MNPC: San Marzano

It's tough to call tonight a true MNPC, with only 3 members attending dinner, plus it's a place that we've been before. But tonight was MNPC and we went to San Marzano on the Lower East Side, and only 3 member for good reason which I'll get to. 

We had been to San Marzano before with pizza club and it was really good so when LGFEO's band, Leslie Paris Viking, was playing at Arlene's Grocery, it was a great fit and only a few blocks away. The pictures on San Marzano's site look amazing and and I have to say that the food does come out looking just as good in person.

The pizza has a great crust, the right amount of char, and great toppings. If you're on the LES, and looking for pizza, definitely give this one a try. Tonight we had the: 

Pesto Chicken Calzone

fresh mozzarella, pesto chicken breast

Rapini

sausage, broccoli rabe, garlic, chili flakes, pecorino,
fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce

Caprino

fontina, goat cheese, caramelized onions, shitake and
button mushrooms, roasted garlic, thyme, white truffle
oil

After a delicious dinner, it was off to Arlene's Grocery. I have seen several bands play here and it's the perfect venue for new and up and coming bands. I was lucky that tonight, it was one of my friends. The place wasn't crowded and the band was great. If you get the chance, I highly recommend them, Leslie Paris Viking. They are worth a listen.

Sunday Brunch, Alison Eighteen

Brunch is my favorite meal of the week, you can get breakfast or lunch and you get to drink. I've been reading lots of good things about Alison Eighteen and so we made a reservation for brunch. Brunch started off really great. They had a fantastic drink menu. I had a drink with cucumber vodka and rosemary, it was really refreshing. Gramercy Guy had a pineapple caipirinha. 
 

After ordering, they brought us really good crusty, chewy bread. To accompany the bread, we were given a little dish with spices that the waiter poured very rich tasting olive oil. It was heaven, and you know I liked it because I hardly ever eat the bread before my meal. 

 

I had the spit roasted chicken with root vegetables. It was one of the best restaurant chickens I've ever had. It was juicy and well seasoned and the veggies were great. It was like my last taste of winter. 

 

Gramercy Guy got the fried artichoke eggs Benedict. He liked it, but I think we were expecting something different. This was your regular eggs Benedict, with some fried artichoke sprinkled on top. It was really good, just not totally what we expected. 

Dessert on the other hand, phenomenal, we got the beignets. The menu said with lemon cream and chocolate sauce. I thought they were going to come with two dipping sauces. What came out was much better, the dough was filled with the lemon cream. This was my kind of dessert, not greasy and not overly sweet.

This was the perfect end to the meal, a true high note. I look forward to going back to Alison Eighteen for dinner. 


Have you been to Alison Eighteen? What was your meal like?

Po' Boys on a Rainy Sunday

Sunday was a cold rainy day in New York City. It was the perfect excuse to stay in and do very little. Our friend,  the Senator, was better than me to brave the elements and come hang out. The boys went to Good Beer, for a drink and to pick up some beers, our growler is now full! While the boys were out, I went to brave the Sunday afternoon crowds at Eataly. I’m lucky enough to live close by and am able to use it as my local market, but sometimes, the crowds are just too much. After I fought my way to the fish counter, I ordered my red snapper and a dozen shrimp. Gramercy Guy requested Po' Boys for dinner. I also had to fight my way to the bread counter to get a nice French baguette, at least I could use it as a weapon to get to checkout. 

Appetizers were simple, Doritos Nachos. I’m not sure why it took Taco Bell to create a Doritos taco shell for me to think of marrying Doritos and nachos. This was my first attempt and we were not disappointed. I layered chips on the bottom, and then shredded jack cheese on top, some reduced fat sour cream, refried beans, and jalapenos, then created another layer of the same then topped with extra cheese. I baked it at 250 until all the cheese was melty and gooey. I forgot the salsa, but they were great none-the-less.

For dinner, I made the Po' Boys. I cut 1lb of snapper and cleaned the shrimp. Then I dredged them in an egg wash that I seasoned with sriracha. Then into panko that was seasoned with salt, pepper, chili powder, ancho chili powder, and some red chili flakes. I’m not going to give measurements, do it all to taste. I went spicy, knowing my audience.  I then cooked the fish and shrimp in a few tablespoons of oil, until the fish was cooked and crispy on all sides. The pieces were small and the pan was hot so it only took about 5-8 minutes to cook. 

The garnish for a Po' Boy is a good aioli, I put together a fast one of mayo, ketchup, lots of sriracha, and a few shakes of garlic Tabasco. Again, make this as spicy and you like. If you don’t like spicy, then just go straight mayo or use coleslaw. I also had some heirloom tomatoes and Napa cabbage. I served with some coleslaw and macaroni salad on the side. 

Dinner must have been good because the Senator told me he was still thinking about the next day.

Broccoli Sausage and Garlic Pasta

Saturday, Gramercy Guy and I had a busy day spring cleaning our apartment and running errands that at the end of the day, we just wanted to stay in and cook dinner.  So we opened a bottle of rose from Unti and got to work cooking. We found Unti literally by accident, during a trip to California Wine Country. Talking with the sommelier at a winery, we asked her what was her favorite winery that we wouldn’t know about, she sent us to Unti and were fell in love. I highly recommend a stop there if you're in Healdsburg.

Dinner always takes me longer to cook than I plan so I like to do an appetizer to hold us over. I made a caprase salad with fresh, handmade mozzarella from Eataly, an heirloom tomato, then I drizzled just a little bit of really good balsamic vinegar over it. On the side, I put some hot sopresatta and some sweet sopressatta, also from Eataly, with mixed olives. It hit the spot and got me ready to cook. 

I love to make fresh pasta, when you have the time; it tastes so much better than even the best boxed. When we got married, I registered for the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment thinking, if I never use it, I can return it. Well, I love it and use it often. I found a recipe in the New York Times for food processor pasta and I will never again make the well with flour and eggs again, and the best part, there is no mess on my counter. 

While the dough is resting in the fridge, I get a pot of water boiling, and prepare the rest of my meal. Tonight is simple, sausage (I used chicken cause it’s what was in the house), broccoli, lots of garlic and a touch of wine.

After rolling the pasta into thin sheets, I cut them into strips; I wasn’t going to go fancy with shapes, put it into the boiling water to cook for 3 minutes. Drain, and save some of the water. 

Meanwhile, in a large pan, heat oil and add garlic, I like this pasta to have lots of garlic so I use 3 or 4 cloves, cut thick. Add, and brown the sausage until it’s crispy. This sausage happened to be pre-cooked so cooking time wasn’t very long. Add ¼-1/2 cup of white wine (I used some of the rose we were drinking) and the broccoli and cook until green and tender. Add the cooked pasta and ½ cup of the pasta water and mix well so the pasta is coated with the oil and whatever sauce is in the pan. If you’d like, feel free to drizzle some more oil on top. I serve with a generous amount of fresh shaved Parmesan cheese, and some garlic bread.  

For dessert, we only had to go to the freezer for the Ralph’s Italian Ices we had picked up earlier in the day.

Burger Club: The Toucan and the Lion

It was once again Burger Club,and we were really excited to try The Toucan and The Lion. They have recently gotten some great press plus they have a scotch egg and an unusual burger.

We were lucky to get a reservation only a few weeks out, we are a group of 7, and the place is tiny, with only a handful of tables, seating probably 40 at most. I should preface this post by saying this is a new restaurant and perhaps they are still getting their footing and working out the kinks, at least, I hope that's what it is.

We ordered drinks and some apps, which all came at different times, some drinks took longer to arrive than others and the apps, I'm assuming came out as they were ready, or tapas style, which I think while not ideal isn't terrible either. Just wish we knew the process. For apps we had ribs which the waiter said would be life changing. Of the guys who had ribs, they liked them but weren't changed because of them.

We also had the Short Rib Tacos

And of course the Scotch Egg.

 

If you follow me, you know that I had my first scotch egg only a few weeks ago while at The Breslin Bar. Becuase this is only my second scotch egg, I have to do a side by side comparison. This one had lots of promise, with a duck sausage and a lime aioli. To me, it fell very flat, and wasn't that flavorful. I thought it was odd that an order of scotch eggs comes with 3 halves. Also, our 2 orders came out at least 5 minutes apart. 

Entrees took an extremely long time to be served. While we kept ordering drinks and having a good time, we did think it was staggered strangely. Our waiter came over to apologize and brought us a Mango Salad. I hear it was pretty good, but I don't like mango, so I didn't try it. It also seemed like an odd offering for a table of 7 to share.

 

Being that this was burger club, we all got the burger. Theirs is an interesting take with applewood smoked bacon, a spicy cashew butter and fried pickles instead of fries. I will mention that the menu clearly states no substitutions, but when I asked to have mine without bacon, I was told no. The chef has designed an entree and will only serve it as he designed it. Fine, I get that, I can take off my own bacon, just seems wasteful to me. 

The fried pickles were fantastic. I've had fried pickles before, but not like these. The outside was crispy and on the inside, the pickle still had a good crunch and snap. The burger I would give high marks for originality. All the elements worked really well, but I found the cashew butter to overwhelm the meat and I didn't pick up much beef flavor. Now, had I kept my bacon on, maybe that would have been different. 

We ordered sides for the table, and those didn't come until we were close to finishing our burgers. At one point, we asked to cancel the sides and we were told the chef was already making them. Ok, I can accept that, but when our sides were finally served, they came out wrong. We ordered 2 patatas bravas and 1 brussells sprouts. It came the oppoistie, which was fine, by the time we got them, no one even wanted them.

 

All said, this was burger club and the burger was very original. I don't think we've had a burger like it, with cashew butter, and I'm sure we won't again. But with the inflexibility of the kitchen and the poor timing of the service, I don't think I'll be back for a long time. 

Then off to dessert at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. I was too full for dessert, but far be it for me to stop anyone else.

MNPC: Roberta's

We usually like to say at the end of every MNPC, “Well, group, we did it again.” But this week’s MNPC was such a success, that I feel like I need to state it in the beginning. I’m not sure if it was the weather, the restaurant or a combo of both. We went to Roberta’s in Brooklyn and it was excellent.

The vibe at Roberta's is so inviting, you walk into a rustic looking room with long tables and benches, a wood burning oven in the front, a great little bar in the back with a fantastic beer selection and a little garden seating area. I should also mention the great music. We were seated at a table in the in main dining room and got down to the business of picking pizzas. Looking around, everything looked good, it made my mouth water. We got:

Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, and basil)

Axl Rosenberg (tomato, mozzarella, sopressata, mushroom, double garlic, and jalapeno)

Animal Chin (ricotta, parmigiano, ramps, mitiake, and lemon zest)

In Volto (tomato, ricotta, mozzarella, parmigiano, sopressata, roasted red pepper, garlic, basil, and oregano)

This was a calzone type thing which is more like a pizza that they  fold it on itself. I can't even begin to say how delicious it was.

Everything tasted really fresh and I know the menu changes often and they use seasonal ingredients like ramps. The dough was tops too, not too chewy and the right amount of char.

After dinner, we took off and had a nice walk looking for dessert, which was ices at Uncle Louis G's.

Have you been to Roberta's? What was your favorite thing?

Big Green Egg

If anyone was in the city this weekend, you know how great the weather was. After a big dinner the night before, Gramercy Guy and I got up early to beat the crowds and went for a nice bike ride on the path along the Hudson River. 

Later we headed to our friends' in Jersey City, BGE Master (Big Green Egg Master) and Shoe Girl's for an afternoon bbq. We were excited to get the invite which read, "The Big Green Egg Has Landed." If you don't know what the BGE is, it's a clay domed smoker that can cook almost anything and has a cult following.

Gramercy Guy would like to think that his smoked brisket was the inspiration for BGE Mater's quest to smoke everything. This time, BGE Master was only doing ribs. He had two different rubs and both sets were delicious (we even got a doggy bag of leftovers). The ribs were juicy and tender and came right off the bone.

 

Most importantly, they had that smoke ring that you look for in good smoked meats.

I can't forget about the appetizers. BGE Master's smoked stuffed jalapenos. 
He sometimes wraps them in bacon, and I'm so glad this time he didn't. 

 It was the perfect meal to end a great weekend.

Il Giglio

After NCAA basketball season and holidays, Gramercy Guy and I were long overdue for a date night. 

We started with a drink at the Bubble Lounge. I had the Bubble Belini which had the perfect peach to champagne ratio. Gramercy Guy enjoyed his Lychee Martini, it was light and refreshing. I used to go to the Bubble Lounge on a very frequent basis when I first moved into the city. While it was early in the evening, and not yet crowded, it still had that great vibe of low lighting and great music. Too bad it took me too long to get dressed; I would have loved to stay for another drink.

We left Bubble Lounge and headed to Il Giglio, which years ago was semi related to Il Mulino (a favorite of Gramercy Girl & Guy). Talking with our waiter, Franklin, we learned they are no longer related, but the former head chef from Il Mulino now owns Il Giglio.

We had a 7:30 reservation and expected to have to wait a bit, but we were seated right away, as they had more open tables than taken. Looking around, it was set up very similar to Il Mulino, but they had a recent paint job where it looks like Il Mulino hasn’t had a makeover since the early 80’s (that’s one of its many charms).  I don’t want this to be a side by side comparison of Il Giglio and Il Mulino, but it’s hard for it not to be. 

First comes the offer of cocktails and water while servers are bringing fresh bruschetta, pieces of cheese, salami, fried marinated zucchini and a bread basket. Which were all good, the zucchini had a great spiciness to it, but was a bit oily. Then comes the menus and wine lists.  We listened to the specials and ordered right from there, didn’t even open the menu. 

 

Appetizer was a trio of pastas: parpadelle in pesto, shitake mushroom ravioli in a truffle cream sauce and spaghetti with a chunky tomato marina. They were delicious; I had to have bread to make sure there was no sauce left on my plate. 

Langoustines with spinach in a garlic cognac sauce. I really liked the presentation of the 1/2 langoustine in the shell. 

Rack of lamb in a Barolo sauce with potatoes and garlic string beans. These were tasty but really small.

Unfortunately, Gramercy Guy had a plastic piece in his. I think it was the ring from a water bottle. Franklin was very apologetic and provided free dessert. We went with the fresh berries and zabaglione and house made blueberry grappa. I don't like grappa of any flavor, I have learned as I try new flavors.

All in all, I thought Il Giglio  just very ok. The service was exceptional but everything else wasn't life changing and in a city with so many high end Italian restaurants, I will be going elsewhere. 

Have you been to Il Giglio recently, what did you think?

Melt Shop, NYC

Everyone has their go to comfort food or the food they remember fondly from their childhood. Mine is grilled cheese which is why I was super excited when dinner with Copy Gal and Georgia Peach was at Melt Shop. The Melt Shop recently took top honors at Big Cheesy, and is not your average grilled cheese shop. This is where adults go for grilled cheese. The menu is small but looks so good; I had a hard time deciding. I sent a tweet out asking for suggestions and lucky for me, Melt Shop suggested everything, thanks for the help!

The Melt Shop for those looking for it is on 53^rd and Lex, just go down the stairs to the plaza. All the food is made to go but there are plenty of tables outside. It was a nice night so we dined al fresco. 

For my sandwich, I went with the day’s special, buffalo chicken with blue cheese, red cabbage slaw on sourdough bread. It was delicious, the bread was well toasted and the spiciness of the chicken went well with the blue cheese and the sweetness of the cabbage.  It left me full but wanting to try more.

 The girls and I shared an order of the tater tots…which were yummy.

The only problem I can see with the Melt Shop is how soon is too soon to go back and try a different sandwich?