By
grace.g.yang
· August 26, 2008
Under:
My Life Sorry for the lack of posts recently – I have been swamped with work and travel (can you believe that summer is almost over?) I’m back in New York for the next couple of weeks so I’ll have more time to eat at fabulous restaurants and blog about them for you. One of my upcoming dining experiences that I’m excited to blog about is my meal at per se in the Time Warner Center on September 7th; Chris, Joe, Ariel, and I are celebrating the end of summer with an all-out meal at the Thomas Keller’s restaurant.
To whet my appetite, I’m reading Phoebe Damrosch’s book, Service Included: Four Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter (thanks to a suggestion from a reader, Michelle), going through reviews of per se (Frank Bruni’s and The Amateur Gourmet’s are both great), and looking through my posts about my previous Thomas Keller restaurant experiences at Bouchon Bakery, ad hoc, and The French Laundry.
I’m headed to Florida the day after the meal and I’ll have the opportunity to blog about per se during my flight to Orlando. Hopefully by the end of that week, I’ll have something posted for you guys…until then, I’ll leave you with a photograph of Chris, me, and Thomas Keller:
And a story Thomas Keller told his staff at per se (from Phoebe’s book):
‘If you want to understand commitment, he explained, all you have to do is look at the American breakfast of bacon and eggs. The chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.’
By
grace.g.yang
· August 10, 2008
Under:
My Life Over the weekend, Chris, David, my dad, and I checked out the Virgin Mobile Festival at the Pimlimco Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The awesome people at buzzd.com hooked me up with four two-day festival passes and my dad was in town, so I figured it would be fun to take a road trip. Here are some pictures:
We arrived at 2:30, which is exactly when Lupe Fiasco started (I’m surprised that the acts all started exactly on time). Chris and I really wanted to see Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West when they came to New York, but I was out of town when they came to Madison Square Garden and thought I missed out completely. Luckily, I got these tickets and it was on a weekend so I was able to go, but I couldn’t stay for Kanye because I had to be back in the city to catch a flight out bright and early Monday morning. Anyway, we had a blast on Saturday and saw some really awesome acts, including Steve Lawler:
And Chuck Berry:
Chuck Berry is 81 years old and STILL PERFORMING! We also saw The Offspring, The Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, and a Japanese coverband that was really awesome. The four of us had a great time in Baltimore (which is surprisingly close to the city) and it was awesome to listen to live music (which I haven’t done in such a long time).
Two weeks after Artichoke opened, I went there with Chris to check it out. There was no line (which is unheard of now) and we were really looking forward to trying their supposedly awesome pizza. The owners are cousins and were really nice and talked to me about how they started Artichoke while they were preparing our pizza (more below).
Artichoke pizzeria:
So the place opened a while ago and I’m sure you’ve read a lot about it, but it was started by these guys from Staten Island and New Jersey. One of the owners’ mom’s has a restaurant on Staten Island, and he got his start by making breads at her restaurant. People really liked it, so he kept experimenting and made the Artichoke pizza (a spinach and artichoke pie). Here is one of the owners making our pie:
The guys found the 14th location by luck – they were walking by it one day and saw the for lease sign and decided to try it out. When Chris and I first went there, they were still commuting from Staten Island everyday (I know they were looking for a place to live and don’t know if they found somewhere closer to Manhattan), but they worked really hard trying to get the restaurant together and told me it’s pretty normal for them to stay until 4AM before they head back to Staten Island. It got rave reviews (hence them staying until 4AM to please everyone) and even David Chang from Momofuku bought a couple pies for his employees during the first couple of weeks. They also serve cauliflower fritters and other things, but their pizzas are the main attraction.
After about 20 minutes, our pie came out of the oven:
Initially, Chris and I were in shock – the pizza looks so….heavenly and delicious! We took the pizza back on the L and couldn’t wait to get home so we had our initial slice while waiting for the subway:
We were so excited that I burned the roof of my mouth trying to scarf down the slice. It was salty and creamy from the Parmesan cheese, and the crust was pretty crunchy (a little stiff, actually). After one slice, I felt a little…bloated (to be perfectly honest). In reality, it tasted like an appetizer from TGI Friday’s (the spinach and artichoke dip that comes with slices of pita). The sauce is too heavy and you really can’t have more than one slice (otherwise your arteries will hate you in the morning). Chris and I went back to try the regular pizza (marinara and cheese) but weren’t impressed by it, either. The crust was too stiff and there wasn’t enough sauce OR cheese. They just introduced another slice, the crab pizza, which I heard is selling well. It sounds too similar to a crab dip – I didn’t try it, but I read that it’s disgusting.
On the weekends, my usual ritual is to sleep in until noon (or later), drag myself out of bed, and head out for brunch. I love brunch because it’s casual but the food is usually really awesome (especially anything that has to do with eggs). Cookshop had been on my list of places-to-check-out-but-it’s-too-far-from-transportation, but I finally dragged myself to 10th Avenue (unheard of!) to sample their brunch. Chris and I headed in without a reservation (they can be made on opentable.com), but we only waited a couple minutes before being seated. When the waiter showed us to our seats, we looked around at the other tables and noticed that a lot of people ordered the burgers, so we decided to order a burger and something else. I noticed the huevos rancheros and decided to order it (did I mention that I’m a big fan of eggs?!).
My order of huevos rancheros:
The Cookshop version of huevos rancheros came with black beans, bacon, Monterey jack cheese, lime creme fraiche & red onion-jalapeño salsa. It was absolutely amazing, especially the lime creme fraiche. The eggs are baked (so the cheese and all of the flavors can melt together). Chris wasn’t as impressed, but I seriously couldn’t get over the fresh taste (the red onion-jalapeño salsa is also really good). I actually make a similar dish for breakfast, but instead of creme fraiche, I’ll put a little goat cheese in with my eggs (which is also awesome).
Chris ordered the Grass-fed burger with bacon:
The burger came with Vermont cheddar, twice smoked bacon, pickled red onion, chipotle ketchup, and fries. Vermont just makes the absolute best butter and cheddar cheese (fact, not opinion). Chris really liked his burger because it was really juicy, but I thought it was a tad on the salty side. Overall, I thought brunch was absolutely awesome (actually, much better than Five Points’ brunch, which is owned by the same person that owns Cookshop). It’s so good that I’d even say it’s worth walking to from Chris’ house (which is two avenues away!).
A lot of people randomly e-mail me about how much crap I eat. Some people think it’s awesome, but most people are telling me that I should be eating more vegetables instead of cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, and eggs. Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not the HEALTHIEST eater, but I get by because I only eat like crap one day a week (three meals on Saturday or Sunday of ANYTHING I WANT). On the other days (when I’m in New York), I usually end up ordering food from SeamlessWeb. There are a lot of great restaurants on the website and you don’t have to have to talk to anyone on the phone about taking your order (you just click on buttons and then if you have any special requests, type it into a nice little box before checking out). Some of my favorite places are Eva’s, The Pump, and 99 miles to Philly (Eva’s and The Pump have a lot of healthy options, 99 miles to Philly has CHEESESTEAKS). It’s online shopping with instant gratification!
