Happy Valentine’s Day!

Last year, my college friends were in town and we celebrated valentine’s day by dining at Ed’s Lobster bar, dancing at Marquee, and being each others’ valentines. This year, I’m lucky to have Ken in my life – we decided to celebrate a little early (Saturday instead of today) and went to Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Tribeca. We had a delicious steak for two, Wolfgang salad, slices of bacon, a baked potato, creamed spinach, and chocolate mousse cake (and a bottle of wine!) We’re celebrating tonight, as well, by going bowling! Our first (of many) valentine’s days together:

How are you celebrating valentine’s day this year?

Lotus of Siam

Last Thursday night, Ken and I made plans to go on a double date with his roommate and girlfriend. Joe and EY were on time for our reservation and Ken and I both got caught up in the office and ended up being an hour late (probably the latest I’ve ever been). Luckily, they weren’t upset with us because EY ended up knowing the hostess and got hooked up with drinks at the bar while they waited for us. When we finally arrived, we were all starving and decided to sit down right away so we could order.

I’ve never had great Thai food in the city and was very excited when I found out Lotus of Siam had opened up in the old Cru space. I kept a list of dishes I wanted to try and we ended up ordering almost all of them. We started off with one of my favorite dishes of the night, Nam Kao Tod Crispy Rice crispy rice tossed with thai sausage, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts & lime:

I’m not sure what temperature the dish was supposed to be served at; it was slightly cold but also had pieces of warm rice mixed in with the slices of red onion, sausage, and lime juice. The crispy rice kept its texture even with an infusion of lime juice (the peanuts helped with the crunchy texture).

Our next dish was Chilean Seabass king sot steamed with napa cabbage, scallion & ginger sauce, pad kra-pao deep fried & topped with spicy thai basil sauce:

EY’s friend came over after we ordered and asked if we had ordered the chilean sea bass that served two (we didn’t) – this sea bass had a nice spiciness to it and the fish was incredibly meaty and fresh.

Another favorite of the night – Crispy Duck penang served with a penang curry sauce & cognac, pad kra-pao with spicy thai basil sauce:

My first complaint of the meal: the portions were incredibly small and the prices were also really high (that’s two complaints in one, but who’s counting?) The prices were higher than any Thai restaurant I’ve ever visited in the states (although now that I think of it, I’ve only visited them in Illinois).

The server recommended we order the Kang Khiao Wan, made with green curry paste, coconut milk, bamboo shoot & thai basil:

And I always love Pad See-Ew (stir fried flat rice noodles with egg, chinese broccoli, black soy & a touch of vinegar):

Everything was really delicious but our plates were licked clean because we were so hungry. We ended up ordering dessert – tapioca pudding with tropical fruit:

The dessert had the same toppings as a Chinese shaved ice or Korean patbingsu. Young coconut, coconut milk, taro balls, and a lot of other delicious sweet toppings made the dessert a really good way to end the evening.

Me and Ken before going to town on dinner and wine:

Joe and EY:

I’ve heard that there are a lot of great Thai choices in hell’s kitchen (Pam’s keeps being brought up) so I’ll probably try dining there before returning to Lotus of Siam again. The four of us had a great time catching up and talking about EY’s amazingly cute dog, Aioki, and planned to go out more often.

Sarah’s Pastries and Candies

On Saturday morning before the wedding, Ken and I were in the mood for chocolate croissants and other pastries. We were staying at the Knickerbocker Hotel (where the wedding reception was) and we looked up places for breakfast. Luckily, Sarah’s Pastries and Candies wasn’t too far from our hotel and we braved the snow to walk over for some coffee and pastries.

The place is very cute and sells all kinds of pastries, chocolates, and cakes:

They have an impressive amount of cupcakes:

And macarons (although they looked very greasy so I decided not to order any):

Ken ordered the chocolate croissant:

And I went with the raspberry scone:

The chocolate croissants innards:

The shot is a little deceptive because the distribution of chocolate was very uneven and some bites didn’t have any chocolate at all! The scone, however, was very buttery and really delicious with coffee.

Sarah has also published a book and sells all types of chocolates in the store:

The store was a great stop before we walked around Michigan Avenue and Oak Street (although we didn’t last long because it was SO INCREDIBLY COLD when we visited).

Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co.

Ken and I went to Chicago a couple weeks ago for my friend’s wedding, to meet each others’ friends, and to spend time with his sister and her family. Our flight was delayed a bit on Friday night and we ended up arriving around 9pm (originally, I made reservations at L2O but cancelled them so I could meet Ken’s friends at one of Ken’s favorite restaurants, Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co., which was actually a good move since we would’ve missed our 8:30 reservation). We checked into our hotel room and literally dropped off our bags before we were hailing a cab to head to the restaurant:

We started off with the Mediterranean bread that is covered with Parmesan, black pepper, and spices:

You dip the bread in more of the topping and it has a similar texture to a soft pita. Along with the Mediterranean bread, we also ordered a gigantic salad:

The salad comes with two dressings that are actually supposed to be paired together (one is sour cream garlic and the other is a very tangy sweet and sour poppyseed).

Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. specializes in pizza pot pie – a personal-sized “pizza” that has the sauce and toppings placed in a bowl and covered then baked with the crust covering the bowl. The sauce options are basic – tomato sauce (with sausage or without), mushrooms, you can order more sausage if you want, and it’s covered with either a whole wheat crust or a white crust. I ordered the whole wheat with sausage tomato sauce mushroom, and more sausage (obviously):

They bring the bowls to your table and actually remove the crusts tableside as well:

Ken really hyped up the pizza and said it was the best pizza EVER. I thought the sauce and cheese were good but the crust was definitely too flaky for my tastes. I told Ken that the next time we return to Chicago, we’re going to a pizza place that I like (Pequod’s)…luckily, I had a great time meeting his friends and we played a very intense game of Apples to Apples after dinner (I won a game!)

Lincoln Ristorante

I’ve been meaning to check out Jonathan Benno’s new restaurant, Lincoln, for quite some time but with my Michelin dining goal in 2010, I didn’t have much spare time in my schedule. Luckily, one of Dan’s friends was visiting from California and mentioned he’d like to dine with me at a restaurant of my choice. I picked Lincoln since after an email exchange it sounded like he’s been to every nice restaurant in New York (and restaurants all over the world).

We started off with some “breads” – Crisps brushed with Pork Fat and dusted with Parmigiano Reggiano and pepper:

And Red Pepper Flake Bread Sticks:

And foccacia:

A server also brought along an amuse bouche – mushroom risotto with a phyllo-like wrapper:

We decided to share everything so we could try a variety of dishes – I started with the grigliata di gamberoni e calamari:

And David ordered the tartara di branzino:

The branzino came with castelvetrano olives, radishes, cucumber, and shaved fennel.

For our pasta course, we ordered the agnolotti di polenti al ragu di cinghiale:

The pasta was cooked a bit unevenly but the boar ragu with rosemary was really delicious.

For my main course, I ordered the veal chop with blue hubbard squash gnocco and red cabbage:

We wondered if gnocco was the singular tense of gnocchi (the server said yes after conferring with another server). The veal chop was tender and flavorful but the gnocco had muddled flavors.

David ordered the halibut with artichokes, new potatoes, cerignola olives, and mint:

We decided to pass on dessert but were given some mignardises:

There was shortbread, chocolate with hazelnuts, licorice, and financiers that were all very delicious. The meal was enjoyable but nothing even close to what you’d get at per se (or any Thomas Keller restaurant). The chef was working in the open kitchen the night we dined and looked like he was busy; the restaurant is less than six months old so I’m sure they’re still working out some kinks. The design is really open and airy on the first floor but the layout of the entrance is a little cramped (right when you enter, there’s the hostess stand as well as an elevator that takes you to the private dining and restrooms). I’m interested in their brunch pre-fixe menu ($36) but making it up to the upper west side on the weekend is probably going to be pretty difficult/next to impossible.