I ordered the Completo sandwich with grilled chicken and a side of aji rojo since the aji verde already came in my sandwich. We shared a couple orders of their sweet potato fries.

The sandwich came with guacamole, green beans (yes, green beans), cheese, aji verde, tomatoes, mayo, grilled chicken, and was served own their homemade Chilean style bread. Some may not see the point of putting green beans on a sandwich like this, but I think it gave good texture to the sandwich. In fact, the only problem I had with the sandwich is actually an underhanded compliment. It was so over flowing, the bread could barely contain it. And if you wait a couple minutes to start eating it after its been assembled, the bottom half of the bread has a hard time keeping it all together.

The aji rojo was interesting, but nothing amazing. Its just a medium-spiced red salsa. I think I would try that instead of the aji verde next time in my sandwich, but I don’t see the point of paying an extra $0.25 and having both.

The sweet potato fries were good. They had a nice crunch on the outside and were well seasoned. Its probably not your best sweet potato fries, but if you like them in general you’ll probably like these.

Overall its a great addition to the neighborhood and I will be adding it to my lunching rotation. The prices are right and they have ample seating upstairs. I would recommend eating it there instead of taking it back to your desk/home so you can enjoy the sandwich before it gets soggy. As I mentioned before, it does not travel very well.

Barros Luco
300 East 52nd Street (between 2nd and 1st Avenue)
New York, NY 10022
(212) 371-0100

I went with a friend and we shared the short rib skewers for an appetizer which the waiter assured us is one of their specialties. For our entree’s I ordered a bowl of their Pho Bo and my friend ordered the Singaporean Laksa.

The appetizer was thinly sliced short ribs wrapped around a whole lemongrass skewer, which was then bbq’ed until slightly crispy on the outside. It was then covered with some crumbled peanuts and served with a sweet hoisin based sauce. Overall, it was pretty damn awesome. The meat was very tender and tasty even without the sauce (which I found to be a bit too sweet). You get 4 skewers for $8.

This was my first time having pho so I am not really the best judge of that, but I did enjoy it. I was expecting a stronger tasting broth, but I might just be too used to the japanese broths served with ramen. Once you added the seasonings in though it was pretty good and if I didn’t have to rush back for work I would have finished more of it. The noodles had pretty good texture, but there was no “al dente” snap. I am not really sure if it supposed to have that or not.

I got to try a few bites of my friend’s laksa, which is a coconut milk based soup with some spices, soba noodles, shrimp, and roast pork. I was expecting something a bit stronger in flavor when I read the description, but I guess I was just expecting something that tasted like a Thai soup, which I am more used to. The soba noodles were different than I have had before. They looked like Japanese style soba noodles (square in shape and a slightly dull brown color), but they seemed a bit mushy and overcooked. I am not sure if this is because it was actually overcooked or if singaporean style soba is different than japanese style soba.

The total bill came out to $35 with tax and tip for 2 entrees and 1 appetizer so its a bit pricier than a typical go to lunch for me, but given the other options in the area I will probably be stopping by from time to time. If you work/live nearby I would definitely try it out.

MidtownLunch did a full review with photos so I would read up Zach’s review for further details.

OBAO
(212) 308-5588
222 E 53rd St (Btwn 2nd & 3rd Ave)

I went there with a friend a few days after they opened and split the “Seafood Boat” platter that comes with a small lobster roll, small crab roll, small shrimp roll, 2 empress crab claws, drink and soda for $20. Unfortunately, they had run out of the crab filling at the time so they instead gave us extra crab claws to make up for it. It was definitely too small to split between two hungry foodies, but gave us a nice sample of what they had to offer. And then we ordered more….

The lobster roll was fantastic… It was mostly whole crab claws that were extremely tender and sweet with just a touch of mayo on the buttered & warmed roll, with just a touch more butter drizzled on top and then a sprinkle of their house seasoning (a blend of celery salt, thyme, oregano and black pepper). I am not a huge fan of mayo or excessive butter so thankfully these ingredients were used with restraint. The next time I go I might ask them to hold the melted butter they drizzled on top, but that’s just me. If you go, I would recommend you have it the way they prepare it.

The shrimp roll as well was prepared in a similar manner with similarly tender and sweet shrimps that were cooked perfectly.

The only thing I was disappointed by were the crab claws. They had a funny texture and seeded to be waterlogged and mostly flavorless. The only meat on the claw I actually liked was the little nibble I got on some of them way instead on the tip of claw. The part they actually cracked open for you to eat left much to be desired.

I do want to try their crab roll and will report back. I am hoping its better than their crab claws.

But the best part of this was that in the time it took for me to walk in, decide what I wanted to order, pay, get my food, and eat, the same people that were waiting in line for Caracas were still waiting… hungry… while I was full of delicious seafood.

The way they do this is that all their seafood is precooked and measured in little plastic bags. Which was a bit unsettling and reminiscent of the food that comes in plastic bags at fast food places. But that was quickly forgotten one bite into my sandwich.

If you go, I recommend getting a lobster roll for yourself and then maybe splitting a shrimp roll with a friend.

Luke’s Lobster
93 E 7th St (between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 387-8487

The plan was to start off in Brooklyn by hitting up 3 of the places in Sunset Park that NYC Food Guy, then follow it up with Taqueria Los Hermanos in Bushwick, and then wrap it up in Queens at Tortilla Nixtamal in Corona. I was especially excited about the last two because they actually made their own masa in house which means their tortillas should all be super fresh and taste fantastic. Additionally, I had gotten a tip that the No Reservations show had recently filmed at Los Hermanos and the episode was going to air in a couple weeks.

The three we started with in Sunset Park were Tulcingo Restaurant & Bakery, Tacos Matamoros, and ended at Tacos Xochimilco before getting back on the subway.

The thing I was most looking forward to at Tulcingo was the tacos arabes and the barbacoa (goat), but sadly, by the time I got there they were out of both. So instead I settled on the carne asada, which was pretty good and came with a nice serving of guacamole which I love in a steak taco. One of my friends got one of the pricier seafood soups which I unfortunately didn’t get to try but looked amazing with a whole crab in there. It was around $12 for giant bowl of seafood so I would like to try that again when I go back.

I had actually been to Tacos Matamoros before for a special organized group dinner when they slow braised a big piece of goat for us. This time I tried their chorizo taco and their al pastor. Both were pretty good and I had a tough time deciding my favorite. The real thing that set this place apart though were their tortillas which were a toasted a bit. Everyone at the end decided they liked the tortillas the best here.

Our last stop before leaving Sunset Park was Tacos Xochimilco based on the stellar review Lawrence gave of their sandwich, the Pambazo.

Refried beans, spicy pork, cubes of spicy, soft potato, sharp queso fresca, and lettuce are all wedged between two halves of a club roll that is then painted with red sauce and pressed to create a spicy and sticky outer coating of deliciousness. Intense, and unlike any sandwich I’ve ever seen before or since. Chaos between two pieces of bread finds order upon reaching your taste buds, new flavors and textures abound with every bite. It’s the everlasting gobstopper of Mexican sandwiches.

This probably where we differ the most. We got about 4-5 sandwiches between the 8-10 of us and it was generally the consensus that this was a terrible sandwich ignoring the hype that surrounded it after reading the review quoted above. I think ours was severely lacking in the spicy pork which might have had a big part of why most of us were disappointed. Ours ended up being slightly spiced & greasy potato with some fillings wrapped by bread that was covered in sauce. I think if you had put something else in that sandwich besides potatoes it would have been great, but the way it was given to us I don’t see any reason to waste any more space in my stomach for that. There are plenty of other tastiness to try out.

Our next stop was in Bushwick at Tortilleria Los Hermanos. I loved the setting of the place. Most of their property is an actual factory. They have some seating inside their small kitchen area where you order food and they cook stuff besides tortillas, but their big table is actually in their warehouse (which is connected) where you have a view of machinery and they might actually make some tortillas while you are there. Sadly, I was pretty disappointed by their corn tortillas (which is what they make mostly). They seemed to have some weird bitter flavor. Their fillings were good and their red salsa was awesome though. A nice spicy kick from all the dried peppers that went into it. Regardless, unless I happen to be in Bushwick, there isn’t really much of a reason for me to go back and I actually go out of my way not to buy their brand of taco’s when I shop at my local mexican grocer in my neighborhood.

Our last stop was out in Queens and by the time we got there our group size had shriveled from about 12 down to 7. It was also about 7 hours later so unless you had nothing else better to do that day it was totally understandable.

Anyhow, we were all quite happy by the time we got out there and it ended up being one of my and the rest of the group’s favorites. We shared an order each of all of their tamales (except for the chicken & cheese one which seemed rather boring) including the rather inventive one, “The Italian”, which came with roasted pepper, mozzarella cheese, and italian sausage. While the fillings sound really good on their own, I was skeptical about whether they would work wrapped up in corn masa. I, and just about everyone else, where all happily surprised with this one. It was amazing and totally unique. If you go out there, you should definitely try this out. The other tamales are also great and worth eating too. I couldn’t really recommend one over the other because they all have different flavors so its really up to you. but I would at least get one of the Italian Tamales for the table to share.

We also got an order of the fish taco which i believe is made from a skate wing. This was also really good and totally what I expected. While the fish and most of the fillings were pretty standard, it was the white sauce and the great tortilla that sealed the deal on this. This gets my “San Diegan Stamp of Approval”, which I just invented right now.

In the end, the general favorites for the day were Tortilleria Nixtamal and either of the first two in Sunset Park. Sunset Park is probably better for a field trip though because there are so many other options and diversions while you are there since it seems as though there is a strong Hispanic community there.

Tulcingo Restaurant & Bakery
5520 5th Avenue b/t 55th & 56th street
Brooklyn, NY 11220
718-439-2896, 718-439-2897

Tortilleria Nixtamal
10405 47th Ave
Corona, NY 11368
(718) 699-2434

Two catches though…. Its only available during the early-bird time of 5:30pm to 6:30pm on Monday through Thursday and the menu isn’t exactly the same as the usual prix-fixe menu they have the rest of the evening. Not to say the options were bad though.

I started with a ravioli dish that served with blank trumpet mushrooms, lomo (a cured ham from spain), and was served in a ridiculously delicious sauce. For my main I had the duo of dry aged beef, which is on their permanent menu as well. It was a wine braised short rib and a seared rib eye. Each one of them on their own could have stood up on a tasting menu so getting both was like a 2-for-1 deal. The short rib was the winner on the plate for sure and I think they have gotten awards for this dish in the past. One of my friends got the lamb chop (also on their regular menu) which was great and another got the black sea bass with syrah sauce (also on their regular menu) which was just okay. I did like how they served it with a syrah sauce which helped to pair it better with the wine.

Desserts were pretty good as well, but I don’t remember them off hand. They had 4 options and we tried all of them. I believe I liked the one with violets or lavender the best followed by the chocolaty one.

The nice touch of it all was that even though we were paying for the cheap seats we still got the full Daniel treatment with the amuse course, petit fours, and macaroons. And the service was stellar. Probably some of the best service I have had in a long time. Just the right amount of attention, but not enough it became overbearing. And I liked how the head waiter had a sense of humor and didn’t speak to me like I was my parents age. The ladies liked how they had little pedestals for their purses.

Overall, this place ranks pretty high up there in terms of upscale dining. For the price range it is the better than most I have had and I wouldn’t mind going back sometime to try their tasting menu when I am in the mood for a good splurge.

Daniel
60 East 65th Street (near Madison Avenue)
New York, NY 10021
212-288-0033

Link: http://www.epicurious.com/community/events/epicuriousentertainsnyc

This version turned out much better because I made some pretty key mistakes the first time around. A lot of recipes said to “knead” the curds. This just resulted in just squeezing out all the buttery deliciousness. I had a gut feeling I was doing something wrong at the time, but I was already committed to the first recipe by that point. The recipe from Fias Co Farms correctly emphasized that you should not squeeze and instead very gently stretch the curds. It should actually pretty much be able to stretch itself by its own weight. My stretching technique was not nearly as awesome as the photos in the recipe I was following, but it was much better than the first time around.

The result was an amazingly stringy, soft, creamy ball of delicious mozzarella in my fridge. Well, half of it was in my fridge. The other half was quickly consumed. It doesn’t look as pretty as what you get in the store but it tastes damn good.

The texture is much better than before, but still could use a bit of an improvement. I still have about 3/4 of a pound left of curds so I am going to try again on Sunday or Monday and hopefully that will the final round.

In case you are interested, Fias Co Farms has a large section dedicated to homemade dairy products.

We went up last saturday and visited a few places:
Terranova Bakery (bread)
Borgatis (fresh pasta)
Casa Della Mozzarella (house made mozzarella and other specialty products)
Full Moon Pizza (good Sicilian pizzas)
Modern Grocery Store (produce)
Teitel Brothers (specialty Italian products)
Biancardi’s (butcher)
Madonia Brothers Bakery (dessert)
Calabria Pork Store (you can probably guess)
Randazzo’s (seafood)

This tour was based off of this chowhound post with the added pit stop of Calabria Pork Store.

We started out at Terranova which had had a ridiculous prosciutto bread that was like crack. Once you had a bit you had to have another. Its a pretty small bakery thought so they can easily run out of stuff. The service was really friendly though.

We bought some of the house-made squid ink pasta & carrot pasta from Borgatis. As always, neither of them had the taste of the ingredient used to color them, but both of them had great texture and looked beautiful. They also had a selection of fresh pastas that were made in house.

Casa Della Mozzarella was insanely busy and filled up quick because they have such a small space for customers (most of the space is occupied by their products. The had guys in the back making fresh mozzarella also sold a variety of other cheeses, meats, and antipasto. I bought some of the cheese curds for $4 a pound am going to try making some it at home so I can have it *really* fresh.

We took our lunch break at Full Moon Pizza had a great Sicilian pizza that wasn’t nearly as dense and heavy as what you usually get. The crust was a bit thicker than a normal pie, but it had great texture and wasn’t overwhelming like it normally is for a Sicilian pizza.

Then we went over to Modern Grocery which was just a normal grocery store. Its cheaper than Manhattan, but I wouldn’t really bother carrying this stuff back unless you just need a couple (light weight) items.

The guys behind the counter at Teitel Brothers was a bit more customer friendly and they had much more variety than Casa Dealla Mozzarella so I would go there for all my cheese shopping except for mozzarella. They had an amazing ricotta di bufala that was richer and creamier than any ricotta I have ever had. They also had a dessert cheese that was mixed with a layer of nutella and another of dried fruit. Their olive bar was pretty well stocked as well.

Biancardi’s was a great general purpose butcher with plenty of cuts of veal, beef, pork, chicken, lamb. They also had tripe and few other pieces of meat you don’t always find. I wasn’t going to buy anything, but I saw that the filet mignon was $13 a pound and had to buy at least one medallion.

The Madonia Brothers Bakery seemed to employ more Albanians then Italians, but the products were all definitely Italian. They had a case of biscotti that was better than anything I have had stateside (take not that I don’t usually like biscotti so I am not really a connoisseur of it).

Next to Madonia was the Calabria Pork Store. The entire ceiling is covered from front to back with hanging sausages that they cure in house. In the back, they were curing a couple kinds of bacon. The entire places smelled like deliciousness and I definitely think this the place to buy your sausages from. They had some butcher cuts as well, but its pretty clear that its not their specialty.

We wrapped up and Randazzo’s for seafood. This is probably one of the first seafood shops that didn’t smell like seafood which is pretty amazing considering the amount of fish they had all over the place. They had a great variety and the prices were very reasonable (gorgeous sea scallops for $10 a pound). Also, in front of the shop they had a counter with a guy shucking oysters & clams for you on demand. Then you put whatever fixings you want on it and shoot them down. I am not a huge oyster fan (the last one I had was 4 years ago), but I enjoyed these. They had a very fresh flavor to it.

All in all, it was a great day. Its a moderate hike to get out there because you need to take the train up and then take a bus, but you can make a nice field trip out of it by getting lunch with some friends and then doing your shopping afterward. You can check out Mireille’s post for more information and photos.

If you haven’t had banh mi before, its basically a bunch of south asian ingredients in a french style baguette (yay colonialism). The boi version includes cilantro, a spicy carrot & daikon (radish) mixture, cucumbers, a meat of your choice, a mixed meat & mushroom pate, and an avocado (which isn’t common). The pate flavor isn’t that strong. I hate liver and didn’t have an issue with it being there. The rest of the vegetable additions were great and made the sandwich burst with flavor. Zach has a great photo and breakdown of all the ingredients here.

For my first banh mi experience, it was pretty good. All the fillings were great and full of flavor and the bread was tasty too. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that the chicken filling I got as the meat portion of the sandwich was dry and overcooked. I am sure at $7.50 it was ridiculously overpriced, but it is midtown and they do have to pay their rent somehow so I am okay with it. And as Zach says, regardless of the fact it is overpriced its still one of the best sandwiches you can get in midtown for $7.50. I think I’ll just have to go again to try the more traditional version of it and report back. I know its a tough job, but someones got to do it… =)

Eventually, I’ll get around to trying the numerous other banh mi places that have been getting so much publicity recently. Feel free to post any recommendations.

Boi Sandwich
708 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10017
(212) 682-1117

Most of us got the ground sirloin lasagna, but one of my friends ordered the 4 cheese that came with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and gorgonzola which I got to try as well. In terms of filling I thought the cheese filling was better. The ground meat filling was too lean and wasn’t really integrated into the sauce like a good bolognese would be, which is what I think they were going for. The pasta portion itself was cooked properly and wasn’t too mushy or undercooked, but it felt a bit thicker than usual which wasn’t very good.

The wine list was totally depressing. Everything was pretty generic and mass produced stuff you could buy at most suburban supermarkets. I just had water…

In terms of price its a good value because you get a huge portion of lasagna for $10-$15. I could have easily split it with someone else and been pretty satisfied. I think the portion size is way too big for one person, but maybe its just me.

Overall I don’t really think it is worth a return trip. The only really good thing it had going for it was that it was a really good value and conveniently had no wait for a table on a Saturday night.

Lasagna Restaurant
785 9th Ave
New York, NY‎
(212) 956-1608‎

They have two other locations..

941 2nd Ave
New York, NY‎
(212) 308-5353‎

196 8th Ave
New York, NY‎
(212) 242-4534‎

All in all the food is pretty lackluster. But the real reason to go here isn’t to eat, its to drink… And they are very generous with their drinks. They have unlimited drinks for as long as you want during brunch with an entree of your choice for about $18-21 (depends on the entree). The drink choices are bloody mary’s, mimosa’s, foster’s beer, screwdrivers, and greyhounds. I could use a bit more horseradish in the bloody mary, but I think most normal people would enjoy it as it is. The mimosa’s were pretty good. They were made with a combo of sparkling wine and sake which gave it a nice roundness and made it that much easier to drink mass quantities of.

From the moment you sit down they take your drink order. Then throughout the rest of your meal as soon as you finish a drink they bring you a new one. We would be mid-conversation and a new set of drinks would just plop down on the table. After you finish your food they are in a bit of a rush to get you out of your table to serve the next set of people, but you are welcome to unlimited drinks at the bar. Needless to say, I am a bit forgiving about the slightly greasy fish and soft french fries when enjoying unlimited bloody mary’s.

The hostess at Bondi Road was a bit annoying though. When we walked up there the entire place was open, but since they converted their 4 person booths into 6 person tables by adding a table on the end they wouldn’t seat the 4 of us there and made us wait over 30 minutes instead. If we had 2 more people we probably would have been seated immediately, which is pretty lame. Also, they said they had a reservation for the other 4-top that was open even though my friend had called a couple weeks earlier to try to make a reservation and they said they couldn’t.

In terms of seating, Bondi Road is a bit nicer because more of the restaurant gets daylight, but the bar area is also the walkway for the waiters so its a bit hard to hang out by the bar and have a few drinks after you pay your bill. Sunburnt Cow on the other hand, has plenty of bar room that doesn’t have waiters with food walking back and forth, but its a pretty dark and dingy atmosphere. So they both have pluses and minuses, but Sunburnt Cow is a much shorter walk from my apartment so proximity wins out.

Would I go back? Hell yeah!
Would I expect amazing food or service? No way!
Will I walk out feeling drunk and happy about life? Definitely!

Sunburnt Cow
137 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
(212) 529-0005

Bondi Road
153 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 253-5311

When we were seated we were all given a packet of information containing the menu, a detailed description of the beer it is paired with, and a page full of helpful hints on braising from the executive chef, Floyd Cardoz. At the beginning of each course they poured a glass of beer and brought out the head of the beverage selection for the restaurant to talk a little bit about the beer and why they paired it with the dish. Then the chef came out to talk about the dish and the reasons he had for combining the various elements and techniques together to produce the dish. He also answered any questions we had about how he cooked the dish including specific temperatures that he braised the dish at and for how long. We started off with a salad, then progressed to a seafood dish, meat dish, and dessert. Here is the breakdown..

Salad of Bacon Braised Fennel w/ fingerling potatoes, watercress, meyer lemon, and hot smoked halibut
Beer: Allagash White (Portland, Maine)

Slow Braised Wild Striped Bass w/ baby root vegetables and a sun dried ginger broth
Beer: Dogfish Head - Red & White (Milton, Delaware)

Sweet Spiced Braised Oxtails w/ Poha Pilaf & Peanuts
Weyerbacher - Fireside Ale (Easton, Pennsylvania)

Braised Pineapple w/ an orange polenta fritter and ice cream of Brooklyn hops
Lindemans - Pomme Lambic (Vlezenbeek, Belgium)

In terms of the food it was all very interesting in their own unique ways and the dishes all had good balance to them. Additionally, the drink pairings were very well thought out. It is always impressive to me when a restaurant actually goes out of their way to have well planned drink pairings that make sense. It is equally as disappointing to me when they make a big fuss about having suggested pairings and totally bombing them. Old Vine Cafe was a great example of good drink pairings and Momofuku Ko was unfortunately a great example of bad drink pairings (especially at an $85 supplement). Anyhow, back to the main point of this post…

The freshness of the fennel was well complimented by the smokiness of the bacon and hot smoked halibut. While the meyer lemon and spices helped bridge the dish with the beer which was a Belgian styled white beer made with a generous portion of wheat and a blend of spices. The striped bass was braised/poached at a very low temperature for under 30 minutes just until cooked through. The Red & White it was paired with is another Belgian styled beer that is brewed with coriander and orange peel and then fermented with pinot noir juice. It results in a very unique tasting beer that has the subtle taste & nuances of a red wine while maintaining the freshness of a white ale. The oxtails were amazingly rich and delicious. The slow, long braising really works its charm on a piece of meat like oxtail. It was paired with a dark ale made with 10% smoked malt to give it a bit of crisp bitterness and a touch of smokiness. I have had a few other smoked beers before and what I really liked about this one was that it was a bit more subtle and not overwhelmingly smokey. The last dish was very unique… The combination of the bitter ice cream of hops with the sweet pineapple & orange polenta was again another great exercise of balance. I would never recommend the ice cream on its own (unless you are a real hophead), but with the sweetness of the other dishes it worked quite nicely. The beer was appropriate since apple is probably the lighter styles of the available lambic fruit beers, but I am wondering if a different fruit would have worked better. It was probably the weakest pairing, but I was already under the influence of 3 beers by this point (the last two being 10% & 7.5% ABV) so I was happy to drink something deliciously sweet and palate cleansing after the smoked ale.

My favorite dish of the night was probably the dessert. As in previous posts, I am once a again a sucker for unique flavor combinations in desserts. Recent examples are the olive oil gelato at Otto and the baked apples in chedder pastry at Artisanal. I also love polenta so seeing it in dessert flavored with orange was very welcomed.

My favorite beer was definitely the Red & White by Dogfish Head. While the Allagash White was a wonderfully complex white ale that competes with those made in Belgium, the complexity and multitude of flavors offered by the Red & White were outstanding. It was so smooth I was shocked to learn that it was 10% alcohol and it has definitely become of my favorite beers. Now if I could only buy it somewhere…

If they were doing this same thing again, I would recommend going to it. Unfortunately, as far as I know, this was a one time deal. I don’t know how many of these dishes and beers are available on the regular menu upstairs in the formal dining room (where this dinner was) or downstairs in the Bread Bar. I would imagine you should be able to get something similar to the dishes served the night of the event upstairs, but it might not be exactly the same thing.

Tabla
11 Madison Ave (at 25th Street)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 889-0667

I started with the parmesan gnocchi w/ pork belly. It was okay, but not entirely impressive. I have had much better gnocchi at other places in the city before. They do get points for the parmesan & pork belly components which added a bit more flavor to the dish had it been served with a different sauce.

For my main course I chose the chicken cooked under a brick because its one of the signature main courses. The chicken itself was fantastic. Very moist and well cooked. The skin was nice, crispy, and flavorful. No complaints at all about this one.

I actually forgot what I ordered for dessert, but I do remember that the table favorite was definitely the baked apple tarte tatin. It was baked apple slices in a puff pastry shell of some sort that was subtly flavored with chedder cheese. I am a sucker for unique desserts that actually work and this is no exception.

Not sure if this is really worth a return trip, but if I am stuck in midtown east and need to entertain someone that doesn’t want to stray too far from their hotel this wouldn’t be a bad option at all. It might also be a bit more comfortable for out of towners that are used to restaurants that are larger and have more space.

Artisanal
2 Park Ave
New York, NY 10016
(212) 725-8585

For appetizers I started with the seared baby squid and chickpeas salad with arugula, oregano, & breadcrumbs. Everything about this a salad was good except for the actual squid itself. Usually the problem I have with squid is that it overcooked and has the texture of a rubber band. This time it was actually the opposite. It was undercooked and the inside was a bit on the slimy side. The rest of the salad however, was great. It was well seasoned and had a nice balance of flavors and textures. My dining companion ordered the cauliflower soup with anchovies, potatoes, & smoked raisins. I didn’t get to actually try any of it, but she said that it was absolutely delicious so if I went back and they still had it on the menu I would want to try it out.

For entrees I ordered the beef short ribs sauerbraten with sliced celery, apples, and horseradish on top of mashed root vegetables served in a hot cast iron skillet. This was just as meaty and rich as short ribs are supposed to be. The toppings helped to cut the fattiness a bit, but not too much that it distracted you from the main attraction. The fact it was served in a cast iron skillet definitely added presentation points. My dining companion got the grilled brook trout with fennel, potatoes, and dill. It was served with the head and the tail, but it was split down the middle so the fillets would rest flat on the plate. This version of trout was much, much better than what I had tried at Bocca and the presentation was much better.

I feel like the desserts were not well thought out though. I ordered the cardamom creme caramel which came with espresso biscotti because I love cardamom. The espresso biscotti was just laid out like a log on top of the creme caramal though which made it impossible to eat. I think the dish would have made a lot more sense if the biscotti had been crumbled rather than served whole. Also, I was interested in the espresso & cardamom flavor combination, but I think black tea would have worked better. It would have been like a deconstructed chai tea dessert and I think the flavors would have gone better together. The other dessert we got was the chocolate bundt cake with ganache and a salted praline brittle of some sort on the side. No complaints about this one, but not very inventive either. If I come back I’d probably hedge on the safe side when ordering desserts because they seem to those better than the inventive ones.

Overall, it was pretty good. I am not sure if it is entirely worth it given that 2 out of the 5 dishes I tried were misses, but during restaurant week it was a pretty good meal for what I paid. I wouldn’t mind making a return trip at some point in the future, but I am not going to rush back anytime soon.

August
359 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 929-4774

I walked in here for a Restaurant Week dinner one night with a few friends after a movie and was pleasantly surprised for a random weeknight dinner. It started off pretty well because the waitress was quite friendly and the sommelier was helpful in providing some good wine suggestions. They gave us a couple different samples of wine and we ended up getting a quartino of the a Sicilian grape variety called Frappato that I had never heard of before (more on that later).

For appetizers we started with the following :
- Rucula: Arugula salad with gorgonzola and roasted red & golden beets
- Polipo: Grilled wild octopus with a warm cannellini bean salad
- Finocchi: Fennel salad with oranges and black olives

Both salads were good, but not fantastic. The real standout here was the octopus salad. Very tender with tons of flavor. The beans were a nice textural contrast to the tender octopus and complimented it quite well.

For entrees we had :
- Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe: Handmade pasta prepared table side with pecorino romano and black pepper
- Coda: Braised oxtail with smoked mozzarella polenta and fried celery
- Trota: Oven roasted fillet of trout with sliced roasted potatoes and a roasted bell pepper salad

I was debating between their other pasta dish and I am quite glad I decided on the tonnarelli. They bring out a giant wheel of pecorino romano and they begin to prepare your “sauce” for the pasta. They start by scraping up some cheese and mixing it with a healthy dose of coarsely grated black pepper. Next, they add the hot pasta (which is like thick spaghetti) to the “bowl” formed by digging out the cheese from dishes prior which melts the cheese they just scraped up for my dish. Then they mix the two together for a bit before plating and handing it to you. The result is fantastic. Definitely rich since the sauce is mostly cheese. Definitely a bit strong on the pepper which could be too much for some people. I would actually fall into that category and wish it had been a bit lighter on the pepper, but still a great dish.

The other entree that I liked was the braised oxtail with fried celery. I almost ordered that instead of the pasta, but I just had braised short ribs two days earlier at August in the West Village and did not want to have another fatty red meat dish as amazing as they are. Very tasty stuff though and the celery was a nice compliment to it. The smoked mozzarella polenta was very lackluster though. The mozzarella was melted on top of the polenta and gave it a greasy taste.

The last entree, the trout, was disappointing to me. It was pretty unmemorable and I would not order it. The potatoes were pretty flavorless and did not seem like a good compliment to the fish in the way it was prepared. I am also not a huge fan of trout to begin with. Anyhow, I noticed later is that it was the only one of the Restaurant Week entrees that was not on the regular menu. That leads me to believe that they just picked a fish dish that was cheap enough to prepare that would fall into their budget for Restaurant Week. I just checked the current extended Restaurant Week menu and saw that they had taken this off the menu and replaced it with a salmon dish.

For desserts we each got one of the three options they had and shared them. I remember them being pretty good, but none of them stand out in my memory right now (it has been over six weeks now).

My friend Rachel did a much more thorough and entertaining review on yelp that is probably worth a read if you are interested in going to this restaurant.

Bocca Restaurant & Bar
39 E 19th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 387-1200

My parents mentioned it to me a few weeks before I was coming in because they had went there once for dinner and enjoyed it. Looking at the yelp reviews and orange county food blogs I heard nothing but praises so I figured it would a great place to try out.

The format is a bit different anywhere I have been. For one, they only have two seatings for dinner on the weekends… 830 or 530. Which is unfortunate if you need to plan around other things that night, but works out nicely if you don’t because they are not trying to turn the table over as quickly as possible. It creates a nice leisurely pace of eating I used to enjoy when I was living in Spain and went out for lunch. The other thing that is really interesting about the place is that every dish they serve has a suggested wine pairing that you can buy a half glass of for 5 bucks! The wine pairings were very well thought out and made a lot more sense than many other dinners I have been to recently (Momofuku Ko being one of the worst offenders considering what they charge for their pairings).

You can order the small plates a la carte or you can get a 4 course tasting menu with matched wines (4 full glasses) for a very reasonable $65. My dad and I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu and the seasonal tasting menu, respectively. Neither of are vegetarian in any sense, but the dishes they were serving the vegetarian menu sounded really good and it definitely did not disappoint. He did substitute the scallops for the salad in the vegetarian tasting menu though.

The Seasonal Tasting Menu:
- Large Sautéed Prawn, Fried Plantains & a Cajun Riesling Butter Sauce finished with Cream. (Paired with a 2007 Carl Sittmann Riesling, Mosel Germany)
- Hand Made, Lasagnette filled with Crimini Mushroom Duxelle, Pecorino Pepato Cheese & drizzled with a Light Tomato Cream Sauce. (Paired with a 2006 Valcantara Old Vine Garnacha, Carinena Spain)
- Certified All Natural Lamb Meatloaf, on a bed of Caramelized Onions, garnished with Wilted Arugula & a Rich Syrah Demi. (Paired with a 2006 Tortoise Creek Syrah, Languedoc France)
- Mini Canoli filled with Sweet Pistachio & Artisan Ricotta, Garnished with Port Wine Dark Chocolate Sauce. (Paired with a N.V. R.L. Buller & Son Victoria Tawny, Victoria Australia)

The Vegetarian Tasting Menu (modified with scallops instead of a spinach salad)
- Sauteed Sea Scallop on a nest of Crispy Leeks finished with Tarragon Chardonnay Sauce. (Paired with a 2007 Macon-Vinzelles Chardonnay, Burgundy France)
- Mozarella Buratta, Panko Crusted Eggplant, Grape Tomatoes & Basil Pesto (Paired with a N.V. Caposaldo Prosecco, Italy)
- House Made Pan Fried Polenta with Pomodoro Cream Sauce Garnished with Aged Pecorino Romano Cheese (Paired with a 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)
- Mini Pecan Pie Tartlets garnished with Vanilla Fleur De Sel Butterscotch Sauce & Whipped Cream. (Paired with NV Baroncini Il Santo, Italy)

The rest of the table ordered the following (excluding repeats of the above dishes):
- Fresh Spinach, Dried Fruit, Pine Nuts, Goat Cheese & Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette (paired with 2007 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny)
- Large Shrimp Sauteed in Asian Vodka & finished with Spicy Lemon Grass Curry Sauce, garnished with Flash Fried Glass Noodles (Paired with 2007 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Riesling)
- Macaroni, Porcini Mushrooms and a blend of Artisan Cheeses (Paired with 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)

All in all, it was pretty damn amazing food. The negative I could say is that shellfish was a bit overcooked. Both the prawns in my cajun sauce and the shrimp in the asian sauce were a bit on the tough side. In terms of flavor both dishes were strong. The scallops did not suffer from the same issue though. Overall, the highlights were the lasagnette, buratta, and pecan pie (I really liked the touch of salt), but really all of the dishes were amazing.

In terms of service it was spot on as well. They did a thorough explanation of the food and the wine it was paired with and why they were matched. There is only one dining room and the restaurant only seats about 30-35 so its very easy to get someone’s attention if you need something. Also, they bring you a new glass for every glass of wine you get so you are never in a rush to finish off your current one.

If you live in Orange County or happen to be visiting in the area I would definitely recommend making it a point to check this place out before their up their prices. Currently, the $65 for the four courses and four full glasses of wine is a great deal. They are a new restaurant that just opened up a few months ago so they probably dropped their prices to try to survive starting their business in such a tough economy. I am sure as we start to break out of this recession they will start to raise it.

Old Vine Cafe
2937 Bristol St. Suite A-102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-1411

We started with a sample of the 5 seafood antipasti and the brussel sprouts antipasti. The seafood antipasti was unfortunately a bit disappointing. The mussels one with pernata and mint was really good, and I would order it again. The rest were interesting and not bad, but not really that amazing either. It wouldn’t be worth a repeat order. The brussel sprouts dish on the other hand was really good and on par with the mussels dish. If I go back I would definitely try out more of the vegetable antipasti dishes.

For pizza’s I ordered the mushroom & tallegio (its like a funky version brie). My friends got the balsalmic onion & goat cheese pizza and the pane frattau pizza with tomato, pecorino, and a sunny side up egg. My favorite was definitely the pane frattau. The tomato had a nice flavor with the pecorino and the egg added a nice rich texture as strange as it sounds. The others were good, but not nearly as good as the pizza’s I have had that were cooked in real ovens at both aforementioned places: Lil Frankies and Angelo’s. The crust just didn’t seem right. I am not sure exactly what it was, but it just didn’t seem normal and not in a good way. Maybe it was because there wasn’t too much crust on the edge of the pizza or maybe because it seemed to be too perfectly uniform. The toppings were definitely interesting though.

I am not entirely sure though what it was about the crust that threw me off, but there was definitely something. I did look into a bit online and found that since they can’t have a real coal or wood oven due to zoning restrictions (they are in a historic building) they have a different method to cook their pizza. They actually start if off on a hot griddle and then finish it in the broiler. That might have something to do it.

Anyhow, the dessert was fantastic. We got the olive oil coppetta and the black & white. The coppetta was an olive oil gelato with fennel seed brittle. lime curd, kumquats and blood orange. The black & white was chocolate chip gelato, hazelnut brittle, creme fraiche gelato, chocolate sauce & caramel crema. They were both awesome, but in different ways. The black & white was a good version of what you expect when you order a dessert, but the olive oil coppetta was my favorite of the two because it was a totally unusual combination of ingredients and flavors you wouldn’t really expect. It all worked though. Especially the combination of the olive oil gelato and the lime curd.

Prices were relatively reasonable taking into consideration the location and the fact it is associated with Mario Batali. With a bottle of wine between the 4 of us it ended up being $45 + tip. The service was a bit off though. Our waitress insisted that we order everything (antipasti & mains) at the same time. I think that is a bit absurd… I would much rather prefer to order the antipasti and then decide on a second course afterwards. It just seems so silly to insist that we are required to order the entire dinner at the same time. I didn’t really press the issue at the time, but I would the next time around because it compresses the dinner experience.

Anyhow, to sum it all up, I wouldn’t mind going back at some point but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. I did enjoy my lunch at Del Posto thought so I might try some of Batali’s other places out before returning to Otto’s. For Italian style pizza, I have my picks… If I can order dessert at the bar though I wouldn’t mind popping in after dinner somewhere else.

Otto Pizzeria
1 5th Avenue (on 8th street between 5th Ave & University)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559

Anyhow, enough with the back story and back to the review…

To start with we each got an order of the coconut juice, which is actually from a can and served with the soft flesh of a young coconut. It is surprisingly really good even if isn’t fresh. My friend supposedly knows the exact brand of juice that they use so I am waiting for him to hook me up with the name and where to buy it. It will be mighty refreshing at the office during the summertime.

For food we started with two appetizers:
- Fried taro root: A fried root vegetable with peanuts served with two kinds of sauce. This is definitely a must try. I haven’t actually had anything like this before, but it was really good. When I go again I might not order it just to try other dishes, but I would definitely have to order it the next time after.
- Papaya salad (som tum) with fried catfish: The catfish is fried to bits and has a texture similar to the crunchy tempura they sprinkle on some kinds of sushi rolls. It was definitely well balanced, but it could have used more heat. Not everyone at the table were pepper-heads like me so we went with a mild order rather than spicy. I’ll have to try it again and ask for it Thai-style spicy.

For our mains we got two curries:
- Green curry with duck: Great curry flavor and the duck was fantastic. Nice and tender, but not too greasy. Thailand was where I started enjoying duck (although in a different form) and this was definitely a reason for me to start enjoying it again. Typically when I have it ends up being too greasy.
- Massaman curry with chicken: The chicken was super tender and just fell apart with my fork. The curry had great flavor as well. I think the potatoes were cut a bit too large for my preference because smaller pieces would have allowed them to pick up more flavor from the curry, but I do remember feeling the same way about most massaman curries I had in Thailand so it might be the more authentic way to prepare it.

We also got a few other dishes:
- Shrimp w/ garlic and pepper: When I had this in Thailand the garlic was actually fried until crispy and then the shrimp was added and quickly cooked in the same hot oil. In this variation, there was plenty of good garlic & pepper flavor, but the garlic was not as crispy as what I had before. It was still very tasty though and went extremely well with the coconut rice.
- Steamed whole striped bass with lime, garlic & chili sauce: This was as tender as I would have expected and properly cooked. The fish itself seemed a bit on the fishy side though. Not too much, but definitely more than I was hoping for given it was layered in spices and other flavors that helped to mask it. Additionally, the dish could have been a bit more intense. More lime, more garlic, more chili, more everything… It was like a watered down version of what I really wanted. The only place I have found to do this dish properly outside of Thailand so far is Rhong-Tiam in the NYU area of West Village. If anyone has any suggestions for other places I should check out, let me know.
- Drunken noodles w/ beef: The flavor of the dish was great and balanced. In terms of texture, there were more noodles that were stuck together than I would have liked though and they felt a bit on the mushy side. I did like how the beef itself was chopped up into smaller bits though.

I tried two types of rices as well:
- Coconut rice
- Chicken stock rice

They are pretty self explanatory. My friend who had been here before recommended to use the chicken rice with the coconut curry dishes and the coconut rice with the others and I have to agree with him. As I mentioned above, the shrimp with garlic & pepper when perfectly with the sweet coconut rice. And the rich curries seemed to be balanced out with the more round flavors of the chicken stock rice.

We also picked up a few desserts which I don’t usually do. Usually when I think of Thai desserts I think of super saturated sweet dishes and I quickly decide to just settle on some water to cleanse my palate. The only exception being a good plate of sticky rice with mango. We tried an interesting dessert of taro root that had some sort of slightly sweet syrup on it. It was very well balanced and helped to clean up your palate after all the spices without being an sugar bomb. We also got the sticky rice and mango which was as I expected and enjoyable.

The highlights for me were the curries and the rice that came with them. Closely following would be the appetizers. Overall it was a pretty good deal because we feasted on appetizers, main dishes, a couple desserts, and a drink each for $25 with a 20% tip. In terms of transportation it was pretty easy to get to because the E, F, V, R, G, & 7 trains are all within about a 5 minute or so walk away from the restaurant.

Will I come back? Hell yeah!
I’ll just be sure to order it spicy instead of mild next time.

Sri Pra Phai
64-13 39th Avenue (between 64th & 65th Street)
Queens, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599

Anyhow, I am planning on trying out another web hosting company called Dreamhost because it has been recommended by the people behind Wordpress and Gallery2. Hopefully, that will mean everything will just magically work.

In the meanwhile, I will probably continue posting without spending too much time adding photos right now. I’ll go back and update old posts with photos once I have everything up and running.

Thanks for your patience!

Just send them your mailing address and in 2-3 weeks you’ll get the Riesling book. Once you finish that up in 6-8 weeks you’ll get the book on Spanish wines.

Thanks Rachel!

The article also mentioned about how easy it was to get reservations and a majority of the restaurants now which I can also attest to. I was able to get a last minute reservation at August and walked into Bocca during restaurant week. Additionally, I was at Cafecito on a Saturday night and there were still empty tables at 9pm.

Eater and Grub Street have started tagging posts for recession deals so it might be worth following them to bring down your dining expenses a bit.
- Eater’s Deal Feed
- Eater’s Recession Specials
- Grub Street’s Recession Specials

- Roasted beet & orange salad w/ candied nuts & feta cheese on top of mixed leafy greens
- French onion soup topped with a mixture of pecorino & gruyère cheese
- Sautéed swiss chard with raisins & roasted pine nuts
- Coq au vin
- Dried fruit compote stewed with wine, honey, and water, served with rum flavored whipped cream

My target was $20 a person which I was able to hit after a last minute addition, but then that became a last minute cancellation and it was $23 a person instead. The portions were the right size though because except for the coq au vin (Alton Brown’s recipe) we ended up finishing just about everything. There was a bit left over of the swiss chard dish (Tamara’s recipe) but that was because I didn’t cook it properly. The first time I made it, a year prior, it was amazing, but this time it was still a bit tough and probably needed to cook more. I think I was crowding my saute pan by trying to cook three times the size of the original portion in a pan just slightly bigger than I had before. I’ll have to work on that recipe a bit.

The soup (Alton Brown’s recipe) was a bit on the sweet side and needed a bit more liquid, but overall it was still pretty tasty and a success for my second time making it ever. The beet & orange salad (my own creation) was the overall favorite of the night (according to the anonymous questionnaire forms I passed out) which made me pretty happy so I’ll probably repeat it again sometime in the future. I forgot to add the lemon juice to the fruit compote so it was in need of some acid (which some people said on the comments), but the overall flavor was pretty good. I seasoned it with a bit of cardamom to give it a Middle Eastern or South Asian twist. The rum flavored whipped cream was a last minute idea I had when I was in the grocery store that replaced the store bought ice cream. Ice cream might have been a better accompaniment to the compote, but this way I got to make something instead of just buy it. Well, that was the intention… A few of my guests ended up whipping the cream for me while I got the compote ready to go so many thanks to all of them for lending a hand! Anyhow, I added about 2 teaspoons of 8 year old rum for about a pint or so of cream, but I think I’d go a bit heavier on the rum next time. It was garnished with some powdered cinnamon and served in a martini glass.

The questionnaire had pretty positive remarks in terms of portion size, number of courses, cost & format of the meal so I think I’ll try to keep it the same and just do it again with new recipes. Realistically, it might be hard to keep it to $20 for 5 courses though because I barely made the cut with that budget this time around and there were numerous things that helped keep the cost down this time that might not the next: 1) I was cooking bone in, dark meat chicken which is extremely cheap, 2) I was able to use lots of ingredients I happened to already have, 3) With the exception of the swiss chard, most of the ingredients were available locally in this season so I didn’t have to pay for anything that was shipped from far away. If I decide to incorporate any exotic fruits and vegetables or cook any red meat, seafood, or more exotic meats (bison has been on my list) it will be hard to keep it to $20. Also, if I cook something where I don’t happen to have a lot of the ingredients for already, it will be hard to keep it to $20. I think $25 is probably going to be a bit more realistic without dropping the number of courses to 3 or 4, but my goal is definitely to keep it as reasonable as possible.

For the next couple dinners I think I’ll try a Spanish themed dinner an a Middle Eastern themed dinner at some point. I have a bunch of lamb bones from a dinner at Tamara’s when they roasted a whole lamb so that would probably make a good stock for a dish or two at the Middle Eastern themed dinner. If it goes well and I still want to keep doing this when the weather if nice outside I’ll try a farmer’s market dinner with all the nice summertime produce. Who knows what time will tell though… I might decide I’d rather be on the beach.

Ingredients:
- 4 chicken legs split into drumsticks & thighs (skin removed, but bones on)
- one large onion or 2 small ones (sliced)
- 4 red bell peppers (sliced)
- 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 4 tomatoes (seeded, peeled and diced)
- enough sherry to cover all the chicken (about half a bottle)

Steps:
1. Salt, pepper, and flour the chicken pieces.
2. Brown the chicken pieces in one pan while the onions saute in a sauce pan or ideally, a dutch oven.
3. After the onions saute for a bit, add the bell peppers and saute until softened
4. When the chicken is browned on all sides deglaze the pan with the sherry.
5. Add the tomatoes & garlic to the pot with onions and saute for a minute or so
5. Add the chicken and the sherry to the pot, cover and stew for 30-45 minutes until the chicken falls off the bone.

Notes:
- You can probably put it in a cast iron dutch oven and stew it at 325 for an hour or so instead of stewing on the stove top
- You might need to add a water in addition to the sherry when stewing
- You can serve it with rice or some crusty bread to sop up the sauce

Ingredients:
- About 4 medium-large potatoes
- 4-6 cloves of minced garlic
- 6-8 eggs

Steps:
1. Peel and dice the potatoes. They don’t need to be the exact same size, but something close would allow them to cook at about the same pace.
2. Fry the potatoes in a generous amount of olive oil in a pan (enough go cover most of the potatoes).
3. Fry them until they are soft on the inside and lightly brown out the outside.
4. Saving the oil for later use, strain out the potatoes in a bowl and mix in the garlic letting the hot oil cook the garlic a bit (a minute or so is fine). I am not sure if this is really necessary, but I like to do it hoping the garlic flavor gets softened a bit more.
5. Season with salt and pepper. I season liberally with salt at this phase because there is a lot of food mass to season.
6. Stir in the beaten eggs. There should be enough that the liquid covers up most of the potatoes.
7. Put the mixture in an 8″ or 10″ sloped-sided saute pan and heat while covered on medium to medium-low heat. Jiggle the pan around to make sure there are no cracks in the bottom.
8. It should be about an inch thick of mass so you need to let it cook through for 5-10 minutes. Before it is ready to flip you must be able to move around the tortilla when you jiggle the pan. It should not feel like it is stuck to the pan at all.
9. The tricky part is to flip it and get it back into the pan without making a mess. The best way that I know to do this is to find a plate that fits inside of your saute pan but still covers all of the tortilla. Then flip the entire thing over so the plate is on the bottom and the pan is on the top. Put the pan back on the stove and carefully slide the tortilla off the plate and back in the pan.
10. Jiggle the pan around to make sure there are no cracks on the bottom and then let it sit there and firm up for another 5 minutes or until you think the eggs are cooked to your liking.
11. Let it cool for about 30 minutes to an hour before slicing into wedges and serving. You can make it hours in advance and serve it at room temperature but I like to have mine a little bit on the warm side.

• Almond-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon
• Tortilla Española (Spanish omelet with potatoes)
• Pollo a la Sevillana (Chicken stewed with sherry and red bell peppers)

Here is one recipe to start off with. The others will be posted in the next couple days.

Almond-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon
Ingredients:

• Dates with the seeds removed
• salted & roasted almonds
• One half strip of bacon per date

Steps:

1. Stuff the dates with the almonds
2. Wrap the date with a half strip of bacon
3. Roast in the oven at 350 until the bacon is nice and crispy

Note: You can make this without the bacon as well and it is quite delicious and much more nutritious. It depends on how much of a bacon lover you are.

Anyhow, I started this past Wednesday and so far so good. We had about 2.5 hours of lecture, 2 hours of cooking, and a half hour to eat. We covered a lot of basic concepts since it was the first class such as equipment, food safety, and chopping before going into the specific techniques for that session which were blanching, vinaigrettes, emulsions, & sautéing. After going through the techniques in with lecture & demonstrations we split up into groups of four and made the following:
- seared lamb chops with a compote butter topping
- diced potatoes sautéed with persillade (minced parsley & garlic)
- hot & spicy vegetable soup
- creamy shallot vinaigrette with champagne vinegar
- blueberries macerated with maple syrup

Other groups made pretty much the same thing except they replaced the hot soup with gazpacho (which I liked better), they did a different vinaigrette, and did a different macerated fruit dessert.

The class is going to go every Wednesday, but I am actually going to have to skip this week because I have a friend in town and will make it up in a few months.

Also, I feel like the food that they are putting on the Restaurant Week menu is better than in previous years. Usually I feel like they have to create a special menu that doesn’t properly represent what they usually serve and then the quality of what you get goes down in par with the reduced prix fixe price you pay. This year I have seen pretty much the same dishes that appear on the special menu on the regular menu as well, which is a good sign.

So far I have been to both August and Bocca for dinner. I am going to Artisanal next Monday and planning a lunch in the Upper East Side somewhere on Thursday. I’ll be posting up reviews & photos (hopefully) soon.

It started off very promising with some outstanding tortilla soup. After having quite a bit of tortilla soup at various Mexican restaurants it was nice to have some that really stood out. Something about it seemed fresher and more flavorful than any of the other renditions I have had before. Then the main courses came out. My sister and I shared an order of the stuffed peppers (chile rellenos) and the guajillo shrimp. Its been a few weeks now so I don’t remember what specifically was so different about the chile rellenos, but like the tortilla soup, it was a dish that was especially amazing after having so many times before. The guajillo shrimp was my dish of the night though so I am now on a search for a good recipe. It would be lovely to recreate the flavors I remember having in the warm weather down there while in my apartment in the frigid northeast.

The other mains that were ordered were lobster and a pasta dish with shrimp in a cream sauce. The lobster was fresh and sweet as it should be. Its hard to get seafood that fresh in the states for some reason. The pasta was nothing to write home about and I wouldn’t suggest ordering it unless you were really craving some form of Italian food and got dragged to an amazing Mexican restaurant instead.

And then as a finale to an amazing meal you get a free shot of their homemade damiana liqueur at the bar on your way out. It is made from a plant that supposedly has aphrodisiac properties when brewed as a tea. I am not sure it had the same effect when fermented into an alcohol more so than a shot of anything else…

It is very close to the tamale cart I mentioned earlier, but I would recommend keeping your appetite wide open for the tasty treats here and not snacking on tamales prior to dinner.

Damiana Restaurant Bar and Patio
Boulevard Mijares #8, on the eastern side of Plaza Mijares
San Jose del Cabo, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico
+52 (624) 142-0499

Here is the official text from the Village Voice:

Featuring handpicked restaurants from Robert Sietsema’s Counter Culture AND Sarah DiGregorio’s Fork in the Road.

In recognition of the tantalizing and eclectic cuisine featured by resident food critics, Robert Sietsema and Sarah DiGregorio, The Village Voice is proud to present our second annual Choice Eats tasting event. We have scaled New York’s eclectic culinary landscape to bring together Robert’s and Sarah’s tastiest picks from years of unearthing the five borough’s best-kept secrets.

Set amid the backdrop of the historic 69th Armory on Lexington Avenue, guests will be invited to sample delicious cuisines that would otherwise require days of travel. Featuring over 50 restaurants, and representing foods from all nations, this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for Voice readers to treat their taste buds to a trip around the world.

I went last year and enjoyed it immensely. While some of them clearly didn’t bring the best they had to offer for the event, some were absolutely delicious and I am wondering why I still haven’t had time to pay them a visit. There are a couple repeats from last year, but plenty of new places that have opened up since recently as well. I have a post on one of them, Top Cafe Tibet, and been to a few others like Mercadito & Back Forty and haven’t had a chance to write about them yet.

The price this year went up from $25 to $35 but it is still a great deal and a portion of the proceeds will go to a City Harvest.

Tickets go on sale tonight at midnight.

For more details and the official list, check out the official page.

There was one cart that had significantly more foot traffic than the other one so we decided to start off with that one. They had four kinds of tamales along with a variety of drinks such as horchata & jamaica. The tamale varieties included: rajas con queso (chili & cheese), carne en salsa roja (beef in red salsa), pollo en salsa verde (chicken in green salsa), and elote (corn). My sister and I started off with the rajas con queso and the beef tamales and were both thoroughly impressed. Then my friend got the pollo en salsa verde. I had low expectations since chicken, while being usually a bit healthier, is also usually lacking in the flavor deptartment and can be on the tough side if its overcooked. Surprisingly, this was super tender and the green salsa gave it some nice flavor.

All in all, they were some of the best tamales I have had. My sister, who lives in Tucson and gets plenty of authentic Mexican food, agreed that these were the best tamales she has had as well. The corn masa itself was the perfect texture and had excellent flavor. I am not sure how they made it so amazing, but I wish I could get them like that in New York City or anywhere north of the border for that matter. After enjoying a few bites of the tamale in its unaltered state I then topped all of them off with some of their homemade salsa picante to kick up the heat a bit though.

All the fillings were damn good but if I had to rank them I would put the pollo en salsa verde at the top because its rare to chicken this tender and flavorful. Usually beef or pork reigns as king since they typically have more flavor, but this was some damn good chicken. A close second would be the rajas con queso because the cheese had a nice saltiness to it and the green chili peppers gave it some nice heat that was different than their spicy salsa that was made with red chili’s. The least favorite, but still utterly delicious and better than anything else I have had anywhere else, was the carne en salsa roja. All of them were well about a dollar each.

The place doesn’t really have a name but they are in the Northeast quadrant of Plaza Mijeres in San Jose del Cabo. If you were in the restaurant Damiana, you would just walk straight out the door and you would run into it. Here is a photo of the cart so you know what to look for.