savortooth

For Joey In Astoria

This is a quick addition for Joey In Astoria. She asked me to elaborate on the cauliflower sandwiches at Waterfalls Cafe, on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.  They are SO good and cost about $3.50. The cauliflower is fried and served in a pita with tomato, lettuce, onion, and tahini. I have tried other sides, such as spicy potatoes, and they are all good also. But, really, you could just eat cauliflower sandwiches all night! A perfect meal, and then I shop at a little boutique, Miriam, next door, which has an unexpectedly good selection of clothing, and then stop at Sahadi's for Suzie's all-grain thin puff cakes(Suzie's olive oil crackers are even better, but must be gotten at Fairway),the Syrian cookies, Victoria pasta sauce or whatever else catches my fancy.

Back to the Neighborhood

Sesame-crusted hamachi, stuffed shrimp, and tuna tartar at Trattoria L'Incontro   in Astoria, Queens.
      
On the left- Mastic from Greece, which is a fragrant nougat sandwiched in wafers, like similar to those discs that I bought in Sienna, Italy. But available down the street at Artopolis.
Then there's my new favorite chewy snack from our health food store, Fresh Start. These are basically rice crispy treats made iwth peanut butter, and are all organic.This store is so great and ther are so many other new stores popping up in our neighborhood...

New England, Part Two

  Asmara Eritrean restaurant in Portland, ME.
I know this is a bad pic, but the food was fabulous and SO inexpensive. I think it was about a third of the price of New York. We shared a large veggie plate and Becca specially ordered that chicken and egg dish with the brown sauce- excuse my ignorance- but she made it for us without the chicken. You know how I love hard-boiled eggs! I am pretty sure the sauce had meat in it, but it was so good with just the egg. FYI, it is a slow service type of place, becuas it is mostly run by one woman, but we were there when it was quiet.
  Colby's in Portsmouth, NH
It turns out that of all theplaces we ate on this trip, Colby's was my favorite. We ate there twice, and would have third morning if it had not been closed for vacation on our last morning in town. (We ate at the Friendly Toast, which is a 24-hour, retro-kitsch diner with very good, veggie-friendly updated diner food) I had an asparagus scramble there.  So, back to Colby's. I always get some version of eggs benedict. There, they serve the Eggs Florentine with raw baby spinach!  It was a revelation! Their hollandaise sauce is so good, too. It's just an overall great brunch/lunch menu and place. We really like Portsmouth, and they have two gourmet chocolate shops as well. One is Cacao, which has exotic, creative truffle flavors and wonderful, I'd say the best, sea salt caramels.  The owner is very foodie, and at Easter she dips Peeps in chocolate.
B had truffles in espresso, bourbon, and ...I'll ask him and edit soon.
 
This cute chocolate shoppe is Byrne and Carlson. Such cute presentation!

On our last night in Portsmouth, we tried a "fancy" place, the Wellington Room. I loved the name, and Meka knew the chef. I had mushroom crepes with Boursin cheese.
I was not totally impressed, but also I mostly dislike the bad selection of music they were playing- chef's choice. What can you do...

We got the great lobster meat at Something Fishy for our homemade lobster rolls, but on our way out stopped at Taylor Lobster Company for more to take home. We made more the next day in our own kitchen! The whole trip definitely made those NYC lobster rolls look so expensive. Next summer, we will go up more often! Mmmm....

Finally Back- Lobster Roll Tour

...after a broken toe, car accident and new business launch. Oh, and now that winter is here, lobster may seem to be an inapropriate topic.  But here goes.

We took a trip to Maine and on the way up, stopped in Providence for lunch, where we were not in the mood for sandwiches(recommended to us) and ate at a Greek place instead. The food was mediocre, but it was a comfortable restaurant. Then, on our way out of town, we were going up a cobblestone street that was blocked by a double-parked UPS van. Another driver waved us through and we happened to clip the old metal bumper of a parked Brown University facilities van. It caught the wheel well and scratched the entire side of B's dad's brand new Jag.  The door wouldn't open either. We had planned on eating in Portland at the Old Port Sea Grill. We were in terrible spirits by the time we got there, of course. And to top it all, they didn't serve lobster rolls at dinner.

We had great shrimp there, including the grilled in the picture, and all the food was fabulous. It just wasn't the best day.

  Ice cream bomb at Old Port Sea Grill.
The next day we were visiting a friend who lived inland, and we had the unusual, kitschy experience of eating a hot lobster toll at the German Korn Haus Keller. It wasn't what I expected, and I prefer cold, but it was good as was the lobster chowder.

  I also tried a lobster roll at the Porthole, but the roll was not soft and there was no mayo on the lobster, so I found it to be dry. The place is so cute though, so I had to try it.


What ended up being the highlight of the Lobster Roll Tour was actually homemade lobster rolls be Becca. She made her personal recipe for us, and it rocked! Just lemon, celery salt, dash of old Bay, S&P, mayo. That's it. On soft rolls. Of course, you can just pull off the side of the road and get fresh lobster... and that night I also made an awesome potato gratin (the produce in Maine was amazing- best potatoes) and also discovered Willow Hill Farm sheeps milk cheese encrusted with herbs. SO good! I tried to get some at Murray's Cheese here in NYC but they were out.  You can read more at sheepcheese.com. 
Becca's!         Best cheese.

Cookies?

I am always saying how I am not much of a cookie fan, but these have really got me excited. Not too sweet and full of texture, I got this box at Sahadi's( before going for fried cauliflower sandwiches at Waterfalls, of course.) They have pistachio inside, and are covered in sesame!
   

Now, did anyone see Martha show a woman's family recipe for polenta served and eaten off the tabel? It was a little gross to me. Of course, my mother was appalled to hear about that. She is currently drying persimmon for us and is going to make us "jung", Chinese tamales for us in December!

Well, this time I must give fair warning- I will be in Maine, eating lobster rolls I hope, and be back next week.

Sweet Autumn

Sorry I have been away, and am only now geting to Rosh Hashanah.Let's get straight to pics.
Lenore's potato kugel:

And then for dessert, Evan and  Harriet brought THREE desserts! Amazing!  The famous mille crepes cake from Lady M. If you haven't walked by, it's the gorgeous all-white dessert cafe on the Upper East Side. Then, there was a cake St. Honore from Sant Ambroeus. It had the little puffs on top.  Last, the chocolate log filled with pistachio cream.
 

Fall Is Here!!

Sunday was the Autumn Moon Festival, and I am so glad I got my mooncakes. All week it was too hot and humid to trek to Chinatown, but I was out on Saturday night after Denyse Schmidt's booksigning at Make Workshop, my friend Diana's school for knitting, quilting, shoemaking, etc. It was getting late after we parted ways, and I feared the bakeries would be closed. I got to Taipan Bakery on Canal at 8:55, and they close eveyr night at 8:30! A street vendor was rifling throught the bakery's trash for food, and I asked him if there was another bakery open. He was startled, but then pointed arounf the corner. Fay Da Bakery, on Mott Street, was open! I got double-yolk white lotus seed paste(on the left) and red bean(they call it black bean) for B. I got four different ones, but they gave me a tin even though I didn't buy the matched sets.The mooncakes are so rich, I usually can't eat more than two small slices, but B. ate half of his in one sitting. He doesn't like the yolk, but to me, that salty bit is the best part.

I am still making my endive/lettuce combo, and yesterday I made cream of celery soup. I improvised between two recipes, one from the Year of Monestary Soups cookbook. Love those monks! The interesting thing about their recipe is that it calls for boiling the soup (I use a lot less water than they call for), and then adding white sauce. Their white sauce recipe is so amazing! Next time I am having it on noodles. I don't know why, but I love making soup- just chopping eveything feels good.

Desserts Galore

It took a long time, but I finally got my syrup shipment. Now, we have a cabinet full. Almond, chocolate(it's clear), cherry, peach, and grenadine. I like to mixe a little of each of the almond and chocolate. I also got this white chocolate bar with red berries- a little perfumey and really good, from Weiss chocolates. But I still favor the Green and Black's, when it comes to white chocolate.

I don't know what's going on here, but I saw this on our way to La Lunchonette, on 10th Ave. and 18th St. (Note: don't walk down 18th Street to get there) It's so comfy and we had a great meal there. The scallops are always wonderful, and we also had two salads, snails, and the artichoke. The big hit was the cheese plate we shared at dessert. Here is the list, for future reference:
Le Chevrot- aged raw goat's milk
Vallee d'Ossau- Pure brebis(sheep's milk-I learned something new today) smooth, nutty flavor(my fave)
Cantal Salers- semi-hard cow's milk, similar to aged cheddar
Montbriac- Soft-ripened, a cross between brie and blue
Brillat-Savarin- soft-riped triple-creme cow's milk enriched with cream

Kabab Cafe

Finally, here are the pics from Kabab Cafe. The amazing mushroom hiwashi and pumpkin dumplings, the portrait of the owner's mother, and the map of NYC neighborhoods by ethnic make-up. B and I were supposed to meet Cecil from Dancing Rabbit for lunch, but it never happened! So we had to eat without him.

Tomato Season

It's tomato season! Well, I am not at Chez Panisse(still haven't been to the downstairs part) but I always think of it in August. Instead I have been making penne with balsamic vinegar and cherry tomatoes. So delicious and easy to make. Just halve the cherry tomatoes, cook down in lots of olive oil, add salt, pepper, balsamic. Toss with penne.

I started using the vinegar after Tricia got me a great Italian food basket from Trader Joe's — the olive oil and the vinegar were so good! I am now on to some new olive oil I got at Rosario's, my local Italian shop in Astoria. To add to all that, B's parents brought us great salt from Provence. There it is on the right, with my Simplex kettle in the background. It boils water in what seems like two seconds, and it makes life so much easier to use it to boil the water for pasta, instead of waiting!

Also on my dishes of late: sauteed endives. I have done it two ways: 1) Sliced- sauteed with sliced lettuce, in butter and olive oil. The lettuce does add water, which needs to be cooked off, but adds interesting flavor and color, and is a nod to Chinese cooking.  2) Sliced, but with the firm ends sliced and sauteed first, til caramalized, creating yummy burnt butter/endive flavor, then adding finely sliced leaves.  I also eat endive and romaine salad with hard boiled egg- oh yeah.

Tonight I made version two, along with shitakes sauteed in butter, served with some Whole Foods Hoki filets(in a box, frozen) topped with my version of remoulade. Mix mayo, Wildwood plain soy yogurt(or of course, any thick plain yogurt), dijon(Edmund Fallot!), salt, pepper, and finely minced celery(a lot).

 

                             

We also had a really nice heirllom tomato salad at Cafe Loup. I had wanted to go for a while, since the place and logo are so cute. We had a good excuse when Susan gave me that Diner's Deck. It is under construction outside the restaurant, but so comfy and large inside. We had a great skinny gay French waiter who kept winking at me. The food was delicious, and large portions. We shared the tomato salad, the endive salad with yellow/red beets, frites, and breaded scallops which came with mashed garlic potatoes, pickly cabbage, kale, and squash. We couldn't finish our food! Have you ever heard me say that? It was really great, and next time we have to return for the good-sounding desserts. (They have jazz brunch, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. Also, so easy to use the $10 off card from my Diner's Deck. Thanks, Susan!

In other meal news:
Another great meal at Trattoria L'Incontro, right down the street in Astoria. I had the fish, because surprisingly, it is the best thing there! Of course, all the food is amazing. B had house-made fettucine in fresh tomato sauce, wrapped in thin slices of eggplant!  B's mom had amazing duck. My Meditteranean fish(started with an O, I think) with shitake and sliced asparagus, in a brown sauce.

Rai Rai Ken, again, before seeing Rize in in the East Village. Fascinating movie, and B got to have almond do-fu with fruit cocktail for dessert for the first time, after our ramen.

Bad service on a weeknight at Fatty's Cafe. Our waittress was probably new, but the problem was also with the ktichem who couldn't get us the other half of our food after a mix-up.