Ramps Rampage at Craftbar!...

This past Sunday, after a very very long work week, and...very long couple weeks of feenin' for ramps--I overloaded w/ RAMPS(!) @ Craftbar with Albee. Actually, I debated getting the chicken pate & ramps sammich @ Num Pang, then ramps on the menu at Mas, Savoy, Lupa, Otto (ramps pizza!), Bar Artisanal (white asparagus + bottarga with RAMPS! ), Beppe, A Voce, and Spotted Pig (RAMP SOUP! TEEE!! and ramps w/ fried duck egg!) and anywhere I could google ramps on the menu to my heart/stomach's desire. Back Forty in the EV should have it--as should a lot of restos in the city this season. Ramps are wild leeks that are like if Onion and Garlic married--or rather, had an orgy with lots of onions and lots of garlic :D

Albee & I settled on Craftbar b/c they were open on a Sunday, had a seasonal (and appetizing) menu, was close by, and...hearty-seeming meal to be had :) To start of with--desserts!! The mint ice cream on my brownie was DIVINE b/c it didn't taste minty--it tasted mint-leaf-y! Made me as delighted as I was to have culantro/long coriander! SO refreshing, SUCH a better version of 'mint' compared to the processed, saccharine mintiness. I def can see how people might prefer 'mint' to be a more tactile/taste-buds tingling experience but this is FLAVOR! and REFRESHMENT! not...slapping your tongue around a bit trying to get a sensation.

BUT--this is actually the pistachio 'sorbet' :) Very VERY pistachio-y in that it tastes like actual roasted pistachios! And (as much as I like the pistachio spumoni @ Spumoni Gardens) incomparable to the unholy fluorescent green and fake pistachio flavoring to most ice creams--except the Haagen Daaz pistachio is actually pretty damn tasty but it tastes more like pistachio cookie than quintessence of the pistachio nut itself! My mint ice cream & brownie to punctuate this entry latah...

First...pork shoulder w/ tomato molasses and RAMPS MARMALADE! and then hamachi w/ pineapple puree and RAMPS!

Then for entrees--Albee and i got MORE RAMPS! :) We split the Tagliatelle w/ tomato ragout and RAMPS! See that sprig pulled up to the corner? That's a limp but roasted ramp :) TEEHEE! Isolated just for you ;P

Very simple dish--tomato ragout had deep flavors (obviously had a lot of time to reduce--*ahem-popupshopinwilliamsburgwhoneedstolearnthisidea!*). LOVE a tasty roasted/super reduced, well seasoned (as in lightly) tomato (whole tomaters methinks--and totally not overpoweringly dense tomato-y flavor either).

And also split the casunziei (kah-soon-zee-ay) which is a stuffed half moon pasta with BEETS(!), grana padano cheese, ricotta, brown butter, spinach, and pooppy seeds.

If they had RAMPS ice cream I'd totally eat that--I had garlic ice cream @ The Stinkin' Rose in LA and fundamentally ramps is...wild leeks with a more spring-onion-y look...AND is sweet-ish in pickled form so I'd see that as a tasty possibility ^_^. Brownie was nice, whip cream was light! MINT ICE CREAM IS SO MINT-LEAFY!! It was like eating a real leaf minus the cellulose and chewing :D So subtle, delightfully airy ^_^ Happy happy. (tewtally elevates the idea of brownie a la mode as some pedestrian diner-food or playdate with rugrats kinda thing!--for certain, the ice cream is made fresh, all natural in the BEST of the word as opposed to...super-ascetic-granola-birkenstocks-recycled-plastics way. Respecting the ingredients!)

I heart Ramps!! Must go to union square market...buy...ramps...now! YARG!

Restaurant WK @ Convivio!...

A little in the boonies side of midtown east--sammiched between some hard core old residential buildings, aptly named Tudor City Place... :) Overall? Decor is a little bipolar in warmth/woodsy, soft and a little cold gray. Food--a little on the pricey side but split a few things and u're good to go--pastas, anything braised is AWESOME. fish is eh. duck eh. go for more sumptious ingredients and u can't go wrong :)

Appetizers! There were 4 of us so we got the Sfizi (pickled things), the Pane Cotta (bread soup with pancetta, buffalo ricotta, blahblah),

and 2 of the Duck Sausage over lentils...

First Plates! Again, we divied it up nicely :P Karen insisted on finding out about Convivio's infamous handmade pastas--sauce was GREAT...same kind of rustic, fresh, light and creamy feel as Pisticci's (yes, my measuring stick per se!), and the texture of the spaghetti was also good.

I got the mackerel but I was torn with the pork shoulder--but Roger and Albee got it so i figured EH...why not round it out :) I was drawn to it mostly for the mustard-caper sauce since I *lurves* me some capers!! The sauce did not fail--the fish was EH, but the sauce and potatoes/salad underneat was a nice touch. :)

Braised pork shoulder w/ soft polenta was *yummaaaaay!* That's yummy in a crescendoed high pitched tone if u couldn't tell! So tender, well seasoned--polena much better than i thought! Creamy, rich, not so gritty as I anticipated. Lick the plate kinda tasty! Maybe rub polenta on my face a little in circular motions like a crazy olive oil drenched moisturizer. MmmmMmmm.....*ahem*. ;)

Desserts were WHATEVER. the Chocolate gelato that came with my cannolis were good--except the cannolis weren't all that extraordinary though it had a little citrusy top note to it. The affogato was sufficient--it's a shot of espresso over gelato, and after having it done right in Italy well...no comparison :)

The VERY AWESOME thing was that we got a $25 gift card off our next meal!! Recession special/restaurant week gimmick if u will...I don't care, I'm def coming back to try the grilled octopus, the gnocchetti, and tortelli with crab meat and sea urchin!!

NEVER MIND my lighting. I'm having some off problems eyeballing lately :( Esp in unnatural light. *bah!* :) Enjoy--I promise to put up italy food pictures from...3 mos ago soon. It's like a trove of...orgasmically lit and fresh and...exciting food!! Bar Bao for Restaurant week also coming up...maybe Dovetail. EH.