Payard @ Bastille Day Festival!...

I...just can't describe...just...very balanced, not too sweet, decadent. MMMmMMmmmmMmMMmmMMmmmMmmmmMmMMMMMmmMMmMMMM.

.....MmMMMMMMMMMMMM. :)

That, amigos, is a raspberry mousse cake. It wasn't too tart, the creme tasted egg-y, teh cake was moist and dense, but not spongey--a bit on the crumbly side. Very nice...very nice INDEEED. Anddddd that's why it opens this little show :)

Then there was some apricot pastry thing and a lemon tart. I'm not particularly fond of lemon tarts/cakes/WHATEVER so...that was a no-go. I don't care if it's good. I don't like! booo! I do find the smell of lemon cleaning products kind of nice. There might be a connection here :). Onward--there was also an "opera" cake...chocolate..something. There were raspberry AND strawberry tarts. Also good--wasn't as striking as the raspberry mousse but, well, what is. :)

I didn't eat the chocolate caramel tart until I got home. I have to say, it was pretty resilient bouncing around in my bag all and being dragged thru Central Park and the heat! I didn't really know what to think of it first--to be honest I bought it just for pictures and to balance out the fruit stuffs I bough. Opera cakes don't appeal to me so...had to fill my chocolate quota somehow! BUT, just like the raspberry mousse cake and everything else--it was very nice!

I was actually quite surprised that this chocolate caramel tart was one of my favorites of the day--I'm not a fan of caramel but this was like a waterfall of caramely infused chocolate or something reminiscent of such. NUMMAAAAY. sure licked mah fingas clean w/ this one.

Here's some more of the mousse and the...i dunno...but...yay cake! Don't you want to pet it like a pretty, edible chinchilla of sorts? :P TEEHEE!! Too bad Payard...has closed :( le *sigh*. Back to my mousse. So...slick lookin' and so jiggly looking! So good lookin', made me wanna stab it. AND I DID! :) TEEHEE!!!! *whispers*iloveyouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!** :D

There was a whole sequence capturing the mousse/bomb in various stages of being devoured which makes for a funny series but...it'll just make me sad seeing it all gone w/ enticing little crumbies left :( Maybe I'll insert it later (I did think the ending shots of the mousse's demise was picturesque and evocative :P)

Nonetheless, here's a picture of its innards!...

Bistro 61 @ Bastille Day Festival!...

Grilled sardines with some kind of salsa of onions, tomatoes, pine nuts, lemon juice..I don't even know but YUMMAAAAAY!! :) I DON"T EVEN KNOW. but It was nice--good charring, nummay num num.

I was gonna open with the fish bones but well--that might be a bit gross :P so...there! And here's the sardine bein' eaten, with my Merguez sausage sammich w/ ratatouille!! :) Not enough ratatouille if u ask me, but tasty. I'm not a big fan of sausage but this was nice--I think it was lamb? Didn't taste too gamey, very minty, a bit of heat--there was some bit of veggie in the ratatouille that was particualarly citrus-y and explosion of tastiness in my mouth! but I couldn't discern :(

I really liked Bistro 61's booth--mostly b/c they were so jocund and feisty and effervescent. The chef made me take a picture of him serving me :) What I loved watching was the grill--one side had a nice smolder going to grill the sardines...the other was...ON FIYAAAAAAAH!!!! :D

Secret pyro in me was hypnotized. Made me want to...burn things. HEHE. You can see the contrast in 2 grills below :):

We had to take pause b/c Albee got some curried beef with potatoes & olives from Le Souk--which was suprisingly very very very good! I mean...not that it was mindblowing, but I don't think much of curried stewy things but this was delightful. This will be in another post with other misc foodthings from the rest of the festival. Picked my sardine clean @ central park, and washed it down with orangina! :) Viva la France! :P

YUMMMAAAY. will for sure be going back to Bistro 61 :) Maybe I can stalk them to participate in Project by Project :)

Park Ave Winter...

*sigh*. that's all I'll say about...the context of this dinner. *wink!* i'm half joking. It was the Gossip Girl promo @ Park Ave Winter wherein you get your entire meal comped (1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, 1 sides per 2 people, and 2 rounds of drinks per person!) if you...wore...garbs...resembling...plaid skirts, button ups...etc. O.o hehe

ANYWAY...so since there were 12 of us we were able to dabble in most of the menu in all categories. (see pic of the bill at the end! :D we ran them dry)

Wouldn't have this been a nice shot if I had managed to hold still?

They were carving up and moving about rather quickly, and people kept on effin' walkin' past my shot and I kept seeing asses blocking the meat carving and multitude of hands serving so much -.- ANYHOO...

For appetizers, we got the calamari salad (salty--i very very much liked over some others), the Park Ave Winter open faced scallop sandwich with brown butter and bacon with...some other stuff, sashimi of hamachi, the Nantucket Bay scallops in some..sweet sauce and what I remember as panko crumbs?

No venison tartare :( we were sad. I think our other table got salmon tartare, but I don't remember anyone getting butternut squash soup (which i love! esp as a drink w/ palernum & rum at Tailor's hehe) or the porcini mushrooms (very sad to not have tried that one =/).

And here you see my Nantucket Bay scallops. Was thrown off by how sweet it was--made even sweeter with the thick cream. Not sure...how...I feel...about that! Otherwise, perfectly cooked :)

SiDES!! BROCCOLI and CHEESE! I don't...understand, but eh. yum. VERY yum were the brussel sprouts w/ apples which--can't make what the sauce was but it was buttery and savory :D Also had the creamed spinach and parsnip puree since the Crispy Cauliflower was actually in tempura batter =/ EH.

Entrees! Had to hurry it a bit w/ taking photos b/c the ladies were ready to dig in and with my--obsessive shooting things would er...get cold and whatnot :) hehe Opted for flash, kinda wish I edited some more but...OH wellllzzzzz. :) Miso glazed lobster with citrus fennel salad, John Dory w/ brioche encrusted poached egg & black truffles,

Filet mignon braised short ribs w/ root veggies, Dover Sole filet with herbs & brown butter (there was even a brown butter pecan ice cream! they lurves their brown butter...and so does the rest of the word ^_^)

Seared yellowfin tuna w/ avocado, grapefruit & ginger--and I think someone got the Organic scottish salmon w parsnip puree blah blah...Can we do more pics of lobster? mm surely!...

DESSERTS! - Chocolate flourless cake w/ Kentucky bourbon and peanut brittle mousse, Pistachio brown butter cake with red wine pears & Bartlett pear sorbet, Preserved plums with Ricotta custard, polenta crepes and pignoli...and THE CUBE! :) Chocolate cube with caramel mouse and chocolate cake bits inside, with what I remember as a coffee/chocolate-ancho ice cream on top of a meringue. Desserts were HUGE. :)

I really liked what they did with the sugar components in a few of the dishes--I mean nothing extraordinary in terms of flavor but made it quite memorable and enhanced my experience with the desserts--just...threw in some edge and complexity in it!! :) I mean honestly--kind of gimmicky but it really displayed a kind of mastery and playfulness u usually encounter when people are more than capable at what they do so it frees them up to play around with what's 'basic'! :) love love!!

B/c I'll never post if i have to discuss at length--everything was SCRUMPTIOUS. If I could afford it I'd eat here on the regular. Entrees are on average ~$40 bucks with appetizers and desserts clocking in at ~$15-20 each. This...is worth it. Butter--similar pricing, maybe a little less--more of a scene...food was WHATEVER. Can't wait to see the other seasonal incarnations of Park Ave Spring/Summer/Fall!

And this be our bill...notice on top the Gossip Girl promotion :P HEHE...miscellaneous items not listed in order of....order...-.O And then somewhere in the 6.50 tax. HEHE. I guess for that capuccino (was not included in the comping)...Needless to say, we left quite a tip.

A lil' shout out to Juan Carlos--our baddass and cheeky server with lovely suggestions to ensure we maximized our fun potential--and foodie potential!--at Park Ave Winter! A rare break in the lack of people appearances in the blog...but well deserved and noted :P This was only our table. Not gonna post the other ladies on here cuz that just might be weird to have ur face blasted on the interweb no? :)

I am conveniently absent since I'm taking the picture :D ANYHOO...The staff was extraordinarily nice and accomodating. A smidge cheeky, as I prefer it :P, all in good fun sorta spirits and helpful. Everyone was really nice and jocund--I'd say 85-90% of diners were 'school girl's including what I can tell was a mid-50's yr old woman in super pig tails. ROCK ON. reappropriating the whole trope as a sort of...empowerment...foodie thing! :)

Oh, and featuring the fellas from www.brokeassstuart.com who partook in such revelry :) Enviable gams, gentlemen!