This is gonna be a super quick update on two restaurants that I ate at during Restaurant Week. One (Fig & Olive) I've been to before and had made RW reservations at under the impression I'd try some of the entrees they had. The other (Tia Pol) I returned to with a friend from out of town because it's just that good.
Fig & Olive Downtown
This place is one of my favorites in NY for its delicious small plates and fresh ingredients. My friend and I had planned on doing the RW menu, but when we sat down, we were again lured by the Tasting Menu, an array of Mediterranean tapas style options, like roasted vegetables, crostinis and unique carpaccios.
The service to start was slightly slow and abrasive but got better as the dinner moved forward. The waiter flat out told me that my first wine selection was "disgusting" and wouldn't I like to try something else? Kind of surprising, but you gotta appreciate his honesty! My friend's white sangria was delicious and led to a happy buzz for her!
We share a mixed veggie plate which featured roasted eggplant and tomatoes, roasted sweet red pepers in light olive oil, artichokes and lightly cooked zucchini with fresh parmesan cheese that was utterly delicious. The vegetables were farm-stand fresh and cooked to their perfect state, melting in our mouths and delicious on the bread provided. I could eat that constantly.
Second was the array of 3 crostini, followed by two carpaccios, yellow fin tuna and prosciutto and fig. I'm not going to go into deep detail, but suffice to say that everything was outstanding. The freshness of the ingredients just makes everything at F&O that much better than other places. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in NY.
And quickly...Tia Pol
I've been totally remiss in finishing this post and catching up, so I am not going to spend too much time. Everyone who goes to Tia Pol loves it. The tapas is EXCELLENT. Seriously the best croquetas in town...both times I've been there I've ordered a second batch. Crispy, creamy little bits of culinary delight. Great sangria (red or white), great food, great service if you can find a seat at one of the very few tables or at one of the few seats at the bar. All in all, my favorite.
That's all for now...
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Restaurant Week 1 - Artisinal - not recommended
I love cheese...I used to make pilgrimages to the Beverly Hill Cheese Store when I lived in Santa Monica just to pick up various cheese for the week. Artisinal seemed like a great fit for Restaurant Week, with this well-advertised cheese cave and incredible selection of cheese and wine parings. One problem:
THERE WAS NO CHEESE ON THE RESTAURANT WEEK MENU.
What? No cheese? OK, fine. So my friend and I decided to order off the regular menu, giving into the classic restaurant week dupe. Oh well. What ensued, however, was not worth the money we spent. Not in the least. The best thing was the bread basket.
The restaurant itself has a Parisian bistro feel, various sized tables on a tile floor. Fairly large but with a lot of people packed in. We were sat at a two top, where, when I sat on the booth, I was nearly chin-level with the table. Get a better cushion.
When our waiter came to take our order, I tried for a glass of Prosecco. No go. So he recommended the next one on the menu - a 'champagne' he said, that was listed from New Mexico. OK, so I'm not a wine connoisseur, but I would kind of expect that the name champagne would be highly reserved for French options in a French bistro!
For dinner we ordered the tuna carpaccio, salads (Mesculun greens for me, beet for my friend), and an array of four cheeses. When we ordered the cheeses, the waiter told us that they would substitute if any were out. OK, that's fine. I also asked for a bit of honey with the cheese - not the honey and walnut combo but just honey. If you have never had honey on sheep's milk cheese, btw, try it. So good. Anyway, on this Monday at 7 p.m., he was unsure they had it.
My salad was little more than some bagged greens coated in nondescript dressing plopped in a white Crate & Barrel like salad bowl. Literally, no cheese, no single unique touch, no nothing. For $9.50. I could have made better in my apartment for less than $1. The beet salad, I think, was better and included a chunk of creamy goat cheese, but still. Totally disappointed. The tuna carpaccio...eh. Not bad, not great. It lost some of the great flavor of the fish by being drowned in whatever marinade they used, which was a little on the oily side.
The cheese, in all truth, wasn't bad...it was more the confusion that I had over it that was frustrating. According to the waiter, they only substituted one, but when I was handed the guide to what we had on our tray, only one of them was the same name as what I had ordered. The only thing I can think of is that they have different variants of similar cheeses that are, in essence the same. We got a bowl of nuts with a drizzle of honey, after which we asked for more honey, thank goodness they had it.
OK, so not great food experience, but compounding it was the fact that it was no less than 80 degrees in the restaurant. My friend and I were both sweating, and the waiters running around were all red-faced and dripping. Turn up the AC!! It was cooler after we stepped out of the restaurant than inside.
All in all, I felt that the food was overpriced for what it was. Not even sure it tasted that good. Go to a cheese shop (maybe even Artisinal's retail store?) and make a tray at home - you'll enjoy it more and save some dough.
Til next post....
THERE WAS NO CHEESE ON THE RESTAURANT WEEK MENU.
What? No cheese? OK, fine. So my friend and I decided to order off the regular menu, giving into the classic restaurant week dupe. Oh well. What ensued, however, was not worth the money we spent. Not in the least. The best thing was the bread basket.
The restaurant itself has a Parisian bistro feel, various sized tables on a tile floor. Fairly large but with a lot of people packed in. We were sat at a two top, where, when I sat on the booth, I was nearly chin-level with the table. Get a better cushion.
When our waiter came to take our order, I tried for a glass of Prosecco. No go. So he recommended the next one on the menu - a 'champagne' he said, that was listed from New Mexico. OK, so I'm not a wine connoisseur, but I would kind of expect that the name champagne would be highly reserved for French options in a French bistro!
For dinner we ordered the tuna carpaccio, salads (Mesculun greens for me, beet for my friend), and an array of four cheeses. When we ordered the cheeses, the waiter told us that they would substitute if any were out. OK, that's fine. I also asked for a bit of honey with the cheese - not the honey and walnut combo but just honey. If you have never had honey on sheep's milk cheese, btw, try it. So good. Anyway, on this Monday at 7 p.m., he was unsure they had it.
My salad was little more than some bagged greens coated in nondescript dressing plopped in a white Crate & Barrel like salad bowl. Literally, no cheese, no single unique touch, no nothing. For $9.50. I could have made better in my apartment for less than $1. The beet salad, I think, was better and included a chunk of creamy goat cheese, but still. Totally disappointed. The tuna carpaccio...eh. Not bad, not great. It lost some of the great flavor of the fish by being drowned in whatever marinade they used, which was a little on the oily side.
The cheese, in all truth, wasn't bad...it was more the confusion that I had over it that was frustrating. According to the waiter, they only substituted one, but when I was handed the guide to what we had on our tray, only one of them was the same name as what I had ordered. The only thing I can think of is that they have different variants of similar cheeses that are, in essence the same. We got a bowl of nuts with a drizzle of honey, after which we asked for more honey, thank goodness they had it.
OK, so not great food experience, but compounding it was the fact that it was no less than 80 degrees in the restaurant. My friend and I were both sweating, and the waiters running around were all red-faced and dripping. Turn up the AC!! It was cooler after we stepped out of the restaurant than inside.
All in all, I felt that the food was overpriced for what it was. Not even sure it tasted that good. Go to a cheese shop (maybe even Artisinal's retail store?) and make a tray at home - you'll enjoy it more and save some dough.
Til next post....
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Catching up on a few things....
So, it appears Sundays are turning into my food blog day, potentially because it's also the day when I look back at what I've spent this week and nearly pass out. I just love restaurants, though! I hope my two readers (shout outs to Vanessa and Max for the comments...you keep me going!) don't mind the frequent hiati...hiatuses....um...
A few things to catch up on from this week....
Ben & Jerry's Lemon Meringue Pie ice cream. Un-freaking-real, but you can only eat it in small doses, lest it become too much. I'm a kiddie-sized ice cream girl anyway, but this one is just really rich. Tart, creamy lemon ice cream with fluffy streams of meringue (I'm not sure I buy that it's actual meringue, but it's good) and pieces of pie crust. Mm Mm Mmmmm.
It's Greek to Me (Palisade Ave., Englewood, NJ) I went to this little place for lunch with a gaggle of colleagues this week for a birthday. The Greek salad with fresh grilled calamari on top was perfect for a work day lunch. I inhaled it. Guess I was hungry. I think there are a number of these places...including one in Hoboken...and I highly recommend trying. Super tasty, relatively inexpensive and very filling. Strikes me as one of those places that will be totally dependable.
Kin Khao (http://www.eatrice.com/kinKhao.html, Soho, NY) I first went here about...oh my...6 years ago, when I was traveling to NY on business and visiting my friend Melissa, and it was great at the time. I think it's only gotten better, save for some semi-rude service from a potentially new, or potentially cranky, waitress. When, after a day of shopping, I popped in here with two girlfriends on Saturday at 7, it was easy to get a table (granted, mid-summer in NY isn't hopping), and the food was just excellent. The Gung Gratiem, shrimp in red curry with bamboo shoots, was delicious with the coconut milk gravy poured over rice. Tangy and spicy with just enough kick to tantalize the senses. My friend ordered the Gai Yang, half a chicken, roasted and served with sweet chili sauce. But the best, and from what I remember what was best a few years ago, was the Pad Thai. I mean, this might be my favorite Pad Thai ever. Sweet, full of flavor, not at all gummy - this is what Pad Thai should be. I seriously love this sh**. Even better, I bumped into a classmate of mine there whom I haven't seen since graduation but who lives literally a block away. It will be good to see him again now that we've reconnected!
Taqueria (Grove & Grand, Jersey City, NJ). Last but not least, a tiny little garden level restaurant on an arbitrary corner in still-revitalizing JC, this might be my pick-o-the-week. As you probably know, I moved to the NY area from LA just six months ago, and one of the things that has been missing is a good fish taco. Yes, I said fish taco. This brightly colored space features a menu free of Chili's style tex mex...no fajitas, chips and salsa or nachos. Instead, the small menu is layered with fresh tasting, authentic food that might be the best I've had since I moved. The corn tortillas included a tender piece of grilled fish, served with a tomatillo and tomato salsa and traditional shredded cabbage. I seriously loved this. For $3.00, you can't get much better in the area. It's fast and tasty and gives me my fix without the 5+ hour flight.
Anyway, this could be a rough couple of weeks, as I'm sitting on about four NY Restaurant Week reservations. Yes, four. Moo. Not a good thing for the waistline or the pocketbook, but I'm looking forward to an array of new entries!!
Happy Restaurant Week (esp you Max and Vanessa)!!
A few things to catch up on from this week....
Ben & Jerry's Lemon Meringue Pie ice cream. Un-freaking-real, but you can only eat it in small doses, lest it become too much. I'm a kiddie-sized ice cream girl anyway, but this one is just really rich. Tart, creamy lemon ice cream with fluffy streams of meringue (I'm not sure I buy that it's actual meringue, but it's good) and pieces of pie crust. Mm Mm Mmmmm.
It's Greek to Me (Palisade Ave., Englewood, NJ) I went to this little place for lunch with a gaggle of colleagues this week for a birthday. The Greek salad with fresh grilled calamari on top was perfect for a work day lunch. I inhaled it. Guess I was hungry. I think there are a number of these places...including one in Hoboken...and I highly recommend trying. Super tasty, relatively inexpensive and very filling. Strikes me as one of those places that will be totally dependable.
Kin Khao (http://www.eatrice.com/kinKhao.html, Soho, NY) I first went here about...oh my...6 years ago, when I was traveling to NY on business and visiting my friend Melissa, and it was great at the time. I think it's only gotten better, save for some semi-rude service from a potentially new, or potentially cranky, waitress. When, after a day of shopping, I popped in here with two girlfriends on Saturday at 7, it was easy to get a table (granted, mid-summer in NY isn't hopping), and the food was just excellent. The Gung Gratiem, shrimp in red curry with bamboo shoots, was delicious with the coconut milk gravy poured over rice. Tangy and spicy with just enough kick to tantalize the senses. My friend ordered the Gai Yang, half a chicken, roasted and served with sweet chili sauce. But the best, and from what I remember what was best a few years ago, was the Pad Thai. I mean, this might be my favorite Pad Thai ever. Sweet, full of flavor, not at all gummy - this is what Pad Thai should be. I seriously love this sh**. Even better, I bumped into a classmate of mine there whom I haven't seen since graduation but who lives literally a block away. It will be good to see him again now that we've reconnected!
Taqueria (Grove & Grand, Jersey City, NJ). Last but not least, a tiny little garden level restaurant on an arbitrary corner in still-revitalizing JC, this might be my pick-o-the-week. As you probably know, I moved to the NY area from LA just six months ago, and one of the things that has been missing is a good fish taco. Yes, I said fish taco. This brightly colored space features a menu free of Chili's style tex mex...no fajitas, chips and salsa or nachos. Instead, the small menu is layered with fresh tasting, authentic food that might be the best I've had since I moved. The corn tortillas included a tender piece of grilled fish, served with a tomatillo and tomato salsa and traditional shredded cabbage. I seriously loved this. For $3.00, you can't get much better in the area. It's fast and tasty and gives me my fix without the 5+ hour flight.
Anyway, this could be a rough couple of weeks, as I'm sitting on about four NY Restaurant Week reservations. Yes, four. Moo. Not a good thing for the waistline or the pocketbook, but I'm looking forward to an array of new entries!!
Happy Restaurant Week (esp you Max and Vanessa)!!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Chinese delight: Beijing Duck House, Bergenfield, NJ
This post is just going to be a lot of babble, being that I don't know and can't pronounce the name of most of what I ate last night. But it was so good that it's absolutely worth blogging about.
Moooo. That's how I felt after dinner last night with my friend's extended Chinese family. Instead of the cliche Chinatown destinations, we headed for Bergenfield, NJ to a family favorite where Uncle Francis knew just about everyone there, including the manager and chef. :)
Everything was shared on a big, rickety lazy Susan in the middle of the table. The first dish - first of way way way too many - was a large plate with smoked fluke, spicy cabbage salad, those black ruffled mushrooms, marinated tofu and something I'm blanking on at the moment. The cabbage was delish...in a chili vinegar. That's the only dish I know for sure when it came, since it was first. The rest are a melange of delicious food. We had a bbq-type flavor roasted pork belly that you stuff into these little sesame pockets with some spinach. One of the best things I've ever tasted. It was warm and juicy and delightful. Some sort of funky Asian veggie and mushroom dish, that had a sort of celery-esque flavor. Good stuff. A whole fish in soy sauce with herbs arrived, as did Peking duck, served with the wraps, sweet hoisin sauce and scallions and cucumbers for a DIY wrap. Shaolon Bao (which I've totally misspelled but can pronounce!!) are juicy Shanghai style pork and crab dumplings that you eat in a soup spoon with dark soy and shredded ginger, sipping at the dumpling like a bowl of soup, then eating the whole thing. These things are seriously good shiz-nit. But the piece de resistence, the dish that the owner didn't serve to another customer and only gave us us, was pieces of blue claw crab (in the shell) and rice cake in a pork and black bean sauce.
What is rice cake? It's a cake made out of glutinous rice and sliced thinly into something that resembles thumb-sized noodles. When I first had it, I loved it, and this just reinforced my affinity for this traditional Shanghai food. The crab was yummy and my fingers may still be sticky from picking out all the meat. SOOOOOO DAMN GOOD.
Anyway, we were stuffed, needless to say, and yet there was still a bit more. A traditional rice pudding, which was stuffed with sweet red beans and pieces of fruit embedded in it. I can't really explain what it looked like. It's not creamy and spiced like American rice pudding. Instead it's a glutinous rice-based concoction. I don't know. It was good...and that's that.
Holy food batman. I'm not overly intimidated, but I think I'd struggle to both find this place again, as well as order without my friend's family around. But it sure was tasty!!!!
Moooo. That's how I felt after dinner last night with my friend's extended Chinese family. Instead of the cliche Chinatown destinations, we headed for Bergenfield, NJ to a family favorite where Uncle Francis knew just about everyone there, including the manager and chef. :)
Everything was shared on a big, rickety lazy Susan in the middle of the table. The first dish - first of way way way too many - was a large plate with smoked fluke, spicy cabbage salad, those black ruffled mushrooms, marinated tofu and something I'm blanking on at the moment. The cabbage was delish...in a chili vinegar. That's the only dish I know for sure when it came, since it was first. The rest are a melange of delicious food. We had a bbq-type flavor roasted pork belly that you stuff into these little sesame pockets with some spinach. One of the best things I've ever tasted. It was warm and juicy and delightful. Some sort of funky Asian veggie and mushroom dish, that had a sort of celery-esque flavor. Good stuff. A whole fish in soy sauce with herbs arrived, as did Peking duck, served with the wraps, sweet hoisin sauce and scallions and cucumbers for a DIY wrap. Shaolon Bao (which I've totally misspelled but can pronounce!!) are juicy Shanghai style pork and crab dumplings that you eat in a soup spoon with dark soy and shredded ginger, sipping at the dumpling like a bowl of soup, then eating the whole thing. These things are seriously good shiz-nit. But the piece de resistence, the dish that the owner didn't serve to another customer and only gave us us, was pieces of blue claw crab (in the shell) and rice cake in a pork and black bean sauce.
What is rice cake? It's a cake made out of glutinous rice and sliced thinly into something that resembles thumb-sized noodles. When I first had it, I loved it, and this just reinforced my affinity for this traditional Shanghai food. The crab was yummy and my fingers may still be sticky from picking out all the meat. SOOOOOO DAMN GOOD.
Anyway, we were stuffed, needless to say, and yet there was still a bit more. A traditional rice pudding, which was stuffed with sweet red beans and pieces of fruit embedded in it. I can't really explain what it looked like. It's not creamy and spiced like American rice pudding. Instead it's a glutinous rice-based concoction. I don't know. It was good...and that's that.
Holy food batman. I'm not overly intimidated, but I think I'd struggle to both find this place again, as well as order without my friend's family around. But it sure was tasty!!!!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Tiny Tartine: Yummy food, tight space
If you haven't yet, try the little BYO in the West Village known as Tartine (W4th & W11th, New York). But be prepared for a cramped space and a few plates bumping your arms as you try to lever a mussel to your mouth.
A tiny little hole in the wall, with maybe 30 seats and a handful of two-tops on the sidewalk, this place produced some seriously taste-good food for really reasonable prices. And my taste buds weren't even poisoned with alcohol, being that I forgot to bring a bottle in my haste to get there! Incidentally, I think there's a wine shop across the street, but we just didn't, for once, want to drink. Still recovering from Camp (see previous post).
I went with my frequent dining pal, Vanessa. With the amount of time I spend with this chick, it's no wonder I'm single!! But hey, what's a best friend for. Anyway, we decided to hit Tartine after delightful manis and pedis this warm Friday afternoon. Suffice to say, now we are both stuffed after dining at this delightful West Village French Bistro.
To start, we had a plate of three "goat cheese croutons", three slices of toasted baguette with herbed goat cheese melted across the top, served with ample fresh basil and some sweet, tangy roasted red peppers. Really great stuff. I could have stopped there and been happy, but where's the fun in that.
For main courses, we shared - yes what is a best friend for - two of them. The Indian curry mussels and the chicken pot pie-like puff pastry, whose name escapes me at the moment. Both were great. The mussels in particular tasted fresh and the broth was a good balance of clinging to the seafood and leaving plenty for dipping the crispy fries or bread in at the bottom. The puff pastry was light and flaky and oozed gravy, chicken and mushrooms, in that order. It was missing some sort of spice...maybe salt?...but since I can't pinpoint what, I'll just tell you that it was good regardless.
Dessert? As if we could fit it. Instead we brought a piece of cake back to take the the movies later. I'll let you guys know what dessert was like later.
Anyway, my only complaint, if I had one, is that the place is just too damn small. The tables are literally on top of each other, so if someone smells, you're screwed. The waitresses seemed harried and weren't super cheery, but also a little unaware of their surroundings. When one of the girls was chatting with a guy at the next table, the plates she was holding kept bumping into my friend's arms. Unnecessary contact and annoying.
So that's a wrap. Try it, but maybe consider sitting outside. Or losing a few pounds first so you're not bigger than a twig :)
Happy weekend!!!
A tiny little hole in the wall, with maybe 30 seats and a handful of two-tops on the sidewalk, this place produced some seriously taste-good food for really reasonable prices. And my taste buds weren't even poisoned with alcohol, being that I forgot to bring a bottle in my haste to get there! Incidentally, I think there's a wine shop across the street, but we just didn't, for once, want to drink. Still recovering from Camp (see previous post).
I went with my frequent dining pal, Vanessa. With the amount of time I spend with this chick, it's no wonder I'm single!! But hey, what's a best friend for. Anyway, we decided to hit Tartine after delightful manis and pedis this warm Friday afternoon. Suffice to say, now we are both stuffed after dining at this delightful West Village French Bistro.
To start, we had a plate of three "goat cheese croutons", three slices of toasted baguette with herbed goat cheese melted across the top, served with ample fresh basil and some sweet, tangy roasted red peppers. Really great stuff. I could have stopped there and been happy, but where's the fun in that.
For main courses, we shared - yes what is a best friend for - two of them. The Indian curry mussels and the chicken pot pie-like puff pastry, whose name escapes me at the moment. Both were great. The mussels in particular tasted fresh and the broth was a good balance of clinging to the seafood and leaving plenty for dipping the crispy fries or bread in at the bottom. The puff pastry was light and flaky and oozed gravy, chicken and mushrooms, in that order. It was missing some sort of spice...maybe salt?...but since I can't pinpoint what, I'll just tell you that it was good regardless.
Dessert? As if we could fit it. Instead we brought a piece of cake back to take the the movies later. I'll let you guys know what dessert was like later.
Anyway, my only complaint, if I had one, is that the place is just too damn small. The tables are literally on top of each other, so if someone smells, you're screwed. The waitresses seemed harried and weren't super cheery, but also a little unaware of their surroundings. When one of the girls was chatting with a guy at the next table, the plates she was holding kept bumping into my friend's arms. Unnecessary contact and annoying.
So that's a wrap. Try it, but maybe consider sitting outside. Or losing a few pounds first so you're not bigger than a twig :)
Happy weekend!!!
Camp Worthington
An aside, if you will indulge me, my two readers...
Camp Worthington Rocks.
Camp Worthington is this delightful summer digression, loaded with food, tea-partay prepster guys and copious amounts of alcohol. COPIOUS. Aside from my beer pong playing (yes, I regressed that many years), we had delish ribs, potato salad to die for - I choose to believe made with Hellmann's REAL Mayonnaise - and my very own Hellmann's Citrus Cake. We ate like kings and queens...burgers on order, lots of ribs, lots of fun. Oh! And the pig. See photo to come. We actually ate this roasted swine. :)
OK, back to the important things...what tastes good in big cities....
Camp Worthington Rocks.
Camp Worthington is this delightful summer digression, loaded with food, tea-partay prepster guys and copious amounts of alcohol. COPIOUS. Aside from my beer pong playing (yes, I regressed that many years), we had delish ribs, potato salad to die for - I choose to believe made with Hellmann's REAL Mayonnaise - and my very own Hellmann's Citrus Cake. We ate like kings and queens...burgers on order, lots of ribs, lots of fun. Oh! And the pig. See photo to come. We actually ate this roasted swine. :)
OK, back to the important things...what tastes good in big cities....
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Bad blogger....
For my two readers, I apologize for the delay. Traveling, work, living life have all gotten in the way of sharing my oh-so-educated opinions on what makes for good food. I do solemnly swear to update soon! :)
Up next: Wildfire Grill in Chicago, a bit about 'Real Food' from my experience here at Hellmanns (yes, I work for Unilever on the Hellmann's brand team), and a little bit about the wallet abuse I suffered a few weeks back at Mangia, a little cafe in midtown, just south of the Park.
Need to catch up prior to the four reservations I already have for restaurant week!!!!
Til then, happy eating! :)
Up next: Wildfire Grill in Chicago, a bit about 'Real Food' from my experience here at Hellmanns (yes, I work for Unilever on the Hellmann's brand team), and a little bit about the wallet abuse I suffered a few weeks back at Mangia, a little cafe in midtown, just south of the Park.
Need to catch up prior to the four reservations I already have for restaurant week!!!!
Til then, happy eating! :)
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