A lovely day in Central Park today, after a quick client consultation and a nice chat on the benefits of CVap VS Rational Combi Oven with JOEL , I decided to get out of Manhattan for dinner.
A short scenic drive to the barnyard.
Very good food, great philosophy.
I suggest you go if you haven't already.
Anything else you want to know ?
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Sorrel Margarita with Arugula Salt.
Who knew ?
It's fun to see what other restaurants are doing and what better way to spend an evening off that roam around NYC, with passover and the pope in town it was a recipe for no waits anywhere, you could just walk right in and eat.
I much rather prefer sitting at the bar and haven't made a reservation in months.
Now that Wylie is all over Iron and Top Chef, I thought what the hell lets just go to WD-50 on an off night.
Guess who was standing at the pass...Ha!
It's impressive to see New York Chefs actually in their kitchens on a Saturday night.
After having a quite tasty Escabeche of Sawara at the tasting room earlier, I thought it would be a great time to finally try Alex Stupak's desserts finally.
I have to say the boy makes some good stuff, pistachio tube being my favorite.
They were quite nice enough to do a dual 3 course dessert tasting. Sadly no camera besides that would have attracted too much attention.
What next ? Thought I would find my pal Amador Acosta and headed to TAILOR for some chicken wings I heard about. I love whimsy when it works.
If you are in NYC, go try the "Tailor made wings".
As I am eating my perfectly geometrical wings, I said to the quiet looking Brit, "are you Paul Liebrandt"
Why yes indeed I am.
You never know where the winds blow in NY, after being dragged to Milk and Honey by Mssrs Freeman and Acosta, the evening ends at 3am on the lower east side.
New York stories indeed.
Sugar-up at WD.
Liquor-up at Tailor.
Strozapretti
Lamb Ragu
Poached Egg . Fennel Pollen
. Mint Oil
Parmesan
I love simple pastas but as it turns out, simple pastas aren't quite so simple.
Unless you are determined to, it's still pretty hard to screw up a Bolognese type sauce yet it's so hard to find a good one that just isn't a mess of tomatoes.
In this variation, the tomatoes are omitted entirely.
The egg is actually underneath the pasta.
80% Lamb Shoulder
20% Pork Jowl (Guanciale)
Olive Oil + Butter
Celery
Onion
Garlic
White wine
Fennel Seeds
Cream
Mace
Anyone who's been to Tokyo know's the Japanese are the kings of all junkfood.
One of my favourite snacks is Daifuku and it seems I may be the only person eating it in this town.
There is always tons of it when I go shopping.
Eat your Mochi kids, it good for you.
The Crab Salad didn't quite hit the spot which means time to summon the inevitable thanksgiving turkey leftover sandwich.
The turkey BLT............... that's Benton's, lettuce and Tomato.
Bentons Bacon.
Turkey Torchon.
Brioche.
Tomato.
Lettuces.
Caesar Dressing.
That's it for tonight.
Netflix, here we come.
I have this mild allergy to crab which is alleviated by pre-emptively stabbing myself with the epi-pen and then all is well.
Sweet Maine crabmeat and Vendange Tardive for dinner.
VT with crab ?
A crab dessert ?
Nope.
Crab Apple Salad.
Fennel Oil.
Alphonso Mango and Ginger Puree.
Fine Herbs.
Spa Cuisine compared to breakfast
I think Cholesterol reduces hangovers, don't quote me on that, before you rush out for your sausage egg and cheese at wendys......it only works with quality food.
Lunchtime.
Defrosted some previously prepared Kanpachi and gave it the Matsuhisa "New Style" treatment, the dangerously hot plate dousing with sesame infused pure olive oil.
Love that Aji panca sauce from Peru.
Kona Kanpachi
Nobu Matsuhisa's "New Style" Sashimi.
Outstanding and delicious with Gruner Veltliner.
Yup, by 2pm I was sipping wine again.
The perfect storm today, freezing weather, nursing a Hendricks induced hangover and scored some color correction software last friday prompted me to blog my meals today.
Breakfast while watching Stephanopoulous moments before I scurried off to church.
Black Truffle and Tallegio Omelette
Peas.
Mizuna.
Toasted Challah.
The color correction works great.
Not the healthiest way to start the day but Deeeee licious.
I will pay my dues at lunch with some sashimi.
Hey can we still say "crudo" or have we reached Crudosis, an affliction caused by eating too much raw fish.
By the way, those $7 Tamago Japanese egg pans are idiot proof for those of you who cant make a neat omelette.
Neat as in tidy not novel.
Slowly Cooked Ocean Trout
Horseradish-Peach Puree.
Herb Salad
Green Tea
Sponsored by Lipitor.
Foie Gras
Unagi
Poached Egg
Tangerine sprouts
Citrus maple jus
One of the most interesting things about flavor perception is just how important the contribution of aroma or essence is. Just when you think you can figure out how good something will taste, along comes the rice facial aka "Nasi Kuning", the traditional yellow rice of Indonesia. Perfectly delicious on it's own but in-freaking-sane with a Javanese hot curry. I call it a rice facial because the aroma resulting from unwrapping the banana leaves is way better tha any spa you will visit.
The default meal is what you eat when sustenance is the sole motivation but deliciousness is sought.
The default meal is familiar, solid, simple as pie yet complex in it's depth of flavor.
The default meal requires no rituals or company.
You just polish it off regardless.
My default meal which I just had tonight for the 250th time this year is a simply roasted chicken with arugula Salad.
The leg and thigh meat. Tons of crisp skin.
Yum.
What is YOUR default meal ?
Dinner tonight. Every now and then I just cook something that looks interesting and easy out of a cookbook. Tonight starring Jose Andres....
Click : TAPAS
How can you go wrong with Chicken, great Chorizo from Despana Foods on Broome street in Soho, solid red wine and a drizzle of Arbequina oil. Quite tasty.
Sofrito with tons of pimenton makes a huge difference indeed.
My favourite breakfast in England was just a fresh grapefruit with some sugar sprinkled on top.
Over the years your tastes change and then new products bring back old memories.
Now I buy Emmi yogurt by the dozen.
The pink grapefruit flavor is just the perfect way to start the day.
Delicious stuff and comes with memories of 16 Chalbury Road in Oxford.
So good it makes all other yogurt taste like vaseline intensive care lotion.
Every now and then I get a text message from DAgordon.
"Are you in the moodle"
Which basically means meet me at Setagaya Ramen in 10 minutes.
After the post below, I went for a quick jog and came back in the moodle.
For breakfast today, Cold Soba noodles with shiitake, scallions and tofu chased with some Sencha.
A nutritious if entirely un-American breakfast.
I cook simple hearty food for dinner with friends, at a recent potluck dinner, chicken cooked "new style" escabeche. A hit with even the white meat obsessed. Served simply over white corn polenta. Chicken legs are rubbed with salt, pepper and a copious amount of smoked paprika. Fresh rosemary and garlic slices are added. The mixture is bathed in Jerez and marinated overnight. It is then put in a deep enough pan in one layer and covered completely with olive oil. A sheet of parchment is placed on top. Baked @250 F till it falls off the bone. The juices can be strained and used as a sauce.
Some foods are just best eaten raw.
Yesterday, a simple lunch of radishes from the garden and Saikyo miso as a dip.
Crunch, heat, earthiness and slight sweetness.
Although I typically do not eat breakfast, hot summer weather requires more hydration and calories to avoid those peaks of energy in the late afternoon, This morning, a Bially-ish object with baccala-egg salad and some Intelligentsia coffee.
On days off dinner is elegant simplicity, I may borrow from something in my head from the previous week's ideas but truly the goal is to keep it simple. Grilled sardines, tomatoes from the garden, chermoula, purple basil.
Happy 4th of July.
There is no better day to remind yourselves how absurd the FDA's cheese rules are.
Vee Haf our ways at SKBLOG....he he!
The magic phrase my friends....."Au lait cru"
Delicious.
Camembert
Buttered toasted brioche
Shaved black truffle
Champagne.
Before you get pissy, it's 10 days till Bastille day, I eat burgers and fries besides if anyone in France loves America, it's the poeple of Normandy for obvious reasons.
Thank you Mr and Mrs Burns.
After my bi-annual physical last week and a clean bill of health on the cardiology side, what better day to indulge in the best cheesesteaks in PHL. You know you are sending too much time in airplanes when you start referring to cities by airport codes.
A highly delicious but not for the faint of heart, in fact I only ate half of it.
Cheesesteak
Fried Onions
Sharp provolone
Trace amounts of mayo on roll
Bacon......yes bacon!
Ketchup.
As my lovage bush keeps growing like a virus, I am resisting adding lovage to everything. Today's lunch was little tramezzini of Copper river salmon belly. Tramezzini are panini that hired a wardrobe consultant after graduating from an Ivy league school. When it come to sandwiches, keep it simple.....no really....... I know everyone say's that......SIMPLE.
The copper river BLT is composed of.....
Benton's bacon,
Lovage,
Tomato,
Brioche,
Oil poached salmon belly.
Yum !
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