Which would you start with? The TKO (Thomas Keller's "Original" take on the Oreo) or the enormous Nutter Butter?

Posted by Kim at 02:47 PM | Permalink

I wish I had had a chance to sit down and have something to eat here, although I suspect the desserts are a bit too precious for my taste. I did pick up one of their award-winning chocolate cupcakes and the best reason to pop by for a quick chocolate fix: the mini miso choko cake. The size of a mini muffin, these little cakes have sunken centers and a moist, fudgy texture. At $2 it's a perfect sweet bite.

The cupcake was good, too, with a crunchy outside and a moist, tender crumb.

Posted by Kim at 01:49 PM | Permalink

I have Windsor-specific food memories from growing up there: krautburgers (baked dough pockets filled with cabbage and ground beef) during the harvest festival parade, the sharp vinegar soaking into the mild, sweet white buns of the Italian subs we always got from the local pizza place, the green chile from The Border. But it was a tiny town; there wasn't anyplace to go in Windsor on date night. We'd go over to Fort Collins for that. But now Windsor has at least two places to go for a date meal.

One's a Hawaiian restaurant, if you can imagine: Okole Maluna Hawaiian Grill. When I heard that I imagined Spam and pineapple. But this was almost like a Japanese restaurant, with spare, elegant dishes. Todd started with the black bean soup, which was actually a broth-based soup with a couple of red beans and small disks of a Portugese sausage that gave the whole bowl with a sweet, meaty flavor. I had a soba salad with shredded romaine, and Todd went for the barbecued pork. Believe it or not, this was elegant, too. Two domes of sticky rice and a pile of smokey, shredded meat. He was disappointed because he was hoping for something from his childhood, a barbecued pork he got from a Hawaiian that came in chunks in a "dry-ish sauce" (I don't know). But he loved the soup and the Haupia, a coconut cream dessert that was like a flan or panna cotta with pulverized coconut.

At the other place, Chimney Park Bistro, they go so far to serve local, seasonal ingredients that they actually had a couple of Colorado wines on the menu. I tried a Reisling from the Delta area, and it was citrusy and sweet, good for one glass but maybe a bit too sweet for more. Local also meant smoked trout on a deconstructed Waldorf with endive and buffalo instead of beef in the hamburger. The other highlight was the trio of creme brulees. The flavors change every few days and if you can guess all three, the dessert's on them. We didn't even come close: the first one tasted like eggnog, so we guessed nutmeg (the server said it was cinnamon, but I still don't believe it); the second one was chai. The third one was ethereal and familiar, kind of tart but with these crazy nuances I couldn't pin down. Lots of people had been guessing lemon, which was Todd's guess, but it was pink peppercorn. Had I ever had pink peppercorn? It was so familiar.

Posted by Kim at 10:34 AM | Permalink

Thursday I made a quick trip into Manhattan just to try Lassi, the Indian snack-food shop, and I found something there worth hauling 31 pounds of stroller and infant up and down subway stairs for. DO NOT order a small lassi, unless you're planning to try one of every flavor. I had the cardamom, and I have to figure out how to make it here at home. How do they make it sweet? I think they use ground-up whole cardamom pods because there were chewy, tiny fibrous pieces at the bottom. I slurped them right up less than a block from the store.

I also had a cauliflower paratha, which was not quite what I was expecting. It was kind of chewy, doughy and moist. But spicy (not hot) and yummy. Thinking back on it I'd like another. It came with a yogurt sauce with what seemed like tiny chickpeas in it.

Posted by Kim at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I went to a new place here in Forest Hills today, and it should have been a nice lunch with the in-laws. But the place was Cami's, which apparently doesn't keep the ingredients stocked for about half the stuff on their somewhat-limited lunch menu. When my father-in-law tried to order a Cuban sandwich, he was told, "We don't have Cubans." The way the waitress said it it almost sounded like he was demanding something they didn't offer on the menu.

Then my sandwich, a roasted vegetable sandwich with smoked gouda and eggplant spread, came with no cheese and drizzled with pesto. When I asked about the cheese the hostess (owner?) came over and told me that it was a spread of gouda and eggplant. Then why is it green? Thin? Oily? No sign that it is made of eggplant, which is not green, and cheese, which is also not green? I can't help but feel that I was being lied to in a very bald-faced and offensive way.

If I wasn't being lied to, though, I have to say that a smoked gouda and eggplant spread, which may be kind of a good idea in abstract, does not work at all in practice at Cami's, where it is not thick and brown and smokey but much too much like pesto.

So disappointing, because I was looking for a nice place to spend my lunchtimes.

Posted by Kim at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Don't make the mistake I did. The rose flavored chocolate chip cookie sounded so enticing I had to go overboard and get the rose ice cream sandwich: rose petal ice cream from Il Laboratorio gelato between two of Ruby et Violette's rose cookies. The problem was that it had to be cold, which my companions and I decided dulled the rose taste. It certainly was more pronounced by time I reached the end of the sandwich, and what an odd and ethereal taste it was.

The cookies themselves are medium circumference, thick, soft and chewy (too soft in Todd's opinion) with big, soft chunks of chocolate. We tried three other chocolate-chip cookie flavors: Todd got Champagne and strawberries, which contained big, chewy dried strawberries, and espresso, which was flatter than all the rest and had chips of espresso bean and the most overpowering, wake-me-up aroma. The one I liked the best was dulce du leche; each bite melts into caramel in your mouth. I'd haul August in the stroller all the way over to (almost) 10th Avenue again to get another one of those.

Posted by Kim at 10:07 AM | Permalink

I'd forgotten what it's like to go out on a Friday night. Thursday night was always date night for Todd and me pre-baby, so much so that while I was riding in to meet Todd for dinner last night I wondered if I we would show up and not have a reservation because I'd made it for Thursday. Anyway, we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table at The Red Cat, with frequent assurances from the hostess that it would only be a couple of minutes. So nice. And that set the tone for the whole evening. I thought the waiter would be snooty, but he was nice, too.

I took a big risk here and ordered the liver, which I had never had. I figured if I was going to like liver, it would be liver prepared at a place like this, so I went for it. The waiter told me if I didn't like it they'd bring me something else, but you know what? I'm all about appetizers, desserts and sides. Usually the main dish is the most boring part of the meal. So I wasn't too nervous. And even though the unctuous, silky-sweet liver was too much (I liked the crisp edges, though), I really enjoyed the meal.

It helped that it started with a hearty dish, their salad of bitter greens. I know it sounds light, but their salad is served on top of a pool of gruyere fondue, with wonderful wedges of salty potato, diced apples and bacon. I could've stopped there. I saw one table sharing it.

The liver came with broccoli rabe and tomatoes with olives and capers. The bitter greens actually didn't seem to go very well with the sweet liver, but it was yummy. Todd had the most boring-sounding dish, roast chicken, but they literally spice it up with some Thai chiles. I don't know how they did it, but the skin was crispy and the meat was flavorful.

They have some fancy desserts and some wonderfully homey ones. We ended with the rocky road sundae, caramel ice cream with hot fudge, candied walnuts and homemade marshmallows. I wanted the cookie plate, which is served with a mini milkshake. There was also an almond panna cotta that sounded good, but the rhubarb dessert, their special, was rhubarb-raspberry ice cream sandwich, with the bread part made of pistachio meringue. Sounded a little froofy, so we went the comfort-food route.

Posted by Kim at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We ventured out with the baby in his new stroller last weekend, to the Dahesh museum near the IBM atrium in midtown. They have an exhibit of early photography right now, more sociological than artistic, although there were a couple of great photographs by unknown photographers. The permanent collection at the museum is really small and even on a Saturday afternoon there weren't a lot of people there, which made it good for a couple with a stroller child.

On the second floor overlooking Madison Avenue is Cafe Opaline, which serves an afternoon tea as well as sandwiches, pizzas and salads. Some of the dishes seem to have a Mediterranean bent, then there's basic dishes, like my crab salad, which was undressed crab meat arranged on a plate with avocado cubes, capers and mixed greens in radicchio cups. Sounded much better than it ended up being, mainly because there was no seasoning or dressing on the crab or avocado. Looking around the table at others' plates gave me the impression that's common. The banana bread pudding I had, with ice cream, was mushy but delicious, if only the baby had let me enjoy it fully (2 hours in a museum plus 2 hours at lunch was too much to ask of him).

But the setting was beautiful and the teas were fragrant and wonderful. I think I'd like to try their tea service sometime. And off hours there was plenty of space for our stroller, although the service was pretty bad in the late afternoon, too.

Posted by Kim at 07:46 AM | Permalink

OK. I'm reading a review of The Red Cat, where I've always wanted to go, on Words to Eat By, and I'm suddenly desperate. Are there any wonderfully interesting restaurants in NYC where I won't get dirty looks for bringing a stroller? I just had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and while I love their chopped salads, with the perfect distribution of ingredients and dressing (and available in half sizes!), it's certainly nothing to brag on. I hear Schiller's is very kid-friendly, and I read a review of Lupa written by a man who always takes his young daughter there, but what about babies? Anyone recommend someplace?

Posted by Kim at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Poor Todd. He's been working really hard, late the last two nights and then full days this weekend, and I'M the one who feels put-upon about it. Being left alone with a 6-week-old baby all day and then also during those evening witching hours when all babies turn from pumpkins to wailing terrors made me as hysterical as our son. (I think we just get kind of sick of each other.) Anyway, this is on my food blog instead of the baby blog because Todd brought me a present to make up for it. Two presents.

Ninth Avenue near his office has become quite the culinary mecca, and there's a branch of the Little Pie Company nearby. So I got not one little pie, but two: a sour-cream apple pie (sorry there's no picture, but we ate it fast) and a cherry. A thirty-second nuke gets the underlayer of the brown sugar and walnut topping on the former a little gooey and warms the paper-thin apples coated in sour cream. I'm glad Todd chose the apple because it's one I've wanted to taste for a while. It's so rich that a quarter of the (maybe 6-inch?) pie was plenty.

Haven't dug into the cherry yet, so I'll have to report back when we do.

Posted by Kim at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So this is where I find myself. The only place I've eaten out in the last month was Pizzeria Uno, which is just a 10 minute walk from my apartment. The saddest thing about that is I really enjoyed it, in a notch-above-diner-food sort of way. Their fish-and-chips is pretty good (is that sacrilege?), with a thick, crunchy crust and moist, white, bland fish underneath. I had chicken breast stuffed with spinach, broccoli and some kind of gooey white cheese.

There's a soft spot in my heart for desserts at these chain restaurants. Sometimes you don't want some fusty, pretty little dessert, but instead a made-in-America over-the-top confection. Hot fudge sauce and piles of whipped cream are always included. This one was a giant, flat, warm, soft chocolate chip cookie topped with ice cream and the aforementioned accoutrements. Yum.

I have an excuse for this state, though: my new baby. I haven't been willing to go far from him yet, and I don't know how I feel about taking him to a restaurant. But I am determined that this isn't the end of good eating for me. It's just going to be more of an effort.

Posted by Kim at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Todd and I spent the weekend at the Park Central hotel and had a really nice five-course dinner in their restaurant, Cafe New York. All the food was good, but something I must, must, MUST learn to reproduce at home was the banana-chocolate French toast with maple ice cream. It was actually a slice of bread pudding, toasted on both sides and served with the ice cream. Seems like a lot of flavors going on at once but they all worked well together.

I also loved a berry soup that I started with there the night before. It was hardly sweet at all, and kind of fizzy with a sharp finish that makes me think it was made with sparkling wine or soda. Sprinkled with mint so every few bites would be a little different, with that fresh, clean mint flavor. I think there was cream in there, too.

Posted by Kim at 05:00 PM | Permalink

Since its churros and hot chocolate were reviewed somewhere last winter, I have wanted to go to Noche. The pros and cons kept see-sawing me, though. The reviews weren't so good. It's just down the block from my office. It's loud, dance-clubbish, not my kind of restaurant. It serves a cuisine I love. It's in Times Square. It's right in front of me when I desperately need to use the bathroom and am kind of hungry, too.

The last one finally drove me into Noche Thursday night with Todd, and I'm glad it did. Gotta say, Todd was not thrilled when he looked at the menu. There's a ton of seafood on the menu and a whole section of ceviche, which limited his choices a lot. He doesn't like corn, which narrowed it even further. He was going to have mole chicken (doesn't really like mole) when I directed him to the braised short ribs over a sweet corn arepa. Whew! What a relief when it arrived. The ribs were a fully-2-inch thick slab of tender, flavorful meat over a few crosswise bones.

With my tiny stomach capacity I just ordered an appetizer, skewers of shrimp, steak and chorizo (which Todd also loved). Two of each, with just a couple bites of steak and chorizo and one jumbo shrimp per skewer. There were greens in the middle of the plate, but they seemed to be drenched in oil, so I skipped them (and why eat greens when you can have meat!). Also ordered yucca fries, which came in thick slabs topped with chimichurri sauce. They were kind of like potatoes, if potatoes had a grain like a piece of wood. But not really fiberous. I actually craved them again this morning.

And we finished the meal with the churros I had wanted for so long, warm, long, grooved doughnuts that were fried in a loop and coated with cinnamon and sugar. The chocolate dipping sauce was dark and rich, and the dulche de leche, while lighter and thinner than I thought it would be, tasted so good, almost creamy, with the cinnamon.

Everyone was super-nice (because it's Times Square?), especially the waiter who answered all my pregnancy food-safety questions without a hint of annoyance. He actually acted interested in the eating habits of pregnant women. The place is huge, with at least three open upper floors and a winding staircase (but also an elevator). Seemed a good place to accommodate a large group.

Posted by Kim at 09:50 AM | Permalink

We went to a new place near Todd's office last night, HK, over on 9th Avenue near Port Authority. It brought up a couple of questions I have about NYC restaurants.

Why skimp on the pita? We ordered an appetizer of dips, hummus, tzatziki and baba ganoush, and when we got it there were ample portions of the dips but just four little triangles of pita. This is not the only place this crime has been committed. I was eating the baba ganoush with a fork because it tasted so good to me, really eggplanty if eggplant were sweet.

Also, what's the appeal of eating dinner alfresco along 9th Avenue? The stretch from my office at 50th down to where we were last night is always clogged with honking, exhaust-spewing angry drivers trying to get to the Lincoln Tunnel. This place has a wall lined with something like glass garage doors so they can open the whole place up to the side street, where trucks continuously rumble by. I've got to say, though, that there's something lovely in the sight of New Yorkers basking in the fumes and noise while enjoying a bowlful of mussels or a salad.

And why tout that you're serving Haagen-Dazs on your menu? In Kim's fantasy world, every nice place would have industrial ice-cream makers to churn up their own. I used to hate that restaurant desserts always featured ice cream, but I find that it's often my favorite part. Chefs manage to get such fabulous flavors in there. Of course, I still ordered some of the Haagen-Dazs. It's not transporting, but it's still yummy.

This is not to say I didn't like eating there. It was noisy and seemed a little more focused on decor than food, but what we ate was tasty, and not too pricey. I had seared tofu with spinach and mushrooms in a mushroomy sauce, and it was pretty good. We'll probably go back since it is so close to Todd's office.

Posted by Kim at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We had some things to celebrate last night, so we went to Stella for dinner. I think the biggest draw for that place, and their smartest move, is all the snacks they bring out before you even order. We got olives, cured meats, thin little snappy breadsticks, focaccia, bread and a pizza-like thing. My coworkers love to drink in the bar because you get the same assortment of snacks as long as you have a drink in your hand. The place is huge, so there's more likely to be room, too.

After all that we split a fritto misto, which was fine. They have a lot of salads, carpaccios, pizzas. But my entree was really fantastic: rosemary and lamb tortelli with pine nuts and prunes. It's not a very big plate, but it's full, and the dish is so rich that they could really get away with giving you about half. I chose that over calves liver with polenta or porcini pappardelle.

We didn't get to dessert because we were both stuffed. (The lamentable thing about the growing uterus is the crowded belly; I reach this sudden wall where, oops, I'm full, and I can't even fit in a spoonful of gelato. It usually happens at dinner, after I've grazed all day.) It looked like the usual suspects, though: tiramisu, a panna cotta, berries, etc. That's not to say it's not good. (It also reminds me of that lovely buttermilk panna cotta I made once, which would be perfect for the hot weather. Yum.)

Posted by Kim at 05:30 AM | Permalink

The last time I was on the Fresh Direct web site, they no longer had YS knishes available, but one of my coworkers, Julie, recently went to the bakery and says that experience far improves upon a warmed-over knish. Here's what she says:

I grew up in New York City, and have had a few Yonah Schimmel knishes over the years, but I had never eaten at the bakery before. My husband, David, and I decided to stop by for a quick dinner a few weeks ago before heading to a movie at the Sunshine theater next door. I’m so glad we did, because eating a freshly baked knish runs circles around picking one up at a deli and eating it reheated. I ordered a sweet potato knish, which at first I thought sounded strangely unorthodox, but the waitress convinced me by telling me it was her favorite. My husband ordered the cheddar cheese knish. We also shared a bowl of split pea soup, and, of course, a Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda. The soup was yummy, thick and satisfying. But the star of the experience was the sweet potato knish. It arrived piping hot, with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. It was so tender...and was sweet and savory at the same time, made with both sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. And onions.

Since eating at Yonah Schimmel’s (which I recommend as a New York experience even if you don’t order a knish, as it’s been there since 1910 and looks that way), I have thought about the sweet potato knish now and then, so when Kim came into work and handed me the container from Fresh Direct, I was excited but also sad she wasn’t feeling well enough to eat it. Kim, I’m thrilled you’re feeling a bit better now, and when I place my first order with Fresh Direct (we live in the same neighborhood and have been anticipating its arrival together), I’ll order a Yonah Schimmel’s sweet potato knish and bring it to work for you.

Posted by Kim at 02:18 PM | Permalink

Since I haven't been feeling well, one of my coworkers, Meghann, agreed to contribute this review:

Working one office down from Kim, and a regular lunch buddy, I get to hear about her culinary adventures on a regular basis. I love to cook myself, but since I live with two other girls and share a tiny kitchen, most of my food experiences are in restaurants around the city. I'll make my own crême brulées one day, but for now my sweet tooth is getting quite a fix from a few soul/southern food restaurants that I'm reviewing as a freelance assignment.

At Kitchenette Uptown, the Harlem outpost (up-post?) of the TriBeCa restaurant, our coworker Robb and I got to celebrate his 30th birthday with three sweet courses in a row. He had potato pancakes with crunchy apple compote and sour cream, buttermilk-soaked honey glazed fried chicken, and tart cherry pie for dessert. My goat-cheese, beet, walnut and apple salad wasn't overly fancy, and tasted as if the South had appropriated the dish, upping the sweetness of the vinaigrette and throwing in extra walnuts for good measure. For a main dish, I had roast chicken with apple stuffing, buttery wilted swiss chard and mac and cheese, and then went for the peanut-butter chocolate pie. I wouldn't normally order this much food, but I had to order a variety of things on the menu for the review. I'm glad I had an excuse, though, because this was definitely a case of eyes bigger than stomach. Luckily the restaurant sat at the bottom of a hill that I had to walk up to get to the subway at 125th street, a bit of exercise after a big, wonderful meal.

Thanks Meghann.

Posted by Kim at 08:01 AM | Permalink

Todd's birthday was Wednesday, and he chose Les Halles (on Park Ave South) for dinner. I think it's because he read Kitchen Confidential recently and was curious to see the place Bourdain wrote so much about. It's funny because if we had given it any real thought the Les Halles in our imaginations would have matched the real one, but we both imagined something less dark, crowded and noisy. We were both game, though, and really grew to like the liveliness.

Our drinks were ho-hum, but we split an order of smoked herring and potato salad to start that was my favorite part of the meal. It was one whole smoked herring fillet, draped over four big chunks of boiled potato. The herring was not flakey, but had the texture of tough cold-smoked salmon. At first Todd said the texture bordered on revolting, but he grew to like it. The best part was that the potatoes get covered in all that smokey olive oil from the fish, the excess of which I mopped up with the good bread.

I almost wish I had stopped there, simply because I was so full after eating my main course that I could hardly enjoy dessert. I ordered merguez and frites. The four lamb sausages were very unevenly seasoned from link to link: the cumin and heat of the first one overwelmed any other flavor, but the second link was more mildly seasoned, and benefitted from the spicy harissa served with. Good fries and a few greens that offered a cool break from the heat of the lamb. Todd's steak (a NY strip, I think) was so sweet and tender, with a pronounced beefy flavor, like a good hamburger on the grill. (Is it depressing that I think his steak tasted like hamburger? I don't mean it that way.).

Chocolate-banana cake for dessert, which I would've enjoyed more had my tastebuds recovered from my main dish. Happy Birthday, Todd! I hope you enjoyed it.

Posted by Kim at 09:58 AM | Permalink

Todd and I went here late Saturday afternoon, for some wine, salumi and sandwiches. I really love their menu, especially if I'm with someone who's just willing to graze on starters and maybe split a sandwich. I have to admit that I've never had a main plate here because I'm always too full on the other stuff (never had dessert here, either, which is really sad because a couple of the desserts looked remarkable).

Todd started with a New York State microbrew that he really enjoyed, and the waitress suggested a glass of German weisser burgunder for me: clear, crisp, hardly sweet at all with a full flavor and a nice bite at the end. We had a salumi assortment and really liked the coppa, hot soppressata and speck.

When Todd ordered the hen of the woods sandwich, I was at a loss. Clearly he's thinking he's ordering some kind of fowl, not a deceptively named fungus. What should I have done? I said, "Oh, I thought you didn't like mushrooms," which Todd said was snotty (my word, not his). I guess I should have waited until he had a mouthful and said, "Oh, by the way, hen of the woods is a mushroom," and laughed and laughed as he spit the offending bite into his napkin and gargled with his microbrew.

I had a tuna sandwhich, which involved three slices of crustless pullman white and two layers of not-white tuna dressed minimally, with just capers and pickled onions. It was very good and, with the right tuna, easily reproducable at home, I would think. That's what I love about this place: really good ingredients.

Posted by Kim at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When I was thinking about writing about our visit to Q, A Thai Bistro, I realized the two dishes I really wanted to mention, Todd's whole roasted sea bass and the cabernet-pear tart we shared for dessert, don't really seem very Thai. Although maybe roasting a fish whole is a traditional Thai preparation. I'm not sure. It was an impressive presentation, though. (I was a little jealous.) The fish had crispy skin and came with a hot and sweet garlic sauce.

The cabernet-pear tart was interesting. The cabernet part seemed to be a thin layer of cabernet gelatin on top of the tart, which consisted of a dense almond-flavored cake with chunks of pear. I'm intrigued by the possibility of making wine-flavored gelatin. Maybe I'll look for recipes, or experiment. Not entirely sure it's a great idea, but who knows?

Anyway, it seems odd to be able to drop this much money on Thai food in my neighborhood. It's a nice place, but it still seems a little pricey (which is probably why we haven't been there more than twice).

Posted by Kim at 03:13 PM | Permalink

Julie and I went to Amy's Bread on 9th Avenue yesterday during lunch just to get in a walk to enjoy the nice weather. She bought lunch, I bought a loaf of French bread, then I ordered an oatmeal cookie that had been calling to me while I waited for Julie to get her sandwich.

The woman who was waiting on us (we thought she might be Amy) recommended these lime-cornmeal cookies that I had also been eyeing; it didn't take much convincing for me to switch my order. The yellow cookie was about 3 inches in diameter and rounded like a drop cookie, with just enough lime glaze to deliver a burst of sweet tartness with each bite. The rustic, coarse texture was soft in the center and kind of crunchy on the edges. The cookie part was not very sweet at all, which was a perfect balance for that glaze, and had flecks of lime zest throughout. We both liked it, and Julie kept mentioning it all afternoon.

Posted by Kim at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Todd had suckling pig at Bar Pitti last night, and it was like nothing I had ever tasted before. The meat was so white and mild, and the texture was so soft, almost like it wasn't even meat. I can't come up with a way to describe it; maybe like biting into a bread dough that you've just finished kneading. It made me a little sad, though, because it was so clearly young flesh. It's odd; I don't have the same qualms about veal.

I have to say, too, that this is one of the most welcoming restaurants I've eaten at. The waiter was friendly and casual, and explained everything in detail. Two of our party were about an hour late and had told us to go ahead and eat without them. The restaurant needed the table we were at for a party with reservations and seemed a little anxious about serving our friends, but they were very apologetic and nice about it.

Posted by Kim at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We called too late to get reservations to the Biltmore Room on Saturday night for my birthday, so we found ourselves there, in a cozy, intimate room at 9:30 on Sunday night. The fireplace had a fire in it, and couples sat side-by-side at tables along the wall, talking low with their heads together. Midway through our meal the staff had begun cleaning up to close, but we felt leisurely, comfortable, and our waiter never rushed us a bit. I liked it. I may get in the habit of having dinner late on a weeknight.

Oh, and the food was good, too. Todd's starter was quail with a pumpkin risotto that had a rich, smokey-ham flavor. Out of curiosity I ordered stuffed squash blossom, which was a strange choice for a January dinner, a light and crispy fried blossom (much bigger than I thought it would be) stuffed with crab and served with corn and avocado.

The main courses we ordered were really the highlights, though (I'm starting to think that's as it should be). Todd had cocoa-dusted venison, and I feel like I tasted allspice in there, too. I had spiced duck breast, served medium-rare with port-braised figs. I love duck, at least in the incarnations I've had it. We split the warm pear financier, and the ginger ice cream that accompanied it was still a knockout. I said I'm going to have to try to replicate it, and Todd looked at me mournfully and reminded me that I'm not so good at making ice cream. (I just think I need practice.)

Anyway, it was good; we were very happy. It'd be nice if they changed their menu, maybe seasonally. But we're officially fans now (Todd, too).

Posted by Kim at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Chain or no, Cafe Spice is one of my favorite Indian restaurants. It has an open kitchen, too, so while we waited we watched them cook, roasting meats on skewers, scooping thin dosa off the cooktop. Their lunch is a pretty good deal. Yesterday Todd and I ate and had drinks for $31 with tip. I had the South Indian lunch special, which had some familiar and some not-so-familiar items on it. One of the most pleasant surprises was the idli.

Idli are fairly bland cakes (almost like cornbread) shaped like little UFOs and made from ground rice, dal and water. I was actually pretty sure I wasn't going to finish them until I dipped them in the bowl of sambar, a spicy broth that had chiles, tomatoes and eggplant in it. It soaked the flavorful juice right up and turned out to be a great way to eat it.

The special also included a mini potato dosa, a crepe-type bread filled with curried potatoes, onions and cashews. The coconut chutney, a smooth puree, had this wonderful, milky-watery coolness, like really freshly made mozzarella has (it was awesome with the dosa).

The third item on the platter, my least favorite, was uttapam topped with onions and peppers. It turned out to look kind of like little pizzas made out of pancakes. Still OK, but not as great as the other two.

Posted by Kim at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The weather was sunny, cold, with a frigid wind (but not as cold as it had been the two previous days). The company was Todd and two friends who moved to Minnesota a few months ago and who had some big news. The place was Pigalle, a French bistro that's just two blocks down from my office. All these elements came together to take me out of my day Friday, to forget about the office and the cold and the things I don't like about my life for a while.

Tucked into a table along the back wall, we had a view of the big, bright room lined with windows and mirrors. We almost all ordered bistro standards: fragrant onion soup with a thick layer of melted cheese on top and bread soaking up the broth, a thick, fluffy omelet, steak frites (and one order of ravioli that looked great). I had a frisee salad with lardons and a poached egg on top. Happy, happy, happy.

I have to get back to try the onion soup. It smelled awesome. And it's easy to see myself stopping in there for lunch one day, alone with my magazine without feeling ill-at-ease, for a warming crockful.

Posted by Kim at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's amazing how good food can make up for a host of ills. After our meal at Divane last night I made a trip to the restroom. It turned out to be nicely designed, with one stall and three women squeezed into the tiny room in front of me. Plus it was about 30 degrees warmer than the dining room. The sauna-like temperature and the good meal made all the women talkative, so we chatted and laughed as we waited, complaining about the cold dining room and the scatty service (two different waitresses were trying to take our orders, and they were a little too aggressive about drinks and starters, which there were only four of, including salad, hummus, spicy lamb pita and something else).

The bad: the aformentioned service, the cold (which they couldn't do much about, it was 10 below outside), the vinegary-tasting shiraz that was their house red.

The good: the donor kebab with yogurt. There were three piles on a huge platter. To the left was a salad of sliced onion, cilantro and peppers. To the right, a shredded carrot salad that was really good, with a hint of something acidic but not enough for me to identify it (lemon juice?), and big round slices of some kind of watery-tasting radish. In the center was a huge pile of thinly sliced lamb with hot sauce and yogurt. Under the lamb, swimming in the yogurt and sauce, were these spongy, chewy squares that I couldn't identify until Todd said they were toasted pita, and then it was obvious (a great texture).

About $45 for two main courses and two drinks, but you could almost get away with just a starter and one main for two (I took home more of my dinner than I ate at the restaurant). I thought I didn't really like lamb until I tried this; it had a hint of that lamby-gamey taste, but just enough to be nice. Good stuff.

Posted by Kim at 12:12 PM | Permalink

This Vietnamese restaurant is at 9th Avenue and 20th Street, so it's relatively close to the Charles Cowles gallery, where we went last night to shake hands with a photographer Todd really likes, Edward Burtinsky (I really like him, too, but Todd's the photo junkie). I'd never had Vietnamese before so it seemed like a good time to try it.

The place isn't well-marked (in fact, I never found the name of the place anywhere on the storefront), but I had read somewhere that it was the shop with palm trees or ferns or something out front, which is how we identified it. It's kind of too cool for us, with an entirely glass front, waitstaff all in black and a little square pot of live grass and candles on every table, but the staff didn't come across as haughty or anything. We arrived around 7 and it was about 1/3 full, but by the time we left they were busy.

The wine I had, a riesling-type white, was sharp and flavorful, perfect for the spicy food. I had barbecued pork, which came in a bowl of brothy sauce, with piles of lettuce and thin noodles on the side. I don't know how I was supposed to eat it, but I ate the pork, sometimes with the lettuce, then dipped the noodles in the sauce left in the bowl (the sauce was really good, salty and meaty). We also split an order of tuna summer rolls with cilantro and a salty, spicy dipping sauce.

Looked at the dessert menu, but nothing sounded quite enticing enough. I kind of wanted to try ginger flan, because it sounded kind of odd, but Todd wanted the chocolate mousse cake (boring) so we opted for nothing. (He said whatever I wanted was fine, but I really wasn't that interested. What a shock.)

Posted by Kim at 03:08 PM | Permalink

The last week in January is Restaurant Week, where participating restaurants around the city serve $20.04 prix fixe lunches and $30.04 dinners. I'm not a huge fan of prix fixe to begin with, and I've had some not-so-good Restaurant Week lunches. Maybe it's the places I've chosen. I know I had a great meal at Molyvos, but it wouldn't have cost me a whole lot more to just pay the a la carte prices. Are there good meals to be had during Restaurant Week? Are there places you can go where you don't feel like a schmuck for order the prix fixe? Is it too late to get a reservation at said places?

A lot of times the dishes just seem kind of assembly line to me, more so than usual. I've gotten so I don't even participate anymore. The winter Restaurant Week usually happens just before my birthday, and I tend to view that as a hassle; I have this idea that reservations are more difficult to get because of it.

Posted by Kim at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Have you ever had hot zabaglione? I actually thought it sounded kind of strange, a sauce made of egg yolks, sugar and marsala. It's whipped in a round-bottomed zabaglione pan (or the top of a double boiler) over gently boiling water until cooked. I was expecting something like custard, but it's much airier and tastes strongly of the wine. Palmira's serves it alone in a small wine glass, as well as with chocolate gelato with fruit. I had it alone last night when we ate here, which was the perfect introduction to it. It was a great way to squeeze in dessert after a big meal.

The proprietors' daughter, Jennifer Desmond, had sent me some menus, and there were a number of appetizers, salads and desserts I wanted to try (including the zabaglione), but I actually ended up liking the entrees we had the best (granted, we didn't give them much chance to show off with the starter, since we order antipasti, which was good). We both ordered specials. Mine was rigatoni with duck ragu, which was exactly what I had been shooting for when I made ragu: super-rich, with this deep, meaty flavor. Todd had branzino, which seems to be their fish of choice, with oranges, tomatoes(?) and olives (very adventurous of Todd, but he really liked it). Todd doesn't usually like sweets except for dessert, but the flavors of the sauce were so well-balanced, the oranges were more acidic with just a hint of sweetness, cutting through the briney olives.

I never would have found the restaurant on my own, but it's actually pretty easy to get to once you know it's there, especially if you're already downtown: one stop into Brooklyn on the 2 or 3 train, then get off at Clark Street and it's right around the corner, 41 Clark Street. The location kind of illustrates one of the strange things about New York: You can be so easy to get to, but if you're not right on a main street with lots of foot traffic, it's hard to fill seats. Palmira's is pretty big, with two main dining areas (they do host lots of parties, especially this time of year), and on a Thursday night it felt kind of empty. It seemed reasonably priced (we would have spent about $100 for antipasti, wine, beer, entrees, two desserts and coffee) with pretty good food. Everyone's friendly there, the service is good, the dining area is comfortable, which makes it feel like a neighborhood place that's still looking for its neighborhood.

Posted by Kim at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I keep forgetting to mention that we went to Daisy May's last week. I work at 50th and Broadway, so it's a bit of a trek, but Todd was at Javits for a photo show so I met him over there for lunch.

I guess I've been holding off on writing this up because I don't know what to say. Todd was very unhappy with his meal and the price, but I think he's being unreasonable. (He's a Virgil's fan.)

Three things I can say: There's no seating, so take it to go or eat standing up at a built-in ledge along the window (which didn't bother me); it's a lot of food, so you could get by for two people sharing one order of barbecue ($8) and a couple of small sides ($3 each); it's a great option, the best I know of, when you're trapped over at Javits for the day. Oh, and go for the ribs; even I wasn't all that impressed with the pulled-pork sandwich Todd ordered.

But I liked the dry-rubbed ribs I had. They were this great texture, really pretty firm, but the meat still comes right off the bone when you bite into it, in shreds. Easy texture to handle with your fingers, but even the dry-rub was messy (I would be disappointed in it if it wasn't). We had mashed potatoes, which were overly buttery and a weird, lumpy-with-pools-of-runny texture, and Cheddar corn, which was really pretty great. Too much to finish on my own, though.

I'd trek over there again for some more (without Todd, though). I'm pretty sure they deliver, too, so I may persuade some of my coworkers that we all want barbecue. Shouldn't be hard to do.

Posted by Kim at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I had a nice time here. We were looking for a place to eat around NYU at about 10 Monday night (a couple places we tried were closed), and someone said he ate at Bar Pitti a lot. It's crowded, with warm yellow walls (as far as I remember) and mirrors. Their specials menu, which is written on small chalkboards and is in Italian, is about as long as their regular menu, and features lots of specialties that regulars recommend: meatballs, a daily parpadelle, etc.

I wasn't very hungry, so I had some kind of cured meat, thinly sliced, very mild with pliable sheets of Parmesan and sliced arugula. The other dish I tried, some kind of sausage with lentils, was pretty good. Todd had a pork sandwich and someone else had a spaghetti-type pasta with, I think, garlic, artichokes, leeks, olive oil, tomatoes. (I almost ordered that, but you know you can't have duplicates when you try a new place.) Everyone seemed happy. It was reasonably priced for Italian, and fairly good. I'll go back (although I hear it's usually pretty crowded during normal dining hours).

Posted by Kim at 10:37 AM | Permalink

I had lunch here yesterday and hope that I get the chance to go back soon. It's on 8th Ave, between 24th and 25th, across from that grassy block. The restaurant felt very intimate, and the staff were friendly and helpful and seemed eager for us to come back. But it was the Asian-influenced food that really made me happy.

It may seem like we had some run-of-the-mill dishes, but the extra touches made the meal. Our first course was slices of seared tuna with sorbet, fennel salad and those little baby, sprout-like greens (I want to call it mache but am not sure that's right). The salty crust on the tuna, the smooth interier of the fish, the crisp fennel and cold, slushy tart sorbet was a great combination. Then we had seared chicken with a tomato-eggplant chutney that was so spicy and good. That came with sesame mashed potatoes, which I am going to have to try to replicate at home (with sesame oil).

Dessert was the best, though (usually is for me). A pear-almond financier with powerful ginger ice cream melting all over the top. Again, the contrasts were appealing: the ice cream itself was cold, spicy, creamy, melting over the top of warm pears in a crunchy, strongly almond-flavored cake. I want to try to reproduce that ice cream at home, too. Maybe by steeping fresh ginger?

Anyway, CitySearch labels it $40 and up and I didn't see the menu, so I'll have to find a special occasion for an opportunity to go back. But I liked it so much that it would be worth a special occasion.

Posted by Kim at 09:15 AM | Permalink

I finally had Korean food last night, but not on Korea street. I met a friend near her workplace, at 54th and Park. It was a good place to go for a first experience; everyone was so nice about all of our questions. Some Citysearch reviews had complained that it was pricey and that they didn't bring out all the vegetables unless the customer's Korean, but that wasn't our experience at all (I'm beginning to think that Citysearch is useless for reviews; it's just a site the disgruntled use for revenge).

I can see why Korean food is becoming so popular, though. It makes you feel like you're having a feast when they bring out all those little dishes of kimchi, pickled radish, octopus salad, lotus root, etc. I ordered bibimbop, which is sticky rice mixed with vegetables and beef. It's brought to the table with an egg yolk on top in the clay pot they cooked it in and then, tableside, the waiter breaks the egg yolk and mixes it into the rice with some hot sauce. They also brought out a savory egg custard for us to try. It was silky and slippery and hot. Perfect for a cold day. They have a great lunch special, too.

Posted by Kim at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

This is a restaurant in Chelsea Market that is committed to using organic ingredients. It's a cute little place, with only a few tables, but reasonably priced.

We went there yesterday after some gallery-hopping. While we were having lunch, though, Todd started to feel nauseated, so I had to wolf down my food (a meatloaf sandwich with a sweet and spicy tomato chutney and mustardy coleslaw) so we could go. But we'll definitely go back. We like to spend our free time visiting galleries in the area and I never know where to eat. (Todd is feeling better, and it wasn't the chicken pot pie. It's much more likely that he was sick with disappointment about the photography exhibits we saw that morning. Nothing outstanding, although I really liked the series of tract houses and old barns at Robert Mann galleries, and the 360 degree views of famous sites like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Louvre at Laurence Miller were kind of interesting.)

Posted by Kim at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It's popular among those who consider themselves food enthusiasts in NYC to criticize the titular cakes from Cupcake Cafe, and so I feel the need to defend them. A friend is getting married this weekend and the buttercream-laden cupcakes were featured at her shower here at work, so I've had a couple in the last few days.

They're good for the type of dessert they are: elaborately decorated, very pretty. They're small, which is good because they frosting has the texture of pure butter and the cake is pretty dense. But I feel like it strikes a good balance. The size is perfect for the richness, the slight dryness of the cake complements the moist buttercream. There's just the right hint of sweetness without going anywhere near sweet or cloying. I don't feel sick when I'm done eating one, but I'm definitely done. Too-light desserts don't give you that satisfied feeling. Straight from the fridge, Cupcake Cafe cupcakes are fantastically decadent.

And now a study, as reported in The New York Times, says there are benefits for your health, too.

Posted by Kim at 02:15 PM | Permalink

I've been eating out a lot, and no one place was really very exciting, but I'll sum them up here:

Continue reading "Eating Out" »

Posted by Kim at 09:31 AM | Permalink

Do I have to say this? I almost hate to do it. I was passing through Madison Square Park at lunchtime today, so I stopped by the hot dog stand to try their New York hot dog. I had tried the Chicago dog a little more than a week ago.

I think it's kind of overrated. I know, it's a hot dog, so how great can it be? But with all that stuff on top, you can hardly taste the dog. The New York dog comes with a big gooey mess of onions, sauerkraut, mustard and ketchup, which kind of hides the hot dog taste and texture (maybe that's the point, but if you don't like hot dogs, you just shouldn't eat them).

The Chicago hot dog is kind of nice. It also has a little too much stuff, but it's fresh, clean-tasting stuff, like lettuce, tomatoes and hot peppers, neon green relish and atomic yellow mustard. The crunchiness of the toppings is a nice contrast to the snap and bite of the meat (am I allowed to call it meat?).

That's not to say I wouldn't be there often if I worked in the area. And the price is really right for both. I'm just finding that I might be a bit of a hot-dog purist. (That's quite a contradiction in terms, isn't it?)

Posted by Kim at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I love, love, love that Nick's is our local pizzeria, although I can't imagine taking it out. I'm sure it's fine once you've carried it home from the restaurant, the cheese cooling and congealing, the crust getting flabby, the sauce getting cold. But it's a transporting experience dining in. There's always a moment, when Todd and I are about halfway through inhaling a small pie, that we look up, interrupt whatever we're talking about, and smile around our chewing. It's good to be alive.

Nick's pizza is one of those thin, crispy, burnt on the bottom crust, just enough sauce and cheese, and fresh strips of basil sort of pizzas. We start with a green salad, which is coated with a great vinaigrette and comes with four cherry tomato halves and a generous grind of fresh black pepper. When the pizza comes to the table, it's just barely cool enough to eat, and there's a moment a few minutes later when the pizza's the perfect temperature, and every bite holds a hint, a sweet tease, of oregano.

I'm ashamed to say, from beginning to end, we don't really linger; we gorge. We can be in and out of Nick's in 30 minutes. But it's a happy 30 minutes, and the glow can last hours.

They've apparently opened a new restaurant in Manhattan (upper east side?) and serve pasta there. As long as our Queens outlet doesn't change, that doesn't bother me.

Posted by Kim at 02:24 PM | Permalink

Todd and I were walking around the flatiron district last night, looking for a place to eat, when we noticed a great big clog of people on the sidewalk up ahead. It looked like they were filming something. There was a thick, red carpet to the front door of a resaurant, and lots of very attractive people milling around outside, guarding a velvet rope.

Is the velvet-rope feeling what that new show, The Restaurant, is going for? I guess the sight of all those well-heeled young people guarding the gates of an exclusive new restaurant sort of deflated me about the whole concept of the show. I thought it was going to be more of a gritty, what-goes-on-behind-the-scenes kind of thing, not a look-at-all-the-beautiful-people-and-their-dramatic-lives kind of thing. I don't even know if I'll watch it now. (Although I think I will - maybe it'll be both.) Is it going to be about the food at all?

Posted by Kim at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (39)

Last night we went to a gallery opening (the photography exhibit was called Enchanted Evening, and a lot of famous photographs and well-known photographers' works were on display) on 22nd and 10th and then took the bus over to Bread Bar at Tabla. We had been to Tabla in January and I was kind of disappointed, although the dessert I had was fantastic (a Meyer lemon souffle with sour cherry compote). At Bread Bar, which has a lot of small dishes that you share tapas-style, Todd panicked that he wasn't going to get enough to eat so we ended up ordering way too much food, all of which was pretty good. The chutneys really made the meal, though.

Part of the reason Todd panicked is because we ordered a summer vegetable frankie, which turned out to be spicy summer vegetables (mostly summer squash) wrapped in a thin egg pancake and served with a smooth mint chutney, which managed to be spicy and cooling at the same time. He ate the egg and gave his veggies to me. We also had quail with chunky kumquat chutney and microgreens, aloo parantha, which is a puffy bread like naan that has chunks of potato, and onion rings. The aloo parantha was my favorite; we ordered a spicy tamarind chutney to accompany it. The onion rings were made with chickpea flour and they had a substantial, dry crunch that made them kind of different from traditional crispy onion rings. They were served with a homemade ketchup that was very good.

Alas, we were too full for dessert. But I definitely want to go back and try some things we didn't get to have, like the lamb sausage with mint and ginger and the saag paneer pizza.

Posted by Kim at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday Todd and I tried a place we've passed hundreds of times but have never gone into: Kati Roll Co. on Macdougal Street. I had seen it in New York Magazine's 75 under $20 issue about a year ago but, even though Todd goes to NYU part-time and is always looking for a quick place to get dinner, we had never tried it.

It's a tiny shop a flight of steps up from the street. No posted menu, but there are only about 10 options so if you're a regular you don't even need a menu. All they serve are these rolled-up thin pancake-like things, called "parantha," filled with chicken, beef or paneer (a tofu-like Indian cheese). Todd had a chicken tikka one, and I had a paneer one; they were both spicy and mine included what the menu called "pickles," red onion and green bell pepper that was a sharp, fresh contrast to the earthy spiciness of the cheese. With our sodas the whole meal was $10.50, and we were both pleasantly full when we were done. Todd's pretty excited to have found a new quick bite near school. I'm jealous that he's going to be in the neighborhood regularly and I'm not. (The same thing happened with BB's, the not-quite-a-real-Philly-cheesesteak shop on West 3rd. They're cheap and delicious and I never get to have them because Todd gets them on the way to class all the time, then when we're in the neighborhood together he doesn't want it because he's sick of it.)

Posted by Kim at 07:41 AM | Permalink

Every time I walk by the Olive Garden that has gone into the new building on 6th Ave in Chelsea, I've struggled with the two animals living inside of me: the snob and the violent hater of snobs (which leads to a healthy dose of self-loathing from both sides). It makes me so sad to see the same old chain stores in Chelsea that you find in depressing strip malls in the rest of the country.

The article in this week's Dining In section of The New York Times brought up all those feelings again. Going into the Outback in Queens Center gives me a sense of nostalgia and makes me feel like I'm going home again, back to Colorado where my family is. But I just went home, literally, a couple of weeks ago: I hopped on a plane and ended up in Denver. I don't think I want one of the ugliest parts of where I'm from transplanted here. I've grown to love the portions of New York I frequent for what they are now. I never understood those who long for the days Times Square was unsafe, but now I'm beginning to get a tiny inkling.

Comments like Tim Zagat's in the article, though, make me really want him to be wrong, wrong, wrong, simply to put that snotty foodie attitude in its place. In some ways, though, I share that snotty foodie attitude. I am all ambivalence. It seems to be my natural state these days.

I think we should be subversive: Hold up the Olive Garden as the hip new place to score a table, order expansively, eat none of it, then stop by the falafel stand on the way home.

Posted by Kim at 08:32 AM | Permalink

I have just discovered that there's a traditional, lowbrow Swede lurking
inside me. When presented with a tempting buffet of adventurous uses of
herring, I decide my favorite is the pickled herring, followed closely by
herring in mustard and a potato dumpling.

Continue reading "Herring at Aquavit" »

Posted by Kim at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Todd and I went to Otto last night. Tuesday, 6:30, and we didn't have to wait, although when we were leaving we noticed quite a few people waiting. Fortunately, it has a big, nice waiting area with tall tables where you can stand and sip your drink (maybe even order a snack?).

They've placed a lot of the tables for two in a corridor area near the kitchen, though, and that's where we ended up. (I looked around, and most of the other areas of the restaurant only had tables for four or more.) Not great seats, but not as bad as it sounds.

We ordered antipasti: cauliflower ($4), spicy artichoke hearts ($4) and swordfish ($8). They came out on a tray in these little tan crocks with spoons and a wax-paper packet of bread. The cauliflower with capers and artichokes with almonds were good but a little too similar to each other; the chunks of swordfish were my favorite, in this wonderfully fruity olive oil and with sweet, sweet fried fennel.

The pizza, which was the pizza of the day, a meatball and mozzarella one with tomato sauce ($13), was kinda boring. Cute, with tiny little meatballs and a flat, flat crust that was too soggy in the center to eat out of hand. I think the type of crust they use is probably better with the less-traditional toppings. I saw an asparagus pizza I might like to try if I can get Todd to go back.

We saw some interesting things go by; the gnocchi of the day was big strips of fried pizza dough, and I wanted to try a celery root and citrus salad.

The best part of the meal was the gelato ($7); I had ricotta gelato with wine-poached figs and candied walnuts and Todd had two kinds, butterscotch with crunchy toffe and pistacio (we could have shared, it was so rich, but then I wouldn't get the kind I wanted).

I wonder if it'd be OK to skip the pizza next time we go, and load up on the salads and antipasti?

Posted by Kim at 11:25 AM | Permalink

I haven't done too much cooking lately; Todd and I have been on the road. We drove up to Ottawa for a long weekend to see the Edward Burtynsky retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada. (Which was fantastic and worth the seven-plus hour drive.)

Since we're not big restaurant spenders and Ottawa is not exactly considered a culinary mecca, my food highlights were modest (but delicious):

Continue reading "Ottawa" »

Posted by Kim at 04:53 PM | Permalink

First I was addicted to the empanadillas, pastries filled with shrimp, chicken, or beef picadillo. Then I started stealing bites of Todd's ropa vieja (spiced shredded beef) and arroz con pollo (I also love the paella so much I made Todd's dad share his leftovers with me.) But then Todd got a craving for Cabana on a hot summer day and I tried one of their lighter dishes, a citrusy salad with greens and a salmon fillet. They also have an avocado salad and house salad that are pretty good, refreshing and filling. Good appetizers and desserts, including my favorite in NYC - banana fritters with banana ice cream and chocolate sauce.

There's one out here in Forest Hills and one around 61st and 3rd in Manhattan.

Posted by Kim at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is my favorite brunch spot, when we're treating ourselves. It's in the basement of the Whitney, but the front of the 1st floor of the museum is open and large windows make the restaurant a bright, airy space. White tablecloths, good coffee. I always have cornmeal pancakes topped with honey, sour cream, pumpkin seeds, and raisins. Yum. Todd's had omelets, and they're fat, neat, and filled with traditional ingredients well-prepared like thick tomato-saucy salsa. The omelets and eggs come with baked goods and Sarabeth's own jam. I'm planning to celebrate my birthday breakfast there!

At the Whitney Museum of American Art

Posted by Kim at 01:52 PM | Permalink