Corton

Went to Corton last Saturday with Sugar Baby and although I was not allowed to take photos, I thought it was still worth reporting about.

The restaurant itself is sparely dressed — almost stark. The atmosphere is very white table cloth verging on a bit stuffy. The food, although what you would find at a fancy restaurant (small in portion, inventive and beautiful), packed a lot of flavor in each bite and was absolutely glorious.

The menu is comprised of a 3 course tasting or a 7 course tasting.  My good friend works in the kitchen there and so although we opted for the 3 course tasting, we were treated to the VIP tasting of practically everything on the menu.

I chose the foie gras appetizer with beet, blackberry, cherries and cherry butter, the beef with beef cheeks, compte and black olive oil for main and apple with caramel chestnut crunch for dessert.  All plates were outstandingly presented and tasted delicious.  I cannot possibly list everything that the kitchen sent us (it was alot) but some of the highlights among them were the caviar blinis, some soup/foam with pure foie gras sitting at the bottom, a tasting of a plate with shavings of white truffle and the perfectly cooked sea bass. We both walked away incredibly full and overwhelmed by the deliciousness of it all. Thanks, Jedd!!!!

The dishes are a combination of french technique and molecular gastronomy. For example, what i thought was a cherry was actually a ball of foie gras glazed to look like a cherry.  Sometimes what appeared before you was not exactly what it seemed. I found that very intriguing and a feast for my eyes.

I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. It was an experience for my palate and although I may never go back again, that one visit satisfied me in many different ways.  Get yourself to Corton ASAP if you haven’t been already.

Corton, 239 West Broadway, New York, NY

Where Korea meets America

This was an interesting find for me as I’m Korean American.

Kimchi filled donuts:

It’s one of five ethnic donuts Dunkin Donuts is launching — Greek donut is filled with yogurt, Japanese version is filled with soy.

Click here for the other flavors — you may not be able to read Korean, but the pictures are a good indicator of what the donut is stuffed with.

I’m not sure about this one though. Kimchi is a bit spicy, a bit sour. Donuts are sweet. Is that really a good flavor combination?? Would you try it?

My kind of jam

I am not a huge jam person since i’m not a huge fan of sweets.  This invention is genius (or gross — really depends on how it tastes).

Bacon jam.

So you take a piece of toast and instantly spread bacon on top? Hm.

Buy here.

A new way to scare the kiddies this year

Halloween is around the corner and I have to honestly say, this is just grotesque looking.

created and image taken from emergencyfan2000

Assembly is not too difficult. Slather a fake (obviously!) skull with cream cheese and start pasting flesh colored meat. I’m guessing that olive loaf probably does wonders for creating the “rotting flesh” look.  Use it as a centerpiece as photographed above, or do as I will do and put it outside your stoop to scare the kids away. NO CANDY FOR YOU!

(hehe kidding. I’m not that mean. I live in an apt building. No kids ringing my doorbell unless i buzz them in)

My favorite game from childhood

…..in cake form.

(this is also a shout out to Sugar Baby)

Created by Cupcake Jonas

Great brunch deal

New York was literally awash this weekend – would not stop raining. Sunday morning I had plans to meet the girls for manicure, brunch and Barneys.  It was not a pretty day: cold, really windy and dreary but if there’s anything that will get me out of the house, it’s food and shopping.

I suggested Bar Boulud near Lincoln Center as I knew my two friends were quite the downtowners and most likely never been.  Turns out Bar Boulud has an amazing brunch special. For $28 you get a four course meal!  We started with a plate of the award winning headcheese to whet the table’s appetite before our courses came out.

After a cup of coffee and a cheese danish (it’s the first course — you get a choice of pastry with your coffee), I started with the pate grand mere. YUM. This is easily one of my favorite terrines on the menu. It’s made with chicken liver, pork and cognac.  It’s as rich as you would think and goes down like really expensive, meat-y butter.

I like to start eating it purely alone with a bit of mustard to cut the richness and eventually move on to slathering atop crusty bread.  It is divine and no, I do not leave any leftovers.

Next I had Bar Boulud’s croque monsieur which is essentially a decadent ham and cheese sandwich only the ham is the expensive cured variety and the cheese is gruyere and arrives bubblingly crisp at the edges.

A bite of this can send you into cardiac arrest but hey, I wouldn’t be the Hungry Korean if my stomach couldn’t take it right?  It’s rich and gooey and very very cheesy.  I loved that there is heaping amounts of thinly sliced ham entrenched between the bread and cheese.

For the fourth and final course, I had the Island.  It is a meringue sitting in a pool of creme anglais (translation, creamy custard gravy).  How pretty is this dessert?

The meringue was light and not too sweet, the custard was creamy and very vanilla-ish and those pink sweet pecans added a nice textural crunch to the plate.  I really liked this dessert.

Now, THIS deal, you can’t beat with a stick!

Bar Boulud, 1900 Broadway, New York, NY

For the

Not your packaged variety

Once a month me and three of my girlfriends meet for a night of food and catch up.  We refer to it fondly as the “Joy Luck Club.”  Last night, with the weather becoming increasingly crisper (aka colder), a steaming bowl of hand made ramen seemed incredibly appropriate.

Over the past couple years, NYC has seen a steady stream of hand made, fancy schmancy ramen noodle shops.  They are “just like” Japanese ramen noodles found in Japan with home made noodles and a broth that has been slow simmered for hours.  I’ve been to most of them here: Minca (broth was way too thick), Menkui Tei (pretty darn good), Setagaya (one of the first to really move NYers to wait for Ramen) and Momofuku Noodle Bar (surprisingly the worst of the bunch since i’m such a diehard David Chang).  So it was about time I came to Ippudo. People wait up to an hour and half for a table at this popular ramen joint.

We started with the ever famous pork buns. They are similar to Momofuku’s buns but i had actually heard they were BETTER. (is that possible?)

I can’t believe i’m about to say this, but t-h-e-y w-e-r-e!!!!!  The pork is just as soft and meltingly tender but it was drenched in some delicious type of sauce.  There was some cucumber and the outer pillow buns were just as soft and light.  But the main difference from the Momofuku buns was the lettuce and mayonnaise. My friend remarked it tasted like a Whopper. I dunno what kind of Whoppers she’s had but this was no Whopper. Wow. It was tangy and sweet and salty — fresh and crispy and soft — meaty and delicious.  I wanted more than one. I would come back for these for sure. FOR SURE.

We also had the lotus root appetizer stuffed with minced shrimp but we ate those too fast… portion was teeny.  It was good.  It’s fried so how can you really mess that up. It had an interesting presentation though, you dip it in some sauce and it’s served with powdered green tea.

For main I had the house specialty and what i hear is the most popular ramen dish of all: Akamaru Ramen.  

Pork bone has been simmered for hours to create this incredibly rich and flavorful broth.  If that isn’t enough pork for you, you then have chunks of tender pork belly scattered among the homemade noodles along with shredded cabbage, onions, garlic and scallions.  What you get is a delicious mouthful in every bite.  Here’s a closer look:

Highly recommend you get yourself over to Ippudo one of these cold wintery nights. You’ll walk away with a warmed belly and warmed heart.

Ippudo Ramen, 65 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY