Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone out there... hope 2010 brings health, happiness, and lots of good food (and champagne) to all!

Janine

Burgers and wine, and gossip, at Gossip

It was the week before Christmas, and JR, my good friend from college, was back in town on holiday break from Penn Law. Since I had a light day at work, I hastily seized the opportunity to schedule catch-up drinks. With a little food thrown in for good measure.

We met up at Gossip Bar and Restaurant on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. The place is about a year old, and I've been there a couple of times before; their food is better than it has to be, and there's always a lot of space to spread out, perfect for a chilly winter evening. Notable props to Gossip as well for having the heat blasting-- as someone who is perpetually freezing cold, I was actually comfortable in there. Which means everyone else was likely sweating bullets. But I was happy! Extra spatulas all around!

We started with drinks. JR got a beer, a Killian's, if I remember correctly. And I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir from their short wine list-- three reds, three whites, no nonsense. Unfortunately, our friendly server returned a few minutes later to inform us that they were out of Pinot Noir. Choosing between the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Merlot, I went with Merlot. And it was actually pretty good-- fruity, not too tannic, smooth drinking. The glassware wasn't much to look at, but it got the job done.

Wine, makin' it happen

From the comprehensive menu, JR chose the turkey burger with pepper jack cheese. The verdict? Again, better than it had to be. The ingredients were fresh and the cheese well-melted; JR noted that the bun didn't quite do it for him, but the patty itself was moist and flavorful. Pressed for a spatula rating, JR vascillated between three and four before settling on three, noting "how good can a turkey burger really be?" Of course, the fries must be mentioned: I tried one, and it was piping hot, but I generally prefer mine in the shoestring style rather than this skin-on, chubby rendition.

T-burg

So once again Gossip retains its three Offset Spatula rating. It's a slightly better-than-standard Irish pub, comfortable, a little upscale, with reasonably priced drinks and food that will exceed most low expectations. I hope it remains in the neighborhood for a while, since it certainly fills a useful niche.

Gossip Bar & Restaurant
733 Ninth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets
212-265-2720

Holey Cream rocks Hell's Kitchen

After a few days at home, I boarded the Acela from Boston to New York, ready to head back to my awesome city. I was ravenous once I finally reached my apartment, and after a highly unsatisfying dinner of soup (I don't like soup. But every now and then I have to eat some to re-confirm the fact that I don't like it), I was ready for some dessert. Out I went; I passed Kyotofu, which had some tempting vanilla bean soft serve... but I had a mission. A few blocks up, I reached my destination: Holey Cream.

Boisterous awning

Now, despite the somewhat sketchy name (get your mind out of the gutter!), I had high hopes for this place. Rumors had been flying that they'd carry Sedutto ice cream (YUM) and homemade donuts made according to some crazy recipe from a place out on Long Island. Well, these were some rumors I needed to verify.

And verify I did. The place is narrow and utilitarian, though still inviting; there are enticing baked goods in display cases and soft-serve machines lining the back wall. The woman working behind the counter, who I found out was actually the pastry chef, was incredibly friendly and upbeat, offering huge tastes of ice cream eagerly (and yes, it is Sedutto ice cream... score!... and I think the gelato is Ciao Bella, but that is unverified). I got a small cup of malt ball gelato, which was creamy and not overwhelmingly malt-y, with appealing chocolate bits providing textural contrast.

Donuts!

Cupcakes! I will be back for you, my pretties...

Ice cream menu

Super sundaes

Pastries... Donuts for $1.25

My ice cream

I inquired about the baked goods-- made in-house or sourced?-- at which point I found out this lovely lady was the pastry chef who made them all herself, and did I perhaps want a donut? On the house? Uh, yes please. She handed me a small, frosted confection about the size of a deck of cards, enrobed in icing and chocolate crumbs, noting that she had made the donut about two hours ago so it was super fresh. I took a bite. I think I mumbled something along the lines of "this is crazy good," but I don't really remember, because my brain was overwhelmed by the sweet, rich icing and the tender, cakey-yet-stretchy insides that carried that slight tinge of appealing friedness that makes donuts so irresistable. When she started describing a donut ice cream sandwich she sometimes makes by cutting a donut in half and stuffing it with ice cream, I think I may have gone into a dessert-induced catatonic state. Note to self: access donut ice cream sandwich, stat, by any means necessary.

Oh it's just so beautiful...

With my donut and cup of ice cream in tow, I tumbled out onto Ninth Avenue, a happy and sugar-sated camper. It probably goes without saying, but Holey Cream rocks my world. The prices are surprisingly reasonable-- my small ice cream was well under $4, and of course the donut was free-- and the goods are delicious. And gosh darn it, it feels good to support a local mom-and-pop shop rather than a huge conglomerate like the Cold Stone/Tim Horton's a block away. I really hope HC stays for a long, long time, and while I will certainly do my best to keep it in business single-handedly, experience shows I may need help. Dear readers, stop in and sample the goodies. You won't be sorry.

Holey Cream
Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street
212-247-8400

Merry Christmas!

To all readers out there, I wish you a very happy holiday filled with family, fun, and (of course) great food. Merry Christmas!

Janine

Curious.

Up in AV's neighborhood this past weekend, I noticed something curious: a new Thai restaurant. Now, in a city with more Thai joints than Starbucks, that in itself is not notable. However, this new establishment caught my eye because of its name, Tiny Thai, and logo, a big stylized T. Curiously, there used to be a Tiny Thai right near me in Hell's Kitchen, a place that slowly and unclearly morphed into Tai Thai, AV's and my preferred local Thai restaurant. This was obviously the very same Tiny Thai, and a glimpse at the takeout menu confirmed that the menu was very similar to the Tai Thai restaurant (which has recently been revamped slightly). I'm itching to know what the deal is here-- are they owned by the same people? Is it a chain? Why did the HK Tiny Thai become Tai Thai? What is the DEAL, yo?

Same, same, same

Anyway, I'm a bit out on Thai food for the moment since getting food poisoning after a recent dinner at a Thai restaurant, but as soon as I feel I can stomach the sight of peanut sauce once again, rest assured we will check out the new Tiny Thai and report back fully.

LWF&D makes yummy treats. And eats them.

On Tuesday afternoon, I made delicious, delicious cupcakes. They went a little something like this:

First, a thorough search of the internet for the perfect recipe. Chocolate cupcakes? Maybe. Buttermilk vanilla? Perhaps. Banana? Aha! Yes! After my love affair with Billy's banana cupcakes was sadly truncated by a return to my "real" job, I haven't had that blissful taste in months. Well, it was time to rock 'n' roll.

Following Martha Stewart's recipe (yes, cringe. I'm not a Martha fan, but I am man--well, woman--enough to recognize a good recipe when I see one), I conjured up a big bowl of cupcake batter. It was an interesting batter-- more of a muffin mixture than a traditional cake batter, using melted butter and mashed bananas. And then before I baked the little delights, I hid a secret surprise in each, my little editorial addition to the recipe. You'll see.

They came out of the oven looking beautiful:

Tiny golden beauties

The corner cupcake

And then I frosted them. Martha's recommendation is a honey-cinnamon frosting, basically a traditional American buttercream with a bit of honey and a dash of cinnamon. But, in my quest to replicate Billy's masterpiece, I wanted cream cheese all the way. So I whipped up a batch using, yes, another Martha recipe. And once my beautiful cupcake stumps were cool, I slathered those pupplies with the frosting. They looked like this:

Crowned with snow

Finally, after dinner, I chose the perfect one to be my tester cupcake. Yup:

THE one

As always, I cut it in half... revealing the surprise!

Hidden Hershey kiss!!

And then I dug in. Dear readers, forgive me for tooting my own horn, but these cupcakes were damn good. I'll admit the frosting wasn't as good as Billy's cream cheese frosting, which I suspect has a higher ratio of sugar to cream cheese (my version was tangier and softer). But the cake was delicious, and the bit of chocolate hidden inside put it absolutely over the edge. I gobbled this down in the blink of an eye.

And then I licked the frosting bowl. Oops?

Give it a try yourself. Recipes are available here:

Banana cupcakes
Cream cheese frosting

It was cold out, so we ate ice cream

After our light dinner at Cavatappo, we burst out onto the frigid sidewalks of First Avenue and had one thought: ice cream! Communicating in puffs of frozen breath, we agreed that clearly the best course of action would be to stroll down the 8 blocks to Emack and Bolio's for some delicious ice cream.

And stroll-- well, sprint-- we did. I like E&B's because they have incredible lowfat hard frozen yogurt, especially an Oreo flavor that's sublime and definitely doesn't taste lowfat. This time around, though, I went with a small cup of half low-fat Oreo and half full-fat Buttercrunch Swiss Chip. This flavor had a mild toffee kick, a hint of caramel, and a few bits of chocolate here and there. Yum.

Oreo on top; Swiss Chip underneath

AV went for a cup of Cosmic Crunch, which was vanilla ice cream with caramel, chocolate chips, nuts, and toffee cookie pieces. Now, I really do like my ice cream, but this flavor was almost-- dare I say it?-- too rich for me. I had a taste and it was almost as though the flavor expanded to fill my stomach. It was delicious, but perhaps too delicious.

Intensity!

We polished off our ice cream sitting on the bench inside the tiny shop, as the friendly employee went into the back room and played guitar. It was surprisingly nice, sitting there eating ice cream and listening to some acoustic stylings. And then we were done, tossing our cups in the trash and, with a preemptive shiver, heading back out into the frozen night.

Vegetarian delights at Cavatappo

Saturday night, and we were back at Cavatappo. It has quickly become our go-to restaurant near AV's place-- delicious Italian food, reasonably priced, and relatively easy to get into. This time around, we nabbed a 7PM reservation about an hour before and tumbled in right on time to a bustling dining room.

Before I get to the food, I will say this: there is never a shortage of complete characters at Cavatappo. This time around we were seated next to four middle-aged diners, one of whom spent the evening regaling the others about her Xanax-and-three-martini flight habits, another of whom interrupted-- literally interrupted-- our waiter mid-discussion with us to demand the check. Ahhh, the Upper East Side.

First the bread. The picture is blurry, but the bread is reliable, and the olive oil was delicious. One piece dispatched quickly quieted my hungry stomach.

Hunks o' carbs

And then the entrees. AV went for a dish he has enjoyed thoroughly in the past, the rigatoni with eggplant, tomato sauce, and ricotta. This is one of those dishes that is hearty and warm and comforting all at once. A hefty portion of such is also only $15 (it's also available in an appetizer portion for $9).

AND it's vegetarian!

My choice was two veggie sides, a sauteed spinach and a sauteed broccoli. I asked for "easy on the oil" for both, as these types of veggies in restaurants can often just become oil bombs, and the kitchen complied. Both were well-cooked and fresh; the broccoli retained its al dente bite, which added some much-needed texture to the soft spinach. The two portions combined were huge-- I ate half of each and had the remainder for dinner the next day.

Forest of green

Broccoli trees

So for under $25 for the two of us, we were in and out with happy hearts and full bellies. I'll also add that the service at Cavatappo is always a delight-- we've had a number of different servers there, and they're always warm and friendly with a much-needed sense of humor. So once again, Cavatappo retains its four Offset Spatula status as our familiar neighborhood joint. I'd encourage you to check it out. Just don't take our table!

Cavatappo Grill
1712 First Avenue, between 88th and 89th Streets
212-987-9260

I made biscuits!

Last week I had some buttermilk in the fridge (leftover from a semi-successful black-and-white cookie project) and some extra cheddar cheese. So I made biscuits! Cheddar-buttermilk biscuits, to be exact. And they looked like this:

I didn't have a biscuit cutter so I used the rim of a glass. Still came out relatively round.

Yummm

Later that evening, I delivered them to AV, and I tried a taste. I admit I'm definitely not a biscuit connoisseur, but these were pretty good taste-wise. However, texturally, they were on the crumbly side rather than the flaky side. I used butter rather than shortening or lard, because a) that's what the recipe called for, and b) I'm much more of a fan of butter than either of the alternatives. Is it possible to make flaky butter-baked biscuits? Any tips or tricks? Maybe I'll make perfect, flaky biscuits my next recipe quest. If you have the answer, email me or leave a comment...

LWF&D gorges on chocolate and wine at Bouchon Bakery

A few weeks ago I heard about this thing called the Circle of Taste, a promotional food-related group for the Time Warner Center restaurants and shops. I signed up and entered a few of their giveaways and then didn't give it a second thought (go on, you can sign up too-- click here). But then about a week ago I received a call on behalf of the Circle of Taste informing me that I'd actually won one of the slots at a "Chocolate Delight on a Star Filled Night," a chocolate and wine tasting at Bouchon Bakery. Score! So early on Thursday evening, I met SB, my good friend and +1 for the evening, at Bouchon for an evening of indulgence.

We were met by a high table set to accommodate the eight winners and their guests, with each place set with a menu and a goody bag. I love goody bags! This one included a few Time-Warner-Center-related items, including a reusable shopping bag (which I actually like), in addition to a star-shaped Christmas ornament that mimicked the enormous stars hung in the TWC's atrium and a box of chocolates from Bouchon. Yum.

The evening's bill of fare

The glorious light-filled atrium

Goodies!

Take-home chocolates!

We kicked off the evening with a glass of Bisson Prosecco, which we sipped while waiting for the first dessert to arrive. The prosecco was very, very dry, with an almost appley taste-- a bit austere at the start, but after a bit of air and a few sips the taste opened up.

Prosecco

And then the first dessert came, and we were off and running. Chef Sebastien Rouxel came out to introduce and describe the dessert, which he did prior to every course, a rare treat (I always like seeing the chefs who prepare the food. It makes it more personal!). The tasting started with white chocolate, a dessert entitled "Douceur Tropicale." A beautiful dome encased in white chocolate was filled with white chocolate cream on a base of rum cake. Next to the hemisphere sat a square of braised pineapple atop a square of citrus gelee, all accompanied by a smear of caramel jam. Though some don't enjoy the taste of white chocolate, I'm definitely a fan, and this dessert was right-on. The mousse inside the dome was ethereally light, and the thin piece of cake that formed the base of the dome was perfect. I'm a huge proponent of cooked pineapple-- I love it grilled, but apparently braised and seared works too-- so I loved that piece of the dessert as well. When I sipped the prosecco with the dessert, I found the bubbly almost too dry for the intense sweetness of the white chocolate. But a sip between courses was an excellent palate-cleanser.

Dome of delight, plus pineapple

White chocolate mousse

The next course started with a glass of Chateau la Rame Sainte Croix Du Mont, which turned out to be a honey-colored dessert wine. At first sip, it struck me as way too sweet, almost syrupy with a candied aroma and a faint taste of apricots. But this actually turned out to be the best pairing of the night-- when consumed with the milk chocolate "Tentation au Chocolat," the wine actually tasted less sweet and quite complementary. The dessert itself was a knockout, perhaps my favorite of the night. A scoop of milk chocolate cremeux-- basically a silky mousse-- was enrobed in a praline glaze and topped with three crackly chocolate bites. A tiny scoop of condensed milk sherbet sat atop a crumbly cookie of sorts. Oh, and there were two smears of sauce and a tangled tuile that tasted like bananas. The composition was a visual delight, and the sublime taste of that milk chocolate cremeux is pretty much engraved in my brain. Insane.

Sweet, sweet elixir

A milk chocolate composition

Inside the milk chocolate cremeux

Our final course began with a glass of Melville Estate Pinot Noir. After the unctuous sweetness of the dessert wine, the Pinot Noir tasted dark and almost harsh, but perhaps that made it an appropriate accompaniment to the dark chocolate "Tart au Chocolate Acidule." This dessert was another incredible composition, a layered stripe of chocolate cake, mousse, and dark chocolate ganache topped with a crinkle of gold leaf and a spiral of dark chocolate. A scoop of cranberry sorbet, draped in pink foam, sat atop a carpet of chocolate cookie soil. And then there was a spoonful of pure caramel, topped with a dehydrated cranberry tuile that tasted uncannilly like a fruit roll-up. I often find dark chocolate desserts to be too strong, just too much, but (perhaps due to all the wine?) I didn't have that problem with this plate-- everything, once again, was incredible. I'll admit my favorite part was the caramel-- smooth, sweet, and perfect-- but I also truly enjoyed the cake-mousse-ganache concoction.

A glass of melted rubies

Dark chocolate + upscale fruit roll-up = awesome

So, in sum, damnnnnnnn, Bouchon. These desserts were incredible, and sitting in the chattering Bouchon "dining room" (really a cordoned-off area of the third floor of the TWC) opposite a sparkling atrium with giant stars whose lights glittered to the tune of Christmas music... well, it was just an incredibly pleasant experience. And to think SB and I got all this food and drink, and an evening of quality catch-up time, gratis... well, it makes me want to keep entering all the contests I come across. And though it may increase my competition, I encourage you to do so as well-- you've got nothing to lose, and you may just win something truly sweet.

Circle of Taste
Time Warner Center
Ten Columbus Circle

Kyotofu is now getting about 10% of my disposable income

Last night I went back to Kyotofu for some more soymilk soft serve. I love this stuff. More than anything else recently, it's truly grown on me from a food I legitimately panned the first time I tasted it to something I crave. This week's flavors are Maple Vanilla and Chocolate, which sounded delightful together. A quick order for a small swirl with fruit compote and we were on our way.

Melty and filling and scrumptious

First off, props to the robust serving of fruit compote-- depending on who's working behind the counter, sometimes you end up with only a few dribbles of the fruit syrup, but last night I had a healthy portion of the actual stewed strawberries. Rockin'. As for the soft serve itself, the maple vanilla was a delight-- on first taste, the nutty soymilk bite came through faintly, but after a few more spoonfuls it was all maple vanilla all the way. The chocolate was very chocolatey, as promised. Curiously, I expected the two flavors to meld together well, as vanilla and chocolate dairy soft serve usually do, but I found that the two flavors rather stood alone, not really warring per se but not complementing or enhancing one another either. And any spoonful that contained both was overwhelmed by the strength of the chocolate. Since the delicious fruit compote goes better with vanilla-based flavors than chocolate anyway, I think my next purchase (ahem) will be straight maple-vanilla. Regardless, it was a satisfying treat for mind and body-- I think Kyotofu does vanilla flavors really well and (on behalf of my taste buds if not my wallet...) hope to see them in the weekly rotation for weeks to come!

The Turducken of baked goods at Andre's

This past weekend, my good friend BD from home and his girlfriend MM were in town. We met up over dinner at Cavatappo Grill, that old standby, and then released ourselves onto the UES streets in search of dessert. What would satisfy our cravings? We swung by Two Little Red Hens, jonesin' for some cupcakes and pie, only to find it closed. For shame. Onward we went, one block south, to Andre's for some Hungarian treats.

AV and I had hit up this little secret before, finding the edibles sweet and the employees sour. This time around, the service wasn't quite so brusque-- not exactly touchy-feely either, but at least they didn't seem angry that we were there. That was an improvement. The four of us grabbed a table and selected our snacks; a few moments later, the goodies arrived.

Both AV and MM went with the chocolate croissant. These were large and graced with a flurry of powdered sugar, but if you're looking for a classical, flaky French croissant, these are not it. The dough was stretchy and dense, almost like a breakfast bread or a heavier cinnamon roll dough. On the plus side, the chocolate inside was well distributed, and the whole thing came together well in a finish of chocolate and brown sugar.

About the size of a Hutch football

My choice was the vanilla roulade, a slice of chocolate cake spiraled with vanilla creme and a center of jellied cherry. I stuck to the center of the treat, where the cake had absorbed some of the cherry liquid and was tasty and moist. The cake around the exterior was a bit dry; no matter, as I was only able to finish about a half or two thirds of the treat before I gave up.

You can see the moisture in the middle

But there was no giving up on the part of BD, the evening's champion. He ordered what Andre's euphemistically calls "Chocolate Mousse Cake," a slice that turns out to be a previously undiscovered concoction combining chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, cheesecake, and chocolate ganache icing. This was unquestionably the Turducken of baked goods: Gancheemoucake, or perhaps Moueese'ganake. Regardless, BD tucked in with the vigor of a veteran, demolishing first the cake and the cheesecake and then, finally, with a few heroic bites, the thick layer of mousse. Dammmmmmn.

Hard to believe this actually exists

At that point, it was pretty much all we could do to roll ourselves to the curb and our respective destinations. We definitely had a good time at Andre's, but I'm still on the ambivalent side-- the place doesn't have a whole lot of atmosphere, and without careful ordering, you can definitely find better baked goods elsewhere. However, if you're in the mood for strudel or rugelach or one of their specialties, or if you're simply in a pastry pinch (damn you, Two Little Red Hens!), stop on by and check it out-- at the very least, it's a neighborhood institution.

Andre's Bakery

1631 Second Avenue, between 84th and 85th Streets

212-327-1105

A quick stop into Obao

'Twas the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and as I found myself in the city rather than at home in Massachusetts as was customary (long story, but I actually had a nice low-key Thanksgiving in NYC), BL and I took the opportunity to have our (semi-) monthly catch-up dinner. We trekked through the abandoned wastelands of Midtown East to try Obao, Michael Huynh's newest outpost. It's gotten a lot of buzz but mixed reviews, so I was curious to try it out.

Like the rest of Midtown East, the place was pretty much deserted. As I was led through the empty noodle bar into the pretty, serene dining room in the back, I spotted one other three-person party having dinner in a booth; they vacated shortly after I sat down, so BL and I had the place to ourselves until we paid the check, at which point another small group came in to take our place. No matter; especially when it was this quiet, the dining room was a nice place to be, full of handsome dark woods and anchored by two long communal tables down the center.

Our server was friendly but seemed still to be getting her footing-- in fact, the whole staff seemed overwhelmingly tentative. It took a good five minutes for our server to return to the table and inform BL that his order of a birch beer would go unfulfilled: they had run out. (A huge run on birch beer earlier in the day? Who knows?) However, we didn't mind at all-- we chatted as we waited for our much-anticipated dishes to emerge.

BL went with the Singapore Noodles, which were thin noodles served along with Chinese sausage, shrimp, crispy lard, and chives. The noodles were served in an appealing little metal wok-like dish, which I liked. BL approved of the dish, and when prompted gave it a three-spatula designation.

Noooooooodles

My choice was a no-brainer: the papaya salad. This was an artfully disheveled pile of deliciousness, although the taste was unlike any papaya salad I'd had. There was some spice-- pickled plum powder, perhaps?-- that dominated the flavor profile. The shredded coconut was an interesting touch but didn't add much in the way of taste. The crispy shallot, however, added both taste and texture. Yum.

Offbeat papaya salad

And that was it. A quick trip to the bathroom revealed an unmarked door and no light (literally, the socket had no light bulb). An attempt to pay with credit card revealed that they're cash only. So the final verdict? Worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood, but I wouldn't trek across the city to go-- it's a three Offset Spatula spot that's overshadowed by all the great Thai options much closer to home.

Obao
222 E. 53rd Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
212-308-5588