Tag Archives: pappardelle

NYC Restaurant Week Summer 2014: Bread and Tulips

3 Sep

Mike and I had to kill some time in the city (so weird that we don’t live right in it anymore!) before meeting up with someone, so we chose Bread & Tulips for our Restaurant Week dinner. I had passed by a few times and always meant to stop in, so this was the perfect motivation to finally do so.

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The space has a really nice feel to it, with clean white subway tile and some rustic influences. It was dark, however, so apologies in advance for the lack of light on the pictures.

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I was impressed that the menu included Gluten-Free spaghetti.

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And they included a card to come back and have a drink on them after dining with them for Restaurant Week, a really nice touch to bring people back.

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The bread was rustic and incredibly tasty.

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We started with the housemade meatballs with san marzano tomatoes and ricotta.  Really tasty little balls of meat.

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We also got the gorgonzola figs with rosemary and honey.  These were delicious.  Little mouthfuls of sweet that really started the meal well.

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For our entrees, Mike got the Flatiron Steak Tagliata with roasted garlic potatoes.  This was good but not outstanding.

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I got the housemade papparadelle with braised leg of lamb and grana.  It was quite delicious, however, I was hoping for more lamby flavor.

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For dessert we got a chocolate & hazelnut mousse cake with hazelnut gelato.  It was good but very rich.

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We also got the vanilla bean pana cotta with seasonal fruit.  This was tasty but a bit weird. The texture just wasn’t right.  It was very, very soft and wet.

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We were given two little almond cookies at the end of the meal, which were very good and a nice touch.

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Overall, I didn’t love my meal. It was good but not great.  I felt like we got a good meal for the price, however, I’m not sure how I would feel if I paid full price for it.  I would go back to try them again, but I’m not in any rush. Though that free drink ticket sure has some allure for an afterwork treat!

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

 

Brunch at Bar Boulud

2 Dec

Mike and I have walked by Bar Boulud many times on the Upper West Side (Broadway between 63rd and 64th to be exact).  Mike and I were running some errands in the area and decided to grab brunch in the outdoor “patio” on a beautiful fall day.  I have realized that I LOVE to eat outside if not only for the fact that my photos turn out so much better in natural light.

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Right after our order was taken, we were presented with bread and pastry options.  Mike picked an impressive looking croissant.

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And I chose a cinnamon raison pastry (note: whenever faced with a choice of pastry, I will always choose something that looks like a cinnamon bun… always).  And it was gooooooood.

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Mike started with the Pâté Grand-mère, which I believe contained liver, pork, and something else… it was tasty, but I’m starting to discover that I may just not be a pâté person (not to mention the complexity in trying to type it in a blog with all those symbols!)

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I played a bit out of my usual sandbox and got the quiche of the day to start.

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It was very fresh with great flavors. Not too dense but not too light.  Great balance of flavors.

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Mike made a good choice with the Croque Madame. It was delish!

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I ordered the housemade tagliatelle pastacolorado lamb bolognese, because it just sounded too good to pass up.  It lived up to expectation!

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Even after all that food, we split the “floating island” which said it had praline rouge, crème anglaise.  I still don’t know what that is, and I still can’t tell you what we ate, other than it faintly resembled a meringue… but it was delicious.

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And quite beautiful to look at.

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AND we split my selection of the hazelnut chocolate torte (which I believe was their dessert of the day).  It came with cherries, pistacchio, almonds, and all sorts of other goodness that I can’t remember besides the fact that it was RICH and DELICIOUS.  Nom Nom Nom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Overall, I was very impressed by Bar Boulud.  This meal was $26 per person and included all 4 courses (bread & coffee were in there).  For a meal that counts as 2, I think that’s a steal for food this artfully prepared and with such fresh flavors.  Even if you don’t eat outside, the inside looked quite lovely.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Carbone- For Lunch

8 Nov

I have reviewed Carbone before, however, one of the highlights of working next to your apartment is getting to know the local restaurants even better.  Looking back at my review now, I’m really surprised by how underwhelmed we were there.  When I went for lunch with my coworkers, we had a great experience.  Everything felt very authentic and while not plated all fancy, was just easily delicious.

We started with fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and basil. The mozzarella was unbelievably fresh and delicious!

Everyone basically ordered a classic pasta dish. There was gnocchi..

And rigatoni…

And penne, with chicken.

One coworker got the calzone.

I went with a pappardelle special and it was DELICIOUS!

And we were served some great little cookies at the end.

Every single person raved about this meal.  It was really tasty, reasonably priced for midtown NY Italian, and everyone left completely satisfied.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10