I heart Pisticci's (and you!)...

TO mark the end of my grieving period for my failed & irreparable hard drive, here is (what I think) is ze best food pizzorn on zees blog. Pisticci's on 123rd/LaSalle & B'way.

Fig & goat cheese salad w/mangos, heart of palm (yummers!), strawberries, and dijon sauce.

Another looksie at the salad...NOMNOMNOmnomnomonoNOMnoMoNOmNOMMMMM...first time I had heart of palm. I like. Me also likes heart of artichokies...

The garlic bread, avec goat cheese--they don't...usually have this on top, but either way it was damn tasty.

The house tea (black tea with peach...syrup?). As refreshing as it looks...

I always get the homemade fettucine w/ wild mushrooms--this time with the truffle oil added (oooooooooh...not really, there is a diff but i like the diff in some other medium besides this dish). BUT ME LOVESSSIES this dish!! ^_^ Julie-boolie got the same thing sans truffle oil.

Dan (Julia's sis's hubs) had the peppercorn-crusted filet mignon with cognac and something sauce. It was a beautiful peace of meat and I took a picture of it sliced up and splayed but it's a little blurry :( But here it is!!

There were more entrees but they're not as pretty--but seriously, any specials, anything at Pisticci's is phenomenal. Fresh, simple, well seasoned, perfectly balanced, finger lickin' good and despite the Italian starchy fare, very light and not heavy at ALL. I had the seafood special and meat entrees before too and that shiz is the bizzomb in terms of preparation. Pisticci--fave restaurant in Boston, California, or NY (except maybe Kefi :P...and all the cupcake places.

Anyway...onto desserrrrrrt. Always on the menu but best in season (now): fresh berries and hand-whipped cream. Nothing else holding it up!

I disdain desserts topped with whipped cream--anythign w/ whipped cream really. I just think whipped cream is unnecessary and the devil. BUT, with that said, this cream could convert even moi-self :) Also--tiramisu and Frangelico mousse (tasty!but again both not that pretty so whatebbs :P) Here's the coconut-yellow cake w/ some sauce.

You'd think it'd be a little innocuous for such a place I rave about--but the cake is rich but (like my crazy triple chocolate cake) not that sweet, not that heavy or too airy, and the sauce is great with it. A lot of people seem to be averse to coconut but it really shouldn't be the slightest issue here.

another pic of the fig salad just cuz I think it's purty--that and I've only had fig maybe 3x in my entire life (no even a Fig Newton!) The whole fruit is fascimamating and its applications as well. :)

YAAAAAAAAAy. prepare for the last cupcake entry in the cupcake trifecta/showdown, lemon-and-thyme-roasted-chicken flavored chips from England, comped breakfast @ the Hilton in McLean, and purple 'taters coming this wk!

...and one more of the garlic bread :)

Sammiches...

According to http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com, one of the few things white people like (along with difficult breakups, renovations, kitchen gadgets, coffee, knowing what's good for poor people, etc., etc.) is expensive sammiches. Is that monetarily speaking? or INGREDIENT speaking?

Other than white folks, I suppose hipsters, foodies (gourmands rather? :P), bougeois people--and general sammiches people alike--just enjoy a little variation in our sammiches. I present to you--my lunch. Simple, cheap, a hodgepodge of flavors:

Zomick's Egg Challah roll (I've also really liked the Pepperidge Farm Honey Flax Wheat, and Dark German Wheat breads--I neither have the time or energy to stalk down artisanal breads at a bakery--btw those little rye bread party sized...square things are freakin' awesome), spinach (I usually use arugula), "roast beef" (this one is just Hillshire Farm, it does not look like roast beef, it looks like processed beef that was probably roasted....also interchangeable with shaved deli rotisserie chicken....I'm not feeling smoked honey ham lately), with a garlic-lime dijon. I toss sliced tomaters in there somewhere--and not those giant flavorless sh*ts from the supermarket!

Pretty no? Do you enjoy my bite marks? You can use it for forensic evidence should I go missing. Or if I guess if I got kidnapped and then...bit...something and left it at the crime scene so u could determine who went missing (namely MOI), and...I was watching a lot of SVU and CI yesterday. and also alluding to Without a Trace. O.o

Thoughts:
Call it the semi socialist/people's party in me but I don't really like the idea of spending all that much money on food--to an extent! I will buy my Grana Padano, the nicer brie or gruyere, sometimes fontina, WHAEVER, and spring for the good Prosciutto (also fanplasmic substitute for ze sammich meats but just...less in quantity cuz it's so punch). I might pay highly for shoes and preferrably on superduper sale (but I also spent 80 bucks on a Rodnick gown that used to be $1500 @ the Barney's warehouse sale so THERE I am ze frugal!) , but in general I just think there's a price cap on things, including food. btw I also live in my Hane's Men's Premium cotton V-necks--3 foh 10 dollah! :)
In the end...it's just food you're gonna crap out anyway (vulgar yes? mmm classy). Like expensive shampoo (but sometimes I do like my pricier products!), clothes etc etc b/c after a certain peak in price and value u just start to see that it is just plain cotton (or cotton jersey), just plain 80-90% water with 2ish % detergents (and they even add in a chemical for FOAMING!) that will just get washed down the drain. (Don't get me wrong, I'm still picky about shampoos & conditioners but u get my point).

....also...it's JUST LUNCH. and it is...in fact...JUST FOOD. but makes for pretty pictures :D