Locanda Verde

Photo from Haute100.com

For my final eating indulgence in New York, Jo and I went to Locanda Verde for brunch on Sunday. I feel like a broken record, but this is another place that should be on your list of NYC restaurants. There were so many things on the menu we wanted to try, but I usually can't eat a ton for my first meal of the day.

I had the Tre Stelle juice (pomegranate, blood orange and valencia orange) and the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with blueberries and meyer lemon curd. I have thought about these pancakes every day I have been home from NYC. They were light, fluffy, slightly creamy from the ricotta, pleasantly tart from the lemon and just the right amount of sweet from the blueberries. The next time I make homemade ricotta, I am finding a way to replicate these pancakes!!

Jo had the Wood-Fired Uova Al Forno with corona beans, mozzarella and black tuscan kale. Oh my, if you have never had corona beans, here is a good picture that shows how massive they are:

Photo from notmartha.org

Massive I tell you! Jo's dish tasted good, too, but the novelty was really the corona beans.

Then, because I just couldn't help myself, I ordered a Lemon Fennel Muffin for the train. And I happened to find a picture of it:

Photo from newyork.seriouseats.com

Seriously? This is basically two of my favorite things combined in an easily transportable item. I shall be trying to replicate these as well. So good. And such a good eating weekend in NYC. Thanks again, Jo!

Babbo

Photo from restaurantsinnyc.com

(This is the third in a series of posts that recap my weekend in NYC - to see the first two posts, click here and here.)

For dinner on Saturday night, Jo and I went to Mario Batali's Babbo. Batali is also a partner of Eataly, so you could say that Jo and I did our part to contribute to Batali's millions of dollars.

Photo from NYMag.com

This picture is perfect, because you can see exactly where we sat - the last two bar stools at the far end of the bar. Sitting at the bar was perfect; Johnny the bartender was a riot and we were seated next to a former employee of Babbo, who was knowledgeable about the dishes.

Now, most importantly, what we ate (the menu is here):

We started with Grilled Octopus, which were tender, meaty and delicious, and the Winter Vegetable Salad, which was also delicious. (Unfortunately I can't remember what was in it! Should have written it down.)

Pumpkin "Lune" from Babbonyc.com

Then we split two pastas: the Goat Cheese Tortelloni and the Pumpkin "Lune." The tortelloni were fantastic! Creamy goat cheese center, tender fresh pasta and the fennel pollen and orange were subtle, but flavorful complements. The Lune were also delicious. Our waiter shaved an amaretti cookie over the top when he served the dishes. A nice touch, but I couldn't taste the amaretti. But honestly, the pumpkin sage and butter was so delicious, that I didn't miss the amaretti. 

Jo and I also split two side dishes: Roasted Beet "Farrotto" and Babbo Greens. Oh boy, were these great. I have been wanting to try to make farro at home (Giada has a couple recipes for it), but I haven't been able to find it at my normal grocery store. After I found the recipe for the Roasted Beet Farrotto on the Babbo website, I decided a trip to Whole Foods is in the cards this weekend! The earthy beets and the nutty farro worked wonders together. And because of the beets, it was a gorgeous red color! The Babbo Greens were baby bok choy that tasted like they had been sauteed in an agrodolce (sweet and sour) sauce. They were so flavorful. 

For dessert, we split the Pistachio and Chocolate Semifreddo and it showed up with a birthday message and candle!

Apologies for the dark photo; I used my Blackberry

It was the perfect end to a delicious meal! My heartfelt thanks to Jo for a memorable birthday dinner and weekend. 

If you find yourself in NYC and are craving delicious Italian food, give Babbo a try.

Brooklyn

Winston!

I cannot go any further with my New York recap without giving a shout out to Jo's super adorable roommate, Winston! I'm not going to lie, we played fetch, we snuggled. Patton and the girls were a little jealous when I got home.

On Saturday, Jo and I trekked out to Brooklyn via the Subway. (Sad side note: while waiting for the train, I was talking with my hands and managed to hit my camera and my lens cap flew off onto the tracks. It was like it was in slow motion. Jo and I gazed at it longingly, but decided we better not climb down after it.) 

We met up with my friend, Tieneke, for brunch at Buttermilk Channel. I had the "Eggs Huntington" (Buttermilk is on the corner of Huntington and Court Streets), which is not usually something I would order. I have a tendency to veer towards the sweet and carbo-loaded breakfast items, but I knew we were planning to walk back to Jo's apartment, so I figured I could use some protein. The dish was great, and it was served with a fresh side salad which afforded my tastebuds a welcome acidic cleansing after the rich egg dish.

Then it was on to the Bridge!

Brooklyn Bridge

Unfortunately they were doing some construction on it (as you can see from the white plastic lining either side) so we couldn't see much until we got to the couple circular viewing areas.

But at one point we could see the Statue of Liberty:

One of these days MM and I are going to go to Ellis Island to check it out. 

Eataly

A generous pour

I spent the past weekend in New York with my good friend Jo and let me tell you, we ate well! 

We started the weekend with a trip to Eataly on Friday night. If they built apartments above Eataly I would probably force MM to move to NYC. Eataly is an Italian food lover's dream. The space is divided into different ingredient sections (e.g. vegetables, fish, pasta, etc) and most of the sections have a little restaurant to showcase that particular ingredient. (Check out their map to get a better sense of how it is laid out.) Here is a sampling of the different areas:

Eataly's Motto

Gorgeous wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano - next to them was a sign that asked you not to touch them because the oils from your hands will affect their flavor.

Salumi counter

Produce

 Mushrooms

 Salsify

Assortment of Squash

Molto Prosciutto

 Panini for the lucky people who work close to Eataly and can visit for lunch

Lemonade

We decided to eat at Le Verdure, which is the vegetarian restaurant within Eataly. (Their menu is here.) We started with a super fresh and delicious bruschetta, which was a special that night. Unfortunately I can't remember everything that was on it. I think it included olive tapenade and arugula, but I can't remember what else. We also ordered a plate of Verdure alla Piastra for the table (two of Jo's friends joined us as well). I forgot to take a picture of both, but they were delicious and flavorful.

One of Jo's friends ordered Fennel, Frico and Tomato:

Fennel!

As you can imagine, it was delicious. Look at that gorgeous caramelized color!

I ordered the Gnocchi alla Romana:

I have been wanting to try to make gnocchi alla Romana for some time now (Saveur printed a recipe in their article on Rome in the April 2010 issue, which is what sparked my interest). The gnocchi were creamy and full of flavor from the crisp Parmigiano-Reggiano on the top. The slightly acidic ragu underneath it cut through the richness of the gnocchi perfectly.

So if you find yourself in New York and you have some time to spare, check out Eataly!

New York

I was in New York City this past weekend spending some QT with my friend, Jo. (Marshal Mike was busy playing Army, so I only saw him sporadically.) We ate at some delicious restaurants, but I didn't take a single picture! I carried my camera the whole weekend and not one picture, which means I will have to recreate our meals with words.

Friday night we had dinner at Blue Ribbon Bakery. It was really delicious. We were seated in their downstairs section (our table was just about right where the photographer stood to take this picture).

(This photo from NYMag.com)

In looking at their menu online, I think it is slightly different from the menu we saw, and I can't really remember what came with each dish. I had the Grilled Red Trout with wild mushrooms, green beans, almonds and bacon. The fish was cooked perfectly and the other components worked really well with it. Marshal Mike had the Filet Mignon with potato cake (the online menu has items that I don't think his dish had) and some delicious sauce. It was truly outstanding, and he orders filet in just about every restaurant we go to. Jo had the Red Snapper special that came with Israeli couscous and vegetables. Also delicious. 

After dinner we went across the street to Blue Ribbon Wine Bar.

I wish it was this empty when we were there! (Also from NYMag.com)

Jo and I had the most amazing cocktail called the Hummingbird (St. Germain, cava and soda) - I am looking forward to trying to recreate it. It was pretty sweet, so we considered it our dessert!

Saturday morning Jo and I went to Colicchio & Sons for brunch. We both had the ricotta and spring vegetable frittata with truffle honey and arugula because it sounded too delicious to pass up. And it sure was. I wish I had a picture of it - a gorgeous golden yellow frittata studded with green vegetables. Yum!

Saturday night we met up at the Modern at MoMA (after walking up and down the street trying to find their super-secret entrance, which isn't actually super-secret, but we had trouble finding it anyway). We sat in the bar area and decided to get a couple small plates to share. But first, the bread. In the bread basket were the most adorable mini-baguettes. A little bit bigger than your finger and oh so delicious. The perfect amount of crusty on the outside, soft and airy on the inside.

So the food. We shared an asparagus salad with arugula, almonds, goat cheese, these weird sorta fried things on top that we decided tasted a little bit like fried eggplant. I think it had some other components too, but my memory fails me. The second starter was an upside down tuna tartare with fennel, cucumber and something else. Luckily, I was able to find a picture:

(From the Amateur Gourmet blog)

The thing on top was crispy, so you had to break it like creme brulee. It was really really delicious. 

Next was Slow Poached Egg "In a Jar" with lobster, asparagus and sea urchin foam:

(Thank you again, Amateur Gourmet)

It was so creative and truly wonderful. Crunchy asparagus, perfect lobster and the egg imparted a subtle creaminess once it was broken. 

Next was grilled scallops with roasted beet jus, hazelnuts and something else I have forgotten. They were also perfect. (Can this place do no wrong?) We ended the night with a coffee caramel dome with raspberry sorbet and amaretto gelee. By this point, I don't need to tell you it was delicious. The only down side was that after we finished our savory courses, it appeared our server had ended his shift or fell into the walk-in or something. He was no where to be seen. (Some other chick brought out dessert.) It took a little wrangling to get our check, but we finally did.

All in all it was a feast of a weekend. When I got home last night I made a pretty disgusting pasta dish from Real Simple: Ravioli with grape tomatoes and wine. Sounds like it should be good. It has wine in it, how could it be bad? Well, don't waste your time with this recipe, the results will underwhelm you.