Veniero’s

When last I posted about Veniero’s, I mentioned how disappointed I was that they got rid of the tiramisu cup.  After Congee Village, we all wanted dessert, so we took the short drive up to Veniero’s, and I was eager to see if, in the months since I’d last been, they’d returned it to the menu.  Unfortunately, this was not the case, but I gamely decided to try something else – the menu looked different again, in any case.  BF and JP both ordered the molten lava cake; unfortunately, JP’s was cooked all the way through, so he sent it [...]

Chez Panisse

Directly following my trip to Peru, I left on a research trip to the West Coast for two weeks.  What was I researching?  Glad you asked: a book on Stadium Eats!  Um, yeah, without a deal in sight currently (hint, hint, anyone reading this who is interested!), I went to preemptively scout out the 6 West Coast stadiums and eat my way up and down the West Coast at the same time, starting in San Francisco, working my way down to Los Angeles, then San Diego, back up to San Francisco and then to Seattle!  Phew!  Tune in at 4:15 [...]

17th Annual Top Ten Pastry Chefs In America, The Finale

Is there anything better than watching pastry pros at work?  Well, yes, there is, and that’s eating their creations.  Frank Vollkommer’s Pistachio Financier with Vanilla Parfait, Lemon Custard and Rosemary Infused Wild Blueberry Compote was.to.die.for.  (For those scratching their heads, a financier is a small tea cake typically made with almond flour, though obviously Volkommer used pistachio flour in his.)  The dense yet light cake was redolent of pure pistachio flavor.  The vanilla bean-speckled parfait added a lovely creamy, rich component that was the perfect foil to the tangy lemon custard, while the blueberry compote was superbly supported by the [...]

Cook’s Country Lost Recipes’ Blackberry Cobbler- A Review

I’d gone hog-wild at the market and bought approximately three pounds of raspberries and blackberries recently. (What can I say?  They looked awesome!)  So when I came upon Cook’s Country Lost Recipes’ rendition of blackberry cobbler, I thought “Woohoo!  A way to use all the berries I just bought!”  I don’t have a lot of experience with cobblers, so I thought using Cook’s Country’s recipe would be a great way to remedy that. I’m a devoted fan of Cook’s Illustrated and its little publishing empire, and with maybe one or two exceptions, they’ve never failed me.  If I had time, [...]

The Southwest Porch at Bryant Park

I was recently invited to a press event promoting Southwest Porch, a pop-up restaurant that’s taken over the southwest corner of Bryant Park (40th Street and 6th Avenue). Funny enough, it took me arriving there, sitting down, and my companion mentioning that Southwest Airlines was now flying out of LGA for me to realize it was sponsored by the airline.  Duh!!!  For some reason, I’d just totally blanked on that little fact.  Whoops. Also funny moment was walking in and immediately becoming nauseous because of the amount of people crammed in by the bar – even though it was outdoors, [...]

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