Ai Fiori!...

So rich. so heavy. so. much. butter. and seafood! :) good, just not sure i'd go back. pastas were spot on. I think I still have a better spot for Marea seafood even tho it's the same peeps running this!

Cannolichi: razor clams, chorizo, fennel. Grangio: soft shell crab, prosciutto, lemon yogurt, canteloupe.

 

Crudo di Passera: fluke crudo, american sturgeon caviar, meyer lemon. Animelle: sweetbreads, pomme puree, pancetta, truffle vinaigrette.

 

Trofie nero: ligurian crustacean ragu, sepia, spiced mollica, scallops. Spaghetti: blue crab, bottarga, chiles, lemon.

 

Tortelli: ricotta and marscapone ravioli, sottecenere cheese, red wine glaze.

Astice: butter poached lobster, asparagus, morels, chateau chalon sauce. Anatra: long island duck, ramps, foie gras, fava beans, frisee.

 

DESSERTS! Tartelletta: dark chocolate, anise, hazelnut gelato, grapefruit. Budino: chocolate cremaux, coffee crema, apricot, macadamia gelato.

Panna cotta: balsamica crema, blood orange, marcona almond, lemon sorbetto. Torta di Olio: ligurian olive oil cake, strawberry, pine nut, rosemary yogurt gelato.

Tchoup Shop pop up restaurant!...

Uh....so...friggin' delicious and flavorful and layeredddddd....ON WITH IT!!

Crispy chicken biscuit with handmande red pepper jelly:


Seriously. SERIOUSLY LOOK AT IT:


...AND LOOK AT IT ONE MORE TIIIIME!!!




Soft shell crab po boy with red cabbage and some kind of remoulade:




Peel & eat shrimp w/thyme (i think?), bay leaf, lemon and other goodness I don't know:


LOOK AT IIIT...



LOOOOOK AAAAAT ITTTTTTT!!!!! :) :) :)




Creole corn on the cob:


HELLO DELICIOUSNESS:



bloody mary's (from DBA, not Tchoup Shop. Twas aiites):


CLEAN PLATE CLUB!

Vendome Patisserie macarons...

"The only one to rival Laduree - NY Times"...and I'd say it's pretty close. Other than Kee's, I'd say this is one of my faves in the city. Laduree can be a little too sweet for me, and Kee's is the only one with 'weird' flavors like Vendome Patisserie has--I def dig the campari macaron! Julia got a bunch but I nibbled on some for research purposes...heheehehehehehe.

If I remember correctly, they're only open on the weekends (near Rucola, on 104 Bond St. in Boerum Hill)...


I can't remember all the flavors but there was your usual pistachio, jasmine, etc...

But also champagne cocktail, peanut butter, and of course...CAMPARI!! :) Mixed with what I read as "pample mousse" from my way over exposed photo :) Super friendly peeps, I like.

And...here's an obligatory shot w/ a half eaten macaron :)...

Rucola brunch...

Meant to go here for their ramps special but brunch was good too! (Strangely not crowded!)

Start out w/ my usual drinkies in ice shot:

Fontina & ham risotto cake + fried egg w/ bechamel;

Trout salad with stuff:

 

Bombolone w/ pastry cream--one of the better ones I've had since Sicily--and sfogliatella!

Pastries were really good, trout salad was meh compared to risotto cakes--the sammiches @ Rucola looked pretty spot on too!


Stickin' to my resolve to just post pics and limit the gab, YEAH!!!!!

:)

new Acme!...

New start, new rules: 1 sentence per photo, minimal formatting/post photo editing blahblahblah.
ACME!! Yummy--better portions than Isa, different path than Battersby...def worth the trip!

Sweet shrimp & bison tartare--briny, a touch of sweet, great contrasts with endive and red cabbage, bison-y is all I can put down at the moment (a little gamey? Albie didn't take to it as much but I did! Moohahahahah!):

Split pea soup--Albie's fave of the savory: pea shoots are a nice touch, as pea-esque as u can get (in a good way):


Sunchokes! My favorite--I could've sworn there was some basil or something like it in there, but there's black truffles and gruyere:

Pork cheek! Very rich, capers cut thru nicely, super tender, another savory I liked.

Seabass--not too memorable, carmelized tomatoes was a nice touch (so were bitter greens).

SWEEEEETS!!! beer & bread porridge: i'd like it a little more viscous, but it was different and tasty--not too beer-y, same taste profile as bread pudding.

Chocolate crisps (with incredibly rich chocolate ganache & some white choco ganache i think)--very strong coffee ice cream--packs a punch but clean and refreshing after something like pork cheeks!!)

Had some coffee, i wanted to pinch this sugar 'pig'!

Skate, tomatoes, & thyme!...

I lurve skate! It's so springy! The fishmonger said it has a 'scallop' like texture but I think it's kinda closer to chilean sea bass (not as fatty) but, not fibrous like scallop, not thin and flaky or stiff like other fish...sea bass with a bit of oomph! I lurve it!

The last time I had skate it was er...not...so awesome. I didn't know skate breaks down faster than other fish (since it's not even...fish...really! Case in point.) But anyhoo, so when skate breaks down, it releases uric acid from its skin. I hadn't kept it *that* long but uh...when I was eating it I thought to myself, "HRMM hrmm HRMM. this tastes rather...menthol-y. And intriguingly...reminiscent of...hair dye -.- in terms of smell." And there you go! The urea translates to a pungent ammonia smell/taste! VOILA!! GENIUS MOVE!

SUPER ZOOM!


I was congested that night and...hadn't noticed anything prior to cooking. Except that the skate fillet had released a bit of liquid in the paper package. Silly, silly, daft, incomprehensibly oblivious fooooool that I am. BRAVAAAAA. Anyway, the sauce I made that time was *the BizzoOomB*! It didn't taste that pungently of Pine-sol and cleaners, esp w/ my kick ass reduction so bow chicka bow wowww I've recreated the dish tonight. With fresh skate!!

I used borsari salt on the skate, sauteed it skin side down with butter & olive oil and garlic for about 1 min, flipped that bitch and left it on for about 40s or so b/f adding the tomaaaters! Which...of course I seasoned with sprigs of thyme and a few dashes of fish sauce! :D :D :D

The first two below show the early. Yummmaaay. Springy springy! The thyme makes it kinda...bright/subtly minty feeling. Thyme and dill! i sure like'em. Rosemary more for roasting, esp mah starches but...I don't care to use them for much else.

I broke the wing in two. A giant brown fan isn't that interesting to look at. The skate wings are pretty massive--about $6.99/lb which is essentially one wing! MASSIVE!! Corrugated looking! Wee! The combo of fish sauce and browned butter added a *lot* more color to the fleshy side of the skate fillet but WHATEBBS i lurve the coloring! You can see the liquids bubbling for a bit up there.SEE? I dunno, I can see how fun it is for me to poke this fish repeatedly and how it has a mild flavor which the texture complements (or at least adds to the fun of the fish, in my opinion). It doesn't flake at all like other white fish, and doesn't come off in chunks or glistens like chilean sea bass. BUT YAY!

I much prefer eating this with soba noodles, kind of like the chicken I make similarly to this but diff seasoning in the sauces. The tomatoes get pretty thick and coats the noodles really well (I for some reason don't really like it with italian pastas--i think b/c the soba has a much cleaner taste, esp the buckwheat!).

I don't want to rewrite the recipe again b/c I'm *lazy* so just...saute & season skate wing skin side down with garlic for 1 min, flip and saute for a bit then throw in tomaters and sprigs of thyme, add water if necessary (depending on how much tomatoes u put in). At the end I kind of leave it on low heat w/ the lid on to steam a smidge to maintain springiness and for the tomato sauce not to reduce too much! throw in some butter last min if u want!! :D

Pulino's with the Moms & Albee!...

A couple wks ago I took Mama Ly to Pulino's for lunch when she visited. A bit self serving since I really wanted to check it out before it got too crazy crowded/popular (note: way too late for that, even lunch service on a weekday was insufferably crowded and with about 20-30 min wait.)

Btw that coral-orangey concoction is Pulino's alternative to orangina which looks like seltzer meets grinadine or something!! Not tasty. Albee didn't drink a drop of it besides the tester sip!

We got the red cabbage salad with pancetta, oranges, honey, pecorino, and sunchokes (yay! long story, post later re: to meal I made entirely of sunchokes). Pretty mild tasting salad--didn't really taste the pecorino, sunchokes were a bit soggy but I guess I just like mine a bit undercooked with some crunch to it.

We tried the Atlantic Cod--mama ly likes her fish! She's not too other foodie favorites (she thought Ippudo was just more ramen! Blasphemy!) so I figured in between fancy pizza pies and sunchokes I'd placate and feed her well with some fish! Strangely it was a bit more foodie than I thought it would be (for her). *sad face*.

It came looking like a cassoulet with octopus braised in red wine, sausage, fregola (kind of like israeli couscous), and fennel. Makes for different flavors than she's used to! Albee and I liked it, but the Moms was right--there was a distinct fishy/game-y smell on account of the slow cooked Octopus. Kind of...not fun once u notice. That shizz lingered!

Other than that, I thought the taste of the sauce fr the red wine reduction was pretty damn good and I ended up buying some fregola for myself at Buon Italia in Chelsea Markets! As u can see, we liked it just fine (minus that smell. BOO!).

Pizza!--Albee decided upon the Salsiccia (we were both torn between that and the Porchetta pizza) but the Salsiccia won over on account of the chiles and broccoli rabe. TASTY! Me likey.

I had a chance to eat Motorino and I feel like Pulino's has this Motorino meets Roberta's vibe in terms of some small plates and pizza (like the Hen of the Woods mushroom dish, some cabbagey things and their meat pizzas--except that Spreck one @ Roberta's was extra awesome in comparison to Salsiccia if u're going for the meats over sauce. Pulino sauce is goooood).

What I really wanted to try were the breakfast/brunch dishes like the kale frittata, the trippa finta all'amatriciana (which is just eggs in red amatriciana sauce: pecorino, guanciale--the sauce which i'm the shizz at making!! :P...and I always love eggs in casserole!) Also wanted to try in the entrees the lamb ragu and scallops. The rest of the pizzas also look interesting but don't vary much! Burrata with beets definitely on my radar for next time. DAMN! need to remember to go in large groups so we can order the entire menu!! :D

There is a sweet pizza section which looks interesting as well, a bit gimmicky but I'm sure I won't be saying that when I'm craving it for brunch!! That's all for Pulino's post. Bar Breton, Pastapalooza, Trufflepaloozza up next! Then Marea (still need to look up our dinner deets!), Relish Diner, and Easter shizz. WOOHOO the prodigal kid returns!