On Friday, I was able to use my Christmas present from Lou – two tickets to the Metropolitan Opera! I casually mentioned that I wanted to see the opera sometime and he remembered during the holiday season because he surprised me with tickets to Aida. Before the opera, we met up and went to the per se salon for a quick bite to eat:
It was Lou’s first time at per se and he was hoping that the food at the salon wouldn’t be that great so he wouldn’t have to eventually try the tasting menu (at $275 a person, it’s definitely not a cheap meal). We started with gougeres, the salmon canapes, and an espresso shot of soup:
It was Lou’s favorite amuse bouche (it tasted like saffron and seafood to me and I can’t remember exactly what was in it). I severly burned my tongue drinking it because I was too excited, but luckily I had a ton of seltzer to help the burn.
We ordered the foie gras:
And the agnolotti with fresh peas:
Lou thought the foie gras was overrated and actually thought he was just eating broiche toast (he couldn’t taste the foie gras at all). I thought the broiche was a little too oily but the foie gras was better than usual. The agnolotti was great, but we only had 5 pieces to share. Thomas Keller always leaves you wanting more!
For our entrees, we ordered lamb with Greek yogurt:
And butter poached lobster:
Both were delicious, especially the lamb (with a combination of Greek yogurt and the jus on the side).
I also love the salon because they have little things like pretzel bread and butter from Vermont:
And desserts like gelee and chocolates:
We also took home two bags of shortbread cookies filled with chocolate to enjoy after the opera. After dinner at per se, we walked over to Lincoln Center and rushed to the opera (we arrived for the 8pm show around 7:50!)
We had wonderful seats and during the intermissions, walked outside and took some pictures:
I really loved the chandeliers all over:
The performance was beautiful – I loved the ballet dancers, the horses (I counted five!), and of course, all of the music. Here are the main characters with the conductor:
Thank you very much for the wonderful Christmas gift (and surprise dinner at per se!) It was definitely a great evening.
I found myself on the Upper West Side this afternoon and decided to take advantage of this by going to Levain Bakery and Jacques Torres. I bought three cookies:
I could smell Levain’s cookies from 73rd (and so could everyone else because the line was ridiculous) and I ended up purchasing the chocolate chip walnut cookie and the double chocolate chip cookie. Initially, I was only going to purchase one (I only had $5 on me) but they accept credit card so I splurged and bought two (it IS a splurge because they’re $4 EACH). The cookies are practically a pound each and moist, very buttery, and filled with chocolate chips. The double chocolate chip was my favorite (by far) but definitely needs to be accompanied with a LARGE glass of cold milk. The Jacques Torres cookie was a little disappointing; the Jacques Torres recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the New York Times is great, but the cookies from the store were too thin. Definitely not going back for their cookies (although they were cheaper at $2.50/each).
After the Fatty ‘Cue event, I decided to stay in Brooklyn to get a bite to eat with my friend, Eunice. The only place I’ve been to in the area is Peter Luger, but we didn’t have a reservation so we decided to check out Marlow & Sons, which is right around the block from Fatty ‘Cue:
Marlow & Sons has another place, Marlow & Daughters, down the street that sells all kinds of specialty foods, meats, and produce. Marlow & Sons specializes in oysters, meat, and has a large selection of wines as well. We decided to share a prosciutto plate:
Eunice and I agreed that proscuitto is best served cold (when it’s served on pizza, it’s too salty, in my opinion). The raisin bread brought an interesting sweetness to the cured meat and we were both fans.
For our entrees, we shared the mussels in a tomato sauce:
The mussels were gigantic and very flavorful; they were cooked with tomatoes, onions, and herbs. The portion was quite large and there were some pieces of bread on the bottom of the bowl that had been marinating in the sauce.
We also ordered the brick chicken with sweet potatoes:
The chicken was really delicious and had a very crispy skin, but was a tad too salty. I think the brine they used must have been too salty (just a hunch). The chicken was very moist and delicious – I definitely want to try this method and will post about it after some experimenting.
The dinner was quite enjoyable and service was great. However, the seating at Marlow & Sons is seriously cramped; a server elbowed my head near the end of the meal while she was getting to another table! OUCH! I definitely want to go back and try their oysters, however, I thought they were a little pricey ($2.75 each – that’s more expensive than Fish AND Joseph Leonard!
Last night, I attended the Lucky Rice press preview for their Asian Festival near the end of the month. The event was at Fatty ‘Cue, the new barbecue restaurant from the people that brought you Fatty Crab (see my review here). There were pork spare ribs, thinly sliced pork loin (my favorite), lamb shoulder with housemade pita (another favorite), clams, and noodles (there were other dishes, but I didn’t have a chance to sample everything). Also, chefs like Daniel Boulud, Pichet Ong, Anita Lo, and Michael Bao were on hand to support the inaugural Lucky Rice festival. Here’s some of the spread from Fatty ‘Cue:
I also had the opportunity to meet two fellow food bloggers, Mark from No Recipes and Eunice from Flavorize:
The event was a delicious way to let us know about the upcoming Lucky Rice Festival – at the end of the month, there will be all types of different festivities (including a night market with David Chang!) You can still buy tickets on the Lucky Rice website; the events are a little pricey ($50 for the night market event, $50 to learn how to make dumplings from Anita Lo, and $150/$250 for the grand banquet) but all of the events look like they will be a lot of fun.
So everyone LOVES Momofuku’s pork buns, right? They’re actually really easy to make, especially if you outsource the buns. I picked some up in Chinatown (at Hong Kong Grocery store) for $2.99 and ended up recreating Momofuku’s pork buns for much less than what I’d spend if I went to the restaurant. Try recreating this recipe at home – it’s delicious and REALLY easy to make!
Momofuku Pork Buns
Ingredients
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups water, divided
2 1/2 lb skinless boneless pork belly, cut into quarters
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
Hoisin sauce, for serving (optional)
Sliced cucumbers, for serving (optional)
Finely chopped scallions, for serving (optional)
Buns
In a small bowl, mix together salt and sugar. Place 4 cups water in a pot:
Add salt and sugar:
Stir until all of the salt and sugar have dissolved (do not bring to a boil):
You can either wait for the brine to cool down or add ice cubes to bring the brine to room temperature:
Put pork belly in a large sealable bag:
And pour in the brine:
Carefully press the air out of the bag and seal. Lay in a shallow dish and let brine, chilled, at least 12 hours:
After brining for at least 10 hours, preheat oven to 300°F with rack in middle. Discard brine and put pork, fat side up, in an 8- to 9-inch square baking pan. Pour in broth and remaining 1/2 cup water:
Cover tightly with foil and roast until pork is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours:
Remove foil and increase oven temperature to 450°F, then roast until fat is golden, about 20 minutes more:
Cool 30 minutes, then chill, uncovered, until cold, about 1 hour.
To steam the buns, you can either put them in a steamer or microwave them for 30 seconds. I was feeling lazy so I just microwaved them:
Add some chopped scallions (and hoisin sauce if you have any):
And add as much pork as you want:
Enjoy:
Cost Breakdown
1/2 cup kosher salt – $0.50
1/2 cup sugar – $0.50
4 1/2 cups water, divided – free
2 1/2 lb skinless boneless pork belly, cut into quarters – $4.99
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth – $0.79
Hoisin sauce, for serving (optional) – n/a
Sliced cucumbers, for serving (optional) – n/a
Finely chopped scallions, for serving (optional) – $0.33
Buns – $2.99 for 8
Total: $10.10 for about 8 pork buns…each pork bun is about $1.26! MUCH less than what you’d pay at Momofuku!
