NYC Trip 2015 - Day 2: Momofuku Noodle Bar and Babbo

Monday, April 27, 2015 - Day two of our New York City getaway!   If you missed Day 1, check out my post here.  We ate at Thomas Keller's Per Se, need I say more?

I should have started the last post on Day 1 with the picture below. Zac saw this at the Chelsea Market (stay tuned for Day 4!), thought the sign below was perfect.  Treat Yo Self.  Pretty much summarizes the theme of our trip!

Day 2 was a Monday, so we headed down to the Union Square Greenmarket to start our day.  The Greenmarket is one of many farmer's markets throughout the city.  Have I mentioned how beautiful the weather was our entire trip? Plus everything was in bloom!  

Union Square

Union Square Greenmarket

The largest carrots I've ever seen

I'd love to have this kind of selection at my fingertips!

We had a light breakfast at the Greenmarket, some juice and fruit. Very tempting to buy more, but we had to save room for what we had planned in the near future....

Could not leave Union Square without taking a quick look at Tamany Hall on the NE corner:

Next stop was the East Village, just a couple blocks away from Union Square.  We started on St. Marks Place and wandered East.  What do we see but a Papaya King! We stopped for a small snack and shared a couple of hot dogs (yes, a couple of hot dogs can be a small snack). 

My mouth is full of hot dog

On the way we passed by some interesting shops and had to stop. First was Forbidden Planet, a comic book store on Broadway SE of Union Square. We also stopped in The Strand bookstore down the block to peruse the rare books on the 3rd floor. 

A costume store that takes up what seems like half a block? Yes, we must stop. 

I am quite impressed with this Batman costume

Along St Mark Place, while eating our hot dogs and waiting for Trash and Vaudeville across the street to open, who do we see? Helen Mirren walking down the street! She seemed to be exercising, and I abstained from accosting her.  St Marks Place was a very neat street, we went into Trash and Vaudeville and Search and Destroy, both punk rock vintage clothing stores.  The Ramones used to shop at Trash and Vaudeville, so we had to go in!

Ok, now to what you really want to hear about, food food and more food.  We made our way over to Momofuku Noodle Bar, located in the East Village.  (Hence our visit to the East Village).

Brisket Pork Buns - as good as they look!

Smoked Chicken Wings

Momofuku Ramen bowls 

Empty Momofuku Ramen bowls

Momofuku Noodle Bar was nominated for Best Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation, not just for the Northeast but for the entire US.  There is a good reason for this.  It is freaking amazing.  I'm talking you need to leave whatever you are doing, get to NYC, go to East Village, and eat there. The broth is something like we've never had, the buns exceeded expectations as well, and the wings were icing on the cake.  We realized we probably should have shared a bowl after eating those appetizers, but hey, you only live one, and as you can see we cleaned our plates anyway.  

I was worn out after this meal and exploration of Union Square and East Village neighborhoods, so yours truly headed back to the hotel post haste to rest.  This was my first big test for my back, and so far so good, but lets not push it I say.  Zac walked back and ran into Chuck Shumer!  There is a story there, but I'll let you ask him.  They are best friends now. 

Post afternoon siesta - Evening of Day 2, April 27th :

Our plans for the evening centered around ending up at Mario Batali's Babbo at 8pm. Babbo is located in Greenwich Village.  Neither Zac or I have spent much if any time in Greenwich Village, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to browse and see the main sites, Bleeker Street, MacDougal Street, Cafe Wha?, Comedy Cellar, and any other surprises along the way.  

our first good view of the Freedom Tower

MacDougal Street

 Bob Dylan's first NY show was here

Inside Cafe Reggio - JFK gave a speech from here. They also claim this machine made the first cappuccino in the US, not sure about that

MacDougal street looking South

One of the coolest things about our trip was all the unexpected moments.  So there we were.....(Zac loves stories that start that way) walking down MacDougal street in the hub of Greenwich Village. I look up and what do I see? The Empire State Building!  I turn around to take in the area more, and look! there is the Freedom Tower!  So from that one block anyone has the perfect view of two NY landmarks.  Wow.  I was impressed as you can tell. 

It's nearing 8pm by now, and we are hungry. Off to Babbo!  Babbo is just off Washington square on a very quaint and quiet street.   Once we stepped in side we were right in the middle of a very bustling and happening place!  Was not expecting ACDC greatest hits album to be playing in the background while we were eating, that's for sure!  

Complimentary appetizer of crostini with a chickpea salad

We did a full meal with each ordering Antipasti, Secondi, and Primi courses.  Passed on the dessert, you'll see why soon!

Antipasti #1 - Marinated Fresh Sardines with Caramelized Fennel and Lobster Oil

Antipasti #2 (mine!) - Grilled octopus with 'Borlotti Marinati" and Spicy Limoncello Vinaigrette

My personal favorite among our Antipasti was the octopus, but I LOVE grilled octopus.  At least the first and only other time I've had it, which was at The Optimist in Atlanta, GA, chronicled here.

Primi #1 - Sweet Potato Lune with Sage and Amaretti

Primi #2 - Chianti Stained Pappqadelle with Wild Boar Ragu

Secondi #1 - Fennel Dusted Sweetbreads with Sweet and Sour Onions, Duck Bacon, and Membrillo Vinaigrette

Secondi #2 - Rabbit with Sweat Peas, home-made pancetta, and carrot vinaigrette

Overall a very nice meal at Babbo, no Mario Battali sightings, but didn't expect it.  

We skipped dessert at Babbo because we had ice cream on the brain, Big Gay Ice Cream that is! One of the two locations of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop is just a couple of blocks from Babbo further West from Washington Square. 

A display of some sort of "what do to do if you or someone around you is choking" poster was displayed at many of the establishments we visited.  None was quite as memorable at this one!  The other quite noticeable unique aspect of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop is the fascination with all things The Golden Girls.  Someone is definitely a fan.

We ordered a salted caramel variety of the vanilla dipped cone to share.  Should have ordered one each!   This location is very close to several subway lines, so if you are in NYC be sure to stop in a get a cone!  The ice cream was fluffy yet creamy, not too sweet with just enough vanilla.  In other words, perfect! 

And that concludes Day 2 of our trip.  We could have ended it there and called it a huge success! Stay tuned for Day 3 - Exploring Flushing, dinner at Sushi Yasuda, and The Spot! 

NYC Trip 2015 - Day 1: Dinner at Per Se, a Thomas Keller restaurant

So I admit it's been a while since writing on my blog. I created this blog as a of way of chronicling our food adventures, both at and away from home, starting with our trip to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Napa Valley exactly 5 years ago this week back in 2010.   This past week we took our first vacation since that trip, and I'm excited to share our food adventures once again!  I'm also now inspired to share more, planning to go through my backlog of endless iPhone photos of meals, hits and misses, to share with you.

This trip was in-part an early 10 year wedding anniversary present to ourselves (actual anniversary is later this summer) and a celebration of my continued successful recovery from the back problems that have been plaguing me for years now. If you know me, it's been rough, and this was my first real test as to what I could tolerate.  It was a huge success! Woo hoo! If nothing else, that is a reason to celebrate.   We splurged and splurged, ate and ate, and overall treated ourselves like kings and queens, having the time of our lives.  Some of my favorite moments were the unexpected ones, looking down a street and getting a stunning view of a landmark with the sun hitting it just right,  unexpected sunset views, or just a perfect new york street. I love New York, and would recommend each of our stops to everyone looking for their own New York food adventure!

What's a trip without the view-out-the-plane-window picture?

Trip Planning basics - we planned the trip based around the restaurants, shops, and markets we wanted to visit. We diligently made reservations for dinner as early as possible, usually 30 days in advance (or as early as the restaurant would allow). I highly recommend this as the top spots book up quickly! For lunch, we had a list of places to stop and graze, sometimes having a few smaller meals for "lunch" to be able to experience more dishes vs one larger mid day meal.  Then, we spent our time before and after each meal exploring the immediate areas with no set schedule, staying flexible and spontaneous. We have both been to NYC and seen all the main sites, so exploring neighborhoods and shops and off the beaten path areas was our main goal (both of us visited with our families while in high school, and then together for a long weekend in college thanks go my husbands winning of a contest for a free trip to NYC!), then we could pick and choose which of the key landmarks to return to.  Our typical day would begin my sleeping in (my husband always the first to arise), and getting out of the hotel between 9:45-10:15.  We'd explore, eat, explore, rest and freshen up late afternoon, then head out again for the evening.  Sleep. repeat.  

For this post I'll stick with Day 1, which was Sunday April 26, 2015. We flew into La Guardia, took a cab to Midtown, enjoyed terrific views from the Ed Koch Bridge, and started our adventure!  We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn - Midtown East, on 52nd street between 2nd and 3rd avenues.  I picked this hotel largely because of the close proximity to two subway stops (Lex and 53rd and Lex and 51st), our pleasant past history with Hilton family of hotels, and the value.  We opted for the City View King, and got a room on the 28th floor, the top floor of the hotel!  Highly recommend this hotel, was not disappointed at all. Location could not be beat! 

View from room, looking SE

We settled in about 5pm, rested, and then got ready for our dinner at Per Se.  Yes, Per Se! We first experienced a meal by Thomas Keller while in Napa Valley at Bouchon (view post here), and knew we would not be disappointed.   We wanted to start the trip off right for sure :).  

We would be in NYC for almost 6 days, so got the $31 unlimited Metro Card for each of us, WELL worth it.  No keeping track of balances, and it pays for itself after just a couple of days (particularly when you miss your stop!).  Rode the E train over to 7th avenue.

On our trek over to Columbus Circle and Per Se, had to stop by the Ed Sullivan Theater to see Dave's sign all lit up for the last time.  Oh, and I haven't mentioned yet that we saw the Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday! With guest Michelle Obama!  More on that later.....

Dinner at Per Se was AMAZING. I can't really express how perfect it was. So romantic, 10 courses but really more like 15, flavors like we'd never experienced, service that went above and beyond, and I could go on and on.  I had noted in our reservation that we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary with this trip, and noted I have back problems so would like a table near the perimeter as to not bother other guests if I needed to stand up a bit (the meal was expected to last 3 hours, longer than I'd been able to sit of late).  The maitre d' came over to greet us, asked about my back and what type of chair I'd prefer, and make sure we were taken care of. And we were! We also received complimentary glass of champagne each with our meal as part of our celebration.

Below is our view from our table of Columbus circle and Central Park.  Oh, and I am now aware of the purse stool. It's a little stool next to your chair for your purse, heaven knows putting it on the floor is the worst!

Menu for our meal

We both chose the Per Se classic Oysters and Pearls for our first course

Sampling of salts for Zac's Foie Gras dish

Even the butter was amazing!

Duck Foie Gras

Roasted Carrot

Halibut dish with asparagus

We were offered an assortment of breads for each course, this is the salted pretzel bread

Abalone dish - first time eating abalone, and not the last!

The Poulard was so tasty looking  that we had both eaten most of it before realizing I had forgotten to take a picture...

Veal course

Apple pie dessert, the first of many desserts! 

Champagne Grapefruit ice with cream, very refreshing! 

Cake and ice cream dish

Extra dessert for our anniversary! White chocolate ribbon, candied flowers, cake on the inside

Lots O Chocolate

sampling of cookies and candies, They brought around a box of 2 dozen chocolates for us to pick from

play on coffee and donuts, with frozen coffee

Two very full, very happy people

View from restaurant

If you had to choose one place in New York to eat, go to Per Se.  It's a once in a lifetime "event" of a meal, worth every penny!  We will never forget it!

Stay tuned for details on the rest of our trip! Preview: Letterman. Flushing. Le Bernardin. Momofuku. Sushi Yasuda.  Just to get started!

UPDATE:

For full links to Days 1-5, check out the links below! 

Day 1 - Dinner at Per Se, a Thomas Keller Restaurant
Day 2 - Momofuku Noodle Bar and Babbo
Day 3 - Flushing, Sushi Yasuda, and Spot Dessert Bar
Day 4 - Part 1 - Katz's, Russ and Daughters, Lower Manhattan, Chelsea Market
Day 4 - Part 2 - Peter Luger Steakhouse

Day 5 - LETTERMAN! Le Bernardin! AHH!

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet in the Slow Cooker

Today is January 30, 2104, two days after the start of a major ice/snow storm that crippled the South.  Thankfully, my area did not get hit near as hard as Birmingham to the north of us or Atlanta.  I'm very grateful for that - made it through with out any issue.  Yes there was ice and snow and the area was completely shut down for about 48 hours, but we did not have to abandon our cars on the interstate or walk 6 miles when it was 9 degrees outside, spend the night in our car, or spend the night at work.  My heart goes out to those that lost loved ones during this storm, we had two deaths on a highway maybe 15 minutes from here due to sudden icy road conditions.   Overall we got maybe 1/2 inch, deeper in some spots, a sheet of ice on anything and everything. 

An upside to being stuck at home is having plenty of time to cook!  Generally when I make a meal in the crock pot, I choose the kind with minimal amount of prep. The whole point is to make it easy.  If there is lots of prep or pre-cooking or browning, I do that days before and even freeze it all so I can dump it in the crock pot and go the day of the meal. Tuesday was the perfect day to pick a warm comforting recipe no matter the amount of prep time!  I love Cooking Light; probably my favorite magazine and source for recipes.  I recently saw on their list of 105 Slow-Cooker Favorites list this recipe for Smoked Sausage Cassoulet.  It has bacon (yum), veggies sauteed in bacon fat (yum x 2), pork, beans, tomatoes, seasoning, and cheese on top.  Sounded perfect!  

Ingredients

• 2 bacon slices
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 pound lean boneless pork loin roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound reduced-fat smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch cubed
• 8 teaspoons finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 8 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

For the bacon I used some of our Benton's bacon. If you have never had Benton's bacon, boy, you need to try it. It's super smokey and seems to have more bacon-y goodness than any other bacon we've had.  Check it out here - Benton's Smokey Mountain Country Hams.  For the smoked sausage, I used some aidells chicken sausage we had on hand. 

When I started the prep for this recipe around 10:30am, there was already a sheet of ice on our back deck. By the time I finished, the deck was almost completely covered in sleet pellets (below).  By the afternoon, the sleet turned to snow.  Needless to say we didn't do any walking on the deck! Our Italian Greyhound tried to traverse it a couple of times, made it across, but tried to generally avoid it.  

Below: our back yard on Tuesday, late afternoon, just before dark. Snow kept falling but only a little bit more accumulated. 

By 6pm we were enjoying our Smoked Sausage Cassoulet!  I had a couple boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix, so went to their website and used their Creamy Corn Muffins recipe.  Basically you add a can of creamed corn and some shredded cheddar to the mix.  I usually try and make things like this from scratch vs boxed mixes, but hey, every now and then it's ok, right?  Oh, and try to imagine there is chopped parsley on top of the stew.  Didn't have any, and certainly wasn't going out in a ice storm to get it. 

By Wednesday morning, a little more snow had fallen. Here's the deepest part from our yard and deck. 

By Wednesday evening we were enjoying clear skies and this beautiful sunset.  And that concludes our adventure that was the Winter Storm of 2014, or The Snowpocalypse, or Frigdemageddon, or whatever name goes down in the history books!

Recipe from Cooking light:
Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

• Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup cassoulet, 1 teaspoon cheese, and 1 teaspoon parsley)

Ingredients

• 2 bacon slices
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 pound lean boneless pork loin roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound reduced-fat smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 8 teaspoons finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 8 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Add onion, thyme, rosemary, and garlic to drippings in pan; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

2. Place half of beans in a large bowl; mash with a potato masher until chunky. Add remaining half of beans, pork, and sausage; stir well. Place half of bean mixture in a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker; top with half of tomato mixture. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Molten Chocolate Cakes for Two

Welcome 2014!  In looking at my lack of posts in 2013, one may think I fell off the face of the planet.  No worries, I'm back, and in a cooking mode frenzy.  My husband and I got some good news the other day, and to celebrate I wanted to make a rich decadent not-at-all-healthy dessert.  I follow Dessert For Two; she pairs down recipes for, yep, you got it, two people. Perfect! I made her Chocolate Molten Cakes (or Chocolate Lava cakes, you get the idea).  I've made these once before from a traditional recipe making 4-6, and they are just not as good reheated vs fresh from the oven.  So a recipe for two is just what I needed (or be tempted to eat the remainder that night.....)

I have a confession, and that is that I got nervous about UNDER-cooking these not thinking of overcooking them. Here's a link to the recipe, with a picture of what it supposed to look like when you break it open. Notice how I don't have a picture of mine with ooey-goodness pouring out? Yeah, I overcooked it.  BUT, be comforted to know that if you do the same, it still tastes GREAT! It's then just a Chocolate Cake without the Molten.

I'm definitely going to make this again, next time without overcooking it!  I also did not have any instant espresso powder. Was great without, but i'm sure would be that much better with it. So make sure you have some!

2014 here we come!

Classic Ceviche - Recipe by Rick Bayless

Yesterday was the University of Alabama's first football game of the season, along with most other college football teams. We love making or picking up game day eats. Ceviche is probably not near the top of the list for traditional football food, but the cool vibrant flavors pair well with the still hot muggy days of summer.

We chose to go with a fish based ceviche, and searched out recipes by Rick Bayless and Jose Andres. (I've written about our excellent ceviche at Jose Andres' restaurant in DC, Oyamel, would recommend to anyone traveling there).  We chose one by Rick Bayless, a classic ceviche dish served at his Frontera Grill restaurant, and used red snapper. 

The red snapper is essentially "cooked" by the lime juice over 4 hours. The onions are combined with the fish for their many hour soak.  It took about 12-14 limes to get the fish and onions completely submerged. I'm so glad I have the citrus juicer attachment for my stand mixer! It was still a workout for my arms pressing so many lime halves, but I can't imagine doing this without some motorized help. 

Zac diced all the ingredients while I was juicing. We waited to cut the avocado until right before serving. The picture above shows the fish and onions after their 4 hour soak, then drained. The recipe calls for olives but we omitted them (I'm not a fan).  We also used sugar vs orange juice, and included the optional olive oil.  It was delicious! 

Classic Ceviche

by Rick Bayless, from Food and Wine Magazine website

Ingredients

1. 1 pound fresh, skinless snapper, bass, halibut, or other ocean fish fillets, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2. 1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice
3. 1 medium white onion, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
4. 2 medium-large tomatoes (about 1 pound), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
5. Fresh hot green chiles (2 to 3 serranos or 1 to 2 jalapeños), stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
6. 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, plus a few leaves for garnish
7. 1/3 cup chopped pitted green olives (manzanillos for a typical Mexican flavor)
8. 1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
9. Salt
10. 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice or 1/2 teaspoon sugar
11. 1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
12. Tostadas, tortilla chips or saltine crackers, for serving

1. In a 1 1/2-quart glass or stainless steel bowl, combine the fish, lime juice and onion. Use enough juice to cover the fish and allow it to float freely; too little juice means unevenly "cooked" fish. Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours, until a cube of fish no longer looks raw when broken open. Drain in a colander.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, green chiles, cilantro, olives and optional olive oil. Stir in the fish and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon. Add the orange juice or sugar. Cover and refrigerate if not serving immediately. Just before serving, gently stir in the diced avocado.

MAKE AHEAD Working ahead: The fish may be marinated a day in advance; after about 4 hours, when the fish is "cooked," drain it so that it won't become too tangy. For the freshest flavor, add the flavorings to the fish no more than a couple of hours before serving. 

NOTES Serving Options Place the ceviche in a large bowl and let people spoon it onto individual plates to eat with chips or saltines; spoon the ceviche into small bowls and serve tostadas, chips or saltines alongside; or pile the ceviche onto chips or tostadas and pass around for guests to consume on these edible little plates. Garnish the ceviche with cilantro leaves before serving.

From Food and Wine Magazine website