skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I know this Maine Lobster Burger from Bryant Park Grill looks pretty good. The alfalfa sprouts, remoulade sauce and haystack fries look freaking amazing.
But I'll tell you what. A lobster burger really pales in comparison to a lobster roll (and a crabcake for that matter). Lobster is so delicate in flavor that any kind of breading just clouds the taste. I'm sure that this one was actually pretty well executed, too. There were chunks of lobster, not a ton of breading and it was pretty well seasoned. The brioche roll was nice and fluffy and fresh. However, even so, it was only okay. It left something to be desired... like more lobster. Next time I'll hold out for the lobster roll.
I almost lost my camera at Olea the other night! Thank god the waitress ran after me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to post about this delicious Mediterranean meal. Olea is a cute, open space on Lafayette Avenue and Adelphi with high ceilings, big windows, and a tavern-like appeal. I'd been here once before for tapas, and found the food to be simple, well-seasoned and fresh. The wine list was also pretty great. After that experience, I couldn't wait to return for a full meal.
We started with Boquerones Marinated White Anchovies served with chopped toasted almonds and celery leaves. These were so good that they were all gone before I realized I forgot to take a picture! I've never had almonds with anchovies -- they added great texture to the fish which was pickled and marinated in a delicious mix of oil and vinegar.
For my main course, I had a special; Pan-Seared Scallops served with a barley-like grain sauteed with roasted red peppers, spinach, and portobello mushrooms. The scallops were amazing! I never really order scallops because I fear there will only be three on the plate and I will leave starving but I decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. These were perfectly seared with a nice crisp exterior and a great buttery flavor inside. The grain mixture was a nice complement; it was much lighter in flavor. The only thing was it was a bit oily in taste. Surprisingly, the dish was kind of filling.
My husband ordered the Roasted Mediterranean Brazino with fingerling potatoes and balsamic glazed cipollini onions. The dipping sauce was a lemony-garlic combo with what we think was parsley. While there were a lot of bones to navigate around, the fish was really well prepared and the sauce was to die for. I didn't try the onions or potatoes, so can't comment on those (but he said both were great).
We shared the Roasted Brussell Sprouts as a side. All I can say is yum.
All in all, a great meal. Really glad this place is only a five-minute walk from our apartment!
Last week was Restaurant Week in Brooklyn. Participating restaurants were offering 3-course Prix Fixe meals for just 23 bucks! With so many choices, it was hard to decide where to go but we settled on Chez Oskar; a neighborhood institution that's had solid reviews and is always full of patrons. I'd say it was a 'nice' experience overall. I wasn't wowed by all 3 courses, but I'd go back again.
The weakest course was my starter. This was a Restaurant Week special so I am not sure what it's called (not on the regular menu). It consisted of blanched leeks with a dijon dressing and a very light cheeze - I think ricotta? It was pretty flavorless.
The entree made up for it! It was a roasted cornish hen over creamy polenta. The flavor was great. The polenta was especially good -- it tasted buttery with a slight hint of cheese.
The Flourless Chocolate Cake was perhaps the highlight. It was more like a mousse -- light in texture and rich in chocolatey flavor. The one criticism is that once you finished the ice cream on the side, it became a little heavy.
So, ratings wise, I would give the meal a B-. That said, I think I just didn't order the right things. My cousin ordered the Lamb Shank, which was pretty amazing served with caramelized onion and potato fennel gratin and my husband ordered the Grilled Salmon served with artichokes, snow peas and oyster mushrooms, which was also good, but not especially memorable.
Despite having passed this storefront dozens of times, I've never known what this great Japanese to-go spot was called until just the other day. I've always just called it the "other Japanese place," that is next to Cafe Zaiya (both of which are half a block from the NY Public Library, Bryant Park). Zaiya is always so much more packed than this place so I've always assumed that it wasn't as good. Wrong assumption! Chiyoda is great -- and could arguably be better! There are some very nice, different options. And the fact that there's actually space to walk around inside makes it even more appealing!
For starters, the Boiled Tofu. Despite the incredibly bland name, this is a deliciously tasty and healthy salad of firm tofu, hijiki, edamame, carrots and some other unidentifiable vegetable -- maybe seaweed? It's seasoned with sesame oil and I assume soy sauce. The hijiki and edamame lend some sweetness to it.
They have "Triangles" here too (just like Zaiya)! The above Triangle, or "Onigiri" is filled with salted salmon -- cooked, not raw). Sticky rice is shaped into a triangle and the whole thing comes wrapped in dry seaweed. Pretty good and you feel really healthy eating it.
Here's what it looks like with the packaging on (more triangular...).
Another Triangle: this is called Hijiki Onigiri. I was intrigued when I first saw this special-looking Triangle. They always look like the salmon one above with the plastic wrapping; but really it's basically sticky rice shaped like a triangle. I let the shape fool me into thinking there might be something hidden inside like the Salmon Onigiri. But alas, no. It wasn't bad though, just kind of plain.
Grand Finale: Shrimp Dumplings! Japanese shrimp dumplings are pretty much like Chinese siu mai, but not as good in my opinion. Overall, I have to say that I prefer any kind of Chinese dumpling to a Japanese dumpling (whether it's shrimp or 'gyoza.'). However, as a lover of all dumplings, if I see them, I get them. These were refrigerated, so they were pretty cold. They were tasty, larger than normal -- a plus, but kind of mushy. The shrimp on top added some nice texture and flavor, though.
So, overall Chiyoda is a solid choice. I've learned the whole 'don't judge a book by it's cover' lesson here... oh, and I think the reason why it seems less crowded is because there's a sit-down restaurant in the back (that looks packed).
Last Sunday around 2pm, we were wandering around for a little bite to eat in the neighborhood and ended up at Kif, a new organic French Morrocan restaurant on Dekalb, near Adelphi. We had stumbled into this place once at night for a drink and while it looked promising, the whole place smelled like fried food, so we quickly left. But this time, it smelled like delicious Morrocan spices. I am so glad we decided to give it a try because what we found was near "perfect bliss. " (Incidentally, upon trying to think of a name for this post, I found out that Kif means cannabis in Morroco, ha -- or in Arabic, perfect bliss.) We had a small, light snack but everything was very well executed.
I had the warm goat cheese salad with beets and oranges. This almost looked too pretty to eat. The goat cheese round was lightly crusted and warm. Inside it was herby and peppery - yum! -- It was almost like Boursin, but tasted fresher and lighter. I was a little concerned that it was way too much goat cheese and would be very heavy, but it really wasn't too bad. While I didn't finish the whole thing, I almost could have because all the other elements, particularly the orange really lightened it up.
My husband had the Chickpea and Lentil Soup, which was also surprisingly light! If you saw my post about eating lentil soup for 4 days, this was nothing like the soup we made. This was more brothy; the chickpeas and lentils were mostly whole. The fresh lemon added a nice zing. So good! It was also served with homemade pita, you can't really see in the above but it's just behind the lemon. There were these little pieces of the fluffiest pita I've ever had that went really well with the salad and the soup.
We ended our snack attack with the Fruit Salad with Yogurt and Mint. I couldn't taste the mint and the description didn't say the yogurt was strawberry-flavored, but that's what it seemed to be. This dish was also really great, all-around! The fruit was all very fresh and ripe. The yogurt was pretty thin and therefore also very light and refreshing.
Overall, a really pleasant experience. The restaurant is really charming; the decor is all-out Morrocan with lots of reflective glass and brass -- in fact the whole bar appears to be brass. It's kind of dark inside unless you get a front-window seat because the space is a few steps below street level. There appears to be a garden in the back though, which looks like it has a lot of potential! Can't wait to go back!
I used to struggle with how pricey fresh-squeezed juice was until my husband brought up the fact that a typical well-drink, pint, or glass of wine is way pricier and that juice is so much better for you (well, except for maybe the red wine). I'm glad he brought this up, otherwise we would have never discovered Urban Spring, an adorable organic juice and snack bar in Fort Greene with the freshest and most satisfying smoothies and juices. Here are our favorites:
Beet, carrot, spinach or Beet, carrot, ginger juice. The dark red color is really beautiful and tastes great.
My fave! The acai-almond comes with pure acai, sprouted almonds, coconut oil, banana, agave nectar, and soymilk. It's super-filling. I've even skipped meals because of it (ok, only once).
By the way, they also serve a bunch of different healthy vegetarian and vegan options that all sound yummy.
Duck confit is #2 on my list of favorite foods. If you've never had duck confit, you have been missing out. What is it? It's duck, typically the leg that has been kept overnight for a couple of days then cooked slowly in it's own rendered fat. When done right, it is phenomenal -- succulent, extremely flavorful, decadent and absolutely delicious. The above is a shot of the duck confit served at Casimir, a lovely boisterous French bistro in the East Village. It comes with a side of garlic roasted potatoes and a frisee and bacon salad. It's a little hit or miss at Casimir -- most of the times it's a hit, but I have to say it was a little dry when I had it last night.
The baguette however was spot-on and so was the Cotes du Rhone...
And the garlic spinach was excellent. Perfectly wilted and seasoned. I forgot to take a picture of the La Pompadour salad, which was perhaps the highlight of the whole meal. It's baby arugula, toasted walnuts, goat cheese and roasted beets in a vinaigrette. Mmm...
I am not a big fan of one-pot meals. Don't get me wrong, if someone were to offer me a bowl of lasagna or mac 'n cheese or some kind of curry stew, (or dumplings of course) I'd eat it and probably love it. But, my favorite way to eat is what I call, "a little this, a little that" -- it's pretty self-explanatory but the idea is that you get to take a couple bites of one thing, then move on to the next. You don't get sick of what you're eating because each bite is like the first all over again. Each bite does not have to be dramatically different from the next, but it should be distinct enough to feel like a new experience. Potlucks, really amazing salad bars, dim sum and tapas fit perfectly into the ALTALT way of eating. More on the others later, the focus here is tapas.
Below is a recent pictorial recording of an awesome tapas meal at Boqueria in Chelsea.
Started with Red Sangria. I typically prefer a nice glass of medium-bodied, smooth, dry red but this was a nice change of pace. Went down a little too easily!
One of the first dishes to arrive: Patatas Bravas (Crispy potatoes, "salsa brava" roasted garlic al i oli). Perfectly crisp potatoes with a light garlic aioli. The "Salsa Brava" was underneath. It added a bit of spice to the dish.
These came next: Datiles con Beicon (Dates stuffed with almonds and Valdeon, wrapped in bacon). We couldn't stop raving about this perfect combination. I didn't realize until just now that they were filled with Valdeon as well as the almond. No wonder they were SO good. My only criticism is that the bacon could have been a little crispier.
The selection of Croquetas Cremosas: Setas, Bacalao y Cochinillo (Creamy Croquettes: Mushroom, Salt Cod, Suckling Pig) and Croquetas de Jamon (Croquette with Spanish Ham) rolled out next (actually I skipped the Tortilla that came in betwen -- the photo didn't come out that well and it was salty and not really a favorite at the table). These were only okay, in my opinion. The mushroom was the best, then the Cochinillo and the Jamon. The salt cod was very fishy and a little too salty. They tasted more baked than fried.
Gambas... oops, I failed to record the name of this gem. When this dish was brought out, the shrimp were somewhat translucent and the platter was sizzling. We assumed they were supposed to cook from the residual heat of the platter but as the dish cooled the shrimp didn't appear to have fully cooked, so we had to have them reheated. When the shrimp were brought back out they were fantastic. They rivaled the dates as a favorite at the table. The sauce was AMAZING -- really garlicky with hot peppers and shrimp stock; particularly good for bread-dipping.
The Coles de Bruseles (Pan-roasted brussel sprouts, chorizo) were also delicious and perfectly-cooked.
A very unique combo: the Bocata de ... not sure what this was called as it was a special, featured pickled anchovies, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and an olive tapenade, I think. I personally loved these but one person from our party was not a fan. Anchovies are such a love 'em or leave 'em kind of thing. We actually also got a really good sardine dish that came breaded on a bed of white beans. Yum, but not stand-out.
This was a special -- I can't recall what it was called, but the "square" was suckling pig with a very crispy skin. The meat was really tender, almost like a pulled pork. This was served with artichoke hearts and wild mushrooms -- both deliciously tender and buttery.
By the way, at this point I was wishing I had worn elastic waistband pants! I was SO full, but everything was really good so I couldn't stop... and up next was dessert.
Our waiter told us that Churros con Chocolate (Traditional fried dough, thick hot chocolate) were a favorite, so we ordered these. They were good, but nothing compared to the grand finale below.
The creme de la creme: Torriya y Helado (Carmelized "Spanish toast," goat's milk ice cream). Wow. I am not really a dessert person but this was freaking fantastic. It was essentially French toast, but probably the best French toast I've ever had. The exterior had a crispy caramelized sugar coating and the interior was incredibly fluffy. Even the way it smelled -- all cinnamon-y and vanilla-y was amazing. And the goat cheese ice cream was the perfect accompaniment, though I barely noticed it next to the toast.
At the end of the meal, I felt so incredibly full. Perhaps I should rename this post, A Lot of This, A Lot of That...
I know this Maine Lobster Burger from Bryant Park Grill looks pretty good. The alfalfa sprouts, remoulade sauce and haystack fries look freaking amazing.
