The best pesto I've ever eaten

After 10 days in Southern California, eating delicious Mexican food at least once a day (more on that coming in a future blog post) I am back in New York, enjoying the heat and humidity. While in LA I decided I needed to get to some Top Chef restaurants, so made reservations at all-star Fabio's Firenze Osteria. After so much raving from the judges on both seasons of Top Chef, I was indescribably excited to experience his rustic Italian cooking, especially the gnocchi. I was also a little nervous, because my experience with Top Chef restaurants has been a mixed bag--Harold's Perilla and Kin Shop are some of the best meals I've had, while Dave's Crave on 42nd (now closed) was an overpriced Olive Garden. So off I went to North Hollywood, with Miriam F. and Rachel G.

Well, dear readers, Fabio does not disappoint. We were greeted with a delicious black olive spread and some bread. The spread was essentially a tapenade, but it was mixed with some finely chopped tomatoes, which helped to cut through some of the strident saltiness that sometimes comes along with a tapenade. With that, we were off to the races.

We next shared an appetizer of spinach and ricotta dumplings, over melted butter with sage. The sage butter was really the selling point on this, and it was delicious, although between the extra cheese grated on top and the butter on the bottom, the dish was a skosh too salty to eat a lot of.

Although we tried to avoid being THAT table ordering the same thing, we all ordered gnocchi. In our defense, we all ordered different gnocchi preparations. Miriam went with the marinara and fresh ricotta, which she adored. 

 I was all set to steer clear of the gnocchi and order the sausage and mushroom risotto, but then decided that I had to experience what the judges on Top Chef called perfect gnocchi. I went with the gnocchi dish no one else was going to order--in a truffled 4-cheese sauce with sausage. It was delicious--everything was perfectly balanced, the sausage was very finely crumpled so that it mixed in with the sauce, and the gnocchi were heavenly light pillows. The only negative was that this was a fairly heavy dish to order for lunch on a warm day, but the especially intense food coma I went through was totally worth it.



Rachel's order blew everyone else's out of the water. She ordered the pesto gnocchi, and this pesto was DIVINE. I truly have never tasted anything like it. The toasted pine nuts scattered above the gnocchi were just the tip of the iceberg. The pesto was creamy and perfectly balanced--there's nothing else to say about it except that it was perfect.



  Seriously, people, go here. It's delicious. And thanks to Rachel G. for the pictures, since my camera died as soon as we sat down to eat.

If food was my religion, this would be my church

Friends, it finally happened. I made it to Eleven Madison Park. It was a dining experience unlike any other I've ever had. I'd heard from friends who'd been there of the incredible attention the waitstaff gives to each customer, of the perfect execution of the food, and the way in which the restaurant is able to produce a meal that lasts for 3 hours and never feels slow, rushed, or anything other than divine. They were all correct. I'm completely overwhelmed by all of the wonderful things I have to say about my meal and can't possibly do it justice in a blog, so let me be clear. GO TO ELEVEN MADISON PARK. GO. Go for lunch, go for dinner, both will be incredible (although I hear there are even more perks to going for dinner) (the only difference might be that some of the special bonuses--like the infamous "have as much of this bottle of cognas as you want"--only come with dinner). The reviews are entirely earned and it is entirely worth any amount of cost-cutting to save up the money to afford it. Seriously, go, you can eat a plate of food as pretty as this one (crab salad between pickled daikon)


Some highlights--

--The Leisure Suit--a cocktail of gin, vermouth, and maraschino liquer. To be honest I have no idea what maraschino liquer is or tastes like, but I like things that resemble a martini and this was definitely that, with the added benefit of not being quite so strident as the run of the mill martini you order at a bar.
--A 135-page wine list. As we know I don't know anything about wine (except that I like to drink it), but 135 pages are bound to contain many goodies, and the sommelier definitely steered us in a delicious, if pricey, direction.
--The bonuses. By bonuses I mean everything that wasn't part of the 3-course meal: the bread (with two butters, one made of cow's milk the other goat's milk), the chilled pea soup with buttermilk "snow" (hi liquid nitrogen!), the egg cream at the end of the meal (with a twist, of course), and my personal favorite, the smoked sturgeon sabayon with chive oil, served in an egg shell. Holy sweet mother, it was amazing.

 

Moving on to the star of the meal, the menu. The menu at Eleven Madison Park is unlike any other menu I've ever seen. For each course you get one word--asparagus, pork, crab, snapper, egg to name a few--and you choose one per course. You then tell them if there's any ingredient you don't like (I asked them to leave out portabello mushrooms) and away they go to perfectly cook your food. I went with asparagus, which came out as a composed salad with hard-boiled egg, bulgur wheat (surprised, Miriam and Hilary?) and some sort of cured ham.

 

I also got the lobster (all I remember about it was that it was butter poached) and the pork (there was a pea puree, clearly my ability to retain information about each dish decreased along with the amount of wine left in the bottle). Everything was perfectly cooked, tasted deliciously, exquisitely seasoned, and the tableside presentation was a nice extra flourish. At the end of the post we're right back where we started--I can't say enough great things about this meal, and what I can say I can't say well. Just go and see for yourself

Some sweets to make the finals pass

It occurred to me recently that a self-professed expert in cupcakes, such as myself, should probably be doing a lot more sampling of and blogging about cupcakes and a lot less about Italian food. I can think of no better time to go for cupcakes than after a tragically hard final. So, after a brutal Securities Regulations final Kat and I walked over to Sweet Revenge for some tasty rewards slash consolation-in-dessert-form. I was first introduced to these cupcakes last year by a wonderful professor. While there's not a lot of variety, which can be a problem when you're in the mood for something specific, what I love about Sweet Revenge (aside from its proximity to school) is the fun way they serve the cupcakes--they're in cups!

 This is the Sweet Revenge Cupcake, a peanut butter cupcake with ganache filling and a peanut butter frosting. It sounds like a LOT of peanut butter so I was a little wary that it would be overwhelming and way too rich, especially when combined with the ganache in the middle. I worried for nothing. It's a delicious cupcake, made even more delicious by the fact that this cupcake manages to somehow be moist without being dense. It's a little crumby, but that's ok because it's in a cup! I also find the cupcake to frosting ratio to be ideal. Sweet Revenge is a great cupcake when you're looking for some variety from the usual suspects and their cookie-cutter vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Stay tuned for a very exciting upcoming post, after Katie and I enjoy the best meal of our lives at Eleven Madison Park.

More Italian food--maybe this blog's name doesn't match my food interests...

Friends, it's happened. I was afraid this day was going to come, I was hoping against hope that it never would, but it's come. It's time for a negative blog post. Here's what went down.

To celebrate the end of Passover, Maxine and I decided on a quick dinner of pasta before going back to the 7th circle of hell known as outlining. Because the goal was something quick I didn't suggest the Friendly Neighborhood Italian Place, since it's a bit far from school and not the quickest restaurant. Instead Maxine suggested Olio, a place she enjoyed last time she was there. So we went. And sat. 30 minutes after ordering a basket containing 2 slices of what I'm 90% certain was WonderBread appeared on the table, with some admittedly very high quality olive oil. 10 minutes later we asked about our food and were told it was 5 minutes away. 10 minutes after that our food arrived, lukewarm and slightly bland.

So, that was a less than ideal return to chametz, minus the part where I got to spend an hour and a half with the wonderful Maxine. Loyal readers, I'd avoid Olio, and stick with the Friendly Neighborhood Italian Place.

Friendly Neighborhood Italian: the Brunch Edition

About a month ago Maxine insisted that I needed to try Centro Vinoteca, and since we needed somewhere to brunch, we killed two birds with one stone and went. In a word, it was delicious. Since then I've been looking for an excuse to go back, this time armed with a camera. Rachel G., of Assessing the Wreckage fame, was the perfect reason. We did a pre-theater brunch there on Saturday and if possible it was better than the first time.

The meal started when they brought over a complimentary pound cake with lemon curd and orange marmalade. I'm not usually a pound cake fan because I find it to be a little too spongy, but this was yummy, and the lemon curd was the perfect mixture of sweet and tangy.

Next up were the lemon ricotta fritters. Maybe it's because Passover is coming up and I was thinking of my grandmother's failed attempt to make kosher for Passover pancakes using ricotta cheese, but I was definitely not expecting the deliciousness that arrived on our plate. These were basically beignets, except a little less airy and a bit more savory. In other words, delicious. Between the fritters, the pound cake and the bread on the table when you arrive, I was basically already full.

Luckily I managed to find room for what may be the most delicious Eggs Benedict I've ever eaten. The hollandaise was the perfect texture and exactly the right level of lemon. Instead of an English muffin I got a lovely surprise in the form of a potato latke, the smoked salmon was delicious, and the fresh organic egg was expertly cooked and a beautiful bright orange when I pierced the yolk. The olive oil drizzled on the plate was so fresh it looked like a neon yellow, which added a nice extra kick to the dish.

Kat ordered the poached eggs over parmesan polenta and bolognese sauce, the same dish Maxine ordered when we were there last time. I've tasted the dish both times, and I'm obsessed. I was glad Kat ordered it so I didn't have to and could try something new, but really, this dish is delicious. Before I'd tasted the eggs benedict I would have told you all that you had to get this dish, but now the requirement is to go with a buddy and order one of each. Totally worth it.

Centro is my new brunch obsession. GO TO THERE!

Friendly Neighborhood Italian Restaurant

So apparently there are people who actually read this blog (hi Mom) and anxiously await the moment when I post something new here (hi Katie). To all of you, I'm sorry. I could blame it on law school, but really it's because I never remember to bring my camera anywhere, and who wants to read a blog about food without a little low-quality food porn (and I would never dream of offending Emily G. by attempting to use blackberry pictures for such an important purpose). So, there's been a delay, but thanks to a lot of prodding and a shout-out in the best Jersey Shore Live Blog I've ever read (and yes I do read several), I am here with the much anticipated Next Blog Post.

Kate P. is in town from Chicago for the week, which was obviously a perfect time to come down with strep throat. Now that it's finally gone, we decided to celebrate with dinner. We wanted something local, no frills, and tasty. Obviously, the Friendly Neighborhood Italian Restaurant was called for. Everyone needs one of these--a place that serves good food, at good prices, that you can drop into for a fun dinner. Not a place that everyone knows and is trendy and hip, but a place that feels comfortable. Mine is Le Zie. I'm not a regular there, but it is my go-to restaurant anytime I'm looking for reliable Italian food in the neighborhood.

So off we went with Kate's friends Marian and Sandy. They enjoyed a glass of wine each, and noted the generous size of the pour. The bowl of olives and the bread on the table while waiting for food are always delicious, though I wish that when we asked for more oil we had gotten more olives with that oil. I had what they call the best spaghetti and meatballs in Manhattan. I don't usually order that in a restaurant, because it seems so simple, but I figured I should investigate all claims to be the best at something, in the interest of blogging integrity (or something). They're good. Very good. Not the best I've had (in my admittedly limited experience), but good. A little dry, and the plate overall needed more sauce (which is saying something, because I tend to like very little sauce on my pasta. Still, a solid choice.

The fresh tuna ravioli intrigued all of us, but only Marian was brave enough to order them. And what a smart choice. While I don't usually love the combination of seafood and pasta, unless the sauce is a simple oil and garlic sauce, this smelled delicious and, Marian said, tasted even better.

The menu at Le Zie is not extensive, but that's ok because they always have a number of specials that sound amazing and are hard to choose between. A contender last night for me was the veal cannelloni with spinach, though this time I opted for the classic. 

This place is foolproof. If you're ever in the area and need a good solid Italian joint, here's the answer to your question. And if you live around here, consider making Le Zie you Friendly Neighborhood Italian Restaurant.

The World's Greatest Chicken

I like chicken. A lot. It's not the fanciest of proteins, but I love it for its versatility -- for the way you can do anything to it, add anything to it, put anything on top of it, and it's almost always delicious. So, when Kat C. and I realized that it'd been over 8 months since either of us last ate PioPio, it was a state of affairs that had to be rectified immediately (even better timing since Katie C. just told me I needed to write a new blog post).

PioPio is a Peruvian chicken restaurant (Pio is the sound a chicken makes in Peru) with several outposts around the city. It is, in a word, glorious. The food's delicious, the prices are insanely low and if you're there for your birthday they play you an awesome birthday song while bringing you a birthday flan.

The problem with writing a blog post about PioPio, however, is that I find it exceedingly difficult to put into words how I feel about it. Much like a good Belgian waffle, eating PioPio is a quasi-religious and spiritual experience. Kat asked "what do you think it is that makes it taste so good?" as she was watching me struggle to put words to "paper." And, truthfully, I really don't know.


I do have a theory, though. I think it's the sauce. This sauce is what makes the whole experience so indescribably wonderful. If I could convince PioPio to sell me enough of it, I would bathe in this sauce. In fact, my only complaint about PioPio is that they give you so little of it when you order take out. The amount of time I've devoted over the last 3 years to sitting and pondering what's in the sauce is probably unhealthy. I'm still not anywhere close to identifying a full ingredient list, but there's definitely green bell pepper, cilantro, cream of some sort (maybe sour?), and sometimes I wonder if there isn't a hint of cucumber in there as well. The green sauce can go on everything you order at PioPio, including the salad to the chicken, the rice and beans and the maduros (pan-fried ripe plantains).

And speaking of the chicken, let's talk about it. It's covered in spices that I can't even begin to identify, which marinate and flavor the chicken for hours before it's roasted to perfection. The meat is juicy and flavorful (frankly even if it wasn't the sauce is so good it barely matters), and the skin is the perfect amount of crispy without being burnt. Two thumbs up.

The sides themselves are delicious, but unremarkable. The salad deserves a special shout-out, though.  It's a pretty basic salad based with lettuce, radishes, shaved red cabbage, carrots and cucumber hiding under the arranged tomatoes and avocados. It's really beautiful to behold, and the fact that the avocados are always perfectly ripe, no matter the season, is just impressive.

Go to PioPio. Trust me on this one.