Bourbon and Cheese: that would make plenty of my compatriot yell sacrebleu just thinking about it! Yes, we are more accustom to drink wine with cheese, red, although I heard few sommeliers recommend white, because red wine can be too aggressive, while white can complement. The cheeses were presented by Max McCalman, a reference in North America who has the precious title of Maître Fromager (Cheese Master), given by France's Guilde des Fromagers.
It was composed of lettuce (too much of it, I ended up removing some, but I admit that I am not a huge fan of it in a burger anyway), tomato, onion, bacon, aged cheddar and chipotle mayo (perfect: I always add mayo to my burger). The menu said that there were crispy onions, but they were nowhere to be found.
Bareburger, the famous organic burger chain, opened a little over a month in Hoboken, following the path of Boardwalk Fresh Burgers and Fries. It definitely starts to crowded on Washington street, if we take into account not only these two restaurants, but also Five Guys and the multiple bars that serve signature burgers.
There, they follow the philosophy of its owners: sustainability. No frozen food or microwaves, beverage coasters that are 100 percent biodegradable and recyclable, made only with timber from reforestation programs; at lunch, recycled brown butcher paper covers each table to reduce laundry costs and water waste. But is the food good? That is what we would discover there.
Located on the Lower East Side, Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a bakery that two friends, Peg and Deb, opened end of 2003. They succeeded two give to the place the 70's / 80's feel they wanted to create, adding to the flower power, the power of sweets.
Then, we got our steaks. The signature steak at Peter Luger is the porterhouse (one side tenderloin and one side strip steak, separated by a T shape bone), that you can order for one, two, three or four people, rib steak and sirloin, all of them being USDA prime grade and dry aged on premises.
There, restaurateur Shmulik Avital and Executive Chef Dario Tapia (formerly at Westville and Maison Kayser - that promises some great pastries), crafted an international menu with Mediterranean influences. The name is an homage to Sam Spiegel, the film producer known for movies like Lawrence of Arabia, On the waterfront or The Bridge on the River Kwai, Shmulik being a huge old movie fan.
So, we saw The Treat House in an episode of Serious Sweets and decided to add it to our wish list. Few months later, here we are, on the Upper West Side, in front of the store, ready to indulge with these decadent cubes. The size of it is perfect so you can try several.
One of their bento boxes, that came with a salad that would have been boring if not for the sesame seeds on top that added a nice nutty flavor. What I like is that you pick the food that will go in the bento box, each time between two choices. For instance, chicken or salmon teriyaki; California or spicy tuna roll.
Opened in 1993 by Lidia and Joe Bastianich, Becco is one of those Italian restaurants where your palate will transport you miles away, on a culinary trip that you will never forget. Reservations are necessary for this hotspot located in restaurant row, in the heart of the Theater District. Becco means beak in english, hence the bird on their logo.
Buddakan was on my list for a while and I was thrilled when Jodi picked this restaurant for her birthday (ok, I did not tell the restaurant it was her special day as she hates it when they come with a cake and sing...). As soon as we entered, we were amazed by the impressive decor of the venue.
This time, I was at Quality Meats, a steakhouse located Midtown, part of the empire of Alan Stillman who also owns Smith & Wollensky. There are plenty of items in the decor to remind you where you are, whether it is the cow head or white tiles representing a slaughterhouse, to the bulbs held by butcher hooks.
To give you a bit of history of this place, let's go back to 2007, when the adventure started. At that time, Nargis Café was a tiny place, that slowly expanded over the years, taking over a flower shop (interesting considering that Nargis means flower), and later, a dry cleaning. The place can now accommodate, with its terrace, close to 150 guests. We went on a Friday night and it was packed, with lots of people waiting outside in a very good atmosphere.
The menu is New American with some staples like the burger, the short ribs or the pulled pork sandwich, as well as some interesting dishes as you will see in this post. They also serve sushi, sashimi and rolls.
The first time we went, Jodi ordered the mozzarella panino, a succulent vegetarian sandwich made with mozzarella, tomato, arugula and pesto.
You may know ABC Home and Carpet: located near Union Square, buying a pillow in this expensive home furnishing store may cost you a leg. Well, it is on their ground floor that ABC Cocina is located. This innovative Latin restaurant is another step in the success story if Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the French Chef who gave us Vong, Spice Market or Jean-Georges.
In the back of the room is a small display, where a lobster definitely caught my eyes. Yes, I love seafood and particularly lobster and was thrilled to hear that our tasting menu would include a lobster roll. I LOVE lobster rolls and always recommend people coming to visit us from Europe to try one. In France, it would still be considered crazy to serve lobster like that. I can hear my fellow Frenchmen saying: "Quoi? Un sandwich au homard? Ils sont fous ces 'Ricains!" ("What? A lobster sandwich? They are crazy these yankees!").
For our last Restaurant Week experience, we booked a table with OpenTable at Ca Va Todd English, a brasserie located in the Intercontinental Hotel, few steps from Times Squares. There, the American Chef crafted a menu with modernized brasserie dishes, such as the escargots farcies or the steak frites with herb-onion butter.
After our delicious meal at Fishtail by David Burke, we decided to go to DB Kitchen, another restaurant from the famous Chef. Located in the James Hotel, it has two floors: the bar on the second floor and the restaurant on the first one, where you will be "welcomed" by a pig, setting the tone for the theme of the restaurant, a theme emphasized by the barn roof and the multiple photos of people at the farm.
One of the first things I do for Restaurant Week, before looking for the menu, is to look for the cost. Opentable has this $ sign that goes from $ to $$$$, the latter meaning expensive. So I decided to apply a filter and picked Le Périgord, a French restaurant located Midtown East, that has been on my list for a while now.
There is no doubt what Porterhouse, located on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, is serving: steaks, steaks and steaks. With seafood, but steaks. It has been a while since I went to a steakhouse for restaurant week, as I typically tell people to avoid these types of places during that period, the quality of the meat being often sacrificed.
So, this time I was at Dovetail, located few steps from the Museum of Natural History. I like the place: the decor is simple and elegant. I went with some friends on a Monday night and, to my surprise, the restaurant was packed. Menu wise, they offer seasonal dishes. For dinner, you have a choice between the vegetarian menu and the Chef's menu. I went for the latter.
When Choco-Pain opened downtown Hoboken, it was like bringing a bit of France to the city: delicious bread, pastries and viennoiseries, made traditionally and tasting like it should. I hate when I buy a croissant and it is not buttery! So, we were wondering when they would open Uptown. But no, it did not happen yet. Instead, Verde Vita Toscana, an Italian café opened few month ago.
As my cousin Sandrine was in New York, she could not leave without having a burger. This time, we proposed to go to Bareburger, at their location in Hell's Kitchen. I heard a lot about this place that serves organic meat, but never went before, so you can imagine my excitement.
Smorgasburg: weird name worth knowing. It is the perfect place to indulge, with lots of vendors selling various kinds of food that would make any food lover drool. The last time my nephew came for a visit, we went to the location in Williamsburg. This time, we went to Park Slope to show my cousin Sandrine Brooklyn and one of its flea markets.
One of the things my cousin Sandrine wanted to do was to go to Coney Island, so we hopped on a train on a Saturday morning, our food destination already decided...After 45 minutes of train from Port Authority, here we are, in a place totally different from Manhattan. And outside of the train station, here it is: Nathan's, the hot dog institution.
Yeah, I know: you are probably wondering what the heck I was doing at The Seed, a two day event currently going on in the city. The goal is to have people who embrace a vegan diet, vegan curious and vegan skeptic to meet and discover what being vegan means, either via listening to over 30 speakers or trying some food.
Taka Taka characterizes itself as a Mexican Sushi and Japanese Tacos joint. I guess you understand: this is a Mexican / Japanese fusion restaurant with a very interesting menu, branching out to these two distinct cuisines. It is not our first time there (previous review here) and we were looking for an original place, close to the heart of Tribeca, to celebrate my cousin Sandrine's visit.
We took advantage of Restaurant Week to enjoy a delicious dinner, at a discounted price at David Burke's Fishtail. It was on my list for a while, being a fan of Chef Burke and looking at his mouth watering food photos on Instagram with always a bit of drool. For sure, we had to book quickly and used Opentable as this place was a popular spot for Restaurant Week.
This week, I was invited to a private screening of The 100-Foot Journey, the new movie from director Lasse Hallström, who also directed Chocolat in 2000, that will be released in Theaters on August 8th. I would say that I went there as a moviegoer, food lover and...Frenchman. The food part was not only the movie, that certainly makes you want to eat the dishes cooked in the plot, whether they are classical French, Indian or fusion, like the Boeuf Bourgignon à la Hassan.
Astoria surely has some great gems that should not be ignored, and Don Coqui, a Puerto Rican restaurant is one of them. I discovered it last Sunday when we went for a tasting for dinner. This huge place is a restaurant and lounge with multiple rooms:
A first one, small, at the entrance, with a nicely furnished bar:
I should mention that they came in very hot plates, so you could hear them sizzling, like angels singing to my ears... These steaks were delicious and the first bite, as well as the subsequent ones, were divine: the meat was tender and juicy, with a nice char on top, and a slight hint of kosher salt. The ribeye was deliciously fatty and paired perfectly with the glass of Pinot Noir I ordered.