Go West, Young Man; Upper West, That Is

The Upper West Side is not someplace I normally trek to for dinner. It's far from our apartment on the lower east side and…it's the Upper West Side. I mean, not to sound snooty or anything, and there is a Jacques Torres chocolate up that way, but...

This past week I was up that way so I got to try the new Daniel Boulud restaurant Boulud Sud…twice. My first visit was a walk-in and the second visit was because I liked it so much that first time I wanted to bring Significant Eater there for our "date" night.

Early in the week three of us were in a bit of a hurry (on our way to an Elvis Costello show), so after we found our first choice (Lincoln) closed for a private event, we decided to give Boulud Sud a try. Sitting at the bar, we limited ourselves to the appetizer and small plate portions of the menu - and a degree in menu deciphering is practically a necessity here as in many places around town, what with their small plates from the sea, appetizers from the earth and mains from outer space. But with a little help from our bartender, he of the shaken Negroni, we plowed through six or seven or eight dishes without a problem.

Sicilian sardine escabeche was delicious, just the right amount of sweet and sour to compete with the sardines. The stuffed squid was simply some of the most tender squid I've tasted in quite some time. The standout for me though, amongst the seafood small plate/apps was the sea urchin and crab tartine, simply because it was sea urchin and crab, poised on a "seaweed toast" if my memory serves me correctly.

From the earthy and meaty parts of the menu, fried artichokes were served with an aioli that had the 3 of us scraping the bowl. Rabbit porchetta was, as one of our trio suggested, the best way to use rabbit, and served alongside were strips of white and green asparagus. And the vitello tonnato wasn't a bad way to use vitello either. Since socca was not available on its own (though it accompanies a couple of the dishes), I had to order a side of panisse, the lovely fried chickpea flour cake also from the south of France. Four or five hulking panisse were stacked on the plate, ready to be dipped into their accompanying sauce. Think of a french fry - these were better.

Returning with Significant Eater a mere 3 nights later, this time a table was in order. Although we did take a peek at Lincoln and here we are from the outside looking in...

A frizzy bottle of Txakolina was our preferred drink, even though it was a bit overpriced at $55. And since I'm by no means a wine expert, I can only say that the $55 gets you drunker if you have cocktails than the bottle of wine manages to do; I mean, if that's what you're drinking for.

Back to the food. Our excellent waiter Tim (and DB really does trump up the service when he opens a new place; there was more floor staff than I've seen in a long time) suggested we'd love the cheese and olive small plate and we did...

Whipped ricotta topped with sumac and oregano vied with the grilled Manouri cheese and tomato confit for my fave of the trio, while SE scarfed down the duo of tapenades in the middle.

Since one of the first questions SE asked me was whether we'd be able to have something I'd already tried, I scoffed and again ordered the stuffed squid…

It was still stuffed with chorizo, swiss chard and Valencian rice, and still good. As was this shrimp dish, full of briny flavor and smoky from the grill...

So that we'd make sure to get our fair share of veggies, we also ordered a Salade Tropezienne…

Consisting of shaved fennel and celery atop a puree of artichoke, the salade was perfectly dressed and topped with some fried artichoke for crunch. Not your everyday salad, but I'd eat one every day if I could.

Finally, for an entrée, we split a main course, the Za'atar baked cod…

The fish was cooked just right, barely translucent in the middle, and it was served alongside mussels and a light vegetable fricassee. And not to be outdone, Sig Eater ordered the panisse, since she was jealous that I'd had them and she hadn’t. They were just as good as the last time.

Dessert was another splitsville; we had the Cassata. A traditional Sicilian dessert, this was an excellent interpretation composed of a chocolate sacher enrobed by house-made coffee gelato and a light ricotta mousse flavored with cardamom. There's a great picture on the website, if you'd like to take a look-see.

A couple of things to note; the bread basket is lovely, and refilled as soon as it approaches emptiness. That's a nice touch. A not-so-nice touch is that the prices went up right between my first and second visit. Within 3 days, every menu item that we ordered (except for the dessert, which at $13 may already be causing some double takes) was either a dollar or two more, generally two. Maybe that's because everything was so reasonable to begin with? Whatever the reason, be prepared…you can sit at the bar and probably eat pretty nicely (fill up on bread!) for $50. But at a table, with a bottle of wine, expect to go a lot higher. Maybe it's a good thing Boulud Sud is on the Upper West Side and not in our neck of the woods.

Summer in the City

Well not quite, but you know the drill (and apologies to the Lovin' Spoonful). Stepping out today for a brisk 2.5 mile walk, that first blast of summer humidity hit me, and summer's here folks. What did you think, we'd have a spring? Not likely.

Since it's still only in the 70s however, my crankiness has not fully ummm, cranked up just yet. It will. Even Significant Eater was sorta complaining about the heat in DC; she's learned so much from me.

Here are a few things I saw on my walk. Some are iconic and some are destined to be.

Engine Company 6, on Beekman Street...

Manhattan Bridge...

Woolworth Building...

8 Spruce Street (aka the Gehry Building)...

And finally, Trinity Church and the new Freedom Tower. Goin' up...

Now, I have to go install an air conditioner. Back soon!

Bialy Wars North vs. South

I have a gripe. I know what you're thinking...perhaps not my first, right? Well, it's not earth-shattering, and it's not as important as say, the debt ceiling, but still. And it's not just me; I have neighbors who say the same thing.

So, what's so important that I've taken it to print? Listen, I've been writing about one of our neighborhood's institutions for at least a couple of years. I first blogged about bialys 2 years ago in this post. But just in case you missed it, we live right around the corner from Kossar's, a rather well-known bialy bakery that has been in existence for over half a century...

Now, don't get me wrong; I like Kossar's. I buy stuff there a lot. It's just that, well, it has changed. In the "old days," the center of the bialy was full of caramelized onions. But just take a look at a bialy I bought there last week...

Onions? You can practically count the "onions" on one hand. Or maybe it's just onion juice. According to the web site, it's onion paste. So what happened? Is there too much automation in the bialy making process? Are they making so many bialys now such that the care isn't taken like it used to be? Beats me.

But a few weeks ago, Significant Eater and I were in Florida. And I stopped by one of their "world-famous" delis to pick up some eats. And one of the eats I happened to buy was a few bialys. Now, take a gander at this...

In my book, that's a bialy. Loaded with onions. Beautifully browned. Practically not even in need of a toaster. Just like the "old days." Or at least as I remember them.

So, will I still buy my bulkas and pletzels and bialys at Kossar's? You bet I will. But I'll be thinking of Flakowitz's with every bite I take.

New Toys and Great Roast Chicken

Boys with toys. That's what a lot of people think about food geek guys who must have the latest and greatest kitchen gadgets. Sous-vide at home, for instance. Torches. Chemistry kits to glue meat together. You know the drill, and I'm really no different. Over the past few months, I've picked up a few new toys; one courtesy of Significant Eater and the others courtesy of well, myself.

From Sig Eater, last year's Hanukkah + this year's birthday + this year's Hanukkah + next year's birthday +...well, you get the point, is this beauty...

One of the cool things is the fact that she said "just get it" when Modernist Cuisine first became the newest object of every food nerd's dream. Well, she said it, along with the obligatory eye roll. But I put together the above equation (I was always good in math), and MC now holds a special place on our bookshelf.

Next up is this lovely kitchen item, which was being offered at an outrageous price (you gotta spend some dough to save some dough) with an outrageous warranty, directly from the manufacturer. And we needed one anyway...

It's a Blendtec blender, seen in smoothie shops nationwide. Can it core a apple? No. But - it can make hot soup. Right in the blender. It can make frozen sorbet. Right in the blender. It makes a damn good smoothie, and I've been on a smoothie kick lately; they're a great way to get lots of fruit (or veggies) all in one sitting.

And finally, there's this...

That's my new vertical roaster. I think it was $12, so it came in a distant 3rd in the cost category. It may have been invented after a technique called beer-can chicken became popular with tailgaters and other he-men barbecue people. Interestingly enough, there's actually a recipe in Modernist Cuisine for beer-can roast chicken (Volume 2; Page 109 for the geeks among you). And it actually calls for a beer can.

However, just like the kid who plays with the cheapest toy or the box it came in, I'm all over the vertical roaster...screw the beer can chicken in MC; besides, it takes over 3 hours to cook the chicken that way and I'm in much more of a rush.

Using a kosher bird (pre-brined, practically), I separated the skin slightly and slipped some softened butter underneath and all around, along with some very thinly sliced garlic. I also seasoned the outside of the bird with a mix of smoked paprika, salt and pepper. It looked like this...

With the oven preheated to 375 F, on convection, the 3.25 lb. bird roasted for 50 minutes, and then it looked like this...

As with all roasted or grilled meats, you should let the finished item rest for at least 15 - 20 minutes before slicing or cutting it up. that helps to redistribute the juices, rather than letting them run out all over your cutting board...

Seriously juicy and seriously delicious, with nice crisp skin, accomplished in about an hour. And it's got me wondering; is there a smoothie recipe in Modernist Cuisine?

Date Weekend

We've all heard of "Date Night." You know, the one night a week that couples are supposed to set aside to spend time with their someone special. With the busy lives that everyone leads, it's one of the suggestions to help us become re-connected with the special person.

With Significant Eater's job requiring her to be in Washington, D. C. a good deal (sorta like a congress person, but she works more), we really look forward to our weekends together. That's why I call it Date Weekend, as opposed to date night - even though all the time we're together is special. As a matter of fact, even when we're not together it's special, but that's another story altogether...insert wink emoticon here.

Just this past week, Sig Eater was able to come back to NY on Thursday night, and I decided to try and get us to a few places that we'd not yet been. Oh yeah, I cooked too, but that's not out of the ordinary; and I failed to take any pix of that activity.

We started out Friday with a long walk up to the farmer's market, where it is nice to see some of the greens coming into season as well as the lilacs. But my destination was a little bit further uptown, past this...

Up to 18th St. and ABC Kitchen, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ode to all things (well, almost all) local, sustainable and market driven. Without a reservation there wasn't a table in the main dining room, but there were enough seats in the front room, including two at the bar, which we snatched right up. One of the "secrets" Jean-Georges is known for are amazing deals offered at a few of his restaurants during the lunch hour. And ABC Kitchen offers one too - $25 for a 3-course lunch, with 2 or 3 choices for each course. We went thataway.

I had the chicken soup, loaded with dill and tarragon (which I like more finely chopped, thank you)...

It's flavor was rich and deep however, so not too much to complain about. Sig Eater went with crostini; well, not just any crostini, but one topped with ramp pesto, goat cheese and pickled ramps...

My main course was a big hunk of pot roast, fork tender and atop a creamy mash of potatoes along with some sauteed broccoli raab. Not the lightest of choices for lunch, but after that long walk, it hit the spot. SE surprised me and chose the slow-cooked arctic char, served atop a gingery-carrot nage, the rich fish perfectly cooked...

For dessert, we took home the 3 - cookie sampler (hey, 2 people can only eat so much at lunch) and attacked the ice cream sundae, salty-caramel ice cream in a pool of chocolate syrup and strewn with caramel popcorn and peanuts...

I'm glad there were 2 scoops, otherwise trouble might've broken out with my special someone. We walked home, giving us a total of about a 5-mile walk, thus rationalizing our high-calorie lunch. Continuing on our "Date Weekend," dinner that night was at local fave Cafe Katja, where the food and welcome are always, well, welcome.

Saturday morning I made us a nice breakfast; avocado/green onion/tomato omelets with salsa verde, which gave us the energy to take another walk, this time along the East River and the work-in-progress East River Park river-front walk. Industrially beautiful, as always, and here you can see part of the new bulkhead and walkway under construction...

Dinner Saturday night was all "new." First we stopped by LTO, a pop-up restaurant concept on East Broadway. It's currently serving the food of D. C. chef and Beard-award winner R. J. Cooper, along with the cocktails of well-known D. C. mixologist Gina Chersevani. The drinks were delicious, and after we'd had one (okay, two), we sauntered on down the block to Orchard St. and the new to us The Fat Radish, which actually has been open for at least 6 months. Decently reviewed in the NY Times, The New Yorker and in other publications, and breathlessly hyped as a hip fashionista hang all over the damn place, I avoided it out of sheer terror...after all, fashionista I'm not. But after seeing Sig Eater hanging with Warhol, I got my nerve up, and with heads held high, in we walked at 8 P. M. on a Saturday night...without a reservation. A little schmoozing with the hostess, who first seated us at one of the counters, and the next thing you know we were whisked into the back room to a cozy table for two. Must've been our fashion-sense.

What a nice place! Formerly a Chinese something or other, and before that a Jewish something or other, if I can fool them again at the front door, I'll go back for the English peas, a sorta salad, sorta braise, comprised of barely cooked peas, ramps and razor clams. Sounds weird, tasted great though. A little crunch and a little chewy - in a good way. That starter worked better than the tiny-bit boring asparagus salad. But we perked right up with SE's main of mussel pot pie, studded with chunks of ham and a rather unique take on the pot pie thing. I had to have a burger and this one really didn't disappoint. Not with bacon and cheese it didn't. Expectedly messy, perfectly cooked and a satisfying hunk o' meat, sided with duck fat fries...what more can one ask for?

I have a feeling my date was impressed. I'm even going to ask her out again!