Dominique Ansel Bakery
January 22, 2012 § 3 Comments
Lately, whenever visiting New York City, I’ve been more interested in exploring small, cozy coffeeshops (or places that serve afternoon tea, which is a topic for another time) or casual bakeries as opposed to more formal, sit-down restaurants (my wallet has been grateful). One such place that Laura and I visited was the relatively new Dominique Ansel Bakery tucked in the Soho district. Ansel used to work at the famous Daniel Boulud, including when it won its first three Michelin stars, four-star New York Times rating, and James Beard award but then decided to venture out on his own by opening a neighborhood cafe.
The space was much bigger than I anticipated, with plenty of indoor seating and a covered atrium with heating, and as with all great bakeries, there were cases of Ansel’s beautiful pastries, cakes, and desserts, a feast for the eyes.
The bakery also has a decent amount of savory offerings for lunch, so Laura and I ordered the roasted pork club, the truffle grilled cheese, and a Paris-New York pastry for dessert. The roasted pork club came stuffed to the brink with surprisingly tender and flavorful pork, halved hard-boiled eggs, tomato, lettuce, and a killer spicy mayonnaise that tasted slightly of chipotle. Laura’s truffle grilled cheese was an inexpensive indulgence, with slices of garlic rosemary sourdough bread slathered in butter on the outside and oozing with mozzarella, Gruyere, and Fontina cheeses on the inside. I’m considering buying a small tub of truffle butter to attempt a recreation at home. Our Paris-New York, a twist on the Paris-Brest, was a beautifully-presented pate a choux dough filled with peanut (the candied peanuts on top, so tasty!), caramel, and chocolate. What more could a girl want?
Places like Dominique Ansel – with their calm atmosphere, excellent and beautiful food, and friendly service – always make me a little (read very) jealous of my sisters living in the city, especially Laura, who lives close to Union Square and could easily walk to Dominique Ansel. How nice would it be to spend a day window-shopping and wandering in Soho and then indulge in some eclairs and coffee? Summer in New York can’t come soon enough, but in the meantime, I’m stuck in the frigid cold subsisting on painfully ordinary food.
Dominique Ansel Bakery
189 Sullivan Street (btw Spring and Thompson)
New York, NY 10012
212.219.2773
Kunjip and Koryodang
January 11, 2012 § 1 Comment
One of the many television shows I’ve been watching over winter break is Kimchi Chronicles, a PBS documentary slash travel show about the food and culture of Korea. Of course, it was only natural that afterwards, I had a fierce craving for Korean barbecue and kimchi. When it came to deciding where to meet some Georgetown friends in New York City, Kunjip in midtown came to mind.
The restaurant was just starting its dinner rush when we arrived, but within half an hour, there were lines out the door, which we took as a good sign for the food. Overall, service was efficient and almost a bit too hurried, but you could tell that the manager and staff had done this many times before and had developed a system to make sure tables were being filled as quickly as possible.
We began with panchan – small side dishes to accompany the meal – which included various kinds of kimchi, mung bean sprouts, steamed eggs, and fish cakes with vegetables.
We ordered haemool jun gol, a spicy seafood soup with a whole octopus, clams, shrimp, crabs, tofu and rice cakes. Although the flavors were good and I loved that our server cut up larger pieces of seafood with scissors, the octopus became quite tough and overcooked, pretty much inedible since it was so chewy.
We couldn’t have a Korean dinner with barbecue, so we ordered kalbi, which was served ssam style with fermented bean paste, rice, scallion salad, and garlic wrapped in lettuce. The meat was very tender and juicy, but the portion was a bit underwhelming considering the price tag.
Our final dish was ddukboki, starchy cylindrical rice cakes reminiscent of gnocchi in a spicy, sweet stew with onions and carrots. So comforting, my favorite dish of the evening for its simplicity.
Afterwards, we stopped at nearby Koryodong for bubble tea and dessert. The pastries and assorted breads were standard Korean desserts and not particularly jaw-dropping, but the space was the perfect place for all the catching up we had to do.
In the past, I’ve kind of forgotten about Koreatown since it’s so close to Penn Station, but after visiting these two places, I’m looking forward to exploring its restaurants and cafes a little more in the future.
Kunjip
9 W. 32nd Street
New York, NY 10001
212.216.9487
Koryodang
31 West 32nd Street
New York, NY 10001
Dim sum at Oriental Garden
January 1, 2012 § Leave a comment
Christmas Day, our family eschewed staying at home like we usually do and drove into New York City for dim sum in Chinatown (now that’s a Christmas brunch I can get with). Our usual choice, Jing Fong, wasn’t available since there were large parties going in at noon, so we ended up at nearby Oriental Garden, where the staff seated us in a different, quieter part of the restaurant.
This was probably one of the most relaxed dim sum experiences I’ve ever had. Usually, customers wait eagle-eyed for carts of their favorite foods and dim sum ladies yell whatever they have in loud Cantonese, but in this section of the restaurant, waiters just circled around quietly from table to table and even let us order directly off the dim sum menu in batches.
As typical with dim sum, most of the food we got almost instantly, including shrimp “noodles,” Shanghai buns, taro shrimp puffs, baked pork wedges, and bacon-wrapped shrimp balls (something I’ve never seen in a Chinese restaurant). Overall, the dishes were quite good, with the super crispy and light taro shrimp puffs being my favorite.
The next go-around, we ordered Hong Kong-style dumplings, which were fried and a bit chewy for my taste, and a whole slew of the classics, like chicken feet, beef tripe, shrimp-stuffed eggplant, shrimp dumplings, shu mai, black bean steamed spare ribs, bean curd with pork, and lotus leaf sticky rice. Stand-outs were the flavorful yet delicate shu mai, the savory spare ribs, and the shrimp-stuffed eggplant, for which I always have a weakness.
And one of our final items and my favorite, was the humble (fried) turnip cake, which I always smother with hot chili sauce and wolf down like a baby dinosaur.
So even though we weren’t able to eat at Jing Fong, I’d say we discovered another solid place for dim sum in Chinatown, with better service than most Chinese restaurants. After looking it up online, I’m also curious to try their supremely fresh seafood during dinner hours.
Also, Happy 2012 everybody! May all your dreams come true in the new year. 🙂
Oriental Garden
14 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10013
212.619.0085
Christmas with the six
December 27, 2011 § Leave a comment
A little late, I know, but here’s a glimpse of how our family, just the six of us, celebrated Christmas this year. It was the first time in a long time that we were able to relax and enjoy the holiday together, and I hope it’s only the first of many fun, family-filled Christmases to come.
Christmas Eve Eve dinner
Empty stockings on Christmas Eve
Our Christmas tree aglow
Window decoration
Our Christmas Eve spread
Cheers
Chinatown, NYC
Dim sum at Oriental Garden
Four sisters in Central Park
Family photo at Bethesda Fountain
Inside St. Patrick's on Christmas Day
Smallish bites uptown
December 24, 2011 § 2 Comments
After breakfast at Alice’s Tea Cup, Laura and I continued to buy small bites of food from uptown shops to bring home as a pre-Christmas snack for the family. We stopped by Salumeria Rosi for spicy coppa piccante, where the people working the counter were very generous with their samples. At some point in the future, I think it’d be really nice to settle into the restaurant area with a giant board of cheese, cured meats, and a glass of red wine. I’d also really love to get my hands on some of that porchetta.
We also visited nearby Levain Bakery, known for their enormous, bajillion-caloried cookies. Although we only got their chocolate chip walnut cookie (so buttery and delicious and only about 2/3 baked through so the center was basically cookie dough), next time I’d really like to try their brioche with cinnamon butter.
And finally, we took a nice walk across Central Park from west side to east to pick up some macarons from Laduree, which had changed some flavors since I was there last, adding a citrus passionfruit, black forest, and chestnut pear flavor. We got two gorgeous gift boxes of six to bring home for my parents, who’d never tried them before and absolutely loved nibbling on them with cups of hot tea.
And with that, I wish all of you a happy and delicious holiday!
Salumeria Rosi
283 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY
212.877.4801
http://www.salumeriarosi.com/en_ny/home/
Levain Bakery
167 West 74th Street
New York, NY 10023
212.874.6080
http://www.levainbakery.com/
Laduree
864 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
646.558.3157
Laduree Shops
Shake Shack Snapshot
September 26, 2011 § 2 Comments
Saturday, 1:30 PM with Laura: Shake Shack, Theater District. Home of the Jelly’s Last Donut Concrete.
Double Shack burger, 'Shroom burger, fries, lemonade, and concrete
Jelly's Last Donut - vanilla custard, Doughnut Plant donuts, strawberry preserves, cinnamon sugar
Brunch at Riverpark
July 24, 2011 § 1 Comment
Last weekend, Katie and I ventured all the way to the east side of Manhattan for a beautiful brunch at Riverpark by Tom Colicchio, located in Murray Hill, where we met up with friends who are getting married in October! Although the restaurant is literally plopped in the middle of nowhere, it does boast some great views of the East River from its two outdoor dining sections: the Terrace (communal seating with long picnic tables) and the Patio (a more formal setting).
Outside
As a starter, we ordered simple grilled bread topped with a generous amount of creamy avocado, something that seems easy enough to make at home but never tastes the same as in a restaurant, possibly due to the fact that this version was drizzled with a fruity olive oil and sprinkled with fat shards of coarse sea salt. I could eat this alone as a meal and be perfectly content.
Grilled bread and avocado with olive oil and sea salt
Normally, I’m not a huge fan of brunch because many restaurants just go with the old standbys – eggs Benedict, Belgian waffles, some kind of omelette with everything thrown into the mix – without applying their own interpretation or a little twist. But when I was looking at the menu for Riverpark beforehand, I knew this would be a real treat, not just because of its affiliation with great chef Tom Colicchio but also because it actually had a brunch menu that piqued my interest.
This was actually the first time I’d ever had shrimp grits, so even though I had no base for comparison, I thought this dish was very well executed. The shrimp were fat and tender, and my favorite part was sucking the brain juice out of the heads. And to all the people who squeal at this, let me just say I feel sorry for you because you’re clearly missing out on the best part of this tasty crustacean. The grits, very similar to polenta, were very creamy and luxurious for such a simple grain and tasted even better when mixed with that reduction of shrimp stock, butter, and whatever else.
Shrimp and grits with pulled pork, charred tomatoes, scallions
Other dishes included biscuits and gravy with Berkshire sausage and sage, Katie’s pork belly sandwich with a fried egg (can you say decadent?) and fries, and fried chicken sliders with honey and pickled vegetables. Everyone raved about the food, as well as the excellent coffee.
Biscuits and gravy with Berkshire pork sausage and sage
Pork belly sandwich with fried egg, cheddar, and frisee and fries
Fried chicken biscuit sliders with honey, cheddar, and pickles
It was one of those perfect, leisurely meals. Great company and conversation, excellent and comforting food, beautiful weather and a great view. Even our waiter was extremely cute. So although this restaurant was somewhat hard to find (we took the 4, 6 subways to 28th and walked from there), I’d definitely go back again, no question.
Riverpark by Tom Colicchio
450 E. 29th Street
New York, NY 10006
http://www.riverparknyc.com/
Restaurant Week: Dinner at David Burke Kitchen
July 20, 2011 § Leave a comment
Restaurant Week kicked off last week so Katie and I took advantage of the prix fixe dinner ($35, not including beverages, tax, and tip) at David Burke Kitchen in the mod and fancy shmancy James Hotel downtown. I’ve actually always wanted to try Burke’s dishes – usually characterized as whimsical takes on the classics – and this “urban farmhouse” approach to a restaurant was intriguing. The interior reminded me a bit of Lure Fishbar, basically because we were underground and able to see people walking by above us, but there was a great deal of light thanks to the skylight. I liked that despite the industrial decor, the restaurant actually did have that country barn feel, possibly due to the large butcher’s block table, overflowing with loaves of bread and cheeses and pots of soup broths, in the middle of dining room and the large portraits of the restaurant’s suppliers in their element.
Restaurant Week menu
As usual, we planned our meal to maximize the number of different dishes we’d be able to try. For starters, I ordered the lobster dumpling soup and Katie got the asparagus with crisped prosciutto. I loved the rich, shellfish flavor in the broth, which the waiter poured at the table, and the two lobster dumplings, filled with a coconut fennel cream, were heavenly. I only regretted that there were two of them and Katie and I could only have one each. I have to say, however, that I’m not a fan of cold asparagus, especially if it’s been boiled as opposed to roasted or grilled. The burrata, something that I’ve been wanting to try for a while, was lovely though. Insanely creamy and rich and topped with olive oil and coarse shards of sea salt, it would’ve tasted great with anything.
Lobster soup - lobster dumplings, coconut fennel cream, red watercress
Asparagus and burrata - honeydew, prosciutto, basil
Although one of our starters was somewhat underwhelming, our entrees wowed. The short ribs and cavatelli (kind of a smaller gnocchi), with wild mushrooms and truffle cream, was probably one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time. The beef was fork tender, the mushrooms added a great earthiness to the dish, and the cavatelli, with its little ridges, did an excellent job of sopping up the savory sauce resulting from the mingled beef juices, mushroom “stock,” and truffle cream.
Short ribs and cavatelli with wild mushrooms and truffle cream
Equally impressive was the enormous pork chop and parsley onion ring dish. At first, I had difficulty cutting into the chop, which made me worry that the meat had been overcooked, but when I took a bite, it was as tender as could be. I didn’t care too much for the mango chutney (I have a hard time understanding pairings of fruit and meat), but the onion rings were well seasoned and incredibly crunchy, and the two little slabs of cumin bacon added a smoky element.
Pork chop, parsley onion rings with mango chutney and cumin bacon
We also managed to get suckered into ordering a side of smoked beef fat and jalapeno French fries for the table. I should’ve regretted it, but they were just too good.
Smoked beef fat and jalapeno French fries
Desserts were solid versions of RW standards: an apple tart and chocolate caramel fudge cake. Nothing eye-opening but nothing sub-standard either.
Apple tart with caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream, and fennel chip
Chocolate caramel fudge cake with salted caramel, goat's milk cajeta ice cream
Oh, and just another note. The red wine that we drank with our meal, Lai Lai Pinot Noir 2008, has since become a favorite, and I usually don’t even like red wine! Even more surprising, instead of coming from Burgundy (which is Pinot Noir’s original home) or California, this wine hails from the Bio Bio district in Chile. Anyway, I just thought it went very well with the food – great flavor and very smooth.
David Burke Kitchen
23 Grand Street
Soho, NY 10013
212.201.9119
http://davidburkekitchen.com
Eating across the boroughs
July 12, 2011 § Leave a comment
Yet another day of traipsing around New York City, this time in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Brooklyn Flea Market in Fort Greene (where I got the first nasty sunburn of the summer).
Asia Dogs: the Vinh (aioli, pate, cucumbers, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, and jalapeno) and the Wangding (Chinese BBQ pork belly, onions, and cucumber). The Vinh was the better of the two, since the pickled vegetables balanced out the meatiness of the dog. Plus I love anything with cilantro. On the other hand, the pork belly and accompanying that topped the Wangding was a bit too salty and syrupy for my taste.
Asia Dog
Salvatore Bklyn, makers of the best ricotta (insanely creamy and rich) and olive oil I have ever had. Literally went cross-eyed when I had my first bite. With just-sliced prosciutto and arugula on fresh bread…absolute heaven on earth. I could eat five, no six, of them and consider it a perfect meal.
Salvatore BKLYN
Chelsea Market for more gelato from L’ Arte del Gelato…this time pear and grape sorbet. No, sadly, these cups weren’t all mine.
Gelatoooo
Company Pizza (again) in Chelsea for a relaxed dinner, complete with a whole growler of Allagash White (props to Maria’s boyfriend, Dave, for introducing me to a new favorite beer), veal meatballs, bread and butter, and three different pizzas.
Growler of Allagash
Veal meatballs, homemade sauce, parmesan, and basil with truccio sare bread and butter
Flambe: bechamel, parmesan, mozzarella, caramelized onions, bacon lardons
Boscaiola: tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, red onion, chili
Special of the day: English peas, pea shoots, prosciutto, bechamel (my favorite of the three)
Brooklyn Flea Market
176 Lafayette Avenue (between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenue)
Saturdays, 10 am – 5 pm
http://www.brooklynflea.com/
Brooklyn Star
July 11, 2011 § Leave a comment
Ack, this should’ve been posted more than a month ago. Chalk it up to summer laziness. Apologizing beforehand for the crappy photo quality, the interior was only dimly lit with candles.
Drinks
A visit to Brooklyn Star, in Williamsburg.
Highlights included strange-looking fried pig tails (of which I couldn’t manage a good photo) that tasted like buffalo wings on steroids. Crispy and fatty with a tang from the hot sauce.
And this: grilled asparagus with fried oysters, duck confit and topped with a poached egg.
Asparagus, fried oysters, duck confit, poached egg
Although I have to say my hands-down favorite dish of the night was the roasted marrow bones with texas toast, grey salt, and red onion marmalade.
God's butter
And to round out our feast, some bacon and jalapeno cornbread, which tasted even better when drizzled in honey. I die.
Yes, we are gluttons
Possibly the shortest restaurant review ever!
The Brooklyn Star
593 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.599.9899
http://thebrooklynstar.com
Notes on Food 