The Five Toughest Reservations in America

A while back, Grubstreet wrote an article titled, The Five Toughest Reservations in America. I was intrigued by the article and very surprised to learn that I’ve visited some of them! The article has some guidelines before naming the toughest reservations in the US (for instance, no seasonal restaurants and no restaurants that accept walk-ins). So, what made the list?

1. Rao’s, East Harlem, New York

The tables are impossible to get, unless you know someone that has a “standing reservation” and the reservations are passed down from family member to family member, so good luck getting one of them. The best way to get into Rao’s is through a charity auction (they give various tables away every year) or if you know someone that knows someone that knows someone that might have a table. I fell into the latter category (I knew Sara who had a connection through her family). Would I go back? Well, if it wasn’t a hassle to get a reservation AND I could order the seafood salad. And ONLY the seafood salad.

2. Momofuku Ko, East Village, New York

This table was actually difficult for me to get. It’s through an online reservation system and various friends suggested that I get my brother to write a script to hack into the system to get a table. I thought this would be too much work, so I just did it the old fashioned way; I signed on everyday at 9:59am and refreshed until eventually I got a 2-spot. The food was buttery, fat, delicious, and made me sick for a week. I took Audrey along and we both enjoyed our food, but I don’t think my body was ready for the amount of butter they used in their cooking. They also don’t allow photographs of the food (David Cheng says it’s just food – eat it) so the only picture I have is from the bathroom. Would I go again? No, definitely not.

3. Tabula’s Table, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
I haven’t been the Tabula’s Table, and I don’t plan on going anytime soon because I don’t have a car to drive to Pennsylvania and I don’t have anyone to go with!

4. The French Laundry, Yountville, California

One of my favorite dining experiences; Chris made the reservation for our birthday (we were born two years and a day apart). It was our first super expensive meal (over $500 for the two of us) and it was really special not only because it was our birthday, but it was my time actually flying anywhere to eat at a restaurant where we had to make the reservation in advance. The best way to make a reservation is through opentable (I think) – Chris was able to make the reservation by logging into opentable around 11AM 60 days away from our dining date. Would I go back? In a heartbeat.

5. Schwa, Chicago
I’ve never been to the restaurant but I’ve read about it and it’s definitely on my list of places to try. I just have to find an excuse to get me out to Chicago!

Honorable Mentions:

Minibar, Washington, D.C.
Haven’t been but I haven’t been to D.C. since college. Maybe I can go and visit my cousin!

Waverly Inn, West Village, New York
I went two years ago; it was easy to walk in and get a reservation because Chris lived in the neighborhood. We sat next to Bon Jovi, saw Bill Cosby and Julianne Moore, and munched on amazing biscuits (I actually made the biscuits for Thanksgiving last year and they were a big hit!) Would I go back? Yes; I had to send my burger back because it was cooked and seasoned REALLY unevenly, but I’d go back just for the truffled macaroni and cheese.

Alinea, Chicago
Oh Alinea. I REALLY wanted to visit you in September. I was actually going to be IN Chicago on September 10th for my friend’s wedding! But, it wasn’t meant to be; my friend cancelled her wedding and I never had the opportunity to purchase a flight to the windy city or to even THINK about who I’d invite to a dinner at Alinea. Someday, Grant Achatz. Someday.

Per Se, New York

I dined behind the blue doors last August with 5 other friends (David, Chris, Ariel, Kate, and Joe). Joe paid for my dinner because he’s an awesome friend and it was an amazing treat. The food was great, the company was even better, and I’ve returned many times since my original dinner (not for the tasting; per se now has a salon menu so you can order a la carte). Would I go back for another tasting? YES! The reservation system at per se isn’t too bad; similar to opentable, per se opens up a couple of tables every day (manually).

So readers, where have you been on the NYMag list? Any restaurants that were overlooked?

Rao’s

Have you ever read anything about Rao’s? You’ve probably seen the pasta sauce next to the regular marinara at Whole Foods or some other grocery store and wondered why it cost $7.99 compared to the $1.99 Whole Foods organic stuff. Well, Rao’s is a restaurant in Harlem (and Las Vegas) and it’s one of the toughest restaurants to get into in the country; they don’t take reservations because everyone that goes to the restaurant has a “standing reservation.” Rao’s is owned by Frank Pellegrino and is known for their exclusivity and good Italian food. I didn’t know much about the restaurant, but Sara told me about it and I looked it up online to find out more information. There are dozens of message boards discussing Rao’s, with many commenters offering to buy someone’s meal if they have a table/reservation. I was intrigued, but didn’t really think I’d have a chance in hell to get into the restaurant. Luckily for me, Sara has connections all over New York and scored a reservation for herself and three of her friends. She invited me, David, and Laura, and we were all SUPER excited to go (I even watched Charlie Rose interview Frank Pellegrino before we dined at Rao’s so I could get even more excited).

We had a reservation for a Tuesday night and were excited for really good food; David, Sara, and I shared a cab from our office in the west village all the way to Harlem (on the way, I got really car sick and felt like I was going to die because of our cab driver’s inability to drive):

(the picture was taken before I had to stick my head out of the window to get some fresh air)

When we eventually got to the restaurant, we were greeted by Frank himself, who is at the restaurant almost everyday:

The restaurant isn’t in a great area; the three of us took a cab there so it wasn’t a big deal, but apparently we went through the projects and it’s really dangerous at night. Rao’s looked like a family restaurant and I was super excited to walk into these decorations:

Christmas decorations! Everywhere! My mom would’ve loved it (we have Christmas decorations at our house year-round. It is awesome and I will take pictures when I go home).

The atmosphere is quite friendly and it seems like everyone knows each other at the restaurant (which is quite possible considering there aren’t that many reservations available so if you go to the restaurant once a week or month, you might show up and dine next to the same people). In fact, when a person that has a reservation passes away, the reservation isn’t up for grabs – it is passed down to someone in the FAMILY!

We started off with some bread:

With some olive oil and parmesan cheese:

After a bit, the waiter brought some Rao’s white wine to the table:

While we were kind of munching on bread (we didn’t want to fill ourselves up with bread since we were about to eat a gigantic meal), an older guy pulled up a chair next to our booth with an ordering pad and started asking us some questions about what we wanted for food.

Since I watched the Charlie Rose special, I had a good idea about what I wanted to order; Sara and I discussed a couple of dishes that we really wanted to try (seafood salad, lemon chicken, steak) and the waiter added some other dishes to our order. We didn’t have a menu, so we were basically going off the waiter’s word that it wasn’t too much food for the four of us. We started off with fried mozzarella:

These weren’t the mozzarella sticks I used to eat at the golf course in high school; these were HUGE bricks of fried mozzarella with tomato sauce. The mozzarella was delicious, but I would’ve preferred to try the mozzarella fresh because it practically stuffed me and our meal had barely started.

Our next dish was seafood salad:

I was REALLY looking forward to the seafood salad; in Charlie Rose’s interview (which came out after the Rao’s cookbook was published), one of the authors says that his favorite dish is the seafood salad. The seafood salad is quite simple; lobster, shrimp, and squid with some lemon, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. Sara, Laura, and I LOVED the dish (it was actually my favorite dish of the night); it was light, the squid was chewy but very fresh, and there was so much lobster that I stuffed into my face. The sauce was so amazing that we ended up using it for a bread dip after the seafood was all gone.

After our two appetizers, we were served the pastas:

The waiters split up the pastas (we ordered bolognese with parpadelle pasta and tomato and cabbage with rigatoni). The bolognese was a little oily from the beef, but the parpadelle pasta was a really nice al dente. The tomato and cabbage sauce was very good (the acidity of the tomatoes cooked well with the blandness of the cabbage, but I didn’t like the pasta pairing).

We also ordered two meatballs:

I read that the meatballs might be a little tough and flavorless, so we decided to share the meatballs instead of ordering four for the table. The meatballs were surprisingly tender and we all enjoyed them.

Everything at Rao’s is served family-style, so our lemon chicken might look a little large, but we were splitting it:

Okay, I have no idea how we kept eating but when the lemon chicken arrived, we were all so excited to try it that we just dug right in. The chicken was moist, tender, and had a great lemon flavor. We didn’t end up eating all of the chicken (and Rao’s let us take it home) so I was lucky enough to enjoy some lemon chicken the next day.

Somehow, we were convinced at the beginning of our meal that we hadn’t ordered enough food, which is why we also ordered steak:

The steak had a nice marbling, a crisped exterior, and was surprisingly flavorful. We each ate one piece and then asked for them to wrap it up (luckily, everyone said I should take the leftovers home!)

The four of us:

At Rao’s, there’s only one seating per night, so you could technically get there at 6pm and stay until midnight (if you had all the time in the world). We were there pretty late, talking about Sara’s upcoming move to Chicago and playing games with the drinks they gave us after all of the food was gone:

Could you do this at per se?:

We finished the night with some ricotta cheesecake:

The night was amazingly fun and the food was very good; after dinner, someone came by to give us a menu (which would’ve been slightly helpful when we were ordering) with the prices. Everything is very reasonable; with a bottle of wine, two beers, and all of the food, we ended up spending about $90/pp.

Here we are outside of the restaurant around 11:

Rao’s isn’t pretentious, it’s not super fancy; it’s just a really nice Italian restaurant that has been around for over 100 years and has solid Italian food (although, as a nice side note, we did see Gina Lollobrigida and I had no idea who she was but when I mentioned it to my friend, Larry, he said we saw a huge star!) If I had the chance to go back, I’d definitely do it – I’d order a bucket of the seafood salad and eat by myself in a corner. A huge thank you to Sara and her family for getting a reservation AND for inviting me and David!

Aerogarden: Week 5

Last week, I was really excited about the overall progress of my Aerogarden. I was finally able to use some of the herbs (well, only the basil); I made an egg white omelet with some basil that was pretty amazing. Over the week, everything has grown a LOT:

In fact, the basil has gotten so big that I had to extend the aerogarden top (it holds the bulbs) because the basil actually got a little burnt:

I’m sorry, my sweet little basil. I didn’t mean for your head to burn off! I see a nice caprese salad in your future:

The basil can be used everyday now, although it’s still not enough for pesto. If I combine all of the basil leaves from the farmer’s market AND the Aerogarden, I might get myself a nice little bit of pesto going.

Let’s go through my other herbs – starting with mint:

The mint has grown a lot this week, especially since it barely peeked out of the container last week. I’m excited to use it in chai tea in a couple of weeks.

The chives are also starting to grow a bit:

I don’t think I can make anything substantial with the chives anytime soon, but possibly some dumplings in the late fall.

Initially, I was afraid that I’d taken the lid off the oregano too early, but this week, the oregano grew a lot:

(well, maybe not A LOT, but a lot for one week!)

The dill is also doing quite well:

Especially because I thought it was dead for the first couple of weeks!

And finally, the thyme is starting to get out of control!!

Actually, I was looking at the pictures from last week and all of the herbs have done an amazing job; I love the weeks when they get nutrients because that’s when they REALLY sprout up a ton! One of the problems with the herbs growing so fast (specifically the basil) is that the Aerogarden no longer fits in my little area between the counter and the cabinets! I had the Aerogarden in this perfect little spot that wasn’t taking up any of my kitchen counter space, but now it’s a big hassle because with the extended arm, the Aerogarden is kind of big! I have to find a new space for it (maybe my closet?!)

I’m feeding my Aerogarden next week and I’ll be back next Tuesday with another update – and hopefully some recipes for when I actually start using all of the herbs!!

Gracenotes NYC Giveaway winner!

Sorry for the delay – congratulations commenter #10:

Molly, I hope you had a wonderful weekend chipping chai tea and reading “The Shadow of the Wind.” Send me your shipping address and I’ll get these products out to you ASAP!

Xi’an Famous Foods

On Saturday, Justin texted me to see if I wanted to go to Flushing for lunch. Since I’m always looking for people to go to Flushing with me, I jumped at the opportunity to tag along with Justin, Julie, and his friend, John. We met up at the train station (I was right behind them on the escalator) and took the 7 to Main Street. While we were riding the train to Flushing, we agreed that we would go to the Flushing Mall since it had a food court and we could all find things from different stands to share. I wanted to go to the Xian Foods stall, not only because I’ve seen it on Anthony Bourdain’s show, but because I went to Xian with my mom after graduating from college and I REALLY loved the food. Xian is known primarily for their terracotta warriors:

BUT, they also have amazing food; I was going through my other blog (yes, I blogged in college. You can read my xanga here) Anyway, I was looking at all of the pictures of food that I took from China and realized that I really haven’t eaten any food like that since. In Xian, my mom was a guest of various universities, so we were treated really well (party after extravagant party) and I ate REALLY well because while my mom was talking to people, I was eating the food off her plate In Xian, they have bread that is the most dense thing I have EVER eaten in my life; it’s so dense that people put it in soups to soak up all of the good stuff (and it doesn’t crumble because it’s just flour and water). Here’s some of the soup I had in Xian:

Pig intestines, noodles, hot sauces, and clumps of bread

Shark fin soup with bread

Even though I went in the middle of summer, I looked forward to drinking the soup because it was just THAT GOOD. They also used the bread to make little hamburgers:

The bread is really chewy and soaks up all of the juices from the meat (in that picture, I think it was lamb).

Okay, so, on Saturday, I went to Flushing and went to the Flushing Mall to eat at Xian Foods:

Xian Foods is probably one of the more famous food stalls in the Flushing Mall because it’s been on Anthony Bourdain’s show and was featured on the Flushing Food Tour from the New York Times. I think they recently opened this stall because when I came here on the Flushing Food Tour, I don’t remember it being here (or I just overlooked it). You wait in line while a man and wife prepare food for you. I was looking at all of the options and decided to go with cold noodles (liang pi):

Hot soup with lamb and noodles:

And a lamb and cumin burger:

The liang pi noodles were the best of the dishes; it literally translate to cool skin and they’re a really good summer dish; cool and refreshing served with a combination of peanut sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce, and other spices that make the dish really memorable and messy (I got it all over my white dress). I ate the dish a lot in China, but with different variations (one place served it with chili sauce and it was absolutely amazing. I still dream about it).

The hot soup wasn’t bad, but I wish I bought a piece of bread to soak up the juices; I figured the noodles were enough, but they really weren’t. The noodles were handmade; when you ordered, the guy behind the counter flung the dough on the counter to stretch it and stuck it straight into some boiling water.

The disappointment of the day was the lamb burger (lamb with cumin); Justin said it tasted like a taco (the cumin did make the meat taste very…taco-y) and the meat didn’t taste like it was any good. The lamb had too many pieces of fat and wasn’t very enjoyable.

Justin, Julie, and John ordered some spicy dumplings, regular dumplings, soy milk, green beans, and vegetable soup. We were basically rolling back to the subway, but very happy from our food coma. If you ever want to go to Flushing, let me know because I’d love to tag along!