The NoMad

On Erika’s last week here, we tried to go to some great restaurants in New York so she could experience them before she left for the west coast. She went to a bunch with other friends and we ended up going to Neta and The NoMad together (which is quite an accomplishment considering she always had free food at Google!) The meal at The NoMad originally started out at the bar, which had a huge crowd from people working in the area:

We started out with a few bites and some drinks – the first was the radishes dipped in butter:

And the beef tartare with fresh slices of toasted brioche:

We also ordered the zucchini flatbread, which was plated on a piece of wood that had a specially cut-out knife holder:

All three were great – the radishes were dipped in a creamy and slightly salted butter (how did they do that?) and it was presented with another pile of fresh sea salt to add to the radishes. The steak tartare was good but a little warm for uncooked steak. The zucchini bread was really delicious and had a nice bite to it. After we finished our drinks and the three appetizers, we moved to our table, where we ordered more food!

First, a shared course of crab pasta:

Next, the piece-de-resistance, the truffled-foie gras chicken:

It’s presented to you table-side and then taken back to the kitchen and cut/split for two people. This is what we were served:

At first I thought it was some kind of joke – how does a chicken only come out with two small breasts? Oh wait, here’s the dark meat mixed with mushrooms:

….I don’t know what happened to the rest of it. It was really good – don’t get me wrong – but where did the rest of the chicken go? Has anyone else gone to The NoMad and had the same experience? The chicken is prepared whole and before they roast it, they separate the skin from the meat and stuff it with truffles and foie gras. The foie gras/truffle makes it so rich (and honestly, I probably could not have eaten more chicken if they gave it to me because it was so rich) – but I’m not sure how they get away with charging $80 for chicken breast!

For dessert, we had both the milk and honey:

And the chocolate dessert:

They made a special preparation of the cake because Erika wanted both but we didn’t want to order both (and the waiter was nice enough to ask the kitchen to make it since it was one of Erika’s last nights in the city). The meal at The NoMad was delicious – everything we ordered from start to finish was prepared well – but it was slightly pricey for a Monday night meal!

Union Square Cafe

I haven’t visited Union Square Cafe since I first moved to the city and sat at the bar on a Monday night to enjoy their lobster pot pie and a Casear salad with the famous USC banana tart. Ken and I ventured over since it’s a neighborhood restaurant and decided to enjoy brunch there last weekend. We started with their bread basket while we sipped on bloody marys and coffee:

I decided to order the trout with potatoes and vegetables:

Ken started with the red lettuce salad:

And then ordered the tuna burger because we read so many positive reviews about it:

The trout was standard (although it did not taste as fresh as anything I’ve ever eaten at Maialino) and the tuna burger was so terrible that I told Ken to not even bother finishing it. The burger was tuna meat that was chopped up, put back together, and grilled. The fish didn’t taste fresh at all and the side of coleslaw was absolutely…THE WORST. We also weren’t really impressed with their service (so slow it was like pulling teeth to get service). Not expected at all for a Danny Meyer restaurant and a very disappointing experience overall. It was nothing like what I had experienced during my previous visits and I hope it was a one time error on their part.

Tertulia

On St. Patricks day, Ken and I fell asleep during the afternoon and didn’t wake up until much later in the evening. We were hungry and decided to try and get a cab and grab a bite to eat at Tertulia, a restaurant on 6th Avenue that we’ve been interested in sampling since it opened. Getting transportation on Saturday was much more difficult than expected (we couldn’t believe how many people were out celebrating!) but we grabbed a cab and made it into Tertulia right before the kitchen closed. The menu looked really good and we decided to try a bit of everything.

We started with the small bites of pig cheek, quail egg, and pepper on toast:

A quick bite with a great combination of a creamy yolk and salty pig cheek. We both enjoyed the bite and I wished it could have been served as a meal, instead of just a bite!

Our second plate – black and white anchovies, slow-roasted tomato, sheep’s milk cheese and aged balsamic:

My favorite dish of the evening: the anchovies were salty and mixed well with the acidic tomatoes and balsamic – absolutely delicious!

We ordered the special of the evening: razor clams sauteed with bacon and parsley:

Another good dish – we both love razor clams!

Ken enjoyed the ibérico ham croquettes with membrillo:

But I didn’t like the combination of the quince paste with the salty ibérico ham bite.

We also ordered another special: chicken wings with a buttermilk sauce:

The chicken wings were really good but the buttermilk sauce/dressing was tasteless and I didn’t like the pomegranate combination, either.

Our last dish was the sepia with trumpet mushrooms, spring onions, and cashews:

Not a fan of the sepia (which is part of the cuttlefish family) but the fiddlehead ferns were a nice crunchy veggie that I haven’t had since eating at Babbo a very long time ago.

Neither of us really enjoyed our dinner at Tertulia (and we thought the service was particularly drab, with our server who reminded us of Thomas from Downton Abbey…in a bad way). The restaurant was pretty over-rated (or over-hyped) in our opinions.

Cincinnati!

A few weeks ago, Ken and I flew to Cincinnati to meet up with our friends from Chicago. Last year, we rented a house in the Hamptons (day one and day two). This year, Drew’s parents just purchased a house in Cincinnati and invited us out there to hang out by the pool and play with their new goldendoodle puppy, Addison.

On Friday, we went to the Cincinnati Reds game (they won!):

On Saturday, we played with Addison, the cutest puppy in the world:

She’s a goldendoodle – her mom is a golden and her dad is a toy poodle (I am still confused about conception but apparently it happens all the time with toy-sized and full-sized dogs!) She is so sweet and has such a playful personality – she makes me want to get a puppy for ourselves!

We played games in the pool (in honor of the Olympics) and we also played a game I introduced to the team that my friend taught me – Slap Cup. An amazing game that is super messy but also really fun. All of us in Cincinnati this year:

I wonder where we’re going next year!

Del Posto

For New Years Eve’s eve, we had dinner at Del Posto. Actually, we booked the private cellar at Del Posto and had a cocktail hour, private dinner with wine pairings, and lots of fun conversation. Photos from the evening –

Very ready to start eating:

Serving Ken the pasta course:

Sea bass:

Ken’s filet:

An inventory of our wines:

Polenta Dessert with blueberries:

Ken’s chocolate cake:

Me, Hana and Michelle:

The entire party:

The dinner party wasn’t much more expensive than dining at Del Posto and it included a really great cocktail hour with prosecco and passed hors d’oeuvres. It was a really fun meal and I definitely want to do something similar in the future!