so that dish was mostly ignored by me, but the tzatziki was very creamy and tangy… the potatoes were a bit of hit or miss with me, a little too stiff to be a dip and a little odd eating just like mashed potatoes.  The stuffed grape leaves were okay, and the taramasalata… oh, my.  I won’t say it’s the best ever, but I really liked how fishy this dip was, you would not mistake this for anything but a cod roe dip.  So good – I couldn’t stop stuffing this in my mouth.  We requested more pita, a request that was met happily. 

We also ordered a half dozen raw oysters because I was just feeling it.  I enjoyed these – super fresh, and super tasty, not like the ones I’d had earlier.  Shucked properly too, no need to pull them from the shell… ahhh. 

DLS ordered the seafood pasta, which sounded glorious.  Both of us assumed it would be mostly seafood tossed with the pasta, maybe clams and/or mussels in the shell, but when the server came over to put a bib on DLS, we both realized how wrong we were.  I took a couple of cute photos of him wearing the bib, but I don’t think he’d appreciate me putting them on the blog… so I won’t, boo   In any case, he seemed to really enjoy his pasta, though I declined to try any – half a lobster, mussels, shrimp, I think even scallops in there… maybe he’ll (finally!) comment and share his thoughts on something? 

As I said, I wasn’t particularly hungry, so I chose just the New England clam chowder.  The bowl was huge! and quite tasty.  Very smoothly creamy – mine sometimes comes out a bit lumpy, probably from my tendency to brown my roux, filled with lots of veggies and big chunks of clam.  I really enjoyed my soup, and didn’t feel any remorse at being unable to order a more substantial meal – I thoroughly enjoyed everything  I ate!

Yvo says: I’d initially worried this place wouldn’t still be there since it’s been literally over 11 years since I’d gone, but it’s clear why this place has survived the test of time: fresh seafood, a wonderful staff and just good food.  You can’t beat that.  The owners have a few places – this, the Shish Kebab place, a little market across the street, and a bunch of places that all sell this type of stuff – the little market sells the mezze we ordered individually by the pound, and even little mini picnic packs to take to the lake nearby to eat a nice picnic lunch… yes, we talked about that, you know how goofy I am!… Love how adorable it is.  Full disclosure: the same owners have or had another restaurant in the Source Mall, which is where I threw FeistySis’s baby shower for her first child… and I loved it, they were easy to work with, the price was awesome and the food was good (served buffet style), just a great overall place. 
highly recommended if you’re in the area

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, hummus, taramasalata