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Nommin’ Through the Hamptons: John’s Pancake House

30 May

On our 3rd morning in Montauk (after a few other Hamptons meals), we decided to try John’s Pancake House, which is right on main street in the center of town.  It reminded me of the pancake houses on the Jersey Shore. In fact, Montauk reminded me in total of the Jersey Shore, except with fewer teenagers. That is until the Montauk St. Patty’s Day Parade, which is an annual parade a few weeks after St. Patrick’s Day that for some reason magnetizes the teenagers from all over Long Island to show up, drunk, and make a mess.  (It got so bad we actually left Montauk just after the parade ended and the highschoolers descended). 

Anyway… back to John’s.

We were sat at a kitschy (and sticky) breakfast counter due to lack of seating.  The waitresses all look like they have been there forever.

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Mike went with the western omelet.  It was a very classic omelette with very classic breakfast potatoes.

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I got a side of the corned beef hash (which was a huge portion).  The charred side was delicious, though it had some of the gritty texture that makes corned beef hash a bit less than delectable. 

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And I got the banana pancakes.  These were classic pancakes with a bit of banana in them.  Could have used some more banana.

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Overall, John’s is exactly what it looks like.  A run-down, classic diner that has been around forever and serves classic, good-enough food that they have no desire to change.  It’s good fuel, but not exactly a tourist draw.

Total Nom Points: 6 out of 10

Nommin’ Through the Hamptons: Montauk Yacht Club

29 May

It’s Hamptons Week in honor of the official start of summer! If you are going to The Hamptons this summer, check out all the posts from this week to get my recommendation on where to eat (and where not to).

Our second Restaurant Week Reservation was at Montauk Yacht Club.  We had a whole lot of trouble finding it (note: iPhone GPS puts it in a different location than it really is). The restaurant is actually called “Gulf Coast Kitchen” so be sure to follow those signs.

When you walk in, it’s simply beautiful.  Every room had a great look and feel to it.

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The view from our table was across a seating area and to the water.  

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Their menu was pretty good for Restaurant week with 4 selections each for the starters and the mains. 

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Mike chose the Chowder MYC that came with double smoked bacon, local clams, and fresh cream.  This was pretty good with some nice flavor, but one thing I love about chowder is the big pieces of clam and potato.  This was a bit more liquidy than I would prefer, but still quite nice.

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I got the Big Eye Tuna Tartar that came with shallots, Italian parsley, lemon zest, micro truffle salad, and crostini.

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This was gorgeously constructed and was a great combination of flavors.  I didn’t know what micro truffle salad was, but I was expecting something truffle flavor. Unfortunately, there was none.  This was one of those “over-promise and under-deliver” moments.  Had they never mentioned truffles, I would have eaten this happily and been on my merry way. But once the “truffle” was out of the bag, I wanted truffle.  

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For the main, Mike chose the grilled hangar steak with fresh salsa verde, roasted vegetables, and rosemary and sage potatoes.  This had good flavor and the salsa verde gave it a nice touch.

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I got a special that wasn’t on the menu but still counted for Restaurant Week.  It was a pork chop with some greens and potatoes.  Unfortunately, this was a bit disappointing. Not too big on flavor and in need of a sauce.

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The dessert selection included lemon tarts that Mike enjoyed while on his lemon kick.

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I chose the chocolate mousse cake that came with a passion fruit sauce. It was delicious but VERY rich.

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Overall, I enjoyed the Gulf Coast Kitchen at the Montauk Country Club, but I can’t say it was a brilliant meal. For $25 it was a well priced meal, but I’m not sure I can say it was great. The location, however, is stunningly beautiful and probably worth it just for that.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

Nommin’ Through the Hamptons: East by Northeast

28 May

Mike and I decided to take a long weekend in Montauk during the off-season.  I had heard lovely things about this town at the end of Long Island and the neighboring Hamptons towns.  We took the train out to Southampton and rented a car (note to self: DO NOT rent a car at Enterprise in Southampton again… WORST RENTAL CAR EXPERIENCE EVER) and then drove the rest of the way to Montauk.  

It happened to be Hamptons Restaurant Week, so we made a few reservations to try the a few of the restaurants in the area. Our first stop was at the very highly recommended East by Northeast.  

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The restaurant is right on the water and in a beautiful location.  We found out that the restaurant ownership company, Fort Pond Bay Company, actually owns a Westchester restaurant that we frequent with Mike’s family in Dobbs Ferry, NY: Half Moon. It had a similar setup with a wall full of windows looking out on the water. 

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The Restaurant Week menu had a good selection of items, and dinner was just $24.50.

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I had a lovely cocktail that was nicely summery.

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We decided to start with something off the Restaurant Week menu: a selection of raw oysters. They put them down in front of us and we noticed something… do you know what it is?

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How well do you know your shellfish?  If you have identified these as clams, you would be exactly right.  The waitress was very confused and flustered, and soon recognized that yes, she had mistaken the oysters for the clams.

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Luckily, that meant free clams for us!  And then out came the oysters.  Even better since they were local.

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Mike chose to start with the Chopped Iceberg Salad with Red Wine Dressing. It was fine.

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I went with the miso mussels with dashi and garlic. These were also… fine.

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Mike went with a special addition to the Restaurant Week menu, a burger with an egg on top.  This was also… fine.

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My main course was Pork Tonkatsu with Coconut Risotto.  It was… fine.

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For dessert, Mike got 2 scoops of ice cream.  It was a bit of a strange concoction. Also… fine.

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I got the Chocolate Pots du Creme.  Which was… you guessed it… fine.

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Overall, our meal was… fine.  It was nothing special, nothing was good but nothing was bad. It was a very forgettable meal with some strange service problems throughout. Perhaps it was because it was the off-season or perhaps they weren’t giving it their all for Restaurant Week, but I was very surprised that a restaurant that came so well recommended was this blah. I’m glad we only paid $25 each for this meal, though our favorite part of the meal was definitely the oysters, which were off the RW menu.  I can’t recommend this place.

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Cannibal’s Pig Head

22 May

A coworker of mine had passed a sign for Cannibal and, being a smart person, thought it looked enticing. It only got more exciting when he realized that they served an entire pig’s head.  So we went… for lunch.

He sent me the menu and I realized that Cannibal is from the same people that do Resto, and right next door.  I had been meaning to try Resto for some time after hearing great recommendations.  So I was excited to check it out.

Each table has a bowl of almonds and a nut cracker.  Sadly, we were all a bit tentative with the cracker and soon gave up on the pursuit.

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The restaurant is small with a long bar in the center where you can sit on (unfortunately uncomfortable) stools to chow down.  It is decorated in such an eclectic way that I cannot come up with a word to explain it accurately.

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In the back there is an actual butcher.

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With a delicious looking case.

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I love pussy willows, and I love pixie sticks.  What they are doing next to each other as decoration in a restaurant, I have no idea.  But I was digging it.

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They also had some Big League Chew among the high-end culinary ingredients on the shelves.

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The menu consists of “snacks,” charcuterie, and tartares…

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…plates, cheese, and dessert.

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The slow roasted half pig’s head was listed with fennel, honey, and cherry peppers.  I was instantly crushed that I couldn’t eat it, but the chef assured me it was very little peppers.  So I tentatively took some bites… and then just couldn’t stop.

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Holy crap this thing was fan-freaking-tastic.  We picked every last piece off this thing.  There is no clean way to do it, so we just went for it.  And damn… I can’t get over how good this was.  (And at $55, it was a good amount of food that fed 5 of us).

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We also got some additional dishes, including the lamb tartare, which had red onion, capers, harissa aioli, and egg yolk.  I didn’t get to try this due to the harissa, but everyone said it was very good.

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We got a “snack” as well: Pretzel Knödel with sweet mustard.  I’m still not sure what this was, and it was a bit soggy, but it tasted pretty good.  I probably wouldn’t get it again though.

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And then we all decided to have a few nibbles of the pigs head cuban sandwich, which came with head meat, smoked ham, gruyere, and pickles.  This was SO tasty! A great way to taste that delicious head meat without going whole hog (har har har) and getting the full head.   (This is also available through June 1st at Madison Square Eats on 5th Ave and 25th Street)

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They also had some yummy looking cookies in jars on the bar.  So we just had to get one… really… we HAD to… what choice did we have?

And it was 100% fantastic.

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Cannibal also has a cute picnic area out back, where we enjoyed some beers.

I highly recommend Cannibal, especially if the idea of half a pig’s head sounds good to you.  All the food was way above par, fun to eat, and very memorable.  I look forward to bringing many food-lovin’ friends back here soon!

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10

Ember Room: Dim Sum Brunch and Lunch

17 May

UrbanDaddy had a Perk for One Dim Sum Brunch with bottomless Bloody Marys and beer (two-hour max) at Ember Room, a new (at the time) restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen (9th Ave between 45th and 46th Streets) that had Todd English in its pedigree. Don’t mind if I do!

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The decor is eclectic pan asian, with some really nice touches like old fashioned light bulbs, bold artwork, and a beautiful dark wood all around.

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Our Dim Sum brunch came with some varied dim sum, all of which were good… but none of which were outstanding…

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We did enjoy our endless Chang beers.

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The one dim sum I especially like were the shrimp, as it had a whole, sweet shrimp tucked inside.

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We also added some korean bbq beef fried rice onto our order.  It was quite good, but the hot stone bowl wasn’t quite hot enough to char the rice in the way that Korean Restaurants in Koreatown do so well.  Also, it was supposed to be with kimchi, but since I can’t have kimchi, we went without.  It was okay… but I think they rely on the kimchi to give it flavor, so it was a wee bit bland.  It said it came with crispy shallots, which I was especially intrigued by, but they were too small to really notice.

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It was good enough that I was curious about the full menu, so I came back for lunch one day with my coworkers.

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They started with the chocolate ribs, which were slow cooked in a spiced chocolate sauce. Sadly, that sauce included chili, so I was out, but my coworkers scarfed these down.

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We got a side of sauteed chinese broccoli.  Frankly, I prefer the leafy part over the stems, but the oyster sauce on these made them very good.

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I believe this was the thai basil chicken, which was spicy thai basil minced chicken over a fried egg, served with jasmine rice.

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More korean beef fried rice. 

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And I went with the veggie burger, after a good amount of research by the waitress as to what I could, and could not, eat.  

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It came with some sort of soup which was surprisingly flavorful… but didn’t make enough of an impression for me to remember what it was.

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The veggie burger itself was impressive. Tons of flavor, nice texture, and the fried onions on top were quite delicious.  I’m not a veggie burger fan, but this was quite tasty!

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Overall, I enjoyed both meals at Ember Room, but I can’t say I’m running back to try more.  I think it’s a pretty good choice if you’re in the area or looking for a pre- or post- Broadway Theater meal. It is definitely different from the Italian that occupies most of that target market!

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

Michael White’s Ai Fiori for Valentine’s Day Part Deux

15 May

Michael White is one of those “celebrity” chefs that I have long heard about but never tried.  Enter Ai Fiori, Michael White’s newest restaurant, centered around pasta, that happens to be just a few blocks from the apartment (400 5th Avenue, between 36th and 37th Streets, in the Setai Hotel).  We were looking for another lovely dinner to surround Valentine’s Day to compliment our meal the weekend before at Annisa (since I was away on business on the actual day), and Ai Fiori couldn’t have been more perfect.

We went for an early dinner and found ourselves alone (but not for long) in the tastefully decorated 2nd floor restaurant.

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Even the table settings were quite lovely.  A waiter confused our table with the one next door and accidentally delivered us glasses of champagne.  I wasn’t sure if it was free (for Valentine’s Day) so there was some confusion.  We sent the champagne back to the table that ordered it, but our waiter wound up bringing us a glass each, on the house, for the confusion.  A lovely touch.

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The crusty, soft, warm bread came out with delicious salted butter and well flavored olive oil.

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Our amuse bouche was small shot of a fruity smoothie.  I cannot remember if this was mango or passion fruit, but it was a nice way to start the meal.

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We chose to do the prix fixe of 4 courses (cominciare / pasta or risotto / pesce or carne / dolce) for $89.

Mike chose to start with the Animelle which was crispy sweetbreads, pomme purée, truffle vinaigrette, and pancetta. It was delicious, delicate, and just the right amount of crisp. It was a $5 supplement charge, and well worth it.

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I chose the Mare e Monte (which, sadly, does not currently appear to be on the menu).  This had a $15 supplemental charge… but hey, it was Valentine’s Day!

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This was diver scallops, celery root, black truffles, bone marrow, and thyme.

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It was rich in all the right ways with complex flavors and sprigs of green to spring it up a bit.  It was decadent and fantastic.

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For our pasta/risotto course, Mike chose the risotto with riso acquarello, duck confit, and hen of the woods mushrooms. This was a perfect blend of flavors. Very rich but not at all heavy.

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I went with the Agnolotti, which was braised veal parcels, butternut squash, and black truffle sugo.

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These were just perfect.  Great meaty flavor inside and the pasta was just thin enough to hold it together.  The bay leaf on top was crisped and slightly sweetened, and tasted great when broken up into the pasta and squash puree. Mmmm mmmm.

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For our carne/pesce course, Mike chose the Agnello, which was rack of lamb en crepinette, panisse, romanesco, and parmesan.  This was simply perfect. The lamb was cooked as well as you can cook a lamb and each piece on this dish was simply delicious, especially the sauce on the lamb.

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I chose the Astice, which was butter poached Nova Scotia lobster, root vegetable fondant, and chateau chalon sauce.  I always struggle when deciding to order lobster, as no matter how good it is, I never find it as good as the lobster pounds in Maine (I’m spoiled rotten… I know), but this one was right up there. All the pieces that came with it just added to a fantastic dish.

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Onto dolce!  Mike chose the Tartaletta which was dark chocolate, red grape, caramelized sherry, and walnut gelato.  I loved this dish, and the grape tasted like a fantastic grape jelly.  It all went together perfectly.

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I chose to go with the Buddino di Limone with hazelnut praline, toasted meringue, espresso gelee, and cinnamon gelato. I was impressed by how architecturally it was belt, with a sheet of caramelized sugar balanced on top of the meringue peaks.

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This was a perfect dessert with great, original flavors.  Really impressive.

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And then out came the petite fours! They were stunningly beautiful…

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… and very, very tasty.  I especially liked this jelly thing… though I have no idea what it was. :)

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I knew we were in for a treat when we finally decided to try a Michael White restaurant, but this was out of this world.  I was so impressed by every bite at Ai Fiori, from start to finish.  It’s also very hard to find food this good, with a well-known chef, on a tasting menu with 4 courses for less than $100 (yes… I know that’s crazy…)  I really loved everything we tried and find it very hard to ignore the fact that this restaurant is so close to home. I just want to go again and again.  I definitely want to go back for breakfast, and also try White’s other restaurants (Marea, Alto, Convivio, Osteria Morini and recently expanding to Bernardsville, NJ and many other locations coming soon).

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

Gabrielle Hamilton’s Prune

11 May

I really love books written by chefs about their adventures in food. Anthony Bourdain was my first and made me fall in love with reading about the inner workings of restaurants and chefery.  I read somewhere that HIS favorite food book was Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton and I quickly made the purchase on my Nook (ps- I love that thing… never thought I’d want anything besides a real book, but I have read more in the 6 months I’ve had it than the entire last 3 years combined).

I absolutely loved the book, and was especially excited to read the section about her starting a restaurant in NYC.  A restaurant I had been meaning to go to for quite some time: Prune.

We were going to go for Valentine’s Day, but then I was called out to LA for a work meeting, so we had to cancel that reservation. A few weeks later, on an idle weekend with nothing to do, we made our way down to the East Village and put our names on the list for brunch.  They don’t take reservations for brunch, and I was expecting a long wait. We decided we would stroll the neighborhood for a bit, but when they told us it would be just 45 minutes, we made it a quick stroll.  We came back 20 minutes later and were seated less than 10 minutes after that.  Lovely!

What I first noticed was that Prune is SMALL.  Even smaller than what I imagined from what she described in the book.

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We started our brunch with cocktails.  While Prune is known for their Bloody Mary’s, I don’t drink vodka (long story) and I’m allergic to peppers… So that pretty much eliminates me from the Bloody pool.  I went with some refreshing, citrusy cocktail that I can’t remember a thing about, other than that I really enjoyed it.

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Mike, on the other hand, was all over trying one of these famous Bloodys.  The menu of Bloody Mary’s is quite big and quite original (scroll down to the bottom here to see).  Mike chose the Chicago Matchbox, with homemade lemon vodka, pickled brussels sprouts, baby white turnips, caperberries, green beans, and radishes.

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 It was beautiful, and he was a big fan. He never really drinks Bloody Mary’s, but after this one, he has been trying more and more.

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For noms, Mike got the steak and eggs, which was a 7 oz. prime newport steak, grilled with parsley shallot butter and 2 eggs (he went sunny-side up) witha toasted english muffin and potatoes rosti.  This was SO good. The steak alone could rival any of the best steak restaurants in the city. Everything was cooked perfectly.

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I chose the dutch style pancake.  It was one individual pancake cooked in the oven, with pears, served with canadian bacon and potatoes rosti.  This thing was DELICIOUS.  The pancake was super fluffy with a bit of crisp on the outside.  It was sweet, but not too sweet, and had great flavor with the batter and the pear.  I thoroughly enjoyed this… probably more than any other pancake I’ve ever had.

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We walked away from Prune incredibly impressed.  The atmosphere was great, the drinks were great, and the food was great.  I love brunch, but find a lot of times it’s all the same. Here, it was brunch anew.  I cannot wait to go back and try more!  

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10

SD26: “Secret” Chef’s Table – Gilt City Deal

3 May

SD26 was a restaurant on the list for a while.  So when Gilt City featured a Five Course Chef’s Table Dinner at SD26 for $84, we bought it. (If you want to sign up, why not use my Gilt City Referral Sign Up Link so I can get a referral bonus?).  

It included:

  • Five-course tasting menu
  • One appetizer, pasta, fish, meat and dessert 
  • $10 Enomatic wine card for a future visit 
  • Meet-and-greet with Chef Matteo Bergamini and co-owners Tony May and Marisa May

It wasn’t valid on holidays, Saturdays, nor Sundays, so it was quite hard to find a day to go since we work far too much.  I got the reminder that the vouchers were expiring soon (I have missed 2 or 3 things I’ve purchased due to expiry dates… dammit!)  so we made a reservation to go one Thursday night.

We were immediately greeted by a warm receiving line of chefs and waiters and sat, literally, right in the kitchen.  I LOVE sitting in the kitchen. To me, there are few cooler things than watching how a kitchen works from the inside. It’s fascinating to see how the kitchen staff can operate so like a well-oiled machine, each making part of an order and somehow delivering each piece of each meal perfectly at the same time.

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There are 2 tables in the kitchen, and we were all alone for most of our meal, but a couple joined us later with the same voucher in hand.  

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The chef came over and introduced himself, then asked if there were any allergies (so I told him about my allergy to peppers and the unfortunate side effects) and if we didn’t like anything specific.  I told him that we eat everything (besides peppers) including the weirder things like organ meat.  His eyes lit up and he immediately said “Sweet breads!” and went into the kitchen.

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We were given an iPad that was dedicated to a wine list app. You could search by region, varietal, pairing, etc. When you would tap on wines, you could read more about them, or about their region, etc. It was an awesome app and we spent a good 20 minutes just flipping through it.  We eventually decided on a far too expensive Patz & Hall Chardonnay.  I have a problem that when something was paid a long time ago, it feels like it was free.  So I convinced myself that we could buy an expensive bottle of wine since we weren’t paying for the dinner.  I like my dream world… shut up.

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We started with some focaccia, which was just a little too good.

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And two large breadsticks, which were buttery and delicious.

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And then more bread… this time a fluffy brioche.  

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We watched them assemble perfect dishes of asparagus with roasted pepper and fish.

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And a giant fish cooked in a salt crush.

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Our first course came out: Veal sweet breads with mustard sauce and coffee. He may have also said parsnip, but I’m not postitive on that. These were perfectly cooked and filled with flavor.  The coffee was a great balance and even though I’m not a huge fan of mustard, this all went perfectly together and the flavor wasn’t dominated by mustard.

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Next, the chef came and presented us with homemade spaghetti with mussels and garlic… and chili. To which Mike and I said in chorus “Chili???”  He ate his while they remade mine.

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Which was the same but without chili.  This was okay.  I was hoping for more flavor (perhaps the chili rounded it out well), but it was nice overall.

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Our next course is something that SD26 is known for, and now we know why.  Raviolo (which I thought meant a big ravioli, but turns out it technically is just the singular form of ravioli) with ricotta and spinach and soft egg inside in a brown butter truffle sauce. Brown butter. Truffle sauce.  Nom Nom Nom.

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When you cut it open, the yolk spilled into the sauce and made for quite the scrumptious flavor. (Mike and I tried to make something like this once, but it was no where near this good.  Not to self: Brown Butter. Truffle sauce.)

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Our next dish was a variation on the asparagus/roasted peppers and fish dish we saw being made earlier, only with spinach instead of roasted peppers.  This was Striped Sea bass, asparagus, spinach, and spinach chlorophyl mayo.  (Chlorophyl? Fascinating!)

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It was tasty and the fish was well cooked. The mayo was really fantastic with great flavor.

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Our next course was a beef dish with porcini mushrooms and arugula. The mushrooms on this dish were so rich and flavorful.  I really enjoyed the combination of flavors.

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We had finished our (too expensive) bottle of wine by this point, so 2 glasses of chardonnay come on the house (Perhaps because of the allergy mix-up? Perhaps because I was taking pictures so they suspected I might be writing about them? Perhaps because we spent too much money on a bottle of wine already? Who knows! And who cares! It was good wine.)

I really enjoyed the view from our table, including the pastry area to the other side where they had their petit fours all ready and waiting to go for each table.

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The seemed to have a big party because they assembled huge sets of plates with identical dishes and desserts a few times. I enjoyed watching the setup of each of the pastry plates, and the pastry chef was very exact.

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When these chocolate cakes came out, the smell blew me over.  Holy chocolate batman!

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Our desserts came up next, starting with a pineapple banana shot with strawberries. Fresh and delicious. Great segue from dinner into dessert.

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Up next was some coconut whipped cream with cocoa on top.  My guys missed the mark on the cocoa a little bit, and the pastry chef gave him a quick glance that packed a punch.

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His next time on Mike’s was much better.

This was another really nice segue. Nicely flavored, small, and light.

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And then the chocolate cakes came out.

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The were topped with a nicely stamped SD26 chocolate piece.

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And oozed perfectly when cut into.  This was a great lava cake, definitely more on the bittersweet side, and rich as rich can be.

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We also had a 2nd dessert, which I completely missed the name of.  The pastry chef was fantastic (and, according to our waiter, recently fresh from Italy) but I just could not understand her accent (I’m a bad American… I know).  It was flake pastry with strawberries and some delicious cream. I think it had some caramel in it. Whatever it was… it was good.  We also ordered some moscato and it went great with this.

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Just when we thought we probably shouldn’t have another bite or another drink, they brought out 2 more glasses of moscato on the house and some petit fours.

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This was a hard, fudgy candy with white and bittersweet chocolate.

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And this was a lemon cookie of some sort.  Very, very good.

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This was such a fun adventure, eating in the kitchen and having the chef cook for us right there. It seems this is a secret of SD26, but you can reserve these tables in advanced (either for 2 or 4).  It’s an impressive date night and just plain foodie fun.  It definitely made me want to go back, soon, and try out their main dining room.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Dominique Ansel Bakery

1 May

When Mike and I ate at Daniel in summer 2011, the entire meal was epic, but the desserts were hands down the best I can remember.  I looked up the pastry chef when I got home and found out that it was Dominque Ansel.  I also caught some news that he would shortly be leaving Daniel for his own venture.

Thankfully, that venture maintained his presence in New York and he opened up his own bakery in SoHo.

I got down there a few weeks after they opened, and I had a stepping into Willy Wonka moment.

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They had cases filled with beautiful pastries.

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They have a few shelves of packaged goods.

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And a huge menu of goodies, including their famous Madeleines, which are made to order after 3pm on Fridays and Saturdays. I was impressed to see Dominique Ansel behind the counter and going to the back to make the madeleines.  I wanted to tell him how much we enjoyed his desserts at Daniel, but never had the chance (that’s a lie… I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to him… you have your celebrities, I have mine).

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I ordered up some macrons to bring to my team in London.  While it was a gift, I did manage to snag one to try.  It was the best macaron I’ve ever had. By far. And I’ve had many. Every time I’m within 2 neighborhoods from SoHo, I think “maybe we should drop by there to get some macarons.”  Sadly, we haven’t been back yet. Though I foresee these in my very near future.

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We also ordered one of the pastries that looked divine.  It was packaged in the most elegant box I have ever seen.

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Inside was like a perfect prize.

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It was absolutely beautiful. Sadly, I was just too full to eat this and was off to London that night, so Mike had to take one for the team and eat it himself.   To quote his opinion: “Deeeeeeeeeee-licious!”

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Why was I so full? Well… because these little babies were just captivating.  When we had these at Daniel, I have a distinct memory of the waitress unfolding the napkin on top of these warm, steaming madeleines and the smell just being totally overwhelmingly delicious.  It was a similar moment upon opening up this paper bag and peering inside.

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They were definitely smaller than the ones at Daniel.

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And I don’t think they were QUITE the same.  They still tasted great, and that warm, lemony, sweet pillow is still something other-wordly, bit it just wasn’t 100% there.  Perhaps nothing can ever be as good as your first time.

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Anita Lo’s Annisa for Valentine’s Day

26 Apr

We had been wanting to try Anissa for a long time. We had watched Anita Lo on television (Top Chef Masters most notably) and she was one of the chefs that made my mouth water every time she presented a dish.  We went to Rickshaw Dumpling Bar (her more casual restaurant in NYC) and her dessert soup dumplings were unreal.  But her fine dining restaurant, Anissa, was really where I wanted to go.  Unfortunately, there was a fire at Anissa a few years ago and it closed down.  So when it reopened, it hit the “someday” list.  Valentine’s Day weekend 2012 was finally that “someday.”

My first impression was that this place was VERY small.  It was intimate without being on top of each other.  I’m pretty sure the restaurant seats less than 20 people at a time.

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It’s the little things about a restaurant for me, and these perfect butter ribbons were just delightful.

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We decided to go with the 7-course chef tasting with the wine pairings.

Our meal started with an amuse bouche of egg salad with cured salmon tartlet.  It was a nice bite and the shell was a perfect crisp.

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Course one was ceviche of fluke, black lime, and green daikon. It was paired with a Sauvignon Blanc: St. Bris Burgundy, France – 2010.

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This tasted perfectly fresh and citrusy. It has a small salty element. Totally delish.

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Course 2 was a Hudson valley duck foie gras with soup dumpling and balsamic. This was paired with Riesling Kabinett -Gunderloch, Rheinhessen, Germany – 2010.  This wine was PERFECT with this dish.

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I was nervous about my peppers allergy, but they defined this as “Sechuan” but I wound up being fine. Very slightly tingly, but worth it. This had great, deep, rich flavor.

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The flavors were so good, in fact, that I tipped my bowl into my spoon while no one was looking… just to get every last drop I could.

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Course 3 was a Miso Black Cod with crispy tofu and bonito broth (I think that’s what she said?)  This was paired with Wakatake Junmai Sake from Shizuoka, Japan.

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There was roe in the broth, which was a nice surprise.  The cod was awesome, and potentially the best I have ever had. I’m not a huge fan of tofu, but even that was great.  I have no idea what the green things in it were (see photo below) but they added great texture.  The tofu itself wasn’t at all crispy, but it was delicious.  Almost polenta-like in texture.

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Our next course came out, and while I wrote it down, it appears I forgot to take a picture of it (Whoops!)  It was grilled arctic char, dill, char mousse, cabbage leaf, and lemon something.  It was paired with Bourgogne Blanc, Domaine Amiot- Servelle from Burgundy, France 2008. This had multiple elements on the plate, so you could choose how much of each you wanted in each bite, or all of it.  Everyone went great together, especially the mix and match of the lemon and dill flavors.  The wine also went perfectly with it.  Awesome.

Course 5 was grilled wagyu, green garlic, chives, escargot, mushrooms with granache. It came with Bandol- Domaine Le Galantin- Provence, France, 2008.  Below the meat there was a piece of brioche that sucked up juices/sauce and made for such a flavorful bite.

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Our next course was a cheese course. It came with some great, nutty bread.

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And I dove in so fast to the cheese that, again, I forgot to take a picture. But I snagged one at the very end.  I took some very short-hand notes: “Chèvre de Argental: sheep, raw cow from Austria, raw cow from Vermont, goat cheese from France, cremesco from Italy, a blue from New York. It was paired with Churchhills White Port- Portugal.  White port is sooooo good with cheese.

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Course 7 was a coupling of 2 desserts, both of which came with Muscat de Beaumes-de Venise, Rhone, France 2009.

The first dessert was a pecan beignet with butter rum sorbet. The sorbet good but icy. The entire dessert was very messy, but tasted awesome.

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The second dessert was a poppy seed cake with Meyer lemon.

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It reminded me in flavor of lemon meringue.

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At the end, we were served Petit Fours: coconut popsicles, candied ginger, and piece of chocolate.

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The popsicles were especially fun and deliciously filled with coconut flavor.

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The whole meal was exceptionally well paced with very good service. Every dish was solid. I can’t say there was one that stood out as an awesome dish that topped all other awesome dishes, but the meal as a whole was incredibly good and memorable as a whole.  It certainly did not dissapoint. One of the tops of all time.

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

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