Macondo

The same people that own Rayuela on the LES also own the tapas/small plates restaurant called Macondo.  The owners basically took the idea of South American street food and packaged it in a cute wooden restaurant in downtown NYC.  The menu is separated out according to the regions of South America. I’ve had dinner here before but never blogged about it until today due to the bad quality of the photos.

Saturday I met my friend for brunch there – I thought it very appropo as she’s Columbian and I knew she’d instantly be down.   She had a spinach and egg arepa and I ordered the chimichurri chico. It’s tender spare ribs clearly stewed in delicious broth and flavors, pulled and served on a bun with peppers, onions, manchego cheese and cabbage.

YUMMY! The meat was really tender and although a bit salty (I love salt) quite delicious. The onions and cabbage lend a nice fresh crunch and the tiny burgers come with a side of the crispiest yucca fries and a pot of what tasted like basil mayonnaise for dipping. I thought the portion was perfect — the meat and the yucca fries are heavy and quite satisfying so a little goes a long way. You know when something tastes so good you can’t eat it fast enough? haha I had to sort of pace myself so it didn’t look like I hadn’t eaten for days.

We also got a side of chorizo to share.

Chorizo was grilled so it only enhanced the smokiness of this spicy sausage.  Half a chorizo was enough for me…as if i wasn’t eating enough meat for a Saturday brunch!

Macondo, 157 E. Houston Street, New York, NY

McNally continues to rule NYC restaurant life

Went to McNally’s newest (and hardest to score a seat) addition to the restaurant world – Minetta Tavern.  McNally already continues to successfully run Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller’s and Morandi here in the NYC much to the happiness of his pockets. Minetta is no failure by any means.

My friend Strawberry and I met at 6:30 (talk about early bird special!) in hopes of scoring a seat and believe it or not the dimly lit pub-style restaurant was already full with people waiting at the bar.  Lucky for us, we did not have to wait long and before we could finish our first glass of wine, we were escorted to the corner banquette seat.

The pub is very cozy and warm with black and white checkered floors, caricature drawings of people on the wall and just perfect for a cold night. I felt very comfortable and homey at the place.  It wasn’t nearly as trendy and stuffed with high heeled patrons in glamazon clothing as i thought — perhaps it was the night.

My intention was to try the king of burgers – the $26 black label burger.  But I had also heard the cote de beouf for two was also phenomenal.  Since Strawberry was going to get a steak, I thought, why not. So we started with a delicious jumbo prawn shrimp salad served with wonderful fennel and artichoke hearts. Delicious!

Then came the main event.

THREE marrow bones sit on the plate piled on top by 20 oz of dry aged cote de beouf with a side of spinach. Yes. 20 oz. We ate it all. They present the steak fully intact before taking it back to have it sliced.  When it comes back, it shines in all it’s glory.

Marrow was fatty and rich and delicious with parsely and garlic. The beef was as tender as filet but meaty and beefy like a great piece of sirloin.  It packs all the flavor without a hint of toughness.  Note to eaters: Minetta serves its steak like a steakhouse would. Medium rare (what we requested) is served what would be considered rare in other restaurants – so if you want medium rare, request to have it cooked medium.  I can’t believe how much we ate. I was stuffed to the gills. But of course we finished off dinner with the hazelnut crepes for dessert.

The meal is quite grand. It’s impressive and daunting. I have never seen a steak of that size but it was delicious. I still want to go back and try the oxtail and foie gras terrine appetizer and black label burger. Maybe i’ll try again soon – get there at 6pm.

Minetta Tavern, 113 MacDougal Street, New York, NY

A special dinner for SFAM

SFAM was lucky enough to get a private dinner from a very special chef on Sunday for her birthday.  Since neither the Hungry Korean nor Sugar Baby would be around for her actual birthday next week, we had a private dinner at Sugar Baby’s loft to celebrate.  The chef de cuisine: Sugar Baby.  Dishwasher extraordinaire: Moi. haha

I felt the need to blog about this dinner as a lot of prepping and work went into it and it turned out fabulously.

We started with the white bean soup.

The soup was creamy and comforting — it’s exactly what you want at the end of a cold winter’s day.  The chef left some cannelloni beans whole for texture and the sage really came through in the soup.

Next we had the warm arugula, cranberries, roasted butternut squash, toasted walnut and parmesan salad.

Doesn’t that look like a cookbook photo?  Squash was sweet, the arugula was peppery and the walnuts added a wonderful crunch. I am a huge fan of this dish and would try and make it at home if squash didn’t take so much work to prep.  This salad is your perfect example of savory and sweet with acid in the dressing to balance it out.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it.

For the piece de resistance:  panko crusted halibut sitting on a bed of haricot vert and wild mushroom salad.

Fish was crusty on top and juicy inside. The warm salad was so delicious. I love mushrooms and they really brought out an earthy meaty flavor to the fish.  I could seriously eat the green beans and mushroom salad on its own.

Thanks, Sugar Baby, for a wonderful Sunday night meal! Something SFAM and I will remember for years to come!

Sugar Baby’s loft, a special place dressed in grey, New York, NY

Brunch in the village

Sugar Baby and I met up with my friends Fried Chicken and Elton John for what turned out to be a boozy brunch at Centro Vinoteca in the West Village.   The place was actually pretty empty except for the staff and the occasional food tour that passed through every now and again.  Sugar Baby and I sat at the bar and waited for my friends with bellinis and mimosas on hand.  They were pretty good. Ask Sugar Baby — he really liked them that day.

Once they arrived, we were seated in the corner booth of the white tiled restaurant. There is one section of the restaurant that is completely windows – similar to a greenhouse. By the time we sat, the restaurant was receiving it’s brunch crowd.

I started with the fried zucchini fritters with a side of marinara sauce.

Really crispy and light – not oily at all. I would have preferred the marinara be served warm but it offered a nice tart contrast to each bite.  They served four.  I really liked the truffled devil eggs Sugar Baby and Fried Chicken ordered though. Had a bit of food envy and only managed to sneak half a bite of one before Sugar Baby devoured his.

For main, I had the steak stew over polenta with two poached eggs.

Although visually appealing, I wasn’t keen on the mushy consistency that happens after you break the yolk.  The texture of the dish turns soupy once the yolk runs all over and there’s no contrast to any bite.  The flavors were definitely there but they sort of all meld together.

Elton John had this amazing whole wheat pasta with mushrooms.

Yummy! I love tagliatelle pasta first of all and I love mushrooms. What a healthy delicious alternative for brunch. The mushrooms tasted meaty and earthy and the pasta had a wonderful bite. This was my favorite plate that afternoon.

Sugar Baby had caviatelle with spare ribs. If spare ribs are on the menu, you bet Sugar Baby will order it. He just finds slow roasted tender fall of the bone meat too hard to resist I think.

The spare ribs were meaty and sweet and good but I found the pasta a bit hard.

The brunch was very fun – but I think it was the company we kept.  After many more brunch drinks and one round on the house, we walked out of here much later than we anticipated. Don’t even ask what we did after ;p

Centro Vinoteca, 74 Seventh Avenue South, New York, NY

Landmarc at a NY landmark

Sunday Sugar Baby and I met up with SFAM for brunch at the Time Warner Center’s Landmarc restaurant.  The restaurant is airy, bright and large enough that there is rarely a wait.  The menu offers a wide range from a selection to pastas to bone marrow as a appetizer to tuna nicoise salad.  There is quite possibly something for everyone.

I had the warm shrimp, capers and artichoke salad with romaine lettuce (salad comes with frisee but I switched it out).  The salad was offered in two portion sizes: appetizer and main. I had the appetizer portion and it is a pretty good size.

The artichokes were clearly not the canned variety and the capers were interesting in that they were dried capers.  The combination of the acidic capers and artichokes played well with the meaty warm shrimp.   I was pleased to note that Landmarc does not skimp on the shrimp !!!

Good brunch.  I’d like to try some of the other things on the menu. For next time….

Landmarc, 10 Columbus Circle, 3trd Floor, New York, NY

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

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

Doing it Jeremy Piven style

Had a strong craving to gorge on sushi last Friday so without much effort, I convinced SFAM to hit up Hasaki sushi in the East Village for some fresh quality sushi. Hasaki is located on what is “little Japan” here in Manhattan and is sparely decorated. Pretty much your standard decor of bamboo, lots of beige and Japanese screens. But the first thing you’ll note when you walk up is the line of people waiting to be seated. That’s your first indication that you’ve picked the right spot. It means the food is good but also that the turnover of fish will be rapid and therefore the likelihood of you getting old seafood is greatly decreased.

After about a 30 minute wait, we sat down at the sushi bar and started with some sake and decided to share one of the specials: homemade tofu in a mushroom broth.

Tofu was well, tofu, and the broth really had no flavor to it. It might as well been hot water. The mushrooms imparted no flavor to this dish at all. The appetizer was blah. This was not what i expected. I expected homemade tofu like the one served at Soba Totto. Wrong.

We both had the sushi/sashimi dinner — but I had to add my two favorites: uni sashimi and raw scallop sushi.

Fish was incredibly fresh and the best surprise was they actually served a piece of toro sushi! (Toro is the fatty underbelly of tuna and quite expensive). It was the perfect amount of sushi — a little more than moderate and a little less than gluttonous.

For dessert, SFAM had green tea ice cream but since i don’t like ice cream that much (yes yes, get over it) — I opted for the most interesting thing on the dessert menu: goose berries. Now the name alone was very intriguing to me so I ordered it.

They are essentially berries that have a sour/sweet taste to it. When you bite into it, think of a cross between a cherry and tomato. The inside is just like a tomato — speckled with seeds and soft to the tongue.

Innards:

It was interesting — the sour/sweet aspect — but nothing I’d order again. It was all about the experience

If you want fresh delicious sushi at prices that aren’t Nobu, go to Hasaki — you get your money’s worth and can pretty much eat a ton of sushi without breaking the bank.

Hasaki, 210 East 9th St, basement, New York, NY

Sex and the City filmed here and I thought it was just eh

Finally after all these years, made it to Buddakan in NYC. It’s a GORGEOUS restaurant and it’s been around for several years now and for some reason I’ve just never made my way over. Well I did last night. If you saw the Sex and the City movie — Carrie had her engagement party at this location.

My friend Leggy and I just shared a bunch of appetizers.

We had the popcorn shrimp.

Deep fried shrimp doused in a spicy tangy asian sauce. The sauce was way overpowering and well, anything deep fried tastes, deep fried. It was of course good because anything deep fried also tastes delicious for some reason but there was definitely too much sauce.

We also had the tuna tartare spring rolls.

The raw tuna was delicious and I ate two of them but I will say it’s a very strange thing. Spring rolls are usually hot — or you expect them to be because they are crispy fried. But in this case, you take a bite and it’s cold. I think it was just unexpected but I still enjoyed them.

The dumplings we had were stuffed with edamame and truffle oil.

As you know I’m not a big veggie anything and vegetable dumplings fall in that category but these were actually pretty good! Probably cuz they had truffle oil on them though.

Leggy had a salad but I didn’t try it so i can’t really speak for that dish.

Maybe I’ll come back but with so many amazing restaurants in NYC, this place doesn’t really inspire me to make a second visit.

Buddakan, 75 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY