Eli Zabar's E.A.T.

After dropping by the Russian embassy on the Upper East Side, I stopped by Eli Zabar's E.A.T. to grab lunch before heading back to work. I hadn't been and it was the closest thing I could think of in the area. Silly me didn't check the prices. Walked out with a container of the Tuscan Bread Salad and some grilled zucchini and eggplant. Kinda in a daze after having handed over my credit card and been charged $26.

$26 for that. As I sat at my desk back at work, I was careful not to waste a single piece of anything. It helped that both the bread salad and the veggies were delicious but come on - $26 for what amounts to 2 slices of bread, a slice of mozzarella, an under-ripe tomato and maybe half a zucchini and quarter of an eggplant? Biggest rip-off ever. Even if the food was good, I am never going back. EVER. So then I made my own panzanella a week later with greenmarket tomatoes, bread from Eataly and mozzarella from DiPaolo's. For a fraction of the price. Although I must say I'm impressed the man can charge that much. Then again, he got away for years with lobster salad sans lobster.

Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta

I went to Eataly to get some Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta which I've been dying to try for the longest time. Tiny thing set me back $10. But it lasted a really long time (well, a week, but a little goes a long way). I would sandwich it between slices of grilled zucchini, or put it between roasted eggplant and tomato slices. And then one day I put it on top of some garlic-rubbed toasted bread and topped it with prosciutto.

And all was well.

Summer cooking update

What did I cook this summer? Nothing. It's been mainly tomatoes cut up with some olive oil and basil, grilled zucchini slices that I brush with a mixture of olive oil, salt, dried herbs and tomato paste, and roasted eggplant slices that make my mouth itchy (ugh, allergies). The few things I have managed to make this summer:

Sopes after I had to make refried beans from my over-pressure-cooked pot of black beans topped with shredded chicken breast with achiote

Turkey tacos because I wanted to try out the new Rick Bayless frontera grill skillet sauces. I used my mini muffin tray turned upside down to hold these

Cherry brown butter tart because we had an over abundance of cherries after we went cherry picking in Jersey. Not a huge fan of this actually

Roasted carrots that I decided I had to make after I had the roasted carrot and avocado salad at ABC Kitchen

Peach crumble a la Orangette because our peaches were going to go bad. I later made this with plums. With plums it's better.

Speculoos ice cream with speculoos cookies I brought over from Paris. Might try this using the spread next time since letting the cooking dissolve in the ice cream base liquid made it a little grainy

Kimchi pancakes although I didn't notice that the kimchi had MSG in it (boo!)

Soba noodles with zucchini which is a great summer dish. Actually, soba with anything is a great summer dish. Even plain soba.

Spaghetti with spinach pesto, Parmesan and pine nuts

Slow-roasted tomatoes which I then packed in olive oil for later use. These are getting ready to go in the oven

Hurricane cooking

We were holed up in our apartment for most of the Hurricane Irene weekend, starting at around 4pm Saturday though Monday morning. Friday night we went out for some wine and small plates at Bar Veloce but not before I finished making some high-protein savory muffins. They have cottage cheese, eggs, almond meal, the slow roasted tomatoes I made a little while back, basil and cheese. No butter or oil! And you can use low fat cottage cheese! JP hated them. I loved them. Try them - they're really good and you can change the flavorings as you wish.

Saturday morning I went for a walk down to Union Square where some rebellious farmers set up their market stands (I thought all outdoor markets were cancelled). There was a short downpour during which I stayed under one of the tents but afterwards, lots of washed fruits and veggies:

These are called sanditas but don't mistake these for mini-watermelons (although that would be awesome). They're actually mini cucumbers (officially called Mexican sour gherkins). But they don't taste that good - the skin is kinda thick and the seeds are pretty much all that's inside.

After the market but before it started pouring JP and I took a walk around which ended up with up going to Hill Country Chicken (surprisingly open) and eating some fried chicken and biscuits. Their biscuits are awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Squirrels. Or at least squirrels in Madison Square Park that get close enough for you to photograph them.

Later in the evening I made a plum galette from some plums I grabbed Friday at the Rockefeller market. Although some sugar got burned in the oven which created a lot of smoke in our apartment and I spent the next morning trying to scrape it off (success!)

And for breakfast on Sunday I brought out my aebelskiver pan and make aebelskivers (puffy Danish pancakes).

I filled some with champagne grapes, others with raspberries and a couple with mini chocolate chips. the grape ones were the best - each grape was like a tiny burst of sugar when biting into it. YUM.

Hester Street Fair

One of my friends has a stand at the Hester Street Fair for her baked goods company which features cookies and cupcakes with Asian-inspired flavors (think green tea, jasmine, black sugar). On her first day selling, JP and I paid a visit to say hi and to fill ourselves with everything the fair has to offer. He didn't really know that we were eating there until we got there and I asked him to get in line for tacos at the Brooklyn Taco Company. Poor kid stood in the blazing hot sun for 10 minutes for those tacos! But they were good - particularly the chilorio brisket taco.  

The elote, which we actually got because the tamales would have taken too long, was also good - every square inch was covered in cheese. What wasn't good was the agua de sandia. I supposed I can't fault them if the watermelon wasn't ripe but don't use it if it doesn't taste good!

I also polished off a whole shaved ice with condensed milk mochi, kiwi and mango, and a scoop of green tea ice cream from The Shaved Ice Shop. 

I was a little upset that JP didn't like it, but I think it was because there was a LOT of condensed milk - even I found it a little too sweet and cloying. He did like the paletas from La Newyorkquina enough to get two of them. I have La Newyorkquina's book which I keep bringing to places I think she might be at so I can get it signed but no luck so far. Maybe next time.

Anniversary dinner at L'Atelier

August 17th equaled 4 years. Although JP likes to say it's been only 3 years since I was in Paris all of 2010. No, it's been 4 years. So I grilled some skirt steak*. Made some corn and bacon. And an heirloom tomato salad with basil, balsamic and Arbequina olive oil. We finally opened up our Clos du Val cabernet that we got when we were in Napa a few years ago.

For dessert I had picked up some Italian plums (prunes?) at the Rockefeller farmer's market during lunch and turned them into a crumble.

It was a good dinner. But our "going-out" dinner was Saturday at L'Atelier de Joel Robouchon. 

Verdict? It was fun but the food was MEH for the most part. JP ranked it dead-last out of the four anniversary dinner's we've had. I ranked it second-to last only because I don't remember how much I liked Perry Street (the other two are Daniel at #1 and Alex at the Wynn in Vegas at #2).

We didn't get the tasting menu (I'm deathly allergic to sturgeon and have an aversion to foie gras) so we went a la carte.  A couple small plates - sauteed amadai in yuzu broth with lotus root, sauteed squid with chorizio and violet artichokes in tomato water, asparagus macaroni gratin and seared scallop with ginger and chive crust (yes, singular scallop for $28) followed by our mains. I had the hanger steak with roasted shallots and shishito peppers which failed in comparison to the hanger steak I had at craftsteak two years ago. JP had seared sea bass with a lemongrass foam and stewed baby leeks where the overwhelming flavor was lemongrass and I was reminded about those spicy cashews I have in my pantry that I need to return to TJs because I don't find them palatable.

Granted, the presentation of everything was top notch. Not all dishes fell flat. I quite liked the squid with chorizo and the crispy crust on the amadai, as well at the shallots on top of my steak. My strawberry-rhubarb-gin cocktail was stupendous and my dessert was pretty good - cheesecake mousse with Tahitian vanilla and seasonal berries.

JP's sauteed peaches with peach sorbet and meringue came on dry ice which was pretty cool.

But there was something off about the service (didn't help that obnoxious girl that sat next to me started elbowing me sometime during our dessert course). Maybe it was because I had chosen counter seating but it didn't feel like it was worth it. There, maybe that's what I mean. The food is good but overall the price just isn't worth it. I proposed that we stick to Daniel from now on since nothing else has quite measured up. We can be one of those couples that goes back every year once a year on their anniversary.

*Note: Whole Foods Chelsea - please carry non-grass fed beef. I like it better. And its not $14/lb. I think I'll be going to Whole Foods Union Square for meat from now on.

Smorgasburg

JP and I finally ventured over to Smorgasburg - the food-centric offshoot of the Brooklyn Flee, just one stop into Brooklyn on the L (if it was more, we might not have made it over...). It was the perfect day with the breeze from the water providing some welcome respite from the blazing sun. My plan? Sample as much as I can and hit up some spots that I'd read about and wanted to try. We succeeded for the most part - mostly because we came a little after noon while the market was still fairly slow.

We started with a pork cemita. What's a cemita? It's a sandwich originating in Puebla, Mexico. It's kinda like a regional version of a torta.

Unfortunately, we both found the bread to be too dry and neither the black bean spread nor the cheese made up for it. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone. Plus, JP wasn't a fan of the papalo. We washed it down with some jalapeno limeaide from Tenpenny which I found to be a rip-off after I saw them pouring in Minute-Maid Limeaid and mixing it with other stuff (probably jalapeno-infused simple syrup). It wasn't that good either.

It started getting hot so we moved right along to the frozen desserts - Sweet Fusion which served small-batch ice cream enveloped in homemade mochi. We tried the watermelon one which was really good and refreshing, but a tad on the pricey side for what it was. I just remember thinking "if this was $1 less, I'd enjoy it more". But thats alright, we're supporting small producers and $1 for me isn't as much as $1 for them.

Still craving something to beat the heat, we hit up Rob & Anna's (hehe, say their name fast) for their soft-serve frozen bananas. I got it with some raw raspberry coulis which provided just the right amount of tang. This was one of the stands I wanted to try. I don't like bananas in smoothies but I do like other kinds of bananas. It was an interesting taste/texture combination and I'm glad I shared it with JP - I don't think I would've been able to finish this by myself. It's not that I didn't like it (I did), it was just...strange. 

We didn't try Nana's which sells frozen bananas dipped in chocolate that you customize with various toppings; in the hour or so after we first arrived at Smorgasburg, a ferry unloaded boat-load (ferry-load?) of passengers and huge lines formed. In other related news, I recently started freezing halves of baby bananas and coating them in chocolate. These are delicious.

While all those ferry people were waiting in lines, we sat around and enjoyed the views before making rounds for more edibles again. Round #2 started with JP getting a banh-mi style hot dog from AsiaDog, which I've written about before, topped with aioli, pate, cucumbers, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro and jalapeno. 

We then moved on to the shave ice from People's Pops. I tried People's Pops once. I didn't like them. but their shave ice (yes, shave, not shaved) is SO RIDICULOUSLY GOOD AND REFRESHING. JP won this one - he got the sour cherry flavor, while I got the red plum version (they just pour homemade syrup on top of your ice). I could've eaten both of these. Note to self - get an ice shaver next time we're down in Mexico (the one the guy was using was Victoria, which is a Mexican brand).

And lastly, I couldn't pass up a doughnut from Dough. I'd heard a lot about them recently and having finally tried doughnuts from The Doughnut Plant, I couldn't pass these up to compare (took me a while even though the new location at the Chelsea Hotel is only a few blocks from my apartment...and I didn't even buy them, they were an apartment warming present/edible!). 

JP resisted. Why did I want a huge doughnut after already being a glutton and eating so much food? Plus it was pretty hot outside by then. But I just wanted it. We were debating between the blood orange and the hibiscus but finally went with the latter. I won this round. JP loved it. The doughnuts are light and fluffy and they're yeast doughnuts! That's my favorite kind - it reminds me of my childhood when I was in Communist Russia (we had surprisingly good baked goods over there!). I can't say I tasted much of the hibiscus, just a slight tang in the sweet glaze but whatever. This was a delicious way to end a delicious day. 

I'll definitely be back before summer is over - I missed out on some things I wanted to try, particularly Shorty Tang's cold sesame noodles, a delicious-looking chocolate crinkle cookie from Commerce Bakery and biscuits from King's Crumb. Next time. And another doughnut, or two.

Long overdue apartment warming

We had our apartment warming a few weeks ago. For the most part I was unambitious, preferring to buy snacks from Trader Joe's (which, by the way, was a great way for me to taste some products that I've wanted to try out, specifically their Pita Puffs). I had promised to make some pao de queijo, which I did and they were, again, delicious. Von and I also attempted to make boozy watermelon using Absolut's Wild Tea vodka. Kinda didn't work out too well so I don't think I'll be revisiting that anytime soon. I also had five or six over ripe bananas which turned into banana bread using Flour Bakery's recipe (don't judge the hole in the middle...I was taste testing)...

...which I then cut up to make chocolate and pistachio-covered banana bread bites! Much more party friendly. 

But the star of the party were the watermelon jello shots. Not my idea. I saw it on thekitchn.com a few days prior and thought it was the cutest idea ever. I ran around New York trying to find powdered jello since I my usual stops (TJ's and Whole Foods) and apparently bodegas and Duane Reade don't carry it. I didn't want to go out of my way to a "regular" grocery store but I succumbed and went to Food Emporium by work. Task #1 completed.

Task #2 was juicing limes and removing all the insides which made my hands raw. I really need to buy some disposable gloves for times like that. And for chopping jalapenos. By the way, removing the insides of the limes wasn't as easy as it sounds - you have to carefully run a pairing knife between the pulp and the pith. I had some trouble because my limes were super thin-skinned. But, I prevailed.

Task #3 was choosing the right alcohol. I went with cachaca but I don't think I'd do that again. Maybe rum next time. And don't believe the 1-to-1 water-to-alcohol ratio. I'd cut down on the alcohol a bit and do 5-to-3 (ie 1.25 cups water and 0.75 cups alcohol). It'll taste better.

So after I set the halved-out lime rinds into mini-muffin tins, poured in the liquid, let it set overnight, quartered the resulting "jello cups" and sprinkled mini chocolate chips over them (don't try to shove them into the jello, it doesn't work), the result:

A little too bitter for me from the cachaca but the chocolate chips evened that out ok. Super cute, aren't they?

'wichcraft's BLT

Except in rare instances, I generally buy my lunch rather than bringing it to work. I try to spend no more than $8 but this summer, 'wichcraft's BLT sandwich  has been my guilty pleasure. I've had 5 of them since they came back on the menu at the end of July. And at $10.75 post-tax this isn't a cheap meal, but boy is it delicious. Fresh tomatoes from the Greenmarket (the reason why this sandwich is seasonal), heritage bacon, mixed baby lettuces and a house-made aioli (I get mine sans aioli) on country bread.

And I'll keep coming back to 'wichcraft until they take it off the menu. And then I won't step foot in there until next summer because they are a ridiculously overpriced eatery serving mediocre sandwiches at best, which, by the way, have absurd calorie counts. Save for the BLT.

Midtown food trucks that parked near my work before the ban

I wrote this post before all the food trucks were banned from Midtown. Hopefully they're allowed to come back soon...I used to have a list of trucks that rotated daily. Nowadays you'd be lucky to find one in the area. Although some trucks have started setting up carts - I can still get waffels on Friday. So here's a run-down of what used to park near work.

Mexicue I've only gone once and ordered the chili bowl and a beet taco. The chili bowls was disappointing - it was a hollowed out bun (a little stale at that) with beans and meat ant toppings, but not enough of them. Maybe 4 forkfuls of filling. The roasted beet taco on the other hand was really good.

Kimchi Taco This is probably my favorite truck that used to come by. The first time I tried this truck, it was parked in front of Le Bernardin (which isn't all that if you ask me) and a cop came by and made them move (the poor guy was actually really nice, and they tried to bribe him with food but he made a good point that the building will just call them again). Anyhow, their rice bowls are ridiculously good and super filling (enough for two meals but since I am a goldfish, I eat it all at once).

The multigrain rice is definitely the way to go. Not sure what's in it but it looks like lots of other legumes that make the rice almost purple (it's way better than the purple rice+beans they have at Korean restaurants). I got this with spicy pork and scarfed it down. Problem is, leftover bits of kimchee start smelling after a while and I think I scared away several coworkers during the course of the afternoon. But I'm shameless and the next time I got tacos (one bulgogi, one spicy pork and one chicken). I'm not a fan of the bulgogi they serve - it was extra heavy on the cumin I think (or was it corinader? I forget). I think the bowl is a much better value and better tasting. So I'll be sticking to the spicy pork from now on. And, I have to add that their kimchi arancini were really good - even JP enjoyed them (he got a kimcheesesteak minus the kimchi). Oh, and one more thing - their mild sauce is very mild so stick to their hot sauce

Taim The vegetarian option. I've had falafel from here four times so far. One regular falafel sandwich, one special tomato and basil falafel sandwich which turned out to be dry, one hummus sandwich which I will get next time with extra cabbage salad and no quinoa salad (is it bad of me to admit that I don't think I'm a huge fan of quinoa?), and one Sabich. Secretly (maybe because I love cabbage so much), I still think L'as du Falafel in Paris was the best falafel sandwich I've had. But my go-to here is now the Sabich (it's a special so they don't always have it). Deep fried eggplant slices (not breaded) stuffed into the same pita with tahini and hummus and salad as the regular falafel sandwich. It comes with a sliced hardboiled egg inside for those of you who like it. I don't. Next time I will ask for it without. The guy taking the order steered me away from the whole wheat pita for the Sabbich and he pretty much knows what he's talking about. The regular pita soaks up the greasy eggplant juices better but I didn't find the sandwich to be too greasy overall. Don't forget to ask for the spicy sauce (S'rug) inside the pita - it makes a big difference. One thing I wasn't a fan of was their Date-Lime-Banana smoothie. But their fries are really good - on the thinner side and nicely crispy.

Joyride  A froyo/coffee truck. I got their original and topped it with blackberries and croquantes (chocolate covered rice krispie ball type things). It reminded me of Pinkberry although a tiny bit icier and with a richer mouthfeel. Too bad no trucks in midtown anymore as I would've become a regular customer for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up during the summer as there is no Pinkberry within a 5-minute walking distance from here. Although I'm scared to ask about the calorie count

ABC Kitchen - my favorite spot-of-the-moment

I'm a little bit late on the bandwagon for this one, but ABC Kitchen is now one of my favorite restaurants in NYC (ok maybe my ENTRY is late - I went for the first time back in the Spring). You see, I never know when JP gets out of work so I've started making reservations at restaurants several weeks in advance just in case he's free in the evening (or weekend for that matter). I'd canceled and rescheduled reservations numerous times already (Dell'Anima, Untitled at the Whitney) but this was one reservation I was not going to let go of, even if it meant going without him. Granted the restaurant has been getting a ton of buzz for a while now but I booked before it won the James Beard for Best New Restaurant earlier this year, and now it'll probably be even more difficult (I am still bitter about how I kept nagging him to go to Locanda Verde with me until one day early in their existence, NYTimes did a review and I still haven't gone there for dinner). On the plus side, ABC Kitchen has a fairly spacious bar area for walk-ins and some seating at the cafe in the back, where the same menu is served.

We went on a Sunday night. I went again the following Tuesday for lunch. That's how good it was. Since then, we've had brunch there twice. Their cocktails are bright and fresh. Their veggies are ridiculously delicious, especially the beets which I got twice, as well as the roasted carrot and avocado salad. For me the dinner was more memorable than the lunch but that's because the pasta I had at lunch (bowties with kasha and veal meatballs, below) didn't impress me much. 

What did impress me was the other pasta we had - cavateppi with spring peas, guanciale and parmesan. I gave half of a half of a half sized portion (...you following that? we got the smaller portion, which they split into two, and I gave him half of mine) since he didn't want to touch the beets after having a tiny bite. But I didn't care, more for me!

This is just really good, simple market-based cooking done well, with very reasonable portions (perhaps one of a handful of times when I didn't feel like I was pregnant with a food baby after dinner). Oh, and their cream-filled doughnuts with a rich dark chocolate sauce aren't too bad either. More dinners and brunches here await!

Coolhaus ice cream truck

I ordered earl grey ice cream on a brioche but I think I got sugar cookies actually...regardless, after waiting in line for 45 minutes for an ice cream sandwich (and I went around 4:30pm!), I got this behemoth:

Their architectural concept is pretty cool. You can mix-and-match any of their cookies and ice cream flavors into an ice-cream sandwich, or you can get one of their "recommended" combinations, playfully named after famous architects like Mies Vanilla Rohe (Mies van der Rohe), Frank Behry (Frank Gehry), and Richard Meyer Lemon. 

The locally-baked cookies are good and the ice cream is unique and tasty. I would go a little more adventurous next time and most definitely share. Since all the food trucks were kicked out from Midtown recently, I'll have to visit the Lot on Tap under the Highline to sample Coolhaus again. But then there's also Van Leeuwen there...and sometimes Kelvin Slush. Dilemmas, dilemmas...

Big Apple BBQ

Big Apple BBQ is an annual barbeque event featuring the best pitmasters from all over the country who descend upon Madison Square Park for one weekend in June as the behest of Danny Meyer (I saw him! He wears mom jeans!). It's pretty much a circus all weekend, with tons of people in the park, around the park and on the grass. This may be the only time Shake Shack doesn't have a line. 

This year I opted for a fast pass - $100 worth of food for $125. BUT, it lets you (+ 1 guest) go in the express lane. Sometimes, those faster lanes were still 20 minutes (ahem, Big Bob Gibson's) and sometimes there was no one and you could just walk up while tons of people are waiting in the regular line.

JP and I went on both Saturday and Sunday, and let me tell you - those $100 are HARD to use up. Plates of food were $8, desserts and sides $4, and drinks $2. But one pulled pork sandwich is more than enough - meat overdose. Luckily we had some help the second day but it was still tough.

Our first stop (twice over the weekend) is always Big Bob Gibson's for Chris Lilly's delicious pulled pork shoulder sandwich and mustard slaw. The meat disappointed this year but I slathered it in sauce anyway. I couldn't help but notice that everyone was using Pepperidge Farm hamburger buns this year, rather than Martin's potato rolls. I think that affected quality. 

But that wasn't the first thing we are there. While in the 20-minute "fast" lane, we passing another stand and shared some brisket. It was super fatty - I'm not the biggest fan of brisket so we'll leave it at that.

We also got ribs from different places to try, including 17th Street, which were really good. We typically avoid the New York-based BBQ joints because we can go any day, but while in line for dessert from Blue Smoke (ok, fine, it's in NYC but they were the only dessert-option there as Fried Pies were already sold out), I couldn't help but notice the Dinosaur BBQ pitmaster and the pork shoulders fresh out of the smoker...

I was a vegetarian the whole next week, promise.

New Le Creuset braiser

My first meal using my new Le Creuset braiser. I threw a bunch of stuff together and it was pretty tasty. A thinly-pounded chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms, spinach and cheese, with some tomatoes and green beans and leftover marinara sauce. At some point I think I deglazed the pan with some water and vinegar or something...anyhow, it was delicious! 

Except for the fact that I forgot to take out the toothpicks holding the chicken together and JP almost swallowed one. Whoops...