tazerowe's Profile
Paris / Jura / Burgundy Report
I’m just back from a trip to Paris and the Jura, with a couple of Burgundy excursions, with my wife and 5-year-old son. Some brief thoughts:
Paris is covered to death, so only limited comments:
I still love Le Rubis for lunch, as it represents a real page out of the past, with very good food and fair prices (2 plats and a bottle of their Morgon was Eur40).
Café Constant was excellent and a good deal. Foie gras and pork terrine plus three mains and a Morgon was ~$105. We went right at the open and walked in, which was great with the jet lag of our first day, but latter it was a complete zoo.
I liked both Le Baratin and Le Verre Vole, but maybe neither could exceed the extensive hype. We stuck to wine by the glass at Baratin, with significant variety among the known natural names (Genevat, Mosse, etc.) LVV we went for a bottle and got another to take away, but my crude French and the lack of a printed list made it hard to take full advantage. The menus were actually quite similar – does everyone have mackerel tartare these days? The cold quail escabeche at Baratin was memorable.
Chez Denise reminds me of a NYC steak house, with a masculine, almost clubby feel. The food was plentiful and good in its way, but I wouldn’t go often as a matter of style. House Beaujolais was fine. I did enjoy the fish terrine in particular.
Matisse at the Pompidou was great, and 5-year-olds love climbing the Eiffel Tower.
Jura:
We stayed in Chateau-Chalon, in the southern part of the wine area, at the Relais Des Abbesse. Ch-C is a very quiet town itself, beautiful, but with not much to do. If you want more walkable infrastructure (shops, cafes, etc,) stick with Arbois. I liked the hotel (a B&B, really), which had room for perhaps 12 guests and was generally full, mostly with couples from nearby Switzerland. Breakfast was great (sausage, cheese, pastry, etc.), and we also had dinner a couple of nights. Dinner was simple home cooking, not restaurant food, but a supplement bought you massive quantities of huge fresh morel mushrooms in cream and vin jaune. I’d eat my shoe with that sauce. It was reasonable, with a triple room at EUR 85 including breakfast. Dinner was, I think, EUR 20 per person (they didn’t charge for my son, who ate little bits but not full dinners) with a supplement (EUR 20, I think) for the morels, which was a bargain.
We had two days to look around, so we spent the first in the north around Arbois, about 30 minutes north of Chateau-Chalon. Arbois was a nice medium town, with several restaurants, cafes and shops. We started by visiting a shop, Vin et Vinegar, where we bought some vinegar made with the vin jaune. It had the very specific salty flavor of Arbois vin jaune and will be an interesting condiment. Later I visited the open tasting rooms of Pinte, Tournelle and A&M Tissot, all on or near the main square. In each case, many wines were open and you could direct the tasting to your interests.
I knew both Tournelle and Tissot, so I focused on the vin jaunes. Tissot had 4 cuvees of 2005, a regular plus three specific terroirs. I didn’t take formal notes, but the differences were marked, with a range in acidity and flavor profiles. I actually ended up preferring the regular, as it was brighter to me, even though there might have been more complexity elsewhere in the range.
At Tournelle, I did try the trousseau that is destined for the States in the coming months and liked it enough to buy a bottle for later in the trip at the hotel. Oddly, that bottle showed a bit heavier and flatter. The vin jaune was nice and I picked up one for the return, as it isn’t yet imported in NY.
At Pinte, I tried the range of poulsards, a 2006, 2009 and 2010. All were light, bright and interesting. These could find a market in the US, I think, at least quality-wise. Prices were nice and the 2006 a steal on sale for EUR 7. I also tasted the Arbois vin jaune against the Chateau Chalon, both 2004. The differences were marked, and later tastings elsewhere with similar differences suggested it was a matter of terroir. The vin jaune was acidic, with a specific salinity, while the Ch-C was rich and had a peat character. I think I prefer the vin jaune for my tastes, but the richness of the Chalon was marked.
We lunched at Bistrot le Claquets, which seems to have a cult following in the wine trade. Honestly, the food was simple, with better starters than mains, the wine was good and the price was fair, but I think we might have missed a certain connection / inside joke being outside of the wine business ourselves (i.e., we probably sat next to famous winemakers, but who knows?). We had a funny exchange with a shopkeeper later that day who asked where we ate. She was horrified that this was what we chose to represent her town!
Dinner was at Le Grapiot in Pupillin which was amazing – best of the trip. The service was a nice mix of formal but friendly, and we were relieved to see many kids around, perhaps even the owner’s, who seemed to live upstairs. The Tournelle team and their 3 kids sat next to us. The wine list was complete for the region, but for me the only choice was the 2010 (~EUR 40) or 1999 (~EUR 60) Houillon-Overnoy Poulsard. At the owners suggestion, we did the 2010, which was great – the perfect balance of amazing lightness and amazing complexity. I had a re-imagined jambon persille (ham AND foie gras) and an interesting version of blanquette de veau, with a rich duxelle on bottom, falling-apart braised veal and crisp-cooked vegetables above, all covered with an almost foam-like cream sauce. I have to try to make this. Very memorable.
The following day, we spent time in the southern area, nearer Chateau-Chalon. We visited the cheese maker in Doucier, where you could watch the daily production though glass, but we got there a little late and watched mainly the cleaning up. Still, the videos about cheese making were good, and we were able to buy comte to bring back. Next was Baume-les-Messieurs, with its beautiful waterfalls and the bat-filled caves. Both were worth the time, especially with my son along. We had lunch there at Le Grand Jardin, which was nice. I had an interesting goat cheese, vegetable and popcorn (!) salad followed by morteau sausage roasted with local wine and comte cheese. Great. Lunch for 3 with a bottle of nice trousseau (I can’t remember the producer) was around $100.
In the remainder of the day, we went to Arlay, hoping to see both Chateau Arlay and Jean Bourdy, although we hadn’t made reservations. We pulled into Bourdy to see a sign suggesting they would be closed that day, and so we started to leave only to have Madame Bourdy start yelling to us to come back. She then spent probably an hour with us, talking in enthusiastic, patient French about the vineyards, wines, serving suggestions, food, the business, etc. It was beyond the call of duty. We tried the full range. I particularly liked the red blend, using all 3 main grapes, and enjoyed seeing the same contrast between Arbois and Chateau-Chalon in the jaune category – lean and salty versus rich and peaty. I went with Arbois again. The real treat, however, was the cellar, with a section of old bottles that astounded – scores from the 19th century, and one marked 1791! They also had an extensive list of old wines for sale (a copy of which I sadly left behind!), dating back to about 1890. I picked up a red and a vin jaune from 1994, my wedding year.
Given the long stay at Bourdy, we skipped Arlay but went to dinner at Les Seize Quartiers in Chateau-Chalon proper. Another solid choice. I shared a smoked fish plate with my son and had what they called croquant of morels, essentially a huge bowl of morels in vin jaune and cream with some toast. Really, probably a pound of mushrooms. That works for me.
Burgundy:
We took two side-tracks in Burgundy, first stopping in Beaune en route from Paris to Chateau-Chalon. Ma Cuisine does, in fact, live up to the hype. Jambon Persille was amazing, and the Brest chicken roast with spices set a new bar for simple chicken. I couldn’t resist the 1966 Chapelle Santenay at EUR 80. It was certainly alive and kicking. My son devoured a cheese plate, including some really serious Epoisse.
Later we went to Savigny-les-Beaunes to the Chateau, not for the wine but for the huge museum of race cars, tractors, motorcycles and airplanes, both real and in toy form. This was, of course, especially a hit with the 5-year-old, but I have to admit it was impressive, especially the motorcycles ranging back to around 1900.
Our second Burgundy adventure was a drive from Chateau-Chalon on Easter to Nolay, west of Beaune, where we went to the local antiques fair. It was about an hour drive, but gave us a target on what otherwise might have been a quiet day. The fair was small but high quality and there were a number of things that would have been interesting if shipping wasn’t an issue. Lunch after was in Santenay at L’Ouillette. This is a bit more white tablecloth than some of our stops, and a nice Easter lunch. The EUR 35 menu had a cream of snails, Charolais beef, cheese from an amazing cart selection, and dessert.
From Santenay we went to Monthelie for the annual Les Printemps de Monthelie, when all of the local producers opened the cellars and had vendors selling cheese, sausages, crafts and more. For EUR 5, you got a glass and access to 15 wineries, tasting the lot of both Monthelie as well as other crus. It was a good chance to get to know Burgundy in a very specific area and to contrast the styles of a single terroir. The day was lively, with a manageable crowd mixed between (mostly English) tourists and locals. For the wines, I focused on Monthelie red in particular, and Eric de Suremain and Denis Boussey stood out.
Sichuan at Imperial Wok in N White Plains: thumbs up
Technically, you are right, I guess that eliminates true authenticity and, no, I detected no sichuan pepper. However, the dishes (chicken accepted) were otherwise cooked in a traditional sichun fashion (both technique and recipe), so more authentic than the more common Chinese-American dishes labeled sichuan. Given the other options in the area, and remembering the a few years back where there were few sichuan options anywhere and sichuan pepper was illegal, I still think this is worth supporting.
Sichuan at Imperial Wok in N White Plains: thumbs up
Just went here and this is a real find. To put it in perspective from my old East Village stomping grounds, I would say not quite as good as Grand Sichuan on St Marks but better than Hot Kitchen. We were there on a Wednesday lunch, despite some warning that the A-grade chef might not work that day, and things were fine. Overall, spicey and authentic, if lacking the sichuan peppercorn side of ma-la. We had:
Sichuan wontons in hot oil - good, not great. The sauce was on, and the dumplings tasty, but the filling was a bit firm and the wrappers fell apart.
Beef tendon in spicy sauce. Very good, with decent texture and a hot and sour sauce. Not as hot as Grand Sichuan, not quite the great texture of Momofuku, but good and something you can't get everywhere.
Chicken with peanuts (from the sichuan menu) - this was OK but perhaps a little disappointing, as it was more the Americanized version - or perhaps Taiwanese? The chicken was breaded and fried, and the stirfry had the little seseme cracker nuggets that I vaguely think of as Taiwanese. Not bad if you think of it versus the usual Chinese-American, but not Sichuan tasting to me and wouldn't be on the list next time.
Ants Climbing a Tree (listed as cellophane noodles with Pork) - this was excellent, better than Grand Sichuan St Marks. Spicy, with lots of crispy pork and green onions. A big portion.
Total was $50 all-in and 3 people couldn't quite finish it all.
BYOB?
There are a number of ethnic spots that are BYO and places like Apiary and, I believe, Ciano that have special BYO nights (usually Monday).
For everyday BYO, La Sirene in Soho is one of the nicer spots and might make sense for a date. The food is good, traditional French bistro, and the setting is the same. It isn't anything cutting edge or amazing, and is a little cramped, but if BYO is important, it is a good choice.
Kuma Inn is the other spot that comes to mind, as it is a step up from some of the ethnic spots in terms of atmosphere. Not 100% certain they are still BYO, but always were.
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Kuma Inn
113 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002
La Sirene
558 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013
Apiary
60 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10003
Ciano
45 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010
Christmas Eve at Bedford Post Inn
I thought it worth posting that I had a very nice experience on Christmas Eve at Bedford Post Inn. My wife was looking for something special in the area for the two of us and our 5-year old. Given the limited options, we went with Bedford Post despite some concern from me - the reviews were sparse and quite mixed, both positive and negative.
I must say the evening exceeded my expectations. The food was very good. The details don't matter much, as it was a one-off menu, but I recall the starters had a nice variety of meats, vegetables, and, especially fun for my Texas-native wife, traditional Christmas tamales. The roast pork was rich and juicy and the truffle risotto had plenty of black truffle throughout. The sides were good and rich in a festive way. For my son, the offered the full meal (at half the adult price) plus some kiddie options, and were glad to give him the adult entree with the kiddie French fries on the side, which was his heaven. Nothing was super cutting-edge, but it wasn't stodgy in any way either.
The service was also very good. While the room was white tablecloth, the servers were friendly and in a festive mood, as was the rest of the crowd. The house was fairly full, which helped the atmosphere. My son especially enjoyed meeting the hostess, who promised him a treat when he arrived, checked on him a couple of times and sent him home with a bag of cookies at the end.
Of course, this was not cheap, with the pre-fixe around $90. All in, with two glasses of Alsatian cremant and a bottle of Descombes beaujolais (around $70, I think, not the cheapest but in the bottom 1/3 of a decent, diverse wine list), the bill was $400 for 3 people, all-in including tax and tip. More than I would like to spend, but I commend the restaurant in making it worth it when combining the location, food, service and atmosphere for a special occassion. I wouldn't hesitate to go again.
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Bedford Post - The Farmhouse
954 Old Post Road, Bedford, NY 10506
40th Birthday Dinner in Lower Manhattan with Private Room
I'll add Il Buco to the list, as the cellar room is great, but I note the service is good but casual more than formal. Not white tablecloth.
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Il Buco
47 Bond St., New York, NY 10012
Kid-freindly mid to high end, walking distance of 1/2/3 or A?
The Bar Room at the Modern is loud and has high chairs. Good food. I've taken a 4-year old there and seen other kids.
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The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Wedding private dinning for 18-22 people.
You could try the cellar room at Il Buco. It holds 25 and is spectacular. I did an event there several years ago and they did a minimum that would fit in your range, rather than a fee, and with the help of the sommelier we were able to keep within the budget.
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Il Buco
47 Bond St., New York, NY 10012
Oysters in midtown
The fish markets on 9th ave in the upper 30s might be OK - Central, and there is another.
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Sea Breeze Fish Market
541 9th Ave, New York, NY 10018
Central Fish Market
527 9th Ave, New York, NY 10018
seeking two recs: fun (not fancy) anniversary meal downtown AND kid-friendly in Gramercy area
You never know for sure, but Ssam at that hour should be perhaps an hour wait, maybe less. It gets worse the later you get, and much worse in prime time, say 8-10pm.
Another adult option is the Breslin, but the reservation situation is the same.
I would expect Eataly to be a zoo at that time. For something low-key, Posto Pizza on 2nd at 18th is an option. Via Emelia is nice Italian on 21st near Broadway. Hill Country on 26th is great for kids and surprisingly good Texas bbq.
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Hill Country
30 W 26th St, New York, NY 10010
Posto
310 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Via Emilia
47 E 21st St, New York, NY 10010
The Breslin
20 W 29th St, New York, NY 10001
Eataly
200 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010
10 days on St. Marks Place
Quite a list here already, but I'd add B&H Dairy for breakfast.
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B&H
127 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Handmade noodles and fresh tofu
I'd also get one of the wheat noodles (e.g., cumin lamb) at Xi'an. As good as the liang pi are, the wheat noodles are even more addictive.
As mentioned below, add hand-pulled Lanzhou-style noodles in Chinatown. I like the ones at the small place on the east side of Forsythe, south of canal. The name changes a lot - maybe it is Eastern Authentic these days?
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Kuaile La Mian
28 Forsyth St, New York, NY 10002
Best Pork Pozole?
La Palapa on St. Marks has a good one. I only see it on the lunch menu, but maybe they could make it other times?
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La Palapa
77 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003
Baby Friendly but Trendy?
Early at the Bar Room at the Modern works. Not sure if that still qualfies as trendy, or ever did.
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The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
CSA reviews? - Norwich Meadow Farm
I think my wife questioned it a couple of times, but we were picking up from middle men, I believe, and we didn't press the issue, but just wrote them off. To clarify, the quality wasn't awful, but a number of items were clearly below what we could see them selling in the markets. I found that insulting given we paid the same price in advance.
Do any of the Chinatown grocery stores sell garden seeds?
Any, with apologies to Hong Kong Grocery for my lack of faith and a shout out to small h, I can report that we have sprouts. It took 8-10 weeks, but they are a few now.
Do any of the Chinatown grocery stores sell garden seeds?
Hong Kong, the big store at Elizabeth and Hester(?), has a small selection in the back, BUT I have had poor results with them two years in a row. I currently have their thai chile seeds in a pot but after 3-4 weeks, no sprouts.
There is also a florist on Center Street just north of Red Egg you might want to try. I am not sure if they sell seeds, but last year they had some interesting plants - I bought heaven facing chile, for example.
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Hong Kong Supermarket
157 Hester St, New York, NY 10013
Manhattan CSA
We've been very pleased with the one at the community center on 6th between Ave B and C (I think). That said, you might want to narrow your search by geography. In most cases, you'll have a few hour window each to pick up several bulky / heavy bags of food. I can't imagine doing one that was very far from home or not convenient in some way.
Looking for nice restaurant with high chairs and kid's menu!
Not sure about the kids menu, but the Bar Room at the Modern is the best place I know with high chairs. If you go on the early side, the room is loud enough to provide air cover for a nice meal with your daughter.
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The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Madrid and Santiago de Compostela
I can vouch for O Dezaseis, and just posted a report on this board covering it. Their octopus is grilled rather than boiled, and in a wonderful smokey oil rather than just sprinkled with paprika. It was teriffic. Many of the tapas bars do the traditional version, so you can compare and contrast. I specifically read that O Calme de Caracoles does a good job, but didn't make it there.
BTW, be sure to look at the amazing gastro-tourism brochure available at the Santiago Tourism website. It is the best I have ever seen of its type, with details on all the restaurants, markets, neighborhoods, food history, maps, etc. I actually printed all 80+ pages and used pieces all over the city.
Y de Galicia ¿que?
FYI, I just got back from a mini-version of your trip and posted a report in a separate post.
On your specific question, I think Santiago's size and depth would make it my choice over Ourense of the two Galician stops we made, but I think both merit a visit.
Have a great trip.
Trip Report: Segovia, Leon, Santiago, Asturias, San Sebastian
I’ve just returned from a 10-day trip through northern Spain and wanted to add a few notes here. I am going from memory and apologize for various spelling and other mistakes.
We spent 2 nights in each of Segovia, Leon, and Santiago, followed by a stop-over in Asturias and 3 nights in San Sebastian, with a rental car until we arrived at the last stop. We gambled a bit that the pace would be too fast, and I think we could have filled a bit more time along the way, but we wanted to see what we could see without taking the opposite risk that we ended up overstaying in one spot. Both strategies have merit.
A few general comments:
We have visited Spain a few times before but, other than San Sebastian, this was new territory for us. We found some useful information here and elsewhere, but generally it was tough to find too much current information out there. Thus, we often winged it.
My wife and I had my 4-year old son in tow for this trip. This actually worked fine in most cases, but did change our strategies a bit. We took things easier than we might have, and were slightly more limited in our restaurant choices, although we did visit a number of nicer traditional spots (modern cuisine and multi-course tasting menus wouldn’t have worked). We also stayed on an interesting schedule, essentially having our son stay on US east coast time, sleeping late and staying up very late by his standards. We also spent the middle of the day taking it easy, often playing games at a café or the like. Spain is super kid friendly, and my son got very used to every restaurant and hotel spoiling him with candy.
We noticed that a number of places offered very reasonable fixed menus at lunch, but often tried to hide this fact (at least to obvious tourists with limited Spanish) once you were inside. This was actually a two-edged sword. In some cases, it might seem you missed a real deal if you didn’t go with the menu, but in others I saw people eating rather simple, cheap and bland food while we ate very well, albeit for EUR 25 / person rather than EUR 12. Once we caught on to this, it became somewhat clearer with some thought when to chose the menu and when not.
Specifics:
Segovia: Given a red-eye flight, we took it very easy our first of two days in Segovia, with just tapas for both meals. We did spend quite a bit of time relaxing on the Plaza Mayor at the cathedral, which had lovely cafes. For our lunch the second day, we chose Jose Maria and enjoyed it. There isn’t much to add to the many descriptions: suckling pig and local beans were great, and we enjoyed a grilled vegetable platter to round things out. We did two orders of pork for 3 people, which was plenty. It is a bit of a zoo, but if you reserve for the 1:45 PM slot and push through the crowd waiting for second seating slots, ordering tapas, etc., the dinning rooms themselves are calm. Contrary to other comments, we didn’t feel excessively rushed, but we were probably out in 1.5 hours.
For tapas in Segovia, what we saw mostly was very simple, like a piece of grilled cheese sandwich or a small piece of tortilla, and usually free with a drink. Actually, I seemed to notice that if you ordered a drink alone, you got free tapas, but if you ordered a drink and food, you might not. In many cases we just ducked in here or there, but we did like lively and friendly San Martin in the square of the same name. Out favorite place of all was La Tasquina, not far from the Plaza Mayor. The free tapas were fairly standard, but they offered a number of tostas in the EUR 5 range. These were rather large slices of good bread with interesting toppings – local smoked cheese with honey and vinegar, salted foie gras and apples. These were quite nice with much more of a chef’s touch than any of the local tapas we tried.
Burgos: We chose to drive to Leon via Burgos and stopped at Casa Ojeda for the roast lamb. The experience was somewhat like Jose Maria, perhaps a bit more upscale. Lamb was excellent. The town seemed nice, with a beautiful cathedral, and probably deserved more of a visit.
Leon: We stayed at the parador in Leon, which was lovely but is, as widely reported, quite a hike from the main part of town. Our second night, with a threat of rain, we almost gave in and stayed in the hotel, but we managed to convince ourselves to go out. Versus Segovia, Leon seemed to be slightly less of a café culture (e.g., no grand cafes on the plazas), but that might have been seasonal. The tapas scene was nice, with a large concentration in the Barrio Humedo but also the surrounding area. The rules around free tapas seemed similar to Segovia, and the selection remained simple, if slightly more creative than we found before. For some reason, potatoes dominated, in a blue cheese sauce at El Llar or fries with chorizo in a number of spots. Two spots that stood out were El Tizon for excellent meats and Camarote Madrid, a more modern place that served small cups of soup with each drink.
We did try Zuloaga for lunch one of our afternoons. The place opens into a very nice old bar and then into a courtyard-like dining room. This was one place where the menu of the day seemed a good value, with 4-5 choices each for starter and main. My wife particularly enjoyed a cold seafood salad. My son’s pasta with seafood was a little peppery for him, but nice, and he inhaled a nice baked salmon.
Ourense: We made a quick stop in Ourense en route to Santiago and it appeared to be a smaller town, but one that would be interesting for a day or two. There was a nice market with a number of stands selling empanada and the like, and an old center with a number of restaurants and bars. We had a quick bite of octopus at the Casa del Pulpo, which was great, and then on to lunch at Restaurante San Miguel. This was another decent, traditional meal, and I enjoyed a huge block of salt cod roasted in vegetables. (Another observation was the size of fish portions we were served in a number of places. Even as an American I was shocked to be given a 5 inch cube of fish!)
Santiago de Campostela: Santiago boasted a lively tapas scene and a nice café culture driven by the University population. Tapas were generally free and each bar had its specialty. I think you could do well just walking the 3 main drags near the cathedral (Franco, Raina and Vilar.) and popping in anywhere, but I particularly enjoyed Orella, with the best pigs ears I’ve had, Gato Negro for its way-down-scale appeal and EUR 0.5 wine (which did taste like a EUR 0.5 wine), and Trafalgar for the spicy mussels. We had a slightly larger meal at Los Caricoles, where the staff was particularly nice, especially to our son who left with handfuls of gummy snails!
We did lunch the second day at O Dezaseis. This was one place where I thought we did much better ordering a la carte rather than taking the fixed menu, although almost everyone else did so. I had a great grilled octopus and another huge piece of cod with a seafood sauce. The wine list was nice as well, with a larger selection of local mencia from regions I haven’t seen in New York.
Santiago’s market was also very nice. There was a formal market and massive seafood displays, but also an open area where it appeared anyone could sell a few things from the garden. We bought all kinds of fun things – pardon pepper seeds to plant, a huge fresh cheese from an older lady who had a few to sell, and empanada with salt cod. I was tempted but passed on the homemade wine and spirits in random reused wine bottles.
Asturias: We needed to split the trip from Santiago to San Sebastian, so we spent one night at Casa Julian in Niserias in Asturias. En route, we stopped for the famous fabada at La Maquina. While finding the place took some luck, this was well worth it. It was a small, simple place, but this is one of Spain’s food treasures. After, we stopped to see the sidra town of Villaviciosa (probably only worth it if you love cider) and tried, but missed, the dinosaur museum.
On to Casa Julian. Niserias has maybe 3 buildings in a deep river gorge. The hotel is one, and a nice bar / cheese cave is directly across the street. We were seriously off season, so we were the only guests, but the staff was nice and served a good meal and nice wine. The fabes with clams were a lighter take on the fabada at lunch, and the hake in cider was fine. My wife had the steak with local cabrales cheese. The place is really beautiful (http://www.casajulian.com/, and check out the webcam), and I would love to get back and stay for a longer time in season.
San Sebastian: In route to SS, we had great adventure by visiting the Sidreria Alorrenea for the traditional Basque sidra lunch. This definitely isn’t for everyone, but I thought it was a can’t-miss experience. The place (and the whole town) was packed with crowds. Alorrenea was essentially two big halls with rows of 6-foot round barrels surrounded by large picnic tables to hold 10-12 people. The crowd was a very interesting mix of locals, probably 60 percent young and somewhat rowdy, 20 percent groups of much older men, and 20 percent families (we were a rounding error). More than half the conversations were in Basque.
The room was deafeningly loud, with people milling around as the staff opened up taps one at a time. Fast moving lines snaked by, with each person grabbing a couple of inches of cider from the constant stream, then moving out of the way. The food was a fixed menu (salt cod omelet, baked salt cod with peppers, a huge rare steak and cheese) and was actually excellent, far better than it needed to be. Later, the waitresses brought out instruments and roamed the room playing. We stayed for 4 hours and had a blast.
No need to say as much about SS itself, as everyone knows about the great tapas and the 3-stars. We three, of course, skipped the 3-stars, but ate like kings on tapas. I note that Saturday was a bit of a zoo in the old quarter, and wasn’t helped by the rugby crowd in town for a big match. It was actually a bit tough with a kid that night, but outside of the old quarter it was stroller city outside a number of the bars. Sunday and Monday nights some places did close, but the old quarter was still great and much easier to navigate. SS was one place we could go a little earlier (7-8pm) as necessary and still find things ready to go.
For more proper meals, we went to Bodegon Alejandro and Rekondo. Bodegon Alejandro was excellent. I had the squid ink rice with tomato and the hake throats pil-pil. My wife enjoyed the crab salad. They were also quite nice to my son, bringing him a plate of jamon and French fries, his heaven.
Rekondo was a short cab ride away and was certainly a very nice restaurant. I enjoyed my hake tail with garlic and seafood soup, but the real reason to come here was the wine list. I ignored almost everything outside of red Rioja and it still took 15 minutes to comprehend it all. For some of the larger wineries you literally had 2+ pages, maybe 30 vintages each of various reservas and grand reservas. I went for the lay-up of a 1976 Tondonia Gran Reserva (EUR 55). While I enjoyed the wine and food, I had mixed feelings about the whole experience and the value. The food and service was more elegant than many places we went, but prices were higher, which offset the wine bargains. So, maybe I personally got better value from Bodegon Alejandro and a bottle of Txakoli. I think the right way to tackle this place would be with a larger group so that you could pick at the older white Riojas and still try some of the cheap (EUR 20 or so) reservas from the 1980s, which would be a unique experience.
All in, a great trip.
Burgos for roast lamb
I am driving from Segovia to Leon but was planning to swing via Burgos to try the famous roast lamb. I've heard various reports on Meson del Cid, Hostel Landa, and Casa Ojeda, etc. but I wondered if anyone here had specific recommendations. I'd probably prefer more traditional to modern and generally I am just as happy in places that are more casual rather than fancy.
Thanks.
Wine Bar for Large Group
Otto would be the easiest choice, given it's size. You would have to stand in the bar area.
You could also see about the back toom at the Ten Bells.
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Otto
1 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003
The Ten Bells
247 Broome St, New York, NY 10002
CSA reviews? - Norwich Meadow Farm
I did one of their CSAs 2 (or was it 3?) years ago and I was VERY disappointed. I would never do it again and I will not buy from their stands in the greenmarket. My issues were with both quantity and quality. They were very specific that the amount of produce you received was based on their current greenmarket selling price. That might be ok, if a little cheap given that I paid months in advance, but worse was that it certainly appeared that we were getting seconds and that they were keeping the better quality for the greenmarket stands.
We subsequently switched to the Hepworths-supplied CSA operating on East 6th Street. We get a half share and have been very happy.
Cider Houses - San Sebastian area
I've read here and elsewhere about the cider houses in the Basque country and was considering a visit during an upcoming trip to San Sebastian, especially since I love the cider itself. That said, I was looking for thoughts on a few questions:
First, are these houses an actual part of local culture or more tourist "spectacles." I don't want to skip a night of tapas in town to find myself in what is really a theme park attraction.
Second, any specific recommendations among the houses? Something that we could get to from San Sebastain on public transport or via a taxi would be ideal, but I could work things to cover this before returning a rental car.
Thanks.
High-End Cocktail Question
Thanks all!
How would the Clover Club atmosphere compare to Pegu et al?
High-End Cocktail Question
Short version of a long story: I need to go with a group of 4 for a nice drink very early on a Saturday evening before dinner in Brooklyn. If not for the dinner, I would be thinking Pega Club or one of its area competitors, but dinner logistics makes two questions important:
1. What kind of crowd will I face if I show up at around 6PM on a Saturday? I won't have the flexibility to wait for long.
2. Is the Clover Club in Cobble Hill a viable substitution for, say, Pega Club? Cocktail quality is important, but atmosphere might be more so.
(Sorry to mix Manhattan and Outer Boroughs topics, but the comparison is relevant to my decision).
St. Mark's Place/Astor Place Breakfast/Brunch on a Saturday?
Really, the challah is the key, so I go with an egg sandwich or omlet. The French toast is good as well.
St. Mark's Place/Astor Place Breakfast/Brunch on a Saturday?
If you want an old-school neighborhood breakfast, go to B&H Dairy on 2nd Ave at St Marks. Tiny and casual, but great food and people. More diner-like than a leisurely brunch, however.
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B&H
127 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
