Iron Chef Birthday

Last week was my birthday (they just keep coming), and my wife took me out to dinner for a little celebration. After a long discussion of where we should go, I decided on Bar Americain, which is one of Bobby Flay's restaurants. We had gone to Mesa Grill once a few years ago and were pretty disappointed, but I wanted to give Bobby another try. Overall, we had a very nice time. Unfortunately, our waiter was a spazz, and there were no tomatoes due to the NYC tomato-salmonella scare - but we overcame.
In general, the place was a lot louder than I had expected. It's very open inside with high ceilings and a large bar. All of these contributed to the noise-factor. Also, there's a very distinct touristy feel to the place. More so than I felt at Babbo (another Iron Chef's restaurant). Anyway, on to the meal.
To begin, I went with the Gulf Shrimp and Grits with Green Onions (and a lot of bacon), while my wife got the Shrimp Tomatillo Cocktail. She had wanted to get the Fried Green Tomato with Crispy Duck and Sweet and Sour Dressing, but no tomatoes... With my appetizer I had a glass of a nice Spanish red blend to drink (but I can't remember the name). For our main courses, I had the Porterhouse Lamb Chops with Mustard Barbeque and the Corn & Collard Green Tart while my wife had the Cioppino with Sour Dough Toast. I decided to pair my dinner with a glass of Pinot Noir Cloudline 2006, Oregon. It was good, but the Spanish wine I had first was better. Finally, we decided to split the Chocolate Praline Layer Cake with Caramel Rice Krispi Crunch. Fantastic dessert. This was paired with a fine cappuccino.
We both found our dinner at Bar Americain to be much better than what we had experienced at Mesa Grill. Where we decided we wouldn't go back to Mesa Grill again, I'd be happy to go back to Bar Americain. It wasn't my favorite restaurant, but it was a fine meal never the less.

Holy Dinner Batman!

Yesterday was our anniversary (4 years already), so my wife and I got a babysitter and headed into the city for dinner. It was initially going to be a movie followed by dinner, but work got in the way and we missed the movies (if we went to a later film, we would miss our dinner reservations). So... it became walking around the city a bit, then dinner.
Unlike our past 3 anniversaries, we didn't go to Babbo this year. Unfortunately, we forgot to make our reservation at the appropriate time (10:00am; 30 days prior to your reservation date - for those thinking of going) so we were stuck. We decided to try the Gotham Bar and Grill. This is a place we've been wanting to try for a while since everyone tells us how good it is.
The place is actually very nice inside, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. In fact, our waiter seemed like the nicest guy in the world (so nice, in fact, that it made me a little suspicious of what he did when he wasn't at work). Initially, he seemed a little disappointed when we only asked for water to drink after being seated, but he perked up after I asked for the wine list a little later on. Anyway, our meal mapped out like this: We shared the Rigatoni with Braised Duck Ragu and Broccoli Rabe for our appetizer. My main course was the Grilled New York Steak with marrow mustard custard and vidalia onion rings and a bordelaise sauce while my wife tried the Porcini Crusted Halibut with roasted cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, and hazelnut oil white verjus emulsion. Unfortunately, this was so salty she couldn't eat it and needed to send it back (not something we like to do, but what can you do?). They were really nice about taking it back and let her choose something different. This time she went with the Roasted Maine Lobster with spaghetti squash, potato puree, brussels sprouts and red wine lobster reduction (there was also some type of white foam on the dish). This was much better, although the claw meat was undercooked... For my wine, I got a half-bottle of the Chateau Larose-Trintaudon Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, 2005. I've had this before and thought it would go well with my steak without breaking my wallet. I was right. It was very good and easy to drink.
Finally, we moved on to dessert. We split the Gotham Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, which is basically two bars of a chocolate fudge-like substance with a peanut crust, topped with roasted candied peanuts and peanut butter ice cream. It was pretty damn good. The cappuccino was excellent as well.
As far as anniversary dinners go, it didn't beat the first time we went to Babbo, but we ate a damn good meal and had a really great time.

Making The Switch (sort of)

Today I ordered myself a new computer. It is a laptop. And it is an Apple. I haven't owned an Apple computer since college so I did hesitate a little bit, but in the end it was the best decision. Basically, I can get this computer for free through work - we get money each academic year for different educational pursuits and I didn't spend much of mine this year. Our academic year ends June 30th, and if you don't spend the money it goes away (it's not additive with each year). I recently found out that you can use it to purchase a computer if you'd like, so I decided to look into it. You have to go through our Apple or Dell reps and get the "approved" computers. I initially went to Dell, but they only had 2 laptops available without much room for upgrading. Neither were ones I would have purchased on my own. Therefore, I figured I might as well take a look at the Apple Notebooks. Lucky for me, Apple doesn't have the variety that many PC manufacturers do. Basically, the laptops that I could choose from are the same ones that everyone can choose from (minus our educational discount). So... I chose a MacBook Black. It will be an odd transition back to the Mac, but I'll still have my Dell Desktop at home, so it won't be too bad. Who knows? Maybe when that one goes it will be time for an iMac.

NP: Scars, Rush