One of the first things I do for Restaurant Week, before looking for the menu, is to look for the cost. Opentable has this $ sign that goes from $ to $$$$, the latter meaning expensive. So I decided to apply a filter and picked Le Périgord, a French restaurant located Midtown East, that has been on my list for a while now.
There is no doubt what Porterhouse, located on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, is serving: steaks, steaks and steaks. With seafood, but steaks. It has been a while since I went to a steakhouse for restaurant week, as I typically tell people to avoid these types of places during that period, the quality of the meat being often sacrificed.
So, this time I was at Dovetail, located few steps from the Museum of Natural History. I like the place: the decor is simple and elegant. I went with some friends on a Monday night and, to my surprise, the restaurant was packed. Menu wise, they offer seasonal dishes. For dinner, you have a choice between the vegetarian menu and the Chef's menu. I went for the latter.
When Choco-Pain opened downtown Hoboken, it was like bringing a bit of France to the city: delicious bread, pastries and viennoiseries, made traditionally and tasting like it should. I hate when I buy a croissant and it is not buttery! So, we were wondering when they would open Uptown. But no, it did not happen yet. Instead, Verde Vita Toscana, an Italian café opened few month ago.
Smorgasburg: weird name worth knowing. It is the perfect place to indulge, with lots of vendors selling various kinds of food that would make any food lover drool. The last time my nephew came for a visit, we went to the location in Williamsburg. This time, we went to Park Slope to show my cousin Sandrine Brooklyn and one of its flea markets.
One of the things my cousin Sandrine wanted to do was to go to Coney Island, so we hopped on a train on a Saturday morning, our food destination already decided...After 45 minutes of train from Port Authority, here we are, in a place totally different from Manhattan. And outside of the train station, here it is: Nathan's, the hot dog institution.
Yeah, I know: you are probably wondering what the heck I was doing at The Seed, a two day event currently going on in the city. The goal is to have people who embrace a vegan diet, vegan curious and vegan skeptic to meet and discover what being vegan means, either via listening to over 30 speakers or trying some food.
Taka Taka characterizes itself as a Mexican Sushi and Japanese Tacos joint. I guess you understand: this is a Mexican / Japanese fusion restaurant with a very interesting menu, branching out to these two distinct cuisines. It is not our first time there (previous review here) and we were looking for an original place, close to the heart of Tribeca, to celebrate my cousin Sandrine's visit.
We took advantage of Restaurant Week to enjoy a delicious dinner, at a discounted price at David Burke's Fishtail. It was on my list for a while, being a fan of Chef Burke and looking at his mouth watering food photos on Instagram with always a bit of drool. For sure, we had to book quickly and used Opentable as this place was a popular spot for Restaurant Week.
This week, I was invited to a private screening of The 100-Foot Journey, the new movie from director Lasse Hallström, who also directed Chocolat in 2000, that will be released in Theaters on August 8th. I would say that I went there as a moviegoer, food lover and...Frenchman. The food part was not only the movie, that certainly makes you want to eat the dishes cooked in the plot, whether they are classical French, Indian or fusion, like the Boeuf Bourgignon à la Hassan.
Astoria surely has some great gems that should not be ignored, and Don Coqui, a Puerto Rican restaurant is one of them. I discovered it last Sunday when we went for a tasting for dinner. This huge place is a restaurant and lounge with multiple rooms:
A first one, small, at the entrance, with a nicely furnished bar:
My next target for Restaurant Week was Hakkasan, a modern Chinese restaurant that originated in London in 2001 and opened its doors in Hell's Kitchen in April 2012 and earned a Michelin star. I was thinking that the $38 deal for dinner was a good way to try out that place as, the lack of prices on the menu often indicates a pricey meal...
A few years ago, the idea to go to a vegan restaurant would have made me cringe. Today, I am kind of excited at the idea to try some new flavors. So yes, I was excited when I got invited to try Café Blossom on Carmine, especially after reading the statement from one of its founders, Ronen Seri:
My vision for Blossom was to create a place with outstanding food, not just for vegans, but for everyone to enjoy.
I always wanted to go to The Russian Tea Room, but I admit that I heard so many things about it: food not good and overpriced, and poor service, that it was on the bottom of my list. But then, Summer Restaurant Week happened: it is a great way to try pricey restaurants at a discount (three course meal for $25 for lunch and $38 for dinner), as long as the restaurant embraces the event's purposes and does not cheap out on quality or service.
So I went to The Russian Tea Room for lunch after booking a table on Opentable. I mention it because I looked at the description of the restaurant and it said that the dress code was business casual meaning long sleeve shirts, no t-shirt or shorts. Well I guess that they are more relaxed for lunch, Midtown being full of tourists, because I saw many people wearing these supposedly not recommended outfits.
The decor of this place, created in 1927 by former Russian Imperial Ballet members is incredible, a bit over the top, as if we were transported to the 1900s. There is of course the bright red banquettes that seem to be made of plastic (it is not), the chandeliers, and the multiple paintings on the walls (not sure if there is any space left to hang another thing!).
The first experience on how pricey the place is is the cork fee: one of my friends brought a bottle of champagne from France for a celebration. Apparently, the cork fee was $55! We surely declined.
So, as we were making up our mind as far as the menu goes, they brought us some bread and butter. I admit that I thought that the bread was not that fresh at that point...
Then, I chose an appetizer: goat cheese and mushroom blinchik that is a crêpe filled with goat cheese, wild mushrooms, melted onions, served with a sauce made with lingonberries.
When the dish came, I thought that it was a small portion. Fortunately, it was delicious, goat cheese and melted onions pairing very well together, the later having a nice sweetness. And if you love mushrooms, you will not be disappointed either as they definitely stood out. The crêpe itself was perfect: very thin and well cooked, it was nicely soft. I just wished there was more of it.
For the entrée, I got the chicken à la Czar that is sautéed chicken breast with roasted red peppers and mushrooms in a light cream sauce.
Interestingly, they were not at all consistent with the serving: I got two mushrooms, while one of my friends got plenty.
And in fact I picked that dish for the mushrooms! Fortunately, the chicken was well cooked and moist, perfect when dipped with the cream sauce that was, as advertised, light.
For dessert, I chose the chocolate pyramid, made with bittersweet chocolate mousse and with a raspberry filling:
That was a delicious dessert: light, not too sweet and very chocolate-y. I surely recommend it. I ate it with an espresso that was quite pricey ($8).
Although it was a bit inconsistent, I liked my lunch at The Russian Tea Room: for $25 we got a good deal and had a decent meal. I should mention the service that was quite good. Would I go back outside of Restaurant Week: probably.
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
Jodi and I got invited to Citi Field for a Bacon and Beer Classic where visitors got an all-inclusive experience: walking through the stadium, sampling craft beer & bacon-inspired treats by local chefs and supporting local charity, Citymeals-on-Wheels.
I admit that, coming from France, I am not really familiar with baseball. It is not a practiced sport there and is mainly known because of movies or TV series like Seinfeld (I know: wrong stadium!).
So, I was anyway excited to learn a bit about baseball and discover the backstage of this sport, as we were allowed to go on the field, under the stadium, in the tunnel, where photos were restricted.
We saw for instance the players' lounge, the gym, the locker room, as well as the press conference room.
After the amazing tour, we went back to the stadium:
I should mention that we sat a bit in the dugout that is the team's bench area:
So, let's talk about food and beverages: they had more than 80 restaurants and breweries, the first ones proposing dishes made with bacon. So I got to try a bit of everything...Here is some of what I tried:
And of course, I got some beer...
So, this was a great event: I may not have learnt much about baseball, but I am now more curious. Food wise, this was fantastic: some dishes like the cupcake from Big Daddy's or the smoked bacon from Strip House were amazing, and I have to say, these restaurants and Chefs showed a lot of creativity, especially the ones serving sweets, proving that you can put bacon everywhere! And the fact that charities benefited from it is definitely a plus.
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
Please note that this event was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
I admit that Persian cuisine is not something that I eat often, having dined to only one Persian restaurant in the city; I went few times though, but not enough to make me a connoisseur of such an exotic cuisine. So I was excited to go there, intrigued by the fusion side of the name.
This small 50 seat restaurant, whose name comes from a Persian princess name, opened a year ago. It is a family business: the owner Amir Raoufi used to work in his sister's restaurants, Ravagh, before deciding to open Parmys with his other sister Mojgan, who is also a Chef.
Menu wise, they specialize mostly in kebabs (meat, seafood or vegetarian), but you can get other dishes such as stews. Before we started, they brought us some bread as well as Persian salsa, made with veggies like carrots, cauliflower and cabbage.
Then, I wanted to try the droogh, a Persian yogurt drink close to an Indian lassi, except that it is made with club soda.
For the entree, Jodi got a koobideh, a minced meat kebab (it was made of beef):
It was served with grilled tomato, grilled onion, radish and basmati rice.
On my side, I got Sultani, that is a combination of barg (marinated sirloin) and koobideh.
This was really good: the meat was flavorful thanks to the spices and herbs used, tender and juicy (the sirloin was perfectly cooked medium). With it, we got some yogurt and mint that I ate with the meat, as well as the rice, that would have otherwise been dry for my taste.
For dessert, we got a sampler:
It was composed of:
Baklava:
Zoolbia:
Bamieh (sort of donut dipped in syrup):
I knew the baklava of course, as it is a dessert present in many cuisines, such as Greek or Turkish, as well as the Zoulbia, equivalent to the jelabi in India or zalabia in North Africa. But I discovered the bamieh that was sublime: it was delightfully sweet, the sugar syrup not only coating the inside, but also present in the inside.
The last dessert we tried was their homemade almond pudding:
It was very good, not too sweet. The only thing I did not really like were the slices of almond that were inside, as they did not give a pleasant texture for me.
We enjoyed our dinner at Parmy where the food was quite good. They have a lunch menu for less than $10 with an appetizer and entree that make it a very affordable experience.
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
Frère de Lys is a French restaurant located on the Upper East Side that discovered last week end. I met with two of the owners of this place Alexis and Thibault Piettre, who before that worked in other restaurants in New York, before fulfilling the dream to open their own restaurant. Their mother was even there and chat proudly about this adventure. I was intrigued by the name as it seems to be a play on fleur de lys (iris flower), a symbol of monarchy in Europe; According to French historian Georges Duby, the three petals represent the medieval social classes: those who worked, those who fought, and those who prayed (source: wikipedia).
Alexis told me that they are not royalist at all, but wanted to celebrate the renaissance period, their renaissance and as he and his brother have a fleur de lys tattooed on their arms, they thought about Frère de Lys as the name to their new adventure, frère meaning brother in French.
Decor wise, it is a simple place with a lot of warmth thanks to the dark wood of the tables, chairs and long banquette, keeping a touch of modernity.
At the entrance is the bar with its bulbs that give a vintage feel.
Then, the dining room, simply decorated.
With of course a photo of an iris in the back.
Menu wise, do not expect to see a bistro type menu: there are no escargots, no confit de canard and no steak frites. There, the menu has classic French dishes, modernized and sometimes changed with an American twist. Know that we were there for a tasting, so the portions were smaller that what is shown on the actual menu. In fact, they were perfect portions for sharing and trying plenty of dishes and, who knows, their menu may include smaller dishes at some point!
Like any good French menu, it started with bread (toasted and served with olive oil) and wine. I got to try two wines:
The first one was a château de la sèlve palissaire 2012:
The second one was a Domaine du Colombier Chinon 2010:
I went for the Chinon.
Then, we chose three appetizers:
Roasted figs and prosciutto, that is one of their best sellers:
The tiny figs were topped with goat cheese and complimented with arugula, all of this drizzled with a house vinaigrette.
I thought it was a nice pairing and I loved the combination of the fig, with its particular texture, and goat cheese. It was definitely a good start.
The next appetizer was smoked eggplant gratin:
It was made with ricotta and a homemade tomato sauce. Considering the way it was prepared, I would more associate this dish to Italian cuisine. It was very good, letting the eggplant be the star of the dish, and it was very comforting.
The last appetizer was the veggie and quinoa tartine:
A tartine is a slice of bread with a spread or ingredients on top. At Frère de Lys, they propose few of them, with for instance prosciutto or smoked salmon. But we decided to go for the veggie and quinoa as we were intrigued by this vegetarian option. What was interesting with this dish is that it was simple: bread, cucumber and quinoa, served with arugula salad on the side. But as simple as it was, it was very good and filling, the cucumber adding a nice cooling and freshness to the dish.
For the entrees, we picked three:
The pan seared chicken, served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, haricots verts (string beans), mushrooms, tarragon and mustard sauce. This was delicious: the chicken was perfectly cooked and moist, and the sauce delightful but not heavy. The mash potatoes were homemade and I truly appreciated the fact that it was not garlic-ey. The haricots verts were interesting: they were crunchy, that is the way veggies are cooked in the US, but not in France, where they would be cooked longer, until very soft, probably in a bit of butter. The two brothers disagree on the way they should be cooked: Alexis prefers the French way (as I do) and Thibault the way they are served.
The second appetizer was the rack of lamb:
It was served also with haricots verts and sweet potato. The lamb was good, but unfortunately a bit overcooked; I did not really care about the red wine reduction that came with it as the meat was still moist. I loved the fact that it was paired with a sweet potato that was simply cooked in the oven before being sliced in half and served: simple and delicious.
The last entree was a vegetarian dish that was definitely a high point: paleo zucchini pasta.
Imagine zucchini shredded like thick pasta, served with an avocado cream sauce. That was a fantastic dish, between the crunchiness of the zucchini to the richness of the avocado. Full of flavors, this is the type of dish that even a carnivore like me would like.
Last was dessert, eaten with a decaf espresso.
We got a sampler that is normally not proposed on the menu (all restaurants should have a sampler - wink, wink!), with the slices of tarts being smaller than usually served.
We got to try:
The flour less chocolate cake:
The pear and rosemary tart:
The grand-mère apple and honey cake:
All the desserts, made on premises, were really good and not too sweet, my favorite being the last one. But I admit that the pear and rosemary was quite surprising as pear is a common ingredient for a tart, but rosemary is not, and there was just enough quantity to give a subtle taste to the tart.
I was ready to go when they propose a glass of mirabelle from Alsace, the region in France where the brothers are from. I could not refuse...
It is an eau de vie, that is a clear fruit-based spirit (made with mirabelle plum in this case) perfect for the digestion.
Although the dishes were not heavy, I needed a walk after that feast: the food was delicious and well presented. The menu, with seasonal dishes is not large, that is perfect as it is better to have a small menu well executed than a large menu poorly made. I truly appreciated the fact that they had vegetarian dishes that did not look or taste like sides, but really like complete dishes that would satisfy anybody and not just vegetarians. I also loved the atmosphere of the restaurant: with its neighborhood feel, it reminded me some of the small joints I used to go to in Paris, where you feel welcome and in a way part of a family. This is of course thanks to the dynamism and warmth of the two brothers, Alexis and Thibault. Frère de Lys is definitely worth a trip to the Upper East Side! Chapeau!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
If you are a fan of the TV show
Cupcake Wars
, you have probably heard about Sprinkles Cupcakes: one of Judges, Candace Nelson, is with her husband Charles, the owner.
It all started in 2005 with the first store that opened in Beverly Hills: they got sold out the first day in three hours and then sold more than 2,000 cupcakes the first week, starting a success story that continues today, with more than 10 locations in the US and projects to open in London and Tokyo.
Sprinkles Cupcakes is also known for the first cupcake ATM in the world, introduced in 2012, where cupcakes are available 24/7. We did not try the ATM and went straight to the store. It was a week day, the week ends being crazy there.
An allusion to the stars on Hollywood Boulevard
As soon as you enter the place, your senses are overwhelmed by an incredible baking smell that make you want to live there. It is a colorful place for sure...
They did not have it in small size, but, after the first bite, no regrets. Even me, who is not a huge fan of coconut, liked it. One thing that I always look for in a cupcake is the ratio frosting / cake, and this one was perfect.
The cake was moist and the frosting not too sweet.
On my side, I decided to try two mini-cupcakes:
Red velvet:
Banana with chocolate frosting:
Same comment there on the ratio frosting / cake: perfect. I was definitely curious to try the red velvet as it is like The Test: like when you go to a French restaurant and they do not know how to make escargots (I have names...). This one was delicious and my comments are valid for all the cupcakes: moist cake and not overly sweet frosting, allowing you to eat many. The banana one was fantastic and the combination banana and chocolate works perfectly.
Sprinkles Cupcakes is, with Butter Lane and Sweet in Hoboken, one of my favorite cupcake places. I am looking forward to going back there or to try their ice cream and cookie store located right next to it. And, by the way, if your dog also loves cupcakes, they have some for her/him that I did not try...yet!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
