Top Chef Masters Season 2 Finale

Original Air Date: June 9, 2010

1) Wow, how can Rick hope to compare to Marcus and Susur's insanely dramatic life stories? (For those of you that don't watch the show, Marcus' birth mother died of tuberculosis in Ethiopia when he was three and he and his sister were adopted by a Swedish family. Susur moved from Hong Kong to Canada to be with his first wife - who was a passenger on Korean Air Flight 007, which was shot down in Soviet airspace in 1983.)
2) That picture of Rick as a child had me laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair. What a cute, goofy-looking kid he was! Marcus was an adorable child, too. Susur looked really different when he was younger - his face filled out into a completely different shape.
3) Marcus only used half his budget?
4) Dishes I most wanted to eat: Rick's first (a glazed oyster, hamachi and scallop crudo); Marcus' second (salt-cured duck and foie gras ganache); Susur and Rick's third courses (Thai lamb with Chiang Mai sausage and venison with a stuffed cippolini onion, respectively). I don't have a lot of familiarity with either Scandinavian or African cuisine, but Marcus' food just seemed weird.
5) For new readers, I thought about my own "cook's journey" meal during last season's finale. My answers are here.

[P.S. Thanks to Summer Brother for his "technical assistance" in getting me this ep after my DVR failed to tape it. Bad Gadget!]

Taste of Times Square

Occasion: Taste of Times Square - neighborhood restaurants offer up some small plates, get some publicity
Location: Times Square, natch. Tents were set up on Broadway between 45th and 47th, and on 46th between Broadway and 9th Ave
Edibles: tickets were $1 and plates cost between 1 and 5 tickets; my choices described in further detail below

Musings: Thanks to my co-worker Charles, who threw the brochure on my desk just as I was getting ready to head out. Never one to say no to a food event - especially one right outside my doorstep - I immediately agreed to join him.

It was bright and sunny, the perfect weather to wander around and nibble. I lost Charles almost immediately, so I did a first pass by myself. Eventually, Amy was able to escape work and I did a second lap with her. The eats:

Bond 45 - Italian meatballs with olive focaccia (2 tickets). Decent but didn't blow me away.

Encore - Pulled BBQ chicken on a brioche bun with corn relish (2 tickets). Yummy. Really good flavor on the chicken.

Brasserie 1605 - Crabcakes with chipotle aioli (3 tickets). Great crabcake. Almost solid crab. Thumbs up to the chef for resisting the urge to cheap out by adding a lot of bread as filler. That napa cabbage slaw was horrible, though.

Carmine - Shrimp fra diavolo (3 tickets). Disappointing. Not very spicy and the shrimp were rubbery.

The Library - Seafood ceviche (2 tickets) and strawberry shortcake (1 ticket). The ceviche was EXCELLENT - one of the two dishes I went back for seconds on. I loved the watermelon, and the chill and acidity of the ceviche were wonderfully refreshing on a warm summer's night. The shortcake was meh.

Shula's Steak House - Blackened tenderloin tips with bbq and béarnaise sauce (3 tickets). The other dish I had seconds of. Surprisingly tender and juicy for meat cooked in advance and served out of a chafing dish.




And a special mention goes out to the Times Square Visitor's Center, which apparently sells hand-made fudge. I bought a chunk of peanut butter chocolate fudge for $3 that lasted me as many days in the office, one little bite of heaven at a time...

Travertine

Occasion: Dinner with PA.... ultimately without PA. Let's just say we had some logistical difficulties.
Location: Travertine on Kenmare between Bowery and Delancey (travertinenyc.com)
Edibles: Elizabeth and I shared the gnocchi with braised pork shoulder and crackling to start, then I had the skirt steak and she had the prosciutto-wrapped cod; Abby had the garganelli with morels and sugar snaps

Musings: I'll start with a disclaimer that this is not the most objective of reviews. We all arrived grumpy because of the scheduling snafus with PA, and the restaurant did nothing to improve our moods.

Even before the food arrived, things were rubbing me the wrong way. Everything from the Twilight décor, complete with black crystal chandeliers, to the bored aspiring models they'd hired as waitresses. Our table, too small for three people, with my chair positioned six inches from some steps. Everything irked me.

Their pricey wines are listed as quartinos, defined as little carafes holding 8 oz., almost twice the standard New York pour. I was served a fairly miserly amount in a glass, with no carafe. When asked, the waitress insisted that the pour was a quartino and I just couldn't tell because their wine glasses are bigger. Complete BS.

The food was pretty uneven. The gnocchi were about twice the size they should have been, dense and pasty as a result. (Even crackling couldn't save it!) The prosciutto on Elizabeth's cod was soggy and the portion was tiny. Abby's garganelli, supposedly voted the best pasta in the city (by who?), was good but not great. The skirt steak, I'll admit, was pretty tasty.

My inclination is to write this place off completely as expensive and mediocre. Anyone out there think I need to give Travertine another try?

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 9

Original Air Date: June 2, 2010

1) The Quickfire challenge was very poorly articulated. What were the rules as to how far you could stray from the original recipe? (The lawyer in me immediately interpreted the maximum possible latitude. This is why lawyers only beget more lawyers - we are trained to think around the rules.) Though I guess it was a moot point in the end since they all had to morph their dishes into soup.

2) I liked seeing the camraderie among the chefs this ep. They were more chilled out and complimentary towards each other than I've ever seen before on this series.

3) Susur should stay away from novelty platings. He doesn't have the subtlety to pull them off. I hated his Marge Simpson plate and cringed at the concept for his dessert in this ep. The former was like something off Olive Garden's kids menu and the latter, a Hooter's dessert special.

4) Jonthan can clearly roast a chicken like nobody's business but he was totally checked out of the competition, mentally. He just flat-out refused to play ball on the Elimination challenge. His words were clearly the hardest, but still.

Kitchenette

Occasion: Brunch with Ben and Rebecca in our old law school stomping grounds
Location: Kitchenette on Amsterdam between 122nd and 123rd (kitchenetterestaurant.com) [Note: another location downtown on Chambers]
Edibles: lumberjack breakfast for me, with berry pancakes, eggs, turkey sausage; omelet for Rebecca; blueberry French toast and a Bloody Mary (an unusual one made with white wine and wasabi) for Ben

Musings: Usually crazy crowded, we inadvertently hit the sweet spot after the regular semester but before summer session when Columbia is deserted.

Kitchenette's food appeals to that inexplicable Southern belle in me. (Also the lumberjack in me, I guess.) This plate made me SO happy when it arrived:

The pancakes were thick and fluffy and the turkey sausage was a nice departure from the usual breakfast meats. Two minor dings: Ben's French toast was too dense and cake-y for my taste, and the cheese grits that came with Rebecca's omelet were deemed too salty by her and too thick by me.

The bakery case is worth a look-see. While waiting for Ben and Rebecca to arrive, it took everything I had not to buy a whole pie to take home (knowing from experience that I would not have the room to eat any dessert). Dinner here is likewise excellent. I'm particularly fond of the turkey meatloaf, buttermilk-honey fried chicken and mac and cheese.

Crooked Knife

Occasion: Welcoming Winnie back to NYC, and to the east side!
Location: Crooked Knife on 30th between Park and Madison (thecrookedknife.com)
Edibles: a burger for me; fish and chips for Winnie

Musings: A lackluster and expensive pub. The burger had plenty of meat, but was totally unseasoned. Just a hop and a skip away, Shake Shack is vastly superior.

Fig & Olive

Occasion: Post-ballet (Don Quixote) with Brigid
Location: Fig & Olive on Lex between 62nd and 63rd (figandolive.com) [Note: two other Manhattan locations]
Edibles: I had the crostini trio (crab with lemon cilantro mayo; salmon and ricotta; bell pepper and goat cheese) and the beef carpaccio; Brigid had the tuna carpaccio and a side of sautéed spinach

Musings: The salmon crostini was bland and oddly slimy. The roasted pepper and goat cheese one was nice, but the crab one was SUPERB - I wish I'd just gotten three of those. The carpaccio was tasty but very insubstantial, sort of like the illusion of eating beef.

Good eats and conveniently cross-town from Lincoln Center, though the kitchen closes too early for it to be a good after-theatre place. We barely squeaked in after an average-length ballet with a 7:30 curtain. No way you'd make it after an 8:00 opera.

Deadliest Catch

Airs on Discovery Channel on Tuesdays at 9:00

My brother was already an occasional watcher, but I got totally hooked on this show! Narrated by Discovery hunk Mike Rowe, it's just naturally action-packed and dramatic. (Did you know that fatalities for a season of crab-fishing average out to person a week?!) And it gets bonus awesome points for playing Bon Jovi during title credits.

As a family we watched something like 15-20 episodes during the long weekend Deadliest Catch marathon. Yes, we are a family of nerds.

We also love us some crab. Dungeness is great almost year-round in Vancouver, but Alaskan King crab season is truly legendary. The price for these monster crabs - live in tanks in most restaurants - dips below $20/lb, sometimes even below $15/lb, and Chinese restaurants do a particularly tasty preparation with tons of garlic called suan long. YUM!

Broder's Pasta Bar

Occasion: Family dinner

Location: Broder's on Penn Ave South in Minneapolis (broders.com)

Edibles: clams in white wine; sausage pizza; caprese salad; pasta with salad greens, asparagus, chicken, mascarpone and balsamic; lobster fettucine; pappardelle with wild boar ragu; lemon ricotta cheesecake and tiramisu for dessert

Musings: I would totally eat at Broder's if it was in New York - and that's pretty much my highest compliment for out-of-town eats. The restaurant was bustling and close to full occupancy even at 5:30, and it's not hard to see why. The décor was clean and modern with some kitschy touches - I loved the metal collanders used as lampshades. The prices were more than reasonable and every dish was outstanding.

The pizza had a wonderful yeasty crust and I couldn't resist a second slice. My favorite of the pastas (all fresh and homemade) was the pappardelle, but an honorable mention goes to the chicken one. It had a lot of surprising ingredients that could have disastrous together but which, instead, melded together into a very unusual and refreshing dish. A great gastronomic mind conceived that dish.

Highly recommended!!

La Belle Vie

Occasion: Family dinner
Location: La Belle Vie on Groveland Ave in Minneapolis (labellevie.us)
Edibles: five-course tasting menu - gougères and a tuna amuse bouche to kick off; scallop crudo with fennel; skate with an artichoke ravioli; poussin with fava beans and ramps; a Mediterranean-y lamb dish; mascarpone cake with rhubarb compote for dessert, and petit fours

Musings: Tasty, but another restaurant for the anorexic model in your life. The portions were teeny tiny - I've never before, for example, been served a single poussin breast. There was between two and three bites of every protein. At $65 dollars a head, they really should be more generous with their serving sizes.

Dining room was a bit stiff and formal, the sort of place you might take your grandmother for a special occasion. The bar / lounge looked a little livelier, but only works for smaller parties. As I said, the food was good and certainly elegantly prepared but I was disappointed with the overall experience.

Baker's Square

Occasion: Search for nostalgic pie from my dad's student days / post-hike snack
Location: Baker's Square on W. 66th in Minneapolis
Edibles: pie all around - Hawaiian strawberry for my dad, blueberry for my mom, key lime for my brother, cherry for my sister, and strawberry cream cheese pie for me

Musings: My top priority for this Minneapolis trip was to get some of this pie, if it was still around to be had:

(Yep, that's me, circa 1982. A pie fiend since toddlerhood.)

Didn't help matters that my dad can't remember the name or location of the place. An old geezer running the tram at Lake Harriet thought it might be Baker's Square, so we checked it out.

Sadly, I don't think this is the place. You walk in, and it doesn't even smell like a bakery, i.e., like you could gain 5 lbs just from inhaling deeply. It's a Denny's-type chain and, while the pie was okay, it was hardly a slice of heaven that a person remembers fondly thirty years later.

Pie from my childhood, are you still out there somewhere?

Zelo

Occasion: Dinner with my sister
Location: Zelo on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis (zelomn.com) - blog goes on the road!
Edibles: fried calamari app to share; my sister had a salad with shrimp, goat cheese and pine nuts; I had linguine with local ham and baby peas in a cream sauce

Musings: With family members flying in from LAX, EWR and YVR, logistical difficulties were bound to arise. My flight and my sister's landed mostly on schedule, but the folks and my brother got seriously delayed out of Vancouver. So much for a family dinner on Friday. Still, after a lunch / snack consisting of airplane pretzels and a little container of bland pasta salad smuggled on board from my office cafeteria, I was determined to have a nice dinner. And a big glass of wine. (Traveling on a long weekend BLOWS.)

The lady at our hotel's front desk recommended this place. Certainly not my first choice for local info, but Zelo turned out to be pretty decent.

[Incidentally, I have yet to find a good shorthand way to describe exactly what it is I'm looking for. Namely, a place that's nice but not too fancy or expensive, where the menu is small and seasonal and the chef is creative, but not weird, and cares deeply about what comes out of his kitchen. What I'd like to say - but can't because it would make me sound like a tool - is, "I live in New York City. I know from good food."]

The Italian was solid. The serving of calamari was huge and came with a nice garlicky aioli for dipping. The half portion of my pasta was plenty, as is almost always the case with cream-based sauces. My sister's salad was a little puny, but the shrimp were good.

Here's the unexpected part. We looked over the menu to see what we could get for takeout for my parents. "Anything Asian?" asked my sister. "I doubt it - this is an Italian restaurant," I replied. But lo and behold, there was a Thai shrimp noodle dish and an Asian sesame salad with chicken. My mom quite liked both. Not a bad start to our trip.

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 8

Original Air Date: May 26, 2010

1) Complete failure of common sense in the Quickfire. Jonathan, Asian recipes generally do not use butter. Susan, chasseur is a French sauce. It's got mirepoix, parsley, salt and pepper. That's six ingredients without even thinking. Susur, garlic is not a common ingredient in classic stocks and sauces. Also, why struggle over the kind of oil in the chasseur when you hadn't even named the veal?
2) A soy sauce-glazed egg served with coconut jam on toast seems schizo to me. The inspiration was Aphrodite, Susan, not Janus.
3) The show could have come up with some more interesting gods than Poseidon, Dionysus and Aphrodite. Imagine being asked to cook a dish based on Terpsichore, the muse of dance, or Nike, the spirit of victory.

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 7

Original Air Date: May 19, 2010

1) A Quickfire/Elimination sweep for Susan! Girl power!
2) I think guest judge Jason Lezak is awesome (more below) and I'd totally make out with him - swimmers are HOT. But what does he know about judging food, exactly?
3) Susur, this whole "I don't know tailgating" routine is crap. Asians have great streetfood traditions. There's no excuse for that weird Austrian dumpling you decided to make.
4) Tony seemed pretty bitter about his loss. I'm sure the pizza was good and all, but other than making the dough, he didn't really cook anything. It was the right call.

Aside: I saw Jason Lezak swim for gold in Beijing. He swam anchor for the 4x100 freestyle relay team and heroically made up almost a body length's deficit on the French. That's them, neck-in-neck in lanes 4 and 5, just before the 0.08-second US win.

Lezak's on the far left. He totally deserves all four of the gold medals for the relay team. Incidentally, Michael Phelps (standing beside him) swam first leg and touched in sixth out of eight teams. Duffer.

Billy's Bakery

Location: 9th Ave between 21st and 22nd (billysbakerynyc.com)

Musings: For the price of Jill's one marshmallow at Recette, I got a massive wedge of red velvet cake, two cupcakes for the road, and a café au lait. The fluffy, whipped frosting on Billy's red velvet isn't quite as good as Buttercup's dense and unctuous version (cream-cheesy goodness!), but the size of the slice is generous to say the least and cake is nice and moist.

Incidentally, you can get an un-frosted cupcake for about half the price of the frosted ones. For those of you who consider this blasphemy, A) I intended to eat them for breakfast the next day and it's easier on the conscience without frosting, and B) I ended up having a few leftover dabs from the red velvet cake that I was able to repurpose.

Recette

Occasion: Dinner with Jill and Elizabeth
Location: Recette on W 12th between Hudson and Greenwich St (recettenyc.com)
Edibles: I had the pea soup to start and the veal main; Jill had the arugula salad to start, the same main and the s'more dessert; Elizabeth started with a cheese plate and had the branzino

Musings: I'm sure a lot of people love this place, but it's not for me. For one thing, it's surprisingly loud for such a small space with no music (that I can remember). We were screaming at each other just to be heard.

As for the food, keep Recette in mind if you find yourself dating an anorexic model. The portions are positively miniscule (though what there was, was delicious). The $28 veal dish - a duo of tenderloin wrapped in Parma ham and braised cheek - was about six bites of food. Elizabeth's branzino was the size of playing card, and about half an inch thick. Jill's $8 dessert was, no exaggeration, a single brûléed marshmallow, a sliver of tuile cookie and a quenelle of ice-cream.

We all walked out still hungry.

Martha Stewart's Cookies

by the Editors of Martha Stewart Living

My review: 4/5 stars

I'm SO not a baker, but even I'm mesmerized by this cookbook. Gorgeous photographs and mouth-watering ideas.

A bunch that caught my eye on a flip-through: Gingersnap palmiers. Cream cheese pinwheels. Cornmeal thyme cookies. Cashew caramel cookies. Whole wheat date bars. Oatmeal applesauce cookies. Chewy molasses crinkles. Apricot windows. Pistachio lemon drops. Iced hermits. Hazelnut orange shortbread. Maple pecan shortbread. Lime meltaways. Bourbon currant cookies. Rocky Ledge bars with butterscotch chips, mini marshmallows and chocolate chunks. Lemon madeleines. Pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing. Carrot cake cookie sandwiches with cream cheese frosting. Raspberry honey financiers. Peanut butter whoopie pies. Fresh peach drop cookies. Chocolate pretzels. Earl Grey tea cookies. Chocolate black pepper cookies. Butter twists. Cassis crisps. Alfajores de dulce de leche. Rugelach fingers.

YUM! Yining, when's the next cookie bake-a-thon?

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 6

Original Air Date: May 12, 2010

1) Tony, you had me at "fried bacon honey pizza dough."

2) I didn't know that Paul McCartney is the reason why Lisa's a vegetarian. I do remember the "There's enough gazpacho for everyone!" episode and quote it a lot.

3) What was up with the creepy taxidermied animals on the cart?!

4) This is what I know about the exotic items:

     - Geoduck: Delicious, if tremendously odd-looking. I always thought it

       looked like a clam that tried to eat an elephant, but couldn't quite manage

       the trunk. I would have picked this for sure. You barely need to cook

       geoduck - a quick dunk in boiling water, some microgreens, a little

       dressing and you have a fantastic salad. I'm really surprised Marcus

       bungled it to the degree he did.

     - Sea cucumber: A pain to prepare and tastes like fish-flavored Jell-O. The

       standard Chinese preparation involves literally days of soaking and

       blanching and peeling. I'm impressed with Susan's tempura idea; I've

       never seen it done like that before.

     - Black chicken: Flavorful but pretty scrawny. Mostly used to make chicken

       broth / stock. Interesting that both Rick and Susur decided to go French

       with their ingredients.

5) To answer Jay's question of why someone would try to eat a crazy-looking animal, the answer is obvious - they were very, very hungry. You can see some of this in French cuisine. I mean, escargots? At some point, a guy looked at a snail and thought, "If I cook it with lots of garlic, maybe it won't be so bad."

6) I usually want a big plate of whatever Jonathan cooks but versatility is definitely not his strength. (Nor is plating.)

Congee Village

Occasion: Comfort food takeout
Location: Congee Village on Allen between Delancey and Broome (sunsungroup.com/congeevillage)
Edibles: Five Spices duck; pork and preserved egg congee; fish congee

Musings: Cold weather + a touch of the sniffles = Congee Time! I can make the plain version for myself, using a short-grained Japanese rice. But today I was craving the savory Cantonese version, which has an altogether different texture. (OK, it's not unlike a bowl of paste. But be open-minded - oatmeal and grits are in the same goopy family.)

The pork congee was fine but the fish one had tons of little bones in it - I found one in almost every other bite. I think they used trimmings, or parts near the belly. Poor form there. The duck was not roasted, as I expected, but rather braised in a salty soy sauce-based broth. Didn't come close to matching Hing Won's.

Can't argue with the prices - $2.95 for a quart of the pork and $3.95 for the fish - but it will obviously take some more trial and error before I get the hang of their menu.

Mmmm... my mom's hot toddy

A cockail and a cure-all. (Don't freak out when you get to the third ingredient - my mom didn't start making this for us until we were, like, in college.)

juice of 1 whole lemon (just half if it's a really gigantic lemon)

honey to taste (I'm pretty impervious to acid so I use about 1 tbsp)

a good belt of whiskey or cognac

hot water to fill the mug

I like to throw the lemon husks into the mug - the hot water releases some of the oils in the zest. While it's hardly modern medicine, the lemon is a dose of vitamin C, honey is soothing for the throat and the booze is a helping hand to a good night's sleep.

99¢ Fresh Pizza

Occasion: Snack time! Any time!
Location: 99¢ Fresh Pizza on 34th between 2nd and 3rd
Edibles: pizza, natch

Musings: This place is not good news for my waistline. Walking past it four to eight times a day + the no-brainer price of 99¢ = a LOT of pizza. I have eaten more pizza since this place opened a few weeks ago than I probably ate in the entirety of 2009.

I think this pizza is as good as anything else you can find in the vicinity for three to four times the price but you need to manage your expectations, as we lawyers would say. The crust is bready and chewy (though I think they should keep it in the oven longer to develop some crunch), the cheese is decent, the service is fast. Business is brisk so the pizza's usually pretty fresh.

You can get toppings for 50¢ apiece, but that seems to undermine the whole point of 99¢ pizza. I load on the free "toppings" of parmesan, black pepper and Italian herbs from the little shakers. Nostalgia - just like I used to do as a student...

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 5

Original Air Date: May 5, 2010

1) I always wonder what kind of couple would choose to have their big fancy wedding catered in a day by reality show contestants.
2) Based on what they said (groom - meat and potatoes; bride - French and Asian), choosing the bride seemed to be a no-brainer. She's giving you a lot more latitude. Plus, there's no way you're going to let Susur cook his strongest cuisine if you can help it. BUT... I think Blue Team failed to account for the fact that the bride is always harder to please than the groom. The teams ended up being pretty evenly restricted, I thought.
3) Ballsy decision on Jody's part to go with lamb when the bride specifically said she didn't like it. But, then again, the judges' marks count for 75% of the total score.
4) Even before seeing the finished product, I could have told you that Jonathan Waxman wasn't the person to task with decorating the cake - his plates are always super sloppy. That cake looked like it had been trampled, or made by a 3-year-old. The couple should have gone with Susur's croquembouche for the cake pictures. (Incidentally, one way Blue Team could have made a gorgeous and easy wedding cake was to just ice it white and decorate it with fresh flowers.)
5) Why was the carrot cake green? Is that something BC hippies do?
6) To answer your bf's suggestion of marriage with a "F*ck you!" - that's pretty badass. Is Susur's gf really as blunt and salty as he makes her out to be? If so, I want to hang out with her. I bet Tony Bourdain would too.

Terrior, part II

Occasion: Drinks with James
Location: Terroir on E 12th at 1st Ave (wineisterroir.com)
Edibles: prosciutto; marinated cremini mushrooms; beet and orange salad; olive oil cake with rhubarb compote

Musings: Not as stellar a performance as on my first visit. I was a little miffed that the chef wouldn't share the secret fritata she had stashed in the oven, and the rhubarb was strangely salty and slimy (though both the waiter and the chef swore up and down that was how it was supposed to taste.)

Veselka

Occasion: Post-movie (Iron Man 2) brunch
Location: Veselka on 2nd Ave between 9th and St Marks (veselka.com)
Edibles: mushroom, spinch, cheddar omelet with potato pancake for me; French toast for Robert

Musings: Veselka has long been one of my favorite places to go after karaoke on St Marks, when the midnight munchies strike. They're more interesting than your standard diner, and the pierogies and potato pancakes really hit the spot.

I had never been here during the day before but it turns out their potato pancakes, heaped with applesauce and sour cream, are just as good in daylight when you're sober as they are in the wee hours when you're pretty buzzed (and hoarse from screaming "Livin' on a Prayer" multiple times at the top of your lungs).

Nam Son

(Post #200! Thanks to all my old faithfuls, and welcome to my newcomers!)

Occasion: Pho for Cinco de Mayo! Umm.... yeah.... The crew included Melissa and Tony, Sung and Mike, Alicia and Robert
Location: Nam Son on Grand between Bowery and Chrystie
Edibles: spring rolls; summer rolls; lemongrass noodles with beef and onion; bird's nest stir-fry; a giant burrito-like thing; three orders of pho with "everything" (assorted meats and tripes); spicy noodles; rice crêpes with ham; a colorful shaved ice dessert

Musings: All that and assorted beverages, for an amazing $17 per person after tip and tax. Thanks to Robert for sharing his pho place, and introducing us to many other Vietnamese culinary delights besides. (The restaurant recs were really flying! My fellow diners could teach a class on where to get good Southest Asian food in NYC. Mike and Sung, it was great to meet you and I can't wait to try Wondee Siam #1.)

My favorites were classics: the spring rolls, wonderfully crunchy and piping hot, and the pho. On the pho, don't be fooled by the bargain basement price of $6.25 - the bowl is absolutely HUMONGOUS and more than enough for three or more to share. The broth was great, and though I couldn't positively identify all the animal parts I fished out, hey, that's the spirit of adventure.

The lemongrass noodles with beef were good - I'd get them again, with a group. The flavors and textures in the rice crêpe dish struck me as kind of odd; it might be an acquired taste. I'd pass on the bird's nest stir-fry, which struck me as pretty ho-hum. But, all in all, it was a fantastic meal. Two thumbs up. [Postscript: I woke up the next day, still full.]

The carnage:

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 4

Original Air Date: April 28, 2010

1) I liked Maria's approach to the Quickfire. The soup-main-dessert composition was both creative and elegant.
2) Susur's pineapple ravioli idea was really cool but he should have chosen something other than red berries for the filling. Like maybe mango or citrus? The juice bleeding through the pineapple was a little CSI for me. He also threw, like, ten thousand other things on the plate and turned it into a crazy mess. A little restraint, dude.
3) Wow, Rick must have amazing relationships with both his ex and his current wife to make his situation work.
4) Is Sofia Vergara ridiculously good-looking or what? I'm glad she's not MY co-worker.
5) I wish the judges had said a little more about what made Susur's unremarkable-sounding chicken curry, like, the best food ever cooked. I mean, Julie Bowen liked it a lot, but based on the judges' table discussion I never would have guessed that he'd score as high as he did. But way to go, Susur! Go Canada!

Ali Baba

Occasion: Low-key birthday dinner for my brother
Location: Ali Baba on 34th betweeen 2nd and 3rd (alibabaturkishcuisine.com)
Edibles: small mixed appetizer; I had the doner kebab; he had the Mediterranean salad with chicken (though he ordered it with lamb)

Musings: My brother didn't feel like a night out, so instead we ate takeout at home and watched the new episode of House. As he said, simple pleasures. It occurs to me he's actually pretty smart for a young'un. Happy 21st, kid!

Despite its cringe-worthy name, Ali Baba serves some pretty awesome food. I love their mixed appetitzer. I get it all the time - it's the perfect warm weather dinner. It's got hummus, patlican salatast (a smoked eggplant dip), another eggplant concoction with tomatoes, ispanak (sauteed spinach) and lebni (yogurt with walnuts and dill). It comes with half a wheel of bread for dipping, and there's usually enough food to last me for two meals. They do have a heavy hand with the garlic, so be forewarned.

If eating with a friend, it's nice to get one of the meat dishes to round out the meal. The doner kebab is a classic, of course. I also like the iskender kebab, which is the shaved lamb over a bed of fried bread, doused with tomato sauce and yogurt. It's sloppy and hearty and wonderful - a little lasagne-like even. Their adana is decent too, if sometimes a tad dry.

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 3

Original Air Date: April 21, 2010

1) The Real Housewives are some of the worst guest judges I've ever seen. A pork dish is not "bad" just because you don't like pork. A food critic has to have a certain amount of objectivity: was a dish cooked skillfully - regardless of whether or not you personally liked the ingredients?
2) On a related note, Mark must be one hell of a chef to pull off a mussel custards with figs. That just sounds gross.
3) Ludo is not the endearing nutter I remember from last season. Is it just me, or was everything he said really THAT douche-y? He could take a few lessons from Thierry on how to represent his country.
4) Also, his dish with the raw vegetables, miso peanuts and Guinness caramel was just ridiculous. Irish stew isn't that far off from boeuf bourguignon - I say he could have found a way to leverage his classical French training.
5) Based on Jonathan's previous performances, I can totally believe that his dish was delicious. However, it looked like he poured potato soup over a steak dinner. Presentation is definitely not his forte.
6) Wylie's food is not really my thing but I'm still sad he didn't advance. He's really creative, and goofy and lovable. His wanting to pan-fry a chocolate chip cookie to make it cook faster was my favorite moment from last season.

Uva

Occasion: Pre-Brandy's dinner with Rebecca, Tessa and Dale
Location: Uva on 2nd between 77th and 78th (uvawinebar.com)
Edibles: to start, we shared a burrata with yellow tomatoes, fava beans and a balsamic glaze (I continue to be obsessed with burrata); I had the beet salad; Dale had the chicken salad; Rebecca had the cavatelli al pesto; Tessa had the ravioli; we passed around a slice of girella al cioccolato (chocolate-hazelnut cake) for dessert

Musings: Location is everything. A place like Uva with a decent atmosphere and decent food would probably survive okay in the crowded field of the LES. But out in the barrens of the UES, it's packed to the rafters.

I don't think I've ever been here for an evening that didn't include Brandy's (one of my happy places, along with the shoe department at Bergdorf's). But though I wouldn't go out of my way to come here, they do make a decent showing. The wine list is long and varied. Our dishes were flavorful and all of the portions were generous. I was particularly impressed by Rebecca's cavatelli - the pasta was nicely plump and tasted homemade to me. And the cake was divine.

Top Chef Masters Season 2, Ep. 2

Original Air Date: April 14, 2010

1) Not to be a hypocrite but I find it hard to believe that Kelly Choi, who looks gaunt even on TV, eats grilled cheese sandwiches on a regular basis.
2) From Ethiopia to Sweden... I bet Marcus has some stories to tell.
3) I don't understand how grits "mac and cheese" style are not just cheese grits. Also, Oseland, it's not "deconstructed" just because the shrimp is on the side instead of on top of the grits.
4) Why did David choose to serve his custard in an eggshell? That sort of pretentious restaurant trick is the exact opposite of the down-to-earth spirit of soul food.
5) I like a good comeback story as much as the next guy but Carmen's dish sounded boring, quite frankly. Pity vote? Dunno. Monica, David and Thierry did kind of screw her over. Marcus may have been a dick for refusing to help out, but at least he didn't set her back.

[Postscript on 3: I watched a rerun and finally figured out this dish. It looks like Monica made a béchamel cheese sauce to ladle on top of plain grits. It makes James Oseland's comment make slightly more sense. But I still don't understand A) why she didn't just make cheese grits; and B) why this is "mac and cheese" style since mac has the cheese sauce is mixed.]

Artisanal

Occasion: Drinks and fondue to celebrate Michael's new job!
Location: Artisanal at 32nd and Park (artisanalbistro.com)
Edibles: Artisanal blend fondue with fingerling potatoes and kielbasa

Musings: A cheese-lover's heaven. Artisanal has a similar vibe to Balthazar, but it's not nearly as much of a pain to get into. There's a cheese cave with a single table inside - I've never reserved it, but it looks really fun for a special occasion.

The fondue is great for brunch or dinner. Besides the basket of bread cubes it comes with, I love to get the fingerling potatoes and the apples. Wasn't crazy about the Spam-like kielbasa we ordered this time. (You can get a salad to share if you're feeling guilty about the complete lack of vegetables. I promise I'll still respect you.)

Motorino - Pizza Crawl Stop #4

Location: Motorino on 12th St between 1st and 2nd (motorinopizza.com)
Edibles: cremini mushroom and sweet sausage pizza, margherita pizza

Musings: Our last stop. Impressively, nine of eleven people who started the day lasted to the finish line. No one was, by any stretch of the imagination, hungry at this point but many were able to find a second wind.

Motorino is a fancier (and more expensive) place than the others we went to on the crawl, aimed at the same foodie audience as a Pulino's or Otto. We luckily got there in the late afternoon when the restaurant was mostly empty. Still, they were pretty nice about pulling together four tables for our group. Not knowing about our shenanigans, they were incredulous that we ordered so little food for so many people (the pizzas at Motorino are individual-sized, around 10").

There was a brunch pizza with eggs that sounded intriguing, but we settled on the cremini and sweet sausage and the classic margherita. The toppings on both pizzas were high quality. I was a big fan of the cremini and sausage, personally. The margherita was workmanlike but I was too pizza'ed out to work up any real enthusiasm.

Their crust could use some work - while nice and chewy, it was also pretty salty and aggressively charred. This location is pretty new so perhaps they're still getting used to the idiosyncrasies of their pizza oven.

My tally: I managed a slice of each, but they were pretty puny so I'll count it as one. Grand total: 4½. I think that's pretty respectable.

Artichoke - Pizza Crawl Stop #3

Location: Artichoke on 14th St between 1st and 2nd (artichokepizza.com)
Edibles: the eponymous artichoke pizza and margherita pizza

Musings: Yet another beast. I LOVED the artichoke slice. Really gooey and cheesy and full of umami! It's basically pizza topped with spinach-artichoke dip. Yum. I had a slight criticism for the crust, which was on the thick side and tasted slightly stale (which couldn't have been the case since the line was insane). Because of the thick crust and the richness of the toppings, one of their mammoth slices can easily be shared between two people.

The margherita had a slightly thinner, crunchier, almost cracker-like crust. Of the three tomato sauces tasted so far, this one was the least memorable. (Though I was also the least hungry at Artichoke, so factor in some bias.) My overall feel was that the slice was constructed in a somewhat sloppy manner - definitely not as much attention to detail or finesse as Totonno's.

They had a daily special with crab, which I'd be interested to taste another time. Of the two we did have, the artichoke slice was by far the superior.

My tally: A half slice each of the artichoke and the margherita, for a running total of 3½.

L&B - Pizza Crawl Stop #2

Location: L&B Spumoni Gardens on 86th St between 10th and 11th St in Brooklyn (spumonigardens.com)
Edibles: thick-crust Sicilian pizza

Musings: A totally different beast. A whole rectangular pie yields twelve hefty slices. The dough is nice and yeasty and the sauce is solid, a little spicier than Totonno's. The cheese is under the sauce, a good ¼ inch of it. A slight ding for the quality of the cheese - it tasted like grocery store processed mozzarella. Though yummy in its own way, this one is breadier than I like my pizzas.

My tally: A whole slice here, for a running total of 2½. I think at this point Tom was up to a group high score of five.

Totonno's - Pizza Crawl Stop #1

Occasion: Gary's Second Annual Pizza Crawl! Participants included Jill and Tom, Kristina and Ryan, Amanda and Chris, Adrienne, Jeannie, Debby and me.
Location: Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano on Neptune Ave between 15th and 16th St in Brooklyn (totonnos.com) [Note: another location in Manhattan on 2nd between 26th and 27th - just a hop and skip away from my apt!]
Edibles: a white pizza and a regular pizza with tomato sauce (pictured below)

Musings: A no-frills neighborhood place. We ran into a local boys' soccer team celebrating with pies and root beers. It was very cute.

I thought Totonno's standard pie was outstanding. Thin, chewy crust with a good snap to it. Good structural integrity - not soggy at all. Fresh and zesty tomato sauce. The white pie was also tasty, if a touch too garlicky for me.

A few caveats. First, getting there. The closest subway stop is Coney Island / Stillwell Ave - all the way at the end of the line on the N, Q, D and F. It takes a good hour to get there from Manhattan, plus it's a bit of walk from the stop. Also, they don't serve single slices, only whole pies.

As good as the pizza was, I'm probably not going to be making the trip out to this location very much. But I will definitely be visiting the Manhattan location soon for a comparison. Stay tuned.

My tally: Trying to pace myself, I had a half slice of the white and a full slice of the tomato. So 1½ slices and counting.

Mmmm... brownie husband

I saw this and immediately thought, "I could totally go for a Bacon Husband."

Also, I want to be Tina Fey when I grow up.

Falai [closed]

Occasion: Dinner with James, after a wander through the Whitney Biennial
Location: Falai on Clinton between Rivington and Stanton (falainyc.com) - Note: Falai is closed
Edibles: celery root soup with goat cheese amuse bouche; I had the polenta bianca with chicken liver and dried dates to start; James had the smoked salmon bonbon with pine-infused crème fraîche mousse; we shared the eggless pasta with wild boar ragu; I had the scallop main; James had the lamb main; pre-dessert bites of a tiny cannoli and chestnut cake with vanilla gelato and chamomile tea; we shared the chocolate brioche for an actual dessert

Musings: A very long, narrow restaurant. I had a great seat facing their kitchen. I must say I'm very impressed that they're able to run a fine-dining restaurant out of a kitchen smaller my apartment's, no exaggeration. They had three chefs crammed in there. (I think desserts were relegated to the basement.) While the chefs were clearly very disciplined and focused, I think the menu suffered slightly from their space limitations.

I practically swooned over my first course, though. What a stunner. The starchy blandness of the polenta was the perfect background for the earthy, velvety richness of the chicken liver. The dates provided a nice accent note of sweetness. Mmmm..... just fabulous. James' salmon dish was gorgeous - a real work of art - but I didn't think he was too impressed by it. It was also too small and fussy to share, always a demerit in my book.

The pasta dish was pretty amazing. The rustic-looking, hand-rolled noodles had a great chewy texture. I thought the dough had olive oil in it, but was informed that it's just flour and water. Apparently, Falai gets a pasta guru to come in during the day, sit in the basement and just make noodles by hand for hours at a time. As a side note, it's too bad they don't serve their pasta tasting on the weekend.

My scallop main was a disappointment. They definitely overcooked the scallops, and also failed to trim the rubbery side muscle off one of them - quite the faux pas for a fancy restaurant. I enjoyed my bite of the lamb dish but I did notice James sawing away at it. The chocolate dessert was yummy, so at least the meal ended on a good note.

Two critiques. First, too many things were served lukewarm or at room temp - the limitations of the small kitchen I mentioned above. When you've got no space, you've got to rely heavily on dishes and sides you can finish in advance. Second, they seemed to be much more concerned with how beautiful the dishes looked than how good they tasted (with the exception of the homely-looking but delicious pasta). I recommend a re-ordering of priorities.

Though it was a slightly uneven meal, I did enjoy most of what I ate. I'd come again for the polenta, and to try other pasta dishes.