Faustina – NYC

Faustina opened last Friday. My husband and I were each given a complimentary glass of prosecco for being its first diners.

The last time we were at a restaurant on opening day was at Bun Soho several years back. We sat at the counter and gamely watched as mayhem ensued. The kitchen was overloaded and harried barmen/waiters rushed back and forth in a frenzy trying to appease hungry guests. As a result, we got complimentary dishes. Not by design, mind you, but because the diners who’d ordered them had already left. At the same time, some of the dishes we requested never materialized. I can only guess that some lucky diner after us got them as freebies. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Luckily, there was none of that chaos here at Faustina, Scott Conant’s (of L’Impero fame) latest restaurant at the Cooper Square Hotel in trendy Noho. The servers seemed quite relaxed and the kitchen paced the food at reasonable intervals. In short, it was like they were open for months.

Faustina’s menu is small plates Italian style (of course!) and our very knowledgeable waiter advised us to share 3-5 dishes per person. We settle on seven, two to much actually.

Eleven Madison Park – NYC

Normally, when dining out, we are quite laissez faire about service and ambiance because food is our top priority. But for special occasions, it’s nice to go to an establishment which excels in all three. To celebrate my husband’s birthday early this month, we had dinner at Eleven Madison Park, Danny Meyer’s fine dining restaurant housed in  a landmark art deco building overlooking Madison Square Park.

We hadn’t been there in years, but I’ve heard that Chef Daniel Humm has been racking up one glowing review after another with his “market driven french cuisine” tasting menu. And, of course, Danny Meyer has always been renowned for the high standards in service he maintains at all his restaurants.

As we step inside, I’m awed once again at how massive and beautiful this restaurant is, especially the tall voluminous ceilings plastered with art deco style floral friezes. Given its size, it’s by no means a backdrop for an intimate dinner, yet the noise level is such that you don’t feel like you’re in Grand Central Station during rush hour either.

We’re seated side by side on a banquette that looks out to the front of the restaurant. The wine list is impressive. We pick whites for the evening — a glass of Chateau Grillet from the Rhone Valley for me and Chenin Blanc from Vouvray for him. I would have liked to try the Condrieu but it did not come by the glass and we were never going to be able to finish a bottle between just the two of us. We decide on the Winter Tasting Menu that kicks off with hors d’oeuvres:

Beet marshmallow (tart to the bite), celery panna cotta sable, goat cheese gruyere galette with meyer lemon confit, foie gras macaron, crispy cornet with minced veal

Thanksgiving 2009 – Debrief

Thanksgiving is a complicated holiday. For one thing, it’s one of the few times I have more people than I can comfortably seat around my dining table. Inevitably, guests spill over to my contingency site, a folding game table laden with tablecloth, runners and china to disguise the fact that it is a folding game table. Also, given the constraints of my small galley kitchen and single oven, the execution has to be planned out with the precision of an Ocean’s Eleven heist.

Last year, I wrote a post-mortem of my Thanksgiving preparation which I found extremely helpful as I started thinking about this year’s theme and menu. Hence, I’ve done it again. At some point, I hope to amass a treasure trove of lessons-learned to get this holiday preparation down to a science.

Thanksgiving 2009 Menu:

Poached Oyster with Champagne Cream

A pared down version of  this recipe from Bon Appetit/Epicurious.

Battle of the (Pork) Buns – Momofuku Ssam vs Ippudo

I have to confess that I am not a big ramen fan so I had never thought of stepping foot inside Ippudo until my niece raved about the pork buns. When a friend from Toronto dropped by for an impromptu visit last weekend, I decided to check it out with her. Coincidentally,  my husband and I had just eaten at Momofuku Ssam the weekend before so both are pretty fresh in my mind. In this post, I’m stacking up their pork buns and other dishes side by side just for fun.

First: Service.

Is it my imagination or do I hear grumbling at the grassroots about Momofuku’s service? Complaints of arrogant wait staff seem to pop up more often now on various sites like menupages and zagat’s.

In the times I’ve been to Ssam, I’ve never encountered this “you’re lucky to be eating here” attitude at all. They may not greet “Irasshaimase” at your arrival or be extra-solicitous about your well-being, but it’s far from the fling-the-plate-at-your-table kind of service that you might get in Chinatown. Momofuku’s wait staff are casual and efficient, but Ippudo’s go the extra mile to make you smile. This round goes to Ippudo.

Second: Pork Buns.

Imagine this picture of Momofuku’s pork buns as a Rorschach test: I see a doughy Pillsbury Pacman devouring two thick slices of seared pork belly smeared with a little hoisin sauce. They’re really irresistible, especially with the sheen and glisten hinting at the glorious unctuousness to come.

Locanda Verde – NYC

Locanda Verde, the Tribeca Italian on the ground floor of Robert de Niro’s Greenwich Hotel, continues to get nods from all over. Chef Andrew Carmellini’s fans from A Voce and Cafe Boulud (where he supposedly served up the best fried chicken south of 96th St.) generate enough positive buzz to keep the place constantly humming.

While waiting for my husband, I sit at the oak bar nursing a glass of the  Produttori Langhe Nebbiolo 2007, sniffing and savoring the licorice with each sip. I’m surrounded by mahogany beams and dark wood louvered windows, more masculine and traditional than yin and minimalist. After my husband arrives and we are seated, the waiter explains that the items on the menu are served family style. This suits us fine as we tend to share everything anyway; however, methinks we ordered too much.

Cantler’s Riverside Inn – Annapolis, MD

It’s one of those mysteries of nature, like salmon traveling several thousand miles to return home to spawn and die or male praying mantis doing the horizontal with females despite knowing that they’ll end up headless during or after. Self control, self discipline and even self-preservation are no match when something is pre-ordained and programmed into your DNA.

Txikito – NYC

Of the three Spanish/Portugese restaurants that have gained so much buzz recently, I was most excited about Txikito. If only for a chance to relive memories of hopping around tapas bars in San Sebastian, Spain. I wondered if I would see a burnished oak counter displaying open-faced sandwiches topped with bits of food held together by mayonnaise or if they would be marking up my bill by counting the toothpicks on my plate or if used napkins would be strewn all over the floor.

No. None of that. Instead, I see a rectangular space slightly bigger than a one-car garage with rough-hewn unvarnished wooden planks covering the walls and ceilings. There is a bar, but it’s sleek and modern, laden with (wine) glasses rather than goodies.

To kick off our meal, we each have a glass of txakolin (Ametzoi Getariako Txakolina 2008 and Uriondo Bizkaiako Txakolina 2008), a dry sparkling wine produced in the Basque region. Shortly after, the progression of plates come quickly.

Aldea – NYC

The Iberian Peninsula continues to colonize the NYC dining scene. Recently, I’ve noticed a spate of Spanish/Portuguese restaurants popping up on Eater and other food columns. The three currently on my radar are Aldea, Txikito and La Fonda del Sol. Add these to Boqueria, Casa Mono, Mercat and a host of others that have cropped up in the recent years. What a difference from the 90’s.  As far as I recall, back then, if I was in the mood for Spanish, my choices were limited to either Solera or Marichu.

Since getting back from Piedmont, we’ve laid low on dining out to give our wallets and waistlines a rest, but I think we’re safely back in the swing of things. So, on the evening before a long holiday weekend and despite so much rain pelting pavement, we march over to Aldea in the Flatiron district.

The place is comfortably filled but not packed. We are seated at the ‘chef’s table’ (euphemism for a counter with six bar stools next to the open kitchen). From our perch, we can watch the comings and goings of the six chefs working in random harmony.

We order everything to share and our selections weigh more heavily towards the petiscos (small bites) and the appetizers rather than the entrees.

Happy Fourth!

This year, the annual Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks was held on the Hudson River to commemorate the 400th anniversary of its discovery by Henry Hudson. As it happens, 2009 also marks my 20th year of living in the US.

We celebrated the holiday by having friends over for dinner. After this, we parked ourselves on the promenade just steps away from the house so we could watch the spectacular fireworks display.

All’ Enoteca – Piedmont, Italy

April 30, 2009

After peeking for only a few hours the day before, the sun decides to make a full appearance on our last full day in Piedmont. It’s much too glorious a day to stay inside musty historic buildings, so despite the fact that we have not seen the Shroud of Turin nor the Egyptian Museum, we opt for the Messer Tulipano Festival at the Castello di Pralormo.

Sadly, it’s the tail end of the season (and the last day of the festival), so most of the tulip heads are now bare or sport dry withering petals. Aluminum buckets with freshly cut flowers are inconspicuously placed amidst the remaining leaves in an attempt to augment the tulip beds. You may not notice if you don’t look closely.

We while away the next hour and a half touring the castle grounds which also feature a culinary fair and an outdoor exhibit called Pioggia di Tazze (Rain of Teacups) comprised of teacups hanging from trees and strewn on the grass.

Of course, our real objective today is lunch at All’ Enoteca, only twelve miles away in Canale. At some point during the drive over, it’s as if we’ve entered the twilight zone. A tunnel appears out of nowhere and sucks us into darkness for a moment.  When we get out on the other side, we’re off the GPS grid (again!) and feel like we’ve just stepped into a BMW commercial.  A gentle curving road winds through one of the prettiest scenery we’ve seen so far on this trip, patchwork quilts of vineyards on the hillside slopes.