Le Bernar-din-din

It's anniversary time again for us. 5 years! Time goes by very quickly, eh? Although our tradition for going to Babbo for our anniversary died out after only 3 years (unfortunately, we became less and less impressed with each passing year) we continue to make a point of going out for a good (hopefully great) meal. This year we decided to go to Le Bernardin. We weren't exactly sure what we were in for, except that we expected some really good food (and that I was required to wear a jacket).
At first, it felt a little stuffy inside to me. Perhaps it was all the French accents, or maybe I was just nervous - but that all went away with our friendly staff of servers. I toyed with the tasting menu idea, but then felt it would be safer (on my wasteline) to stick with the four course meal. This was all decided under a prelude to dinner - a little amuse bouche of salmon tartar. To begin (the almost raw course), I chose the layers of tuna pounded thin over fois gras and a parmesan crisp. My wife started with the Scottish and smoked salmon over apple, celery and watercress with jalapeno emulsion. For the second course (barely touched) I had the seared Spanish mackerel with parmesan crisp, sundried tomato and black olive oil, while my wife had the white tuna poached in olive oil with sea beans, potato crisps and light red wine bearnaise. For our main courses (lightly cooked), I had the baked langoustine and striped bass with confit tomato agnolotti with bouillabaisse consomme and curry emulsion while my wife had the crispy black bass with celery and parsnip custard and iberico ham-green pepper sauce. Throughout the meal, we shared a bottle of Pascal Cotat Sancerre, 2007, Loire France. This was a great wine, which went down very easily, however it did not have that green apple taste I usually associate with most Sancerre wines.
Finally, there was dessert. I had the dark chocolate and peanut caramel tart with meyer lemon puree, peanut powder and praline-citrus sorbet (with a cappuccino), while my wife had the Gianduja cream, Oregon hazelnuts, honey, banana, and brown butter ice cream.
Oh - there were some petit fours as well, which were amazing, but all we can remember was the tiny cream filled bignet.
This was an amazing dinner with not a single bad note throughout. Although a quick return would be too damaging to my poor wallet, I would love to go back again.

NP: Fringe (on the DVR)

Butter and Free Parking

This weekend, my wife and I decided we needed a night out, so we got a couple of babysitters (the grandparents) and scoured through OpenTable.com looking for a place to eat. I saw that Butter had some openings, and I've wanted to taste Alex Guarnaschelli's food myself after seeing her dish out comments to the competitors on shows like Iron Chef and Chopped. Also, since Butter is always a hot-spot for the celebrities, we thought it would be fun.
When we arrived, we were seated right away in the Birch Room downstairs - at first it was a little odd, because we were the only people there. Our sense of loneliness was easy to overcome, and soon we got down to business. The waiter came over and explained the night's specials, but we had already figured out what we were going to have for dinner - we were giving the Tasting Menu a shot (mine with with wine parings).
One thing I found a little odd about Butter's tasting menu was that it wasn't the same for the entire table. My wife and I were served a completely different meal each. Luckily, we don't mind sharing, so we tasted a lot of great food last night.
Before the meal arrived, we were served some bread with butter - not a strange concept at all. It was one, however, that we were trying to avoid. With the meal we were expecting before us, neither wanted to fill up on bread. But how, may I ask, do you go to Butter and not try the butter? Some of the best butter I've ever had.
Our first course began with some soup. I was served the lentil bacon soup (it was one of the specials that evening) and my wife was served a potato leak soup with crispy onion rings in it (interestingly, this wasn't on the menu at all). Interesting side note: at the end of the meal, I asked for a list of the wines I had - they gave me a copy of our entire menu - and it appears we were given the wrong soups. Anyway, both were fantastic. I actually enjoyed the lentil bacon more than the potato leak (and my wife, the other way around), so we were happy with the serving snafu. The lentil soup was sweeter than I had expected, but those bites of bacon were awesome. As for the potato leek, it was great as well, mainly because of the crispy onion rings waiting to be found. For this course, I was given a glass of the Cleto Chiarli Sparkling Rosè Wine Rose Brut NV (Modena, Italy). It was nice, light and a little sweet. A clean way to kick off the drinking.
The next course consisted of a split of the special appetizer of the night. I received 2 deep fried crispy sardines and my wife received 2 deep fried crispy shrimp with a brown butter sauce. This was the only downer of the night for me. The shrimp were fantastic - warm, crispy and the brown butter sauce was fantastic. The sardines suffered a little because we shared the shrimp first. It was very cold in the dining room at that time, and by the time we moved over to the little guys, they had cooled down significantly. Fried food is always better hot. I imagine they would have been much better if I had gotten into them right away. This was paired with Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée NV (Buxeil, France) This was fantastic. I was a little surprised to get two glasses of the "sparkling" variety, but I was happy with the choices. This was obviously much more "champagne-y" than the first round. It had a deeper flavor and was much drier than the Cleto. I remember drinking this one pretty quickly.
After the first two courses, we began moving on to some more serious eating. Next up: pasta. I was given the Cavatappi pasta with homemade lamb sausage in a yellow tomato sauce, while my wife was given angel hair pasta with American caviar in a lemon butter sauce (I think - too much wine has clouded my memory a bit). At first my wife was scared of the caviar, but I convinced her to conquer her fears. Soon, she was enjoying it as much as I was. It had a nice, creamy texture, which went very well with the pasta. It didn't have the usual "popping" that I normally associate with caviar. My pasta dish was fantastic. The sausage was slightly overcooked and dry, but the taste was so good that I really didn't care. I could have had this for my entire meal and gone home happy. This was paired with Gruner Veltliner Fritsch “Windspiel” (Donauland, Austria) ’06. This wine was light, crisp and fantastic. I would buy this for my house - great summer wine. Mmmm.
Our next selections were more of the seafood variety - fish to be exact. My wife was served the olive oil poached striped bass with Tuscan kale, celery hearts and olives. This fish was fantastic. Buttery and light. I received the special fish dish - a nice piece of snapper encrusted with slices of purple potatoes. Again, this was fantastic. The potatoes provided the perfect crispy element to this dish. With this I was given the Albarino Burgans (Rias Baixis, Spain) - unclear on the vintage. This was a really nice Spanish white. I haven't been to crazy about most of the Spanish whites I've found in the States - although I really enjoyed a bunch in Spain. This one was one I'd have again.
At this point, we began to get a little confused. The tasting menu includes dessert, and we thought it was a 5 course meal. We had gone through 4 courses at this point, and assumed dessert would be next. I was a little disappointed to finish out the meal with a piece of fish - only because I was hoping for some meat, not because it was anything less than great. Then, to our surprise, we were brought two more plates, filled with the good stuff. My wife was given the seared Colorado rack of lamb and I was given a pork tenderloin. I can't even remember how it was cooked, but it was my favorite part of the meal. It was fantastic and it made me happy. The lamb was also great - and that was my wife's favorite on her side. This course was paired with Pavilion Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This was good, and I was happy to finally get some red wine. However, I think it was my least favorite of the entire night. Probably wouldn't go out and buy it, but would get it if it was on a wines by the glass list, and that's what I was looking for.
Now it was time for some dessert. When they brought us the plates, my wife asked what they were. Throughout the evening, we were given enourmous details on every dish and how it was prepared. For the desserts, were were told "This one is strawberry. This one is chocolate." Short and to the point. Neither are on the menu. My wife was given strawberries in a Zabaglione. Mine - well, it was some sort of warm chocolate cake. Both were rich and terrific. My dessert was paired with a glass of Mission Hill Riesling Ice Wine. I was very happy with this because that is my favorite type of dessert wine.
And then it was done. We were there for hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Ready For A Throwdown?

This past weekend, my wife and I took a needed break from the kids and spent the day in the city by ourselves. We decided to head downtown and grab some lunch at Caracas - an arepa bar/restaurant in the East Village. This place was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network and remains one of two places on that show that I've eaten from (the other being Donut Plant). We love this place but hadn't been there in a couple of years. We had no idea that they had opened a second, larger (although still tiny) place a couple of doors down the street. We decided to start with some Yoyos - which are fried sweet plantain balls stuffed with
white cheese (mmmm...). Then we moved on to the arepas. We both had de pabellón which is filled with shredded beef, black beans, white salty cheese and sweet plantains (probably the best of the bunch). Next, I had la de pernil filled with roasted pork shoulder, tomato slices and spicy mango sauce. Finally, I had a breakfast arepa (mainly because I had never had one before and wanted to try one) filled with eggs, onions, peppers and chorizo. Although this was good it was missing some seasoning and either a dash of salt or a nice helping of their salty white cheese would have made it perfect. I washed mine down with a banana-cinammon shake, which was honestly not that great (the bananas were not nearly ripe enough).
Although I thought there were a couple of misses with this meal, I still love this place and want to go back already (we would be regulars if we lived on the LES).

Like No Other Market?

I was driving around the other day getting some last minute shopping done for my wife's birthday when I saw a sign for Fairway that I had never noticed before. It looks like they are opening one up right near my house. I'm very excited about this. Hopefully I'm going to be able to get some of the things I've been missing since moving out of Manhattan.

NP: King Of The Ladies, Extreme

Morimoto!

Last night I took my wife to Morimoto for dinner (personally I like the trifecta of Morimoto, Del Posto and Craft Steak taking up 3 of the possible 4 corners - and basically the entire block - of that section of 10th avenue. A lot of great eating can happen there). It's my wife's birthday, so we braved the freezing weather (maybe Greenland is colder at this time of year) and headed on out.
When we got there, we were lucky enough to meet the man himself. Although I'm not really sure what he thought of my wife telling him that she was "a big fan" of his. (A big fan of what? His battles on Iron Chef? - btw I can't imagine why they still feel the need to overdub his voice on the Food Network - the man speaks perfect English.) Anyway, it was nice to meet Morimoto and he thanked us for coming, so that was a very cool way to start the evening.
We got there a little early, so we went down to the bar to have some drinks before sitting down. I had a glass of Square One Sake (I had never had Sake before and figured this would be a great time to try it) and my wife had a mixed drink (can't remember what it was - but it was citrus-y and served in a martini glass). While we were sitting at the bar, we were able to look over the menu and plan out our attack. In the end, we decided to split everything and try as much as we could.
We started out sharing a couple of appetizers. First up was the kakuni - a ten hour pork with congee and soy-scallion jus. This was easily the best thing we ate all night. So, I guess it was technically all downhill from here - luckily it wasn't that far down. After the kakuni we had spicy king crab - with tobanjan anoli and micro cilantro. This was at the recommendation of a friend of mine. We liked it, but it was the least memorable part of the meal. Next time I'd be more likely to try the Japanese lobster fritters or beef curry bread.
For the next course we split the roasted ocean trout, which was served with miso, truffles, a turnip puree and a nice fat crispy prosciutto chip on top. This was awesome. After all this cooked food, it was time ot move on to some sushi. Hell, we were at Morimoto after all. We both had some spicy tuna roll (which I had just seen Morimoto show Bobby Flay how to make on an episode of Throwdown) and a shrimp tempura roll. They were both excellent, but I enjoyed the spicy tuna best (it's my favorite roll). I also had a couple of pieces of sushi - nothing too out there - just some tuna and salmon, but both were terrific. It was probably the best sushi I've had yet. What was especially nice was that on the salmon, there was a tiny slice of lime, which made it taste really damn good (you took the lime off before eating it).
Oh yeah - with all of this, I was drinking Grüner Veltiner, Forstreiter, "Grande reserve", Kremstal, Austria 2006. I loved this wine and would definitely buy it if I could find it. It was desribed to be as along the same lines as a Viogner. I was looking for something white, and it was either the Grüner, a Riesling, a Pinot Gris, a Chardonnay or a Savignon Blanc. I figured I would try something new. It was nice and crisp, but also very fruity without a lot of acidity or minerality. I liked it. Mmmm.
Finally we got some dessert. It was a birthday dinner afterall. We had the white chocolate semfreddo, which came topped with green tea sponge cake cubes and also came with some burnt orange ice cream, candied kumkwat rind and a nice stripe of chocolate down the center of the plate.
My only regrets were: 1.) Not realizing I could have gotten a glass of the Morimoto Aged Sake (and didn't need to buy an entire bottle) when I got my drink. The descriptions of them just sounded really nice. 2.) Not going for the special blowfish sashimi appetizer. I was actually going to go for it, but when I found out it was $50.00 for 3 pieces of sashimi, I felt my money would be best spent elsewhere. We are in a recession after all, aren't we?

NP: Spoonman, Soundgarden

Another One Bites It

Although it's been spoken about for months, today it was officially announced that Circuit City would be shutting its doors forever. Bankrupt with no bailout on the horizon, so they're going out of business. 30,000 jobs lost and no one to back the 2 year extended warranty I got on my newest digital camera. Ah well. It's all very sad. Soon, all we're going to have will be Wal-Mart, Starbucks and McDonalds.

A Brand New Year

The past year has brought about many changes in my household. A new child. A new house. A new State. Everything seems to take more time and little things (like writing on this blog) have taken a back seat. I'm sure I'm going to lapse again into a non-writing state, but for a bit, I'm going to try and catch up. I've got a whole bunch of wines to write about. If I actually remembered most of the ones I've drank over the past year, I'd never catch up. Hopefully I can pick up the highlights.
Since we've just started a new year, I figure I'd go for a champagne first. Specifically a bottle of Jacques Selosse Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne. We picked up this bottle on our trip to Paris a couple of years back on the recommendation of a friend. We decided to save it for a special occasion, but months of breast-feeding, pregnancy, and breast-feeding (again) made it difficult to enjoy. This year, we bit the bullet and popped the cork on the sucker for New Year's Eve. My friend warned us that it would be unlike any champagne we've had before, but it would be great. He was completely on the money.
As I poured it, I knew it was different. The color was a deep amber, unlike the yellow shades of most other champagnes I have had. My wife felt like it tasted like peaches, but I'm not so sure of that. It had a mild creaminess to it, but still a little bite. Overall, I think it may have made it's way up to my favorite champagne list. That would make total sense, since it's virtually impossible to find in the United States. We finished off the bottle that night, and we enjoyed every minute of it. As do most champagnes, it went very well with our Chinese meal that night.
I may need to take a trip back to Paris to pick up a few bottles.

NP: Demolition Man