Happy Father's Day

(Let's ignore the fact that we haven't posted in 3 months and continue on with the yummies!)

First time using our grill. And our patio furniture.

Happy Daddy Day! :)

La Fonda Del Sol

JS, C, and I went to check out the JapanWeek booths at Grand Central Station in the hopes that we could scrounge up some good food samples. Unfortunately, none were to be had, and the single takoyaki balls didn't keep them full. So we recruited JC and walked around the corner to fill our stomachs at La Fonda.

WARNING: Strong sangria.

TAPAS...
Meatballs pork meatballs, pimentón, Manchego cheese
Artisan Cheeses selection of Spanish cheeses
Potato Bravas chile aioli
Empanadas beef rib, mushrooms, blue cabrales
Chorizo Basque chorizo, cider, croutons
Croquettes chicken, Manchego cheese, Serrano
Flatbread Romesco, smoked vegetables, goat cheese
Pork Belly Sliders bacon onion marmalade, pickles

DESSERTS...
Chocolate Milhojas Chocolate Cream, Roasted Almond Wafer, Vanilla Ice Cream
Buñuelos/Cinnamon Fritters Salty Caramel, Maracuya Peppercorn, Orange Chocolate
Sorbets and Ice Creams Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Mango

YUM.

La Fonda Del Sol
MetLife Building
E 44th Street & Vanderbilt Ave

10 Downing Street

I'm talking NYC, not London.

If you've never had chicken pot pie, this one will spoil you. If, like me, the only way, shape, or form you've had one has been from the frozen food/tv dinner section of the supermarket, you're in for a treat! Their signature dish was a Curry Spice & Coconut Pot Pie with chicken & vegetable, kaffir lime, topped with puff pastry ("coconut" and "puff pastry" being the key words here). It came steaming hot out of the kitchen, so as much as I wanted to gobble it up, it was almost impossible to eat. The dish was HUGE - looked like I took about 3 bites out of it before calling it quits. Surprised no one jumped me for the leftovers on my bus ride home. The smell was intoxicating.

While I was savoring my pot pie, everyone else at the table was picking at their Filet Mignon. NOT that the filet mignon wasn't yummy (cause they all said it was), but we'd stuffed ourselves on the apps and Duck Fat Sage Fries (which didn't have the slightest duck taste, but were scrumpcious nonetheless). E & J must not have gorged themselves with the tuna tartare, potato leek soup, and sweet shrimp & cheddar grits, cause they somehow polished their dishes (go family, go!). Everything was a hit, except the mashed potatoes. How they messed that up, I have no idea (hell, I can even make mashed potatoes), but unanimous complaints heard around the table said they were too soft and bland. Eek.

Dessert? Of course we saved room for dessert. The prix fixe menu came with the Lemon Panna Cotta, but $5 more and we could choose off the regular menu. 6 panna cottas? Uh, no. We compromised with three, and added the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" (peanut butter mousse, chocolate ganache, grape-jelly sorbet), Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Holes (marmalade, mocha sauce), and Sticky Toffee Pudding (dates, cream, warm toffee sauce). The PB was heavy and the J was tart - a good combo eaten together, but too extreme when not. Good, but I probably wouldn't choose this again. Especially not with doughnut holes dunked in toffee pudding to eat instead! Oh, HEAVEN. The toffee pudding was, by far, the best dessert of all, and if you don't like toffee then... you're right up there with the non-Harry Potter, non-Ryan Reynolds fans of the world. Just... *gasp*.

If you're a lover of good food, you should pay a visit. If you don't have three hours to sit... maybe another day then.

ps. The door is on Downing Street... just like their address says. justsaying.
pps. It's REALLY hard to take photos by candlelight. Especially with an average ole point-n-shoot. Time for an upgrade? :)

10 Downing
10 Downing St (...duh)
@ 6th Ave.

Jingle Mingle...6?

Every year, the "kids" uphold the tradition our parents started many years ago. Their parties have gotten too big for us, and so...we've started holding our own. Though we don't do presents, our renditions have included video games, rocking out to xmas songs, watching concerts, ELFing it, and most importantly - EATING.
This year, the party moved to good ole Hobo (thanks M!)...

May all your christmases be just as merry & filling :)

Merry Christmas!!

(Todd English's) Olives

I've been eying this place after its numerous mentions on the FoodNetwork. With the holidays around the corner, it was the perfect time and place (even if you do feel like you're sitting behind a shower curtain) to meet up with friends (whom you haven't seen in I-lost-60-pounds-since-I-last-saw you months!) for the holiday season. The service was in no way top-notch, but who cares when there's WOW!me food in front of you?

Pictured above is the pork chop, which as you may already know (yes, it was so good I have been raving since) was one of the tenderest cuts of meat I've ever had. A pork chop! What a notion! I am more familiar with the thin, dry-with-a-side-of-sauce chop types. So, I rave now.The dessert plate ('for two' they say) speaks for itself. Can I make all of the items on the plate? Yes, probably (no, not bragging), but each item was still excitingly delicious. Those are the most expensive fried oreos and apple fritters I've encountered, but they are without a doubt conversation stoppers. And there were leftovers! To share with the family!

Oh, and did I mention the free pumpkin mini-cakes that came with our check?




Todd English's Olives NYC
in the W Hotel
201 Park Avenue South

Casellula

I hardly ever see J. And by 'hardly ever', I mean about twice a year. But our outings are always happy occasions where we play catch up over really good food.

Neither of us know how to choose wine, so we opted for red, answered a few of the waiter's questions, and ignorantly agreed to a glass of his recommendation: Terra Andina Reserva, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile (2008). I actually loved it.

Their tapas menu isn't large, but it's still difficult to choose. We didn't even attempt the cheese menu, but cheese lovers would probably have a ball. In the end, we settled on a "medium" and two "large" dishes: Chicken Liver Paté, Meatloaf Shepherd's Pie, & BBQ Chicken Sliders. I highly recommend the paté - if you like paté, that is. It was topped with crème fraîche, with a side of fig marmalade. The fig was so refreshing against the paté, making the contrasting combination completely delectable.


I'm not a meat-eater, but the mashed potatoes completely lured me in, and I had to at least try the meatloaf. It was so soft, it really was like pie. The beer braised onions gave off somewhat of a sour taste though, that I didn't entirely love. I was most surprised that the sliders were easy to eat. They were neat, with just enough bbq flavor to make a civilized burger. Loved the jicama slaw. The only thing I was kinda upset about was the fact that there was a big ole bone in one of my sliders. That puts quite a bummer in the eating experience. ps. I attempted to try the pickled jalapenos (first bite of the meal!), but one little nibble of a slice burned my mouth until dessert.


Which brings me to...dessert! Our tummies had just enough space to share a plate of the Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich. Pecan Crunch. Bourbon Caramel. Cinnamon Wafers. Uh yeah, you should try this.

The place is tiny - smaller than my living room - but luckily we didn't have to wait for a table. They don't take reservations, so it's probably best to go on a random weekday, with a really small crowd.

Thanx N for the great recommendation!

Casellula
401 W 52nd St
(btwn 9th & 10th Ave)

DB Kitchen

As my birthday present to you, I'm doing something I've never done before - blogging right after! [Okay, well I tried to...but some technical error kept telling me that I couldn't upload my photos. At least I still got it up earlier than usual!]


C+M just came back from Napa so of course we let them choose the bottle for the night: Ramey, a Cabernet. Wine only falls into two categories for me - good or not so good - and this one fell in the good.


When we eat, we go all out, so of course we opened with some snacks, jars, and starters: Maple Bacon/Dates/Peanut Butter, Tomato/Eggplant/Ricotta, Ants on a Log (veal bone marrow/snails/parsley/garlic). I only tried the jar, but I hear the Ants were delish!


For my entree, I really wanted duck, but alas...there's none till Saturday. So I went with the Roast Organic Chicken. Yes, it comes with prosciutto fried egg, and yes I ate (some of) it, and yes, I thought it was really good stuff. If thrown on my plate again, I might eat the whole thing *gasp* (I did finish it for lunch the next day *doublegasp*!). It also comes with succotash, in some brown sauce which I probably could've eaten an entire plate of. But no one really cares what I eat; it's all about the meat!

M went with the braised lamb shank, a special of the day ("braised" and "confit" are magic words) ~

"...fork tender, fall off the bone delicious! The crispy kale added a nice bit of earthiness and the creamy polenta was great side to balance out the flavor of the lamb. Terrific heated up the day after too!"

C tried the Pork Chop ~

"Topped with bacon...makes everything better. This was no different. Thick cut and sweet. Perfect partner for the pork chop. The mango added a nice touch of sweetness and the onion ring was a nice crispy complement."

L went for the Short Rib and Cavatelli ~

"...delicious on a cold night! stick to your ribs good and very heavy, so good enough for 2 meals. the dollop of truffle butter they put on top smelled amazing and added a decadent creaminess to the dish."

E tried the Lamb Cross-Bone ~

"...medium rare was good (well done - not good!), toasted barley was better and was creamy like a risotto. Overall, maybe get the lamb shank next time." ps. beware the tasteless lamb bacon if that was your initial draw to this dish.

As if that wasn't enough food, we ordered sides also. Apparently, you can order 3 for $18 or 1 for $7, so despite knowing that's not a real deal, our hungry eyes were swayed. Smoked Beef Fat & Jalapeno French Fries, Wild Mushrooms, and Basil Whipped Potatoes. Those were some heavenly wild mushrooms.


Meals are never complete without dessert! Monkey Bread, Crazy Good Coconut Cake. I wouldn't say the coconut cake was crazy good, but the mango sorbet that came with it definitely was. They were both a really good complement to the pure sweetness of the monkey bread. After watching the dessert preparation for another table, I knew this had to be video'd come our turn.



Thanks to my lovelies, C,E,L,M for a wonderful birthday dinner! :)

David Burke Kitchen
23 Grand Street
(at 6th Ave)

Pio Pio

A quick dinner before CrazyStupidLove (Pause to drool over Ryan Gosling. Okay. Wait...no, not done. Drooool. ...Sorry, were we only supposed to drool over food on this blog? Fiiine, unpause.) brought us to the ever-reliable Pio Pio.

Between the four of us, we ordered the Matador Combo: Chicken Pio served with rice & beans, tostones, salchipapa and avocado salad - except we opted out of the tostones and asked for more fries instead (cause... you can never have too many fries!).


Pio Pio
210 E 34th St
(btwn 2nd & 3rd ave)

Social Eatz

(with a side of Crumbs!)

For J's bday, the usual gang went out for some atypical Asian-American food - some good ole Asian tastes, burger style.

After starting off with some ribs and spring rolls as apps, we each filled up on an entree and fries. LOTS of fries. L successfully finished her bibimbap burger, which A had tried and recommended. A & C tried the bulgulgi burgers, which were tasty, but not as much as the bibimbap. MM tried the fish tacos, and M tried the Korean tacos, which were "good...not wow, but good". EM liked the Hanoi burger but couldn't finish it, and I definitely needed help finishing up half of my ("wow") kung pao burger. It had just the right amount of spice to it, to give it a good kick. But I wouldn't say, wow. The fries, however, were exactly the way I love them - skinny and salty. YUM. Too bad I had to fight L for them (though I let her have all the funky cheese dip) ;p

OMG. Lost in reveries about the fries, I completely forgot about the birthday boy. Who ordered the dog. And only ate the dog ("it was okay"). No bun or toppings. But we won't judge him...today. :p

Unlike at Bonchon, the staff here was very accommodating, and we were able to celebrate with some mini-Crumbs cupcakes that EM had brought. They even took the bunch to the back, plated it nicely, and lit a candle for us :) Oh, and sang, happy birthday, too :)


We were SO stuffed, but I'd been craving the yuzu cream puffs, so we ordered one dish to try. First off, they were NOT cream puffs. False advertising. But they were good doughnut holes - warm and sweet with a nice balance of the yuzu tartness.

After all that goodness, we lifted our fat selves a couple blocks away to The Volstead, to dance away our calories to bad music mixes (boo mr. dj!).

ps. Sorry bout the photos - it was SO dark! The burgers really do look much more appetizing than this.


Social Eatz
232 E 53rd St
(btwn 2nd & 3rd)

Crumbs
I'm going to wager a guess and say they were from this location:
880 Third Ave (@ 53rd)
[though I could be wrong]

little GIANT

The evening was a busy one. C and I ran around town and actually had to push back our reservation three times so we could make it. But I'm so glad we did, cause it was absolutely worth it.

We ordered a few small plates to share since neither of us were too hungry, but it still ended up being too much for us. Their signature biscuit was a must-have, even if only for the accompanying honey butter. Their mac-n-cheese was good (& probably better with the bacon :p), as was their figgy piggy. Yes, I did eat a piece of ham with that. We each got our own asparagus salads, which are seriously to-die-for. LOVED IT. The mix of asparagus with egg with breading was so complementary. And even though C was acting like the drunk one, I'm the one that tried their rosemary ginger drop, which by the way, is also yummy.


Little Giant
85 Orchard St.
(at Broome)

Pancake Month!

...was back in February. Sorry if you missed it! But you might wanna go put it on your calendar for 2012 now.

Even though K's been to Clinton St Bakery a few times, it was the first time I'd ever been there. IG and I almost didn't make it there since a work PR event was scheduled the same night, but then I took a glance at the pancake special of the night, and...you can see we obviously skipped out on work (good thing it was canceled anyway!).


Our eyes were hungry and the new setting had us craving everything. When IG ordered a hot apple cider, I ordered it buttered with cinnamon. OMG. OMG. OMG. Don't ever get the buttered hot apple cider with cinnamon - no matter how good it may sound. UNLESS, you like drinking butter. I thought my heart would attack me after the second sip.

But phew, it forgave me after trying the pancakes. The caramelized pineapple, coconut-topped -omg it's so fluffy I could die- pancakes. Next February, don't be surprised if I'm living off pancakes.

If you're going with a good friend who'll share food (and I hope those are the only kinds of friends you have), TRY their fried chicken. It'll make you a happy camper. It's tender and reminiscent of Shake N Bake [insert childhood flashbacks].

ps. Don't forget to pick up a bag of their scones on your way out.



Doesn't it look like we ate in the dark by the light of an open door to a lit hallway? Maybe we did.

Clinton Street Baking Co
4 Clinton Street