Tag Archives: macaroni and cheese

Red Rooster

18 Mar

We have been quite busy in the NomNom household recently!  We’ve spent basically every free hour these last few months looking for a place to buy in or near NYC.  It’s our first time venturing into home ownership, and it has been a trip.  We have been able to explore lots of new neighborhoods that we probably wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise, and we’re currently waiting on a returned contract on a place in Riverdale.  (Cross your fingers for us!)

One place that we knew we would get to eventually, but eventually just became further and further away, was Red Rooster in Harlem. So when we were up in the area scoping out apartments, we decided to make a same-day reservation.

Red Rooster was created by celebrity chef, Marcus Samuelsson, who we loved watching win on Top Chef Masters Season 2.  We had a pretty good meal at his older NYC restaurant, Aquavit Cafe, during Restaurant Week. I’ve also always meant to go back to try their main dining room at Aquavit.

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First, we enjoyed a Bourbon Negroni with fig and pear infused Bulleit bourbon with campari and sweet vermouth.  It was incredibly well balanced and went down far too easily.

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I really enjoyed the copper bar and salt & pepper shakers.

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I knew I would struggle with my peppers allergy here, but I was especially disappointed to learn that I couldn’t have the chicken and waffle app (which was highly recommended) because they used paprika as part of their dredging.  But the waiter came back and gave me awesome news that they could do it without. And boy was I glad that they could!

To add to the goodness of this crispy, salty, sweet, doughly, meaty dish, the maple syrup was made with bourbon and it comes with a side of chicken liver butter. And oh it was good!

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Mike got the triple-double burger which came with bacon, jarlsberg, and rooster sauce.

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Sure enough, it was a double decker burger and it was pretty damn awesome. I also really liked the fries. Even though they didn’t have that perfect golden color, they were memorably crispy.

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We split a side of the mac and cheese which came out still bubbling.  It was a great balance of mac to chee and had an ever so slightly crispy top.  Very good.

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I went with the oxtail pappardelle with red wine braised oxtail, lacinato kale, green garlic-san marzano, and aged pecorino.  This was so rich and so filled with flavor, with excellent fresh pasta and a lovely balance of fresh garlic.

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For dessert, we tried the orange and white chocolate mousse with citrus salad, crunchy meringue drops, and mint anglaise.  It was an absolutely excellent dessert with the perfect balance of creamy, tart, citrus, crunch, mint… really wonderful way to end the meal.

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The word of this meal was absolutely “balance.” There were expert hands that mixed those cocktails, came up with those recipes, and cooked all those dishes.  There were interesting flavors that were great on their own, but when brought together, were really fantastic.  It was great to be able to taste food from Marcus Samuellsen after watching him cook on TV for so long and we must go back, even without an excuse to be in Harlem.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

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Ed’s Chowder House

17 Oct

We met up with some friends for a pre-theatre dinner at Ed’s Chowder House near Lincoln Center.  It is located in the Empire Hotel and is right outside the mecca of NYC performing arts.

I have been meaning to try Ed’s since it opened in 2009, so I was excited when my friend suggested it and they had a reservation at the right time.

Our friends decided to split the tuna tartare and the spicy mussels.  I couldn’t try the mussels, but the tuna tartare was quite fresh and good.

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Mike went with a special of a salad with clam strips.  The clam strips that were on this were super awesome.  I really enjoyed my bite.

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I really wanted to have some chowder at the Chowder House… but most had peppers. The one safe one was the sweet corn chowder with crispy shallots.  So I went for it.
But it came out with popcorn that were the shade of danger.  I am allergic to peppers.  It’s a huge pain in the ass, but it could be a lot worse.  Peppers are brightly colored and flavored, and I’m not anaphylactic.  I will just burn and blister from them, which is annoying and uncomfortable, but at least it won’t kill me!  And I have come to know the warning color is typically this special shade of orange.  Sure enough, it had paprika on it (which is made from peppers… damn).  I was bummed since I love popcorn in soup, but they were quick to return with a bowl sans popcorn.  And it was very tasty.

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As for entrees, one of our friends got the scallops. They looked great, but they had peppers, so I have no first hand account.

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Mike chose the tuna steak with fries.

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The tuna steak had hotel butter on it and was served raw, the chef’s recommendation. This is how I LOVE tuna steaks.  I love sashimi, but I also love the grilled char flavor. This combined the best of both worlds and was a really delicious piece of fish.

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My friend and I split our entrees with each other. She got the skate, which was delicious. Well cooked with a little bit of crisp and a really nice sauce to compliment it.

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And I got the linguini with clams and shrimp.  This was good but a bit lacking in depth. It tasted like seafood and the sea and butter.  But perhaps it needed some salt or some more interesting herbs. It was good but not great.

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We also split the smoked bacon macaroni and cheese around the table.  This was a really good mac and chee.  It was made with very small tubular noodles and was creamy without being soupy.  The crunch on top was just enough and the smoked bacon added a great level of flavor.

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A very good meal.  A solid meal. A meal I cannot find much to say about. Besides the fact that it was good. If you are in the area, it’s a good option.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

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Honeymoon: Portland, OR – The Nines, Food Carts, and Deschutes Brewery

15 Jul

From Seattle, we took a leisurely drive to Portland, Oregon. We had booked The Nines hotel (thank you SPG/Starwood points!) and were told it was quite the sexy hotel.  It did not disappoint, with not just a sexy (if not small) room but a lovely gift of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries from the hotel.


F-in classy The Nines Hotel. Complimentary champagne and chocolate covered strawberries from the GM. #theaxelbaums #thenines #baller by @nycnomnom

We had heard that Portland was famous for their foot trucks, which congregate in specific squares around the city.  We set off to find one but were dismayed to find that they are not a dinner thing and most were closed.  We found one Korean/Hawaiian cart open and decided to try some the special of the day (and one of my favorite dishes of all time), Bibimbop.  We were ravenous and surrounded by weird homeless people (I guess that’s what we get for trying to do this for dinner… now we know) so we devoured it and forgot to take a picture of it.  Basically, it looked like cut up vegetables and beef over rice… pretty much like every other bibimbop you’ve seen. And it was good, but nothing too out of the ordinary, and sadly, even though it was flipped around in a wok, cold.  It did not satisfy.

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So off we went to a famous brewery (that is actually out of Bend, Oregon, where we were heading in a few days), Deschutes.  We were surprised to see that this was actually a very large place and was packed.  We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table to come up.  Waiting was fine… we had so-so bibimbop to hold us over and just got a beer at the bar.  I tried the Imperial Smoked Porter and absolutely loved it.


Deschutes Brewery Imperial Smoked Porter. Awesome. #nycnomnom #theaxelbaums by @nycnomnom

Our first snack was the pretzel, which came with a mustard and cheese sauce. Now I don’t like mustard, but I LOVED this.  I don’t know what the cheese and salty pretzel did to change my mind, but this mustard was fantastic.  And the pretzel itself tasted exactly how you want a fresh baked soft pretzel to taste.


Pretzel with cheese and grain mustard to dip. Yes. Yes. Yes. #nubulous #nycnomnom #theaxelbaums by @nycnomnom

We also decided to try the macaroni and cheese, which came with cavatappi pasta tossed in a rich stout cream sauce with grilled red onion, baby spinach and sharp white cheddar cheese topped with bread crumbs. And we added bacon, as if macaroni and cheese made with beer wasn’t already indulgent enough.


Killer stout Mac and Cheese. #nycnomnom by @nycnomnom

This was insanely good. So good, in fact, that I commented on Instagram/Facebook that even though we were beyond full, we couldn’t NOT finish it and the only thing that was left was the bacon.  And when I leave bacon over anything else, you know it was DAMN GOOD.


You know the mac and cheese was something special when I’m too full to eat the bacon but the mac is all gone. #nycnomnom #theaxelbaums by @nycnomnom

Deschutes was everything you want a craft brewery restaurant to be.  Great food, great beer, and lots of space for people to socialize.  We said how much we would love a place like this in the city (it would never have the same feel though) and I realized that this place is everything Heartland Brewery tries to be and fails absolutely miserably at.  Shame.

If I lived in Portland, I would spend many evenings here.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

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