Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Mickey D's gets a makeover
This is beyond amazing: www.fancyfastfood.com/ Still wouldn't want to eat it, but it sure looks pretty.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Stuffing myself in NYC
My aunt & uncle just spent the weekend visiting here in NYC, and while they're not foodies/hounds/pick your label of choice, they do enjoy taking poor little unemployed me out to dinner at places I might not otherwise make it to. So here's an account of our Big Weekend of Eating in New York:
-Thursday lunch: DB Bistro Moderne. This was actually the day before they arrived, but close enough. In honor of restaurant week and prix fixe menus at places I could otherwise never afford, my boyfriend and I went for lunch at DB Bistro Moderne. Apps were great; I got the Alsatian flammenku"che (listed as "tarte flambee" on the online version of the menu) with bacon & onions, and he got the sweet corn soup with shrimp. Boulud knows his produce (cf also our desserts), and the corn soup had a great clean pure corn flavor. As for my tarte, bacon, cheese, & onion happens to be one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I was happy. For the main course we both got the couscous, which came with a piece of lamb, a chicken thigh, and merguez sausage, along with some diced veggies & chickpeas. Good but not outstanding; if I were to do it again I'd order the risotto instead. Dessert brought it back up to a higher level - I got the peach & nectarine crisp, which had the most incredibly intense peach flavor. I wish all peaches tasted like that. The BF's chocolate hazelnut cake was delicious and rich without being overwhelming, and had a wonderfully silky texture. We both ordered orange spritzers ($5) to drink, which were nice and refreshing but nothing special. Verdict: I'd go back for sure.
-Friday dinner: More restaurant week reservations at Mia Dona. They're offering basically the same prixe fix menu they offer at lunch all year, extended for restaurant week to dinner as well. I started with the Mia meatballs, which were fantastic (the big piece of cured pork - sauteed prosciutto? pancetta? guanciale? - in the sauce with them certainly didn't hurt). Main course was the rigatoni alla Norma. In all a successful dish, but the smoked mozzarella in it seemed excessive - it already had smokiness from the eggplant and salty/cheesy richness from the grated ricotta salata, so the mozz was a little redundant. But aside from a few chunks of cheese I happily cleaned my plate. My uncle enjoyed his cod quite a bit, but since I didn't taste it I can't report in detail. To get some veggies in there we ordered a side of sauteed haricots verts for the table - buttery, garlickey deliciousness, topped with dill & fried breadcrumbs. Desserts were also quite good; my vanilla panna cotta was strangely jiggly (maybe a little heavy on the gelatin?) but delicious, and my aunt's tiramisu was the first thing on the able to go. I should also mention the bread basket here, which includes some fantastic foccaccia alongside the more traditional bread slices, and a head of roasted garlic. Again, worth another visit.
-Saturday lunch: Co. I've been here several times before and loved it, and this visit didn't disappoint. We skipped the apps entirely and just ordered 3 pizzas: a margherita, a ham & cheese, and a popeye. I'd never had a margherita here before, and I thought it was really fanastic. Perhaps my new favorite pizza at Co. Ham & cheese was a repeat for me, and with that much prosciutto draped across the top, how can you go wrong? The caraway seeds are a nice touch too. I wasn't as crazy about the popeye; some bites had great flavor but some were slightly bland. That was also the one pizza out of the three that was charred enough to taste burnt to me. Verdict: So happy I live on the same block as this place.
-Saturday dinner: Szechuan Gourmet. I love this place. Apps were steamed vegetable dumplings (good if not terribly exciting) and dan dan noodles (quite possibly my favorite thing to eat in all of New York, even if they went a little light on the szechuan peppercorns this time). My aunt, who doesn't like spicy foods, ordered the chicken & broccoli, and my uncle got General Tso's chicken. Both were sweet & sticky but better than what you get at a lot of American Chinese places. After smelling it at a neighboring table during my last visit, I had to order the crispy lamb fillets with chili cumin. The lamb was slightly greasier than I would have liked, but deliciously cuminy, with just a little kick of spice and a great crunchy/tender texture. As were were walking down the block to the subway afterwards our waitress chased us down outside to give me back my sunglasses, which had fallen out of my bag at the table. Verdict: Bruni was right about them.
-Sunday Brunch: JoeDoe. Final meal of the visit. We came by at about 11:15 (they open at 11 on sundays) and were seated immediately, but by the time we left around noon they were full up, so come early for good seats. We chose JoeDoe for brunch based on the recent writeup in Time Out New York's brunch issue and my hankering for chilaquiles, which I fell in love with in Mexico this winter and hadn't had since. We weren't disappointed. First off, the biscuits with honey butter they brought to the table were just so good. Biscuits were big and moist and the honey butter was a creamy salty sweet pot of addictive deliciousness. I gotta find me a recipe for that. My aunt got the challah french toast with fresh fruit, which was (I kid you not) about 2 inches thick and delicious. My chilaquiles were nothing like those I had in Zihuatanejo, but utterly delicious nonetheless. Instead of crunchy tortilla chips topped with sauce, melted cheese, and bits of meat & veggies, this was a puffy tortilla, topped with a mound of scrambled duck eggs, crumbled chorizo, beans, guacamole, crema, and sauce, more like an unrolled breakfast burrito. My uncle finished every last bite of his eggs benedict, but I didn't get to taste. I liked the ambiance, definitely trendy but in a Brooklyn sort of way, very low-key. Verdict: Can't wait for more relatives to visit so I can finagle another meal here.
Sunday dinner through the foreseeable future: I'm about ready to swear off food for good. So full. But totally worth it.
-Thursday lunch: DB Bistro Moderne. This was actually the day before they arrived, but close enough. In honor of restaurant week and prix fixe menus at places I could otherwise never afford, my boyfriend and I went for lunch at DB Bistro Moderne. Apps were great; I got the Alsatian flammenku"che (listed as "tarte flambee" on the online version of the menu) with bacon & onions, and he got the sweet corn soup with shrimp. Boulud knows his produce (cf also our desserts), and the corn soup had a great clean pure corn flavor. As for my tarte, bacon, cheese, & onion happens to be one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I was happy. For the main course we both got the couscous, which came with a piece of lamb, a chicken thigh, and merguez sausage, along with some diced veggies & chickpeas. Good but not outstanding; if I were to do it again I'd order the risotto instead. Dessert brought it back up to a higher level - I got the peach & nectarine crisp, which had the most incredibly intense peach flavor. I wish all peaches tasted like that. The BF's chocolate hazelnut cake was delicious and rich without being overwhelming, and had a wonderfully silky texture. We both ordered orange spritzers ($5) to drink, which were nice and refreshing but nothing special. Verdict: I'd go back for sure.
-Friday dinner: More restaurant week reservations at Mia Dona. They're offering basically the same prixe fix menu they offer at lunch all year, extended for restaurant week to dinner as well. I started with the Mia meatballs, which were fantastic (the big piece of cured pork - sauteed prosciutto? pancetta? guanciale? - in the sauce with them certainly didn't hurt). Main course was the rigatoni alla Norma. In all a successful dish, but the smoked mozzarella in it seemed excessive - it already had smokiness from the eggplant and salty/cheesy richness from the grated ricotta salata, so the mozz was a little redundant. But aside from a few chunks of cheese I happily cleaned my plate. My uncle enjoyed his cod quite a bit, but since I didn't taste it I can't report in detail. To get some veggies in there we ordered a side of sauteed haricots verts for the table - buttery, garlickey deliciousness, topped with dill & fried breadcrumbs. Desserts were also quite good; my vanilla panna cotta was strangely jiggly (maybe a little heavy on the gelatin?) but delicious, and my aunt's tiramisu was the first thing on the able to go. I should also mention the bread basket here, which includes some fantastic foccaccia alongside the more traditional bread slices, and a head of roasted garlic. Again, worth another visit.
-Saturday lunch: Co. I've been here several times before and loved it, and this visit didn't disappoint. We skipped the apps entirely and just ordered 3 pizzas: a margherita, a ham & cheese, and a popeye. I'd never had a margherita here before, and I thought it was really fanastic. Perhaps my new favorite pizza at Co. Ham & cheese was a repeat for me, and with that much prosciutto draped across the top, how can you go wrong? The caraway seeds are a nice touch too. I wasn't as crazy about the popeye; some bites had great flavor but some were slightly bland. That was also the one pizza out of the three that was charred enough to taste burnt to me. Verdict: So happy I live on the same block as this place.
-Saturday dinner: Szechuan Gourmet. I love this place. Apps were steamed vegetable dumplings (good if not terribly exciting) and dan dan noodles (quite possibly my favorite thing to eat in all of New York, even if they went a little light on the szechuan peppercorns this time). My aunt, who doesn't like spicy foods, ordered the chicken & broccoli, and my uncle got General Tso's chicken. Both were sweet & sticky but better than what you get at a lot of American Chinese places. After smelling it at a neighboring table during my last visit, I had to order the crispy lamb fillets with chili cumin. The lamb was slightly greasier than I would have liked, but deliciously cuminy, with just a little kick of spice and a great crunchy/tender texture. As were were walking down the block to the subway afterwards our waitress chased us down outside to give me back my sunglasses, which had fallen out of my bag at the table. Verdict: Bruni was right about them.
-Sunday Brunch: JoeDoe. Final meal of the visit. We came by at about 11:15 (they open at 11 on sundays) and were seated immediately, but by the time we left around noon they were full up, so come early for good seats. We chose JoeDoe for brunch based on the recent writeup in Time Out New York's brunch issue and my hankering for chilaquiles, which I fell in love with in Mexico this winter and hadn't had since. We weren't disappointed. First off, the biscuits with honey butter they brought to the table were just so good. Biscuits were big and moist and the honey butter was a creamy salty sweet pot of addictive deliciousness. I gotta find me a recipe for that. My aunt got the challah french toast with fresh fruit, which was (I kid you not) about 2 inches thick and delicious. My chilaquiles were nothing like those I had in Zihuatanejo, but utterly delicious nonetheless. Instead of crunchy tortilla chips topped with sauce, melted cheese, and bits of meat & veggies, this was a puffy tortilla, topped with a mound of scrambled duck eggs, crumbled chorizo, beans, guacamole, crema, and sauce, more like an unrolled breakfast burrito. My uncle finished every last bite of his eggs benedict, but I didn't get to taste. I liked the ambiance, definitely trendy but in a Brooklyn sort of way, very low-key. Verdict: Can't wait for more relatives to visit so I can finagle another meal here.
Sunday dinner through the foreseeable future: I'm about ready to swear off food for good. So full. But totally worth it.
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