I collect restaurant menus from some of the most memorable meals I’ve had during the past ten years. Some of my favorites include Alinea, The French Laundry for their 20th anniversary (and our first anniversary), and my first time dining at Alinea. We framed everything at Michael’s in Chelsea – I started with The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park’s menus. The French Laundry’s menu is different than their usual menu because they added the Roman numerals for twenty behind their menu in honor of their 20th anniversary. The menus were all wrapped with a brown paper when they were given to me so I used the paper to trace the menu sizes to tape them up on the wall and see how they would fit together. Initially we were going to hang them up as a wall collage that we would add to, but then we decided to hang them all at eye-level. Here’s what the wall looked like:
And all of the framed menus:
We were puppy sitting Harlie the weekend we decided to take on the home improvement project and Harlie ended up going with us to Michael’s multiple times as well as Lowe’s. She’s a home improvement dog!
Instead of nailing everything to the wall, we decided to use Command hanging strips so we didn’t create new holes in the wall. They worked out really well (we had to wait an hour after we put them up initially because they need time to set before you add weight to the strips. The final product:
We are planning to add a rug to the room but we haven’t decided on the pattern or the size yet. Stay tuned – we will hopefully buy the rug this year!
Towards the end of the year, Ken and I went out to a holiday dinner together before our upcoming visits with family. We decided on Wildair on the lower east side because we never venture over there and I had read a few positive reviews of the restaurant. I got there right before it opened so we could secure the first seating since they don’t take reservations and luckily we were the second couple there!
The main reason I wanted to go there was for the bread – their bread is on the menu and you can order a loaf for your table with olive oil (but if you end up ordering it, I’d order the radishes with butter as well because the butter is better than the olive oil!):
The restaurant was opening and prepping for the night when I first arrived so there was lots to watch from our bar seats:
The waitress recommended a glass of wine for me based on what we ordered (Ken abstained from drinking because he had his holiday party the night before):
We also had a half dozen oysters to start the meal:
Everything is a small plate (except their steak, which we decided not to order). We ordered the breakfast radishes with seaweed butter:
The beef tartare (if you go, this is a definite order):
The Georgia white shrimp with celery and cilantro:
The waiter instructed us to eat the shells because they were very soft but I thought it tasted a little better without the shells,
And the tuna with cabbage and potato:
The dessert I wanted – the chocolate hazelnut tart – was replaced with a buckwheat tart so we decided to pass. I thought the menu was creative and really enjoyed the dishes we ordered, but wasn’t blown away the way some people have been. Have you been? What did you think of Wildair?
Ken and I love eating salads – there are so many great places for a big salad in the city that it’s difficult not to like them (some of my favorites include Chop’t’s Mexican Caesar with kale and shrimp, Just Salad’s Buffalo Chicken salad, Dos Caminos’ taco salad, and Sweetgreens’ Guacamole Greens salad). If you’ve been to any of those places, you’ll know that a salad will set you back over $10! Ken and I tried to find the recipes for some of our favorites to recreate at home. We made this sweetgreen’s salad and loved it and then made it for our holiday party and everyone loved it there, too. It’s very easy to make at home so if you don’t have a sweetgreen in your neighborhood, this is a great alternative!
Start with some washed mixed greens:
And add chopped red onion and grape tomatoes:
Add chicken, avocado, tortilla chips, and the homemade salad dressing – a cilantro jalapeno lime dressing with cumin:
You can finish off with some fresh cilantro if you’re a fan (and I definitely am):
Ingredients, (adapted from Blogging Over Thyme):
Cilantro Lime Jalapeno Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 a jalapeno pepper (seeds and ribs removed), finely chopped
1/4 cup grapeseed (or other flavorless) oil
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Guacamole Greens Salad:
4 ounces grilled chicken breast, cubed
3 ounces grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup finely diced red onion (roughly 1 ounce)
8-10 large corn tortilla chips (1 ounce), crushed lightly with hands
1 small avocado, pitted, and cut into medium chunks
3.5 ounces mixed spring greens
lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette (see above–shake before using!)
Directions:
Prepare Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients in a blender, or small food processor bowl. Puree or pulse ingredients together, until mixture just begins to come together, and cilantro is still finely chopped. Set aside in a small container. Shake before using.
In a large bowl, place the cooked chicken, halved tomatoes, diced red onion, crushed tortilla chips, avocado, and mixed spring greens. Toss the salad lightly with lime cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette. Serve immediately.
I haven’t been to Extra Virgin in over five years, so when we were puppysitting Harlie and walking through the west village, we decided to stop in for a late brunch. The wait wasn’t too long because it was a little on the chilly side (but since we had Harlie, we had to eat outside anyway). We were seating after waiting a few minutes and then sat down to order (with some water on the side for Harlie!)
I ordered the banana french toast and Ken ordered the sun-dried tomato omelet with pesto and tomatoes:
Both were excellent – the French toast wasn’t too mushy and still had good texture (a bit on the sweet side, but the whipped cream that it’s served with isn’t too sweet to balance the dish) and the sun-dried tomatoes added a lot of flavor to the omelet. We’ve made one of our new year’s resolutions to eat brunch more (and to have people over for brunch more) so I’ll definitely be posting new places we check out in 2016!
One of our favorite restaurants is The Bao, a xiao-long-bao (known in English as soup dumplings, sometimes abbreviated as XLB) restaurant in the east village. My cousin’s wife initially found it from yelp reviews and Ken and I usually don’t eat on St. Mark’s unless it’s for dessert, but we gave it a try and have been going on a regular basis ever since. I think it also helps that we don’t go to Joe Shanghai anymore (1. it’s really far downtown/in the middle of nowhere in midtown and 2. it was shut by the DOH (Chinatown AND Midtown!). To get our soup dumpling fix, we just walk down to The Bao.
My mom is also a huge fan of the restaurant and has been known to go for lunch and dinner on the same day – the owner recognizes her whenever we go with her now. I think the tally for her last visit was 4 dinners (some with me and Ken and some with David or by herself). Here’s what I love to order at the restaurant.
The scallion pancake is freshly fried for you – these are better than the scallion pancakes with beef that the restaurant has because they add a sweet hoisin sauce that they can’t be removed upon request:
My hands down favorite order is the chives sautéed with pork and black beans:
This dish is salty and a little spicy but has a very addictive flavor and I like how all of the items in the dish are evenly sized. The dish pairs very nicely with rice (which has to be ordered individually – rice doesn’t come per entree).
The soup I always need to order (even when it’s hot outside) is the westlake soup – this is usually a chicken or pork based broth with pork, tofu, cilantro and egg white:
The cilantro brings all of the flavors together but it has a very strong flavor so if you don’t like cilantro, stay away!
For veggies, I love ordering the Chinese water spinach, the green beans, or the sautéed pea shoots with garlic:
And of course, you have to order the Kung Fu xiao long bao:
Six per order, the skin isn’t too thick like some restaurants, and the pork inside tastes like it’s pretty good quality.
Here are some things to know:
– the wait times are pretty ridiculous because the restaurant is popular (good for them, bad for us!)
– they don’t have hot water but they do have hot tea. I’m wondering how they make the tea?
– tea isn’t free refills (okay, but then they need to pour you a full glass if you order it!)
– the portions have gotten significantly smaller since they opened a year ago but their prices have only gone up. (the last time we went, the westlake soup container was half filled!)
Even with my gripes, I still love the restaurant and it’s my favorite Chinese restaurant in New York at the moment. Let me know if you like the dishes there – and tell me what you ordered that I didn’t mention!
