Search results for 'brussel sprouts'

The Mark Restaurant by Jean Georges

12 Jun

We had friends in town and decided to take them for a quick tour of the The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art at 81st St and 5th Ave) before heading to The Mark (a Jean Georges restaurant) for lunch. The Mark is in The Mark Hotel on 77th Streetn between 5th Ave and Madison Ave. For some reason, even though this is a Jean Georges restaurant, it was never on my radar. We walked in and it was beautiful. Modern with a very New York feel. DSCF7987

The decorations were both of the floral variety…

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And food…

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With lovely treats under cloches all around us.

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Even the table decorations were smart and elegant.

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I especially loved this salt bowl with a mini spoon.

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I started with butternut squash soup with mushrooms and chives. They served this at the table…

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…then poured the soup over the top.

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It was absolutely delicious.  Full of squash flavor without being heavy.

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The table also tried the peekytoe crab cake with pink grape fruit, avocado, and ginger.

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Due to peppers, I couldn’t try this, but everyone “mmmm” and “ahhhed” around the table when they took a nibble.

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And the sauce it came tasted great.

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One person ordered the Croque M, which came with Flying Pigs Farm (a local farm) Ham, comte, and gruyere cheese.  I’ve had a number croque madame style sandwiches, and my bite of this one topped them all.  Great tasting and textured bread with a perfectly cooked egg and fantastic gruyere. A really stunning version of this dish.

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Someone else ordered the roasted turkey sandwich with avocado and chipotle dressing.  They said it was a really fantastic sandwich.

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I went with the tagliatelle with caramelized brussels sprouts, basil pistachio pesto and parmesan.  This was exceptional.  Great, rich cheese flavor mixed with the sweetness of the caramelized brussels sprouts and the fantastic pesto on the thin, perfectly al dente pasta was really fantastic.  

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After such a feast, we decided to split dessert.  So we tried the butterscotch pudding with crème fraiche, caramel and sea salt.  The pudding itself had great flavor, but the salt on the top pushed this dessert into a new place. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

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I have no idea how this restaurant was not on my radar.  What struck me most about this restaurant is every individual flavor and ingredient was so obviously the freshest and best version of itself.  You can really tell when places you exceptional ingredients. And The Mark used them exceptionally well.  It was one of the best lunches I have had in NYC and I highly recommend it if you’re going to The Met or in the area. Heck, this place is worth a special trip to the Upper East Side just to try it.  

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10

 

 

 

 

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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

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Boulud Sud

28 Feb

In an effort to make our way through The Platt 101, New York Magazine’s  list of Best Restaurants in New York (2012 edition), we made a New Years Day reservation at Boulud Sud.  This was my fifth restaurant in the Daniel Boulud empire (having been to DB Bistro, Cafe Boulud, Bar Boulud, and Daniel), and I can’t help but love each and every place.

Walking in, the space is very modern and bright with an open, bustling kitchen that somehow managed to operate quietly.

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Boulud Sud focuses on Mediterranean flavors.  Both the bread and oil hinted at this, and I had to keep reminding myself that I shouldn’t fill up on it, even though it was quite delish.

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I ordered a cocktail:  The Spiked Apple, which came with Glenkinchie 12 year old scotch, spiced apple cider, allspice dram, and lemon juice.  It was served in a giant, hollow, round ice cube and was absolutely delicious.

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We went with the three course prix fixe for $44.  Mike started with the octopus appetizer that came with ictrus pieces, marcona almonds, arugula, and vinegar. It was quite delicious, but it couldn’t compete with the octopus at Kefi (though what could?)

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I started with the soup, which I think was sunchoke (the menu posted online is different from what we had)

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It came with croquettes that were light, yet crunchy, and went very well with the soup.

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While awaiting our next course, Mike looked at me through his glass and I cracked up.  The glass made it so he had a little face inside the glass.  I just love this picture.

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Mike went with the lemon-saffron linguini with razor clams and shaved bottarga (fish roe).  This was bursting with flavor and typically wouldn’t be something either Mike nor I would order. But it was very enjoyable.

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I got the chestnut ravioli with celeriac, black trumpet mushrooms, and castelmagno (an Italian cheese).  I really enjoyed this.  I wish it had more chestnut flavor (I always want more chestnut flavor) but the raviolis were delicate and had great flavor.  They were also cooked perfectly.

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And it was super pretty.

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Mike and I can’t pass up an opportunity to order brussels sprouts (I’m still pissed off that I spent over 20 years of my life without brussels sprouts).  These were very similar to the ones we make with pancetta, and the roasted hazelnuts added a great smoky flavor and crunch. (But I still like ours better…)

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I was actually most excited about Boulud Sud because of all of the wonderful things I heard about the dessert (in fact, just found out that Ghaya Oliveira was nominated for a 2102 James Beard Award for Best Pastry Chef).  Mike got the Fromage Blanc Tart with plums compote and lemon sorbet.  It was like a light, flavor-filled cheesecake.  Delish.

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I got the dessert that was recommended by everyone on Foursquare and photographed on every food blog: The grapefruit givre (with sesame halva, rose loukoum, and grapefruit sorbet).   It was just as beautiful as everyone said.

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The strings on top was the halva and then below was something that resembled heated sugar (like a creme brulee top).

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As you dug into it, it was layer upon layer of treats in a frozen grapefruit.  It was unlike anything I have ever had (and something I would probably not have ordered for myself had it not been so highly recommended) and it was stupendous.

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Overall, our meal was spotless, service was great, and we had some really unique and fun dishes.  I was totally full and felt like I had eaten at one of the better restaurants in NYC for $44.  I call that a good value!  Go and get that grapefruit thing… you won’t be disappointed.

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10

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