This Little Piggy went on a Brunch Adventure

On a happier note (from the below Bloomberg post), I must have gone on one of the most amazing brunch excursions ever this past Saturday.  Initially, we were just grabbing brunch at some place I'd never heard of in the West Village, but the plans changed.  We started our adventure off at Choptank (on Bleeker @ Grove) for a Bloody Mary and oysters and decided it would be fun to track down the best BM in the West Village.  This turned into an all day drinking and eating affair, eventually ending at a friend's apartment in Tribeca.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  Enjoy!

The Choptank Oysters and Bloody Mary were awesome!  We surveyed four types of oysters, and though I can't remember what my favorite was called, the most clever name was the Naked Cowboy Oysters, which were from LI.  The BM was different than the standard Bloody Mary.  Besides using a secret spice they call "grains of paradise", they also drizzle the top with EVOO, which adds a surprisingly delicious touch.

At this point, we had decided to make this a Bloody Mary challenge, and headed over to Joseph Leonard (Waverly Pl @ Christopher).  We ordered the Bloody Mary No. 20, which came with a beer chaser, and the Lyla’s Mama’s Lemonade (maker’s mark, lemonade and cayenne).  This BM was smokier than the one at Choptank.  I thought both drinks were good, though I wouldn't write home about the BM.  We also ordered some french fries and the frisee and lardons (fried egg, brioche and red wine vinaigrette).  This was absolutely exquisite!

The fried egg clearly sparked conversation about the Truffled Egg Toast at 'Ino (Bedford @ Downing), so there we went!  This was fantastic as usual and went very nicely with the Chardonnay and Trebbiano we ordered.  Not much else to say about this, except that we had a table by the window and it was lovely.

Then we were off to Lure Fish Bar (Prince @ Mercer).  Obviously we ordered a Bloody Mary, as well as some sake, to accompany an array of sushi and sashimi.  Everything was great, especially the toro and kanpachi!

 

Between the oysters, egg toasts and sushi, clearly we had worked up a sweet tooth, so we stopped into Kee's (Thompson @ Spring) for some coconut and rosewater macarons and champagne and tiramisu truffles.  Then we paused briefly in Walker's (North Moore @ Varick) to share a beer, before heading to Turks & Frogs Tribeca (Greenwich St @ Desbrosses) for wine and a snack (Sigara Boregi - Phyllo scrolls stuffed with Turkish feta, cooked till golden brown).

All of this leading up to a girlfriend's Mexican-themed house warming party in Tribeca.  What an amazing Saturday!  Oink oink!

This Little Piggy went tapeando @ Lizarran

I was so excited a few weeks ago when Grub Street introduced a new tapas place that would be opening in Soho.  They explained that Lizarran, which maintains 200 locations worldwide,

"operates a little differently from other local tapas joints, in that waiters jet around trying to tempt you with trays of what are essentially tapas mounted on bread, each of them costing $2.50 to $2.75 (there’s a constantly rotating selection of 200 of them). You choose what you want and are billed by the toothpick — somewhat like a dim sum joint except in this case, you’re likely to be under the influence of Spanish beer and wine."

As you can imagine due to my love of all things Spanish gained from living there for 6 months, I felt the need to go here as soon as possible.  My brother and I decided to stop by after work yesterday to grab a "copa" and "tapear" (meaning to eat tapas).  As you've probably noticed from most of my blog posts, I have a difficult time saying poor things about restaurants.  I am trying to be better about that, so here it goes.

I feel there is usually at least one redeeming quality about a restaurant, which in this case, was the decor.  Other than that, however, I was not left with much of a desire to return.  The menu was way over priced, and I feel they would be much more successful allowing you to build your own meat and cheese plate than providing you with the three listed options (a cheese plate, a mixed snack plate, and a jamón serrano plate).  Furthermore, there were only three or four white wines by the glass and a comparable number of reds... none of which really jumped out at me.  I initially ordered a glass of the tried and true Albariño, but when I requested a second glass, I was informed they had run out.  I opted for a Txakolina that was recommended by the waitress, and though it was decent, it was not even on the same page as other Txacolís I have had in the past.  Additionally, their beers on tap... Coors Light and Sam Adams.  They did have Estrella Dam in bottle, though not Cruz Campo, which our waitress had never heard of.

Food wise, I was probably even less impressed.  Once seated we were told that there was a selection of cold "pintxos" in a case up front.  The waitress did a nice job of explaining to us what our options were, though unfortunately, nothing really looked appetizing. The jamon serrano sort of looked like cardboard and the chorizo was merely one slice sitting atop of a piece of bread.  I got my hopes up when I saw that pan con tomate (bread with tomato) was listed with the sides, but when it arrived at the table we didn't even finish it.  The bread was cold, untoasted and the tomato was minimal and lacked flavor entirely.  I can't even touch on the presence of dishes encompassing "molecular gastronomy", which was also mentioned in the Grub Street article.  Frankly, if you can't get bread and tomato right, I'm certainly not interested in trying anything more advanced, like a foam.  Ohh, and evidently there was a happy hour special (white and red sangria for $6, and a couple other drinks for the same), though the only reason we found out about this was when another waitress informed a neighboring table.  Another server came by and offered us some hot pintxos, but we opted to stick to wine.

I'm really hoping that since this is only their second week open, things will improve in the near future.  I would possibly even give them another try, though with the amazing meats and cheeses at Pata Negra, and the tapas at Casa Mono and Bar Jamón , it will make it a highly unlikely choice.

This Little Piggy gives Lizarran one oink.

RBC = Really Bad Customer (Service)?

So a few weeks ago, I was really excited to learn that there was a new coffee shop down in Tribeca.  A.  I LOVE coffee, as you can see from my review on the fabulous Irving Farm Ethiopian Blend, and B. I live near Tribeca.  What a great combo.  Even better, I had read great things about their Vietnamese coffee on Serious Eats, Tasting Table, and reviews on Twitter.  The week RBC opened, I couldn't stop talking about it.  I was thrilled with the news and desperately tried to stop in the shop every night that week, though with no luck thanks to work.  Luckily, I was making a trip to the neighborhood Saturday morning to do a little shopping and so obviously I had to make this new coffee empire, which boasts a gazillion dollar (really, it's something like $16K) espresso machine, my first stop. 

Upon entering the RBC, which somehow I had trouble finding, I was sort of confused on what was going on.  The decor was nice, modern, minimalist, though the beautiful wood family style table and the fancy-shmancy "slayer" espresso machine easily took up 1/2 of the space.  At first I thought, "mmm... well I should get a cup of coffee", though was quickly reminded of this insane machine that would hopefully make the best espresso drink I've ever enjoyed. 

Let's just say that quote "Money doesn't buy class" applies to your latte as well.  I'm not saying it was bad, I mean after I waited 10 minutes for it (keep in mind, there were about 6 "baristas" doing something behind the bar, God knows what, because they weren't making my beverage. Actually, sorry to digress, but that's an interesting story:  the one person who seemed to be in charge actually told me, "sorry it will just be a few more minutes" right before pouring herself a cup of coffee, which she proceeded to sip in front of me). Anyway, I drank it, and it was pretty good, but one would think that a machine costing over $10,000 would be pumping out espresso laced with gold!

There was no gold, there was no Vietnamese delight, which along with about 1/2 of the items on the drink menu, is only available for the 2-4 customers who are able to fit in the "seating" area, and there certainly was no award for customer service.

There was, however, a hipster at the register who seemed upset by the fact that I had showered that morning and wasn't wearing a plaid shirt and some ironic sunglasses.

Given this was the first week RBC was open, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go back.  Hopefully next time the service will have improved.

This Little Piggy went to Lusso for Brunch

Lusso , a contemporary Italian restaurant located in SoHo, sits on the corner of W. Broadway and Grand in a modern, exposed brick space.  I had passed Lusso many times over the past few weeks on my walk home and was intrigued by their drink special brunch menu ($20 all you can drink with a brunch entree).  While the atmosphere is nice, cozy and offers a warm refuge to the snow outside, the food was less than delicious.

Tini and I thought it would be a great place to meet before finishing up our holiday shopping.  Although we opted out of the drink special, the coffee was good, and the bloody mary was decent.  The menu also looked appetizing, including brunch items like maple toast and steak and eggs, as well as salads and sandwiches.  I chose the eggs and polenta and Tini ordered the frittata with basil, goat cheese and potatoes.  I was hopeful about my choice, however, sadly disappointed.  The creamy polenta, which closely resembled cream of wheat, quickly became luke warm before I had hardly touched it.  Additionally, the poached eggs possessed a runny, white consistency, which I hate.  Personally, I find runny egg whites disgusting.  Fortunately, the bacon was nice and crispy, though nothing to write home about.

The frittata, on the other hand, was delicious, though I find goat cheese makes everything tasty.  The potatoes were mixed into the eggs and added a surprising texture, which I enjoyed.  Other than that, the meal was mediocre at best (clearly excluding my wonderful company).  The hi-light was definitely the decor and very much not the food.  Who knows, maybe the dinner menu is more impressive.  Unfortunately, I probably won't find out since I likely won't go back unless to grab a drink at the bar.

Too Much Beef on Thanksgiving

We went to Dylan Prime on Thanksgiving. It was delicious. We ordered too much. I am extremely full. So goes Thanksgiving Day regardless if you're eating a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home with family or at a steakhouse with your older brother. My apologies, this post will not have any picture. In avoidance of feeling tacky and hearing my brother say under his breath "put your camera away, they're going to think this is our first time at a nice restaurant", I opted not to take pictures through the course of our feast. We ordered cheese fondue with apples, bread cubes, fried onions and bacon bits (ideal combination = dip bread in cheese, dip bread with cheese in bacon bits and fried onion = amazing). We ordered Caesar salad, which came with a delicious crostini topped with black olive tapenade. We ordered petit filets with parmigiana reggiano and Maytag blue and chive chappeux, respectively. And then... then we ordered lobster mac n' cheese and sausage stuffing. Needless to say, Happy Thanksgiving. One of two holidays a year (the other being Christmas), when it is socially acceptable to completely indulge in some of the least healthy food known to man. Luckily, we have some sense, and after destroying the fondue, and tasting the filets, mac and stuffing, we decided to pay the bill and relocate to the bar.

Coole Swan Irish Liquor (sooo much better than Bailey's), a cool, creamy vanilla, wintry liquor and pumpkin pie...the final blow before completely succumbing to this food coma, and then (thanks to the NY Giants and my brother's wisdom), we were off. On our way home to watch football, with a delicious goody bag of two - 1/2 filet mignons, part lobster mac, and part sausage stuffing. The perfect day-after-Thanksgiving breakfast/lunch/dinner surprise. Who says you have to eat at home to enjoy the beauty of Thanksgiving left overs?!

Happy Thanksgiving! (pictures to come at a later date when it is polite to photograph the inside of the dining room at a respectable (and excellent) restaurant.