Frantoia Oil - Le Bernardin Approved

I was watching the great show, Avec Eric, and the crew from Le Bernardin were blind testing Olive Oils. At first they tasted oils by themselves. Then, they added the oil to some fish to see which oil elevated the flavor of the fish the most. The verdict - Frantoia Oil won both tests. The caveat that Chef Ripert gave are oils are like wine where some years the results are better than others. May need to give Frantoia another look to see how different it tasted from last review...

No Doc Says "NO"

I've never heard of a doctor saying, "you need to cut down on the fish."
Have you?

So I decided to eat as much fish as I could and see how long it would take to bring out my meat cravings.
It's been 3 full days and I'm not even close to breaking down to chomp on salami or even fried chicken.
Let it be known, this is from a man who set out to be a vegetarian for as long as he could (just to see what it was like). And after the first 12 hours of only eating salads and grilled veggies, he cheated with a crispy popeyes cajun fried chicken thigh.

Fish is great and so damn delicious.
It's got fats that scientists think are good for you.
Let me say that again... "It's got fats that Scientists think are good for you."
How can that be? This protein has flavor and texture, and is good for you.
Like a rare woman, you cherish it an never let her go.


So just this morning, I invited a few friends and grilled up some mackerel and served it Japanese style with grated daikon and soy sauce.

Saba No Shio Yaki

Take Mackerel out of the package...
Dab with paper towel and place on prep tray. Drizzle some dry sake over the fillets and massage.
Let the sake absorb into the meat for about 5 minutes. Dab dry and sprinkle sea salt. Let rest for 20 minutes.
In the mean time, get your charcoal grill ready.
(I usually create a 4 by 10 briquette wall of charcoal down the middle of the grill. This usually gives me enough room to move stuff around and lend to ample heat control)
Place fillets onto partial direct heat (skin side down) and flip after 6 minutes. Flip again after 4 minutes and get the skin nice and crispy. Remove and plate.
Garnish and serve immediately.

So Kong Dong

It's Saturday night, a bit chilly and a tad wet out. That's music to So Kong Dong. They specialize in soon tooboo chige (Korean soft tofu soup). Probably the best in the area, hence it being Paaaaaacked!

Aramis first brought this place to my attention about 3 years ago, then when I spoke out about the place to my co-workers, everyone was like "oh, the tofu place, I love that place."

130 Main St.
Fort Lee, NJ

Go check it out!
The place still rocks!

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Lighthorse Tavern

Lighthorse Tavern - Highly Recommended
199 Washington St
Jersey City, NJ 07302-4527
(201) 946-2028

One of my favorite places in downtown Jersey City for a kick ass brunch.
I usually start with a bloody mary, some oysters and clams on a half shell, then the usual egg benedict or the house smoked salmon bagel specials. Good value just around the corner... can't beat that!

Amish Market

Amish Market - Not Recommended
240 E 45th St
New York, NY‎ 10017
(212) 370-1761‎

There's a handful of Amish Market's in Manhattan that do a ton of business during lunch. The Amish Market is a supermarket that works you in by selling you the promise it's like an Amish food station, that things are clean, and all natural.
During lunch hours, you'll mostly find office workers stepping away from their cubicles to head either to the salad bar or hot food station and pack the plastic containers full of goodies to take back to their desks.
And at $6.99 a pound... one can work that comfortably into the budget.
Everything looks really good and people line up efficiently, waiting their turn to pick up their food.


Well just yesterday, I walked by an Amish Market and decided to give it a shot. I picked from the hot and cold bar and was rung up at the cashier... $9.00 flat.
Not great but not terrible I thought. That and a Diet Coke would run an even 10 bucks. I can live with that... or so I thought.

I double timed it back to my desk a block away and sat down to chow.
Low and behold the first bite.
I shit you not... there was absolutely no flavor.
I took another bite and the same thing... nothing.

I had just spit my gum out so I thought it was the gum's fault... but no it was the food. I waited a few minutes and took a few sips of my beverage to cleanse the palate.
I wish I took a picture of the morsels of food I picked (wanting to try everything so that I would know what to get next time).

Bite after bite, nothing. Everything was bland and really didn't have much distinct texture as well.
Biting into the beet salad felt like biting into the caesar salad with croutons...
Biting into the marinaded roasted chicken tasted and felt like biting into the tofu burger patties in the orzo salad.
I was sad(at my choice), but probably a bit more annoyed knowing that hundreds of people ate what I was eating and that Amish Market gets away with it. They make money by selling people crap. That just doesn't sit well with me.
Bad companies / restaurants should not survive. Ironically, they not only survive but are rewarded as well.
This is a typical case where our economic (capitalism) model has gone wrong.
A chain like Amish Market is able to rent out the large space and therefore create a business based on turn overs and numbers. In order to do so, they emphasize on cutting cost, whether it be labor or raw ingredients, and ultimately make up the difference by marketing and dumbing down the general population.
This place is no better than Applebee's but just packaged a little different. Thanks to really good marketing, the trip to Amish Market is highly habit forming, and they end up having repeat zombies coming in day after day filling on the same old slop.
The strong stay strong and the newbies never have a shot to climb the ladder of success.

If only more people woke up and demanded better.
At the end of the day, I guess it starts at home. If you don't eat well at home, you'll never know and/or demand better at restaurants.

Tough day for this dude. Amish Market, shame on you.

Frites n Meats - Review

Intro
Frites n Meats - Not Recommended (1st try)
Truck between Greenwich and Chambers St
Tribeca, New York

The dudes at Frites n Meats are trying to capitalize on the latest craze of food trucks and well made burgers. This truck proudly touts the breads are from Balthazar, meats from DeBragga, and cheese from Murray's. I so wanted to love this burger, but unfortunately it didn't quite work out for me.

My Menu
1) Grass Fed Angus Burger, Potato Onion Bun, Gruyere Cheese
Comments - Solid beef flavor and great cheese. Unfortunately, the burgers were very dry and the texture not much better. Also, the fries were relatively limp with no crisp or big potato flavor. The chili mayo was pretty satisfying all together.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Closing Comments
The burgers are at a great price point at $5.75, but unfortunately the execution was way off. But, for that price point, I may have to give it another try - Tribeca is hella expensive during lunch.

Blanton's Bourbon

Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon
"Fine Kentucky Bourbon"
Given as a present from the President of the Distillery.
I can't wait to crack into this piece of American history.

- taken from the website -
Blanton's Original
Type: Bourbon Whiskey
Recipe: Corn - Rye - Malted Barley
Mash Type: Sour
Still Proof: 70% Alcohol by Volume - 140 proof
Entry Proof: 62.5% Alcohol by Volume - 125 proof
Warehouse: H
Barrel Type: White Oak
Maker: Independent Stave
Staves: 6 month air dry
Treatment: #4 Char
Filtration: Chill Filtered
Bottle Proof: 46.5% Alcohol by Volume - 93 proof
Tasting Notes: Reddish Amber Color
Nose: A spicy aroma of Dried Citrus and Orange Peels with a hint of Caramel and Vanilla.
Palate Entry: Full and soft, marked by a mix of Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Orange, and Cloves.
Finish: Muted but well balanced with Vanilla, Honey, and Citrus.
Best Served: Straight, on ice, or used in a premium cocktail.

Sushi Ichimasa - Review

Intro
Sushi Ichimasa - Slightly Recommended
302 W 50th St, New York 10019
between 8th Ave & 9th Ave
Phone: (212) 315-4800

Met up some of the dudes for sushi, but Sushi Yasuda was booked. Sad to say the only time I'm eating sushi in NYC it's either at Sushi Yasuda or East Japanese for some conveyor belt sushi. I decided to ask Porthos for a rec and he mentioned Sushi Ichimasa for some traditional fisherman style sushi, so decided to give a try. Although the fish was quite tasty, I was looking for a more customized sushi meal which you don't get here. I give the restaurant an 79/100.

Our Menu
Ordered the Omakase $60
1) Salmon Sashimi - Smoked **
2) 7 pieces of sushi *
3) Sushi Roll - Avocado and Toro *
4) Mochi Ice Cream *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) First time I've had something like this. Salmon was cut sashimi style, but it was nicely smoked (not aggressive) and reminded of the best smoked salmon. Pretty f'n wesome.
2) Next up, 7 pieces of sushi ranging for anago, kampachi, uni and the like. Everything had solid flavor and great texture on the fish - very fresh stuff. The rice was a little hard and clumped together, but again my benchmark is generally Sushi Yasuda and Hatsuhana.
3) More of an Americanized style of sushi roll, but still pretty tasty. Pieces of toro and avocado with some sweet sauce drizzled on top.
4) Tasty mochi ice cream...nuff said.

Overall Restaurant Experience (79/100)

• Food 8.0/10 – Pretty solid sushi here and everything was pretty good - nothing mind blowing, but pretty happy.
  
• Service 6.0/10 – The place is run by what looks like a husband and wife team. The wife serves everyone in the 15-20 seat joint. The husband is the lone sushi chef. Because of this, it takes forever to get your order in and your food. We sat at the sushi counter and ordered the omakase. Unfortunately, this is not the omakase I was expecting - you know the interaction between sushi chef and diner, where they customize the pieces for you individually based on your likes and disklikes. This omakase is a basically a set menu with zero interaction with the chef.
  
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Uber tiny place that was packed. Typical Sushi looking joint with lots of wood everywhere, but felt nice and cozy. Groups consisted of pairs of 2 with a large group in the back. Made reservations that day for 7pm and was seated immediately.
  
• Price 6.5/10 – $100 for everything (sake and tip included) which seemed a tad pricey for the entire experience.
  

Closing Comments
Ok, so the question always is would I go back? If I were in the area and wanted cheap/solid sushi, I would order the $40 omakase since it was exactly the same minus the uni, ungai, and toro. But, if I was really craving good sushi, I would have to pass and check out some other place.

Easy like Sunday mornings

I just had a craving for a nice baguette sandwich this morning so I ran over to the local grocery and picked up the following...

Whipped it all together and voila...!
















Sandwich Ingredients :
Hudson Bread Baguette
Oven Roasted Turkey Slices
Saucisson Sec Slices
Schaller Double Smoked Bacon Slices
Arugula
Shredded Parmesan Reggiano
Kewpie Mayonnaise
Fresh Black Pepper

Salad Ingredients :
Sliced Apples
Toasted Cashews
Arugula
Olive Oil
Champagne Vinegar
Chopped Cucumbers
Sliced Apples

sing it Lionel!!!

Take-home cake form Perse

Places like Bouley, Le Bernardin, Eleven Madison, etc... all give you a super sweet cake to take home and perhaps revive your memory the next morning with your fresh brewed coffee.

This particular almond/chocolate lovely I had from Perse was absolutely delicious.
It was tremendously moist, not overly sweet, good amount of chocolate, and a punch in your face amount of delicious almond flavor was the perfect Sunday breakfast.

Per-se/fection

Perse - Highly Recommended ($$$$)
10 Columbus Circle
(4th Floor Time Warner Building)
New York, NY 10019

To be honest, I have been trying to avoid this place because the thought of dishing out close to 4 hundred dollars a head on a meal was just out of the question.
But a good friend flew in from Japan on business and wanted to see us the other night. He had contacted J around 5pm asking her if we could all have dinner that night.
In addition, he's quite the gourmand and asked if anyone was serving White Truffles yet.

Now (global) recession or not, places that serve fresh white truffles aren't really hurting for business. They actually are doing quite well. But these are only a handful of restaurants frequented by the wealthy. (The rest of us proletarians must save up a few months to literally taste the rich life)
So after calling Daniel, Le Cirque, Four Seasons, Le Bernardin, Jean Georges, I got the same reply, "I'm sorry sir, we are fully booked tonight."
It was now 5:25pm, and something dawned on me, while batting a big fat "Zero", why not call, "Perse". I had nothing to lose?
Since their Feb 16, 2004 opening, they have served a full dining room every night. With a 2 month reservation list, my chances were close to none. But I called and asked the receptionist, followed by the General Manager to double check as a favor.
Low and behold, I got a table for 3 at 7:30 that night.

Chef's Tasting Menu November 4, 2009

Gougeres ***
Unlike most gougeres out there, this technically crafted bite sized morsel had some cheese fondant injected inside them that immediately set the pace for the evening

Amuse Bouche ***
Salmon Cornets
Very tasty indeed. Perfectly prepared salmon tartare scooped on a semi-sweet cone filled with creme fraiche

"Oysters and Pearls" ***
Sabayon of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters
and Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar
Rich sabayon sauce with nice creamy oysters and nestled tapiocas garnished with a healthy quenelle of caviar

"Carnaroli Risotto Biologioco" ***
Castelrosso Cheese with Shaved White Truffles from Alba
Seriously generous shavings of white Alba truffles on a bed of very moist risotto

Herb Roasted Fillet of Atlantic Halibut ***
Romaine Lettuce "Paquette," San Marzano Tomato Marmalade
and Mustard Cress with Whole Grain Mustard "Beurre Blanc"
Imagine the thickest piece of halibut poelle'd in butter, then roasted to perfection, garnished with really tasty tomato reduced to a marmalade consistancy. Sauced with rich, unctuous beurre blanc

Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster Mitts ***
Trumpet Royale Mushrooms, Sweet Carrots, Globe Artichoke,
Petite Onions and Field Mizuna with "Barigoule" Emulsion
If I could rank all the lobster dishes I've ever had, this one would be top on my list. How this dish is prepared is beyond words. This was the 1 dish I will think about over and over again when I think about Perse

Thomas Farm's Supreme de Pigeon ***
"Cuisse Confite," Brasied Red Cabbage, Frisee
and Sunchoke Puree with "Sauce Perigourdine"
Just a great classic. Perigourdine sauce with roasted breast of pigeon

Snake River FArms' "Calotte de Boeuf Grillee" ***
Crispy Bone Marrow, Chestnut Pierogi, Haricots Verts
and Horseradish-Scented Creme Fraiche
with Northstar Sour Cherry Jus
The calotte is the cap covering the eye of the ribeye. Accompanied with bone marrow that has been removed from the bone and roasted to make a beautiful crispy outer shell

Blue Ledge Farm's "Crottina" ***
Slow Baked Beet Tapenade, Fried Pecans and Cutting Celery
with Blood Orange Coulis
Goat cheese with eye popping condiments

Pear Sorbet ***
"Silver Dollar" Pancakes, K & J Orchard's Asian Pear,
Bosc Pear Compote and Anise "Panna Cotta" with Almond Crisp
An explosion of pears. The greatest palate cleansing dish I have ever had

Pumpkin-Chocolate ***
Mast Brothers' Chocolate "Marquise," Pumpkin "Bavarois"
and Hazelnut Marshmallow with Spiced Ice Cream
Tons of pumpkin flavor with insanely flavorful condiments. Each condiment could have been the center piece of the dish

"Peanut Butter and Jelly" ***
Peanut Butter Mousse, Concord Grape Jam, Peanut "Genoise"
and Grape Sorbet with Dried Milk Tuile
Cleaver, playful dessert

Mignardises ***
Roasted hazelnuts, chocolate truffles, fresh toffee, all delightful

The food is right up there with my Robuchon experiences. But it's perhaps unfair to compare the 2 because Perse was conceived to compete with the best of the best in the world, while L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon is a concept borrowed from a sushi bar, where you can interact with the chef, keeping things a bit more relaxed.
But if I had to give out numerical rankings, I would have to say this meal exceeded my already very high expectations and bumped my beloved L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon experience down to second place.

Every single dish was perfectly executed.
It was masterfully orchestrated and even the temperature of each dish was perfect.
I also found the servers spoke very clearly when explaining dish after dish. I truly ate like a king.
Hats go off to the Kitchen for their extraordinary execution. I can't say enough how impressed I am with everything that night. How each dish came out just the way the chef intended it to, is beyond me. There are just so many anomalies in a restaurant for a meal lose a point here and a point there. But Robuchon did it, and so does Per Se.

Finally, the price. I paid $1,616.80 for the 3 of us. I am not likely to repeat, but I'm glad I got to have experienced one of the greatest restaurants of our time.

After the meal, my guests and I were invited to take a tour of the kitchen and meet the chefs responsible for our outstanding meal.
Bravo indeed.

Fun acts :
Over 4000 square feet of kitchen and office space in the back. They even have a seperate "Chocolate Room".
With over 50 kitchen staff responsible for every meal served.

Portillo's

If you're hungry, and you're anywhere around Chicago, say "Portillo's," and you'll immediately get a smile with someone offering to go with you. This is a chain that has grown from literally from a trailer stand back in 1963 by Dick Portillo to 43 locations that are pseudo-diners all around including a large location smack dab downtown. Like many restaurants, when they grow like this, the quality is not as good as it used to be. But, it's still a good place to go. If there was a Portillo's in the Washington, DC area, that would be the best hot dog joint for a hundred miles around. Portillo's is a hot dog joint that is a level above the grease pits. There are the different types of hot dogs, like chili dogs, jumbo dog, Chicago hot dog, etc., beef/combo sandwiches, burgers, salads, desserts, and more. Many locations are also paired with another restaurant. This particular location I went to in Schaumburg, IL two months ago is a Portillo's/Barnelli's Pasta Bowl to get your Italian on in addition to getting some other good eats.

It's hard to choose what to get when you're there, since the food is pretty decent. They're also known for the beef sandwiches. During this particular visit, I had a classic Chicago hot dog (a.k.a. "salad on a bun"), which includes a quality hot dog, relish, mustard (no ketchup!), chopped onion, sport peppers, and a snappy pickle on a poppy seed bun. I also had a Maxwell St. style Polish sausage (with cheese), cheese fries, and a strawberry milkshake. Price for everything was $13.03, though there was a special on the Polish that comes with a drink at that juncture. All very good. Writing this makes me wish I had them now, all over again.