Grimaldi's

I had heard alot about Grimaldi's in Brooklyn and knew I had to try it. So I convinced T to schlep into Brooklyn with me and stand on line for 1/2 hour behind dozens of tourists one Saturday morning.

Inside was definitely "no frills". Customers were squeezed into long rows of red checkered tables. We chatted with the parties on either side of us because we were thisclose them and there was no way anyone was having a private conversation.

Now pizza is a sensitive subject to most foodies. Heck, to most New Yorkers! I'm not saying it wasn't good, but we were a little disappointed with the pizza. The crust was not very crisp. The reason may have been that Grimaldi's seated about 75 people all at once and they were pumping out pies as fast as they could. The pizza was steaming hot so condensation may have softened our crust because we waited at least 5 minutes before we started to eat. We didn't want to suffer from "pizza mouth" and burn ourselves.

A Walk down Butter Lane

Butter Lane Cupcakes is located in NYC's East Village at 123 E 7th St. But they also have a little outpost on the High Line - the new elevated park in Chelsea.

At the High Line "C" and I tried the coconut cupcake. Although the cake was moist and the frosting was tasty we were disappointed that there was only coconut flakes on the frosting. We assumed the cake would have coconut as well.

I prefered the Red Velvet cupcake I had at their East Village store earlier this summer.

All cupcakes were $3 at the High Line.

Food vendors are on a 30 day rotation.

Paradou Foie Gras Tasting Menu

I LOVE foie gras so when I read about Paradou's foie gras menu I knew I had to try it. It changes every few weeks. This current menu ends on
Sept 30th. If you want to elevate your cholesterol then go to 8 Little West 12th Street in NYC's Meat Packing District.

From right to left (I was sharing this with "T" so we ordered all 5):

1 = $19 2 = $29 3 = $39 5 = 49
CARTE DES FOIE GRASFOIE "GRAVLAX"- Cured in sea salt, sugar cane with cognac, marjoram and spices. Served with candied fennel & red wine reduction

FOIE GRAS "BRULEE" - Fresh Hudson Valley Foie Gras sprinkled with brown sugar & blend of 9 spices, then brûléed. Served warm with Lillet-soaked raisins

FOIE GRAS en TORCHON - Cooked mi-cuit with california figs & orange zest at the center. Blanched in red wine & air dried overnight. Served with cherry tomato & fresh lavender confiture

TERRINE de FOIE GRAS - Marinated in port wine & cognac, accented with alea Hawaiian red salt. Served with onion & blueberry marmalade

FOIE GRAS FLANA - foie gras custard topped with red wine caramel. Served with pistachio dust & candied pumpkin seed

CHEF KFIR'S WINE PAIRING RECOMMENDATIONS

1 = $7 2 = $12 3 = $15 (we ordered the following 3 each)

MUSCAT, DOM. DE COYEUX 2004 - Sweet, fruity & light (Best paired with Foie “Gravlax” & Foie Gras Terrine)

SAUTERNES, CH. LAFON 2005 - A powerful wine. Aromas of honey, dried pineapple & nuts (Best paired with Foie Gras “Brûlé” & Foie “Gravlax”)

GEWURTZTRAMINER, DOM. WILLM 2007 - Flavorful & medium-bodied with enough acidic backbone to keep it balanced (Best paired with Foie Gras en Torchon)

My favorites were the Foie Gras en Torchon and Muscat.

The chef will have a brand new foie gras menu starting Oct 1 so we'll be back to try his new creations!

Permanent Brunch

...is located at 95 First Avenue in NYC's East Village. They serve brunch all day long.

"C" and I started with the Chicken Liver Pate with Bagel Chips $9 and the Biscuit with butter and blueberry jam $3.

"C" had the Cobb Salad with chicken on a bed of bread croutons $11 and a rasher of New Braunfel Smokehouse Comal county peppered bacon, texas $3.

I had the Baked Eggs with braised short rib ragu, duck fat fingerling $14.

And we had just enough room to squeeze in dessert - the Daily Donut $6 which was cinnamon beignets. Our only complaint - there was not enough powdered sugar on our beignets!

Burger Truck

Tracking down food trucks via Twitter is the latest trend so when the La Cense Beef Burger truck finally parked close enough in Midtown (39th & Park Ave) I had to try them out.

Your choice is a medium rare burger with grilled onions - with or without cheese. Period. That's the extent of the menu (you can order a side of "chips" or a pickle and a beverage). That's it. Talk about a tight product offering.

The burger is $7.00 ($7.50 with cheese) and was moist and flavorful, you can definitely taste the difference with this grass fed meat. And the guys working inside the truck were cute so the trip was worth it!

The truck is now semi-regularly parked at 47th & Park Ave.

Jamaican Duchy

Eating street vendor food is part of the "culture" in NYC, especially Manhattan at lunch time. One of the better vendors is The Jamaican Dutchy which parks on 51st Street and 7th Avenue. You can spot easily spot it by the large Jamaican flag perched on the top of the cart. They serve traditional Jamaican breakfast and lunch dishes.

Previously I have had the oxtails (very good). Today I had the jerk chicken (the chicken was tender and spicy, but the gravy was not "traditional") for $8.50. All meals are served with rice and peas, fried plaintain (not very ripe today) and some non descript veggies.

Co Pizza

Co Pizza is a clean, bright restaurant that serves made to order pizza. The crust is not exactly thin, but it's light and airy.

"C" and I split two pizzas:
Flambe $16 - béchamel, parmesan, buffalo mozzarella, caramelized onions, lardons which had a wonderful sweet onion flavor.

Ham and Cheese $14 - pecorino, gruyère, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, caraway which had generous slices of prosciutto.

and the Daily Gelato $3 - which was corn. It tasted just like sweet corn.

Lucky Boutique Crawl

Lucky Magazine is sponsoring a shopping event in NYC's West Village on September 24th from 6-9pm benefiting Housing Works. All along Bleeker Street there will be discounts, cocktails, snacks, gifts and beauty touchups.

Republic of Banh Mi

Republic is located in NYC's Union Square at 37 Union Square West between 16th & 17th Street. The restaurant has been around for several years and is known for it's noodles, but they have recently installed a sandwich counter to to advantange of the banh mi trend.

Banh Mi are great Vietnamese sandwiches served on french bread.

At Republic you can order them to go for $7 each or sit at the bar and for $10 they are accompanied by either a soup or salad.

"C" and I sat at the bar to enjoy our lunch:

- Vietnamese: with pate, trio of vietnamese hams, cucumber, picked papaya and carrots, cilantro and the Vermicelli salad: vermicelli, bean sprouts, peanuts, fried shallots, snow peas, mint, balsamic-vinaigrette
- Grilled Beef Marinated: with grilled beef, satay peanut sauce, scallions, pickled papaya and carrots, cilantro and the Green Papaya-Mango salad: papaya, mango, mint, bean-sprouts, shallots carrots, peanuts, tamarind dressing

They also offer great fruit juice drinks for $4. I had the Pineapple-Coconut coconut cream, orange juice, lime, pineapple juice and "C" had the Pineapple-Lime version.

It was so filling we only ate 1/2 of our sandwiches and 1/2 of our salads. The rest was packed up to be eaten as a snack later in the day.

Born Round

Frank Bruni, former NY Times food critic, had a book reading and signing today on NYC's Upper West Side at Barnes & Noble on Broadway and 66th Street. He is a great speaker and I can't wait to read his book.

Based on today's reading, past reviews and excerpts that I read this will be an entertaining book. David Sedaris better watch out!

Unfortunately, I'm on a book diet and have curtailed my book buying this year because (1) it will save money and (2) I have no more room in my home for any more books. So I will have to wait to borrow it from my local library.

Bon Appetit Supper Club and Cafe

This pop up space in NYC's midtown at 101 W. 57th St is open the week of 9/21 from 11am to 3pm. On the first day the place was mobbed with local office workers looking for a lunch alternative.

Each day features a different chef/cooking demo or book signing.

I tried the daily special which was Heavenly White Porcini pizza with garden salad for $8. The pizza was okay, but room temperature and there was too much dressing on the salad.

Fill out an Aruba sweepstakes and receive a sample of Carolina Jasmine Rice.

Pay with a Visa Signature card and receive a free gift - cute and colorful measuring spoons.

Fill out a Buick survey and receive a free wine bottle stopper.

Spend $12 and receive a free reusuable market tote (not pictured).

They also offered free wine tastings.

http://www.basupperclubandcafe.com/taste_about.asp

Auerole

Auerole moved from it's NYC Upper East Side townhouse to the new ultramodern Conde Nast office building on 42nd Street just a block away from Times Square.

The front room is a casual bar/lounge area.

The rear dining room is the "white tablecloth" area, but not at all formal. They offer three prix-fixe menus: pre-theatre for $55 (very basic standard fare), Parallel tasting (6 small courses) for $135 and the regular $84 menu.

We ordered from the regular menu. I didn't want to photos in the dining room because it would deter from the ambience. I will try my best to describe the dishes.

We first served an amuse bouche of tartare with green pea foam.

T had the Crisply Soft Shell Blue Crab appetizer with Belgian Endive, Crisp Granny Smith Apple, Smoked Paprika and "Sauce Remoulade"

I had the Diver Sea Scallop "sandwich" with seared foie gras, sugar snap peas, passion fruit and chives.

We both had the Canadian Lobster Tail vs. Berkshire Pork Belly entree - a plate with 2 sections: one with the lobster and the second with the tender pork - with summer squash, chanterelle mushrooms, cape gooseberries, Jura wine and almond emulsion.

Foam is still alive and well on West 42nd Street!

Then we were served a raspberry granita with cream. It was light and refreshing.

For dessert T had the Pam-fried Carrot Cake with goat cheese cream, red grape sorbet, maple walnut, balsamic.

I had the Sweet Corn Souffle with blueberry chutney, frozen yogurt and brown butter (an almost frosting consistency smeared across the plate).

The also gave us a cone full of mini beignets dusted with sugar and chili (not too spicy).

After dessert and coffee they brought over a tray of petit fours.

We tried the french macaron, peanut butter cup, caramel and pistachio and white chocolate (all wonderful).

In addition, our waitress gifted us both with a large olive oil madeline "for breakfast the next morning" as we left.

It was a very good and quite satisfying meal. We shall return!

Mac Attack!

Macbar just opened last week in NYC's SoHo at 54 Prince Street so I had to run down and try their gourmand Mac n Quack (with duck, small $7.99 ) and Mac Lobsta (with lobster, small $8.99).

Both were delicious with lots of chunks of duck/lobster (no skimping here). If you order a size Medium or Large of any dish it is served in a cute yellow macaroni shaped containers.

The decor is also modern and bright yellow.

Even the plastic utensils are well thought out: cute and yellow, snap together fork/knife sets with the "macbar" logo.

They offer a range of beverages from Jones Soda to their own bottled water, cookies and brownies and POP chips.