Mmmm... dulce de leche

Dulce de leche, or caramelized milk, is a real wonder. Strongly reminiscent of caramel sauce, dulce de leche has all the rich gooeyness of its sister confection, but a more complex flavor and sweetness. (Caramel owes all of its sweetness to sucrose, or table sugar, while dulce de leche takes advantage of the native lactose in milk.)

Put it on some toast and you've got yourself a breakfast of champions. YUM!!!


Dulce de Leche
(based on Alton's recipe - a video clip from Good Eats with the demo is available here)

1 quart milk
1 to 1½ cups sugar (I like it with just 1 cup; Alton's original recipe calls for 1½)
½ tsp baking soda
1 vanilla bean or ¼ tsp vanilla extract (not both)

Add the sugar to the milk and, while warming slowly, stir until all the sugar is dissolved. When the milk is just below a simmer, add the baking soda. If you're using a vanilla bean, split it and add it now. Keep the milk at a bare simmer and cook, uncovered, for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. It will gradually start to darken in color.

(You will need to fiddle a bit to find the right stove setting. Be careful not to let it bubble over - you'd be surprised how easily it can happen once the baking soda is in, even at low temp. I didn't keep a close enough eye on my first batch and the result was edible, but had a grainy texture. Also, don't worry about the foam that forms on top. Try to leave it as undisturbed as possible when you stir. If it really bothers you, you can skim it off.)

One hour in, remove the vanilla bean. Continue to simmer and stir for another 1½ to 2 hours, until the mixture had reduced to a quarter of its original volume. It should be a dark caramel color. If you're using vanilla extract, add it now and cook for just a few minutes to incorporate. Strain.

The dulce de leche is thin in the pot but will thicken as it cools. Refrigerated, it will keep for about a month. As Alton says, "it will keep longer than it lasts, if you know what I mean."

Serving suggestions: The possibilities are practically endless. Off the top of my head, it would be great with Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. As a dip for sliced fresh fruit and biscotti. The Argentineans use it to fill cookies called alfajores. You can use it to make homemade dulce de leche ice-cream, or as a topping for store-bought ice-cream. Make a trifle with pound cake and whipped cream, maybe some toasted sliced almonds. Fill crêpes. The sky's the limit!

Bar Uriarte

Occasion: Dinner with Elizabeth
Location: Bar Uriarte on Uriarte in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires (baruriarte.com.ar)
Edibles: burrata cheese with confit tomato app, followed by the skirt steak; Elizabeth had the white polenta and risotto croquettes (two separate dishes) to start and ordered the zucchini salad for her main but got a spinach one with apples, radish coins and avocado instead

Musings: A modern and trendy place with a Meatpacking sort of vibe.

The meal started off with a great selection of breads. Which we wolfed down, as it was 10:00pm. New Yorkers think they eat late, but they have nothing on Argentineans. As we were leaving, at well past 11:00, several tables were just sitting down to eat.

The first course was a home-run - Elizabeth loved her polenta and I practically swooned over my burrata, fresh, plump and serenely simple. It makes a certain amount of sense that a country so famous for its steak would also have really good dairy. The mains were a bit anticlimactic. There was a mix-up with Elizabeth's salad but she decided to just keep the one that came. My skirt steak was good, but got increasingly rubbery as it cooled.

Still, we continue to be impressed with the calibre of Buenos Aires' restaurants.

La Biela

Occasion: Lunch in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires
Location: La Biela on Avenida Presidente Manuel Quintana, at the large intersection in front of La Recoleta Cemetary
Edibles: I had the tuna salad; Elizabeth had a turkey and roasted red pepper sandwich

Musing: The "Tourist Central" location should have tipped us off, but we tried it on a friend's recommendation. The service in the outdoor area was a chaotic mess. At the same time, this place can't be making much money since everyone around us seemed to be just drinking coffee. (Another tip-off, now that I think about it.)

Elizabeth's sandwich looked pretty rudimentary. My tuna salad was sort of reminiscent of a Niçoise, with tuna, tomatoes, potatoes, a hard-boiled egg and (way too much) raw onion. It was sizeable and filling but nothing to write home about, and pretty expensive. Oh yeah, and the food costs more when you sit outside - the first time I've ever encountered this in all my travels.

If you desperately need a place to rest your feet, and maybe people-watch a little, take a hint from the majority and stick to coffee.

Las Familias bakery

Location: the corner of Armenia and Honduras in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires

I had a ham and cheese knot and a meat empanada (I think it was beef, with chopped-up hard-boiled eggs, olives and mushrooms). Awesome and dirt cheap at just 5 pesos (a little over a dollar) total. With a cup of overpriced coffee from Starbucks - purchased only to be able to sit at their outdoor tables, mind you - it was the perfect breakfast and prelude to an extended ramble in La Recoleta Cemetary.

[Note: I had empanadas three more times during the trip, including once in a fancy restaurant, and the ones from Las Familias were the best. If your hotel is nearby, I recommend picking some up for the plane ride home.]

Casa Felix

Occasion: A much-anticipated dinner
Location: Casa Felix - literally, Chef Diego Felix's house in the Chacarita neighborhood of Buenos Aires (diegofelix.com)
Edibles: mango pisco sour apéritif; first course - sautéed oyster mushrooms over lime mashed potatoes with argula flowers, suico sauce and chili-infused oil; second course - papaya and cucumber salad with a mandarin vinaigrette; intermezzo - apple and mint granita; main course - achiote-marinated sandperch with pea and fennel purée, broccolini and salsa criolla; dessert - coconut and lavender panna cotta

(Note: At some point, I will get around to uploading my pictures from the dinner. Until then, you can find pictures of Diego's gorgeous food - though not the exact stuff that we ate - here.)

Musings: Amazing. Amazing. Thanks go out to Sabrina for the rec!

The evening started with drinks in Diego's backyard. He showed us his herb garden, still in progress, and talked a little about his background and food philosophy. He spoke animatedly of his love for obscure local ingredients and his fascination with the indigenous cuisines of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. As it turned out, he'd just returned from an impromptu North American tour, where he cooked for private parties and supper clubs.

All the guests briefly introduced themselves. Everyone there had heard about place by word of mouth and Diego speculated that every guest could be traced back to one of his friends, the original guests of his home, now restaurant.

Eager to start tasting his creations, we all headed inside to our little tables in their living room. (When the weather is warmer, everyone sits together at the big table in their courtyard.) From the first course of his pescetarian tasting menu on, Diego surprised and challenged us with his dishes.

For example, I never thought cold mashed potatoes with lime would be good, but they were an amazing base for the oyster mushrooms in the first course. The edible flowers from his garden were a charming touch. I wasn't crazy about the slightly slimy manioc pancake in the second course but the salad was lovely, the citrus in the dressing picking up the lime note from the previous course. I think there was an accident with the intermezzo in the hall (all we heard was a loud crash with shattering glass), but they were still able to serve each of us a tiny scoop of the refreshing granita.

The sandperch main course was lovely, substantial and satisfying but still delicate enough to stay in line with the rest of the light menu. We finished the meal with vegan coconut panna cotta with lavender. Coconut makes me gag so I couldn't really evaluate this one objectively, but it was silky-smooth and I loved the crust. The lavender was perhaps a touch overpowering.

The bill was a ridiculously low 110 pesos (about $30). In my opinion, he could easily charge twice, if not three times, as much. Wine is extra, but as Argentina is a robust wine-producing country, the local selections were great and very reasonably priced.

I simply cannot recommend this place strongly enough. Diego's passion for fresh and modern food was evident in everything that came out of his kitchen. A truly spectacular dining experience.

Minga

(Munchings and Crunchings abroad! The first of our many wonderful meals in Argentina...)

Occasion: A first taste of Buenos Aires!
Location: Minga on Costa Rica in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires (mingaparrilla.com.ar)
Edibles: I had the ojo de bife (ribeye) with a side of spinach gratin; Elizabeth had a penne dish that I barely paid attention to, so focused was I on the luscious grilled meats being served all around me

Musings: Only a few hours in Buenos Aires and I was already champing at the bit for some steak. Elizabeth, who doesn't eat red meat at all, amiably let me pick our lunch spot.

When ordering, we tried to communicate the medium-rare doneness I wanted by using the Spanish words for "red" and "rose" but I guess it didn't translate. When my steak came, I gave it a quick prod with my fork and my heart sank when it barely gave at all. I sliced into it to confirm. The meat proved to be well-done, brown all the way through. Sacrilege, really.

I showed it to the waiter. My Lonely Planet guidebook helpfully supplied us with the word "jugoso" (juicy) to better describe what I was looking for. With a minimum of fuss, he whisked it away to be redone. A part of me winced to see an entire prime steak go to waste, but they really had cooked the bejeezus out of it.

Without being asked, our superlative waiter brought me a second skillet of spinach gratin with the new steak, as the original one was now cold. Full marks for service. Steak #2 was everything I had hoped for. Argentinean beef, famous for being free-range, grass-fed and really delicious, absolutely lived up to the hype. It was rich, tender, and had a robust gaminess that American steak generally does not. If you are a steak-lover, you need to get yourself to Argentina pronto. Oh, and did I mention that this steak cost about $10 USD?

All in all, a great start to our South American adventure!

Top Chef Reunion Dinner

Original Air Date: November 4, 2009

1) The people who were annoying in their original seasons are still annoying. I'm looking at you, Tiffani, Marcel, Ilan and Lisa.

2) Speaking of Marcel... The head-shaving incident was way over the line, even in retrospect. But I can see why living with him would have driven people to it. He's got this jittery-obnoxious-immature bravado thing going and it hasn't gotten better with time. Grow up and chill out, dude.

3) Fabio and Stefan really need to have their own show. The way they interact is somehow just naturally hilarious and watchable. And it would be the most quotable show ever. My favorites from Season 5 went something like: "Skinning an eel is like riding a bicycle" (Stefan); "We could serve monkey ass in empty clam shells" (Fabio); and "I'm sweating like a goat at the beach" (Fabio).

Aoki

Occasion: Lunch with Nellie
Location: Aoki on 48th between B'way and 8th (aokinyc.com)
Edibles: 3-roll sushi lunch for both of us; my rolls were the spicy tuna, eel and cucumber and California

Musings: Can't beat the price: miso soup or salad plus three rolls clocks in at a mere $11. The rice in the sushi was a bit mushy but the seasonings on the eel and the spicy tuna were nicely done.

The space is pretty posh, too, with nice wood floors and furniture. Big Boss (my boss' boss, the CIO) LOVES this place.

Bettola

Occasion: Pre-opera (Aida) dinner with Mamie
Location: Bettola on Amsterdam between 79th and 80th
Edibles: shrimp app special and cremini mushroom farrotto to share; I followed it with the salmon; Mamie had a pizza

Musings: When Mamie and I walked past it (our Good Enough to Eat plans foiled by a gas leak), I was really excited to eat here again. I had come here ages ago with PA and Bettola made a really deep impression. I can still remember the awesome scallops I ate with a startling amount of detail.

I was a little nervous upon discovering that the restaurant was completely empty - though I guess it was only 6:30. (There were five other tables by the time we left.) They really deserve to be doing better. One quibble: the waitress blew through the specials like an auctioneer and we had to ask her to repeat herself on several items.

I had eaten a late lunch, but it didn't take much convincing to go in on two shared apps. The shrimp dish was okay, but they need to prep and trim their asparagus more carefully. I ran into several pieces of inedible, woody stalk. The farrotto was HUGE and they didn't skimp on the mushrooms. Delicious. My salmon was a touch overcooked for the medium rare I ordered but it was a good-sized portion, well-plated and with nice veggies on the side. Next time, I'll probably have a glass of wine, the farrotto and the tiramisu (I was dying to try it but there just wasn't room, alas).

With the equivalent of an app and main per person (but with no wine), our total bill came out to $67. Although it's a bit of a stroll to Lincoln Center, I think Bettola is a great pre- or post-theatre option.

Gina La Fornarina

Occasion: Post-marathon cheering (Go Amy!) brunch with Abby, Jill and Chrissy

Location: Gina La Fornarina on 2nd between 81st and 82nd - just look for the fuchsia awning (gina-lafornarina.com)
Edibles: the Gina frittata with sweet Italian sausage, potato and onion for me; focaccia with robiola cheese and prosciutto for Abby; focaccia with scrambled eggs and truffle oil for Jill and Chrissy

Musings: Gina is just a few months old - and evidently still working out a few kinks in their service and supply. (What brunch place doesn't have orange juice?!) Still, it's a great addition to the UES. Tasty food, reasonable prices, a fun vibe and hardly any wait even on Marathon Sunday! Chrissy, our sole UES-dweller, mentioned it's good for a late-night drink and cheese plate too.

My frittata was lovely and fluffy, but I think I liked the two focaccia dishes a little bit better. They consisted of an entire wheel of toasted focaccia, split open and filled like a sandwich. Definitely big enough to share between two people - I ended up eating about half of one myself, between Jill and Abby's leftovers. Yum. An auspicious start to November.

Pommes Frites

Occasion: Post-dinner snack with Abby

Location: Pommes Frites on 2nd Ave between 7th and St Marks (pommesfrites.ws)
Edibles: frites with sundried tomato mayo

Musings: Blink and you'll miss it. This little shop is probably not even five feet wide (note: seating inside is scarce - be prepared to pounce when something opens up). It is, however, conveniently close to all the bars and karaoke places on St Marks.

Sometimes the simple things are best. Pommes Frites takes the humble potato and a pot of hot oil and turns them into pure unadulterated snackfood bliss. As with most unitaskers, you know they must be good because, heck, they only do one thing. If it wasn't good, they'd be out of business.

The potatoes are thick-cut and par-cooked. They're fried a second time in high temperature oil to order. (You can find the official specs here.) What you get is a paper cone filled with piping hot, deeply golden frites, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Just as a fry should be.

Picking a sauce (listed in pink) can be a bit of a negotiation. I admit I'm not very adventurous when it comes to the sauces. I like the sundried tomato, the peppercorn parmesan and just plain ketchup, but I hear the mango chutney and peanut satay are winners.

Soba Koh

Occasion: Dinner with Abby
Location: Soba Koh on 5th St between 1st and 2nd Ave
Edibles: cold soba with slices of duck in a warm dipping sauce for me; hot soba with deep-fried tofu for Abby

Musings: I passed by this place a couple of times while on my way to Minca, and the chef making noodles in the window caught my attention. Abby and I decided to give Soba Koh a try after facing a crazy wait time at Ippudo.

As you may know, soba is made with buckwheat flour. Buckwheat flour has no gluten, unlike regular wheat flour, so making noodles with a high buckwheat content is very difficult because the dough is so brittle. Soba is commonly made using 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour. The highest quality soba contains 100% buckwheat. It takes Japanese chefs years, and sometimes decades, to fully master the technique. While I have no doubt that the soba noodles at Soba Koh are made with consummate skill - in fact, this place would probably be a real find for a soba connoisseur - I just happen to prefer a chewier noodle. (Texture-wise, it's sort of like the difference between a cracker and a chewy bread.)

The dish I got came as a pile of cold noodles and a bowl of hot, soy sauce-based dipping broth. (The duck was in the broth.) I'm not sure how this dish is supposed to work, but when I dipped the noodles in the broth, it made both sort of lukewarm. I also used the soup spoon provided to drink some of the broth, but it seemed too salty for that. (At Soba Totto, they come by at the end with a little carafe of the noodle cooking water for you to dilute the dipping sauce before drinking it.) Do drop me a line and tell me if you know whether I was eating it wrong.

My dish was $18; Abby's, slightly less. We walked out of the restaurant not exactly hungry, but definitely not full. We decided to get some fries at Pommes Frites (see following entry). It's never a good sign for a restaurant when you need more food immediately after.

Next time I'm down in the East Village for noodles, I will likely bypass Soba Koh in favor of my old faithful miso ramen at Minca.

Top Chef Las Vegas Ep. 10

Original Air Date: October 28, 2009

1) What is UP with Jen?! Youch - it must really sting to be in the bottom group with Robin and Mike I. I can't really figure out what her problem is. Last week, she was too ambitious; this week, not ambitious enough.

2) Why did Mike V. get so huffy about not winning? According to his own interview, the banana polenta was originally someone else's idea.
3) I have no doubt that Kevin's dish was delicious

However, it looked like a pile of turds.

4) Even though it was repeatedly referred to as a "vegetarian" challenge, I think the cheftestants were actually restricted to vegan cooking. Nobody made pasta (which usually requires eggs) or used any dairy. That can't have been voluntary. Recall an early Quickfire in Season 4 when the cheftestants had to make a dish with only five ingredients and several of them chose butter as one of their ingredients, even though olive oil was a "freebie."

Martha Stewart Living Cookbook Vols I and II

Martha Stewart Living Cookbook Vol I: The Original Classics
Martha Stewart Living Cookbook Vol II: The New Classics

My review: 4.5/5 stars

These are my other stalwart cookbooks. I picked them up used at The Strand a few years ago. I paid something like $12 apiece, and they've since proven themselves invaluable. Say what you will about her morals or her personality, Martha Stewart know how to cook and she runs a tight ship at MSL. I'm sure their test kitchens rival DuPont's labs for method and precision. And while my own cooking style might generously be labeled "freestyle," I appreciate that level of attention to detail.

The very thorough and descriptive indexes are a large part of the reason these two books make such excellent reference sources. Use the index in the second (blue) volume; it cross-references all of the recipes in the first.

How to Cook Everything

How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food

by Mark Bittman

My review:  4/5 stars

First recommended to me by Elan. Since learning about it, I've spied its bright yellow spine on lots of my friends' bookshelves. When I was in Chicago and Karen was wondering what ratio of water-to-lentils to use, this was the book she reached for. When I was contemplating lobster stock, this was one of the two books I consulted (don't let my failure with that one deter you).

It's a great cookbook for everyone. If you've just mastered toast and canned soup, the recipes and instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. Even if you know what's what in the kitchen, you'll still find it a handy reference. I docked it the one star for not having any photographs.

Thanks for the hardcover upgrade, Ben!

Resto

Occasion: Dinner with Ben
Location: Resto on 29th between Park and Lex (restonyc.com)
Edibles: frites with lime pickle sauce and smoked paprika sauce; tête de cochon sandwich with sriracha and pickled onions and carrots; lamb belly ribs for me; veal belly for Ben; waffle ice-cream sandwich for dessert

Musings: In my neighborhood, finding a nice bar is no mean feat. The blocks near me are cluttered with insufferable places like Merc Bar, Tonic and Joshua Tree, usually packed to the rafters with fratboy douchebags.

Resto is a much appreciated oasis. Like Back Forty, it's dim and casual, bustling but not too crowded or noisy, and patronized by adults. Ben and I lingered long after we were done with our food and drink, and the staff couldn't have been nicer about it.

I've always wanted to try the tête de cochon or pig's head. Ben, never one to turn down a culinary curiosity, was all for it. The sandwich that arrived was a bit of a surprise, but a yummy one. It was meaty and spicy, with a nice bite from the pickled vegetables. Sort of reminded me of abánh mi.

Whoever was manning the grill did a great job with the lamb ribs. They had a gorgeous, fragrant crust on them, and had more meat than I expected. My one quibble was that they were pretty fatty. Ben's veal belly was also really fatty, but I guess that what you get for ordering the cuts we did.

The waffle had a bit of a funny aftertaste, like undissolved baking powder or something. Once I slathered it with vanilla ice-cream, it was hardly noticeable. The few kitchen missteps aside, it was a fun evening. Ben, it was great catching up and I look forward to seeing your new place!

Top Chef Las Vegas Ep. 9

Original Air Date: October 21, 2009

1) Really fun Quickfire! I think everyone could have done a better job leaving clues for the next chef, though. For example, if Jen wanted the fish poached in the oil, she should have left the plate of fish next to the stove.

2) Blue Team's logistics were all wrong. Why have one person responsible for both dishes in a course? Red Team's laddering of responsibilities (i.e. Mike doing an app and a main, Bryan doing a main and a dessert) was definitely the better way to go.

3) Jen sure had an off day. Unfortunately for Laurine, there was no way the judges were going to give Jen the boot ahead of her and Robin. It does kind of suck to be sent home on a day when you didn't even cook. (Did Laurine really come up with the concept for that lamb dish? The carrot jam had to have been Kevin's idea.)

4) Revolt is a terrible name for a restaurant. Why not go with Revolution? Similar wordplay, none of the "disgusting" connotations. Even Revol (sounds like "revel") would have been a better choice. Also, Eli should have tucked in his shirt.

5) Great accessories on Padma! Loved her necklace, loved her shoes.

Rice to Riches

Location: Rice to Riches on Spring between Mott and Mulberry (ricetoriches.com) - it was too close to the subway entrance to resist

Pricey!! Our two small servings of rice pudding (old-fashioned with roasted peaches for me; the almond flavor for the Boy) cost almost $15! Inflation / recession strikes again.

I like this place, though. I like the cheeky messages on the wall "Limit 500 per customer"; "All calories are yours to keep"; "Eating three sensible, balanced meals a day will only spoil your appetite for rice pudding." I like the mod, rice-shaped little dishes they use. Most of all, I like their dense, luxuriously creamy rice pudding. Carb-tastic!

Ivo & Lulu

Occasion: Date #2 with Boy
Location: Ivo & Lulu on Broome between Varick and 6th Ave
Edibles: cilantro baked shrimp, followed by the chicken for me; the roasted pear with blue cheese app, followed by the duck confit for Boy

Musings: I wanted to like Ivo & Lulu, I really did. It's the kind of quirky, hole-in-the-wall restaurant I want to open myself one day. The menu is short and sweet, giving the miniscule kitchen a fighting chance. The prices are right - mains are $14 to $16. BYOB helps keep the bill down, too. They have the fundamentals right - it just needs a few tweaks.

First of all, they need to remove a couple of the tables along the wall. They have about ten tables right up against each other, and the only way to get in and out is to pull the entire thing out, disturbing both neighboring tables in the process. If they had just a little space between them - I'm talking five or six inches - you could slide your table over against the next one to make room to get out.

The baked shrimp smelled DIVINE when it arrived at the table next to us (and by "next to us," I mean "this woman was sitting closer to me than my date"). I'm a fiend for cilantro and it's hard to make a dish with copious amounts of it that I won't like. This one? They over-baked it and the cilantro became a bitter, brownish mush. A great idea for a dish; it just needed to be properly executed.

Boy's app was a bit heavy-handed. Pears and blue cheese are a classic pairing but I thought the pears came out too sweet and the blue they chose was too pungent for an app. It almost would have made a better dessert.

The sauce on my chicken was creamy and delicious; the chicken itself was dry. And so on.

A lot of potential. If they fully realized it, Ivo & Lulu would be great.

Hyo Dong Gak

Occasion: Workday lunch
Location: Hyo Dong Gak on 35th between 5th and 6th
Edibles: noodles with brown sauce

Musings: Another lunchtime tip from the folks at Midtown Lunch. I love this dish, but haven't had it since my handmade noodle place on 32nd closed down. I'm happy to have found a replacement! At $6.95, it's a very nice lunch indeed. If only it was a little closer to my office....

The dish features a glossy, mahogany brown sauce with lots of onions. I also encountered little chunks of pork, potato and zucchini throughout. Once you mix it in, the sauce tends to collect at the edges of the bowl. I recommend eating from the outside in to maintain a good sauce-to-noodle ratio; if you just scoop up noodles from the middle, you will end up with tons of leftover (wasted) sauce.

The noodles were nice and chewy. And long. I yanked and slurped my way through my plate, only to learn later - by spying on a nearby table - that you can ask the waitress with snip through it a bunch of times with a pair of kitchen shears. The more you know....

[A random vignette: The little old Asian man sitting alone at the table next to me was singing to himself as he waited for his check. I was reading a book, but also enjoying his little recital. He must have noticed my attention on some level because he leaned over and asked me if I was Korean. While being asked about my ethnicity is my least favorite question from strangers, he followed it up with my absolute favorite since turning 30: "Are you a student?" I told him no to both, I just like Korean food. He bid me good day and went on his way.]

Back Forty

Occasion: Dinner with my girls, Abby and Elizabeth
Location: Back Forty on Avenue B at 12th (backfortynyc.com)
Edibles: for me, the chicken and pumpkin dumpling soup, followed by the pork jowl nuggets and a side of roasted brussels sprouts; Elizabeth started with the house cheese, then she and Abby shared the fregola "risotto" with pumpkin; we all shared the pecan pie for dessert

Musings: I was really excited to try dinner here. I'd been to Back Forty twice for drinks and I LOVE the atmosphere. [Note: On Monday, happy hour lasts all night. Beers are $3 and wines, $4.]

Back Forty doesn't take reservations, so we were directed to wait at the bar for a table. Thing is, when all the bar stools are taken, you're standing in a narrow corridor that leads to the kitchen. Where servers are coming and going non-stop with plates. After getting knocked around for 15 minutes (one of the waitresses, approaching from the back, mistook me for a hanging coat and actually shoved me out of the way), we retreated to the row of chairs in the first room. A much better place to wait if the bar is full.

The food had its ups and downs. The soup was awesome. The broth was very flavorful and loaded with tender vegetables and shreds of chicken; the pumpkin dumplings were light and silky. Also wonderful: the brussels sprouts, roasted with apples, maple syrup and cider vinegar.

The only weakness in my meal was the pork dish. The plate looked stingy, containing only three sugar-cube-sized breaded "nuggets," each topped with a parsley leaf. I bit into one and got a mouthful of liquid grease and a tiny sliver of meat I barely tasted. I dissected a second one to verify; I didn't eat it.

I had a nibble of Elizabeth's cheese which was a bit on the runny side, but I liked the fresh milkiness. A taste of the "risotto" revealed it to be tasty and well-seasoned, but not at all rich and creamy like you'd expect a real risotto to be. Bad naming aside, I think it was a good dish. The pecan pie really delivered - sweet and gooey, great flaky crust, rich vanilla ice-cream on the side.

A little exposition about my restaurant-reviewing criteria. First, last and most of all, it's about The Food. The food has to be great - fresh, tasty, made with care and consistently so. Nothing should come ready-made out of a bag, a can or the freezer; if there's some extenuating circumstance why something does, it sure as hell shouldn't taste like it. And a restaurant has to provide good value. The more expensive it is, the higher my expectations. To make the Hall of Fame, almost everything on the menu has to be good; it's not enough to have just one or two great meals that can be assembled if a guest knows to find the hidden gems.

On the food, I think Back Forty falls a little short. All of their mains hover around the $20 mark and there are an awful lot of restaurants out there that really shine at that price point. Ones that take reservations and are on subway lines.

Ambiance and service usually rate pretty low on my list of priorities. If the food is outstanding and easy on the wallet, I will put up with rude waiters who barely speak English, sit on a wobbly stool at a card table and bus my own dishes. On the flip side, no amount of trendy furniture or hot waiters can make up for mediocre food. Food and price being equal, I will go to the place with nicer décor (e.g., this is why I prefer BLT Steak to Sparks).

I give the ambiance at Back Forty full marks. It's dim and rustic, and the way the space is divided keeps the noise level conversation-friendly. Our server was very cheerful and chatty, and was nice enough to take the pork nuggets off the bill without being asked. I will certainly be back.... for drinks. On balance, I don't think the dinner experience is worth going out of your way, standing around for a table, and paying a good chunk of change.

Po Restaurant

(100 posts and still going strong! Thanks for reading, y'all!)

Occasion: Dinner with Winnie (in town for a conference), Tom and Melisa

Location: Po Restaurant on Cornelia between Bleecker and W4th (porestaurant.com) [Note: There's another one in Brooklyn]

Edibles: cannellini bean bruschetta amuse-bouche; Tom and I shared the cured tuna app; I had the skirt steak with gorgonzola butter, roasted fingerling potatoes and escarole for my main; Tom had the orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe for his; Melisa had the grilled portobello app start, followed by the pumpkin ravioli in sage butter; Winnie had the roasted beets to start, followed by the pappardelle

Musings: I'm a bit obsessed with Mario Batali and have been to most of his restaurants in the city: Babbo, Otto, Esca, Lupa, Del Posto, Casa Mono and Bar Jamón. I include Po in this list, even though Batali's no longer affiliated and hasn't been for quite a while.

Overall, I thought the food was great. The tuna was a little hard to pick out from the pile of fancy coleslaw it was served on, but once we started excavating, we uncovered a good number of slices. My steak was cooked perfectly and the gorgonzola butter melted into a very rich sauce.

I also sampled everyone's pasta. The pumpkin ravioli was a tad on the sweet side and I don't know if I could have eaten a whole plate, but one bite was perfect. Whoever makes Po's fresh pasta obviously knows his stuff - the pappardelle and the ravioli had great texture and elasticity. Of the three pastas, the orecchiette was the weakest, simply because it was the only one made with dried pasta.

I was very tempted by the ricotta cheesecake, but didn't really have room. Next time.

[Note: They have a six-course chef's tasting for $52. I had it a few years back with some friends and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.]

Top Chef Las Vegas Ep. 8

Original Air Date: October 14, 2009

1) Why does Robin cook so much goo? Fennel flan, corn panna cotta, avocado mousseline. Also, she really needs to learn how to read a room. And when to shut up.
2) Ash, episode 8 is a little late to START cooking "your" food. The top four have been doing it since Day 1, and doing it well. Unlike you. Buh-bye!
3) As much as I hate to admit it, Eli's Quickfire dish did sound yummy. As did Mike V's root beer braised pork cheek.
4) The Brothers Voltaggio really do have classic older sib / younger sib personalities.
5) Eli derided the other chefs for having "candy palates" for wine, yet he later described his own wine as having "cola and vanilla properties" - hypocrisy, ho!
6) Would it be possible to have a crappy dish that went great with the wine? Now that really would be Top Sommelier!

Piece of Chicken

Occasion: Take-out lunch

Location: Piece of Chicken on 45th between 8th and 9th, closer to 9th
Edibles: rib special ($3) and candied yams ($2)

Musings: The ribs were disappointing - serves me right for getting ribs at a place called "Piece of Chicken." When you need to hack at barbeque with a knife, they haven't done it right. Sauce was good, though.

I feel like I need to have the fried chicken before I can really review this place. Stay tuned.

Cafe Fiorello

Occasion: Post-opera (Barber of Seville) drink and snack with Jana.... at least, that's what we intended....
Location: Cafe Fiorello on B'way between 63rd and 64th (cafefiorello.com)
Edibles: antipasto platter - eggplant caponata; fried cauliflower; sautéed Swiss chard with pine nuts; grilled asparagus; roasted beets; bocconcini mozzarella; shards of parmesan cheese; two kinds of olives; sundried tomatoes

Musings: Being an okay-looking girl in the city - as the saying goes, that and two bucks will get you a cup of coffee. Once in a while, though....

I've been coming to Cafe Fiorello for some time now, something like (geez) seven years. It's convenient - Winnie used to live on 62nd, and Lincoln Center is just across the street. My favorite thing to get is the mixed antipasto plate. For $20 - seven years ago - you could pick four veg and three seafood from their vast selection of antipasti at the bar. They also threw in a fist-sized ball of fresh mozzarella that did not count as one of your choices. A really sumptuous brunch or dinner, in my book.

Sometime, maybe three years ago, the price went up to $28. The servings got a little smaller and the mozzarella counted as a choice. Still not too bad, if you shared it with a friend and filled in the gaps with bread. Yesterday, I took a look at the menu and it had become an exorbitant $24 for three seafood alone! Three veg clocked in at $18! Unbelievable!!

I asked the bartender (and not in a flirtatious way) if they had recently changed the menu. I mentioned that the antipasti seemed to be a lot more expensive. He took a look at us and said, "My beautiful ladies! You can pick ten and I will only charge you for three!" I generally don't turn down free food, so we were off.

I stopped after the first six things listed above. Ten minutes later, he came by with a plate of parmesan chunks, green and black olives and sundried tomatoes. Ten minutes after that, he was brandishing a block of Himalayan pink salt, which he ceremoniously grated over everything. A second quartino of wine appeared for each of us (pinot grigio for me, pinot noir for Jana).

At one point, he started chatting with Jana, who busted out her fluent Spanish. They had a long and involved conversation about the landscape and culture of Ecuador. After finding out we had come from the opera, he also offered to get us half-price tickets from a guy he knows who works there.

Now, my mom taught me that, if you're paying, it's okay to leave something on the plate; if it's on the house, you gotta finish it. So we finished the antipasto plate. Friendly Bartender took that to mean we were still hungry and so he brought another giant serving of caponata! And a third round of wine. I gave it my best effort but could only get through half of the caponata.

What a meal to remember! All those flavors and colors, textures - from the creamy softness of the mozzarella to the leathery grittiness of the parmesan to the crisp snap of the asparagus. Whew! Stuffed to the gills and pretty tipsy from all that wine, we paid our $67 tab. There was, of course, a VERY generous tip in it for Friendly Bartender.

El Parador

Occasion: Celebrating a Very Exciting Development with Yining (hers, not mine)
Location: El Parador on 34th between 1st and 2nd (elparadorcafe.com)
Edibles:  guacamole to start; we split the fish tacos and the ropa vieja (braised flank steak); tres leches cake for dessert

Musings: Pro: just a block away from my apartment and better than Qdoba. Con: not as good as Molé, and pretty expensive. The ropa vieja was definitely the better plate. The meat was very flavorful, juicy and tender. It came with a side of black beans, but went great with the rice that came with the fish tacos. The tacos were okay, nothing memorable. The fish really needed salt, and a lime wedge would have been nice too. The salsa on the side provided some zip in contrast to the blandness of the fish but it was too spicy for me to really slather it on.

[Note: Anne, who told us about the place, recommended the carnitas special but it wasn't on offer when we went.]

The cake. Oh my god. Way too rich for one person to finish - the "slice" was about 6 inches square - but SO GOOD. (Though the culinary snob in me noticed that their pastry chef burned the sugar he used for the cage decoration.)

Next time I come - and I'm sure there will be a next time, since it's so insidiously close to my apartment - I think I'll just get a margarita, guac and the cake.

Top Chef Las Vegas Ep. 7

Original Air Date: October 7, 2009

1) Mike V.'s two red-headed little girls are adorable!
2) It's too bad he ended up in the bottom this week. He clearly knows how to cook fish properly, but had zero margin for error in this challenge. In a restaurant setting, he simply would have started over with new fish.
3) By the way, Ash, there's a difference between collaborating with Picasso, and washing his paintbrushes. You may be outclassed in this competition but have a little pride, man!
4) The Mystery of the Salty Gnocchi: Ashley seems like an old hand at making gnocchi so it's strange that she would oversalt the dough to that degree. But if Eli was solely responsible, either in the boiling or the saucing, surely the judges would have been able to tell (i.e. it would only have been salty on the outside)?
5) The broth in the winning dish had Eric Ripert written all over it. Jen is certainly skillful, but what's HER style?
6) Robin is not my favorite, but she deserved better than Mike I.'s passive-aggressive douchebaggery.
7) I am obsessed with the wine glasses with the frosted rings they had on the table when the judges were eating.

Little Italy Pizza

Occasion: Workday lunch

Location: Little Italy Pizza on 45th between 5th and 6th (littleitalypizzany.com)

Edibles: one slice each of sausage and chicken parmesan pizza

Musings: Despite its awards for the best pizza in town, I don't think Little Italy is all that impressive. The sausage slice was good; the chicken parm, not so much.  The chicken was dry, and the toppings were so heavy they just slid off the crust. It's impossible to eat without a knife and fork, which kind of defeats the purpose of making it a pizza, you know?

My biggest beef with this place is the price. My two slices cost me $8.50. I thought it was because of my "fancy" toppings, but the lady behind me ran up a bill of $8.10 for a white slice and a cheese slice. That's just too expensive for pizza.

Koronet, I still love you bestest.

The Manor

Occasion: Kathy and Atticus get hitched!!
Location: The Manor on Prospect Ave in West Orange, NJ
Edibles: the invitation said "feasting" and they weren't kidding....

Cold buffet: sushi; bruschetta; shrimp cocktail; raw oysters; caprese salad; smoked salmon; tortellini salad; marinated mushrooms; crudités; seafood salad

Hot buffet: paella; veal marsala; chicken in champagne mustard sauce; fried calamari; shrimp and scallop Newburg; eggplant rollatini; baked ziti; tortellini alfredo; carving station with beef tenderloin and roast turkey breast

Kathy insisted that they keep the buffet open all the way to the end of the event. Just in case someone wanted a snack after their lunch. (This kind of attitude is why we're such good friends.) So we guests enjoyed this spread for five hours.... and then dessert came:

Then coconut wedding cake showed up:

It was a sore trial for the ladies, many of whom were wearing form-fitting dresses. And I'm sure I wasn't the only one who succumbed to a food coma on the ride home.

Kathy and Atticus - may your marriage be as full of variety, flavor and luxury as your buffet!

Barbone

Occasion: Abby's birthday dinner, with Juice, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mike

Location: Barbone (or as they bizarrely spell it, Bär-bō-né) on Ave B between 11th and 12th St (barbonenyc.com)

Edibles: asparagus fries for Catherine and Abby to start; beet and orange salad with ricotta salata for me and Elizabeth to start; wild boar lasagne for Mike; spaghetti carbonara for Abby; black pepper pappardelle with short rib ragu for me; cavatelli with chicken sausage for everyone else; birthday dessert for Abby

Musings: Cute little place. Overall, a bit uneven but there's a great meal to be had for a reasonable price. At our table, that meal was Abby's - the asparagus fries followed by the carbonara.

Even though I was fairly full from two hours of snacking on various gourmet cheeses and cured meats at Rachel W's housewarming party, my nose still perked up when the asparagus fries (or as I'd describe it, asparagus tempura) appeared at the table, smelling like deep-fried goodness. The aioli on the side was the perfect dip. Thanks to Catherine for "forcing" two on me! The beets were OK, but the ricotta salata tasted like pencil shavings to me. Definitely the wrong garnish.

Most of their pastas come in an appetizer size for a few dollars less. I didn't see much of a difference between my "small" plate and the full dinner portions. It needed salt, but the pappardelle was nice and al dente. As rich as carbonara is, I think the app portion would be enough for that one too.

The little birthday dessert they brought was basically a dish of cream cheese frosting. One bite was perfect - any more would have been cloying for me, but I know at least one person who would love to eat the whole thing....

They also offer a 5-course tasting menu for $37 per person, which sounds very agreeable.

Halal food truck

Location: the southwest corner of 53rd and 6th Ave, just south of the Hilton - look for the guys in the yellow shirts [Note: there's another food truck with guys in yellow shirts on the southeast corner. I haven't tried it, but there was also an insane line for that one.]

The thing about this truck is that there's a long line. Always. Always. On a sunny day, bring reading material. At lunchtime on weekdays, there are a fair number of folks in business dress. I've passed this truck at night, post-theatre and close to midnight, and the line is just as long. Cabbies come in droves, and eat in their parked cars.

(On this particular day, while waiting in the 30-person line, I was forced to listen to fifteen minutes of a very loud conversation the guy behind me was having with his girlfriend on his cell phone. They were discussing their.... er, physical relationship.... and it sounded something like this: "We're two f**king different people! I deal with sh*t my way! You deal with sh*t your way! Why do you expect us to f**king think the same way about sh*t!" Oh, New York.)

I like the chicken and lamb mixed grill on rice with white sauce and just a squirt of hot sauce (it packs a punch). The picture above is a fairly artsy rendering. In reality, it looks like a sloppy mess but it tastes as good as that picture makes it look. It's $5.00 and it's a big enough portion that it routinely lasts me for two meals - perks up just fine in the microwave.

Tarallucci

Occasion: Pre-movie (Invention of Lying) dinner with Elizabeth and Mamie
Location: Tarallucci e Vino on 18th between B'way and 5th, one of three NYC locations (taralluccievino.net)
Edibles: panzerotti alla mozzarella a cotto alle erbe (fried dough stuffed with mozzarella and rosemary ham) and fregnacce al sugo di papera (sheets of pasta with a duck sauce) for me; Elizabeth shared a cheese plate with Mamie and had the eggplant and mozzarella bruschetta for her main; Mamie had a fish dish with shrimp and scallops

Musings: I really appreciated that they were able to seat us right away and without a reservation on a Friday night. (We had tried to go to Vintage Irving and were told that the place was completely booked, even though it was half-empty at the time. The host also gave me some totally unwarranted attitude.)

I liked the vibe of Tarallucci. It was intimately dim (i.e. good date lighting!) and the noise level was chattery but not loud. The friendly wine steward recommended a nice bottle of South African white, and later brought over some tastings of dessert wines.

My app was wonderful. (I mean, fried bread, melted cheese and ham - how bad can THAT be?) The pasta dish was also good, but I think it needed more pasta to stay in proportion with the very generous amount of sauce. And this coming from a person who's been known to sit down with a bowl of homemade spaghetti sauce with no pasta at all. My dining companions likewise reported that their mains were very good. (I had a bite of one of Mamie's scallops and it was plump and tender.)

I think the reason this place isn't packed is because of its prices. The food is good and all but $60+ is what I pay for "fancy, special dinners." Tarallucci is not that. There are plenty of places where you can get a comparable meal and experience for fifteen or twenty dollars less. I'd probably eat here again, but it'd be a "definitely" if their prices were 15% lower.

Hing Won

Occasion: Workday take-out lunch

Location: Hing Won on 48th between 5th and 6th

Edibles: roast duck on rice

Musings: I love me some roast duck. There was a whole year of my life when I ate it at least once a week.

Aside: The long story is that my college dorm had a Chinese restaurant called Beijing on the first floor, and it basically became my cafeteria. Three of their dishes are forever linked to each of my years at Penn. They are: beef lo mein - freshman year; roast duck on rice - sophomore year; cashew chicken - my last year. (What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.) When the owner learned I was graduating, he actually looked saddened and gave me a free Beijing t-shirt. Grad was also when I discovered that the West Lake soup (with beef and lots of cilantro) is really yummy. If I had stayed a fourth year, that might have been the dish. Ah, the road not taken.

Back to Hing Won. I read about this place on someone else's food blog, dedicated exclusively to the herculean task of finding a decent lunch in midtown. (I've been trolling food blogs for format and content ideas, but also I just plain love to read about food.) The interior is just as helter-skelter as he described. The way you order your food is a bit counterintuitive; here's the lowdown:

1) Walk past the steam tables / buffet offerings. Good stuff's in the back.

2) There's a menu on the wall above the second cashier (the first cashier takes care of the buffet folks). Figure out what you want from the myriad options.

3) Give your order to the guy, who writes it down on a little slip of paper. Note that the people standing around in the area are probably not in line; they are likely waiting, as you will be doing shortly.

4) Retreat and wait until your order (or assigned number, which I might have missed) is called.

5) Collect your food and pay.

The roast duck is the best I've had in the city. It's greasy but that's duck, you know. In contrast to poorly-prepared duck, which is bland under the skin, the flavor of Hing Won's permeates all the way into the meat. The rice is delightfully soaked with sauce and ducky juices. The sautéed bok choi tasted a little tinny to me so I ignored it. At $6, I will definitely be back again.

[Note: By roast duck, I do not mean tea-smoked duck, which I also love and frequently order. I've still not been able to find a place to get consistently good tea-smoked duck in NYC. The closest I've come is the westside Shun Lee, but it's pretty expensive and will disappoint me about one in three times. In Vancouver, Ningtu is the place to go.]

Pongsri

Occasion: Combined review - sit-down lunch with Liliana today and a take-out lunch from last week
Location: Pongsri Thai Restaurant on 48th between B'way and 8th, one of three NYC locations (pongsri.net)
Edibles: Thai pineapple fried rice today; beef pad see ew last week

Musings: Finding lunch in midtown, especially right off Times Square (ugh!), is a challenge to say the least. (On the bright side, weaving around slow-moving tourists - and throwing the occasional elbow - is your cardio workout for the day.)

Pongsri is my boss' go-to lunch place. It's not the best Thai food I've had in the city, but the lunch prices are pretty hard to beat. The fried rice is $6.95 and the pad see ew is $5.95. [Note: those dishes go up to $10.95 and $9.95 respectively after 3pm so if you know you're going to be stuck at the office, get it at 2:30 and stick it in the microwave at dinner.]

Based on the bustling activity inside, Pongsri does a VERY healthy volume of business. And turnover equals freshness. The price and speed of service - Liliana and I were in and out in 30 minutes - make Pongsri a decent pre-theatre option, too.

[Nov. 5 Postscript: Don't get the pak tao-geaw, stir-fried mixed vegetables with fried tofu in bean sauce. It's a dish like the literal meaning of chop suey, which is "random scraps."]