Olives

For whatever reason, Restaurant Week gets people in a fury. I guess the idea of dining in a what would otherwise be an expensive and barely affordable restaurant for only $35 is pretty enticing. I've been to a couple of places and haven't really been disappointed (except by Butter). I wanted to try a classic like the Russian Tea Room but no one got back to me in time. However my dear mum suggested Todd English's Olives at the Union Sq W hotel.
I would always pass by this place on my way to the SVA dorms back in college and always said I'd go here when I made it big. While I haven't made it "big" per se, I found myself being led to a table and to a spectacular prix-fixe menu.

That's another thing, Restaurant Week may sound like a good deal, but their menus and service usually aren't as good as a normal dining experience. However, this one seemed pretty delicious:

Appetizers
Charred Octopus Flatbread
almond romesco, preserved lemon, toasted garlic

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
chestnut polenta, truffle vinaigrette, parmesan

Cured Duck Proscuitto
rye panzanella, celery, mustard dressing

Entrée
Veal Short Ribs
parmesan grits, honey glazed carrots

Pan Roasted Salmon
chorizo basmati, raisins , curry cream

Wild Mushroom Tagliatelle
whipped ricotta, thyme, parmesan

Dessert
Apple Semifreddo
creme friache custard, cinnamon apple compote, olive oil-walnut granola

Hazelnut Semifreddo
crispy hazelnut mousse, coffee cream, cocoa puffs

They brought out an impressive bread basket: foccacia, and crispy seasoned flatbread with green and black olive tapenade.
My mom got the duck, veal (delicious), and hazelnut semifreddo. I got the grilled octopus flatbread. Ok, so when they said "Flatbread", i pictured a 3"x5" piece of bread or something. But no; it was like a 10"x20" pizza brought out on a huge wooden board. Why do I always order THAT dish? (see The Modern) Honestly, I don't see what the big deal was. The octopus was good, but it got lost with the bread and sauce and everything.
My salmon was cooked perfectly and I liked the touch of golden raisins to an otherwise salty dish, but I wish I had gotten the veal. The flavor was so intoxicating and the grits were satisfying.

The apple semifreddo was a perfect way to end the meal. I wish I could've gotten a cappucino but I would've regretted it as caffeine hits me pretty hard. But they did serve us two mini cupcakes at the end. All in all, a wonderful dinner with a wonderful mom.

Black Truffles

I had the honor and pleasure of being my friend's guest to the $50 3-course Locanda Verde Black Truffle Tasting event by chef Andrew Carmellini. Also, 25% of the proceeds went to the Doctors Without Borders aid for Haiti.

It was an extremely last minute invite (I was literally in bed at 10pm ready to watch Lost or some other show on Hulu) when my friend, Mark, who I see 2-3 times a year at the most, asked what I was doing (nothing) and he said he was going to take me out to dinner to a place with hard-to-get-reservations. Immediately I thought Waverly Inn or The Little Owl. This was so much better.

I probably wouldn't have gone out but lately, I've been feeling like I haven't been spontaneous enough, and I definitely do not go out during the week nearly as often as I used to. Second, I love surprises. Third, I love food.

So we met up and at this point I still had no idea where we were going, I just knew that it was off the 1 line. But we finally got off at Franklin St. and he explained how they had a white truffle tasting and it was a huge success, so this was their sequel, so to speak.

It was amazing. I wish I wrote down the menu/took pictures, but my memory will be the best thing for now. I know I am going to butcher it but here it goes...

First they brought out Foccacia brushed with black truffle oil.

For an appetizer, I got the Truffle Salad. It had a fried breaded cutlet of veal with an egg on top, along side a salad with a thin slice of an Italian ham.

He ordered the Crotinis which I would have preferred. There was one with a butternut squash truffle puree, another with ricotta and truffle honey (our fav), and a wild mushroom with black truffle.

For an entree, he got the squab and I ordered the scallops and lentils and shaved truffles. I thought the scallops were slightly overcooked, but the squab was cooked perfectly and it was so juicy and tender. There was also a grilled slice of squash and a duck meatball. I wasn't a fan of the meatball and thought it was too heavy to be a side of the squab, but it did remind me of a childhood memory that I can't quite put my finger on.

For dessert, there was a truffle vanilla ice cream with shaved truffles over a bed of chocolate cookie crumbs (not a fan of the crumbs, but the ice cream grew on me). At first the taste was so pungent and complex, but in reality the cream just enhances the truffle taste even more. Still, I preferred the walnut tart with what I think was truffled whipped cream. The sweet and nuttiness complemented the truffles really well and neither was overpowering.

I felt like a judge on Iron Chef (one of my dreams!) and I would give it high marks all around. I'm sad I missed the white trufflepalooza but I am so happy to have been a part of "Back in Black".

Also, the ladies room was beautiful. You know you're in a classy place when the restrooms are tolerable and nicer than your own bathroom.

The Vanderbilt

Tom and I have walked up and down the streets of his neighborhood of Prospect Heights many times. On one of our walks, we saw a restaurant that was being built called The Vanderbilt. Aptly named, it is on Vanderbilt Ave and Bergen, and it has been written up with rave reviews from nearly every local New York City publication.

After passing by several times, seeing if it had opened yet, we finally got dinner there in the beginning of December. Armed with a Michelin-starred chef, all of the dishes on the menu are small, and moderately priced. Like a tapas bar, a table is meant to order many dishes to share. Tom and I decided on Blistered Shishito peppers for an appetizer. I think these could have been really good had we not gotten insanely spicy peppers. We are known to handle our spicy foods rather well, but these were burning for some reason. Sprinkled with pimenton salt and lemon juice, the peppers were conquered not without a fight. This was about the time I wished my water glass was just a tad bit larger. Incidentally, these peppers were also served at Phil's New Years Party but we were more careful with those.

I also got Crispy Pork Belly with lentils du puy and Tom ordered the butternut squash soup. The pork belly was so tender, perfectly-seasoned, and super fatty with some parts super crispy. I could've eaten 3 portions of this. The soup was velvety, creamy and can certainly warm you up on a cold winter's evening.

For the main course, I ordered the Hangar Steak, again cooked perfectly with a side of pont neuf potatoes and romaine. I think Tom got the Grilled Pork Loin or perhaps one of the specials.

For dessert, we shared Warm Spiced Doughnuts pistachio ice cream, brandied cherries, apricot orange blossom coulis.

A perfect dinner.

I apologize for the poor quality of photos. The lighting was dim and until I actually get a nice DSLR, this point and shoot will have to do.




1. Shishito peppers, afire
2. Crispy Pork Belly, melt in your mouth
3. Hangar Steak, medium rare
4. Doughnuts.

New Years Eve Feast

Phil had a fabulous dinner party for 20-30 people in his new fabulous apartment.

SO MUCH FOOD!

But really, am I surprised? He loves good food as much as the next, except he bumps it up a few notches. Here was the menu he had sent to me prior to the party:

Appetizers/hors d'oeuvres:
Plums with Bacon
Brushcetta
Crackers with: cheese / cucumber and dill /
Olives
Guacamole and Chips and Salsa
Baked Brie with shishito peppers (Lela and Brad will bring all ingredients)
....
Ben/Kristina bringing (already bought groceries):
- shrimp cocktail
- feta mushroom puff pastries
- deviled eggs
- artichokes
- prosciutto wrapped asparagus
- blue cheese stuffed olives

Mains:
Veg Lasagna
Beef Tenderloin
side of Rosemary Potatoes
side of Green Beans
side of butter carrots
side of Broc w/ cheese
big Salad

Desert:
Saelas Crepe Cake
Vanilla Ice Cream?

Yeah. It was quite the spread. Personally, my favorite dish that surprised me? Plums and Bacon. So simple, yet so delicious! and the beef tenderloin, which was cared for by Caleb, the male version of Paula Deen, was perfect.








1. Caleb tending to the beef, Mike cutting into the veggie lasagna
2. Gorgeous food on a gorgeous kitchen counter top.
3. Caleb and the beef
4. Bacon and Plums
5. Spinach dip and guacamole (my two favorite dips ever)
6. No caption necessary. but my mouth is watering; i want this for my birthday.

Everything was amazing. I wish I hadn't gotten sick during the evening so I could've had more food, but what I did have was amazing. Also Saela's crepe cake was magnifique.

The Spot

After Halloween, a lot of people stumble out of their houses/apts to cure their hangover. Since I don't really drink, I stumble out to get brunch, plain and simple.

This past Halloween, Tom, his roommate Jason and I went to a place a few blocks from their apt. The Spot American Bistro is a corner joint that has outdoor seating. Since it was a mild autumn day and inside was packed, we sat outside, bundled up.

I was not going to partake in their all-you-can-drink deal (jason did) but I did get eggs benedict. my favorite.


Not bad.

My only complaint, which isn't really a complaint, is that the waitresses were sooooooo perky for a Sunday morning. I also didn't like the fact they kept trying to convince Tom to drink. But one of them warmed up to me when we realized we share the same birthday and commiserated over the fact that people never go out for your birthday since they're out already drunk from st patrick's day.

Mike's Birthday Lunch/Dinner - Basta Pasta & Soju City

I'm 2 months overdue, but I definitely wanted to write about my friend/former coworker's birthday in November. For lunch, the office took him out to Basta Pasta- an Asian infused Italian restaurant on 17th St btwn 5th and 6th Ave. Completely run by Asian people, you have a hard time telling if you're there for Udon or Spaghetti.

I believe I ordered the Spaghetti con Uova di Pesce -- Spaghetti with tobiko (flying fish roe) and Shiso. I thought I'd try something I normally wouldn't find anywhere else.




It was good albeit a little too fishy for even me. It was reminiscent of a linguini with clam sauce. But it had a very interesting texture with the tobiko.

My coworker asked the waitress how large the Ceasar Salad was and she said a head of Romaine Lettuce. Little did we know she actually meant a head of Romaine Lettuce!


Oh then there was this...


What is she doing you ask? She is scooping out Spaghetti con Prosciutto e Parmigiano (Spaghetti with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Parma Prosciutto served in half a wheel of Parmesan cheese at the table). AMAZING.

The asparagus appetizer (with a golden parmesan crust) was delicious and highly recommended.

The atmosphere is nice, odd chachkas, art and such on the wall.


For dinner that night, Mike, our friends and I went to Soju City, a Korean restaurant on St Mark's Place & 2nd Ave. One word: BIBIMBAP!



This, plus little appetizers (including kimchi) and dumplings are enough to bring me back again and again.

Tom's Birthday Cake

After mulling it around in my head for at least 5 months now, the time had finally come to make the cake Tom, my boyfriend, had asked for- a dinosaur cake. I received a box of Wilton Fondant for Christmas, had designed the cake only to realize how hard it was to 1) work with fondant... more specifically, mold it into shapes and figures you so desire and 2) transporting a fondant cake and hiding it from the guest of honor for a day or two.

The layout was pretty much the same as I drew in my plans, but the coloring and the volcano and don't even get me started on the dinosaurs. They did not exactly come to fruition the way I wanted them to so I went to Party City and bought a bag of little plastic dinos for about 3 bucks.

I had originally wanted to bake him a homemade [not Pillsbury] Funfetti cake, but as luck would have it, the two grocery stores nearby did not have a large container of the long rainbow sprinkles. They didn't even have the boxed Pillsbury mix. However, at Westside Market, they had Duncan Hines "Confetti" cake mix. I bought two boxes since I figured there were going to be at least 20+ people.

NEVER BUY CAKE MIX IN A BOX!!

I knew going into it that I could come out with an artificial-tasting, preservative-filled cake, which is exactly what happened. I was so mad. 1 cake and 12 cupcakes (6 eggs!) gone to waste. I thought about serving it only because people might be drunk enough not to notice, but deep down, I'd know and I couldn't ruin my reputation as a budding baker. (I kept the cupcakes thinking they were still edible, but the fondant i had covered them with got too soft and came off because I stacked them on top of one another. Long story short- Tom's roommate Jason told me not to throw them out and ate them, so I guess it wasn't a total waste)

The next day, I found a basic white cake recipe:

* 1-1/2 cups white sugar
* 3/4 cup butter
* 3 eggs
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I set aside 6 little bowls for a cup of batter each and dyed each one a different color: blue, green, red, yellow, orange, purple and I had a little white batter left over. I mixed well and layered each color over each other (I'd double the recipe to get more colored batter and bigger layers) in a 13" x 9" pan.

It looked like this. not the most appetizing but....



when baked, it looks like



When cut in half and layered with vanilla pudding then covered in fondant by yours truly?




It was pretty good if I do say so myself! It tastes just like a regular white cake. Moist, dense, not too sweet (I used less sugar in the recipe because I knew the fondant would be pretty sweet). People complimented me on it so I will definitely save this for a future occasion.

Things I've learned from this experience:
Fondant dries out if not kept wrapped up.
Fondant will stiffen when kept in your fridge, and will get super gooey when brought back to room temperature. Make sure it's not touching anything else if you want to keep your fondant smooth!!
Wear plastic gloves when dying Fondant. Your hands WILL turn whatever color you are using.

I am going to make another cake for his actual birthday on the 16th. Maybe.

Happy 25th Birthday, Tom!! <3