Halloween Trivia Contest

I’m so excited that I actually have something fun to do tonight in celebration of Halloween (I hate that it’s on a Wed, and thus we’ve all had to celebrate the holiday for the past 5 days). Jo the MasterBaker, J, and I will all be going to NY Mag’s All Hallow’s Madness… open bar… should be interesting. I’m going to be a pirate, ARG!, and J is going to be a subway car. Why is he so much craftier than me?! But anyways, there’s a fun scavenger hunt that’s happening before the event. We don’t really have time to participate, but I wanted to let you all in on the fun. I’m listing all the restaurant/bar related places we need to find—whoever answers all 4 first (and correctly), I’ll send you a prize. Really, I will. Something ridiculous. OK… off you go:

• The 7th Ave W. Village eatery with a famous case of split personalities?
• Dylan Thomas consumed 18 shots of whiskey here & now his ghost haunts the place?
• Sadly, a murdered woman found her end in 1799 in what is now the basement of this Spring Street restaurant. Bottles flying mysteriously off the shelves?
• Romantic restaurant supposedly haunted by Aaron Burr’s daughter Thodosia who is rumored to steal patron’s earrings?

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Tailor, Not The Right Fit

On Friday night, the ladies and I made dinner reservations at Tailor, the new dessert-focused restaurant in SoHo. I was pretty excited about this culinary adventure—Sam Mason’s food is supposed to be daring and delicious. But I have to say, I was disappointed. I think RestaurantGirl said is best, “With any restaurant, there are dishes that hit and some that miss. But here, with only six sweet and six salty options to choose, the odds are not in your favor.” It’s the truth: there are only 12 SMALL plates to choose from, and the tasting menu costs $30 for 3 savory plates and $50 for a choice of any 3. You end up shelling out mucho $ for a meal, and you’re still hungry at the end of it. I do have a few positives: the pork belly dish was out-of-this-world. I now understand all chef’s fascination with this ingredient. It’s warm, and comforting, and the miso butterscotch makes the dish sweet and savory at the same time. Plus, the char covered in some sort of passion fruit sauce made my mouth water with goodness. We also got the duck which was a solid B+ dish, and the foie gras with peanut butter that just sorta tasted like muddled mush. On to the sweet: here’s where I ran for the hills. I took one bite of both the soft chocolate with sesame ice cream and the rum-braised banana with mustard ice cream. Maybe I’m just not that adventurous, but I didn’t like either of these “sweets.” A few of my dinner-friends enjoyed the whole meal, so I’m not saying this restaurant is bad. In fact, it’s quite good at times, and the space is huge and swanky and makes you feel like you’re having a grand dining experience. Sidenote: I loved that the waiters wore suit-like outfits with faux-stitching along the seams. But I think, just not my cup of tea. Nor my cup of “Crumble,” the odd cocktail with clove, pear cider, and brown butter rum that my dinner-mates adored, and I could barely sip. I guess I’m not as adventurous as I’d like to be.

See what the pros had to say about it.

Create Your Own Cookbook

Check out this brand-new way to create your own cookbook. Over at TasteBook.com, you can browse the recipes at Epicurious, pick your favorites, and then have TasteBook bind them into one, cohesive cookbook. Pretty awesome. It’s much cleaner and prettier than that dingy 3-ring binder your mom gave you, or that weird folder that you stuff tear-outs into. If you want to add a personal touch, you can include some recipes of your own with the Epicurious ones. The books can hold up to 100 different dishes. Or, if you’re lazy, you can buy one of their pre-filled books (things like Holiday Cookies or Kids’ Favorites) and add recipes later. I was surprised at how well-designed and professional these books look, and the price isn’t too bad either: $35. Is it something you’d buy?

Graffiti for Your Kitchen Cabinets

I really love when magazines use fun, quirky handwriting in their designs. J and I went to a talk/book-signing for the creator of a new book called Hand Job, all about handwritten fonts and designs, and the entire book is full of stuff I want to steal. Hand drawings give such a personal element that you can’t find with proper fonts, and there’s this fun feeling that you’ll never see it done the same way twice. But anyway, to the point—I want to make my own cabinet graffiti like this one that I saw on Apartment Therapy Kitchen (it was originally on Cookie). I think it’d be fun to get recipes from all the important people in your life and then stick them up on the inside of your cabinets with the help of Wonderful Graffiti. Or I could do a breakfast cabinet, a lunch one, and a dinner. Fun!

Dinner at Perilla

Sorry for the delayed post, but J and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary (yay!) on Thursday night at Perilla. As you may already know, I love this restaurant. The first time we ate there, we couldn’t even speak to each other because everything we put in our mouths was so delicious. But this time around, it wasn’t quite a home-run. We loved our appetizer—split the spicy duck meatballs. We were bummed that we didn’t get them the first time, and we should have been. The duck makes a normally hearty meatball nice and light without taking anything away, and there’s a slight hint of mint that tastes amazing in the middle. Plus, the sauce is creamy, and there’s a small (what I assume is some sort of quail) egg yolk that you can soup your meatball and sauce into. J had a Cornish Game Hen dish that was also really good—very fall flavors with apple sauce (or apple puree, or something) on the side. But here’s where it went wrong—I decided to go out on a limb and get the Wild Boar Milanese. I’ve never had Wild Boar, and I’m all about trying new things lately. But what I got tasted and looked like a breaded chicken cutlet with salad on top. It was dry, and very plain. The Wild Boar is a bit heartier than a chicken cutlet, but the flavor is very similar and I wasn’t blown away by the dish. I do have to say that Harold’s pasty chef really saved the meal for me, though, with a RIDICULOUS take on peanut butter and jelly. I don’t remember the exact description, but it tasted like peanut butter ice cream cake with a grape sorbet on the side. And J got the chocolate tart that was yummy (but mine was better!). I also had a great glass of wine that was brand new for me, but I don’t remember the name—thus my problem with wine. Definitely the highlight of the night was actually seeing Harold come out of the kitchen… twice.

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Orange You Glad I Said Sangria?

 

Love this! Only a theory as of now, but someone make this happen ASAP! Sangria would taste so delicious.

Perfect Pumpkin Recipes

Jo the MasterBaker has decided to share the recipes for 2 different treats she made over the weekend. Wahoo!

The first is a Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake (click here for the recipe). She made a few substitutions to try to cut down on the calories (amen!): she bought the pre-made graham cracker crust, used Neufchatel Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat! and better tasting), and Splenda sugar substitute. She says, “still delicious and creamier than the Junior’s pumpkin cheesecake that someone else brought.” So ha!

The second is a Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread (click here for the recipe) that I got the pleasure of tasting. It was so yummy—like warm, soft, comforting pumpkin bread with a little hidden surprise inside. Here Jo decided to make muffins instead of bread, and she says, “just make sure you cut the baking time to about 20 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.”

Happy baking! And those of you who tasted either of these, please share in praising the MasterBaker.

I Forgot About the Environment Yesterday!

Yesterday was Blog Action Day, and I had signed up and promised to post something eco-friendly on my blog. And… I forgot. So, I thought better late than never. Here’s one of my favorite eco-living places to shop for kitchen goodies: VivaTerra. They sell handcrafted work that is from the “purest ingredients and sustainable resources possible.” Plus, everything’s pretty. I really love the Root of the Earth bowls, baskets, and platters—they’re hand-carved from the discarded root balls of Chinese fir trees into varied shaped bowls. It looks a lot like the decor I saw at Irving Mill last night!

I’m a Sucker for Seasonal Restaurants

Last night I went to the opening night celebration of Irving Mill—the new restaurant on E. 16th Street that took over the old Candela space. It serves Greenmarket-inspired, seasonal American cuisine under Chef John Schaefer, formerly of Gramercy Tavern. I loved Candela—the super-romantic, Gothic decor was over-indulgent and cozy at the same time. But the new space is completely revamped. Matching the “seasonal” concept, there’s beautiful wood tables, warm autumn colors, and fall veggies and husks all over the place. There’s a really stunning stone, chest-high table in the middle of the restaurant that sorta takes your breath away. And the space is just as giant as Candela was—super high ceilings and all left completely in tact. But as I mentioned, I’m a sucker for seasonal restaurants. I love Cookshop, and I love Alias even more. I think, though, I’ve never been to either of those restaurants in the winter, spring, or summer. Why does seasonal equate to autumn? Still, the menu (don’t get too attached—it’s printed on paper so they can change it whenever they want to according to new items) has an Autumn Tasting Menu for $58 that sounds delish:

• Fresh Hearts of Palm with Avocado Cream, Arugula and Citrus Salad
• Roasted Sea Scallops with Cauliflower, Golden Raisins and Capers
• Monkfish Schnitzel with Red Cabbage, Celery Root and Black Truffle Vinaigrette
• Roasted Sirloin of Beef with Bintje Potatoes, Shallots, Smoked Bacon and Nicoise Olives
• Poire Williams Profiteroles with Seckel Pears, Vanilla Ice Cream, Fudge Sauce, Spiced Almonds, Poire Williams Caramel OR Caramel Creme Brulee with Pecan Pie Tartlette

I didn’t get to taste much of the food—it was difficult to attack the canapes coming out of the kitchen. But the few items I did shove in my mouth—some fried oysters, a scallop ceviche, and a mushroom grilled cheese type thing—were all yummy. So here’s rooting for a successful season!

Ohhh…. Grub Street was clever enough to bring a camera. Check out the pretty photos.

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New New Restaurant on Ave B

Just across the street from 18 Ave. B (now, officially, called Zaitzeff… ugh), is another brand new LES restaurant called Cantina. According to the host at the door, they’ll be serving “Pan-Latin home-cooking.” I didn’t see a menu, but the idea sounds delicious. And the inside decor looked homey and relaxing. They had a soft-opening over the weekend—there’s still brown paper taped to the windows! But the host mentioned that they’d be officially open this week. Also, they’ve got a license for beer, wine, and champagne, which is the answer I received when I asked if they had a liquor license. I guess it’s different. Chef Jason Neroni, the former chef at Porchetta and 71 Fresh Clinton Foods, is on-board as a consultant, and the place is owned by Jason Swami of Movida. Sounds interesting. My favorite part of the Eater post of Cantina’s press release is the statement that the design is supposed to be a “ghetto hodge-podge.” My kind of place.

I didn’t take a picture—sorry!

A BYOB Find

In the city, BYOB restaurants are a girls’ best friend. Screw diamonds, give me a cheap bottle of wine, a cheap restaurant tab, and a table full of friends. Cheesy, I know. But true. When J and I ate a huge, yummy dinner at Georgia’s Eastside BBQ (with a full doggy bag to take home), we spent a grand total of $30 including tip. And we did the same thing Friday night when we hit up Bodeguita Cubana. We splurged on our bottle of wine ($20), and then spent $30 for dinner. And it was delicious. J got a braised beef dish with rice and beans… I stupidly got the pollo. I’m not usually so boring, but it was good as far as chicken goes. It’s a teeny tiny little place—probably seats about 15 to 20 people really squished. But that’s the charm. And you can’t beat dinner for that price… with a good buzz from splitting a bottle of wine included. We got a cocktail at this really annoyingly pretentious bar afterwards called SB3 (which some googing showed me stands for Sexy B@*tch 3… why? i don’t know), and we spent the same amount that we did on dinner. I know, not our smartest move. Won’t do it again. It just wasn’t our kind of place—I’m sure great cocktails, but a little too shi-shi. But Bodeguita Cubana is down-home delicious and you should check it out. And while I’m sharing the secrets, check out this entire BYOB list from NY Mag.

UPDATE: Apparently Bodeguita Cubana couldn’t make it and is closing. 

Cupcake Cookbook Giveaway

Black*Eiffel is really stepping it up this week—I always love their posts, but I’m extra in love today. They’re offering a giveaway for the yummy Cupcakes! cookbook. Enter by Monday to win.

PS—One of my friends told me my blog has become a little too cupcake-heavy. PSha! I say! There is no such thing as too much cupcake.

Take a Shot for Every “Sexy Nurse” You See

I am immersed in the holidays at work—since the magazine publishes so far ahead of time, we’re already done with Christmas! But I must remind myself that it is only October, and focus, FOCUS, on Halloween. I have no idea what I’m going to be. I usually borrow something from the closet at work and make a silly outfit—I’ve been hoarding a coconut bra and hula skirt for a year straight now. But whatever I throw together, I’d love to have these Halloween drinking glasses and shot glasses that I saw at Black*Eiffel to celebrate. And they’re super easy to make! Matthew Mead has templates you can download at his site, and then you just have to cut out the shapes from black masking tape. He also provided a very orange cocktail to treat your guests.

1 ½ oz Vodka
1 ½ oz Triple Sec
1 oz Carrot Juice
1 oz Citrus Energy Drink

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and stir. Strain over ice into prepared balloon glasses. Garnish with an orange wheel, and serve. Yum, yum.

No More Chocolate Fountain

I was walking on Avenue B last night towards Croxley Ales (amazing $.10 wings), when I noticed the lack of the infamous chocolate fountain. Right next door to Croxley, there’s usually a small cafe with a cocoa fountain on the street with a few dipping accoutrement. Personally, I thought it was disgusting. Do we know how many fingers were dipped in the molten liquid? Still, I know Jo the MasterBaker loved it. But alas… that cafe (and the fountain with it) are no more. It’s now a very sophisticated restaurant with a much more upscale decor and much simpler menu (for now, at least). The restaurant is currently unnamed, but their makeshift menu says, “18 Ave. B.” The menu is pretty meat and potatoes… literally. There are 4 different kinds of burgers, and the sandwiches are chicken, chicken salad, turkey club, tuna salad, and BLT. The sides: Idaho fries, sweet potato fries, and mixed fries. So… seriously, meat and potatoes. When I asked what the restaurant is becoming, he mentioned that they hoped to be a brunch spot. The current breakfast menu looks plain, but yummy: pancakes, french toast, omelette, egg sandwich, etc. I got the feeling that they are brand new and still finalizing all the details, but I didn’t think that the menu matched the decor very well. I didn’t eat there, so I have no idea whether the cuisine is any good. But the atmosphere is nice and clean. If you check it out, let me know what you think. And let me know what the name ends up being—that’s the fun part.

UPDATE: Jo just send me an email that Imbible actually attended the opening, so check out their review.

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A Sad Day for the LES

Mr. Michelin Man shows no love for the LES. The 2008 Michelin Guide to NY came out today, and the Lower East Side didn’t fare too well. We’ve got ONE 1-star restaurant in the neighborhood—WD-50. And ZERO 2- or 3-star joints. Bummer. Michelin also included their Bib Gourmand section where inspectors picked their favorite restaurants for good value. There are 52 restaurants in this year’s guide that serve a menu with two dishes and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. In this section, the LES also scored only one mention—Congee Village. Let’s do better next year LES!

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