Girl and The Goat - Chicago

Bread ($4 each): small round loaves served warm

Fat - liver butter, pomegranate marmalade

Ruby Rye - mustard butter, thousand island dressing

Vegetables

Sauteed green beans - fish sauce, cashews ($9) - group favorite and disappeared within minutes

Chickpea fritters - romesco, hazelnut hummus, goat feta ($11) - yummy little square donuts of chickpeas

Butternut Squash ravioli - mushroom raisin ragout, shroom creme fraiche ($13) - more like leaflets of pasta
Sweet potato gratin - rogue river smokey blue ($12)

Fish

Lamb sausage stuffed calamari - sweet garlic, sweetbread crisp, currant ($15) - very large calamari stuffed with lamb, it would have been easy to finish off a second order

Sauteed cod cheeks - mushrooms, garlic crunch ($16) - generous and tender cheeks

Escargot ravioli - tamarind sauce ($15) - didn't have much flavor

Meat

Braised Beef Tongue - Salsa Verded ($14) - very tender

Grilled Pork Ribs - scallion vinagrette - excellent and tender, the meat fell of the bone and the flavor was slightly sweet, and this was the group's favorite

Grilled Goat T-bones - salsify, sausage sauce ($17) - very mild flavor and tender, tasted like lamb

Grilled Bison Butt - veal sausage, black trumpets ($22) - also very tender and mild, great alternative to beef

Dessert ($8 each):
Bourbon apples - cranberry, miso marcona almond, maple fat gelato - layered in a jar

Bittersweet chocolate - shitake gelato, toffee creme fraiche - typical chocolate cake

Sesame semifreddo - pork fat donuts, sambal pineapple - excellent little fried pillows with a hint of pork flavor

Blood orange sorbet - parsnip pot de creme, pistachio cake, three sisters cornmeal crust - nice flavor

The overall decor was warm although it was a cavernous, industrious space.

Bobby Van's

We dined at the 135 W. 5oth Street location near the Theatre District.

Jackie just had the Summer Salad in an entree size ($12.95) and the bread basket. She had Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream ($11.05) for dessert.

I had the Restaurant Week $40 3-course prix fix:

Summer Salad - blend of Napa Greens, Wild Cherries, Walnut Brie cheese and Berry Vinagrette

Lamb and Wild Mushroom Ravioli tossed with Truffle Sherry Sauce

Tartufo

And we both had ginger ales ($3.95/each).

Appetite

Tonight "J" and I went to the opening of this new exhibit at Cooper Union in NYC's East Village. The exhibit was small and didn't take long to see the entire thing. But the best part was the reception - a huge pile of loaves of bread stacked Jenga-style next to a platter of butter letters which spelled out a caption for the exhibit. Yum.

There was also an open bar with beer and wine.

LA Story - Rockenwagner

I visited the Rockenwagner Bakery/Cafe at 311 Arizon Avenue in Santa Monica to pick up some snacks for my flight from LAX.

I bought a pretzel roll ($1.50) and a cheese twist ($3). I love pretzel rolls and this was very good. The cheese twist had both poppy seeds and sesame seeds and a alot of cheddar. Both made for a nice snack at the airport.

Le Pain Quotidien

I went back to the NYC Bryant Park branch at 70 West 40th Street for a quick lunch.

They have a "grab and go" section of premade sandwiches and salads.

I had the Grilled Chicken Curry sandwich with cranberry harissa chutney, mango, meclun on organic five grain bread ($6.95). The curry was nice and chunky, but not spicy. The cranberry gave the sandwich a little sweetness and the bread had crunchy oats and seeds which gave the whole sandwich a nice texture.

I topped it off with a hazelnut flute ($3) which I mistook for a pastry. It's more like a small loaf of hearty bread with nuts and raisins. Not really what I was expecting, but it did taste good.

Olympic Pita

...is located at 58 West 38th Street in NYC's Garment District. I don't really like their pitas, but love their laffa bread. I had an order of babaganoush ($5.95) and a laffa bread ($1.50) to go. The cashier was nice and when my bill totalled $8.11 she rounded it down to $8.

The laffa tastes better when you dine inside the restaurant because it's served fresh and hot right out of the oven.

The babaganoush is nice and garlicky.