French food and missing chicken at Marseille

During a nice bright spell this afternoon, I stepped out of work with my manager for a lovely lunch at Marseille, on the corner of 9th avenue and 44th street. My brother has consistently raved about Marseille, especially for brunch, but I had never been. It's owned by the same people who own Nizza (see an earlier post for more on THAT!), so on the one hand that portended well in terms of food quality, but on the other hand, I wasn't really sure what to expect from the service. As it turns out, that pre-lunch forecast turned out to be just about correct.

We strolled down 44th street, passing the outdoor tables on the way inside (it was just a touch too cool for al fresco dining, although there were several parties who did choose that option). Even without a reservation, we were seated right away. That was great-- except the waiter led us through the large, bright, bistro-esque dining room to a back corner, where he showed us to a two-top shoved in between another tiny table and a protruding door/entry area. The woman occupying the bench seat at the adjoining table had sprawled all over the two-table bench, and begrudgingly moved her limbs and her possessions out of the way for me to sit down. Unsurprisingly, our corner was dark. What IS it with me, restaurants, and darkness?

Past the outdoor tables...

...Through the spacious dining room....

...To our out-of-the-way corner. This is the view from our table, with me leaning around the outstretched entryway.

The waiter took our drink order (NYC tap, sadly... a boozy lunch this was not to be), and we looked over the menu. Soon, he returned with our water and took our order. I requested the addition of asparagus to a salad, and this was, unfortunately, not allowed, or at least suitably complex as to befuddle him. But a side order of asparagus WAS fair game. Apparently they couldn't take the extra step of putting the asparagus ON the salad, which was what I did when the dishes arrived. Well, whatever. He'd provide, I'd assemble.

While we chatted, the bread basket arrived. This was a small package of two different kinds of thinly sliced white bread, swaddled in a somewhat tired-looking cloth napkin (not sure why they went with that... butcher paper would have been much better and fresher-looking). The accompanying condiment was a dish of sweet butter in a bath of olive oil dotted with rosemary. Now THIS was creative-- I've never actually seen a mixture of butter and olive oil in this context before. Frankly, it presented a challenging conundrum: both the butter and the olive oil were delicious, so I couldn't decide what to put on my bread. I started with the butter, which tasted clear and sweet, and moved on to a bit of olive oil, which had a fruity tang and was much enhanced by the bathing herbs. The bread itself (I only sampled one kind) was a crusty peasant bread with a good, chewy, stretchy crumb. I would have liked a slightly thicker slice, but it was definitely a solid bread basket-- much elevated by the innovative butter/olive oil condiment.

Bread and butter. And oil. Cue my head exploding!

Our food arrived not too long after we had finished our slices of bread. I had ordered the Salade Jardiniere with the dressing on the side, with the addition of a side dish of asparagus, as you may recall. The salad had a bed of mixed greens, a bit heavy on the frisee (but hey, it's French, what are you going to do?), topped with shaved red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, peeled thin cucumber rounds, and haricots verts. They remembered the dressing on the side-- hooray!

Nice vertical reach on this salad

The asparagus came as large asparagus spears with peeled bases, grilled and resting in a small but perceptible lather of butter.

Asparagus, glowing with buttery char

In a crazy and ground-breaking move, I put the asparagus on TOP of the salad and ate it as part of a cohesive meal (part of a complete breakfast!). The salad was fresh, and I really appreciated the thin slicing of the vegetables-- they made usually not-so-palatable veggies, like onion and cucumber, go down easy. The salad dressing was very mediocre, sort of bland and uninspired. I topped the salad with a few hearty shakes from the salt shaker to add some spark; especially without the buttery oomph of the asparagus, the Salade Jardiniere wouldn't have had much flavor.

On to my companion's pick: he selected the grilled chicken sandwich, which came with a small pile of salad greens cradling a few sliced cherry tomatoes. He debated ordering fries, which were ubiquitous throughout the restaurant (and looked really great), but ultimately he passed. A virtuous guy, my manager.

Sandwich from the back

Sandwich from the front. Notice anything?

The first thing we both remarked on about this sandwich was the chicken. It was... small. There seemed to be about twice as much bun as chicken, especially because the bun was so lofty and fluffy. But wait: upon further investigation, we found a hidden cache of stealth chicken!

Tiny little chicken!

HaHA! We found the chicken, uh, tail.

Once we had located the chicken, sticking out the back of the bun, my manager dug in. The sandwich came with roasted red pepper, arugula and bacon, all slathered in aioli (that's Marseillaise mayo, for the uninitiated) on that fluffy brioche roll.

Sandwich innards. Check out that thick blanket of roasted red pepper... and the comprehensive aioli coverage

Despite the, shall we say, misallocated chicken incident, the sandwich was gobbled down eagerly. As the plates were cleaned, my manager deemed the sandwich "tasty, like DELICIOUS tasty." He noted that the flavor of roasted red pepper had managed to permeate the whole sandwich-- bread, chicken, and all-- which was a very good thing, as he liked roasted red peppers. Note to readers: if you don't like roasted red peppers, don't order this sandwich.

Plates were cleared, the bill was brought and paid promptly, and we made our exit. The food at Marseille was definitely top-notch, and the service was competent but brisk. I wish we hadn't been shunted to the dankest corner of the restaurant; as we walked through the dining room on the way out, we both looked longingly at the sunlit, elbow-room-providing tables we could have had. Sigh. Maybe next time-- as I'd definitely come back. Marseille is a really nice place for a lunch on a sunny day, and I imagine it would be a great place for dinner as well-- especially as that would afford an opportunity to try the desserts, which are almost always awesome in French restaurants. The food wasn't the BEST I've ever had, but that may have been at least partially my fault for ordering a plain or bland-ish dish. Based on our experience, however, I'd give Marseille a solid three Offset Spatulas.

Note: Lawrence, the NYCFoodGuy, promised to provide me with an image of a half offset spatula so I can upgrade my ratings system to be more nuanced. So far, he hasn't done so. If he had, I think Marseille would have gotten three and a HALF OSes. But no half spatula picture, no half spatula ratings, so three OSes it is.

Beers and burgers (and salad) at BXL

Last night after work I met up with my brother and our friend Lawrence, also known as the NYC Food Guy (http://www.nycfoodguy.com/), for dinner at BXL. BXL is a Belgium beer house/restaurant on West 43rd Street, just off 7th Ave. Because of its proximity to my office, it's the go-to after-work drinks spot for my colleagues. Aside from its enormous selection of Belgian beers, both bottled and on tap, BXL is known for its fries (or "frites," if we're being fancy about it, which we are). So I plugged the place to Lawrence, who is all about the fries, and soon we and the bro were off to BXL.

The oh-so-Belgian facade of BXL

Inside, BXL is dark. In nice weather, they open up the front windows so the few tables in front of the bar get some light, but most of the seating is past the bar in the dark, dark bowels of the building. Yes, I'm breaking my rule to only go to restaurants that have ample lighting so my pictures turn out well. What can I say? BXL and NYCFoodGuy had to meet.

The darkened cavern that is BXL

The three of us settled in at a table in the corner of the dining area. Aside from being dark, the space is dominated by a large mirror running the length of the one of the walls, which reflects the images of the TVs constantly playing European soccer matches, presumably Belgian soccer, assuming there's a lot of soccer in Belgium. The walls also have a few prints dotting the blank spaces, providing a bit of whimsical artwork to brighten the mood (figuratively, that is. Did I mention it's dark in there?).

We spent a while grappling with the food and beer menus. My brother ordered a Hoegaarden, which they didn't have, so the friendly waitress recommended another beer (Ommegang), which both he and Lawrence ordered. I got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Yes, it's weird to order wine at a beer house, but a) I don't like beer, and b) their Sauvignon Blanc is actually pretty good.

Extensive selections of both food (left) and beer (right, also double-sided)

Wine and beer

Drinks in hand, we looked over the menu. The waitress gave us ample time to decide, and when she returned, I ordered the house salad (surprise!), while both Lawrence and my brother went for the cheeseburger. For the bro, cheddar cheese; for the NYCFoodGuy, American cheese with extra-crispy bacon.

While the kitchen got to work, I requested a bread basket. I consider the BXL bread basket more of a stopgap measure than anything gourmet; it's great when you've had some wine and need to absorb it, but on its own merits it's nothing special. The basket comes with thick slices of white bread and some slightly less-white bread-- looks like it's trying to be wheat bread, but I'll be damned if there's any whole grain in that puppy. There was also a small dish of ice cold pats of butter. Kudos to BXL for their powers of refrigeration... but Lawrence and I warmed our pats over the small candle for a moment or two to try to soften them. We were only sort of kidding.

Bread: white in back, not-quite-wheat in front

Right on the tail of the bread basket, our food arrived. First up: my salad. Standard mesclun greens with a few wedges of tomato, coated in a delicious creamy vinaigrette dressing. I supplemented with the discarded garnishes from the burgers (more tomatoes and greens), and that, some bread, and some stolen fries provided a good meal.

A tangle of greens

The burgers, of course, were a different story. Hand-packed and grilled, according to the manager, they arrived on large plates next to a small mountain of fries, accompanied by a grilled bun, a dish of mayo (for the fries... again, Belgium), some garnishes of lettuce, tomato, and red onion, and tiny mound of side-salady mesclun. The cheese was well-melted, and even to a vegetarian, these burgers looked good. Hey, I understand carnivores, I'm just not one. Some shots of these masterpieces-- I used flash on the burgers, upon the urging of NYCFood Guy ("Be obnoxious!"):

Cheeseburger with cheddar, behind fortress of fries

There's the "well-done" bacon in the back. It was really crispy.

Burger in progress

While Lawrence busily photographed his burger (stay tuned for his post on the experience), the bro and I got to work on our food. I munched on my greens and stole the occasional fry. A word on BXL frites: they're good. Really good. And I'm a bit disappointed in last night because they weren't piping hot-- when they're fresh out of the fryer, they're irresistible. Crunchy, just thick enough, and dusted with large specks of sea salt (although I always add more of my own), they're tiny little sticks of potatoey goodness, perfect by themselves, although some prefer to dip them in the pots of ketchup (definitely Heinz, my brother noted) provided on the table. My two companions definitely went to town with the ketchup, both for the burgers and the fries, and when they exhausted the small jar at our table, a new supply was brought out immediately upon request.

We ate, drank, and talked, and soon the food was gone. Our plates were cleared quickly, but it's worth noting that our waitress let us linger for as long as we wanted, even after it became clear that we weren't going to order anything else. It's a bit loud inside BXL, but it's a great place just to hang out, chat, and linger over a drink.

A note on the bathrooms, as always: The women's bathroom at BXL is cold. There's not really much else to say except that-- it's really cold in there, as though there's a window open to the outside or some sort of cross-ventilation, even though it's tucked in the interior of the restaurant. Ladies, go to BXL; pee; see for yourself.

I must say, I'm fond of BXL. Perhaps it's because I've had a lot of good times there with colleagues, but the food is always good, the drinks are delicious, and the atmosphere is fun. Sure, the service sometimes is a bit iffy, but the waiters do wear cool softball-jersey-style "BXL Cafe" shirts. But you're there for the people you're with, and for the fries (I hope I can get NYCFoodGuy to return for an order of piping-hot fries so he can see exactly what I'm talking about). We met the manager on the way out, who proudly discussed the construction of their burgers with Lawrence for a few moments. It was clear he felt good about the place he was running, and I do too. For all these factors, I give BXL a solid Three Offset Spatula rating.

Ethos, more than just pricey water at Starbucks

Last night my brother, his friend and I ventured to Ethos, a Greek restaurant in Murray Hill, for a lovely dinner to start our night out. I had read lots of good things about Ethos online, and I've wanted to go there for a long time. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a List restaurant in the technical sense-- I tend to reserve List designation for what would be called "reach" restaurants in the college-admissions parlance. That is, List restaurants are expensive or hard to get into or both. Ethos is really neither; I just hadn't gotten a chance to go there yet. So last night was the night.

We arrived a bit late for our 7:30 reservation (Manhattan traffic was a complete mess due to all the street fairs... so my previous post for more on that), but the host didn't seem to mind. We were led to a comfortable, high-backed booth in the back, weaving in between the tables along the way.

The restaurant had its front windows open to the lovely weather outside, so the temperature inside was cool but comfortable. The space was packed with tables and decor, but the small area managed not to seem cramped-- I think the high-backed booths probably helped a bit with that. Someone had certainly put a lot of thought into making this restaurant evoke Greece, with lots of exposed brick faux-distressed walls, trellises with vines, and so on. As we started our meal, there was ample light, but around 8:30 someone turned the lights down to "da club" status, which meant we could no longer see each other. We were about finished by that point anyway, but the moral here is if you want to be able to see your companions, go to Ethos on the earlier side (plus, by the time we left there was quite a long wait).

The interesting "Greek" decor

Fresh fish on ice, awaiting your order

Our waiter brought us menus. While my companions looked over the ample selection of food, I perused the wine list. The selection was small, but very, very affordable-- there were a number of bottles under $40, and even some under $30. On the recommendation from the waiter, we went with a Greek Sauvignon Blanc for $33. He disappeared and returned shortly with the bottle of wine and poured me a taste. The wine was good, but unfortunately it was about room temperature, which is not something I like in wine-- I like white wines, and I like them cold (probably too cold, if you're going to be technical about it). So I asked if he could chill the bottle a little bit, maybe bring out an ice bucket or something. He seemed to argue with me for a brief moment about whether the bottle was cold (um, it wasn't), and after a bit of disagreement about whether he had to return the bottle entirely-- that wasn't what I was asking for-- he realized I just wanted an ice bucket, brought it over, and plopped the bottle inside. Once we got past all the semantics (and the wine cooled down a little bit), it was actually a good selection, vibrant and sharp with an appetite-stimulating acidic bite.

Phew. On to the food. We placed our order after much hemming and hawwing, if you will. The Ethos menu is pretty large, and there's a lot on there that looks really good. One of my regrets is that I didn't get to try any of the Greek spreads, especially the hummus and melitzanosalata (which looked like babaghanouj). But we had to make a decision, and we didn't have all night, so we put a stake in the ground and chose.

While we waited for our food to arrive, a runner brought over a bread basket and a bottle of olive oil for dipping. Now, you know how important a bread basket is to me-- a restaurant with a bad bread basket is, by definition, a bad restaurant-- and Ethos's offering, which was stuffed with warm, soft pita and a couple of other varieties of bread, didn't disappoint. I skipped the slices of bread (looked like a type of white with a sesame-seed crust) for the pita, ripping small chunks off the wedge and dipping them in the oil. I think it was the best pita I've ever had.

Warm, tender, lovely pita

Once we were nearing the end of the bread basket, our food began to arrive. Perfect timing. My salad was up first, making me fear that they brought it out as an appetizer and I would have to finish it because my companions' food would arrive-- but no, the other dishes were close behind. I had ordered the Ethos Salata, requesting tomatoes instead of the grilled fennel (not my favorite vegetable, as I don't like the licorice-y taste) and the dressing on the side. What arrived was an ample plate of veggies, including a few surprises.

The Ethos Salata... sort of

The menu description of this salad is as follows: "Organic mixed greens with grilled fennel, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese and olives with Greek wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil." What I ultimately found on my plate was a large pile of mixed greens, with shredded carrots, thinly sliced red onion, raw strips of green pepper, and a few roasted red peppers mixed in, topped with chunks of tomato, a few sundried tomatoes, and three olives. Along the sides of the plate were large discs of green apple topped with rounds of fresh goat cheese. I give Ethos credit for remembering not to put in the fennel and put the dressing on the side, but I'm a bit puzzled as to why they don't list all the ingredients on the menu. Although there is a possibility that all the extra veggies were just there on my salad because I didn't go with the fennel... but I suspect not. Either way, I dug in.

The salad was an ample plate of food, and it was good. The vegetables were crisp and fresh; even the roasted red peppers were good (and didn't give me indigestion afterwards, hooray!). The goat cheese was creamy and mild, an interesting flavor I'm not used to in my typical Coach-Farms consumption, and nicely complemented by the tart green apple base. The only negatives to the salad were the bits of green pepper (I picked those out) and the lack of abundant olives. The dressing was also somewhat lackluster; I abandoned it after a few forkfuls, but there was enough other flavor going on that I didn't really need dressing anyway.

Close-up of the goat cheese and apple rounds

My brother got the Ethos Arni, a dish of braised lamb in tomato sauce with potatoes, all baked in a clay pot. The waiter brought over the cooking vessel itself and then scooped out the meat and potatoes onto the plate-- a nice bit of tableside theater. The dish looked savory and warm; my brother gobbled it down with expressions of delight, pronouncing it like a better version of pot roast. Our friend ordered the Moussaka, a lasagna-like brick of ground meat, eggplant, potatoes, and bechamel, topped with some melted cheese, all accompanied by green beans in a tomato sauce. I snagged a small taste of the bechamel, studiously avoiding the ground meat, and a green bean, which was surprisingly flavorful. Most of my experience with green beans comes from steamed canned beans from the dining hall in college, so needless to say a good green bean was nothing short of a revelation.

Moussaka in the background, with beans on the side

All three of us polished off our dishes. As we finished the bottle of wine, we debated the dessert situation. Word on the street was Ethos doesn't have a dessert menu, but they bring you a free custard pastry at the end of the meal (these rumors came from Menupages, where I have researched Ethos... and basically all the other restaurants in Manhattan... many a time). Well, Ethos doesn't have a dessert menu, that part is true, but they also don't bring you anything at the end of the meal. What they do do is come up and say, "Can I get you anything else?" This becomes a bit awkward, because what are you going to say-- sure, I'd like another entree and possibly a few more appetizers just to cap off the meal? We were all pretty stuffed, so the lack of dessert didn't quite matter in the material sense, but it's certainly against the dining norm.

As is my usual protocol, before I deliver the final verdict, a word on the bathrooms: Ethos has two stand-alone bathrooms next to the entrance to the kitchen. Per my brother's advice, if you have to go while you're there, use the one on your left (the bigger one). The one on the right has a weird slanted mirror on the ceiling, which bugged my brother out to a perhaps irrational degree. But, you know, just a word to the wise...

So, in the end, where do I stand on Ethos? Overall, a very good experience. The food was top-quality, and the chefs were amenable to alterations to my dish (always a good restaurant trait when I'm dining out...). The pita was the best I've ever had. The portions were generous, and the ambiance was fun. Both my dining companions nominated Ethos for the first-ever five Offset Spatula restaurant on Life with Food and Drink, but I must pull up a bit short. Amongst all these perks were the somewhat dysfunctional wine service (I'm not a wine snob, seriously, but the whole situation was just a bit awkward) and the lack of a dessert menu... and the accompanying lack of a free dessert offering to make up for the lack of a full menu. Also, while the prices were relatively reasonable for New York City overall, they're a bit higher than I'd like to pay for an everyday, casual dining destination.

So, as a result of all these factors, I grant Ethos four OSes. Definitely check it out if you're in the area and you're in the mood for some quality Greek food. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to go back.

9th Avenue Food Festival!

I spent this lovely afternoon wandering up and down 9th Avenue, taking in the food festival that's going on today and tomorrow. While there were the "usual suspects" at this street fair, the cool part is that a lot of the little restaurants on 9th set up booths or outdoor seating areas, so it feels more neighborhoody than the normal street fair fare. I didn't eat much this afternoon (most street fair food is a no-go for my digestive system), but I did get a bunch of good pictures, so consider this photo essay your encouragement to make your way over there tomorrow.

The first thing I saw was the Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies truck; they were selling mini pies topped with whipped cream.

Don't be shy, eat the pie!

Next up was the Mitchell London Foods booth. They had a bunch of delicious-looking baked goods, including mini cupcakes that have been on my to-eat list for a while:

Mitchell London Cupcakes with mini-brioche sandwiches

Mini creme brulees

Interesting-looking carrot cake...mmmmm

Amy's bread had a booth! I love Amy's bread... now THEY have some good cupcakes.

Amy's Bread, with happy employees and enticing treats

This booth puzzled me... do they actually sell people like me on pita? A non-meat-eater sandwich?

I wonder how much I cost?

Next: one of my favorite booths of the fair. I don't know if the Sweet Chef Southern Styles Bakery has an actual storefront anywhere-- I've never seen one-- but they had a comprehensive array of pies for sale, including key lime (my favorite), apple, and a bunch of others.

Southern cookin'

They also sold the cutest thing at the entire fair: mini pecan pies.

I bought two of these, for my brother and his friend.

The Poseidon Bakery had a large and loud booth there. I haven't eaten at Poseidon, but I've heard their Greek pastries are worth the trip. They have really weird hours so often when I pass them on the way back from work they're closed. One day, though, I'll make it over there for some baklava.

Poseidon's enthusiastic workers

Greek offerings

Another local favorite: The Little Pie Company.

A local institution on 43rd Street

They were selling slices of their pies and cakes. I've heard TLPC also makes a really good carrot cake, which was among their by-the-slice offerings today. Damn my stomach-- there were so many enticing things to eat...

Squares of carrot cake among chocolate and fruit pies

As you can imagine, there were several non-vegetarian-friendly booths scattered among the smoothies, crepes, and baked goods. I include a few photos herein for the meat-eating-readers.

Greek-ish street food...

...including a big 'ol pile of turkey legs

Of course, there were the obligatory knockoff lingerie booths. Um, right?

What's up with this?

All this food ogling was making me hungry. I was right around 44th street, which meant I was near Lenny's sandwich shop. Normally this wouldn't be significant, but as of a few weeks ago, Lenny's became home of something I've wanted to try for a while: Yolato!!

The Yolato machine inside Lenny's

I ordered a small cup of Yolato. It was pretty expensive (more than $4), but they gave me a decent amount.

Yolato with unnecessarily wasteful lid

The fro-yo had the distinctive pinkberry-esque tang, but it was much more creamy. It had a thick texture and was less melty than 40 Carrots was-- it held the dispenser ridges quite admirably.

You can sort of see the texture...

More textural fro-yo porn

Of course, once I dug down into it, there was the telltale fro-yo hole in the middle. But that's okay, from a stomach-space standpoint, at least. This was quite a lot of Yolato for one girl to handle.

Merely a shell of itself...

I polished that baby off while sitting at the window watching the crazy people of New York take in the street fair. That was some gooooood Yolato. I'd definitely get it again.

And... done.

Needless to say, I was now freezing cold, so I stopped at the Starbucks across the street for a fortifying hot tea. Then I was back into the fray.

Question: What do you get when walking around Barbados in uncomfortable shoes?

Answer:

Sorry. I had to.

Oooookay. Back to the action: Right after finishing my snack, I passed this booth: Fruitberry frozen yogurt. Part of me wished I hadn't had the Yolato so I could have some, but the rest of me thought the name was so ridiculous I shouldn't encourage such a product by purchasing it. I mean, come on, Fruitberry?

Aren't berries a sub-genre of fruit?

The Hallo Berlin cart was there, right in front of the new location on 9th.

Want some wurst?

Right across the street was Uncle Nick's Greek restaurant. This was a pretty raucous booth as well.

Greek food and millers-about

Public Service announcement: Uncle Nick's was roasting an entire pig on a spit. This is gross to me, but some people like that sort of stuff, so here's a pic:

Ew.

There was also a stand selling knockoff bloomin' onions. Seriously, about one out of every two or three people at this fair was walking around with one of these enormous things. If fried onions are your thing, check it out.

What, no "flowering onion"?

And of course, there was a dude with an enormous snake, letting people take pictures with it. Um, obvi.

Eating street food always makes me crave... snake?

So that's my roundup. There were innumerable other booths, of course, but I'm only one person with limited camera space. For the rest, go check it out tomorrow. Go with an empty stomach and a full wallet and you won't be disappointed!

Join this sea of people! See how happy they are?