Japanese Italian Cuisine at Dieci!

Had a really spectacular meal at Dieci - Japanese Italian place in East Village.  Dieci is not quite fusion cuisine, but rather a Japanese interpretation of Italian cuisine.  It's a very interesting category for me so I was really looking forward to this meal:

Kumamoto Oysters with three different sauces - chives and wasabi cream, scallions and ponzu, and ceviche style with onions and bell peppers: really good but a bit overpriced

Buffalo Mozzarella with Uni Sashimi and Yuzu Foam: I'm a sucker for uni, so I really loved this dish.  All three ingredients worked really well together

Parmesan Brussels Sprouts with Miso and Walnuts: pretty good, though I wish the sprouts were roasted rather than sauteed.  This is a pretty easy dish to remake at home, except I'll be oven roasting mine when I try to replicate this

Homemade Black Tagliolini with Tomato Sauce and Calamari: squid ink pasta is another obsession - the pasta was cooked nicely and the tomato sauce was really good

Homemade Fettucini with Uni, Calamari, and Creamy Uni Sauce: this was SO SO good - they give you a big mound of uni so that you get some with every forkful.  It's been a while since I had the spaghetti with sea urchin at Marea so I couldn't do a proper comparison between the two dishes.  Regardless, Dieci's fettucini is amazing - I'll always order this whenever I'm back here

Strawberry Compote with Mascarpone Mousse and Truffled Balsamic Glaze: the mousse was more of a pudding consistency but tasted good regardless - my friend wasn't a big fan of the truffle flavor and said it overpowered the dish.  I agree somewhat, though I didn't mind that the truffle flavor was pronounced

They had an uni risotto with clams and a poached egg as one of their dinner specials but they ran out by the time we got there :(  I also had a Japanese beer called Beniaka, which is roasted with red-skinned Kintoki sweet potatoes.  Really interesting beer, very enjoyable.  Overall, a really great meal, albeit a bit pricey

Dieci
228 E 10th St
New York, NY 10003
http://www.dieciny.com/

Lunch at Bouley!

As a Christmas present for myself, I went to Bouley for their prix fixe lunch.  The last time I was here it was 2005 and I was just starting to really appreciate good food.  At the time, I thought Bouley was the best meal I had, so I was curious to see how my meal would be now that I’ve eaten at a lot more places.

Amuse Bouche #1- Provencale Tomato Coulis, Ricotta, Black Truffles, and Aged Balsamic Vinegar: really really good – minus the truffles, this seems fairly easy to make, I’ll definitely try to recreate the flavor profiles on my own at some point

Amuse Bouche #2 - Kudzu Chip with Black Truffle Aligot: the aligot had a very smooth consistency – a nice bite of food

Assortment of fresh baked breads: they have a bread cart that makes its way around the room where they slice the bread tableside - I got apricot, garlic, raisin, olive, walnut, and a couple others – the only minor complaint I had was that the butter was very cold so it was a bit difficult to spread

First Course - Carpaccio of Kampachi, Big Eye Tuna and Striped Amber Jack, prepared in a Mediterranean Manner: I’m not sure what was in the two different sauces (the only thing that was definitely identifiable was a hint of truffle), but both complemented the fish nicely

Second Course - Porcini Flan, Alaska Live Dungeness Crab, Black Truffle Dashi: really amazing.  Unfortunately, there was a bit of shell still stuck to some of the crab – regardless, this was still my favorite dish of the entire meal

Third (Complementary) Course - Egg, Polenta, Mimolete, and Compte Cheese Soufflé with a Puree of Swiss Chard inside: the presentation’s a bit messy – I don’t think this was intended since the soufflé  seems to have been set up with a ring mold, but the different components worked well together and it was free, so no real complaints

Fourth Course - Organic Long Island Duck Roasted Whole with Winter Spice Mix - Hudson Valley Organic Hand Milled Polenta, Washington State Huckleberry, Baby Bok Choy Puree, served with Pommes Puree on the side:  this was the only course I wasn’t that impressed with - while everything was cooked nicely, all the flavors were really familiar and nothing on the plate really wowed me like the previous courses

Fifth (Complementary) Course - White Chocolate Cloud with Green Tea Powder:  so I think that as a result of the shell pieces from the flan, I received this course (it’s occasionally served during their dinner prix fixe).  This is white chocolate and milk with lecite, an emulsifier that’s ideal for making airs.  They froth up the white chocolate and milk, scoop out the foam into a mold, and place it in the freezer to set.  The result is an extremely delicate texture and flavor.  This actually reminded me a lot of Taiwanese Snowy Ice

Sixth Course - Chilled Fall Rhubarb Soup, Santa Barbara Organic Strawberries, Buckwheat Gelato: excellent palate cleanser

Seventh Course - Hot Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé, White Coffee Cloud, White Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Mousse:  if I had to nitpick, the combination of soufflé and mousse was a bit too sweet, but otherwise, a very solid dessert

Petit Fours: (from left to right) White Chocolate Coconut Truffle, Milk Chocolate Truffle, White Chocolate Sugar Cookie, Dark Chocolate Cookie, Sesame Seed Sandwich, and Poppy Seed and Caramel Crisp: a bit much for one person, especially after the soufflé and mousse, but I ate everything anyways

Besides the shell pieces in the flan (which wasn’t that big a deal), I was quite happy with everything I had - this was definitely one of the best prix fixe meals that I’ve tried and well worth the price.

Bouley

163 Duane St

New York, NY 10013

http://www.davidbouley.com/

Shanghai Heping at Mott Street!

Family meal at Shanghai Heping on Mott Street! It's rare for me to seek out Chinese food - so maybe it's because I haven't eaten it in a while, but I was pretty impressed with this place:

Crab and Pork Steamed Soup Dumplings: these were good, but I thought the pork soup dumplings that we ordered (not pictured) were much better. My aunt said the skin was a little too thick on both (compared to the ones she had in Taiwan), but for me it was fine. The soup flavor itself was really good for the pork dumplings.

Fried Tiny Buns with Pork: I've always seen these on the menu when I go for soup dumplings but I've never ordered it, so this time I decided to give it a try. It's good for what it is, and there's some soup inside as well.

Dong Po Pork: stewed pork belly with bok choi - this dish was so good. The pork belly (and pork fat) was all melty and matched perfectly with the sweetness from the stewed soy sauce. This was served with steamed white bread (which was great), but I love eating these stews with white rice so that the rice soaks up the sauce.

Stir Fried Snow Pea Tips with Garlic: fairly standard Chinese style preparation of leafy greens and this was really well done - very delicious.

Stir Fried Eel: this was awesome - this was sorta like eating unagi don, but instead of teriyaki, it's flavored with garlic, ginger, and soy. This went perfectly with rice.

Shanghai Heping Restaurant
104 Mott Street

(between Canal St & Hester St)
New York, NY 10013

Pork Slope in Brooklyn!

We stopped by Pork Slope prior to seeing a Sarah Silverman Show.  Pork Slope is from Dale Talde of Top Chef - the concept is Americanana bar food and features a great beer list.  I've heard rave reviews about Pork Slope and this was a great opportunity to try some of Dale Talde's food:

Porky Melt: pork patties with caramelized onions and cheese - this was ridiculously good, the whole thing kinda melts in your mouth when you take a bite. I was eating this with some of the house-made bbq sauce - really fantastic.  I'd come back repeatedly for this sandwich alone, it is awesome - the price is pretty affordable too, always a bonus.

Cheeseburger: get this only if you absolutely need to have a cheeseburger instead of the porky melt for whatever reason. The burger, while it tasted okay, is about as average as you can get and should really be $2 cheaper

St Louis Ribs - pretty good, had a nice spice rub that went well with their BBQ sauce

Tater Tots with Chili - good for what it is

Potato Salad: not great - this reminded me of those economy-size tubs of potato salad that you can get at the supermarket

One BIG hit and a few misses - next time I'll have to try the shrimp po boy (and definitely the porky melt again)

Pork Slope

247 5th Ave

(between President St & Carroll St) 

Brooklyn, NY 11215

www.porkslopebrooklyn.com

Experimenting with My New Blendtec Blender, Initial Trials!

So I bought myself a Blendtec blender for my birthday - it's in competition with Vitamix (which is the one we've been using in class).  Blendtec tries to market itself more for the home consumer - they have a lot of preset recipes like soups, sauces, smoothies, ice creams, etc that you can choose from and it's one button processing (the blender alters speed and duration based on what you choose).  There's also a pulse button and adjustable speeds so you can manually blend something.  Lastly, the Blendtec comes with a recipe book.

I started out trying out one of their recipes - strawberry ice cream.  The recipe seemed simple enough - frozen strawberries, condensed milk, half and half, and a bit of lemon juice (the only thing I had on hand was the lemon juice).  I saw that fresh strawberries were on sale so I bought that, instead of half and half I bought heavy cream (thinking I would make mousse again later on).  So I cut the strawberries and threw them in the freezer, but I don't think I let them freeze long enough - I also used heavy cream instead of half and half, so the consistency was off.  Final result, not a success, but not a complete failure - taste wise it turned out good, but when I first blended it, it was more of a soup than an ice cream (I had to refreeze it again).  Here's a pic - I plated it with some sliced strawberries and a brunoise of strawberries on top: 

Next up - gazpacho.  There was a recipe for this as well, but I again ad libbed a bit.  I had tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapenos.  I cut everything into pieces and threw it in the blender - one big mistake is that I totally underestimated the jalapeno.  I didn't take out the seeds prior to adding it to the blender, so it was really spicy.  When I tasted it, the consistency and spice level reminded me so much of salsa verde that I decided to convert it to salsa - I added lemon juice, diced some onions, and added tomatoes.  Pictured here is the gazpacho in soup form:

Now that I had this salsa, I decided to make some tacos.  I bought some pork which I seared and took off the pot - I then made my sauce:  onions, garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, oregano, chipotle peppers, mushrooms, beef stock, and dark chocolate.  After I simmered it for a bit, I threw everything in the blender and pureed it - I then added the pork I seared back in the pot along with some of this sauce - it turned out awesome.  Here it is plated with black beans, red onion, olives, cilantro, and a slice of lime:

Lastly, I made a cream of cauliflower soup - it's very similar to what we did in class but I sorta winged it (I didn't look up our recipe).  Mine was cauliflower, onions, water, heavy cream, and salt.  I took the cauliflower and cut some of the florets - I put oil and salt on these and roasted them in the oven to use as a garnish.  For the soup, I added onions and cauliflower to a pot, and then adding some water to boil it.  Once it was cooked, I put it in the blender with the heavy cream and pureed it.  

This turned out really delicious - the soup tasted like the essence of cauliflower and the oven roasted garnish added a nice salty crunch component - a bit on the dark side, but I like charred cauliflower:

So the blender trials started a bit rocky with the ice cream and gazpacho, but I am really happy with the tacos and soup (especially the soup, that was so good).

Oh and one last thing, here's a bonus pic of my cat looking totally surprised when I first used the blender (it's really loud):

Dining at Osteria Morini - Part of My Michael White Restaurant Tour!

I've mentioned Marea before and how that was one of the best meals I've had last year.  As a result, I've gone to Ai Fiori, Marea's sister restaurant, and now it's time for Osteria Morini!  Osteria Morini is Michael White's casual restaurant and features cuisine from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy (the central city is Bologna).  This is where Michael White worked for seven years, so this restaurant is kind of a homage to his time there:

Polpettine - prosciutto & mortadella meatballs baked in tomato sauce:  a nice start to the meal, the tomato sauce was delicious and the bread was prepared nicely (oiled and then lightly grilled) 

Cappalletti - truffled ricotta ravioli, melted butter, prosciutto:  this is similar to the butter sauces that we made in class, but it's accented with prosciutto and black pepper.  It was definitely tasty - the ravioli was delicious (truffle and ricotta is such a nice combination) and this paired very well with the prosciutto and butter.

Casoncelli - squid ink ravioli, shrimp, scallop, passata, calamari, white wine.  This is the main reason I wanted to try Morini - my obsession with squid ink runs deep!  This was a very nice dish and one that I'll try to recreate on my own.

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Onion - another food obsession of mine.  I love Brussels sprouts (it soaks up flavors so well) - this was a pretty good side dish.

Gianduja Budino - Chocolate Hazelnut custard, amarena cherries, caffe cream, cherry lambrusco sorbetto: this felt like a copy of the maple budino at Locanda Verde (which is what led me to the pasta comparison after the fact) except that it's with hazelnut instead of maple. Both are served with preserved fruit, toasted nuts, and a cherry sorbet as a palette cleanser, though I do prefer Locanda Verde's version. Taste-wise, both are very good, but Osteria's needs more of the preserved cherries and toasted hazelnuts - the proportions of the different components is a bit unbalanced, while Locanda's was spot on.

Dinner at Roberta's in Brooklyn!

After hearing rave reviews of Roberta's and perusing the online menu for weeks, I finally got a chance to go there.  Roberta's is really famous for their pizzas, and I've been eyeing the squid ink tagliatelle with mussels and sea urchin for a while now. The exterior of Roberta's is rather unassuming - the entrance is nondescript and it's surrounded by warehouses.  But the food is what I'm really interested in:

Sweetbreads with Key Lime – I LOVE having sweetbreads fried, and this tasted like creamy KFC nuggets – this was pretty good as is, though I wish there was some micro greens or something to accompany it

Octopus with Black Garlic, Treviso, and Sea Beans – awesome dish, every component worked perfectly together.  This would be my favorite item of the night if not for the following course:

Squid Ink Tagliatelle with Mussels and Sea Urchin – I’ve been obsessed with squid ink and sea urchin and this did not disappoint. Really great, my favorite dish.

Duck Hunt - pawlet, duck prosciutto, leek, sweet potato, onion, chilli flake – we ordered a pizza since Roberta's is known for their pizzas, and I wanted to try this because of the ingredients (haven't tasted pawlet cheese before).  This pizza was good, but doesn’t hold up to all the other savory items we had; definitely needs more duck prosciutto, and the chili flake kinda got lost in all the sweetness. The bee sting (tomato, mozzarella, sopressata, chili, honey) that I had at Madison Square Eats was much better.

Blood Orange Semifreddo, Candied Kumquats, Blood Orange, Truffles, and Walnuts – an okay dessert, nothing really outstanding about it.

A couple outstanding dishes for the night - a different pizza next time will make the next meal here exceptional.