Sailors Live the Good Life.

When the Village Lobster & Crabhouse started to build up downstairs from my office, jumping and a lot of patient waiting occurred. I work in SoHo/West Village where there are many great restaurants but sometimes, you just have a hankering for seafood. I’ve also always wanted to go to a restaurant opening for some reason. I know better now. I understand starting anything new in any regard takes time and there will be a lot of kinks, but the guy who opened this one also owns City Crab so you’d think he’d have his sh*t together. Don’t get me wrong, I met him and he is very nice and even showed me the new prix-fixe menu he was making up. Currently they have a $14.95 2-course prix-fixe that is available for lunch or dinner and boy does it sound yummy. For a $5 supplement fee you can get a lobster roll. They also have a bar menu ranging from $8-$12 which includes items such as fried calamari with chipotle lime dipping sauce, clam chowder, artichoke spinach and crab dip with old bay pita chips, 99c oysters, mozzarella sticks and of course crab cakes. Happy Hour is from 4-8pm with $10 pitchers, $4 bottles and draughts and $4 oyster shots.

But what really caught our eye was the $21.95 Lobster Bake special that includes a 1 ¼ lb maine lobster, 4 mussels, 3 clams, roasted potatoes, corn on the cop and a cup of clam chowder. How do you beat that??

My coworker and I each ordered that last night and it was certainly filling. Nothing like cracking into a whole lobster with juices squirting in your eye. My only complaint was that the mussels and clams were dry (though I later realized there was a pool of seafood juice under the lobster) and the small portion of potatoes got soggy but the corn was sweet and soft. I only wish there was some more carbs… like a baked potato or French fries. We also had to ask for the drawn butter which would not be a big deal, but how do you have lobster without a cup of melted butter?? I’m not complaining at the value of this meal. The clam chowder was served in a generous bowl and full of clams. I think this place has a lot of potential and I will probably visit it again especially for lunch during a cold winter day.

Photos to come later!

Martha's Vineyard

I apologize for the lack of posts but just know I gained about 10 lbs of photos taken in the past month and a half (my eating habits have gotten out of control!). It all started on a Memorial Day Weekend trip to Martha's Vineyard. My friend, Philipp, invited several of our friends for a gastronomical tour at his house. Our grocery bill came out to around $650 for 4 days of [really good] eating. The thing about having foodies for friends is that everyone wants to be in the kitchen. Since it was not my kitchen, I had to learn how to share and cater to the way other people cook and prepare their meals. It was a learning experience and in the end, it's just eating nice meals with best friends, right? I am not going to post every single meal or snack (as there was breakfast/brunch/lunch/snack/dinner served every day) but here is an example of how amazing this weekend went.

On Saturday, we feasted on lobster... dipped in lots and lots of butter. Caleb also made amazing cheddar biscuits, Saela made a salad- for which I made a raspberry vinaigrette (which I find amusing since I never liked raspberry vinaigrette dressing), and a potato salad was somewhere in there too.




Another thing I learned... my friends are fancy. Our table settings looked like they came straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine. (I added the pinecones)

Phil pours Prosecco and Fuse juice

Now, when we went out to the grocery store, everyone had ideas on what to get for meals, but it was never just "pasta with some sauce"... it turned into "pasta, with sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, roasted garlic and asparagus". A "salad" meant "baby spinach, arugula, walnuts, feta, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and apple slices"... "corn on the cob" was "mexican corn... mayo, lime juice, parmesan cheese, chili powder, red pepper flakes and cumin" I am not complaining, but what a difference from this past weekend!
Tom and I went to Jason's beach house on LBI, we picked up a package of hot dogs/buns, corn on the cob, peppers, potatoes, a bag of cheetos and sour patch kids. Again, not complaining; we had a lovely barbeque.