mlc66's Profile
Momofuku Ko visit
By now, ellenost, you should have been for your lunch--did they still have the ravioli? I was just describing our meal there again and it got me dreaming of the ravioli along with all the other great dishes. Guess I'll just have to go get my usual salad or other not so exciting workday lunch and make due!
Three days in NYC: Scarpetta, Blue Hill, Cafe Boulud, Momofuku Ko and more
I should also note that in reviewing all our food from the weekend, my husband and I tried to determine the single best dish and narrowed it down to two: the Farm Egg at Blue Hill and the pasta course at Momofuku Ko.
Scarpetta review
Go to know for future reference!
And I need to amend my food above for a couple of courses--this is what I get for not writing it down right away and trying to remember after several other big meals.
When my husband had the short rib, I actually had a piece of toasted mozzarella on a bed of grape tomatoes. A play on the traditional mozzarella sticks with marinara. The tomatoes added excellent flavor, but the dish overall was kind of average (must be why I forgot.)
It was my last dish that was a fish dish (not duck).
Sorry for any confusion. Next time I'll take better notes!
Three days in NYC: Scarpetta, Blue Hill, Cafe Boulud, Momofuku Ko and more
My husband and I spent a long weekend in Manhattan last weekend and since I always get so much help from the Chowhound board, I wanted to post some of my thoughts on our experiences to hopefully help future diners.
This time around, I wrote separate, longer reviews on our "main" restaurants so this one wouldn't get too overwhelming. Hopefully I can manage to get the links to those reviews embedded here so you can see the details.
Thursday night: Scarpetta. We flew in on Thursday and luckily, even with a delay, still made it for our reservation at Scarpetta. We'd heard good things about it and were staying in Chelsea, so it made for a perfect match. We very much enjoyed our meal and the wine list is really interesting. Only complaint was that it was a little warm in the restaurant despite the fact that we got lucky to be there when it wasn't quite as hot as it had been outside.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/726155
Friday lunch: Keste for pizza. We had the Pizza del Re, which is so rich with the truffle spread--I'd definitely have it again when I return! We also had a special pizza with burrata, basil and grape tomatoes, which was nice and fresh. I loved the crust that had a little chew to it and couldn't believe how quick it was from ordering to eating.
Friday night: Blue Hill. We really enjoyed our evening here. As you'll see in the review, we were lucky enough to just have the chef cook for us and the freshness of flavor and lovely plating along with the comfortable room and friendly staff really made for a nice evening.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/726179
Saturday lunch: Luke's Lobster. We each had a lobster roll and then also split a crab roll. While the crab roll was good, the lobster roll was great. My husband's family lives on Cape Cod, so I've had lobster rolls from several different places, but I really liked the not to mayonaise-y flavor along with a really nice amount of lobster and the toasty lobster roll.
Saturday afternoon snack: Casa Mono. We had walked around for quite a while since lunch so decided we deserved a snack. We had some rose cava along with a watermelon, goat cheese salad, bacalao with orange alioli, duck heart pinxtos and pork croquetas with green tomatoes. It was a perfect time of the day for them and the restaurant had some patrons, but wasn't packed, so it really felt like a nice European snack. I don't know that I'd go for dinner or wait to be seated, but it was great for our purposes.
Saturday night: Cafe Boulud. For some reason, choosing our Saturday night restaurant was our biggest challenge. We changed our mind several times, but ultimately decided we wanted to go to a Daniel Boulud restaurant and chose Cafe Boulud. It was a nice evening.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/726188
Saturday later night: Terrior Tribeca. We hadn't managed to fit this wine bar in yet on our visit, so decided another bottle of wine was in order. And it was the Summer of Riesling, so we had a bottle of riesling, of course. Next time, I want to come back when I'm hungry and try out some of their food, too.
Sunday lunch: Momofuku Ko. Despite hearing some grumbling about the service, we decided to keep our reservation and check out Ko. We were really glad we did and I would go back in a different season to see what was new on the menu.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/726197
Looking forward to our next trip--still so many restaurants to try! Thanks again to everyone who helped with input.
-----
Cafe Boulud
20 East 76th St., New York, NY 10021
Casa Mono
52 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
Blue Hill
75 Washington Place, New York, NY 10011
Momofuku Ko
163 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003
Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
Luke's Lobster
93 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009
Momofuku Ko visit
This is one in a series of reviews from places my husband and I visited on a long weekend trip to Manhattan in late July.
We managed to get a reservation for Momofuku Ko for lunch on the Sunday of our long weekend. We were flying out a little later on Sunday evening, so we figured since we wouldn't be having dinner in Manhattan before we left, what better than a three hour lunch? But then, I read a few of the comments about how the service was really unfriendly and standoffish, so we started to wonder if we should cancel. Ultimately, we had enjoyed our meal at Momofuku Ssam Bar when we visited last September and remembered their had been similar comments about service there, which we didn't find to be the case. So, we kept our reservation and we're really glad we did.
We arrived a few minutes early, but we were greeted warmly by the two front of house folks, our backpack stored away and we were promptly seated at the counter. We were part of the last group of four seated, so the other two groups had already started into their experience. There is no printed menu and no pictures, and we didn't write down our courses as we went along (we were too busy enjoying the food and watching the prep), so the below is from memory after we finished. We may be out of order in some cases, but you'll get the idea.
There are three chefs working right in front of you, in a very small space, which is a large part of the experience. For anyone who cooks, you can really appreciate the importance of prep work for this multi-course meal. Without it, this meal could be a disaster. In this case, it was really precise over approximately 17 courses. The front of house staff kept us filled with water, the appropriate silverware and our wine. (We just ordered our own choices--3 different bottles of white wine: a cremant di jura and 2 rieslings that really seemed to work well with the food.)
Okay, here we go:
Tomato gazpacho: this dish looked a little like an egg yolk; it was tomato water within that skin. great flavor.
Kushi oyster: just an oyster, but served with an oyster porter beer that was a great complement
pumpkin bread with ricotta and tri star strawberry
"french fry": their take on caviar: potato souffle with caviar and creme fraiche and chili piped into a french fry like skin. Some might consider this a salty dish, but we found it salty in a good way--that's what you get with caviar.
crudo plate: 4 different raw fish tastes: scallop with hearts of palm and dehydrated bacon, fluke with celery leaf and black rice puffs, madara with a really fabulous vinaigrette and another fish with beet and dehydrated soy. I'm not a huge sushi fan, but it was amazing to taste the fluke with and without the celery leaf. Who knew how much it could totally transform the flavors? And the third fish (sorry, I'm not sure what it was), was fantastic. I wasn't a fan of the scallop mostly because of the texture, but again, I'm not a sushi person.
tartar plate: That's what we called it. A quail egg half, beef tartar with caviar and red miso, another tartar (with sriracha?) and a piece of waygu with a little onion. A very rich plate with nice presentation on a banana leaf type leaf.
Multiple mushroom salad: lobster, black trumpet, white cauliflower and chantarelle mushrooms with pickled red onion (fabulous!), jalapeno and other flavors. I don't always like mushroom upon mushroom, but I think the red onion and jalapeno really played well here.
Ravioli: with corn, chorizo, sour cream, pickled tomato. I'm sure I'm missing some ingredients, but this was probably the best dish we had for the entire weekend! I'm still dreaming about another bowl full.
Lamb rib: This had four separate little dishes to make up the one course. One had the lamb rib which was braised and sauteed and was sitting on a bed of kohlrabi salad which we're hoping to recreate at home (because despite all the write ups to the contrary, the chefs were very willing to answer questions--you just have to know you shouldn't ask while they are right in the middle of intense prep work.) The second dish was a little rice roll that had been rolled in bacon fat and grilled--so good! Third dish was wax beans in a sambal sauce, also really good. Fourth was a cold dashi with uni and peas. I'd have to say the last one wasn't my favorite, but my husband finished mine, so I think it just wasn't to my taste.
Halibut: with charred mustard greens, kohlrabi/radish salad and another dashi. The fish was coated with a light flour that helped to make it nicely crispy. (This I think is one of the dishes that I have out of order.)
Puffed egg: Like a puffy scrambled egg, with chive, kombu, in a bacon dashi and served with an "english muffin" with bay butter. If only I could have this for breakfast every morning!
Foie gras: This dish has been around for a while with Ko: shaved foie gras with peanut brittle and riesling gelee. It is a super rich, decadent dish. I really liked the crunch of the peanut brittle.
Short rib: a perfectly cooked, deep fried short rib (really perfectly cooked) with eggplant two ways (one which was wrapped in nori with red miso). Also with some pickled watermelon.
Onion sorbet with onion seltzer and sea salt. This dish wouldn't be for everyone, but we thought it made a nice bridge between the main courses and desert.
Coconut custard in a crispy shell with a lemon? curd and toasted coconut. This was really great!
Orange granita with dehydrated almond cake and thai basil. I didn't think this was quite as successful as the other dishes. I think there the dehydrated almond cake and thai basil was a little overwhelming and lumpy.
When you are getting ready to leave, they give you a little jar of homemade pickles and a nori wrapped rice and veggie "sandwich". Both were quite good (we ate them after we got home).
Almost everything I had read said that the chefs really were standoffish and made it seem like it was a bother to answer questions or repeat an ingredient. We absolutely did not have this experience. Of course, they are not going to chat with you the entire time; it does take some concentration to make sure that you are preparing the multiple courses with the right timing and, when it comes down to it, that is what they are really there for. While we were there, they answered questions and talked with everyone. And a great part of being there was sitting and watching them work.
Overall, we had a really great experience and the only thing that really detracted from it didn't have anything to do with the restaurant or staff, but rather that two of the other diners could not go five minutes without some pretty major public displays of affection. That gets a little distracting over a three hour meal and unfortunately, they were in a spot where everyone had to watch. Without them, it would have been a perfect Sunday afternoon and even with them, it was pretty close.
-----
Momofuku Ko
163 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003
Cafe Boulud review
This is another in a series of reviews from a long weekend visit my husband and I had to Manhattan at the end of July.
We went to Cafe Boulud on a Saturday night at 8:00 pm. We had really been back and forth about where to go for our Saturday night dinner, and considered Daniel, The Modern, Hearth, Prune and others (I know, a pretty diverse list). Ultimately, for this visit we chose Cafe Boulud and we were not disappointed.
We were seated side by side at the banquette along one wall, allowing us to look out into the room, which I always enjoy. There was a pretty diverse crowd as far as age range as well as attire, which is good to see. Our waiter for the evening was fine and informative although perhaps a little "professionally detached". Our back waiter and the sommelier, however, really helped make the meal more personal.
We ordered from the menu, making our own 4 course meal.
To start, my husband had the charred octopus salad and I had the Thai Lobster salad. I really enjoyed my dish, which had a nice amount of lobster and nice Thai flavors with mango, green papaya and coconut (not a spicy dish). My husband thought his dish was perfectly cooked and tasted fantastic although was originally surprised at the large size of the octopus tentacles.
We decided to insert a pasta course since there were a couple of dishes that really sounded good to us. We added the appetizer portion to our meal. My husband had the Jersey Corn Agnolotti that had zucchini, mushroom, pecorino and onion broth. He was kind enough to share a little with me so I can say that it was very fresh and had fabulous flavor. I had the house made chitarra pasta with roasted tomato sauce with aged parmesan. As much as I liked my husband's pasta, this was even better. We had been to Scarpetta two nights before and had their spaghetti with tomato and basil, but to me, this was even better!
For our main course, my husband had the Vermont Lamb special, which included some loin meat and leg meat. It was perfectly cooked and he very much enjoyed it (we were a little surprised that the waiter asked if he wanted it cooked medium, when medium rare might be more usual and is how my husband requested it.) I had the special fish, which was a halibut with gnocchi a la parisienne and fennel and tomato. The fish was spectacular and I'd have to say the portion was very generous.
For desert, my husband had the strawberry tartelette with marscapone mousse, basil foam and strawberry ice cream. It was nice and fresh and the strawberry ice cream was really tasty. I had the bittersweet brownie with pistachio cream, dark chocolate mousse and goat's milk sorbet. It was fabulous and next time, I'd have a whole bowl of the goat's milk sorbet.
My husband is in the wine business and loves to look at the wine list (usually leaving me to amuse myself with people watching). This time, he had looked at the wine list on line so that he had a head start with the wines he might want. The sommelier helped him narrow them down based on the foods we were having as well as what he thought was really showing well right now.
And, of course, you can't forget the warm madelines that they bring at the end of the evening. So light and flavorful!
Overall, we had a very comfortable experience with good service and good food. I think it was a good choice for us among the Daniel Boulud restaurants and a good Saturday evening in Manhattan.
Blue Hill NYC review
Here is another review in a series of the places that my husband and I dined at in late July on a long weekend visit to Manhattan.
We went to Blue Hill on a Friday evening at 9:00 pm. My husband is in the wine business and had received several restaurant suggestions from one of his New York wine colleagues; Blue Hill was at the top of the list. We also separately mentioned we were travelling to NYC to some friends that live here in Chicago now and a chef friend that used to work in Manhattan and they also really recommended Blue Hill. We participate in a community supported farm here in Chicago, so love eating based on what is in season and fresh from the farm.
So, to provide full disclosure, a couple of our friends/colleagues let Blue Hill know we'd be there, and we did receive some complimentary items. I did, however, also keep a close eye on the service that other tables received and it seemed to me that everyone was treated as if they were a special guest (in particular, I noticed two different occasions where they accommodated diners with seating requests). Staff were friendly and spent time with each table.
We were fortunate enough to have the chef cook for us, so we never looked at the menu. I know that this doesn't happen for everyone, but hope that my comments on dishes that I had might be helpful. I thought everything was beautifully plated: simple, but colorful and letting the vegetables and meats speak for themselves.
We had a round of initial amuse bouche that included: 1) simple fresh crudite with salt: a carrot, a cherry tomato, a gooseberry, snap pea and romaine--yes this was simple, but all the flavors were so refreshingly good. 2) a crispy bacon swirl 3) mini tomato and ricotta "burgers" on an almond bun (an intense burst of flavor) and 4) house cured salamis
Next we had a fabulous summer dish: tomato gazpacho with melon and peppers with a yogurt sorbet. I love gazpacho and this was a different take with the melon and pepper tastes.
Next a simple summer salad with greens, tomato, cucumber, grilled peach and herbs. It was a beautiful dish and the grilled peach was fantastic!
Next was one of the dishes that we'd been told to make sure to try. I believe they make it a little differently depending on the season. It was the "Today's Farm Egg" and this one was on top of corn, potato and bacon. Looking back on our weekend, this was one of the standout dishes (and we had a lot of tasty food.)
Next was a pork course: it included pork belly, shoulder, and loin. To me the loin was one of the best cooked and flavored pork dishes I've had in a while. The shoulder was accompanied by a mustard/pistachio sauce that is sat on and there was also radicchio and cherry sauce on the plate.
The final savory course was grilled duck breast with eggplant puree, eggplant and chili. This was not my favorite of the courses as I'm not much of an eggplant fan, but I'd had my chance to voice my allergies and/or dislikes and didn't put anything on the list, so they wouldn't have know that. My husband very much enjoyed it.
At this point, we were still drinking our red wine and the sommelier was nice enough to add a little cheese course to go along with it.
Finally, we ended with a watermelon dish that was a watermelon disk/soup with melon sorbet. It was a nice, light way to end the evening.
The wine list is diverse and focuses on organic or biodynamic producers that create wines which complement the style of the cuisine.
Overall, I thought the room was very comfortable, the staff was very warm and friendly, the food really let the fresh flavors shine through and was beautifully plated and I look forward to returning.
-----
Blue Hill
75 Washington Place, New York, NY 10011
Scarpetta review
My husband and I ate at Scarpetta at the end of July as part of a long weekend of visiting Manhattan. We were there on a Thursday night at about 9:30 pm after flying in from Chicago.
After checking to make sure that the signature spaghetti dish would be included, we decided to have the chef's tasting menu to enjoy several of their old and new favorites. We were seated near the back of the main dining room, which gave us a nice view of the entire restaurant. We did find that it was a little warm in the room, perhaps because it was quite a full house when we arrived. It is also pretty dark, which was fine except for the fact that my forty something eyes aren't as good as they used to be so looking through the menu is challenging. Even our waiter was chuckling about it with us and holding our candle up to help.
The bread basket arrived and I had heard that you shouldn't miss the stromboli and I must say I wasn't disappointed. It was like a little meal all by itself and it was probably a good thing there was only one slice for each of us since there was plenty more food in store for us.
Our first course was two different crudos: yellowtail with Hawaiian sea salt and a tuna roll with carrot and truffle. Also, a fritto misto to share. I'm not the type to head out in search of sushi, but both of these were were a nice way to start. The sea salt really enhanced the yellowtail and the mix of ingredients with the tuna also really worked. We also enjoyed the fritto misto--it was not greasy and the breading wasn't overbearing.
For the next course, my husband received the short rib with farro, I got a fish dish and we got creamy polenta with truffled mushroom sauce to share. The short rib and farro were perfectly cooked. I am not usually a polenta fan, but I helped eat every last bit of this polenta dish. I think the texture is what usually gets to me, but this was so creamy and the truffled mushroom sauce was divine. It was so good, that I've forgotten how my fish was prepared and what was served with it (I do know it wasn't the black cod, which I've read is a must try).
Next was the pasta course. I received the duck and foie gras ravioli with a marsala reduction, my husband had a fusilli with rabbit and peas and we had the spaghetti with tomato and basil to share. I expected the spaghetti to be my favorite after all the things I'd read about it (and there had been a gentleman at the bar eating it when I came in). It was quite good and perfectly cooked, but I'd have to say I think the rabbit pasta was better. For me, the ravioli had a little bit of a burnt flavor from the wine reduction, but my husband didn't get that as much as I did. I was glad I'd had the tasting menu so that I got to try all three of these pastas.
For our main savory course, I received a duck dish and my husband received a cabreto with pickled red onion. Because I didn't write the courses down right after dinner, I once again can't tell you about my dish. I remember it tasting fine, but as you can see, it was not what I remembered most (and if you'd told me before I went that the polenta and crudo might be the most memorable items to me, I wouldn't have believed it.)
For desert, I received the more chocolate oriented desert, that was a budino, I believe. The top layer of it was a frozen coffee ice, and I don't like coffee at all, so I traded this away to my husband. In return, I had a cantaloupe soup with melon sorbet that was quite good. The only downfall was that I didn't finish my red wine first and the wine definitely tasted different after the desert (but that was my own fault!)
My husband is in the wine business and he liked the intelligent, slightly ecclectic wine list. We had ordered a little known white wine, but they had sold the last bottle earlier that evening. The sommelier recommended another lesser known wine from Emilio Romagna that paired wonderfully with the food. We also had an obscure red wine from Friuli.
Overall, the service was quite nice; the sommelier very helpful (he sent us an after dinner drink) and the food was good and plentiful for a very reasonable (I thought) $80 per person for the tasting menu. Next time, maybe I'll get some stromboli to go to have for breakfast the next day! :-)
-----
Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
What to order at Blue Hill?
Wow. I haven't had the chance to write up my review from last Friday night yet, but I had so much the opposite experience from you and gutsofsteel. I hope the OP did go and that they enjoyed their dinner. We had a great experience and I was definitely more than full when I left (and I'm not a petite diner).
I'll add my link here after I get a chance to write up further details.
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
Wow, thanks kathryn! This is really helpful--thanks for taking the time to provide all these suggestions. Looks like I may need to plan some more visits so I can fit in more eating! Thanks again!
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
We tend to plan the rest of our day around where we're eating, so we can be in just about any neighborhood. We ate at Tia Pol, Fatty Crab, Ssam Bar, Katz's, Porchetta, Co., Pommes Frites and Vanessa's Dumpling House last time around.
We would prefer more lunch than brunch and I think we probably will go back to Chinatown or perhaps try Xian Famous Foods. We didn't make it to Shake Shack last time, so may try there if the line isn't super long. May take a look at all the pizza posts and go for a NY slice somewhere.
Thanks for the link and suggestions.
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
Sorry if you see double language on my post--don't know why it comes up that way!
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
For now, we have reservations for Scarpetta for Thursday (we are staying nearby and we don't get in until almost 8:00, so we're hoping we can even make our 9:30 reservation). Then Blue Hill for Friday. We've read some mixed reviews for Blue Hill, but we love farm to table and we got a recommendation from one of my husband's trusted colleagues. And for now, we have a reservation for The Modern Dining Room for Saturday.
We will likely go to Terroir or Hearth somewhere along the way--gutsofsteel is correct that they have wine lists that are very appealing.
And I'm guessing we'll be at Alto or Marea or Maialino on our next trip. Much as I love Chicago, I think the Italian restaurants in NYC are definitely winners.
Now we are working on lunches. They can't all be huge given the places we are going for dinner, but I will say the main reason for the visit is to eat, so I'm sure they will be nice. It may be controversial on this board, but we might even try to go to Ko for lunch. But, we're just as likely to be found at an inexpensive local joint!
If you have lunch suggestions now that you know our dinner locations--please let us know!
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
Being from the Midwest, there are plenty of steak places to choose from and it's not usually one of our first choices, so that is why we haven't asked about them. We have heard some good things about Minetta Tavern though, so may take a closer look.
We do agree about the wine list at Hearth (one of the places we were likely going to go to was Terroir, the wine bar owned by the same folks.) It's definitely on the list and looks like we can get a Saturday reservation at whatever time we want, which helps.
Also considering The Modern Dining Room (even though we said we'd maybe skip the French oriented food). Ultimately, we're looking for a nice overall experience and September is a few months away, so maybe we can consider it an appetizer for Paris. :-)
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
We are headed to Paris on vacation in September, so maybe we should be looking for something other than French food in NYC since we'll have plenty of opportunity to get our French food fix in a couple of months. Thanks for all the suggestions from everyone so far.
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
Thanks for the tip--we have already made reservations at Scarpetta since we knew we were getting in a little later and wanted to make sure that we weren't just wandering around figuring out where to eat on Thursday night. I'll take a look at Degustation.
3 night visit: Scarpetta and Blue Hill booked; final dinner?
My husband and I are in for a long weekend at the end of the month and are still deciding the final dinner location. We were there last September and visited EMP, Sorella, Lupa, Veritas and Aldea for dinner and several other fabulous places for lunch. We get in late on a Thursday and are staying in Chelsea, so are going to go to Scarpetta (RGR, I think this is a favorite of yours) and are going to Blue Hill on Friday night. We're still deciding on Saturday night, but figure it is always good to make an advance reservation. No restrictions as far as cost, food type, etc other than probably to stay in Manhattan. I'm not a big sushi fan and we're both wine lovers, so are looking for a place with a nice list. We've heard good things about Mas, Prune, and Corton, but aren't tied to any of them.
Where should we go?
THREE nights of dining in NYC - suggestions for both budget and NON-BUDGET restaurants desperately needed!
I'm from Chicago, not NYC, but spent several days in NYC last September and have also spent a lot of time in France, Italy, London, etc on "eating" vacations. My husband and I had dinner at Eleven Madison Park last September and would classify it as one of the best ever experiences in dining. My husband is a wine expert and former restaurant manager, so he has really high expectations and he would say that EMP had the best service of any restaurant in the US. Well worth every penny! Have a great time.
-----
Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010
5 dinners, 3 lunches..Extreme Foodies need help.
You could also get in some BBQ. Twin Anchors, while maybe not everyone's favorite (I'm sure others will weigh in) is a Chicago institution. Smoque is also good, but more difficult to get to without a car. If the lines for Frontera are too long, I'd also recommend Salpicon as another poster mentioned.
A 5 Day Food Extravaganza
Since they've changed to the fall menu since I was there, I already want to go back to NYC and eat there again. Hope you check it out and enjoy a nice Sunday lunch.
5 dinners, 3 lunches..Extreme Foodies need help.
I'd second both Spoon Thai and Sticky Rice. It might be a little easier to get to Spoon Thai because it is on Western right across from the Brown line el stop.
SF CH request for Vegetarian friendly restaurants + cheap & good Thai food in Chicago?
I'd also say Sticky Rice, although Spoon Thai is good and may be easier to get to since it is right across from the Brown Line. Also right there is Opart Thai which is also good.
Arena eats: anything out of the oridinary at the United Center?
The toughest part will be the timing of post-game and whether you are going on a weekend or weekday. The hockey games usually run until 10:00 and Coalfire closes at 10:00 on weekdays, 11:00 on weekends. I think you might have a similar problem with Publican. Just something to keep in mind--you might want to consider pre-game eats.
Return trip to EMP- Truly Remarkable- My most detailed review ever!
Thanks to steakrules I didn't have to write up as much detail about my trip to EMP. I agree that the service and food here were both well deserving of the 4 star review. My husband thinks it's the best service he's had in a U.S. restaurant. The write up for our 5 days of food is here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/655412
Thanks again, RGR, for the suggestions. You'll see we followed several of them.
Arena eats: anything out of the oridinary at the United Center?
I'm a Blackhawks season ticket holder and I have to say after several years of eating at the UC, there's nothing different from the standard stadium food. They've changed a few things a little bit this season and I've only been to one pre-season game, so I may have missed something new, but it looked like they just raised the prices and made the portions smaller. We used to like to have Nachos Grande (not different, but one of the better values), but they made them much smaller this year. Otherwise, it's mostly pizza, hotdogs, boneless chicken wings, etc. Are you going to be enjoying a hockey game?
A 5 Day Food Extravaganza
My husband and I just returned from 5 food filled days in New York. This board helped us with our planning, so I wanted to post some information on our food quest so that it might help other readers. It’s a good thing we did a lot of walking because we certainly packed in a lot of calories over the 5 days. Just as a reference point, we’re from Chicago and my husband sells wine for a living, so this was definitely a vacation that was planned around food and wine (and we squeezed in some touristy things too.)
Sunday: Tia Pol and Lupa
Tia Pol: We went in for a mid afternoon snack at this tapas spot. The fried chickpeas are addicting and the fava bean puree on toast was fabulous. Nice Spanish wine list. I would definitely go back.
Lupa: We didn’t have reservations, but despite some of the negatives we’d seen on this board about the Mario restaurants, we’ve made a ton of recipes from his cookbooks and wanted to try one of his restaurants. We waited about 45 minutes, but managed to get a seat at the bar while we waited and enjoyed a bottle of wine. We opted for the chefs tasting menu to really get a good mix of food. Our waiter was very friendly and the food was as good as we expected. We had some meats to start along with what I call the “circle of treats” which was about 6-7 mini starters including some nice tuna with white beans and green beans with ricotta. Then into two different pastas which I could have kept eating all night. Next a different entrée for each of us along with a couple of contorni (the potatoes were great!). The cheese course was not the dainty portions that you usually see. Last was a tasty tartufo and biscotti—I don’t usually like biscotti, but these were not the teeth breakers that you sometimes get. Overall, a nice neighborhood place that was comfortable and we had a nice meal.
Monday: Fatty Crab and Aldea
Fatty Crab: Some friends had recommended that we try this place and I’m glad we did. The watermelon and fried pork salad was great—we’re going to try to recreate a version of our own here at home. We also had the pork buns to start—I liked the greens that they include to go with them. We had the fatty duck and the chili crab as our main courses. The fatty duck was cooked perfectly, but the chili crab really steals the show. Be prepared to get messy and get extra toast a little while after you start eating it (note that they do charge you $4 for the extra toast—our only quibble.) The sauce was fantastic!! There’s not much to the décor and not everyone will love the music (we did), but this is a place to go to for the food.
Aldea: We went here at the recommendation of RGR, a frequent poster on this board. Chef Mendes’ food is influenced by the Iberian Peninsula. We choose a la carte this evening because there were some specific items that sounded good. We started with Benton’s country ham and Presunto to compare two very different types of ham. Both were tasty and a fun comparison to start. I then had a dish of farm peas and bacon with poached egg. I thought it was really great—not over the top, just a well conceived dish with great flavor and one of my favorites of the trip. My husband had the cured mackeral with meyer lemon—again a nice simple dish. For the entrée, I had the Maine diver scallops with farro risotto, cucumber and orange. The scallops were cooked perfectly and I loved the risotto. My husband had a lamb dish with seckle pear and celery root, which he enjoyed. We had a cheese course to go with the wine we were still enjoying and then had his Sonhos “Little Dreams”, which are lovely little donut holes with cinnamon sugar that come with 3 dipping sauces. Overall, a very nice, interesting meal with pleasant service. It’s not a 4 star place, but the prices aren’t 4 star prices and it was a great way to spend the evening. Next time, I’d ask to sit at the chef’s counter to watch the kitchen.
Tuesday: Katz’s, Il Laboratorio del Gelato, The Pickle Guys and Guss’ Pickles, Momofuko Ssam bar and Eleven Madison Park (yes, all in one day!)
Katz’s: Corned beef and pastrami sandwiches for breakfast. No really good delis in Chicago, so this was a treat.
Il Laboratorio del Gelato: We were at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and this was on RGR’s LES food tour, so we stopped for a snack. It wasn’t as good as Sorella’s (see below), but I really liked the chocolate.
The Pickle Guys and Guss’ Pickles: We compared the sours from both and we voted for the Pickle Guys.
Momofuko Ssam Bar: We got here at about 2:30 and got right in for the $25 3-course prix fixe lunch. To maximize the flavors, we each got different selections for each course. The pork buns to start, of course. They are quite tasty, especially with a little bit of the hot sauce. Also the pickles—what a great variety of pickles! For main courses, we had the beef brisket in broth with noodles—it was good, but the broth was almost too sour. We also had the spicy rice cakes with pork. That dish was REALLY good—the pork had a great depth of flavor. For desert, ice cream pie with strawberries and thai ice cream parfait. We didn’t have any room left for extra desert from Milk Bar, so I’ll have to put that on the list for the next time. I’ve been told I have to try the crack pie.
Eleven Madison Park: Our reservations were at 10:00 pm, which was fine since we also went to a play this evening. We would normally be the 11-course meal type, but decided that might be a little much since we were starting at 10:00 (not to mention our other food stops that day!) So we opted for the Early Autumn Tasting (for those who have been there recently, it is the same as the Taste of Summer menu). Since steakrules85 posted such a detailed review of his recent visit, I will skip all of the details here. The sea urchin with peekytoe crab amuse was fabulous and the lobster was the best dish of the trip. We added a cheese course since we still had wine left and they were kind enough to switch one of our deserts to the mint chocolate chip since I love mint chip ice cream. I have to say, however, that the chocolate peanut butter palette was so wonderful, that I think I should have stuck to that despite how great the mint chip was. Service, as you would expect, was excellent and friendly. We ate at Alinea in Chicago earlier this year and my husband felt the service here was even better than there, which is hard to beat. The only negative to the evening was that we were seated in the little alcove toward the back of the restaurant and it was quite warm and you don’t get to enjoy the beautiful room. I think we were actually seated here because they think of it as a little quieter and a good spot. We have a chef friend that had called ahead and we were seated near a few other folks that were in the business (food and/or wine). It was a nice corner table and if not for the temperature due to less air circulation, it would have been fantastic. This meal and the service were spectacular and the 4 star review is much deserved.
Wednesday: Yonah Schimmel’s, random pizza place, Porchetta and Sorella
Yonah Schimmel: RGR’s LES food tour told us to try the potato knish and ask them to warm it up, so that’s what we did. We took them on the road to head down to Battery Park and they were a good fortification for some sightseeing. I’m not an expert on knish, but these had a nice “crust” on the outside and tasty perfect potato on the inside.
Porchetta: We’d heard we should try the pork sandwich here at this tiny East Village place. They make roasted pork with crispy skin that is seasoned to perfection. They put it on a crunchy ciabatta type roll. Simple and fantastic!
Sorella: We asked a chef friend of ours that used to live in New York where we should go while we were here and this was his first suggestion. It’s an Italian (Piedmontese) restaurant on the LES. They don’t take reservations, but we were lucky enough to have our chef friend make sure we could get in since we had limited time to visit NYC. They are mostly a small plates place (called qualcosina), but don’t worry, these are not the miniscule plates that you sometimes get when you order small plates. They also have a small number of specials each night that are entrée size. We had a friend join us and the three of us stuck with the small plates to make the most of it. We tried a large percentage of the qualcosinas and didn’t have anything we didn’t love. I was just looking at their website and they’ve now changed several of the preparations for fall, but I’m sure they’re all just as good. They are known for the Pate de Fegato which is a duck fat English muffin with chicken liver mousse, fried egg and bacon—rich and decadent and delicious. The pastas were all really good. One dish to look for again next summer is the watermelon and cucumber salad. It had feta and some onion and balsamic—another dish we’ll try to recreate at home. We all had desert as well—the gelato flavors were fantastic, some of the best I’ve had. And they sent us their assorted Italian cookies, which were also really flavorful—I liked these even better than the final cookies at EMP. The wine list is a treasure trove of underappreciated artisanal wines from Italy. If we lived in NYC, this would be one of our “go to” restaurants!
Thursday: Co., Pommes Frites and Veritas
Co.: We know it is not traditional NYC pizza, but another chef friend recommended this place to us. The pizza is cooked at a super high heat for a really crispy crust. The crust is really nice—still has some doughiness despite the fact that it is thin. And the toppings are very fresh: we had a sausage and fennel and a “pepperoni”, which was actually a red pepper sauce and lamb sausage. Both were quite good. If you don’t like a somewhat “burnt” edge, this won’t be for you, but the flavors are fresh and the staff was friendly. I’d go back.
Pommes Frites: We had to go try the fries and the poutine. The fries are cooked to perfection and the roasted garlic mayo sauce I chose (on the side), was really tasty. My husband had the poutine, which is fries with gravy and cheese curds. He loved it—I thought the cheese curds would be warm, so the fact that they were cold threw me off. We were thinking that a pork sandwich from Porchetta down the street and fries from here would be a great combination –you should try it.
Veritas: As I mentioned, my husband sells wine and knows a lot about it, so he spent a couple weeks before we came to NYC studying the list to decide what he wanted to drink. And, they still have 25% off all wines on the list, so you can get a great deal. (They told us that is being extended to the end of the year.) This was our last night in NYC, and the 9-course menu looked really good (plus, my husband needed enough food to go with 3 bottles of wine), so that is what we chose. The restaurant was not overly crowded, so we didn’t have anyone seated on either side of us, which was nice. I won’t describe all the dishes, but the apple verbena gelee in the first dish of lemon marinated langoustine was fantastic. Also, the oursin chitarra was extremely well executed and I definitely would have had seconds. Duck breast is not always my favorite, but this version was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Our sommelier was very knowledgeable, down to earth and helpful with our final wine decisions. The only quibble we had was that she was the only sommelier working that evening. For a restaurant that is all about the wine service, it wasn’t enough. She was working very hard, but had at least one table that was really overtaking her time and we had to go through a part of one course with no wine because we were waiting. I realize that isn’t a major hardship, but should never happen in a restaurant like this. I want to stress that our sommelier was excellent, she was just stretched too thin. Even without the 25% discount, the wines are fairly priced, so the 25% discount was an added bonus. All of our wine choices were excellent. A lovely final evening.
Friday: Kossar’s Bialys and Vanessa’s Dumpling House
Kossar’s Bialys: Another stop on RGR’s LES food tour (we got through quite a few). I’m not sure I’ve ever had a bialy and we just ate ours right at the shop right from the bag. We also had a plain bagel—I’d love to get these in Chicago.
Vanessa’s Dumpling House: We were just walking by and it looked good, so we stopped in for a final snack before we had to go to the airport. We had boiled pork and chive dumplings (8), a sesame pancake pork sandwich, sour cucumber salad and two sodas for $8.50!! The food was all fabulous—wish I’d found this place sooner (except then I wouldn’t have had room for all the other great food). If I’d been prepared, I would have brought home some of the frozen dumplings. You could stuff yourself for a small amount of money.
A great trip—we’re already making the list of where to go next time we’re there!!
Return trip to EMP- Truly Remarkable- My most detailed review ever!
Thanks. I don't think we'll need the Gourmand at that point--I love the full tastings, but not sure I'd want to start that late to do that. And, given that we'll be there right as it turns to fall, I figured they'd change the menu--looking forward to what they do for fall. I've been reading several of your other suggestions, RGR. We have reservations at Veritas and based on some of your posts, we're seriously considering Aldea. We're from Chicago, but haven't been to NYC in more than 10 years. Trying to fit in some great places in 5 nights without going too crazy. Thinking about Lupa and Sorella for dinner, and of course Katz's for lunch. I'm sure a few others--the hubby hates Chicago pizza, but loves NY style. Still finalizing the plans. Sounds like you'd also suggest Scarpetta. We usually go to Europe on our "major" vacation for the year, so have been to some fabulous French and Spanish restaurants. Looking forward to a mixture of foods while in NYC. Thanks for all of your posts--they've been really helpful. It sounds like we may have some of the same type of tastes.
Return trip to EMP- Truly Remarkable- My most detailed review ever!
Thanks for the great detailed review. My husband and I are headed to NYC for 5 days at the end of this month and this really helped us to decide to go ahead and book at EMP. We're going at 10:00 pm, which will be fine since we're going to a play that night first. Do you know if there are any limitations to the menu since we won't be starting until 10:00? Like you, we sometimes like to supplement the menu to try as many things as possible.
