chocolate chip sandwich cookie @ ‘wichcraft, nyc
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photo © anita aguilar
of the countless reasons to adore brunch at hundred acres, here are a few:
a bouquet, at a clean well-tended bar
a bloody mary, with bite
simple charm
crisp, de-”light”-ful ricotta fritters
goat cheese bread pudding.
savory bread puddings seem to have eluded me to this point, but now there’s no turning back.
the goat cheese seems perfect here: it allows the “custard” to keep its lightness, but its flavor is assured.
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photos © anita aguilar
i like lunching at the brindle room. i like it so much that after my first visit with my cousins, during that sleepy week between christmas and the start of the new year, i made a date for the very next day. special times.
i can report a few things: that the green salad with shaved beets (with stilton and lemon vinaigrette) was more vibrant and zesty than the roasted beets (too soft from overcooking, too wet with vinaigrette). that the marinated steak, had wonderful flavors but the cuts on my sandwich were too big and too gristly to digest (forcing an inelegant, but sly “napkin trick.” hopefully i pulled it off?). the three-herb chicken was tender–though even better reheated later in the evening (the servings are generous there).
the only thing “wrong” with the chicken, is that it’s not…a burger. the brindle serves a mean burger. buttery meat, melted cheese and caramelized onions. if you have any inclination toward beef, you must order it.
another must-have, if they are available at the time of your visit: the donuts.
a double comfort food, they are made with mashed potatoes…the cake is crisp on the outside, soft and sweet inside. are “donuts are the new cupcake”? i don’t know. one thing is sure: these will endure, beyond any trend.
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the brindle has given me a new winter obsession: mulled wine.
why do my winter nights not have more of this stuff?
the donuts (they’re like a dream)
chocolate-hazelnut w/ almonds donut
caramel donut
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the brindle room is at 277 east 10th street, between first and avenue a.
wonder city — their breakfast “alter ego” opens mon-friday at 9am; sat & sun at 11am.
reservations through their site /open table.
(let’s meet for dinner…)
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all photos © anita aguilar
hosted by the palacio/reyes families…
jen and sheena
garlicky grilled portobellos
beets, baby
greens, too
jason
pork!
real swedish (ikea) meatballs, with (homemade) mushroom gravy
“the prime”
big plating
prime perfection
tita celia
the catch
mini carrot cakes
sweet tray
now it’s traditional: tita celia’s coconut cream pie
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photos © anita aguilar
the seal’s been broken: i’ve had my first momofuku restaurant group meal.
(wait, does momofuku milk bar count? i love the cookies long time.)
ok, then: i’ve had my first dinner, at the midtown má pêche. it was an ideal circumstance: a big family who likes to share– and treat. (thank you, family)
our waitress forgot to bring us the crispy pig’s head but believe it or not we were so taken with the brussels sprouts (a game-changer) and the broccoli salad that we didn’t notice until the whole meal was done and dusted. everyone was pleased and impressed by the dishes, with all the funky flourishes (especially the seaweed), except for one of the desserts (we’d have done better to stop by the milk bar upstairs).
here are some photos and a few notes:
calamansi juice
johnny’s margarita: tequila blanco, lime, agave, absinthe. delicious, but is this why i woke up every 2 hours and had 8 crazy dreams?
broccoli salad (satur farms, ny) – smoked raisin, mayo, seaweed. call it the missionary salad: this will convert the greens-and-broccoli-non-believers.
lamb corn dog
piedmontese sirloin (fossil farms, mt) – with eggs.
brussels sprouts
lamb (niman ranch) – cauliflower, plum, curry
steak frites (creekstone farm, ks) – 12 oz ‘juliet’ cut, rice fries. the table was split over the rice fries. but i thought they were wonderful. now that i’ve had them, i can’t believe i haven’t had them before. it’s really the same idea as cassava fries (only much lighter) or a rice ball, without the rich cheese to bind it.
pork chop (bev eggleston, va) – apple-choucroute, potato, ramp
striped bass (montauk, ny) – mushrooms, miso, bone marrow
done…
and done.
until:
chocolate ganache
and a sadly overripe, over-roasted banana. (perhaps the only unlucky turn of the evening.)
one of my favorite discoveries of 2011 was the good food podcast on kcrw, hosted by the warm and excitable evan kleiman. hearing her coo over the week’s bounty at the santa monica farmer’s market or simplethings‘ salted caramel pie cheered me through a summer spent under dismal office lights. the extension of the blog –the “piecast”– was particularly inspiring. I even made myself a birthday pie (though i tried to spin it as a “father’s day pie”).
i haven’t cooked or baked anything “new” in recent months, but i chose this to be one of the recipes to get me back into the kitchen.
i chose wisely.
this is especially easy if you use store-bought puff pastry. i wasn’t sure if it was necessary to follow mr. ottolenghi’s advice and pre-bake the pastry (the brand i chose — trader joe’s– suggested it wasn’t). so i tried both ways. pre-baking gives you something more crisp and flaky, and it also gives a little lift to the sides, which is great for cradling the custard. i didn’t have a tart pan for this (i used a flat sheet pan), so without the prebake, the custard ran amok. it wasn’t a deadly sin, the whole tart just looked less neat. but it’s worth noting the crust that is topped and popped right into the oven is chewier, has nice pull. my sister said its more like a bread. so the choice is yours.
the rest of the recipe is easy and true. there are a few steps to caramelize the garlic — i wondered later if roasting the garlic in its skins would be more efficient. but this caramelized garlic is mellower from the blanching. i would suggest making a bigger batch of garlic–double or even triple the recipe. it won’t hurt the tart to add a bit more of the stuff, and you can save the rest for another spread or dip.
this tart would wow a party of any size and almost any occasion. (i would not make this for my date, unless we mutually agreed to chase it with a lot of wine. is “lots of wine” a cure for garlic breath? i think i made that up. but i do love how it sounds). the recipe seems easily adaptable –you can experiment with other favorite cheeses, add some thinly sliced potato. even anchovy, if that’s how you like to roll. but give it a try his way –even those who profess to not love goat cheese find it really delicious here.
hope you’ll like the results as much as we did:
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Yotam Ottolenghi’s Caramelized Garlic Tart (via the good food blog)
Serves 8
Ingredients
13 oz puff pastry
3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup water
¾ tbsp sugar
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1 tsp chopped thyme, plus a few whole sprigs to finishsalt
4½ oz soft, creamy goat cheese (such as chèvre)
4½ oz hard, mature goat cheese (such as goat gouda)
2 eggs
6½ tbsp heavy cream
6½ tbsp crème fraîche
black pepper
Have ready a shallow, loose-bottomed, 11-inch fluted tart pan. Roll out the puff pastry into a circle that will line the bottom and sides of the pan, plus a little extra. Line the pan with the pastry. Place a large circle of waxed paper on the bottom and fill up with pie weights or dried beans. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the tart shell in the oven and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and paper, then bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until the pastry is golden. Set aside. Leave the oven on.
While the tart shell is baking, make the caramelized garlic. Put the cloves in a small saucepan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a simmer and blanch for 3 minutes, then drain well. Dry the saucepan, return the cloves to it and add the olive oil. Fry the garlic cloves on high heat for 2 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add the sugar, rosemary, chopped thyme and ¼ teaspoon salt. Continue simmering on a medium flame for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the garlic cloves are coated in a dark caramel syrup. Set aside.
To assemble the tart, break both types of goat cheese into pieces and scatter in the tart shell. Spoon the garlic cloves and syrup evenly over the cheese. In a jug whisk together the eggs, cream, crème fraîche, ½ teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Pour this custard over the tart filling to fill the gaps, making sure that you can still see the garlic and cheese over the surface.
Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and place the tart inside. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tart filling has set and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. Then take out of pan, trim the pastry edge if needed, lay a few sprigs of thyme on top and serve warm (it reheats well!) with a crisp salad.
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photo © anita aguilar
inspired by a tennis masters event wrapping up in paris today, i’ll be posting a few more favorite food moments from earlier in the year.
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crêperie josselin was the only creperie i had time to visit during the trip. i’d been eyeing the parade of crepe joints along rue du montparnasse, and this struck me as “just right” — not too small, not too cool. in the chateau-style, it seemed old world quaint without being kitschy. it’s made warm with dark, lacquered wood and amber lights, lace-y lamp shades and a collection of hand-painted ceramics (as art and tableware). it was the kind of place i wish existed in my murray hill neighborhood, so that on a late autumn sunday morning, i could drop by with the ny times and have a coffee and a crepe or galette–and then hibernate for the rest of the afternoon, with more of the paper and football on the tele.
when you see how what i had for lunch, you’ll understand why hibernating would be in order.
my galette of choice (made with buckwheat flour–a proper crepe is made with white flour) was filled with cheese, spinach, egg, bacon. and butter. on a “normal” day, it should be 2 or 3 meals. but on a vacation day, it feels fantastic to eat in one sitting. the only drawback for me was it didn’t leave any room for dessert.
if you stroll by and see a long queue, don’t be too put off. i’ve heard it moves quickly– you’ll be glad you stuck it out.
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crêperie de josselin – not to be confused with le petit josselin– is at 67 rue du montparnasse, 75014 paris, france.
(look for the red awning, and the bouquet of flowers at the entrance…)
there’s only one thing that makes me anxious about having a family visitor: a last-minute request for a group dinner recommendation and reservation. (we roll deep.)
my cousin jenny planned to be in town to support a couple of her friends that were running the marathon. she had most of her weekend set but there was one dinner –for her last night here, her “farewell for now” dinner–that she wanted help to arrange. i wasn’t sure what we’d find available, for 6, esp during marathon weekend. but i stayed optimistic and went directly into “party-planning mode.” i asked if there was anything i needed to know about her friends or keep in mind when considering venues (veganism, foodie-inclinations, borough/neighborhood preferences).
she said at least one of her friends would want to watch the football game. but she wanted to have an nice meal. is there a way to marry the two? does such a place exist in ny?
and then everything got real easy: lowcountry. i sent her the menu and told her about “fried chicken and football night”; it made her heart “skip a beat.
my “work” was done. the heart skipping a beat was a lot to live up to, but i’d been there before –if you’re interested, here are my first impressions–and i was confident that lowcountry could deliver.
***
here are photos and notes from a nice meal earlier this week (“weak 9,” from an nfl perspective) :
bacon deviled eggs
( i have only one friend who will dispute that “bacon makes everything thing better.” she can’t even stand the smell of it. but that’s a story for another time.) these deviled eggs manage to be at once fluffy and hefty. (“black magic” at work?)
bourbon chicken liver mousse
my sister and i made this choice. we’re fiends for liver. i followed her lead on that–it took a while for my taste buds to evolve. she even professes to have loved the liverwurst on white bread sandwiches that my mom occasionally snuck into our brown lunch bags. i won’t go that far. but i do enjoy a well rendered chicken liver dish.
the thing about mousse is that it’s cold — we forgot that. cold liver spread? it doesn’t quite sing. also the distinctive iron-minerally taste of chicken liver is fully present here. it took us a few carefully considered bites before we both decided we liked this dish. not everyone at the table was so charmed.
fried pickles, with green goddess dipping sauce
these were quite perfect.
fried green tomatoes, with cajun remoulade. a side of fennel, radish, poblano salad
more fried perfection. (although, the majority thought these were too salty, the minority (including me) thought they were just good and tasty. i would have wanted another plate for the minority to hoard.
bourbon bbq pork chop, with sweet potato purée, roasted fingerling potatoes and squash, and brussels sprouts.
having decimated a plate of sticky ribs the night before, i’d considered going meat-free for the rest of the week (or at least a couple of days). but when it came time to order, i couldn’t resist bourbon bbq pork chop with brussels sprouts. (the heart knows...) this is a generous plate. i ate both chops without regret. you will too.
and, the fried chicken biscuit: fried chicken breast, cheddar biscuit, country sausage gravy, and onion jam…
i think this was good? my sister, initially wary of “breast” in the description, happily reported that this was very good and juicy. she offered everyone else at the table a taste, but because i wanted her to have a little more for herself (and i had two serious chops of my own) i only sampled the biscuit. (delicious.) this also gives me an excuse to go back and order the dish for myself.
i should note that the hangar steak was received with considerably less enthusiasm than the the other dishes. it was judged merely “ok”; perhaps keep that in mind when you visit.
as to the sweet stuff, my cousin won the round with the fresh homemade beignets and ice cream. I lost badly with the mint chocolate chip pudding. i like a sprinkle of salt with chocolate for lift and contrast. Here it was heavy-handed, leaving me to wish they’d left the salt out altogether. but a bite or two of the beignet and ice cream set everything right again.
jason, with a grand finish
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low country is at 142 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014
(212) 255-2330
reservations via opentable.com
it might not be in my neighborhood, but elsewhere is starting to feel like home…if only i, in my home kitchen, were so deft with greens and herbs and so fearless with cheese and butter. (and: know that if i could, i would make you a pig’s ass sandwich for dinner).
did i say “home” and “butter”? elsewhere is now the home of my favorite biscuit. it’s 3 or 4 bites big, basted with brown butter, sprinkled with sea salt and crushed black pepper. luckily, they will give every diner one to taste…and you can buy a 4-pack for a next-day treat.
here are a few photos and notes from a recent autumn meal:
spicy-sausage-stuffed seckel pears, on a little nest of kataifi, and pomegranate sauce. the sausage, while fresh and finely tenderized so it mimicked a spread, could have been a bit more robust to stand up to the firm, sweet pear.
i was in a “healthful” mood, so opted for the house smoked catfish, with jalapeno lime aioli.
(i always think there should be more aioli.)
the fish, fresh and sweet, was gently smoked, as if steeped like a tea.
on the side: mini-caesar salad, with a lovely parmigiano crisp and ooh-la-la, a white anchovy.
scream-worthy: a trio of homemade, seasonal ice creams (maple, pumpkin, and my favorite , the butter pecan)
an impressive finish: chocolate hazelnut custard, with cinnamon cream and little crunchies. if this is on the menu when you visit, make this one of your indulgences.
when i mentioned to allison that i’d never had a wafel and dinges wafel (*gasp*)– and i’d never heard of or tasted spekuloos (*GASP*), it quickly clarified our day’s conundrum (which of all the sweet treats at mad square eats–artisan stuffed cannolis, blondies/brownies –we should share).
for many years la petite abeille was a favorite neighborhood spot, for any meal of the day. but when it came to their waffels, there was only one for me: gaufre de liege. it looked plain served on a plate, but it had all the sugar baked right into it. if my memory is true, it wasn’t exactly light. but it was a good, modest size–each one was perfectly shaped (they were baked, individually wrapped, shipped from belgium and reheated on-site) and i was always happy and satisfied when i polished one off.
but wafels and dinges is a world apart.
who needs a perfectly shaped wafel when you get to watch one being liberated from the iron grill clamps?
at mad square eats...
if the batter is good and grill master is experienced, then you’d expect the fresh wafel to be superior in every way — smell, texture, taste.
(it’s all true here.)
the batter slightly sweet, and it’s grilled to just “medium rare” –the result is a wafel that is at once crisp and chewy.
allison and i opted for the “de throwdown wafel” — with spekuloos spread and whipped cream. it’s the wafel that strong-armed bobby flay –and i’m not surprised. only the seriously sweet-toothed need apply. spekuloos spread (also: speculoos) is thick and nutty like peanut butter and cloying, like nutella. i loved it at first, but i can’t imagine this creation without the whipped cream chaser. it shocks the senses. even more shocking to me: spekuloos spread is made of crushed cinnamon-gingerbread cookies (a belgian specialty) and…oil.
i’m not sure why that information unsettles me. i love cookies. but cookie paste?
it won’t stop me from stalking the wafels and dinges folks to try the wafel-ice cream sandwich, a mini-wafelini, and of course, the liège.
if you are similarly inclined, you can commit their schedule to memory or follow: @waffletruck
(and: if you’re curious about the cookie paste, wafels and dinges sell the spread, too)
