Tag Archives: chocolate cake

Carbone and the $54 Veal Parm

2 Mar

Of all the restaurants that opened last year, few got as much buzz as Carbone. A restaurant from Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, parts of the team that brought us Torrisi Italian Specialties and Parm (which are two places that New York holds dear but I, sadly, haven’t had the opportunity to try yet).

We actually live across the street from the OTHER Carbone (I blogged about it years ago) which caused a good deal of confusion and made headlines for having a few rather famous people waiting in the completely wrong restaurant in the completely wrong side of town (for the record, that Carbone is “Carbone Ristorante Italiano” in the Garment District but THIS Carbone is in Greenwich Village on Thomson between Bleecker and West Houston. Their website URLs are even nearly identical as CarboneNewYork.com and CarboneNYC.com)

DSCF3048

We found ourselves in the dining room after making a reservation exactly 1 month (to the day) ahead of time.  The restaurant has a combination of old world Italian and trendy industrial, thanks to the steel doors, in combination with the elegant yet simple decorations.  It was elegant but a little edgy, and I liked it.  The only thing that was a bit tough for me (and now for you) is that the lighting wasn’t great for photos, so apologies ahead of time that these aren’t my best work.

DSCF3037

DSCF3077

I was especially amused by the rooster paraphernalia.

DSCF3035 DSCF3036

Even in the bathroom.

DSCF3072

(Another note on the bathroom… there was an interesting piece of art there that I actually returned to take a picture of.  This is a piece of white paper in a lit white box with a candle on top… W… T… F…)

DSCF3074

As soon as we ordered, we were served some starters from the kitchen, including a nearly transparent, thinly sliced place of prosciutto that tasted as flavorful as it was delicate in texture.  It almost melted in porky fatty goodness right on your tongue.

DSCF3038

We were also provided some cauliflower (which Mike said was great, but I couldn’t have due to my allergy to peppers) and a bite each of one of the best pieces of crystally parm I’ve ever tasted.  It was nutty and rich and was lovely with the prosciutto.

DSCF3039 DSCF3042

DSCF3046

And some incredible bread, that was fresh and flavorful, with a bread “stick” that had all the flavors of pizza but in a soft, doughy bread.

DSCF3045

For being a huge fan of wine, and traveling to three different areas in Italy, I still feel utterly clueless when it comes to picking out Italian wines.  French wines, I know exactly what I like, but for some reason, I cannot get Italian wines to stick in my head.  So we relied on their sommelier to pick one out for us, and he did a damn good job with this gem of a bottle.

DSCF3050

We began with the Fettuccini con Funghi, and even though we ordered one dish to split, they nicely divided it in half and provided us with our own plates.

DSCF3052

This was really aromatic, with the deep, rich mushrooms complimented effortlessly with fresh herbs and spices. And that pasta was perfectly cooked and textured to support all the components of the dish.

DSCF3054

We also had to try the infamous veal parmesan which was rumored to be served on a pizza tray (it wasn’t) and very large (it was, though I guess my expectations were a wee bit grander).

DSCF3055

Luckily, the flavors didn’t disappoint.  It was a full, very vealy flavor with the right amount of breading and cheese to be slightly crispy but very moist and cheesy.

DSCF3061

The sauce was classic and a perfect foil to the richness.

DSCF3063

Mike really appreciated that they included the bone and went to down scraping off each delectable morsel.

DSCF3066

As much as we loved the veal, however, at $54 (yes… fifty four dollars) I feel like it just didn’t live up to expectations and price.  I’m glad we split both the pasta and the entree so the expense for both of us wasn’t too crazy, but at $54, that should be the best damn veal parm I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t. It was damn good. But it just wasn’t $54 good.  But I’m glad we had the opportunity to try it.

We were then given lovely biscotti as we decided on dessert.

DSCF3069

And shown a lovely dessert tray to choose from.

DSCF3076

We went with the chocolate cake (may have been chocolate cherry, not sure).  It was epically moist, rich, and flavorful. I’m not a cake fan but this was very nice.  Then again, it didn’t make me into a cake fan. I wished it had some crunch to it, like some chocolate pieces.

DSCF3070

As we went out, we saw them preparing a basil and persimmon dish table side. The smell of the fresh basil and precision of preparing this dish in front of us was pretty amazing.  I have no idea what dish it was, but I wanted to sit down again to try it.

DSCF3075

Overall, our meal was really fantastic.  Everything was flavorful, prepared well, and a little different from the typical.  But now that I’ve tried the $54 veal parm, I don’t think I need to have it again, and I can’t even say I would recommend it as a “must.”  But the food we had was really great and I would go again in a heart beat to try some of their less famous dishes.  Especially some more pasta dishes because ours was really phenomenal.

Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10 (docked a half point or so because that veal parm is just too expensive for what it was)

nomscale- 08.0

Butter for Restaurant Week Winter 2013

28 Jan

Even if Executive Chef Alex Guarnaschelli (who just won Next Iron Chef) has nothing to do with Butter at this point in her career (which I am not sure about at all… I’ve heard she doesn’t do much with the restaurant anymore, but it’s hard to tell), you would never know. We have been meaning to go to Butter for years, and just never got around to it. I had heard it was good, but no one raved about it so it never made it high up on my list. But when we were trying to find a few new places to try for Restaurant Week this winter, we decided that in light of Chef Guarnaschelli’s recent win, we would check it out.

It’s right by the Public Theater in the East Village. We were seated downstairs and enjoyed the wood tree trunks and sticks that decorated the room. It had a nice, loungy feel with low couch benches in the bar areas and music playing in the rooms.

1DSCF0781

Here was the Restaurant Week menu for dinner on Sunday, January 27th.

2DSCF0784

And the regular menu.

3DSCF0785

And of course, since it’s butter, here is the butter shot.

DSCF0779

And some more butter porn. (The butter itself was decent, but nothing too special and I could have used with a larger portion to cover off on the bread that was on the table.

DSCF0780

But the pumpernickel and sour dough breads were top notch.

DSCF0783

We decided to start with cocktails, and since they were so good, we continued drinking them throughout the meal (rather than switching to wine, which is our usual MO). I got the Pearadise with pear infused Bacardi rum, fresh pear puree, St. Germain liqueur, muddled limes and mint. It was fantastic. Perfectly sweet without being cloyingly so. Mike got the Mickey Blue Eyes, which was a martini made with Grey Goose Vodka and blue cheese stuffed olives.

DSCF0787

Mike started with the House Made Charcuterie Platter. This came with house-cured bacon, duck breast mortadella, and chicken liver toast with spicy napa cabbage. This was awesome. The mortadella had a great flavor, and the chicken liver was packed with flavor and had these perfect crispy onions on top. But the bacon… ohhh boyyyy the bacon.

DSCF0789

I got the soup of the day, which was a butternut squash soup. I have had butternut squash soup all over the world at this point, and I am a fan simply because I really love butternut squash soup. You don’t need to get fancy with it to be delicious, but that also means that most people serve butternut squash soup that tastes just like everyone else’s version. Sure, some people put in some toasted pumpkin seeds or some basil oil (and I sure do love it when they do) but the soup itself usually just tastes like squash, or squash and apples.

But this… this butternut squash was The Shit. I never knew squash soup could have this much depth of flavor. A bit of brown butter flavor and sweetness (from what I assume was brown sugar but not sure) with a layer of fresh squashy goodness. And the salted popcorn to accompany it was just perfect. I actually asked for more bread so I could lop up every last drop of soup. It was, hands down, the best butternut squash soup I have ever had.

DSCF0792

As we started the entree portion of our meal, the additional side of cider glazed roasted parsnips came out. These had thinly sliced apple chips on top and the cider glaze was superb. It was the perfect compliment to the roasted parsnips and it was great comfort food without being heavy.

DSCF0796

Mike chose the House Made Ricotta Ravioli with roasted oyster mushrooms, chili flakes (which they nicely served on the side so that I could eat it), and pecorino cheese. I thought the sauce and mushrooms went very well with the ricotta in the ravioli, which was fluffy and a tad tart, with great flavor. Though in the end, I never order cheese ravioli because I just find myself hard to impress with any version.

DSCF0804

I ordered the Braised Pork Shoulder with a pretzel crumb crust and buttered rutabega. This was also outstanding. A great pork flavor over a bed of creamy rutabega. The little salty crispness of the pretzel with the cabbage on top was delightful. It was perfectly tender so you could just pull it apart with your fork. Fantastic.

DSCF0801

For dessert, Mike chose the Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich with vanilla ice cream and spiced pecans. It was very good, with a well flavored ginger cookie and what I think were golden raisins with orange zest. The pecans were spiced with something pepper related that I couldn’t have (but Mike enjoyed) and while the cookie was a bit hard to cut, the dessert was very good.

DSCF0809

My dessert came out and the first thing I noticed was that it was tiny. It’s hard to tell in this shot, but the piece of chocolate cake was about 3 inches tall and wide and less than 1/2 an inch thick. But BOY was this big on flavor.

The chocolate was rich and decadent, the pomegranate seeds adding a little bit of lightness to it, and a shmear of awesome salted caramel. The entire dish was so fantastic, and so packed with flavor, I didn’t miss those additional bites.

DSCF0813

As the meal ended, I told Mike how I wanted to lick my plate for every single dish I had. (That is one of the highest compliments I can give a place!) The execution was flawless and I didn’t feel like we lost anything by ordering off the Restaurant Week menu. Portions weren’t huge, but I walked away totally satiated.

Overall, this was a standout meal not just for Restaurant Week, but overall. I was truly impressed and look forward to returning again in the near future. I can’t believe it took us that long to go!

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

nomscale- 08.5

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.

DSCF8553

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.  

DSCF8559

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.

DSCF8554

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.

DSCF8552

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

DSCF8555

And two large breadsticks, which were buttery and delicious.

DSCF8556

And then more bread… this time a fluffy brioche.  

DSCF8557

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

DSCF8578

And a giant fish cooked in a salt crush.

DSCF8582

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.

DSCF8562

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.

DSCF8565

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.

DSCF8567

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.

DSCF8571

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.)

DSCF8572

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!)

DSCF8579

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

DSCF8581

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.

DSCF8586

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.

DSCF8560

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.

DSCF8573

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

DSCF8574

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

DSCF8587

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.

DSCF8590

His next time on Mike’s was much better.

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

DSCF8592

And then the chocolate cakes came out.

DSCF8593

The were topped with a nicely stamped SD26 chocolate piece.

DSCF8597

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

DSCF8598

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.

DSCF8595

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.

DSCF8599

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

DSCF8600

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

DSCF8601

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