A quickie post

No time to post lately! Work busy (boo)! Pyota visiting (yay!) But here are some pictures of what we've been eating (and drinking)....(starting with this drink from Angel Share.)


Duck appetizer from Robataya. They have a ridiculously good value tasting menu, but you should be really really hungry before you order it. I'll have to try to recreate their gyu daikon.


Sashimi, also from Robataya. Both photos (and the one on top) taken with Py's new camera.


We went for an afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel--it's definitely not as good as the tea at the Peninsula in Hong Kong, but still pretty good. Quieter, too (but no string quartet playing Kiss covers!)


Py had an incident with his scone, but mine was good :)


Mm, tiny pastries.


Maybe I should just have a tea set-up like this at home....

Well, that's all for now! I think after this week things will be calmer at work, and I'll probably sleep for about 2 days straight. And I'm really excited about our dinner plans tomorrow, because it's my birthday :)

Review: Lincoln Ristorante

I met up with my friend for brunch yesterday at Lincoln Ristorante (which you might have guessed is located at Lincoln Center). I think this opened fairly recently (end of 2010ish) and it is in an absolutely beautiful space. We were speculating that perhaps people weren't aware of it, because it was surprisingly unbusy during brunch (getting a table at some brunch places in NYC is practically a contact sport). Then again, it is a bit on the pricey side (although probably consistent with other places in this neighborhood). Anyhow, I am always down for trying new places, and our table immediately put me in a good mood.


That's the restaurant behind the sculpture, with the sloping roof. We were sitting by those windows, so you can imagine that our view was rather nice! (Also, natural lighting, woohoo!) I had a roasted beet salad to start (that's the top photo) which was visually beautiful, and also tasty. I love beets, so it was kind of a no-brainer for me, but I thought the pistachios were a nice touch. My friend had a chicken salad which I neglected to take a photo of, but I tasted a bit of the chicken and that was also really good! Oh, actually, that wasn't our first course though--every table also got bowls of panna cotta topped with granola. There was a layer of jam under the panna cotta (which was very yogurty tasting) and would have been great as a dessert!


We both had pasta for our mains (and here's one quibble--it's a brunch menu, but there's not a whole lot of what I would consider traditional brunch choices on it. That's not necessarily a bad thing for me, because I'd rather have lunch, but then....just call it lunch?) That's JJ's pasta with sausage above.


And my much less photogenic penne ala carbonara. Both pastas were delicious, and we managed to clean our plates pretty thoroughly, which I suppose is all the endorsement I need to give! We thought we were done, but then our server appeared with this:


Oof! This whole tray was also complimentary, and included chocolate filled donuts, brioches filled with pastry cream, pine nut muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, and buttermilk scones. The scones were my favorite...and maybe it was just a function of being stuffed, but I wasn't too impressed with the other pastries.

Overall, I had a pretty great time, in large part because of the company! We also liked the service, which was formal but friendly (actually, I think they may be employing some ninjas, because one server kept appearing from out of nowhere to refill my water glass and startled me every single time). I'd love to come back for dinner, I bet the view is even prettier....

(I walked the 40ish blocks home afterwards, which helped assuage the feelings of guilt that always come hand in hand with carbonara!)

Short break

Hi all--I know it's been quiet here lately, but it is too hot to cook or bake (ugh, we broke 100 degrees two days running)! And Py is visiting, so I'm going to take a little break from blogging. I'll be back shortly, hopefully with lots of good eats, even if they aren't of the cooked variety.


In the meantime, here is my fried catfish from a recent dinner at RUB with sides of baked beans and potato salad.


I know you're thinking, why on earth would you go to a bbq restaurant and then not eat bbq? Because it's too hot!!!!!! But I did snag some of this bbq bacon :)

Hope you are all staying cool wherever you are!

Review: Kyotofu

I am always the last to know--Kyotofu has been open since 2006, but I didn't hear about this place until late last year. Well, what can I say, I am a creature of habit, and hanging out in Hells Kitchen is not part of that habit! Although I should change that--there is some great stuff over that way, like the Pony Bar. Mmm, beer. (For a more low-brow but also fun experience, Rudy's is nearby with the bonus of free hot dogs. Actually this sounds like a better idea than it is, unless you like smelling like hot dogs for the rest of the night. But the drinks are cheap!)


Anyway, a couple of us met up there the other night for snacks and dessert. They had a nice selection of what I think of as maybe Japanese style tapas--you know, just small bites, and we got a sampler of everything, plus tofu dips. Apologies for the less than stellar photos--it's dark in there, and my hands are shaky. But above is our tray of snacks. My favorite things were the rice balls, the pigs in "duvets", and the sliders. I was not crazy about their cheese selection, but the little sesame cookie that came with the cheese was yummy! But really, the highlight here is the dessert, and we had three (we shared).


Warm chocolate mochi cake. This was good, but the mochi part of the dessert is a tiny ball in the bottom of the cake. I wish there had been more, because really I felt like this should have just been called "warm chocolate cake." I really liked the ice cream on this though.


Strawberry shortcake! This was my second favorite of the desserts, with cake cubes tossed with strawberries, cubes of strawberry jello (alcoholic!), and tofu cream. The sorbet on the side was also delicious.


And the sweet potato cake--my hands down favorite. It was drizzled with a bit of some kind of caramel sauce and came with a scoop of ice cream and a tuile. I love sweet potatoes, so this was right up my alley. Oh! And when you get your bill, they bring you some teeny, adorable chocolate cupcakes. Nice touch! On our way out, we stopped at the bakery (the restaurant is in the back and they have a bakery counter and some bar tables up front) and picked up a few things.


Macarons--black sesame in the front, chocolate with green tea, and green tea. I have to be honest--I was not crazy about these. The texture was off--macarons should be crisp and then soft. These were a bit hard.


Mini financiers in green tea and ginger spice. These were so good! They are really small (maybe an inch across) and totally addictive. And cute!


And finally, imagine my joy at being able to bring sweet potato cake home. They are mini-loaf sized which is perfect for breakfast with a good cup of tea. Must try to make sweet potato cake myself now. Maybe this weekend...

I'll definitely have to go back--we didn't try any of their signature tofu desserts (I know, and I call myself tofugirl? I am ashamed.) And I think next time I'll do the sake pairings with the desserts. Who wants to go?

Kyotofu
705 9th Ave (between 48th and 49th)
New York, NY 10019
212-974-6012

Kambi Ramen

Yes, I'm overdue for a post. Unfortunately, summer has finally hit NYC in all its sticky, humid glory, and so I have done precious little baking or cooking (although we have been eating well thanks to our CSA). Mostly I just want to lie around, drinking iced water!

Anyway, the other night we stopped in at Kambi Ramen on 14th St. and 1st Ave. for a bowl of noodles after an evening of drinking at Otto's Shrunken Head (2 for 1 well drinks before 8, apparently!). I love Otto's, but I have learned an important lesson--do not try to chug a Pang's Punch. Seriously. Also, you will find cocktail monkeys in your pockets for days afterwards. Ahem, anyway!


Kambi is a fairly typical ramen joint; it's not a place to linger and have a quiet conversation, but it's great for a quick meal, and the space itself is clean and comfortable with high tables and stools. Sorry for the sub-par photos--I was too hungry to fiddle around with settings. We shared some gyoza, which were filled with pork and were quite tasty, especially the crunchy bits on the bottom. Nice and juicy, too.


And here is a much-too-close photo of my spicy miso ramen. I know from this view, it's all corn and a seaweed sail, but trust me, the stewed pork served with it was deliciously fatty. And the boiled egg was nicely boiled until just set; no sulfurous, rubbery yolks to be found here! My only complaint was that I was extremely thirsty after I finished my soup, which I will attribute to a bit too much salt. Seriously, I drank two whole bottles of water when I got home.

All in all, a great place to grab a bowl of noodles; that is, if you can resist the lure of the Papaya Dog next door...

As an aside, if you are looking for a way to cool off for a few hours, I highly highly highly recommend going to see Ponyo, the new Miyazaki movie (okay, I know it was released in Japan already, but the subtitled Disney release is out now). I loved it. Probably designed for a younger audience than Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, but still totally enjoyable and magical. Seriously, go see it.