The year is almost over and I still have 20+ restaurants to visit before December 31st! Last Sunday, I met up with Sarah from Fritos and Foie Gras for a wonderful meal at Annisa. Sarah responded to my post requesting dining partners and we agreed to meet up at Annisa. Almost like a blind date! The space at Annisa is really intimate; it’s only one room with tables and then there’s a nice bar area when you first walk in with a couple of stools. Anita Lo actually opened up the space recently and brought in Feng Shui experts to pick the space, figure out seating, and make sure the restaurant would bring good luck (her last restaurant location burned down).
Sarah and I decided to order a la carte to try a little bit of everything – after we made our initial order, the server brought along an amuse bouche of escargot in a pastry shell:
The crispy fried pastry shell added just the right amount of crunch to the delicate and buttery escargot. It was Sarah’s first time trying escargot and I think she was pleasantly surprised that the snails weren’t rubbery or tasteless.
For our appetizer, we ordered the Seared Foie Gras with soup dumplings and jicama:
The soup dumplings at Annisa were very different from soup dumplings I’ve had at Joe Shanghai or Din Tai Fung; they had very little juice in them and were much larger than the your typical soup dumpling. However, they were filled with delicious broth jicama and topped with foie gras – we were both really glad that we added an additional soup dumpling to the order (only 3 come per order) because otherwise, we would’ve had to fight over the last dumpling!
For our second appetizer, we ordered the Barbecued Squid with Thai Basil and Fresh Peanuts:
The squid was actually very delicate and rested on a bed of edamame and boiled peanuts. There was also a piece of fried shrimp to contrast in texture and taste; while I enjoyed this dish, I thought the squid was served too cold (or too warm if the dish was supposed to be served cold).
For our main course, we ordered Veal Tenderloin and Sweetbread with Artichokes, Oyster and Black Truffle Sauces:
I told Sarah that I spent the previous evening at A Voce with another reader and had mentioned that everything was so salty but everything at Annisa was perfectly seasoned. The veal was tender and flavorful without being overcooked and the sweetbreads were melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Our second main course were scallops with sea urchin and loofah:
The scallops were pretty mediocre but the loofah was delicious (it has a similar look to cucumber but cooks much better and is used in soups and other dishes…my mom’s a big fan of the vegetable). The sea urchin sauce was good, but I would’ve preferred to actually had the texture of the scallop mixed with the urchin.
For dessert, we shared the Pecan and Salted Butterscotch Beignets with Bourbon Milk Ice:
I wasn’t a fan of the dessert; the beignets were too hard and the pecan just added to the toughness of the doughnut. Also, the bourbon milk ice was so strong in flavor that it really wasn’t enjoyable.
When our bill came, the server also brought along mignardises – guava pops, candied ginger, and chocolates with a chocolate mint ganace center:
The guava pops and chocolate mints were both light and delicious but the ginger was a little too strong for me.
Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Annisa and would definitely return for an intimate dinner; the food has Asian influences but is traditionally American and French. Anita Lo wasn’t in the kitchen that night (she’s probably busy doing Top Chef, or Sunday’s are her day off) but I definitely plan on returning. Sarah is such a great person and we had so much fun talking about food, boys, and New York! You can read her account of Annisa on her blog here.
A while back, Laura, David, and I met up for a late brunch at Bubby’s in Tribeca. We’ve tried going in the past but the waits have always been super long, luckily, the day we went, we only had to wait for about 20 minutes. We were seated in the back of the restaurant and were presented with freshly made biscuits with soft butter and jam:
The biscuits reminded me of the ones I’ve had at Clinton Street Baking Company but the ones at Bubby’s were a little more dry and crumbly. For breakfast, we decided to order separately and share everything – I ordered the corned beef hash with two poached eggs and a loaf of bread:
David ordered the cheeseburger with a side of cheesy grits:
And Laura ordered something similar to the Bubby’s breakfast – scrambled eggs with bacon and scallions, cheesy grits, and a side of bread:
The three of us at brunch:
The brunch was good, but the portions weren’t that large and the cheesy grits that Laura and David ordered were a bit too oily for me. Everything is organic or local (which explains why it’s so expensive), but I just didn’t think the quality of food was that impressive. It’s a good option since it’s not that far away from our apartment, but definitely not worth a special trip to the area.
On Friday morning, I woke up and received a wonderful email from Grace at cakelab asking if I was interested in some extra cupcakes she had. OF COURSE I WAS INTERESTED! She came by my office and dropped off these delicious babies:
S’mores and strawberry:
And Key lime pie, pumpkin spice, vanilla with vanilla frosting and vanilla with chocolate frosting:
Key lime pie is my new favorite cupcake by cakelab; it has a graham cracker crust, really moist cupcake, and delicious frosting that has just the right amount of tang. People in my office were fighting over the last cupcake because we only had 4 of the key lime pies but everyone LOVED all the different types (the s’mores cupcakes had a chocolate center, too!) Grace is an amazing baker (and person!) and her cupcakes are so addictive my friend asked if she could ship to Hawaii so she could surprise her family! You can order her cupcakes on Etsy!
A while back, Gilt City had a promotion for Schnitzel and Things; they bought out the truck for a day of service and only Gilt City members could buy their schnitzel. For $5, you were able to choose between veal or chicken (and possibly a sausage combo) with sides – potatoes and sauerkraut (a pretty good deal, especially since it’s veal!). The truck, decked out in Gilt City balloons:
I ordered the veal schnitzel and brought it back to my desk to enjoy:
1. The color of the meat was extremely questionable – I mean, it looks like there’s mold on it! 2. The veal was pounded too thin and by the time it arrived at my desk, the breading was way too soggy. The potatoes were really good (laced with tons of garlic…you’re welcome, office mates), and the sauerkraut was also decent. For $5, you can’t really beat it, but the quality of the veal was a little questionable and the toughness was definitely not something I’d put my teeth through again. I read on twitter that people really enjoyed their veal sandwiches and sausage combos, so next time, I might be inclined to try that instead of their low quality veal.
A while back, I posted on twitter asking if anyone would like to dine with me at a Michelin-starred restaurant since I was running out of friends to eat with me. Surprisingly, I got a positive responses and I made reservations at a couple of restaurants with people that follow me on twitter or read my blog. On Saturday, I met a reader, April, at A Voce for dinner:
The restaurant has a great view of Central Park (it’s directly below Per Se) and we had a wonderful table by the window (it was a strange layout because our backs were both facing the window so we couldn’t actually see anything unless we awkwardly turned around). To start, the server brought us foccacia bread with a housemade ricotta:
The foccacia was really bouncy and had a great texture but was kind of flavorless, even with the addition of the ricotta. The ricotta had chili flakes and fresh basil in it, but definitely didn’t have enough salt to bring the flavors together.
Our server explained the menu to us and we were both interested in a lot of things on the menu, so we kind of ordered a bit of everything. Before going to A Voce, I read a couple reviews raving about the calamari (grilled calamari, zucchini, mint, cured lemon, pilacca):
One gripe I have about restaurants is that they tend to oversalt everything; when they’re putting the dish together, it tastes like they salted everything separately and then salted the dish when it came together as well. The calamari sat on a bed of zucchini and was topped with some hot chili flakes – incredibly tender and delicious, but overly salty. April said that she is usually immune to salt, but definitely tasted bits of the calamari that were more salty than others.
For our second appetizer, we ordered stracciatella (creamy pugliese mozzarella, roasted artichokes, bresaola, and lemon thyme):
The mozzarella was pretty salty on its own but I didn’t mind because it was the only salty component to the dish (surprisingly, the bresaola was not salty at all). I asked April which appetizer she liked more and I think she liked the stracciatella more because of the roasted artichokes (which were so cute and small!) They added a crunchy texture to the otherwise really smooth dish.
For our main course, we decided to order two main dishes and a pasta…I was already starting to feel a little full from the first two appetizers and the bread, but I soldiered on. For our pasta course, we split the linguine (summer squash, almond basil pesto, and ricotta salata):
This was probably my favorite savory course of the night – wonderfully tender and buttery shreds of zucchini, al dente linguine, all covered with a healthy portion of almond basil pesto and ricotta salata. The one downside was that it was really salty and could’ve probably done without so much ricotta since that seemed to be the saltiest part, but I really enjoyed the dish. I was just talking with a friend about almond basil pesto the previous night and we were saying how it was a great alternative to the usual pine nuts.
For our main courses, we ordered the baccala (salt cod with fennel fronds, peppers, and radishes):
I was looking forward to the cod because it’s one of my favorite types of fish, but I thought the dish was really flavorless (and it wasn’t properly salted, go figure!)
We also shared the pollo alla mattone (fennel and chili marinated brick chicken, Tuscan greens, gigante white beans):
Considering the method of cooking the chicken under a brick is supposed to make it more moist, it was definitely on the dry side. Also, I thinkMarlow and Sons does the dish a little better.
By the time dessert rolled around, we were both really full, but we decided to share an order of their bomboloni alla Toscano:
And the kitchen also sent over nectarine prosecco sorbet and ricotta cherry gelato:
And me and April with our desserts:
The bomboloni were really amazing – they were filled with a vanilla custard and we dipped them in bittersweet chocolate and added a bit of ricotta cherry gelato to make a perfect bite of fried deliciousness.
Our meal was very enjoyable, but we both agreed that since there are so many great restaurants in New York, it wouldn’t be a place we’d go back to on a regular basis (although, their prices are very reasonable and it seems like a good place for larger parties). The restaurant was really packed and I felt as if there were too many tables overall; it reminded me of a suburbian Maggiano’s where the tables are way too close to each other. I’d return for their linguine and their bomboloni, but otherwise, the dishes weren’t fantastic. On the plus side, I had a great time with April and we’ve already made plans to get pizza soon!
