Summer nights are for drinking

So the title of this blog is "Life with food and drink," and lest the "food" part get disproportionate attention, I'd like to take a moment to give my thoughts on some "drink" establishments I've visited recently. No spatulas will be awarded; rather, these are my random and at times semi-drunken opinions of these places.

Slate (54 W. 21st St.): Slate has a really nice set-up and is HUGE inside. There is an area with pool tables, a DJ with dancing in the back, a bar area over to one side, and a bottom floor I didn't even get to. Slate would be awesome if the crowd were right. The night we were there, the crowd was definitely not right. I'd return, though, with a loud and raucous group of friends, just to make things interesting.

Porky's (55 W. 21st St.):...So, we left Slate and went across the street to Porky's. There's one word to describe this place: shitshow. We arrived around 11PM and there was ALREADY some guy slumped over puking on himself in the gutter in front of the bar. Um, 11PM. Inside, there was incredibly loud music, Cowboy Ugly bartenders dancing on the bar and pouring shots into people's mouths, drunk people groping each other everywhere, and people toting the signature fishbowl drinks (intensely sugary punches that taste like lemonade but make you drunk, served in fishbowls). My favorite part of Porky's was that every now and then a shower of confetti would rain down from the ceiling, so there was confetti everywhere. If you think I didn't spend most of my time running around throwing handfuls of confetti into the air, you're wrong.

Branch (226 E. 54th St.): Meh. Branch is a little bit cooler than thou, despite being located far, far away from the Meatpacking District. They charge you a pretty stiff cover at the velvet rope, and when I went up to the bar and asked for a glass of water, they put a $4 tiny bottle of Voss water on the bar and expected me to pay (when I countered with "Uh, tap water, please," the bartender looked both puzzled and disgusted, if that's even possible). The bathrooms have attendants, but they actually charge you for all the usually-free bathroom-attendant goodies (i.e., for all the dudes out there, these include spritzes of perfume, small candies, band-aids and such). There was a dance floor, but when I was there it was populated by almost 100% women, including a silly-looking bachelorette party. And, at the very real risk of sounding like a 60-year-old dad, the music was just too loud. Next.

The Volstead (125 E. 54th St.): On the way back from Branch, I stopped into The Volstead. It's a relatively small but very cool space, and it was packed with good looking people. There was an awesome soundtrack playing and it looked as though people were gearing up to dance, always a good sign. Volstead was certainly the winner of that evening.

Public House (140 E. 41st St.): I was at Public House on a Friday night for a fundraiser, and it was quite the happening joint. There's a huge bar that wraps around two sides of the enormous space, and there's a small second floor/balcony area that overlooks the floor below. Public House was absolutely packed, mostly with guys, which was good for a single girl like me. But I will say one thing: this place was HOT. And not "hot" in the "hott" sense, but hot in the oh-man-I'm-sweating-through-my-clothes sense. This comes from a girl who has only been uncomfortably hot perhaps two or three times in her life, so if you're prone to getting overheated (see also: my brother), Public House may not be for you.

Professor Thom's (219 2nd Ave): Best known for being a Boston sports bar in the East Village, Professor Thom's also has a much swankier upstairs called the Thom's Loft. It was pretty standard-- loud music, people milling about-- but the real hit of Thom's Loft is its balcony, which looks out onto 2nd Avenue. Chilling on the balcony with friends was a pretty cool experience.

So there you have it. I also made it to Terroir, a new wine bar, this past weekend, but that will be the subject of a separate post. Happy drinking to all!

A vegetarian foray into Counter

This past Saturday, I met my old friend from home, SB, for dinner. She gamely agreed to do vegetarian cuisine, so we made our way towards Counter, a vegetarian/organic restaurant and martini bar in the East Village.

I had been to Counter once before, several years ago, right after it opened. There had been an article in the New York Times spotlighting the new restaurant because of its owners' garden, in which they grew a lot of the produce used in the restaurant, as I recall. We had gone to Counter for brunch, and it was clear they were still working out the kinks-- while the food was good, the service left a whole lot to be desired. But I figured I'd give it another chance, so this past weekend, many years later, I was back.

I arrived before SB and took a seat at the bar. Counter is a low-key but nice-looking restaurant, and the focal point is definitely the bar: a large semicircle surrounding a tower with wine bottles protruding around its circumference. As I sat for a few moments, the bartender served one of their signature cocktails, the Flaming Queen, which came with a garnish of mint that the bartender had set on fire. Cool.

SB arrived and we were led past the bar into the dining room. We sat at a two-top with me in the banquette along the wall. The table itself was diner-style, with a retro metal rim... I only noticed that because it was somewhat incongruous with the rest of the relatively haute decor. We studied the menu, which came spiral-bound in a leatherette cover. Counter notes which of its dishes are completely raw and which have cheese, so all different types of vegetarians and vegans can feel comfortable making a choice without wondering what's in the dish. It didn't take us long to make our decisions, and the waiter came over promptly to take our order.

It looks sort of badass... but in a crunchy-granola kind of way

A runner quickly brought over the bread course. It came on a small wooden cutting board with an adorable little spoon in between the bread and the dip. The bread itself was a hearty tomato-basil bread with an excessively crumbly texture-- the top and bottom crusts were tasty, but the interior was a little bit dry. The dip was very interesting; we tried for a while to figure out what it was and then eventually just asked, which somewhat alarmed our skittish waiter. He said it was tofu in olive oil with herbs and some peppery spice. The dip certainly was very oily, but the little bits of tofu were strangely addictive. The waiter also said they baked the bread in-house every morning, which is impressive, but quite frankly I'd take a delicious chewy outsourced bread over this albeit virtuous homemade loaf.

Delightful little spoon, next to a bit of spillage

Close-up on bread-- sort of bland until you reach the tomato layer on top

Dip in action. The little white flecks are tofu shards

Soon, SB's appetizer arrived. She had ordered the hummus, and it certainly was a pretty plate. It was a very generous ring of hummus circling two bright sauces and some olive oil, with points of what the menu called "flatbread" (and actually were very puffy almost foccaccia-like triangles) circling the edge of the plate. I tried a taste of the hummus and the sauces but skipped the bread. The hummus was very highly seasoned and quite smoky (possibly smoked paprika in action), but it mellowed into a satisfying aftertaste. I couldn't quite tell what the sauces were-- the green stuff looked like guacamole but strangely tasted just like the hummus, and the red sauce was spicy. It was an interesting plate of food; definitely not your traditional hummus, but an intriguing flavor and a good-sized portion.

Beautifully plated... though those flatbreads aren't flat!

The identity of those sauces eludes me still

SB put in an admirable showing with the hummus, but eventually she slowed down, just in time for our entrees to arrive. SB had ordered the penne with pesto, broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomatoes, and portobello mushrooms. It smelled intoxicating, and when I took a taste, it was quite flavorful but actually a little bit salty (and that comes from someone who LOVES salt). It should be noted that this was also a just-right portion: not too small, but not as absurdly large as pasta dishes sometimes are nowadays.

It actually looked better in person

I ordered the Mediterranean Amuse salad with baby spinach instead of butter lettuce, a request they cheerfully accommodated. The salad came with a couple of slices of tomato, about two slices of red pepper, cucumber (both diced and in huge chunk form), kalamata olives, and a few cubes of feta cheese. The spinach leaves were dressed in an almost comically bland dressing-- I really think it might have just been olive oil. The ingredients were fresh and tasty, and the cheese especially was good and not too salty, but overall the salad didn't blow me away. It was also relatively small-- if they had filled it out with a couple more handfuls of spinach, that would have gone a long way towards making it more satisfying, both in perception and in actuality.

Pretty standard small salad

We did look at the dessert menu, but when the time came to make a decision, we were both too full to go any further, so we got the check and went on our way. Since it's now time to deliver my ultimate verdict, I must admit I'm very mixed. I like Counter, on principle-- they're working hard to deliver organic, vegetarian food that is creative, palatable and appealing. They're one of the few upscale vegetarian options in the city, so for those veggies seeking a relatively "special" dining experience, it's a great place. The food is decent and it's clear they care a lot about what they're putting on your plate, which is comforting. I think my main problem is that in contrast to vegetarian food in non-vegetarian restaurants, it's just not as good. If I had gotten bread and a Greek salad at a Greek restaurant, for example, or even an Italian place, it likely would have been better. But that said, I like Counter, we had a nice experience there, and I'd go back. So I'll give Counter a solid three Offset Spatulas. If you're a vegetarian or a companion to one, definitely check Counter out-- and if you do go, let me know what you think (lifewithfoodanddrink@gmail.com). I'd be very interested in other people's opinions of the place.


Counter
105 1st Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets
212-982-5870

Classing Up South Street at the New Amsterdam Market

Today, lower Manhattan was blessed with a rare occurrence: the semiannual appearance of the New Amsterdam Market at the South Street Seaport. Just as my dad used to wake us up in the middle of the night to see lunar eclipses when we were young, I had to see this uncommon sight. So I trekked down to the old Fulton Fish Market in the blistering sun to scope the sitch.

And the crowd descends...

And what a sitch it was-- to put it simply, the New Amsterdam Market ROCKED. They're trying to make it a permanent, indoor, year-round market in the old Fish Market building, and good lord I hope they succeed. The Market was just a hyper-crowded frenzy of food and people, with good things being sold and consumed left and right. Sure, it was a little ghetto, with the hastily-assembled stalls crouching under a dingy underpass, but the sheer food joy that exuded from the rows of vendors more than made up for any atmospheric lapses. Below is a photo tour of the Market, in hopes that when it next comes around you'll be inspired to pay a visit.

The first booth to greet you: fresh oysters

Ronnybrook's outpost

Pika's, providing soups 'n' salsas

Lovely produce from Red Jacket Orchards... I bought a container of dried apples, which were incredibly flavorful and sweet

All types of goodies at Marlow & Sons

More of Marlow's offerings

A selection of raw milk cheeses up for sampling

There was SO MUCH CHEESE... I wish I had been hungrier. Seriously.

More cheese. Chee-EEEEE-eeez.

Beautiful breads from Baltahazar

More incredible carbs, from the FCI

Sullivan Street's offerings. There were bread samples everywhere also... I could have eaten about a thousand mini bread-and-cheese sandwiches

So yeah, there was also some meat. Whatever.

Milk & Cookies bakery offered cookie crumbs to the crowd

Glorious, tempting foccaccia from Hot Bread Kitchen

This was one of the most popular booths-- people were wandering around everywhere with little dishes of salad and frittata. I'm pretty sure this was the Green Brown Orange booth, but my pocket Market map may be failing me...

Risers of jams from Paumanok Preserves

And finally... the petition to make the market permanent! (That's the petition on the long scroll down there...I hope it's successful!)

Till next time, New Amsterdam... here's to your glorious return!

NYC Icy, chapter IV

Damn you, NYC Icy. Here I was, going about my Saturday afternoon chores like a good girl, and all of a sudden it hits. Icy. Sure, I try to ignore it-- there are important things to get at CVS, mind you. Sure, I try to squelch it by eating an enormous bowl of strawberries, but nope. Icy. Icy icy icy. Soon, I simply give in. Down the street I go, into the now-familiar storefront, a tinge of shame in my step, to get my Icy fix.

Rootbeer Icy? Hmmm...

I can try to comfort myself by saying that this time, I was there for the sorbet, not the cream icies. And, you know, it IS hot as balls outside, so who can blame a girl for wanting a little sorbet to cool her down? My wallet, that's who. Damn.

I came in with a pretty potent coconut icy craving, but I was willing to keep an open mind. I tried a taste of the mango and passionfruit icies to see if my taste buds could be swayed. The mango icy was much, much more mild than mango sorbet usually is-- I think of mango sorbet as one of the most potent sources of straight-to-the-bloodstream sugar out there, aside from, say, cotton candy. Or an IV. The passionfruit had a bit of a stronger flavor, with that trademark passionfruit kick. Another day, the passionfruit will likely be my quarry, but today, I was all about the coconut.

It may look like the vanilla cream icy, but it's not. I promise.

The coconut has a soothing, genuine coconut flavor, and as I mentioned before, there are little bits of real coconut providing mouthfeel interest. The texture of the icy is really interesting-- it's certainly icier than the cream icy, and as a result it has more structural integrity and doesn't melt as fast. But as it begins to soften around the edges, it develops that almost stretchy, stringy consistency that marks the cream icies. Stringy ice cream sort of sounds gross, but it's not-- it's really satisfying to eat. With the icies, I'd recommend you let it begin to melt a teensy bit before shoveling it down-- it definitely adds an extra something.

The coconut was incredibly delicious and hit the proverbial "spot" hard. And it's worth noting that every time I go, I'm always amazed by how much they pack into those little cups. You certainly get your money's worth (in the case of the icies, only $2.50).

But that won't stop me from being fat and broke by the end of the summer. Anyone have a couch I can crash on when I can no longer pay my rent?

NYC Icy, chapter III

Made another trip to NYC Icy yesterday (it's truly addictive). This time, some of the flavors were familiar, some were new:

Apparently, they have about 130 flavors and rotate them through, with about 30 out at any given time

I tried the key lime pie and the vanilla chip cream icies. The key lime pie was not so good-- it actually tasted much more like a potent, sour margarita than smooth, sweet key lime pie. But it did have chunks of pie crust scattered throughout it, which was a yummy bonus surprise. I'd suggest they take out the pie crust and rebrand this as margarita-- perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more?

The vanilla chip was north-of-standard vanilla with chocolate chunks. NYC Icy deserves a lot of respect for serving actual, large chunks of chocolate in its ice cream-- none of these lame shards of chocolate you might find elsewhere. If you're craving chocolate chip ice cream, this flavor is your bag.

I went for a small cup of the honey vanilla. It tasted much more of vanilla than honey, definitely not a knock-you-over honey flavor of the type you might see in regular ice creams (see my post on Craftbar for more on that). Rather, it was more of a subtle, not-quite-vanilla flavor-- very mild and subtle, as the man behind the counter pointed out. Plus, it had the signature NYC Icy texture, sort of in between hard ice cream and soft serve, melty and frothy and almost stringy.
Mmmmm.

A wave of honey vanilla cresting over the side

I'll be back...

NYC Icy, chapter II

Monday evening I made another trip to NYC Icy. As I suspected, at least some of the flavors do change each day, which is truly awesome. Monday's selection:

I love that they note that the coffee flavor is "(strong")

I tried a sample of the coconut icy, and I can tell that at some point I'll get a full cup of that. It had a powerful coconut flavor and was peppered with shards of real coconut. If I hadn't been craving something creamy, I would seriously have considered it.

But my second sample, and the ultimate winner, was the white chocolate creamy icy. It tasted like uber-vanilla, sumptuously creamy and mild. But the greatest part of this white delight was that it was studded with white chocolate chips-- an awesome bonus that boosted the incredible flavor. Genius!

Another beautiful addition to the NYC Icy gallery

And there you have it. 'Till next time and next flavor...

Beat helmets and birthday revelry at Madison Bar & Grill

This past weekend, it was faithful quadrumvirate member J's 26th birthday. His parents were in town for the day, and he graciously invited the bro and me to join them for dinner in Hoboken. On a steamy Saturday evening, we, J and J's roommate B met the parents at Madison Bar and Grill for a lot of food, a lot of merriment, and a bonus vocabulary lesson.

Madison Bar and Grill is the kind of nice-but-not-too-nice, easygoing American bistro of which there are too few in Manhattan. The decor was anonymous, the service was friendly, and you felt instantly at home once you walked in the door. We were seated at a round table in the corner, and since the crowd was quite sparse throughout the evening (and we ate on the earlier side), we felt as though we had the place almost to ourselves.

The menu front

Our server let us take as long as we wanted with our meal. She gave us quite a while to select drinks, and Mr. J took the reins in selecting a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine. We looked over the menus as the wine service began; I chose the white, as is my custom. It was a yummy Chardonnay, not too oaky and heavy, with a good flavor and solid acidity.

With the wine came the bread basket. Ooooh man, I will say this: Madison does its diners right by its bread basket. It's a paper cone of pizza-like foccacia. Each small square has a savory, tomato-sauce-and-basil top and an oily, crunchy bottom, with a light and airy interior separating the two. While this bread needed no accompaniment, it was brought to the table with a small condiment tray holding olive oil (which I didn't try) and a dish of lemon ricotta. This ricotta was spectacular-- truly fresh and homemade-tasting. I could have eaten the entire little trough of cheese with a spoon. Or, you know, my fingers.

Bread and dips-- you can sort of see the flecks of lemon in the ricotta

Foccacia up close

With our wine and our bread slowly disappearing, we were ready to order. We ordered a few appetizers for the table, and the waitress disappeared (leaving us still with our menus, yet to order our mains... perhaps there is such a thing as TOO leisurely an ordering pace). She returned after a few minutes, though, and finally we placed our orders.

Shortly, our appetizers arrived. J had ordered one plate of spinach-artichoke dip and two orders of lobster spring rolls, upon our waitress's advice. The spring rolls came four sizeable rolls to an order, arrayed around a small dish of orange-colored sauce. Since these were crustacean through-and-through, I refrained from trying one, but they disappeared agreeably with the help of my dining companions.

Half a spring roll order, with oil-slicked dipping sauce

The spinach-artichoke dip was a large bowl of creamy, bubbly cheese mixture surrounded by a generous scattering of toasted bread rounds. I tried a few forkfuls of the dip, and it was extremely creamy. In fact, I found the dominant flavor to be cream, not even really cheese. All in all it was a bit too heavy for me, but my few tastes were certainly satisfying, and the growing boys around the table certainly enjoyed the app.

Cheesy, creamy dip in a forest of toasted bread

As we slowed down on the appetizer course, the wine kept flowing and the conversation picked up. The dishes were cleared and we waited for a bit before our entrees arrived. Soon enough, though, the plates descended upon our table and we were off and running.

B had ordered the paella. It was a large bowl of saffron-colored rice studded with clams and other forms of seafood and little rounds of chorizo. While many restaurants would go heavy on the rice and easy on the seafood here, Madison packed its paella with admirably large chunks of high-class fish like lobster. B thoroughly enjoy this dish, and it was so large that he took much of it home for a day-after meal (in an adorable little take-out bag, I might add).

A jumble of paella

HUGE piece of lobster claw meat here

Lovely take-home packaging

Mrs. J ordered the angel hair pasta. This was an enormous dish of pasta in broth, studded with bits of lobster and crab. Mrs. J seemed to enjoy this pasta, though she was unable to finish it (this was a Kobayashi-sized portion).

Colorful...and massive

The remaining men at the table (that would be J, Mr. J, and the bro) all went for Madison's specialty: Chicken Raphael. This was an array of chicken rounds stuffed with goat cheese, spinach, and pancetta, all rolled in a crunchy crust and fried. It was accompanied by a mound of silky mashed potatoes, although my brother, innovator that he is, replaced the mashed potatoes with a side order of mac & cheese. Expressions of delight resounded across the table as the various Chicken Raphaels were consumed. I had a bite of the mac & cheese, and it was really delicious: comforting, flavorful, and sprinkled with shreds of salty parmesan.

Raphael's finest work

Mac & cheese, in a tiny and adorable little crock-pot

Amidst this meat and seafood revelry, I ordered-- I know, I know-- a salad. I went for the chopped Mediterranean salad, although I replaced the romaine base with spinach (a request they gladly accommodated). The salad was chock full of olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, and bits of red onion and sprinkled liberally with feta cheese. This was an incredibly satisfying salad-- a good portion, lots of good flavor, and not stingy with the non-lettuce ingredients.

Mediterranean and scrumptious

At this point we were all approaching food-coma status. Mrs. J had baked J a cake for his birthday, which awaited at his apartment, so we skipped dessert (somewhat mercifully, as I'm not sure any of us was up for a huge dessert binge at that point). Note to my own mother: if you're reading this, my birthday is coming up. I like cake. That is all.

We talked happily for a while longer as Mr. J incredibly generously took care of the bill. Soon, we all waddled happily out into the no-longer-stifling early evening. I can honestly say that this was one of the most enjoyable dinners I've had in a long, long time. The food was great; the atmosphere was comfortable and inviting; and, above all, the company was top, top notch. I feel lucky that J and his delightful parents allowed me to join in their birthday festivities-- it was certainly an evening I will remember for a while. As for the restaurant... here's where I truly wish I had half-spatulas, as Madison is clearly a four-and-a-half Offset Spatula place. The only thing between it and a five-spatula rating is, really, its location in Hoboken, so the likelihood that I'll go back is fairly slim. So, as it is, I'll award Madison Bar & Grill a four-OS rating, with a note that this is definitely a high-four-OS.

Oh, and as for that vocabulary lesson: the phrase "beat helmet" now has a prominent place in my lexicon. To use it in a sentence, in hopes that you faithful readers will aid J, B, the bro and me in bringing it back into fashion: "That girl has a beat helmet"-- i.e., "that girl was beaten by an ugly stick." Please, for the good of humanity, use at will.



Madison Bar & Grill
201-386-0300
1316 Washington Street
Hoboken, NJ

The Art of Food at Craftbar

If you've been reading this blog at all consistently, you'll know that many of my dining adventures take place with the faithful dining triumvirate: J, the bro, and I. This past Friday, however, the triumvirate became a quadrumvirate, as my brother's "lovely date" (to borrow an apt phrase from NYCFoodGuy), W, joined our group. To celebrate the debut of the quadrumvirate, we chose a somewhat special place for dinner: Craftbar, one of my longtime List restaurants.

The entrance, unfortunately obscured by scaffolding at the moment

Craftbar, located on Broadway just south of the Flatiron building, is a beautiful restaurant. It's spacious, with a lot of room between tables. The walls are adorned with semi-ridiculous photos of food and cooking implements (a whisk; a sliced mushroom), and the ceiling is cris-crossed with a catwalk giving access to wine storage. The soundtrack was relatively loud but played a highly enjoyable selection of present and past pop hits, delighting our crowd.

We settled into our large table and perused the menu. I ordered the wine, a Conte Lapardi Sauvignon Blanc (as usual), which was delicious. It had a lively, acidic taste and was served at the absolute perfect temperature in lovely glassware. My only complaint with the wine list (and, frankly, with Craftbar overall) is that it skewed quite expensive. I could count the number of bottles under $50 on one hand, making it a relatively unfriendly wine experience to those on a budget.

Glass...awaiting wine

As we all decided what to order, I munched a breadstick from the canister in the center of the table. Now, as you know, the bread course is very important to me, and I must say I think Craftbar dropped the ball here. The breadstick was extremely crunchy and crumbly (almost hard), and it had a slightly cheesy, salty flavor with a touch of rosemary. Personally, I don't like breadsticks very much, so I didn't enjoy this and really shouldn't have eaten the whole thing. All the more disappointing, as you'll see shortly, is that our appetizers came with delicious-looking peasant bread, which I truly wish they had served as a bread basket.

Breadsticks. Don't waste your stomach space.

We placed our order and chatted contentedly, pausing to remark on the occasional song selection (all KT Tunstull, all the time). Soon, our apps arrived. We had ordered the pecorino fondue with acacia honey, hazelnuts, and pepperoncini. Our waitress, Devin, suggested that we order two for the table, and she was definitely right-- the portions were certainly not large (a recurring theme at Craftbar).

The fondue arrived as a small bowl of melted, savory cheese accompanied by two small slices of lovely bread per order. The cheese had a lovely crackly crust around the edges and a large number of hazelnuts submerged within. The cheese was incredible-- salty and flavorful, with a slight sweetness from the honey and a definite heat from the pepperoncini. The caramelized crusty bits left over around the edges were absolutely irresistible.

Fondue appetizer... with such bread-basket potential...

Close-up on the fondue, with hazelnuts, caramelized honey, and crackly bits around the edges

J in action

After such a successful appetizer course, we had high hopes for our entrees. A suitable post-appetizer interlude allowed us to digest a bit, and soon our main meals arrived. J had ordered the beef short ribs with farro and Tokyo turnips, also upon Devin's recommendation. He enjoyed them thoroughly, and I got a chance to taste the turnips-- very delicious (and cute). The bed of farro looked almost risotto-like.

Beef, grain, turnips, with bonus pearl onions

W had ordered the dayboat scallops with fennel, apple, and star anise. This was a beautiful plate that came with essentially two and a half nicely seared scallops, with various accoutrements scattered around them. W said they were good but a little salty. And, it's worthwhile to note, I had assumed this was an appetizer that W had just ordered as her entree, but I just checked the menu and it's actually an entree. Portion control and all that, I guess.

Two parents and a baby?

Nicely cooked scallops up close, with apple dices and fronds

The bro vacillated painfully between the cavatelli bolognese and the dry aged sirloin, but in the end he went with the sirloin. It came on a bed of smoky wild mushrooms and had a few cubes of crispy potatoes scattered around (Craftbar seems to be a fan of cubing vegetables and fruits, huh?). The beef was delicately medium-rare, and the bro thoroughly enjoyed it-- his only complaint, a recurring refrain throughout the evening, was that he wished there were about two or three times as much on the plate (although by the time the dessert course rolled around, he was full). I was lucky enough to have his leftover mushrooms, and they were certainly smoky but also tender and delicious.

Beef, fungus, carbs, snipped chives

A lovely pink

As for me, I ordered--wait for it-- a salad. My plate of arugula, hazelnuts, strawberries, and grana padano cheese was lovely and delectable. The saltiness of the cheese, of which there was a significant amount, pervaded all the greens and nicely offset the sweetness of the occasional strawberry. Definitely an unusual, creative, and highly succesful salad.

A mess of peppery arugula, with cheese shavings and such interspersed within

By this point we were mostly full and happy, but of course no dinner is complete without dessert, so I egged the crowd on when it came to the post-dinner course. We decided on three desserts for the table, and W ordered an espresso as well. For the most part an espresso is an espresso, but I'll include a picture of this one because it had perhaps the cutest spoon in the world (which I later used to consume my own dessert, because I'm obsessed with tiny cutlery).

Itty bitty little spoon on display, with business card for size comparison

W and the bro decided to split the ice cream sundae, which came with coffee ice cream, hot fudge, and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. I had a few tastes (obviously), and I'm not the biggest fan of coffee ice cream, but this was definitely a serviceable sundae.

Note the large gaping empty space at the bottom of the glass. Curious.

I ordered the brown sugar cake with peach preserves and honey ice cream. The ice cream was the star here, sweet and creamy with a strong honey taste. The cake was very sweet and somewhat dry-- standard, although there was a darkened interior that seemed like molten brown sugar and was insanely decadent. The peach preserves didn't add much to the equation. It was definitely an enjoyable dessert but not one I'd necessarily order again.

Three different forms of sugar

J had had his eye on the chocolate cake, but once again Devin persuaded him to order something different: the baked Alaska. And boy were we glad he acquiesced: this dessert was by far and away the winner of the three. The dessert was visually arresting--it looked a little bit like a cowpie, but once you got past that it was quite pretty. The interior of the white mass was coconut ice cream, enrobed in a coat of sweet bruleed meringue and surrounded by a pool of passionfruit caramel. I was a little skeptical of this dessert, but once I had a bite I couldn't stop eating it (and, frankly, I think I packed away about half of this in addition to my own dessert). The combination of flavors and textures was amazing, and the entire dish-- especially the passionfruit caramel, with a strong passionfruit tang-- was incredibly, incredibly sweet. It was so sweet it approached cloying after a while, but that didn't stop me as I plowed through this baby. Incredible.

A dome of deliciousness

Overall, we had a great time at Craftbar. The ambiance was lovely and conducive to a great meal. The service was flawless and friendly (Devin gamely put up with the antics of J and the rest of our table). The plates were beautiful, dotted with lots of purees and cubed bits of veggies. And the food itself was delicious. Only a few things could have elevated Craftbar further: a better bread basket (of course) and a more realistic pricing scheme. Our dinner, especially including the wine, was very, very expensive, and the small portion sizes left us feeling we hadn't quite gotten a good value. But-- I reiterate-- for a special occasion or just a decadent night, Craftbar is a great place to be. For that, I award it four out of five Offset Spatulas.


Craftbar
900 Broadway
Between 19th and 20th Streets

Pass by this Nook

Yesterday, I met up with an ex-boyfriend, SSOE, for brunch in my neighborhood. I was tasked with choosing the place, so I chose Nook, a small spot on 9th avenue between 50th and 51st street. I'd passed by there several times and heard good things about its brunch, so it seemed like a good spot.

The outside... looks "cozy," huh?

We were seated immediately, which I appreciate in the cut-throat market that is the Manhattan brunch scene. The place is tiny, smaller than most studio apartments. There are only ten tables or so, if that, and the tables are packed in tightly (at one point I made the mistake of moving my elbow and elbowed the woman sitting behind me. We both apologized, for no apparent reason). You could see partially into the open kitchen in the back, where the chef was hastily plating the usual breakfast favorites. And-- this will become very important shortly-- there was one combination waiter/host/busboy/barista working the entire dining room. One.

The menu, with its annoyingly precious slogan

We sat and chatted and waited a little while for our menus to arrive. And then we waited for a little while longer for our orders to be taken. The waiter brought over a small basket of bread, which we dove into. The crust was crackly but not too hard, and the interior was delightfully stretchy and chewy. The butter was high-quality, as well-- sweet cream with a fresh flavor.

Enjoyable bread basket

Once we had packed away the bread, our dishes arrived. SSOE had ordered the apple pancakes, which came with a side of berry compote of some sort (he guessed there might be some rhubarb in there). The whole thing came buried under a squall of powdered sugar. SSOE enjoyed the pancakes, and with three medium-sized cakes for a $7.50 price tag, the price was right. But he didn't enjoy his cafe au lait-- which, although ordered with the pancakes, never came. More on that later as well...

Apple pancakes, obscured by powdered sugar

Token compote close-up. It wasn't actually cocktail sauce; it just looks that way in the picture

I had ordered the Salade Provencal. It came with mixed greens, diced beets, goat cheese, and roasted red peppers. I asked whether I could have something instead of the peppers, and the waiter informed me he could take things off the salad but couldn't do any substitutions (such flexibility!). So I went with the salad as is, dressing on the side.

Standard salad

As you can see, the salad arrived with the dressing on it, but I figured trying to correct that at the pace we were going would take until Sunday brunch. So I forged ahead. The salad was pretty good; all the ingredients (beets, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers) were fresh, there was a lot of sweet herbed goat cheese, and the portion was relatively generous for a $7 salad. But, as SSOE pointed out after we left, it was a salad you could find at any of innumerable restaurants around Manhattan.

It was at this point in the meal, once we had finished our food, that things began to degenerate service-wise. First: the water situation. Nook serves water in cute glass bottles left on the table; we rushed through ours shortly after we arrived, and no more water was forthcoming, so by the end of my salad I was seriously rationing my sips. After we had finished the food, the waiter came by with the water jug and slopped water into the glasses, spilling a large portion over the table and onto my (by then thankfully empty) plate.

When the waiter came with the much-needed water, our plates were already empty and we were clearly finished. But then he departed and left our empty plates in front of us for another ten minutes or so. After he finally cleared them away, there was another somewhat long wait for the check. When that arrived, we noticed he had charged us for the cafe au lait that never arrived. We had to verbally flag him down (awkward in a small restaurant) to get that changed; he was very apologetic, saying "I wish you'd told me and I'd have brought it" (well, we wish you had just brought it!), and returning shortly with the amended total.

I put down a $20 bill--the place is cash only, another bummer-- and tried in vain to get change for several minutes. All the while, mind you, the waiter is rushing up and down, back and forth across the small space-- it's hard to go unnoticed in such a tiny restaurant, so I'm not sure why it consistently took so long to get his attention. When I finally did get him close enough to ask for change, he returned-- with change for the entire bill, including the cafe au lait. At this point I almost yelled across the restaurant to keep him from leaving so he could correct the mistake. Again apologetic, he returned with the correct change, and as he put it on the table, he said something to the effect of, "Man, I'm really screwing you guys today, aren't I?" Um, yes.

So, after an hour and fifteen minutes or so, we finally emerged onto the street. I wonder: had someone called in sick that day or was the restaurant always manned by only one person? Even with a small number of tables, providing quality service while trying to do EVERYTHING (take orders, bring water, make coffee, pour orange juice, deliver food, tally the bill, make change, clear plates... the list goes on and on) is impossible, as was clearly demonstrated yesterday. The waiter was certainly trying, but his top-speed movements through the small restaurant only added a harried atmosphere to what should be a relaxing brunch. It's too bad, really; the food at Nook was pretty solid, and it's a surprisingly good value. But even so, I would definitely not return, nor would I recommend Nook to anyone seeking a brunch spot in Hell's Kitchen. So, for the very good bread, decent salad, and value for money, I give Nook two out of five Offset Spatulas. It's a pity so many spatulas had to be deducted for service.

(N.B.: Thanks to the astute comments of several readers, I'll now diligently provide location information for all my posts so it's easier for you to find the places. Not that you necessarily want to find Nook, but, you know, for the future...)

Nook
746 9th Ave
Between 50th and 51st Streets

And it's GOOOOOOOD!!!

After a long day at work, I made a beeline to NYC Icy on the way home. I stopped to check out their flavor board on the way in (note: it looks like they change their flavors every day. Cool!) and then entered the empty store.

Today's flavors

Well, not entirely empty. There were three people behind the counter, but really nothing else. There aren't any chairs or stools or even counters to lean on, so you've definitely gotta take your icy to go. That was cool; I was eager to get home. The only really notable aspect of the decor, behind the copious amounts of swag (t-shirts and such) pinned up for sale on the walls, was the enormous graffiti-style mural. Very... edgy?

Icy stuff for sale

Badass ice cream

NYC Icy offers two kinds of icies: regular icy (like sorbet) and cream icy (like sherbet or light gelato). The lovely people behind the counter explained that everything is homemade and they don't use any artificial flavors (great, although I've got nothing AGAINST artificial flavors per se...). The icies are also lower in fat and cholesterol than traditional ice cream. They happily offered samples, and I tried the hazelnut chip and the PB Reese's Pieces cream icies. Of the two, I went with the hazelnut: first of all, I love hazelnut, and second of all, the peanut butter flavor didn't go as well with the light texture of the icy.

Beautiful AND tasty!

The hazelnut icy tasted of pure hazelnuts and sweet milk. Not cream-- not the heaviness of cream-- but the lightness of delicious milk. The texture was airy and smooth, punctuated by chunks of dark chocolate. It melted a little as I walked home with it, adding to the lovely textural sensation.

I had ordered a small cream icy, which the menu says costs $3 (compared to $2.50 for the regular icy)-- but they only charged me $2.50. And even though the cup looks small, it's a lot of icy-- I almost struggled to finish the entire thing. But I did, of course, and I was left feeling satisfied but not weighed down at all, just entirely happy with the experience.

If you can't tell by now, I really like NYC Icy. The people were friendly, the price was right, and the product was delicious. I can easily see myself trying every flavor this summer... and going broke in the process (oops). I'd encourage you to go and try NYC Icy for yourself-- in a world filled with Pinkberries and Tasti Ds, NYC Icy has something special to offer.

NYC Icy is OPEN!

On my way back from Five Napkin Burger, I walked by NYC Icy to see if it was open (as word on the street had it). It is, indeed, open and selling ice cream! Tomorrow I hope to get there and sample the wares. The preliminary word: a little boy sitting in the open window had ordered a cone of black raspberry, and he said it was really good. There you have it, folks: NYC Icy is really good... to be confirmed tomorrow.

The facade

The flavors

Five Napkin Burger: A first look

Okay, I warn everyone in advance that this post will not make much sense. Yes, I'm a vegetarian and I'm a bit too obsessed with Five Napkin Burger. Yes, today was its opening day and I went, by myself (more on that later). Thus, I did not get a burger, nor did I have an opportunity to inspect their burgers up close. So consider this post a preliminary look-- I will be back, with a burger-consuming dining partner in tow, with more of a report.

So-- on to the review, such as it is. I had plans to meet a friend from high school there for dinner, but she got stuck at work and bailed. I then cycled through my entire roster of possible dining companions, and somewhat unsurprisingly nobody was available for a last-minute dinner. So, as the time ticked down to the wire, I finally said, screw it, I'm going on my own. So I did.

I arrived shortly after 6-- the time they opened-- and requested a table for one (sniffle). They didn't bat an eye and led me to a two-top near the back of the restaurant. The place is pretty-- exposed ductwork on the ceiling, bare lightbulbs hanging decoratively. There were two large chalkboards covered with random doodles on the back walls, which was somewhat weird. But the space was certainly appealing and inviting, a little loud but backed up with a nice soundtrack of pop hits verging on "da club" status.

View of the bar area past the tables

Aloe plants (?) lining the windows

The table was set with a condiment caddy (ketchup/mustard), glasses, and flatware-- no salt and pepper, though, which could have come in handy with the bread. The server handed me the menu, and I looked it over. There was a small selection of wines by the glass and a larger selection of beers; I ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc for $7 while I perused the rest of the menu. Below is photo documentation of the menu, so you can take a look for yourself:






There are a few things to note about the menu. First of all, I wasn't hugely impressed with their non-burger selection (yes, I know, it's a BURGER joint, and I'm a VEGETARIAN. I get it). Second of all, the place was expensive-- burgers hovered around $15, dinner salads around $18 (why??). Third of all, there was a large selection of maki rolls that they were pushing pretty hard-- the waitress even came to ask if there were "a maki roll I'd like to start with." Um, no. Is this a sushi place or a burger place? It seemed really out of place, frankly.

Wine service. Warm wine, that is.

As I decided what to order, my glass of sauvignon blanc arrived. They brought an empty glass with a small carafe and then poured a bit into the glass- nice touch. The wine was tasty but far too warm-- pretty much room temperature. But I still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the wine arrived before the water; I had to ask for water to fill my glass, but once I did the waitress brought the pitcher ASAP and the water was kept topped up throughout the dinner.

I placed my order and waited for a few moments for the bread. Soon, a basket with one large slice of bread arrived, along with a dish of a couple hunks of butter. I had just reached for a bit of bread when my entree arrived-- whoops. Opening night timing issues...

Honey-wheat and butter.

I decided to have some bread first. I took a bite and got a very strong note of honey, which mellowed out to a nice wheat flavor. The crust of the slice was chewy but nice, with a good dusting of cornmeal on the bottom crust. The butter was a bit too cold and a bit too tasteless-- it wasn't salted but it wasn't sweet cream, either, so it was basically just industrial butter. Oh well; it served its purpose.

Bread on a bed

After a bit of bread, I tackled my entree: Vietnamese vegetable summer rolls. My first impression upon receiving the dish was that it was small. Very small. My second impression, upon picking up one of the halves, was that the dish was COLD-- clearly straight out of the fridge. I guess that's okay, but they could have let it warm up a bit while pacing the meal a bit better. I dunked the half in the accompanying sauce, which was very salty and tasted mostly of soy sauce. A bite revealed that the rolls consisted of vermicelli, carrots, lettuce, and scallions. Overall, it was okay-- definitely didn't taste bad by any means, but didn't blow me away either. But again: order summer rolls at a burger joint and you get what's coming to you, right?

Summer rolls on silly doily

Interior of roll, with preponderance of carrots

Needless to say, it didn't take long for me to finish this dish. After I was done, the hovering waitstaff cleared the plate; the waitress asked if I wanted more bread, which I declined, and she attempted to clear the butter dish as well, but I asked for that to be left (as I was still tackling the remainder of the huge bread slice with the rest of my wine). About a minute later, a busboy came to clear the butter dish, so I asked him to leave it too. As I munched the rest of my bread and butter, the waitress came back to ask if I wanted to hear the desserts. I was still sort of on dinner, but instead of being an asshole, I said sure, and she rattled off the list of desserts on offer. They seemed to skew very homemade-American: brownie sundae, chocolate blackout cake, cheesecake, rootbeer float, strawberry rhubarb pie. Nothing bowled me over, so I passed, content to snack on bread and finish the rest of my wine.

The waitress brought the bill promptly after I was finished; it came rolled up in a drinking glass, which was a cute touch. In total, my summer rolls and glass of wine came to about $15-- not too bad at all, although not a cheap price for a small amount of food, either, and if I hadn't ordered the cheapest thing on the menu (cringe) it would have been significantly more than that. I was content when I left, pretty full and not too much lighter in the wallet. By the time I gathered up my things, the restaurant was almost full-- pretty good for a first night!

So, my overall impressions? Well, there were certainly service issues to be worked out: the waitress seemed almost painfully unsure of herself, though she was very nice and obliging, and the meal wasn't paced quite right. And in general the food seemed a bit expensive for what it was (again, I ordered VERRRY carefully). But-- and I'll repeat this one more time-- I didn't get a burger. I don't think you can fully evaluate Five Napkin Burger without getting a burger, or at least going with someone who gets one. Therefore, at this point I'll refrain from awarding any spatulas. I'll return shortly with a burger-eater, perhaps try something new, and report back with a full-fledged spatula rating.

Veggie disappointment at Zen Palate

If you haven't figured out already, I'm a vegetarian, but in general I prefer eating at non-vegetarian restaurants. That's not only because it's easier to convince dining companions to come along to restaurants that serve meat, but I can almost always find something I like in "normal" restaurants, and overall I've found the food is better than in all-veggie places. But even so, I'm predisposed to like vegetarian restaurants like Zen Palate because I respect what they do and how difficult it is. I ate at ZP's Union Square location a few times before it closed, and I liked my experience there. So when my friend BD and I were looking for a place to grab dinner on 9th avenue last night, I suggested Zen Palate. He was game for vegetarian food, so why not?

We walked into the restaurant and it was...weird. There's a small, drab front area with a few tables crammed along the edges of the room around the front desk area, as if as an afterthought. The hostess asked if we wanted to sit in the dining room, we said yes, and she said we should walk down the hall. A bit of confusion ensued, but finally we found the hall she was talking about-- a long, dingy hallway that passed the kitchen and the bathroom, terminated in a swinging door, and finally opened up into the "dining room" by the back host's stand. We asked for a table for two and were seated immediately. The back dining room was also pretty depressing-- rather dark, not much decor... nothing great.

The menu: drab color scheme, drab restaurant

As we looked over the menu, the couple at the two-top next to us (our tables were VERY close together) called over the waiter and asked, "Where is the tofu in this dish?" The (very genial and friendly, it must be noted) waiter pointed to a dumpling and explained that THAT was the tofu, that it was seasoned and ground up, etc. etc. The couple was not amused, and, declaring "We'd like to see the menu again; we'll need more protein," promptly ordered another round of food. While they did ultimately like their second go-round, this didn't bode too well for our upcoming meal.

We placed our order and I got up to use the bathroom. By the time I returned about three minutes later, the food had already arrived. Wow. BD had ordered the grilled sesame tofu salad, which came with a large amount of tofu atop a mound of watercress, all accentuated by cherry tomatoes and fried rice noodles. It actually looked really good, but it was problematic to eat-- the pieces of watercress were huge and covered in splash-prone dressing. BD gave up on the chopsticks and asked for a fork and knife, but even with the help of the gauchly non-Asian implements, this wasn't easy eating. Once he got it down, though, BD liked the salad.

Salad, pre-fork & knife

Close-up on tofu

I had had that salad before, so I went with a more unconventional choice, the Kale and seaweed salad. It was, well, exactly what it purported to be: a mound of seaweed atop a mound of kale, with a small handful of silken tofu dices over to the side. There was a small dish of ginger/soy dressing on the side, which provided the only real flavor of the salad; I asked for an extra dish because the paltry amount they provided was not nearly enough for this formidable mound of plant matter. All in all, this salad was exceedingly, almost excruciatingly bland. There was a lot of it for a relatively small price, but that's not always a good thing.

So...much...seaweed...and...kale

I really want to like Zen Palate. I do. But the 9th avenue location is just so creepily drab, I'd really only use it for take-out, and for me to do take-out the food has to be really top notch. It's not. It was a good value-- each of our salads was only $7.50 for a large amount of food, so I'll give one spatula for that. And I have to give them one spatula just for keeping the vegetarian concept alive (and it IS really difficult to make really good all-veggie food. Difficult, but not impossible). But that's really all I can do. So, Zen Palate, here are your two somewhat dubious Offset Spatulas... do with them what you will.

Find me on Midtown Lunch today!

I'm today's profiled Midtown Luncher. A hilarious and at times mildly offensive comment thread follows the profile-- definitely worth checking out.

http://midtownlunch.com/blog/2008/06/17/profile-midtown-luncher-janine/

A red velvet delight from Buttercup Bake Shop

Last night I had the pleasure of indulging in the perfect little treat: a red velvet cupcake from Buttercup Bake Shop, courtesy of my thoughtful friend B. I've had Buttercup's red velvet cake before-- a big, honking slab of shockingly red cake slathered in cream cheese frosting. It is delectable. So I was really looking forward to this cupcake.

B brought me the cupcake on Friday, but I didn't get around to indulging until Sunday night. By the time I eased it out of its paper bag, it was a wee bit squished. No matter. I pressed on.

A little worse for wear but still good...

I cut this little baby in half. The cake was a lovely maroon color with a tender, small crumb. The frosting had that delectable sugary crust on the outside, which I love so well.

The cross-section

So colorful and appealing!

The cake had a very, very light taste-- mainly just sweet cake, not really much chocolate. I think the cocoa that I sensed was more due to power of suggestion than to any real chocolate flavor. The only real problem was that the cake was a little stale around the edges-- but I stress that this was my fault for not eating it right away, not any intrinsic problem with the cupcake.

Tight crumb action

The frosting was the real star in this equation. Incredibly sweet (probably too sweet for some, but that's how I like it) and with a slight cream-cheese kick at the end, this frosting is to die for. Plus, the little red sugar granule garnishes added both crunch and flavor-- a pleasant surprise, as usually cupcake garnishes add nothing but visual interest.

Sweet, sweet frosting

Needless to say, I finished this cupcake almost faster than I could take pictures of it. It's not huge (we're not talking Crumbs here), so when I was done I didn't feel sick, or even really all that satisfied. But this is a good, good cupcake. I can confidently say it's one of the best red velvets in the city, so I'd encourage you to go to Buttercup and pick one up (or, if you're feeling gluttonous, pick up a huge slice of their red velvet cake). Even if it sits around for a few days, it'll still deliver solid cupcake satisfaction.

Five Napkin Burger Watch IV!

Passed by Five Napkin Burger on the way home from work, and it is ready to go. The awning is up, the tables are set, and the staff is milling around awkwardly. I asked a hostess when they're opening, and the agenda is friends & family tomorrow (Tuesday), open to the public Wednesday. I'll be there.

Ring molds and steamed spring rolls at Holy Basil

On a humid and stormy Saturday night, I met my friends S and B for dinner at Holy Basil Thai restaurant on 2nd avenue and 9th street in the East Village. We ducked under the awning shielding us from the rain, climbed a flight of stairs and entered the festively decorated restaurant. There's definitely a "cool" factor in play here-- the hostesses wear I'm-in-line-at-Marquee dresses-- but the Thai decor and low lighting make the restaurant fun and inviting.

Ohhh, the humidity

We were led to a small table in a separate porch-like room by the windows. Our table was tiny, clearly a table for two with an extra place setting (that extra would be me). Regardless, we settled in and looked over the drink menu. S and B ordered a "pitcher" (note: in Holy Basil parlance, pitcher = bottle) of sparkling apple cider, one of the drinks on special for the spring. The waitress brought over the bottle and a pair of champagne flutes. I took a small sip, and it was bubbly, appley, and somewhat beery. Interesting.

The "vegetable" menu. Good for you!

We then began our agonizing quest to decide what to order. MAJOR props to Holy Basil: they have a separate vegetarian menu, with both appetizer and entree selections. There were several dishes I was considering, including a noodle soup, but I decided against ordering soup on a hot and sticky day and went with the standard Thai salad. When the waitress came to take our orders, all went smoothly until she reached S, at which point the following exchange ensued:

S: ...and can I get a side of sticky rice?
Waitress: Your dish comes with white rice.
S: Can I get sticky rice instead?
Waitress: No, you have to order that separately.
S: You can't replace the white rice with sticky rice?
Waitress: No, it costs extra.
S: Okay, I'd like a side of sticky rice.

Right. Anyway, the order was placed and our appetizer course arrived shortly. (The chopsticks arrived shortly after that... we had to ask for them specially. Hmm.) We had chosen the steamed vegetable spring rolls to share, mostly because they puzzled us. Steamed spring rolls? I assumed they were going to be like dumplings, but we asked the waitress and she confirmed that they were, indeed, simply steamed spring rolls. We thought they'd be gross. So we ordered them.

Awesome garnish-- check that baby out!

Well, the steamed spring rolls were exactly what they purported to be. The filling was delicious, but they would certainly have been better with a dumpling skin rather than the slightly spongy steamed spring roll exterior. But the plating was beautiful, and even though the dish was pretty damn small (two bites per person, really), it was a tasty appetizer.

We paused after the appetizer course while our entrees were prepared. When the runners arrived with the food, the plates of rice arrived first: one plate of sticky, one plate of plain. While the sticky rice arrived garnished with a lettuce leaf, the dish of white rice was entirely unadorned, thus creating the most hilarious food picture I have yet taken:

That is all.

In contrast, the sticky rice

S's dish arrived next. It was some sort of meat (I think duck but I'm not actually entirely sure...) with string beans. The interesting part of this plate was the garnish. It looked like hair. Not sure what it was (S guessed it was some sort of fish thing). But it was funny.

Meat 'n' beans

A culinary toupee

B had ordered a beef dish with basil leaves. It arrived in a meticulously arranged cylinder, and frankly it looked paltry. But once he went at it with his chopsticks, it actually revealed itself to be a decent-sized plate of food. Cool.

Compact food

The full reveal

And then my salad arrived. After the disappointing size of the appetizer, which I had been counting on to be a good part of my meal, I was visibly (and audibly) distressed when the salad arrived and was TINY. It had a similar presentation to B's entree (ring molds, anyone?), and it just looked...so...small.

Beautiful--but small.

But once I started deconstructing it, there was actually a decent amount of salad in there. The greens, bean sprouts, tomato pieces, and bits of chopped tofu were all held in place but a ring of cucumber. The yummy peanut dressing was actually on the bottom, anchoring the salad to the plate, which is creative but it means that until you mess all the stuff around, you're basically eating undressed veggies. In any case, it was a yummy salad, but let's just say that I was so far from full after this dinner was done that B and I made a beeline for Ben & Jerry's to top off my stomach.

Holy Basil has good food and beautiful presentations, but I think it's a wee bit overpriced. There are so many decent and cheap Thai places in the city, I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to dine at Holy Basil, although if you're in the East Village and want something a bit more upscale than your local Thai dive, HB will fit the bill. I'll let the overall level of fun we had at this dinner eclipse the price point and the minor service glitches and award HB a solid four out of five Offset Spatulas.

Updated: Thanks to a correction by B, I can now say with certainty that his meat was actually duck, and S's was pork. Enjoy!

More Fro-Yo Chronicles: Very Berry

Since it's so hot out, I find myself getting a mid-afternoon hankering for frozen yogurt much more often than is good for my wallet these days. Yesterday, the craving hit while I was in the East Village, so my friend S and I stopped into Very Berry to broaden my fro-yo horizons.

Very pure-looking, isn't it?

Very Berry is the cheapest Pinkberry-eque frozen yogurt I've encountered so far (a small cup of original with no toppings was $2.98). They also have more flavors than standard-- yesterday, they had strawberry and blueberry in addition to the standard Green Tea and original. I tasted the strawberry, which tasted very much like strawberry Light 'n Fit yogurt, and the blueberry, which tasted overwhelmingly artificial to me. It's also worth noting that they, like Red Mango, charge extra for flavors. So I went with a small cup of the original flavor.

Very Berry has a pronounced real-yogurt tang and a creamy flavor. The texture is almost foamy (really, like frozen foam), but it's still substantial. They also give you a large quantity for a small, which I appreciate.

Texture shot I

Texture shot II

I was very satisfied with our trip to Very Berry. It had great flavor and good texture in satisfying quantity. If you're ever on a fro-yo kick near St. Mark's, I'd encourage you to skip the ridiculous lines at Pinkberry and head a few doors down to VB-- you'll leave with a smile on your face and more money in your wallet.

WTF Report: Hibernia

This afternoon, I was walking up 9th avenue when something weird caught my eye (which is itself notable in NYC, where everything is weird). More specifically, I noticed that Epoque Bar & Grill, a bar/restaurant on 50th and 9th that had just opened in mid-October, was gone. But not only that-- a new bar had already taken its place.

Same awnings, different colors and text

Hibernia looks vaguely Irish-ish and definitely more downscale than Epoque (which was a little bit cooler-than-thou), more along the sports bar vein than see-and-be-seen. No menu or anything up. No sign that they just opened, no word on whether it's owned by the same people as Epoque. They seem to have kept roughly the same setup as Epoque, with maybe a new paint job and a change in furniture. Overall...curious.

A shot of the interior

Random Post Alert: Mike's Hard Lemonade taste-off

This past Friday, my brother and I hosted a barbecue party on our patio. As part of the extensive festivities, we held a Mike's Hard Lemonade tasting. Sort of like a wine tasting, but instead of a sophisticated, nuanced beverage like wine we used the various saccharine and artificial flavors of Mike's Hard Lemonade. This is the sort of thing that happens when you put a group of sarcastic people together with a grill, a beautiful summer night, and various forms of booze. In any case, if you're in the market for an intensely silly, barely alcoholic drink (and you're a girl-- that goes without saying), read on for our tasting notes.

Mike's Hard Lemonade (Regular): Very lemony and sweet. Essence of Crystal Light.
Mike's Hard Lime: Tangy. Some thought it tasted more lemony than the plain lemon flavor; others thought it evoked Mountain Dew.
Mike's Hard Cranberry: Very strong cranberry aroma, but flavor less present on the palate. More balanced than some other options.
Mike's Hard Pomegranate: The sweetest of the bunch. Straight up-sugar; notes of Crystal Light Raspberry Ice.
Mike's Hard Light Lemonade: Strong artificial-sugar tang; less alcoholic than already laughable regular Mike's. Not a crowd favorite ("Mike's Hard Soap?").

As you might expect, no spatulas were awarded during the course of this tasting.

Lovely atmosphere and okay food at Bryant Park Grill

The other day, I was treated to another work lunch with two team members at the Bryant Park Grill. Since it was a lovely day, we headed over to the park, eager to eat outside.

So incredibly beautiful outside

We had a reservation, and I went inside and checked in at the hostess stand. She asked whether we wanted to sit inside or out; I said out, and she sent me outside to the outdoor host's stand. There was a huge line, and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to join the line or cut in front, so I just stood awkwardly to the side for a while until the host noticed me, I made puzzled comments, and then they seated our table. Phew.

Standard menu

We looked at the menu and quickly placed our order. A bread basket arrived shortly after, offering three kinds of bread: a mixed grain roll, a ciabatta-like white roll, and a cheesy breadstick. I chose the mixed grain roll to start and dug out a dollop of softened butter from the ramekin. The roll had promise, but unfortunately the exterior was soft rather than crisp, so it was unpleasantly reminiscent of the rolls you get in airplane meals, you know? The interior of the roll was a bit better, but I still wasn't satisfied. I moved on to try one of the ciabattas. It turns out that these were flecked with pieces of olives, which usually aren't good but in this case weren't bad. The bread was crisp and really chewy. Together, the two rolls provided a suitable carb fix for the time being.

Many bread options

Disappointingly soft roll

Better ciabatta

Our entrees arrived shortly after. L had ordered crabcakes; they came as two reasonably sized, golden-brown cakes with some lettuce in between. She finished most but not all of them; I didn't get a read on how good the dish was, but it looked pretty standard.

Sunny crabcakes

S ordered the chicken Caesar salad. It was enormous, with almost an entire chicken on the side. This got points for good value, and S enjoyed the taste.

So...much...chicken

I ordered the avocado, shittake mushroom and spring onion salad, except I replaced the avocado with celeraic. While substitution came as requested, I asked for the dressing on the side, which they didn't do. The salad was small, and while the menu description said it was on a bed of arugula, it was actually mostly frisee (boo). The dressing was very flavorful, and the mushrooms were good but in very small quantity. I don't recall encountering any spring onions. Overall, this salad was very...meh. And as I finished it, there was a pool of oil at the bottom. Not so appealing.

Mediocre salad

Bryant Park Grill is a lovely, lovely place to eat if it's a nice day. When we were there, the sun was shining, people were happy to be out of the office-- and some days that's all you need. Food-wise, the Bryant Park Grill (at least the outside part) could step up its game a little bit-- but still, I wouldn't hesitate to go back if the opportunity presented itself. For that, I award BPG three out of five offset spatulas.

Five Napkin Burger watch III!

Popped my head into Five Napkin Burger on my way to work today, and some random guy inside said they were opening "next week." Maybe it's just because there were more workers inside today, but the place looked even less ready to go than it did last weekend... ladders still up, construction debris still everywhere, newspaper still covering the windows. Hopefully they can get their act together this weekend and make it happen next week!

Good friends and fruit tarts from Ceci-Cela

I've had something of a rough week, so today I returned to the office from a client meeting to find a little gift from my friend A: a fruit tart from the bakery Ceci-Cela. What an incredible treat and lovely surprise. It brought about one of the few smiles that have graced my face over the past few days. Thank you, A: your kindness means more to me than any simple fruit tart ever could!

Even the packaging is adorable

It's my tart in a box

And, of course, I got the extreme privilege of consuming said fruit tart this evening after dinner. Oh man, was it good. The raspberries and blueberries on top were fresh and coated in a jiggly blanket of sweet glaze. The base of the tart wasn't the usual tasteless pastry shell but rather an incredibly yummy, cinnamon-sugar-cookie like substance that crumbled into flaky layers when you bit into it. In the center, anchoring the fruit to the cookie, was a dollop of eggy pastry cream. The pastry-to-cream ratio definitely skewed towards the pastry, which was favorable, as in this case the cinnamon cookie really took the cake, as it were. Ahem. Anyway, what follows is a fruit-tart-porn gallery, for your enjoyment. If you're ever near Ceci-Celi, pick one of these up-- it'll be sure to bring a smile to your face!

Ready to go

One bite in...check out the thickness of the cookie!

Fruit and cream and cookie... mmm

Such a delight!

Hot day, cool food at DB Bistro Moderne

Yesterday, I had a lunch appointment with my reviewer L (it's part of a complicated office hierarchy, no need to explain) in order to receive my 6-month review. I got to choose the location, so of course (of course!) I chose DB Bistro Moderne, one of the nicer restaurants in Times Square I've been waiting for the opportunity to try. You'll be happy to know that both the review and the restaurant were great. Hooray!

There were more people but they melted

The day was a scorcher, but as a cold person I was grateful to note that the inside of DB Bistro was cool, at least compared to the temperature outside, but not frigidly cold. As all women know, one of the perils of summer is wearing outdoors-appropriate clothing and then going inside and shivering until you get back in the sun. For some reason, guys don't seem to care about this-- they wear shorts in winter. What's up with that?

The lunch menu with the signature db logo

Anyway, DB Bistro was calm and peaceful inside. Immediately, as we were shown to the host's stand and then eventually to our table in the back, I could tell that the service here was top-tier: gracious, polite, and crisp. Once we were seated, our menus were brought promptly, and the waiter explained the specials. They were really pushing their special gazpacho appetizer, which seemed, um, odd, especially in the middle of a tomato-borne salmonella outbreak. While cool soup would have been refreshing, both L and I steered clear of the gazpacho and place our orders.

A bread fan and pat of butter

An appealing cone of bread with a dish of softened butter arrived at our table. There were two kinds: two crisp ciabatta-like white rolls and slices of a seasoned loaf. There were a few recognizable spices-- rosemary or sage, perhaps? A hint of garlic?-- and what looked like olives, but the bread definitely lacked an overpowering olive flavor (a good thing). I had two slices of the seasoned bread, which was delicious.

A close-up on my slice, with visible flecks of spice

Once we had eaten our carbs and the review had been delivered, our food arrived. L had ordered the orecchiette pasta with lamb ragu and goat cheese. It looked delicious, with lovely pretty colors and an appealing dollop of creamy goat cheese on top. It also seemed to be the perfect portion-- not skimpy, but not a challenge to finish, either. L pronounced it delicious, and though I didn't have a taste, I have to agree. On principle.

Look at those beautiful flavors!

I ordered the Upstate Farms mesclun salad with baby vegetables. This was one of the most precious salads I've ever encountered. There were baby carrots, peapods, and a few other baby veggies of unidentifiable natures, all of which were heart-meltingly cute. There was a light vinaigrette and a hint of sauce on the lettuce leaves, which contained mesclun greens and the occasional frisee or herb. This salad was tasty, not too small, and delicious. Mmmm-hmmm.

Greens 'n' things

Since we were going all out (i.e., procrastinating from returning to work), we ordered a dessert course. I opted for a cup of lemon verbena tea, and L went for the citrus vacherin. The tea was lovely, with a nice little porcelain pot.

Always so comforting.

The dessert was a show-stopper. When it arrived, L announced that it "looked like a sleeping alien." Right. More importantly, though, it tasted incredible. There was a scoop of sorbet and a squiggle of citrus whipped cream on top of two light-as-air meringue crisps sandwiching a stick of citrusy pastry cream. Everything was delicious and truly light. I wish it had been dinnertime and I had been hungry for dessert-- as it was, I had a tiny bite of each of the elements, but I never really like having dessert in the middle of the day, so I didn't indulge thoroughly. But if I ever get the chance to return to DB Bistro, I will be sure to save room for a dessert or three.

Alien on a bed

DB is an incredibly solid restaurant. The food was delicious, the service flawless, the atmosphere very professional. I had no complaints. And while I might typically hesitate to give a lunch restaurant a five-spatula review, I can't deny Daniel Boulud what is rightfully his: five out of five Offset Spatulas.

Gossip and salad at Cafe Gitane

Yesterday afternoon I met up with my three girlfriends from work for a snack and a chat at Cafe Gitane in the Soho/Nolita area. Cafe Gitane is an extremely precious coffee shop-slash-cafe-slash-doll house. It oozes cutesiness, if that makes sense. And even if it doesn't.

Exterior tables, in the sweltering heat

I arrived first and grabbed a table for four. Easing myself onto the sticky pleather seat, I laid my head back and absorbed some of the air conditioning. The place was very small and packed tightly with tables; there was a small bar/open kitchen taking up a quarter of the space. The whole restaurant was really not much bigger than an average-sized bedroom.

That's the open kitchen area beyond the bar stools.

The girls arrived and we placed our orders. S ordered a glass of watermelon juice; SL and A decided to split a dish of baked eggs, and SL supplemented with a citron-presse. Our food arrived relatively quickly, and although it didn't look quite as spectacular as the enormous mounds of couscous landing on tables all around us, it was solidly appealing.

You can see the yolks buried in there

I'm not entirely sure what baked eggs are (well, I assume they're eggs, you know, baked), but this looked sort of like a casserole. It came with a few slices of baguette on the side, and between them, SL and A finished the dish. Even though I'm not a vegan (I looooove my dairy products), I'm not the biggest fan of eggs straight up, so I didn't take a bite. It looked tasty, though.

My salad, with superfluous dressing

I ordered an arugula salad, which came with baby beets, bits of granny smith apple, crostini smeared with goat cheese, and a chopped-walnut-and-olive salad sprinkled on top. I asked for the dressing on the side, which came as requested, but the walnut-and-olive mixture provided enough moisture to the salad that I didn't need the dressing at all. The arugula was large leaves, not baby arugula-- that's not necessarily good or bad, just unusual, I guess. The beets were nicely cooked and sweet, and the crostini were tasty with their creamy and tangy goat cheese. The only failure of the salad were the bits of apple-- they were really mealy and tasteless (eew). Also, by the end, when I was down to a melange of olive, apple, and walnut, the flavor combination was sort of weird and overly salty. But overall, an interesting salad, certainly.

I'll admit that I don't usually like places like Cafe Gitane. They're a bit too pretentious for my liking, and I never really feel comfortable there. Cafe Gitane was a good place to catch up with friends, which is what we were using it for, even though it was a bit too loud to talk comfortably. The food was solid but not incredible, although the desserts that I spotted looked pretty good. Would I return? Probably not. But it was a pleasant (and blissfully air-conditioned) hour while it lasted. For not being crappy, but not being especially great, I'll give Cafe Gitane a solid 2 Offset Spatulas.

A top-notch black & white cookie at Glaser's

In addition to being a cupcake fanatic, I consider myself somewhat of a black & white cookie conoisseur. When I was younger, I used to go with my dad to pick up Sunday brunches at the Bagel Baker in my hometown. In addition to a bag of bagels and cream cheese, we always came home with a treat for me: a halfmoon cookie (note: in my heart of hearts, they will always be halfmoons, but since I'm a New Yorker now I'll use the term "black and white cookie," even though it makes part of my soul die just a little bit). So for me, b&ws are not only delicious but nostalgic as well. I've unofficially been trying to find the best b&w in the city, and by many accounts, that title rests with Glaser's. Yesterday, since it was approximately 115 degrees out and I had nothing better to do, I decided to venture up to the Upper East Side to see what it was all about.

The entrance. I like the grandmotherly lace curtains... they'll come back in style someday.

Glaser's is a dusty and somewhat unassuming old German bakery. The inside is utilitarian: a pastry case with the goods for sale, and that's pretty much it. There were some delicious-looking cupcakes and chocolate-covered goodies, but I was here on a mission.

Huge meringue presence here

Lots of things with almonds

And my mission, as I chose to accept it, was to purchase the quote-unquote "best" b&w in the city. The women working the counter were chatting to another customer, whom they seemed to know well, and seemed mildly perturbed by my presence. Nonetheless, I got what I came for, and it was cheap, too: $1.50 (not including the subway fare it took to get there...).

My quarry

I emerged into the swealtering heat, ready to see what the buzz was all about.

It's so cute, hiding in the bag like that.

But first, I had to get home. Now, for some reason I decided to walk from the UES back to Hell's Kitchen. Don't ask me why I did that, because even at the time it seemed stupid. But I managed to get the b&w back in one piece, and after a light dinner, I was ready to go.

But first, a telltale sign that we were on the right track:

As Dr. Nick says, if the paper turns clear, it's your window to weight gain

I arranged my plate and silverware, as is customary dessert protocol for me.

I appreciate the vanilla frosting overhang on the cookie's edge

The b&w seemed to have two very different icings: the vanilla side was the usual powdered-sugar glaze, while the chocolate side seemed more like typical frosting, with the merest crackled sugary crust on top. The vanilla was extraordinarily sweet, with a mild vanilla flavor on the aftertaste. The chocolate was much more powerful: a fudgy, thick, almost dark-chocolate tasting frosting. Again, as Jerry Seinfeld discussed at length, the beauty of the b&w is that the vanilla and chocolate play off each other, so taking one bite of vanilla and one of chocolate, or getting a bite with both in it at once, created the perfect racial harmony.

Frosting close-up

The cookie part was very cakey, which I like in a b&w. It was light, a little dry, as it should be; I couldn't quite place the flavor, which was extremely slight-- perhaps vanilla, perhaps the faintest bit of lemon. Either way, it was a fitting conveyance for the frosting (which is the whole point of the b&w, obvi).

A nice airy, crumbly cake

I also appreciate that the Glaser's b&w is a manageable size. I could (and did) finish this off easily without falling into a sugar coma. Was this the best b&w I've ever had? Hard to say. Is it the best in Manhattan? Since I haven't tried them all (yet), I can't deliver that final judgment, but I will say this: Glaser's makes a mighty fine b&w. If you're in the neighborhood, or if you live in Hell's Kitchen but happen to be insane (see also: me), swing by the little powder-blue shop on 1st avenue and pick one up for yourself. If nothing else, you'll have yourself a solid dessert.

Note: Thanks to a vigilant reader, I now offer the actual address of Glaser's: It's at 87th and 1st avenue. Enjoy!

The Fro-Yo chronicles continue: Red Mango

Yesterday afternoon, when I was feeling really bummed at work, I took a short walk up 8th Avenue to Red Mango to get some cold, creamy, comforting Red Mango. Now, I've had Pinkberry, and as you all know I've had Yolato as well, but I've never actually had Red Mango, despite the new location relatively near my home and work. Well, it was so good I went back today, seeking a bit of chill from the oppressive heat.

The exterior, under an unfortunate bit of scaffolding

The inside is festively decorated in red and white, and there was loud, thumping music playing (apparently Red Mango = da club). The fro-yo and toppings are in the back, under two flatscreen TVs displaying the pricing options.

Clean and modern

Electronic menus

As is all frozen yogurt in Manhattan, Red Mango isn't cheap, but it's less expensive than some of the competitors. A small cup of original with no toppings, which is what I got, was $3.20. All the toppings are $1 each, and the green tea flavor also adds a dollar (which seems a little ridiculous to me, but I don't like green tea much, so I never really have to weigh flavor vs. price).

Fruity toppings

Less virtuous toppings

They have the usual suspects in terms of toppings: a full array of fruit and some less-healthy options (chocolate chips, cereal, etc.), but as I said, I skipped the toppings and went straight for the good stuff.

Beautiful, well-defined swirl marks

Unlike Yolato, a small here really is small. It's enough for a small snack, but if you're really hungry, then Red Mango won't do it (or I guess you'll just have to fork over the funds for a bigger size).

Texture shot: creamy, melty, yet solid

In my opinion, Red Mango has Pinkberry beaten texturally. There's definitely that icy element, which is Pinkberry's signature, but Red Mango is really creamy as well. As you can see from the pictures, it holds its swirl ridges well, so it's not going to melt into a soupy mess (see also: Tasti D). That's key in a good cup of frozen yogurt.

It folds like ribbons on the spoon

Red Mango also has a really good flavor. There's a sharp, tangy yogurty bite, but it's cool and refreshing. There are claims of "Live and Active Yogurt Cultures" all over the packaging and everything, but frankly, I don't know if I buy that. This stuff is really good, but I'm not sure how healthy it truly is for you.

Yup.

Again, like all the other fro-yo joints (Pinkberry, Tasti D, BerryWild, etc. etc. etc.), if you're jonesing for some serious ice cream, Red Mango isn't going to get the job done. But if you want a refreshing mid-afternoon snack, head to the Red. If the choice presented itself, I'd definitely take it over Pinkberry.

Five Napkin Burger Watch II!...and a side of Lasanga

Wandered by Five Napkin burger this afternoon, and it was quite a hotbed of activity. The bar is up and stocked; the seating area looks almost finished. It's actually shaping up to be a good-looking restaurant. More importantly, it really looks ready to open ASAP. A Monday ETA may indeed be correct...

View of the bar area from the door

The bar is fully stocked!

The seating area, with only a little bit of miscellaneous debris

I also passed by the new Lasagna Ristorante on 9th Avenue between 52nd and 53rd. They're having their "Grand Opening," and there was a guy outside handing out fliers and delivering a spiel to passersby. He said Lasagna is one of 3 locations, it's family-owned, and all the food is cooked to order. I took a menu and it seems moderately priced but nothing too special. We'll see how it does in the area.

Sorta looks like a car dealership, huh?

Tenth Avenue plywood action!

On a hot-as-balls day like today, you can't blame a girl for craving some ice cream. So early this afternoon, I headed down Tenth Avenue to check on the progress of NYC Icy. I've been waiting for them to open forEVER... and, sadly, it seems they still have a while to go.

A tease on 10th between 44th and 45th

Their sign is up, true, and they've gone out of their way to plywood the front windows to block the view inside (in this case, plywood = garbage bags and paper). But of course, having no shame, I ducked down to peek through the hole at the bottom. It was so bright outside I couldn't get any good pictures, unfortunately, but you could see that the counter is up in the back. But the floor was still covered with cement buckets and other construction implements, the way it has been for several weeks if not months by now. NYC Icy, when are you coming? I want some creatively flavored frozen treats!

But, to counter the Icy disappointment, on the way I noted a new restaurant coming in a block up.

Almost ready to go...

A new outpost of Wondee Siam, with an electric orange border and an "opening soon" sign, seems actually to be opening soon. The tables are in, and the funky light fixtures are up. One of the owners was inside and smiled at me as I peeked in. It's sort of weird I haven't noticed this place before (it definitely takes more than a couple days to get a restaurant to this stage), but Wondee looks truly ready to go. It could potentially be a nice addition to this area of 10th-- I hold out hope!

A leisurely drink at Winebar wine bar

Last night I met my friend S for drinks at Winebar in the East Village. Notwithstanding its somewhat less-than-creative name, I've wanted to go here for a while. Because it was a warm evening, Winebar had its front open to Second Avenue and a sizeable sidewalk seating area.

Sip wine while watching the 2nd Avenue traffic whip by

I got to Winebar a few moments in advance of my friend, so I snagged two seats inside. The interior is configured as a set of three long tables on either side of the room, sticking into the center with an aisle in between. Each table has six backless stools (N.B.: backless stools are NOT COMFORTABLE. Whoever invented them was a bad person.). The tables are semi-communal, so you sit with other groups of people, but it still doesn't feel like a really social place. Winebar isn't so much a pick-up joint as a place to meet a friend. Which is what we were doing, so we were good to go.

So many possibilities in there...

We studied the menu by the dim light of the candles. The menu is divided by country: France, Italy, or Spain, and then by type of wine. There are maps next to each country's page to show where the wine comes from. Very cool.

Organized by "Grape, producer, region."

I ordered a Chenin Blanc from France. It was lightly sweet and really tasty, served at the perfect temperature. At $8/glass, it was the cheapest glass on the menu, but it still was delightful. I savored it over the course of the evening. Also worth noting: as befitting a wine bar, Winebar has really good glassware, and the type of glass changes with the type of wine you order, as it should. Extra points!

Beautiful color in a beautiful glass

S ordered a glass of red (don't remember what kind...), and it also came in a lovely glass. She seemed content with her choice.

A gorgeous ruby red

There was a small and somewhat pricey menu of food, which we skipped. About halfway through the hour-and-a-half that we were there, though, I asked if they had a bread basket or something of the sort-- basically, I just wanted something to munch with the wine, as I've found drinking wine without eating anything is not a good thing to do. This request elicited an inordinate amount of befuddlement, frankly; they didn't have a bread basket, and we could order crostini... but I didn't want crostini with a bunch of dips, I just wanted some plain bread, so I just said forget it. The waiter said he'd see what they could do.

Focaccia. Filled with gold flakes and caviar. (Not really)

He returned with a plate of focaccia cubes. They were seasoned and redolent of olive oil, and they were pretty good. I actually ate the entire plate of them... addictive little bites that they were. And when the bill came, I was somewhat glad that I HAD polished them off-- they charged me $4 for this plate of bread. Even though, as S pointed out, that's significantly less than anything else on the menu, that's still pretty bush league. If you're a wine bar, you should serve SOMETHING complimentary for customers to eat while drinking (nuts? olives? uh, bread?). Otherwise you're just encouraging bad situations.

So my recommendation: Winebar is a cool place to grab a glass of wine with a friend. It's a bit on the expensive side, and I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to return; there are a lot of other wine bars in the city that I'd like to try first. But if you do go, bring a snack with you. Yummy as the focaccia was, it wasn't worth $4.

Stick to the beer at House of Brews

Last night a group of coworkers and I hit up House of Brews on 46th and 9th for some beer, eats, and good times. I'll give you the moral of this story up front: the beer's good, the food's not.

The staff graciously set up a blind tasting of a few of our favorite brands by special request, which was much appreciated. Once we had finished with our tasting, we moved on to the extensive beer list, with most of us ordering tasting flights to sample as many as possible.

Tasting flight of beer

While we sipped and chatted, we ordered some food to soak up the booze. It took a while to arrive and was profoundly not worth the wait. I had ordered a bread basket, and the waitress said they didn't really have that but they'd see what they could do. What I got was a plate of small, thawed dinner rolls. Pretty gross, but at least they made do with what they had from the kitchen. Right? Below is the rest of what we got, with a few relevant comments on each:

Chicken fingers. Breaded in a panko-like crumby breading, not battered. This fact did not please this dish's orderer.

Appetizer sampler, with mozzarella sticks, loaded skins, and chicken wings. The mozz sticks were standard and were finished off; the wings and skins were left on the plate.

Fries-- really pretty to look at, not so good to eat. Whatever was sprinkled on top of them (parsley?) added visual interest but no flavor. They were fried so the outside was cooked but the inside was dry. There was no salt. And they were cold. Yech.

Shepherd's pie. I think this was one of the winners of the bunch-- this got polished off, one of the few dishes to earn that distinction.

Quesadilla-- shameful. I think maybe one of these triangles was consumed.

Chickpea burger-- deemed "not that good." About half was eaten; I tackled the side salad, very heavy on the chopped raw onion (why??).

Mussels with sausage. Okay, maybe we shouldn't have ordered this at a beer bar, but they're good at BXL, so why not? Almost this entire dish went untouched.

Some sort of other sandwich, with more of the pitiful fries. Not sure what this was, but I think it was eaten relatively happily.

I'm not even going to put forth a food rating for House of Brews (you pretty much know what it would be). All I can say is, in the end, when you go to House of Brews, that's what you should get. Drop yourself in a sticky booth, grab a greasy menu, skip the food and order a beer. Save your hunger for any of innumerable other decent restaurants along restaurant row.

Oh Amy, I came and you sold me a cupcake

Today was a cupcake day. Haven't had one in a while, got the craving after dinner at work, and stopped at my go-to cupcake place, Amy's Bread, on my way home. Ohhh yes.

I went for their black and white cupcake, a chocoalte cake with white buttercream frosting. You can't go wrong. My cupcake journey follows:

Oh, the anticipation

They package the cupcake upside down in a paper cup...

...which means it only gets a LITTLE squished on the way home.

I eat my cupcakes with a fork and knife, and I start by peeling a bit of the paper and cutting a small half. That way you can get at the chocolatey interior.

The cake is tender and light, with the fluffiest crumb imaginable

But near the top of the cake, right under the frosting, is just a couple of bites' worth of intense, extra-moist, slightly undercooked brownie-like cake. It's such a wonderful surprise.

And the frosting-- oh man, the frosting. It's perfect. Sweet, with just the barest external crunch indicating the right ratio of sugar to butter. A great vanilla flavor is just the icing on the icing.

I savored every bit of this cupcake. If you're anywhere near any of Amy's locations, I urge you to pick up a black and white cupcake and slowly--deliberately--enjoy every crumb.

Team bonding at Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar

Last night my team at work went out for a celebratory, blowing-off-steam dinner at Aroma Kitchen and Wine Bar in the East Village. Aroma is one of my "list" restaurants-- I read about it when it was opening years ago, well before I moved to New York, and I've wanted to go ever since. Well, last night my wish was fulfilled in the form of a lovely and memorable dinner.

One thing to note about Aroma is that it is tiny. The bar takes up almost all of the dining room-- you have to squeeze past it to get to the two or three tables (or the bathroom) in the back, and the handful of tables in front are dwarfed by the presence of the bar. That said, the space is endearing-- rustically decorated, with wine bottles lining the walls. Our table, in the front, was near enough to the open front door that we had a pleasant breeze with us the entire evening. Speaking as a person who is cold all the time, it was an incredibly welcome break from the over-chilled restaurants crowding this city.

My teammate M and I arrived first, so we had the privilege of ordering the wine. The Aroma wine list is hilarious, chock full of descriptions like "barnyard, wet forest, prunes" and "cassis, blackberry, bacon...happily feminine."

The wine list, with character

M and I ordered a gewurtztraminer ("citrus, sweet peaches, sharp acidity, long and perfectly balanced, superb with aperitivo or white meats"), and after we tasted it (delicious, with a beautiful color and a particularly interesting smell), one of the owners came by to chat a little bit about the bottle's winemakers-- a nice touch.

Gewurtz in good glassware

I asked for a bread basket, and while they brought it the rest of our party arrived. While they settled in, I gobbled down a piece of of the white loaf. It had a great stretchy crumb with large air bubbles and a crackly crust. There was a small dish of olives in olive oil to accompany the bread; the olives were fairly generic and the olive oil was serviceable but not mind-blowing. The bread itself, though, carried this course through-- I only wish there were some salt on the table to add to the olive oil. When we finished this small dish, they brought more bread without us asking-- well done.

The olives and olive oil tasted faintly of bacon. Is that weird?

We placed our orders, opting to begin with a mixture of personal appetizers and apps for the table. We drank our wine and nibbled on bread, and after a bit of a wait the appetizers emerged. Two members of our party went with the special soup of the day (part of a VERY lengthy recitation of specials for the evening), a mixture of pureed cauliflower and turnip. I think it was turnip-- it might have been parsnip; for some reason those two veggies are stored in the same part of my brain. Either way, the soup's orderers pronounced it delicious.

Some sort of garnish was in there. I don't remember what it was...

My manager, A, ordered gnocchi. It looked like baked mac & cheese and came in a delightful shallow ramekin. It contained sausage, white truffle oil, and a few cheeses, and the crispy crust looked especially good.

Gnocchi gratin

Of the two apps for the table, the one I sampled was the warm beets. It was a stack of beets with bits of spread sandwiched in between the layers surrounded by a drizzle of warm beet dressing and a few little fried spheres. From the menu description, I surmise that the spread was gorgonzola and fig jam, but I didn't detect any of the pungent bite I typically associate with gorgonzola (I really don't like bleu cheese, so I tend to detect it when it's there). Overall, that turned out to be a good thing, because I found this appetizer delicious. Strikingly sweet, but delicious. Although I am still puzzled by the little fried balls-- I ate one and it was empty, like a fried little ball of air.

The leaning tower of BEETS-a. Get it?

The final appetizer was the calamari. It's described on the menu as "baked stuffed calamari, almond, shrimp, capers, fennel, parsley," and sure, maybe that's what was in it. It looked like calamari egg rolls, and there were two particularly graphic garnishes with tentacles. I steered clear, but the others seemed to like it.

Pretty, but-- eew.

We finished the appetizers, and our genial waiter cleared the table. The wine kept flowing, and we waited-- for a while-- for our entrees to appear. But finally, there they were, all swooping down to our table at once after being lined up on the shelf along the wall. My colleague L ordered the black linguine, which was a striking dish dotted with halved cherry tomatoes, shrimp, and small circles of squid. This dish seemed bizarre, but L seemed to like it. I was faintly curious about what the black linguine tasted like, but let's be clear: not curious enough.

Verrrrrry interesting.

B, the final member of our party, ordered the ravioli. I believe it was termed pink ravioli-- and to be entirely honest, I have no recollection of what was in this dish, although it's clear there was a touch of melted cheese on top. This is why I usually try to bring a little notebook along-- the ol' memory, especially with recited specials, sometimes fails me.

The pink ravioli will forever be mysterious.

Both A and M ordered the chicken involtini. It was stuffed with pesto, mozzarella, and proscuitto, and it came with a yummy little cake of potatoes and what tasted like leeks. This was a large portion of chicken, and it came with an attractively browned exterior. The potato cake was delicious; I had a small bite of it. Both A and M seemed to enjoy this dish.

Chicken 'n' potatoes

As for me, well, I ordered a salad (obviously). On the menu, it's "Satur Farms organic mesclun, beets, radishes, ricotta salata, basil, mint," but I ordered it without radishes (not my favorite). A requested on my behalf to replace the radishes with "extra everything else," and our waiter agreed to "supersize" my salad. All in good fun, except the salad was pretty small when it arrived. It was basically some mixed greens with a few shavings of ricotta salata on top. I didn't detect much basil, and only at the very end did I get a bite of mint-- a good thing, because too much mint in a salad is a weird thing.

If this is supersized, I'm not sure what the regular portion looks like...

We all gobbled up our entrees, and the overall consensus was that the food at Aroma was very good. But, of course, we weren't finished-- the most important course of any dinner remained ahead. Once the entree dishes were cleared, we waited another fairly long time for the dessert menus to come. The dessert options were sparse, but all except M found something appealing. We placed our order and commenced another slightly-too-long wait for the desserts to come.

L got the pistachio creme brulee. It looked good; he said it was fine, not extraordinary but not average. It had the nice crackly crust that's key to all good creme brulees, though, definitely a positive sign. It also came with a small thin cookie sticking rakishly out of the creme.

Creme brulee, the most fun dessert to make EVER

A ordered the ice cream and sorbet sampler. We tried to decipher what the flavors were; I nailed down the sorbets (raspberry and cantaloupe) but couldn't figure out the last flavor was. The waiter claimed it was vanilla but it most certainly wasn't-- of that, at least, I am sure. The scoops came perched on top of the same type of thin florentine cookies, which were good but would have been tastier if they were thicker.

Raspberry, cantaloupe, and miscellaneous frozen treats

B ordered the vanilla bread pudding. It looked good enough, and he ate about half of it. While I wisely remembered that eating an entire order of heavy and rich bread pudding is generally not a good idea for me, I did try a bite of this after he was finished. The best way I can describe this dessert is... gross. It tasted moldy. Truly. It tasted as though the bread were moldy. Eesh. Mind you, I don't think the bread actually WAS moldy, but it tasted... off.

How do you make a dessert taste BAD?

As for me, I ordered the gianduja panna cotta, with homemade nocciola gelato. This dessert was beautifully plated on a long, thin rectangular plate, with the two main players at either end and two hazelnuts in the middle. The panna cotta itself had a good nutella flavor and a jiggly texture. The gelato was also delicious, and I happily polished it off. This dessert was clearly the winner among the bunch, but it definitely wasn't one of the best desserts I've ever had (see my post on Finale for that). From the small list of desserts to the solidly average execution, I'd say that it's clear the dessert course isn't Aroma's focus. It would be nice if they could step up their game here-- it could bring the whole experience up a subtle but all-important notch.

Three forms of delicious hazelnut flavor

We had a great team dinner at Aroma. The restaurant is clearly a labor of love of its owners, and all the staff there greeted everyone as old friends (it was plain that this was a neighborhood restaurant with a faithful group of highly appreciated "regulars"). Only a few factors prevented Aroma from becoming a genuine five-spatula place, the dessert course being one. Another, which, granted, was in keeping with the authentic Italian atmosphere, was that they don't have Diet Coke (M's dessert of choice). All right, but in NYC, you've gotta have DC. Finally, we tried to pay with an Amex card at the end and they didn't accept it-- irking, certainly, but something that showed Aroma was more in the small-time business than in the game for a huge audience (something they couldn't handle capacity-wise anyway). All in all, though, Aroma had delicious food, a truly friendly and accommodating staff, and a great atmosphere. It would be the perfect place for a date or just a low-key, tasty meal. And for that, I give Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar four out of five Offset Spatulas.

Five Napkin Burger watch!

I've decided that Five Napkin Burger, a new burger joint that's coming in on the block of 9th avenue between 44th and 45th streets, is going to be one of those restaurants that I feel invested in. This makes no sense, of course, because I don't even eat burgers. In any case, it's been plywooded for a long time, but as of yesterday, the signs are up, and a peek inside reveals a large number of chairs. I'd give it a few weeks till opening, perhaps?

Lunch, dinner and late night... that's promising

It's "An American Bar & Grill." Sure, cool.

A peek inside-- looks like a bar at the back; diner-style tiles on the walls

And lots and lots of chairs.

You'll definitely hear more once this place opens...

Leaving hungry from Taste of Times Square

The bro and I hit up Taste of Times Square this evening. Unwisely, he was starving when we arrived; we took one look at the ticket lines and decided that purchasing food wasn't in the cards for the night (unlike the 9th Avenue Food Festival, you have to buy "tickets" to purchase food at Taste, a ridiculously stupid system in my opinion). So instead of shopping for food, we attempted to walk west through the festival to get back to our apartment. What we saw along the way is below.

The entrance at Broadway and 46th

The Chop Suey booth... not too big of a line here. And they tried to ply me with fliers when I stopped to take a picture...

Ladies vending "cheesecake lollipops" at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone

Really good looking Turkish food at Dervish

Street fair sushi. Not so sure this is a good idea.

One of the many musical acts providing entertainment for the masses

The M&Ms booth was mobbed-- because they were giving out free M&Ms. We ultimately left the fair with four fun-size bags of M&Ms, and nothing else.

The Applebees booth, selling chocolate cake. This one's for Zach at Midtown Lunch.

John's Pizzeria. Seemed pretty standard.

This unconventional African band was enthralling the crowd.

This strawberry shortcake was by far the best-looking item on offer in the whole fair.

The Rivage bread pudding looked creatively plated but actually not that great. More like soggy slices of French toast than bread pudding.

At the Bourbon St. Bar & Grill booth, they were offering Buffalo Alligator (like Buffalo Chicken, but alligator).

I spoke to a woman who ordered the Buffalo Alligator-- she said it would have been good if it were hot and crispy, but since it wasn't, it was... "interesting."

Guac at Toloache. Looked great.

Blinis at Firebird. These poor men must have been sweating buckets.

Along with a novelty blow-up NY Giant, Tonic was offering chili-lime edamame. Uh....?

I'll end with a pictorial reminder of why we didn't end up eating anything at the fair. This is the ticket line at the west side entrance. It snaked all the way around the corner onto 9th avenue.

The line. About a billion people long.

Overall, the Taste of Times Square was distinctly "meh." Unless there's a large posse of roving ticket vendors or a healthy scalping market next year, I don't think I'd return.

An excellent adventure back in time at One if by Land

When I graduated from college last spring, our close family friends gave me a gift certificate to the restaurant One if by Land, Two if by Sea as part of my graduation gift. As OIBL has the reputation of being one of the most romantic restaurants in NYC, I'd been saving up the substantial gift certificate until I could take a serious boyfriend or date. Since said "boyfriend" hasn't materialized about a year later, I finally said screw it-- I want to go. So I decided to take my most faithful dining companions, my brother and his good friend from college, J. As the same trio that took Ethos by storm, we we ready to trade up to a serious "fancy" restaurant.

Apparently, OIBL is notorious for being THE site to propose marriage. One of people I work with went one night and witnessed two marriage proposals over the course of the evening. As such, we all placed our bets on how many proposals we'd see during the night. Since it was a lovely evening in early June, I put my chips on 2; J chose 1; and the bro, ever the pessimist, chose 0.

My brother and I arrived first. The facade of the restaurant has no sign, just a large carriage-house door with a small placard revealing the number "17." It was approximately 113% humidity outside, so we didn't linger, but the precious entrance definitely did set us up for what we had in store.

You just KNOW that this is it

Once you enter the restaurant, you're overwhelmed with the sense that this is, indeed, a "nice" restaurant in the traditional sense. There's dim lighting coming from grand chandeliers, white tablecloths and candles, yellow roses on every available surface, and a man playing a grand piano near the front of the bar. (Note: near the very end of the evening, the pianist played "Groovy Kind of Love," one of the songs my dad used to sing to me when I was little. I think OIBL might get an extra spatula just for that.)

A view from the bar

Since our party was incomplete, the hostess directed us toward the bar, where the bro and I sat for a few minutes before J arrived. Once we had gathered ourselves together, we were led to our table, a large round four-top in the center of the front dining room. From our perch, we could see up to the mezzanine dining level and out to the external garden. There's really no way my descriptions could do this place justice-- from the colonial paintings on the walls to the exposed brick to the carefully composed and gently lighted ambiance, OIBL is gorgeous. It really does feel like the carriage house it once was (built in 1867 to be the carriage house for Aaron Burr, our waiter informed us).

The view of the GORGEOUS external garden area from our table

But after all, we weren't here just to take in the atmosphere. So we turned our attention to the menus. I looked over the wine list first. For an upscale and relatively well-respected restaurant, their wine list is strikingly short, with an even smaller selection of whites (not necessarily surprising for a meat-heavy menu). And, I'd add, it skews very expensive. I ordered a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, which was about $65 and was one of the cheapest bottles on the list. Were it not for my gift certificates, this would certainly be a true splurge meal (and even so, it wasn't cheap). When the wine arrived, it had the most delicious smell, and it tasted vibrant and mouth-watering. It seemed a bit high in alcohol, but once the rich food arrived, the acidity certainly helped wash everything down.

Menu and roses

The traditional menu option is a prix fixe-- 3 courses for $75. Since they didn't have a vegetarian main course, I asked for two veggie appetizers, and not only did the waiter oblige, but he offered to price them a la carte. That ended up being very useful, cutting the cost of my meal by about $20 or so. Once we had placed our orders, we were off.

First up: bread. Instead of a bread basket, OIBL upped the ante with a separate bread GUY. This man, after my own heart, approached the table with a tray of five different selections of bread: foccacia, olive bread, 7 grain roll, dinner roll, and peasant white slice. Both J and my brother chose the dinner roll, while I went with the seven grain. The triangles of sweet butter that accompanied the bread were the perfect spreadable consistency. The 7 grain roll was dense and studded with oats and nuts. As I told my companions, if I ate the entire roll I would be both full and happy-- it was incredibly good but definitely filling. I ate about a quarter of it; this evening was all about rationing my appetite. As for the dinner rolls, when the bread man made his second visit to the table, J chose the dinner roll again, and when my bro chose the 7 grain to branch out a bit, he said the dinner roll was better. Again, I'd be happy with a bread and butter tasting menu, so the meal was off to a great start.

7 grain--so satisfying

Dinner roll with butter waiting

Then came the amuse bouche. I love the tradition of amuse bouches-- it's just a great little surprise, and often the dish is one of the best of the meal. This particular occasion brought us a small glass of beet gazpacho atop a bit of wasabi tofu cream, accompanied by a tapioca crisp. The flavor of the gazpacho was intriguing-- sweet (from the beets) layered on top of a pronounced tomato flavor. The cream didn't add too much to the equation, but the tapioca crisp was very interesting. It had the texture of a shrimp cracker but the flavor of a hint of lime. Upscale Tostitos, anyone? The amuse was very good but I didn't finish the whole thing-- again, this was a marathon, not a sprint.

A beautiful layered composition...with a mutant chip

The amuse was whisked away by one of the small army of bussers and runners. Our waiter came by to chat between courses-- he gave us a bit of the history of the building, which was very interesting, especially to someone who grew up in an early antique farmhouse. Despite claiming to be "nervous" after watching me taking notes and snapping pictures, he did an expert job walking the line between aloof and overly solicitous. We felt well taken care of and attended to.

Soon the appetizers arrived. My brother chose the buffalo rib eye, small slices of rare buffalo on a bed of ramps sprinkled with slices of pear that looked like french fries at first glance. The plate was not only visually appealing but, according to its consumer, "off the charts" in flavor. The bro awarded the sauce on this dish alone six Offset Spatulas.

Sliced buffalo ribeye with trompe l'oeil pears

J went with the sauteed gulf shrimp with carrot and hearts of palm. The large, pink shrimp rested on top of dollops of orange and yellow sauces; with the orange from the strips of fried carrot, the dish looked pleasingly tropical. While I obviously did not try any of the shrimp (or any of the meat/fish dishes, for that matter), I asked for a taste of the fried carrot, having just had fried carrot a week earlier. It was scrumptious-- it looked like bacon but tasted like a sweet potato chip. When J left a few extra strips over on his plate, I quickly stole them away. With the plate cleared of shrimp and veggies, J pronounced the dish "magic."

It's like Florida on a plate!

For my appetizer, I ordered the salad of spring vegetable crudite. This lovely dish came as a bed of piquillo cake, which tasted like a red-peppery polenta, crowned by paper-thin shavings of various spring vegetables and accompanied by a dot of roasted red pepper puree and few demure curls of mont enebro cheese. As I tried to refrain from shoveling it in my face at an unladylike pace, I attempted to record what veggies were present. I counted frisee, radish, carrot, zucchini, asparagus, and ramps before I had eaten everything and had to stop counting. This was an incredibly creative and tasty take on the typical vegetable salad. The piquillo cake was especially delightful, and I very much appreciated the care that was obviously taken in putting the dish together (also evidenced by the somewhat alarming number of fingerprints surrounding the composition on the white plate...).

Veggies with weeping red pepper puree

Close up on veggies from the back... and the cute little curl of mont enebro cheese on top

And with that, the appetizers were done. The plates were cleared and we had a few moments to reflect on how good the food was-- and I'll reiterate at this point, it was seriously, seriously good. We were well on our way to a top-ten meal contender.

But first-- the entrees. J ordered the American loin of lamb, which came with eggplant, goat cheese foam, and some sort of caviar essence. This plate was also creatively composed, and it came with a large eggplant chip as a garnish. J devoured the lamb, pronouncing it phenomenal. As J and my brother traded bites of each other's dishes, the bro asked who the chef at OIBL is. J replied, quite aptly, "God."

So many things going on with this lamb...

The bro ordered beef wellington, which came perched on a mixture of ramps and asparagus (I snuck a piece of asparagus and it was so, so good. How do they make asparagus taste that good?). He couldn't get over how delicious it was; in particular, he raved, the crust was "out of this world."

Such a glossy, appealing crust

For my entree, I ordered another vegetarian appetizer selection, the wild mushroom and parmesan crumble. When they brought this dish, I thought they had made a mistake-- it looked like dessert. But no; while it was surrounded by a thin ring of pastry crust, the "ice cream" on top was actually a scoop of chantilly cream, and the crumbles below the cream were parmesan, not brown sugar. As I took forkfuls of crunchy, savory parmesan, creamy, light chantilly and the savory mushroom mixture inside, I couldn't get enough. I slowed down sufficiently to offer bites to J and the bro, but by the time it occurred to me to try to incorporate the dots of reduced balsamic vinegar around the edges, the food was gone.

Ceci n'est pas un dessert

Wow. Time for a brief breather. Our minds were blown-- and while our waiter told us we could linger as long as we wanted before dessert, we had hit our stride and plowed on. While we were all absurdly full at this point, we had been watching mouth-watering sweet creations emerging from the kitchen all evening long, so we couldn't turn down dessert. We placed our orders and tried to rearrange the contents of our stomachs to make room.

The desserts came out a few minutes later. The bro ordered the chocolate tart with salted caramel ice cream. The tart had a molten interior and was incredibly, incredibly rich. He could only manage a few bites; I took a taste, and J gamely tried to pick up the rest, but we still ended up leaving about half the tart on the plate.

Pretty standard but oh so rich

J had ordered the macadamia baklava. While this was probably the least visually appealing dish we had over the course of the day, I had several bites of it and it was very good. The phyllo was crispy and redolent of hazelnuts, and the honey mousse or nougat on the bottom was light and sweet. I do love honey, so I thought this was a great dessert. As a table we ended up polishing this one off.

Not the most beautiful, but I swear it tasted divine

Personally, I ordered a dish of ice cream-- not creative, I know, but I wanted to end the evening without my stomach exploding (and also knew I'd have a bunch of tastes of the boys' desserts as well). I had two scoops of vanilla and one of salted caramel. The vanilla was good but standard; the salted caramel was an interesting flavor-- very salty on the foretaste, but it mellowed into a nice caramel flavor as it melted in your mouth.

Ice cream. That's all.

Just to make things interesting, they also brought a complimentary plate of petit fours. Ohhhh boy. At this point it was just a challenge-- one which I (probably foolishly) took up eagerly. There was a bed of peanut brittle (extravagantly good-- as the bro said, he would have been happy with an order of peanut brittle for dessert), a chocolate chip cookie, a sugar cookie, a fruit gel (or "fruit snack," in my brother's parlance), a brownie bite, and a small fruit financier. While the bro took care of the fruit snack, I tucked away the financier, chocolate chip cookie, half the brownie, half the sugar cookie, and most of the peanut brittle... all in combination with my ice cream. Now, these were small bites, but come to think of it I did eat a striking amount of dessert last night.

Oh god. I really ate pretty much all of this.

So-- there we were. We had eaten probably all we could have eaten; if there were more courses, we likely would have given up. As we sat back, fat and happy, in our chairs, refusing the offers of coffee or tea and waiting for the check to arrive, we gave up in our quest for sighting marriage proposals-- the one young couple in a table near us had already left, sans engagement ring (thus, the brother wins this particular betting go-round...). It's probably clear by now, but this was a truly special, incredible meal. The food was spectacular; the service added much to the equation-- and they didn't skip a beat with our "unconventional" party (every single other table in the restaurant was occupied by couples, or combinations of couples). And the carriage house atmosphere, which could have crossed the border into cheesy, instead felt like a welcome Colonial respite from the humidity and activity outside. While due to budgetary constraints OIBL is not a restaurant I would return to on a regular basis, it's a perfect special-occasion place. And on that note, I'd encourage you not to reserve OIBL for romance. The three of us had a great time celebrating my graduation, and the food was just as good without a diamond ring at the end. For providing a lovely, memorable evening, I hereby make OIBL my first Manhattan five-OS restaurant.