Torrisi Italian Specialties

Everyone in New York has been raving about Torrisi ever since it opened; they have a $50 pre-fixe dinner every night that has all of New York singing its praises in addition to their lunchtime sandwiches. They don’t take reservations (you have to physically go to the restaurant and put your name on a list). I tried (once) but they didn’t have openings until 11pm and there was nothing to do in the neighborhood since all of the shops in Soho closed early. We walked over after running errands in Soho and were lucky because they closed at 4pm (to prepare for dinner service):

The shop is pretty small – they have some of their assembly line by the cash register but the majority of the food is coming from their downstairs kitchen (they had at least three runs of chicken parmesan from the basement while we were there). Their dining room:

They have a limited menu – chicken parmesan, and Italian sandwich, eggplant parmesan, and cold cuts (you can make your own combination). They also have sides – brussel sprouts, beets, roasted red peppers, and marinated veggies:

We went with an order of beets and the chicken parmesan:

And the chicken parm sandwich that took a solid 30 minutes to arrive:

The sandwich was completely worth the wait; perfectly breaded chicken with tomato sauce, fresh basil, and amazingly delicious mozzarella on a Parisi bakery hoagie bun. Ken and I split the sandwich because we had dinner plans (and had just eaten not too long ago) but I totally regretted the decision to not stuff our faces with Torrisi’s awesome sandwiches. The side of beets came much later than the sandwich – a small side with some citrus wedges and toasted almonds (the only downside of Torrisi: good luck getting anyone’s attention to get your food).

We are definitely heading back soon for their $50 dinner – I have heard so many great things about their dinner that I’m going to bring a book to read while I’m waiting for my reservation.

Osteria Morini

After a wonderful visit to the Doughnut Plant, Ken and I went to brunch at Osteria Morini, Michael White’s newest restaurant in New York:

The last time we walked by the restaurant we were on our way to La Esquina…but I made a mental note to keep a look out for reviews; a couple friends raved about their meals at Morini and their garganelli pasta made it to Sam Sifton’s 15 best dishes of 2010 so I figured we should go as soon as our schedules permitted. We arrived at the restaurant at noon – they were still setting up for brunch. The restaurant is much more casual than Michael White’s other restaurants, ALTO, Marea, and Convivio; they have a community table, no white tablecloths, and mismatched chairs:

We started off with some olive bread and regular rustic bread:

For our appetizer, we ordered their mozzarella – bufala mozzarella, citrus segments, rosemary oil, saba:

I’m usually not a huge fan of ordering mozzarella at restaurants (why bother if you can buy it at a grocery store) but there’s something really special about the bufala mozzarella that’s served at Marea and I figured it would be similarly creamy and delicious at Morini. The mozzarella was very similar to Marea’s, but it was also oddly sweet (not from the orange segments, either).

We decided against ordering the garganelli and ordered the tortellini with duck liver mousse instead:

I haven’t had a cream-based pasta sauce in quite some time because it’s usually too heavy and I’m such a huge fan of tomato sauce, but this creamy pasta with duck liver mousse was decadent yet light. After brunch, Ken said he thought lunch was really light which surprised me since we ate doughnuts, creamy pasta, and duck liver.

We shared the branzino – grilled mediterranean sea bass, insalata mista, salsa verde:

I enjoyed the branzino except I ended up getting some strange types of bones that really ruined my last couple of bites. The bones weren’t long like normal fish bones, instead, they were strange little pellets that I’ve never seen in fish before.

Ken and I enjoyed my lunch experience at Osteria Morini and definitely plan on returning for dinner – it might be our favorite Michael White restaurant because it’s a more casual setting, the service is better than Marea (although that’s not difficult considering I’ve had better service at McDonald’s than Marea), and the pasta is just as great.

Doughnut Plant

The last time I visited the Doughnut Plant, it was about to close for the day and they only had a couple types of doughnuts left (I ended up buying the ginger doughnut so it wasn’t a completely wasted trip to the lower east side, but I wasn’t a huge fan because it was a cake doughnut and I prefer the yeast doughnuts). This time, I decided to visit first thing in the morning to make sure I could buy any doughnut I wanted! I had to cab it to the shop since I was running late for brunch reservations but it was worth it – the shop still had all of their doughnuts and I got to pick from a large assortment:

I ended up buying three – the creme brulee was my favorite – a crackly layer of sugar on top of the yeast doughnut:

Filled with vanilla custard:

Second favorite was the vanilla glazed doughnut with blackberry jam:

I didn’t think there was enough blackberry jam, but it did go all the way around:

My third favorite was the meyer lemon yeast doughnut:

I didn’t think there was enough lemon flavor, Ken thought it was too lemony! I think it would’ve been better if it was a meyer lemon doughnut filled with lemon curd.

Doughnut Plant sells their doughnuts at Dean and Deluca outlets but I think it’s better to buy them at the actual shop; the last time I bought a vanilla bean doughnut at Dean and Deluca, it was a little stale and I think it was more expensive. I wish the Doughnut Plant was closer to my apartment (or easier to get to) because I’d go there every day!

Happy New Year!

I spent New Year’s eve at home having a hot pot party with my mom, David, Laura, Ken, Sumon, and Koyel:

My mom purchased so many different types of food for our hot pot party: ribeye, lamb, pork, fish balls, tofu (frozen tofu was my favorite), taro, QQQ noodles, and other goodies; David chopped up pounds of cilantro and garlic, and I helped set up the table for our simple but fun party.

Tigger, Sumon and Koyel’s very cute dog also attended:

We played Settlers of Catan (Sumon won and said it was because he played so much Civilization as a teenager), we ate mochi (filled with pureed black sesame and pureed peanuts), and then Ken and I headed out for the evening (it was our first new year’s eve in New York and we thought it might be fun to go out):

I still haven’t written my year-end round up (it’s coming, I promise!), but wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!

Masa

I really didn’t think I’d make it to Masa this year. In fact, I didn’t think I was going to be even close to finishing all of the Michelin restaurants in New York; even though I’d gone to a bunch of them in previous years, there were still a lot of restaurants that I had to visit in a short amount of time. Luckily, I have wonderful mom, brother, friends (and blog readers!) that really helped me pull through all of the final restaurants in December. I wanted to make Masa the last restaurant on my Michelin list and originally I was going to eat with another blogger that was going through the Michelin list in New York as well, but he quit earlier in the year and backed out of Masa.

When the other blogger dropped out of our Masa plans, I decided to go on my own. But, as you may or may not know, going to dinner by yourself is kind of the worst experience ever (if you don’t know, try visiting a Korean restaurant on your own for dinner and having the waitress repeatedly ask you if you’re dining alone…awkward!) Ken and I talked about going together and he originally thought I should go by myself but eventually agreed to go with me (he’s visited a bunch of the other restaurants with me). I insisted we would go dutch because it would be unfair to make him pay for a dinner that was so expensive, especially since he surprised me with a new digital camera the week before (we exchanged Christmas presents early because I just couldn’t wait and he wanted me to have a new camera for the rest of my Michelin restaurants!)

To make Masa my last Michelin restaurant, I had to eat at Gordon Ramsay at The London, Cafe Boulud, Gilt, and The River Cafe, which I realized on Wednesday afternoon before my Saturday reservation at Masa. I thought Masa would be open later in December, but when I called to make reservations on December 1st they informed me that the entire restaurant goes on vacation from Christmas until the new year. I talked to my mom about going to a Michelin restaurant every night until Masa and although it was a large calorie intake, she thought I should go for it! I went to Gordon Ramsay on Wednesday night with a reader, Cafe Boulud on Thursday night, Gilt on Friday, and The River Cafe on Saturday for brunch, leaving me with just Masa on Saturday night. The restaurant reservations fell into place and reminded me of playing Ticket-to-Ride – when you realize you’re going to win the game with the longest route and the most points (if you’ve played Ticket-to-Ride, you understand that awesome feeling!)

So, Ken and I agreed to meet up at Masa for our 9pm reservation instead of meeting beforehand since we don’t live close to each other at all. I was running late and coincidentally, Ken was running late as well. We were about 15 minutes late and luckily the restaurant was understanding (we had the last seating at the sushi counter for the evening):

The restaurant has a sushi bar made out of hinoki wood that is sanded down and unfinished, three tables of two next to the entrance, and one large table that seats larger parties (on the Saturday we visited, the restaurant’s tables were all filled but only three sets of seats at the sushi counter were occupied. We sat in front of our sushi chef on the left side of the restaurant (Masayoshi Takayama has the center of the sushi counter and was cleaning his knives when we arrived). Our chef asked if we had any allergies (neither of us do) and we started with our meal. The restaurant doesn’t have a menu for food (only drinks) and the chefs decide what they want to feed you (although everyone gets the same food unless you end up ordering the supplemental dish – on our visit, it was Wagyu beef for an extra $90 per person).

Masa’s menu is broken up into five to six cooked appetizers and then 15 – 20 pieces of fish before finishing with tea. We started with kegani, which was large chunks of hairy crab mixed with a bit of seaweed and a dash of vinegar. The portions of kegani were very generous and the seaweed added a great briny sea flavor.

For our second course, the server brought toro tartare with a large serving of caviar. The ratio of toro tartare to caviar was pretty even (probably a teaspoon more toro tartare than caviar); the caviar added their texture and flavor to the creamy toro tartare and two pieces of lightly toasted bread.

Our third course was a warm dish: warm uni risotto. We watched the chef prepare the risotto and he generously stirred in three or four large scoops of uni into the creamy risotto. I liked the dish; creamy with a light briny flavor from the fresh uni.

Next, the most exciting dish of the evening: fugu sashimi. We were presented with a plate that looked like it was made from porous volcano rocks with fugu sashimi and edible flowers. Ken and I were both a little afraid to eat the fish because we were both thinking about the Simpsons episode when Homer eats fugu in Springfield (don’t pretend like you haven’t seen that episode) but the chef reassured us that the fugu was prepared by him earlier in the day and that he had eaten it as well. The fugu had a very mild flavor, a little similar to fluke, but the accompanying sauce was what made the dish special; it tasted like a combination of soy sauce and mirin. We were also given pieces of the fugu skin and liver and those pieces were much more chewy and gelatinous than the rest of the fugu.

After our fugu sashimi, we were given fried fugu, fugu karaage, which was lightly fried. The fugu was a little too bony for me (and definitely not enough meat) – the chef instructed us to eat the fugu with our hands, just like fried chicken!

Our last hot dish was the buri, which was a shabu shabu presentation; we were given two bowls – one filled with layers of wild yellowtail sashimi and thinly sliced scallions and the other bowl with near-boiling broth. We were instructed to dip the yellowtail (with scallions) into the broth and to take it out when the yellowtail became pink. We devoured the yellowtail, the servers took away the bowl the yellowtail was presented in, and our next course was the broth that was used to cook the yellowtail (Ken whispered to me if he thought the chef would be offended if he didn’t finish the broth because there was too much – I told him it was okay if he didn’t finish)

After our shabu shabu bowls were taken away by the servers, we were given a black lacquered plate so we could begin the sushi course. One thing that surprised me about the sushi courses was the ratio of fish to rice; the rice was warm and slightly sweet but definitely played second fiddle to the sparkling pieces of fresh fish. Chef Masa flies in fish on a daily basis and also collects fish from all over the US so you don’t have to worry on whether or not each piece of fish is the best piece you’re going to find in New York (and possibly the world).

The servers brought by bowls of warm lemon water so we could clean our hands because the chef told us to eat the sushi with our fingers. The chef took his wasabi root and began finely grating it into a paste so he could place just the right amount in each of our pieces of fish and then began preparing our next courses. Our first piece was the toro (fatty tuna) and the chef served me first; I waited for him to prepare Ken’s piece so we could enjoy it together but the chef insisted that I eat mine first. Our complete sushi courses:

(Shimaaji (island jack fish), Hirame (fluke), Tai (sea bream), Kinme (deep sea snapper), Anago (sea eel), Amaebi (sweet shrimp), Matsutake (mushroom), Saba (mackerel), Grilled toro suji (grilled toro sinew), Kurama Ebi (cooked shrimp), Hotategai (scallop with Himalayan sea salt, yuzu zest, and yuzu juice), Unagi (fresh water eel), Uni (sea urchin), Sayori (needlefish), Black Truffle, Tako (octopus), Umi Shiso, and negitoro roll)

The pieces were all delicious – how can you describe perfection? The eel was prepared behind the sushi chef where there was a little grill; a sous chef helped grill the eel and presented it to the chef with such concentration that it felt like they were performing open heart surgery on the eel, not preparing something for us to eat in one bite. The Black truffle piece was probably the most decadent (although not my favorite); the chef shaved black truffle until a piece of parchment paper was completely covered with the shavings, then prepared little balls of rice that were rolled in the shavings so it looked like we were eating entire truffles.

The negitoro roll and the uni were probably the most decadent; the sushi chef was carefully selecting pieces of fish from a box that was in front of me and Ken the entire evening; each piece was stored in parchment paper and delicately handled when the chef was ready to serve us another type of fish. When it was time for us to have our negitoro roll, the chef took a large piece of toro from the box, did a very rough shop lengthwise, and placed it on a sheet of nori before sprinkling some very finely diced scallions on the toro and presenting us each with a decadent roll.

After the chef gave us our last roll, we were very satisfied and excited for dessert; I met a friend that has dined at Masa on multiple occasions and said the melon you eat at Masa is the sweetest melon you’ll ever eat. It seems like an interesting choice for dessert but it’s really quite extravagant; an entire melon can cost about $100 because it’s carefully produced in Japan in the right conditions and soils. My friend explained that when the melon begins sprouting, all of the other melons are cut off so the fertile soil can concentrate its sweetness on one melon (they do something similar with grapes). The melon was very sweet but also on the mealy side (I prefer a slightly crisper melon).

After we finished our melon, we were presented with a surprise dessert from the chef – a green tea mille crepe cake with fresh whipped cream. The crepes were very lightly sweetened and placed between layers of green tea flavored custard – quite a wonderful way to end the evening.

The only flub in service was when the server refilled my tap water with sparkling water by accident – the chef didn’t say anything, but the cold look he shot her afterwards made me feel a bit guilty that I told her it was the wrong water. Otherwise, the servers were completely unseen and unheard throughout the evening; our plates were cleared without us noticing, we had warm towels to clean our hands before we knew we needed them, and our waters were consistently refilled.

The bill came and it’s always the thing that brings you back to reality from the high you’re experiencing after a great meal; even though we were in the Time Warner Center next to shops and other restaurants, when we stepped inside Masa, I felt like I was transported to a much more tranquil environment. I pulled out my credit card to pay (a Christmas gift from my mom and brother) but then Ken surprised me with the most wonderful gift of all – in addition to dining with me and celebrating my year of Michelin dining, he treated me to dinner! It was a wonderful gesture, completely unexpected, and it really did make my year of Michelin dining end on a wonderful note.

Me and Ken outside Masa:

The experience was really quite wonderful (even before Ken surprised me and paid for our meal). We both agreed that it was probably the most expensive meal we’ll ever have but Ken said it was worth it to see me so happy. After dinner, we were joking around and said it would be funny if we ended up picking up some Halal at 53rd and 6th…we didn’t end up waiting in line for chicken and rice, but we did end up taking a cab to McDonald’s so Ken could fill up on a quarter pounder, fries, and a diet coke. What a way to end the night and the year of dining with Michelin!