A little bit ago, the wonderful folks at Kopali Organics sent me some samples to review – goldenberry, dark chocolate covered goji berries, and dark chocolate cacao nibs:
I tried all of them and must say…they are ALL awesome! My favorite are the dark chocolate covered goji berries; my mom has been feeding me goji berries since I was a kid and I loved the combination of the dark chocolate with the slightly sweet goji berry. The cacao nibs are also really awesome – an intense chocolate flavor that is also amazing to use in baking (if they last long enough to put in batter!) All of Kopali Organics products are organic and I really love their story of starting their company (you can read about it on Kopali’s website). I’ve been carrying around the packs in my purse (and everytime I’m with Faire, we dance around the park and snack on the golden berries).
Kopali Organics has been generous enough to sponsor a giveaway – the first THREE readers to leave Kopali Organics a comment on their Facebook page will get a free t-shirt and one of their 10 awesome products. Just say you read about Kopali on Gracenotes NYC and you’re good to go! If you don’t win the giveaway, you can always pick up Kopali Organics’ products at Whole Foods (in fact, I bought 4 more bags of each just last night!)
I’ve been meaning to visit Westville since 2007, when I rode past the east side location on the M14 bus. Westville’s east side location wasn’t very convenient to visit (Avenue A is still not convenient for…anyone), but they opened a new outpost in Chelsea and I visited a couple weekends ago with David and Laura. David and Laura were on their way to the Dave Matthews concert at Citifield so we had to get something to eat quickly and Westville Chelsea seemed like the ideal location:
We started with a plate of fresh market vegetables, including beets, artichoke hearts, cauliflower, and fried plantains:
My favorite from the platter was definitely the plantains; they were lightly fried and topped with Cotija cheese. Next favorite were the beets with goat cheese, followed by the artichokes (they didn’t have that much flavor) and my least favorite was definitely the cauliflower that was doused with dijonaise. The dijonaise tasted very Asian and the sauce completely masked any flavor from the cauliflower.
For my main course, I ordered the cod fish po boy:
Laura ordered the cheeseburger served on a Portuguese muffin:
And David ordered the beer battered codfish and chips:
The server was not very knowledgeable about the tartar sauce; it’s made in the restaurant and she didn’t know whether or not there were tomatoes in the sauce (David is allergic to tomatoes and it was pretty obvious that there were lots of tomatoes in the sauce). We asked if there was any other kind of dipping sauce for the fish, but she never responded or came back with any other sauces (so I’m guessing there aren’t). The fish David ordered was the same as mine and they were both very meaty, but I didn’t like the batter that the fish was covered with; too heavy and not crispy enough. David’s fries, however, were extremely crispy and tasted like they had a nice outer shell protecting the slightly mushy innards. Laura’s burger was good, but a little dry and overcooked.
Westville offers some good options for dinner (and you can dine outside during the summer time) but the food is only mediocre and with other options in the area, I think I’ll pass on Westville Chelsea in the future.
My mom gave me this recipe when she came to visit a couple weeks ago – it’s quite possibly the tastiest smoothie I’ve ever had and it’s really easy to make:
My mom made it with pineapple as well, but I think the frozen bananas taste much better because they add just the right amount of sweetness to the drink. The ingredients aren’t difficult to come by – coconut milk, freshly squeezed limes, water (to dilute the coconut milk a bit), and frozen bananas:
Since I don’t add sugar to the smoothie, it’s important to use bananas that are past their prime (the kinds you save for banana bread) because they’re much sweeter than bananas that are perfectly yellow. I usually buy too many bananas and end up freezing some for smoothies or baking, and this is a perfect excuse to use up some of the bananas in my freezer! Definitely try this recipe, especially with a little rum – it’ll make your day!
A long time ago, I saw the daily Groupon, which featured 16 Handles frozen yogurt. $8 for $16 worth of frozen yogurt, a pretty good deal (or so I thought). Of course I waited until the very last minute to redeem my coupons (I bought TWO) because every time I was in the neighborhood, I never had my freaking PRINTED COUPON. Apparently everyone else forgot to redeem their coupon as well because the night before the coupon expired, everyone in line had a piece of paper with their multiple cups of frozen yogurt. I didn’t think I could finish $16 worth of frozen yogurt by myself, so I invited my partner-in-crime, Ariel, to join in on the adventure (Ariel also joined in on the fun when we did the frozen yogurt tour back in 2007). I ended up getting pistachio (my favorite), European tart, regular tart, pomegranate, chocolate, coffee, and mango as my frozen yogurt flavors and topped it with kiwis, coconuts, mochi balls, and raspberries:
None of the frozen yogurt flavors were that good; in fact, they all melted really quickly (and I HATE it when frozen yogurt melts too quickly); the only flavor that I actually liked was pistachio, but the flavor tasted really artificial.
Ariel did a similar combination, but used more fruit:
I didn’t think the combination of our frozen yogurt weights would be even CLOSE to $16 (apparently I have no concept as to how much an ounce is) so I also got a big container that I filled with candy. When we went to the register, the woman had no idea how to redeem the coupons AND our total was something close to $25 (which is completely absurd if you think about it. Actually, it’s absurd even if you DON’T think about it…who spend $25 on FROZEN YOGURT?!) The manager ended up giving me the candy for free because I told him I didn’t want it if it was going to add so much onto the total (thanks!) and I ended up going back the next day (by myself) to get $16 worth of frozen yogurt. Next time, I’m definitely not buying another Groupon if it involves frozen yogurt and I’m DEFINITELY never getting frozen yogurt by the ounce.
My mom and I continued on my quest to dine at every Michelin-starred restaurant in New York by making reservations at Aureole. We decided to go to the new location (in Times Square) because we were in the neighborhood (now that I think about it, I have no idea why we were near Times Square). The second Aureole in Manhattan is located in the new Bank of America building across the street from Bryant Park:
The restaurant has two parts – a bar area (you can dine there as well as get a quick drink after work) and the main dining room. They have two different menus, but a lot of the selection overlaps. Even though they participated in Restaurant Week, they decided not to extend it (many restaurants are going through Labor Day). Even though they didn’t have the restaurant week special, they had a great option for lunch – 3 courses for $34. We sat in the main dining room:
We decided to order a la carte as well as from the pre-fixe menu. After we placed our orders, a server came long with bread and butter. The server had three types of bread and my mom requested all three:
I went with all three breads as well, but the only type of bread that I liked and asked for seconds of was the walnut raisin. The sourdough bread was very vinegar-like and the other roll was too greasy. The butter was at the perfect spreading temperature (which I think is a very important issue many restaurants overlook!)
Next came our amuse bouche, homemade guanciale with smoked paprika coulis:
The guanciale mixed with the coulis was a smokey and savory bite that got us very excited for our lunch!
For my appetizer, I ordered the roasted curried shrimp with cauliflower puree, spinach, and a red wine reduction:
The shrimp was quite large and was cooked al dente (if you can use that term to describe the way shrimp is cooked). Alongside the cauliflower puree and spinach, the dish was a great way to start the meal. Our server brought a plate so my mom could share the appetizer.
For my mom’s main course, she was in the mood for their burger and ordered the Aureole grilled burger with applewood smoked bacon, white cheddar, and pickled ramp dressing:
My mom ordered the burger medium rare, but it came medium well:
It’s always awkward to send food back when you’ve already cut it up so we decided to try it and see if it was still edible (it was…and it was still pretty juicy!) The applewood bacon and the perfectly selected bun were my two favorite parts of the burger; the bacon added the perfect amount of salt to the seasoned beef and the bun soaked up the pickled ramp sauce but still held together in my hands. It was one of the best burgers I’ve had in New York, surprisingly, and the overcooked meat was only a little setback.
For my main course, I ordered the spiced rubbed lamb tenderloin with sweet and sour eggplant, escarole, couscous, and apricot lamb jus:
The lamb was tender and so delicious – a perfectly seared crust on the exterior of the lamb with accompanying apricot lamb jus added just enough sweetness to the meat. I didn’t like the couscous or the sweet and sour eggplant, but the lamb was so delicious and filling that I just skipped both of the sides.
For dessert, I ordered the chocolate mousse cake with raspberry bubbles and caramelized bananas:
I ordered the chocolate mousse cake because my mom was in the mood for ice cream before lunch and I promised her that their menu would have some dessert with ice cream…apparently the dish doesn’t come with ice cream, but the server could tell that we really wanted some and gave us a side of malted ice cream. The chocolate mousse cake reminded me of the milk chocolate palet from Sho Shaun Hergatt, but the caramelized bananas added a nice contrast to the very smouth mousse. We also had some cookies:
The chocolate chip cookie was my favorite, but the other ones were also pretty good. Our lunch at Aureole was very enjoyable; the servers were very attentive but not overbearing, they gave us a ton of walnut raisin bread, and they were very accommodating because we were very early for our reservation and seated us anyway. I’d love to visit the original Aureole (on the UES in a very beautiful townhouse) for another tasting or visit the Bryant Park Aureole and eat at the butcher’s table in the bar room.
