greetings from wonder city/the brindle room

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.

***

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

powdered sugar donut

caramel donut

***
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…)

***

all photos © anita aguilar

peachy keen: dinner at má pêche

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.)

lowcountry: fried chicken and football and…

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

***

low country is at 142 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014
(212) 255-2330

reservations via opentable.com

return trip: elsewhere

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.

wafels and dinges

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)

foodie alert: hot tomato

aaron sanchez was at the union square greenmarket today, with a small film crew. i like him well enough–thought he was charming on melting pot, and can recall good meals at paladar–but never considered myself starstruck enough to stop and snap his photo.

i did it this morning.

it felt a little weird, to be honest, though i do like the face he’s making.

but the best part of this whole encounter, and my “reporting” of it to my friends via twitter and facebook, is that i found out that someone i was lucky to work with years ago, rafael– the maestro of showdown pictures, had just completed primary production on the very show that mr. sanchez was in the park shooting b-roll for.

it’s a new show on the spanish language network, utilisima, called “aaron loves new york.”

you can read a little more about it here but look out for it in the fall…(we can all brush up on our espanol… si?)

***

photo@ anita aguilar

lunch: torrisi italian specialties

is there anything better than an amazing sandwich? i am really hard pressed to think of one thing that tops it. when you are super hungry around 1:14 pm and your stomach is grumbling and growling and you need food N-O-W!, a jam-packed sandwich on great bread is just unparalleled.

torrisi italian specialties in soho makes just the sandwich i am referring to. i think at this point i have tasted all of the sandwiches (tasted = scarfed down), and with some hesitation (because they are all so fantastic) i think i can say that the chicken parmesan is my favorite. this chicken parm sandwich on a roll is what all chicken parm sandwiches should be. it’s simple. the thin, breaded chicken cutlet still retains some bite when topped with fresh mozzarella and pure, old-school tomato sauce. the proportions are right in this sandwich, as well. not too much bread for the meat, and not too much meat/sauce for the bread.

the turkey hero seems to be the most popular sandwich torrisi makes. freshly roasted and nicely seasoned turkey is topped with a somewhat spicy mayo and lettuce, tomato and onion. the ingredients sound simple, but the result is just amazing.

and who could forget the classic italian combo hero? you can see the layer of meats, salamis and cheese atop a thin smear of romesco sauce, topped with shredded lettuce, tomato and oil in vinegar. mouth.watering.

every single time i leave this place, i wonder how something so simple could be so much better than all of its competitors. the problem here, though, is that all of these sandwiches are so divine, that it’s hard to get just one. so go with many friends and split a few (or just come back again and again…)

- torrisi is located at 250 mulberry St., new york, ny 10012

summer share: buvette

sunday night was sweetsaltythings “date” night.

allison gets full credit for the pick: buvette, in the west village.  it had been on her “to-go” list. and while i’ve only had eyes for locanda verde of late (i’ll get you my pretty), i was all in for this one. i have never had a bad meal when jody williams has been in charge– the pate served while she was still at the greenwich avenue gastroteca, gottino, is a dreamy, lingering memory.  the only thing that has kept me from venturing back there to see how they’ve been doing without her is the thought of having to wait in that crevice, also known as the bar. or actually sit there, while others waited behind you.

i had the same fear about buvette, which lives in former pink tea cup space. i’d read that buvette had 10 tables and did not accept reservations.  i could see that on a night other than sunday and a time later than 6:30, this could be problematic.

but we were immediately shepherded to small table, nestled between the railing (overlooking the down staircase)  and  a small buffet, where servers would convene to gather table setting “things”: utensils, water glasses, bread and olive oil. just beyond that small buffet are a few steps leading to the “annex” (where there’s a nice big farm table) and the kitchen.

everything is darling at buvette – the petite menu, with its exquisite cut-outs, the mini water glasses, the thoughtful selection of tall silver serving trays with narrow feet , all of which come to reside on a table for two that’s roughly the size 2 airline tray tables set across from each other.  you get it–it all has to be that small.

and then it kind of gets to you.

you start to notice the balancing act, the cautious (but hopefully elegant) dance between you and your dinner companion  (oh, let me move the candle to make room for the wine glass… wait, i’ll just shift my little plate over… where should we put the bread?… sorry–let me reach over to pick up the mini carafe–do you need two more sips of water? let me fill your glass …).  allison was a trooper,  but i was trying to picture my other handsome and lovely friends, all similarly gifted with long limbs, trying to enjoy a meal there. it all seems too fussy to be fun? if you’re able to navigate the narrow, one-way spaces at buvette, you’re probably good at parallel parking. i had wine and water dripped on to my toes–my good mood let me be a little tickled by it.  but of course i couldn’t help think, if the tables were a little bigger and we could fit our legs and our bags under them…

bigger tables would also allow for more small plates…

i like to share and the sharing here is good. the enticing menu required a lot of deliberation (heirloom tomato salad or beet salad? fresh sardines or cod in the brandade?). our choices were delicious and right, but we probably could have ordered the homemade country pate, or something like a canard au chou croquant (smoked & confit duck with crisp cabbage) and been properly full.

***

bread nicely dressed with fruity olive oil

brandade de morue

i have this terrible habit of applying rules of spanish pronunciation to french. “mercure” for example, becomes “mercur-ay.” so you can guess i mispronounced–and was gently corrected by the server –when i ordered this wonderful “brandade.” house-cured cod and potatoes, whipped with milk and olive oil, served cool to room-temp. reminiscent of the salt sea, it’s a perfect summer starter.

beets with horseradish cream and toasted almonds…

the kitchen treads lightly, but confidently with ingredients that are “of the moment.” horseradish cream doesn’t overpower the natural sweetness of beets. orange zest isn’t shy– it turns the hazelnut pesto tartine (pesto di nocciola) in the direction of a marmalade–but less of it would seem pointless.  the lamb special –a rich stew, with artichokes, seems to have simmered for hours in a tomato base. glory be! the intensity of it wowed us. (oh– it’s a lamb shank. don’t be surprised to find fat and some bits of gristle. so like paris…)

apple tarte tartine

for dessert we had two options: tarte tartine or chocolate mousse. i wasn’t really keen on either. i mean, chocolate mousse? that’s so 80s. we split the apple tarte tartine. this is a showcase for perfectly, evenly tenderized apples. and if the fruit wasn’t naturally sweetened, well the kitchen’s learned a good trick.  crème fraîche isn’t for everyone, i know– and a side of vanilla gelato would brought an even bigger smile to my face–but it provides a subtle finish.

the excellent coffee–la colombe–will give you the final ooh-la-la.

***

buvette, 42 grove street (bleecker street), (212) 255-3590.

ilovebuvette.com

black duck cafe: fitting the bill

sometimes you want a dive.
sometimes you need a dive.

such was the case for me on sunday, late afternoon.

it had been a cooler day along the river in westport connecticut than it likely was in back here in nyc. but moments in the full sun could be pretty intense and i’d spent several hours stalking the couple of miles up and down the saugatuck, near the westport rail station, lugging a heavy bag of camera equipment, checking out the scene for a future shoot. by the time i was ready for lunch, i was bedraggled and sun-blasted (did i make up that word?). too tired to stop somewhere too far afield from the station, too much a mess to stop at a more upscale place nearby.

and so i hit the local dive, the black duck cafe. i liked that it was loud. i liked that the yanks were on. i liked the nautical/boys’-toys kitsch. i liked that there was a mixed crowd: the bar was for “all ages” and the tables were family and couple friendly. and yet– and yet–they had no problem setting a proper table for “just” me–a table that could technically seat 4. i thought that was quite welcoming. it helped me unwind from the afternoon.

service is pretty friendly, despite how hectic a scene it seems to be.

i wasn’t there for very long, but it gave me pretty much what i needed at the time. looking forward to going back, after more long days…

ooh, here it is. a little bloody mary mix to go with the vodka. no bells and whistles like a leafy celery stick or a fat green olive.

this is just about the strongest bloody mary i’ve had. ever. didn’t finish, as i needed to get myself home intact.

you’ve been warned.

the lobster roll…

i’ll be honest–they’re not going to set the world on fire with this baby. if you’re looking for a delicately creamy, mayo-based dressing and some sweet lobster meat, turn your attention elsewhere. i was a little sad when this first arrived, as it was not what i had anticipated. but you know what? this is pretty good. chunky lobster, simply cooked in a butter/paprika (maybe a little old bay). not sure exactly, but i like the idea — after a such a long day, maybe this was a lighter, better option. i enhanced this with a touch more salt. and the slice of sweet buttered bread (perhaps potato bread) hiding underneath was the right touch.

(i didn’t eat the fries.)

what i didn’t know yesterday was that the guy fieri from diners, drive-ins, and dives stopped in. i probably would have ordered differently…

perhaps you and i can use this clip as a guide for next time…

(side note: up close and in person, the nachos looked like a strong starter…)

***

here’s one of my favorite shots:

sodas on life support…

***

the black duck cafe is located right on the saugatuck river, only a few blocks from the westport train station

605 riverside ave., westport, ct
203-227-7978

go with a group–or at least with an appetite bigger than your “usual”…

smorgasburg: food, food, food

is there anything better than tons and tons of great food trucks and small  vendors selling homemade, delicious looking (and smelling) food in one location? smorgasburg, a smaller “all-food bonanza” version of the brooklyn flea, takes place on the williamsburg waterfront on saturdays from 9-5.

hibiscus doughnut from dough (this was my favorite thing all morning, and as i went to pick up another one on my way out, i noticed that they were sold out…before noon)

a lobster roll from the red hook lobster pound

pimento mac and cheese from radish (very flavorful, and totally cheeeeeesy.  slightly cold, but it was a windy day..if piping hot, this stuff could be addictive)

an italian chicken cutlet sandwich 

a fried chicken and biscuit sandwich from king’s crumb (so messy to eat, so delicious, words cannot describe)