Traif

Traif is located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn at 229 S. 4th Street.

"C" and I went there for dinner because Traif is known to be bacon-centric. They even have a cocktail with bacon on the glass' rim!

It's a cozy little restaurant with an open kitchen. They have almost zero counter space so we were really impressed at the dishes this small kitchen created.

We were given an amuse bouche of Strawberry and tomato gazpacho - cool and refreshing.

Then we ordered several plates to share:

Bacon wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates, spinach a la catalana ($7) - nice flavor and texture.

Spicy bigeye tuna tartare, japanese eggplant tempura ($9) - excellent with the eggplant serving as the "base" to hold the tartare.

Seared foie gras, fingerling potatoes, ham chips, sunny side up egg ($16) - worth the cholesterol, decadent and rich!

Shaking beef - filet mignon, red chilies, cantaloupe, mint ($10) - we were disappointed because it was a simply stir fry and not very interesting.

Hot pot of mussels, laughing bird shrimp, squid, black pepper ($12) - good, but not great

Strawberry-cinnamon glazed baby back ribs ($8) - very cinnamony and not as tender as we would have liked.

And for dessert we couldn't resist the Bacon donuts, dulce de leche and coffee ice cream ($6) - these were more like zeppoles or donut holes sprinkled with more bacon!

And we received complimentary Grilled pineapple to cleanse our palate.

The Library Milwaukee

...this is an actual library where breakfast is offered at the Iron Horse Hotel.

I had an orange juice, an egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms, whole wheat toast, bacon and a bowl of fruit. I nutritious way to start the day before a business meeting!

Artisanal

...is located at 2 Park Avenue in NYC's Midtown.

"A" and I enjoyed their prix fixe brunch of 3 courses for $24.07.

We started with a basket each of cheese gougeres and beignets. They were served warm and were delicious...little clouds of bread and cheese and cinnamon donuts.

"A" had the fluffy scrambled eggs with bacon and potato galette - very tasty.
I had the grilled cheddar with bacon and apple served with homemade potato chips - also very good. The chips were especially light and crisp.

For dessert with had the cheese plate (one pc each from France, Italy and Spain) and the Chocolate Marquis which had a crunch center and salty nuts.

I also had a sparkling mango juice ($4.50).

NYC Food Film Festival

Last night "C" and I attended the free Festival at the Water Taxi Beach in LIC, Queens, NY.

We watched several short films and received complimentary tastes of the foods featured in the films:

- Jarlsberg cheese

- pig ear sandwich (very fatty)

- smoked ground pork sandwich (tasty)

- french fries with ketchup (nothing special)

- coriander bacon with mustard on toast (tasty)

- all natural 4 ingredient sodas: vanilla bean, juniperberry, rhubarb, lemongrass (not very flavorful)

- ice cream: cabernet, spicy peanut, chocolate chip pancake, banana nut chocolate (very good, rich and decadent)

The tastes were far and few between (plus the audience would descend like locusts upon the servers as soon as they appeared with trays of food) so in order not to be trampled we supplemented the night with a hot dog each ($3).

It was a fun night to be outside watching short films about food while eating food.