NYC Thanksgiving

For our third annual NYC Thanksgiving, David and I had another potluck – so much less stressful for me (I had to prepare the turkey, some desserts, gravy, and cranberry sauce) and everyone took care of the rest! Here are some pictures from our party:

Eddie brought green beans:

Blake brought his famous green bean casserole:

Ken made mac and cheese:

Justin made enough sweet potato casserole to feed an army (I ate it all):

Koyel made her amazing mashed potatoes:

I made some mung bean noodles in case there wasn’t enough food:

Eddie also brought creamed spinach:

Jack brought stuffing:

And David and I made the spatchcocked turkey:

Me with our creation:

Everyone before we got into dessert (Ariel and Erika brought pies and cupcakes), board games, and lots of other fun:

Do you host a yearly Friendsgiving party? Have a wonderful break – I’ll be back with more Michelin posts!

Insieme

When I tell people about my blog and about my year of dining at all of the Michelin-starred restaurants, most people ask me the following questions:

1. What’s been your favorite restaurant so far?
2. What are you going to do in 2011?
3. Do you agree with the Michelin reviewers with the restaurants that are on the list and their rankings?
4. Have you ever had a bad experience at a Michelin restaurant?

And my favorite:

5. How do you not weigh 400 pounds?

I usually go through all of the questions and can answer right away –

1. Favorite restaurant: per se (although some of the places I’ve visited recently – Kyo Ya and Kajitsu – are runners up)
2. Plans for 2011: not sure yet, maybe I’ll go through the Bib Gourmand list
3. Do I agree with the reviews: most of the time…I thought Marea should’ve been a two-starred place (and it is for 2011) and I don’t think ALTO‘s food really deserves two stars.
4. Bad Michelin-starred restaurant experience? I hadn’t…until I visited Insieme.

I made reservations for me and Ariel, who I hadn’t seen since early fall, and we were really excited since he’s been with me to multiple Michelin-starred restaurants. We’re used to good service and great food and Insieme fell flat on both. When I arrived for our 8:30 reservation, Ariel was already sitting at the bar and was just notified by the server that there would be a short wait. Waiting for a reservation is completely fine, especially since you can’t tell when someone is going to leave your table down to the minute (I’m not a lingerer because I know how other people would like to use the table). I checked in with the host since the reservation was under my name and I wasn’t sure if we both had to arrive before they would seat us (a pet peeve of mine) and he curtly said to me that it would be a couple of minutes. I checked back with him 20 minutes later and he had no apology or even explanation (there were various tables available in the restaurant). We continued to wait at the bar and I almost wanted to leave but I figured I’d never be so far uptown again and I didn’t want to walk through Times Square again just to eat at this restaurant, so we decided to wait a couple more minutes. At 9PM, we were FINALLY seated with absolutely no apology from the server or the host.

Ariel and I had a chance to review the menu while we were waiting and we knew exactly what we wanted when we sat down; when the server came by to take our drink orders and I told him we were also ready to order, he walked away and said someone else would come take our order (instead, he ended up being our server for the night as well). After we placed our orders, someone else came by and dropped off some whole wheat bread and butter:

They also dropped off an amuse bouche for us:

The amuse bouche was a cheddar-like shortbread that was a little too greasy for both of us and I don’t remember what was on top of the shortbread because the server just dropped it off without explaining to us what it was.

For our starter, we ordered the fettuccinne al granchio – with Dungeness crab, marscapone cheese, and jalapeño peppers:

The server said that he’d split the order for us and he did – the pasta was a bit flavorless but the jalapeño peppers were so hot that it didn’t mix well with the very bland pasta. There was also barely any crab in my dish (maybe Ariel got all of it?) On the positive side, the pasta wasn’t overcooked!

For my entree, I ordered the Steamed Long Island striped bass with surf clams, spiced oils, and aromatic broth:

And Ariel ordered the Braised shortribs and geoduck clams with spigarello, roasted pear, romanesco, and pepperonata:

We also ordered a side of potatoes with rosemary:

The braised short ribs were much tougher than I expected but my fish was actually pretty good (a little light on flavor and the combination of vegetables was strange because some seemed like they were cooked and some weren’t).

When our bill came, the pasta was charged as double, which was surprising to us because we didn’t know “splitting the order” meant ordering two pastas; not a big deal, but kind of deceptive considering the server made it seem like he was doing us a favor by splitting it. He took off the second order without any problem (probably because it’s not the first time they’ve tried to double charge someone). I thought the service was really pushy and definitely not Michelin-worthy. I don’t think I’d return to the restaurant but it’s actually not a terrible option if you’re in the Times Square area and have no other options.

Gramercy Tavern

When I lived close to Gramercy Tavern, I visited once and ate in the tavern for a quick meal with my friend, Joe. The food was really good (we ordered their meatball and pulled pork sandwich), but the wait for a seat at the bar was a little longer than we expected. On this visit, I made a reservation beforehand because I wanted to experience the formal dining room and because I wanted to be seated right away.

My mom joined me for lunch and we met at the restaurant a little after it opened at 12:30. A coworker had just mentioned their $15 soup and sandwich lunch deal (one of the best in the city, in my opinion). I wasn’t sure if it was available in the formal dining room (it’s not) – but the menu options looked so good that we ended up not even wanting to eat their daily sandwich (when we visited, I think it was a roast beef sandwich). The formal dining room was decorated with fall tapestries and paintings:

I always love the feeling I get when I walk by Gramercy Tavern; it’s warm, welcoming, and always busy with people that are always engaged in lively conversations. It seems like Gramercy Tavern is one of those restaurants that you keep in your back pocket because it’s good for all occasions; for lunch that day, we sat by a bachelorette party (or some kind of party with lots of women), an older couple that seemed to be regulars, and a pair of gentlemen chatting through a business lunch.

Before we started lunch, I took a snapshot of the plates – so beautiful and perfect for fall:

Our server took our lunch order and then came by with some rustic bread and rolls with a side of butter:

Before our actual courses arrived, a server brought along an amuse bouche – curried squash custard with fall vegetables:

The custard was full-bodied yet very refreshing with the different vegetables on top – my mom and I both liked this dish so much we were very excited for the rest of the courses!

For our first course, we shared semolina pasta with tomatoes and roasted artichokes:

This was the only dish I wasn’t crazy about; the semolina pasta seemed to break apart too easily and fell apart when I chewed it as well. The acidity of the tomatoes was also a little too sharp and overall, this dish didn’t do it for either of us.

For our next course, the chef sent over their smoked trout with Cippollini Purée and Pickled Onions:

The trout was surprisingly tender and very flavorful from the puree and pickled onions. My mom was a huge fan of the dish and it was also a really nice surprise since we discussed ordering the dish but decided against it since we weren’t sure how much we should eat for lunch.

For my main course, I ordered the Sea Bass with Rainbow Swiss Chard, Pine Nuts, Capers and Sweet Onion Sauce:

The chef, Michael Anthony, and I recreated this dish in his kitchen a couple of days after I initially dined in the restaurant (video is coming soon!) The sweet onion and capers sauce really brings out the sweetness of the sea bass and complements it well. I also liked the swiss chard a lot; it had a bite to it because the swiss chard is just lightly cooked.

For my mom’s main course, she ordered the Braised Lamb Shoulder – Heirloom Beans and Chanterelle Mushrooms:

We didn’t expect so much for lunch but it was really quite delicious; very tender, seasoned well, and the combination of heirloom beans and Chanterelle mushrooms was absolutely delicious.

Me and my mom at lunch:

I was called into a meeting before I could enjoy dessert (I was also really full so I probably couldn’t have even eaten dessert) but the server brought along some tea, macarons, and other goodies for my mom:

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and Gramercy Tavern is definitely becoming one of my favorite restaurants in the city; it’s perfect for all occasions and it’s so close to my office that I’m lucky enough to be able to take advantage of their great lunch deal. The brunch on the weekends is probably one of the things I’m looking forward to (their wood-burning oven in the tavern makes it so cozy that I just want to stay there all day!)

The Meatball Shop

On my first visit to The Meatball Shop, I ordered naked balls with polenta, a hero with three balls, and an ice cream sandwich. The naked balls I ordered were their special of the night, the jambalaya balls, filled with seafood and sausage and the hero sandwich I ordered had spicy pork balls. Everything was so amazingly delicious that I really couldn’t wait to return.

Last Friday, I returned and ordered another special – the buffalo chicken balls with homemade blue cheese sauce, Frank’s hot sauce, and celery on top of their special risotto (prosciutto was in the mix):

I also ordered the spicy pork meatball with provolone and classic tomato sauce on a whole wheat bun:

And since that didn’t fill me up, I ordered the spicy pork balls with pesto sauce and foccacia:

Everything was so delicious and better than the last – only complaints: 1. the bartender didn’t hear my date order wine three times (but then gave us free wine for our troubles) and 2. there wasn’t enough sauce on the hero and it was a tad dry (also probably because we ordered the whole wheat bun instead of the white bread). I guess my last complaint would be the fact that I want to eat meatballs all the time now.

The waits are usually pretty long if you want to sit at a table, but seriously, eat at the bar or get takeout – just as good and practically no wait!

Sushi of Gari

Because I neglected this blog last week with my lack of Michelin posts (or any posts, for that matter), I’m going to post another Michelin entry this week. I’ll have to do a couple more weeks of double posts because there aren’t enough Mondays to post about all of the Michelin restaurants anymore!

I went to Sushi of Gari with a blog reader, Ada, who also writes her own blog, CollegEats. Ada contacted me and said she wanted to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant together so we picked Sushi of Gari because neither of us have ever visited. I arrived a tad late (sorry, Ada!) but I blame it on the subways:

I reserved seats at the sushi counter and we decided to both do the omakase; the server asked if we had any allergies (Ada had a couple) and also whether or not we liked certain cuts of fish, foie gras, and other things behind the sushi counter. I said I was game for anything and the sushi chefs began preparing fish for us. We started with white fish with lotus root and arugula:

The contrasting textures from the white fish and crunchy fried lotus root paired well with the peppery arugula. We were both excited to try more.

Our second piece of fish was toro with a ginger/yam paste:

The toro had a very fresh and bright flavor but I didn’t like the combination of the ginger/yam paste. If something’s great, don’t mess with the flavor.

Next we had the yellowtail belly with jalapeño:

I’ve had the yellowtail and jalapeño combination before (very recently at Lure fishbar, actually), but there wasn’t enough jalapeño on the yellowtail to equally distribute the spicy flavor; my last bite was a lot spicier than my first.

Next, miso marinated cod:

The cod was finished off on the grill and the miso flavor was intensified; another good piece of fish, but definitely nothing that was absolutely amazing or life changing. Ada actually liked this piece a lot and said she wanted to purchase a blowtorch so she could recreate the flavor at home.

The next piece was one of my favorites -Tuna with tofu:

The tofu puree on top was very creative; it was slightly sweet and very light in flavor and texture that it paired very well with the tuna.

The most popular (or famous?) piece was the salmon with baked tomato, onion, and pepper:

The tomato comes out very hot and the chefs remove the skin before placing it on the fresh piece of salmon. The sugar crystals from the tomato add an interesting texture and taste to the salmon but I thought the flavors were all too light.

Next came the yummy, deliciously briny Uni:

And then the tuna with scallion:

And the squid with uni sauce:

The smooth uni paired very well with lightly charred squid.

Next, tuna tartare:

And the sweet shrimp ceviche:

The sweet shrimp ceviche was one of my favorites from the evening; raw shrimp with bites of acidity.

Our last piece for the night was the Spanish mackerel with mushroom sauce:

Ada and I chatted about her upcoming marathon, MCAT prepping, swimming, and of course, boys. We snapped this picture on our way out:

I enjoyed the meal at Sushi of Gari but definitely felt that it was on par with Sushi Seki (after all, Seki trained with Gari before opening up his own restaurant). The price point was a little steep and the fact that they were preparing takeout containers the entire night also brought down the atmosphere a bit. I think I’ll stick to my other favorite sushi joints in the city.