Tag Archives: baked alaska

Brunch at DBGB

18 Nov

My sister was on a quest to find a brunch place on the Lower East Side that could accommodate a semi-flexible birthday brunch of about 10-15 people.  That’s no easy task in the LES.  Lots of places are great, but very small, or very quickly booked up weeks in advance.

But I was thrilled when she booked at DBGB, a Daniel Boulud restaurant.  We have dined at a few of Chef Boulud’s restaurants and they have always been especially great and high on the list of reliable favorites.

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The space is quite large, with a big bar and lots of beer selections.

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We sat right below this beauty, which made me want to immediately book a Whole Hog Feast for the near future.  The mirrored panels around the restaurant are also printed with great quotes from famous food lovers (everyone from Wylie Dufresne to Homer Simpson).

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When we were getting ready to order, Mike spotted an old high school friend across the room, who happened to be the general manager of the restaurant. He said hello and two things immediately went through my head…

“Wow! Small world.”

and

“Man… I hope this meal isn’t shitty. I hate having to pretend to like a place because we know someone there.”

Thankfully, the latter turned out to be nothing to worry about. In classic Chef Boulud style, the food was a notch above great.

And Mike’s old buddy sent over a few very nice extras for us, including a starter of Viennoiseries (French for pastries from Vienna) with butter and jam.  This included a madeleine on top, which was surprising but incredibly delicious.  All the pastries were very, very good, but the highlight was actually the raspberry jam.  That was some incredible jam.

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DBGB features their different variations of sausages prominently.

The table tried the Vermont Sausage with pork & cheddar link, hash browns, and red onion crème frache. Everyone enjoyed.

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And the Thai sausage.

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Everyone loved the Thai sausage (sadly, I couldn’t try due to my allergy), which had pork, lemongrass & red curry links, green papaya, basil fried rice,  and chili sauce.  There was even a perfect little quail egg on top.

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One person got the Vermont with 2 fried eggs, a lovely breakfast.

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I got to try a bite of the Eggs Florentine with creamy spinach, hollandaise, english muffin with Jabon de Paris.  This was sensational.  All the components seemed simple but the taste came together in the most spectacular way. (The hollandaise was on the side for this one, per my mom’s request, and I thought it was a perfect hollandaise)

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The Oeuf Forestére was two eggs “en cocotte” with wild mushrooms, gruyère, fines herbes

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“Le Bucheron” with two eggs any style, toscane sausage, smoked bacon, home fries, a house-baked croissant

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An omelette (not sure which kind)

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The Belgian waffle with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

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Mike got (surprise) the buger. Specifically The Frenchie: 7 oz beef patty with confit pork belly, arugula, tomato-onion compote & morbier cheese on a peppered brioche bun with cornichon, mustard & fries.  He said it was very juicy, and I stole quite a few great, crispy fries.

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He also got a side of the Brussels sprouts with bacon, which were perfectly cooked and just the right amount of crispy and sweet.

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I got the French Toast.  I hardly ever get french toast but this one was listed with roasted plum compote and it was just calling my name on this day.  Usually french toast suffers from being tasty on the outside and then just bread on the inside.  This suffered from no such problems. In fact, this was hands down the best french toast I’ve ever had.  The outside was crispy and slightly bruleed, and the inside was like the best combination of bread pudding and creme brulee.  It was so tasty and so perfectly textured, with the absolutely awesome roasted plum compote that I just wanted to lick off the plate.

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I also go a side of the house smoked bacon, which I ordered extra well done (I love bacon crispy) and this did not dissapoint.  Great bacon.

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And since it was a birthday celebration, we got some desserts for the table to share.

We split the Cranberry Cream Cheese Sundae which came with spiced cranberry compote, linzer crumble, orange marshmallow, toasted pumpkin seeds, and whipped cream.  I usually don’t like cranberries all that much, but this was awesome. The ice cream tasted like cheese cake and the cranberries were just the right amount of sweet.  And the orange marshmallows were a great part of the full sundae.

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We also tried the chocolate bourbon sundae with brownie bites, chocolate sauce, bourbon gelée, candied pecans, and whipped cream.  This had great flavor, and the bourbon gelée was a great pop of flavor, and I absolutely loved the candied pecans in this sundae.

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We also decided to split the Baked Alaska around the table, which had pistachio & vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, and fresh meringue flambéed with kirsch.  What we were not expecting was that Mike’s friend, the GM, actually flambéed this tableside for us.  It was quite the spectacle (check ou the blue flame in the picture below).  It was delicious and always an impressive dessert.

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My sister was thrilled with her birthday brunch and all of us left very full and very happy.  I will absolutely go back there any time I’m in the neighborhood and want to get together with friends to do that Whole Hog Feast.

I was very happy to be able to honestly tell the GM at the end that our meal was really fantastic.  A step above your typical brunch.

Happy Birthday, Stacey!

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

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Delmonico’s Kitchen in Midtown

12 Dec

The original Delmonico’s is a New York institution and has been around for nearly 200 years.  I’ve been reading a very interesting, but very long book, called Appetite City and they have an entire (very fascinating) chapter dedicated to the history of the restaurant. When Delmonico’s first opened, there weren’t fine dining options in the city.  People were fed what was being served at inns, rather than being able to order their own food. So two brothers came together to offer New York City diners a menu, tablecloths, and food from a real “chef.”  The restaurant is famous for inventing some dishes we still eat (and love) today, such as Eggs Benedict, Baked Alaska, and Lobster Newburg.

We ate at the original for Restaurant Week a few years ago, and we were a bit underwhelmed.

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About a year ago, they opened up a midtown location called Delmonico’s Kitchen, just a few short blocks from where we live. We had been meaning to try it for a long time, however, we finally got there a few weeks ago to check it out. The restaurant had about a 20 minute wait on this Friday night, but there were seats available at the bar with the full menu, so we went for it.

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The bread basket they served had a very nice selection, with a few warm items and pink salted butter.

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I went with the boneless slow cooked short ribs with “baby spinach, sweet potato hash, red wine natural.”  I love short ribs, however, I was shocked at just how big this cut of short rib was.  It was more like a big piece of brisket with the taste of succulent, sweet short ribs. I absolutely loved this dish.  I did the happy belly dance while taking down half of the portion (and sharing with Mike) and took the rest home for an amazing short rib and egg breakfast the next day.

The sauce was rich but not overpowering and the meat had a great flavor.  The hash underneath somehow didn’t get the least bit soggy and maintained all the great flavors of each veggie.  Really fantastic.

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Mike went with the DK Double Burger which was described as “Our prime burger blend continues the legacy that began in 1837 when America’s first hamburger was served at Delmonico’s.”  How can a burger lover such as Mike not try America’s first hamburger?

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And it was a doozy.  At least 6 inches stacked high.

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I had no idea how Mike would manage to take a bit out of this, but he prevailed!

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And it was a really fantastic burger.  With a stack that high, one might expect it would all become a scrambled mess, but instead the thin burger bun was a great conduit for the flavorful, well charred meat and the collection of cheese and burger toppings.  Great burger. And the fries were pretty damn good too.

By taking back leftovers, we scraped up enough room to try dessert.  It all sounded great, but Delmonico’s is known for their Baked Alaska, so we decided to try their midtown version.

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This was a beautiful piece of art.

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Lovely cherry and chocolate ice cream inside on a chocolate cake/crust base, covered in marshmallowy soft meringue and browned ever so slightly on the outside.

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A beautiful, tasty, and decadent dessert.  It felt special.

The whole meal really felt special.  Those short ribs were some of the best I’ve had and I am sure we will be returning with guests as the weather grows colder and we stay closer to home.  Glad to have this in the neighborhood.

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

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