Several weeks ago, I asked my family if they would like to go out eating at Sesonal, the 1* Michelin-rated, Austrian restaurant that’s located in Midtown West. Everyone except my father could attend and we set the date back last Saturday. My reasoning was the fact there aren’t that many restaurants in Manhattan that serves Austrian food (the other place I know of and went to is Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie located in the Upper East Side) and the menu sounds different and enticing enough that my family is willing to try.
My mother, brother and I perused their lunch menus and settled on the three-course lunch prix fixe since we’re planning to cook a huge dinner at home.
Front interior
Seasonal is handsomely decorated – streamlined and clean lines and curves with several paintings to add some color to the white walls, dark wood tables lined with olive green place mats. The curved bar with a creamy white leather chairs looked comfortable to linger if it was the after-work hours.
Earlier last week, I went to BCD Tofu with my mom for lunch. She craved Korean food and I asked my best friend, Helen for suggestions a few days earlier (she’s Korean, so she knows what’s good), this ended up as the destination of choice. Admittedly, BCD is sort of on the hype end of the Koreatown spectrum besides the soon-to-be-opening Kyochon Chicken but at least I found some respite of not seeing cameras compared to Baohaus.
Interior
When we entered this restaurant, we’re greeted with a hostess in Korean and asked for seating for two. After sitting down at table, I noticed it’s not as bustling as I was thinking for lunch hour. It’s about quarter full and most of the patrons are college kids or around my age. The interior isn’t a huge departure from any other K-town restaurant. It’s cleaner, a bit brighter, and everyone’s seated in banquettes that has its own copper hood with the exception of a few two-tops along one wall of the restaurant.
Banchan
Mom and I looked at the Lunch Special menu and end up choosing what we wanted. After the orders were taken, out came the banchan. Two types of kimchi, one was sweet and spicy (Mom approved) and the smaller plate was salty and spicy, a fried fish (admittedly, a bit on the dry side but still palatable), some pickles, pasta and ham salad, and seaweed. Continue reading “Lunch at BCD Tofu” »
Recently I’ve been invited to a Greek benefit dinner at Molyvos, whose meal frames around the Greek Orthodox tradition of Lent. Knowing what Lent is, I am a skeptic. I’m an omnivore who loves her meat and dairy. Frankly, I don’t think I can go a day without any dairy since I need a splash of it in my morning cup of coffee. But I bit the bullet, agreed to come and have an open mind to try out Chef Jim Botsacos’ take on the Lenten tradition. (I’m keeping this post short since it’s mainly benefit-focused.)
Entering in the restaurant, I was welcomed with the rustic, warm interior adorned with nautical patterned plates. It feels worn with time and it feels cozy.
I met Chef Botsacos and spoke to him briefly on the take of Lent and food and basically, it boils down to the idea of mimicking textures and flavors to the point that one would feel satiated without the meat and dairy. He’s passionate about this point but as a dessert lovin’ gal who embraces dairy (I’m not a fan of vegan food, by the way), I’m going along with his statement and eat his food.
The raw bar was excellent; filled with fresh mussels, oysters, and cocktail shrimp. You can’t go wrong with raw shellfish unless, of course, you’re allergic.
The most amusing dish was the “octopus pie” (called octopodopita on the menu, pictured on the above right) that the wait staff told me when I was at the buffet table. Crisp, flaky crust filled with meaty chunks of octopus, rice and zucchini. It really made me forget I was eating a pescatarian/vegetarian dish.
The least liked portion of the meal was dessert, consisting of Karidopita Nistisimi (an olive walnut cake topped with blood orange), I forgot what’s the shot glass dessert is called but it’s a loose grape jelly that’s pretty tart and a Melomakarona (an orange honey walnut cookie), unfortunately. Without the eggs and cream, it lacked the lightness and creaminess I desire in my sweets. It was a good try though. If I had to pick the best of the three I tried on that plate, it was probably the walnut cake.
Generally speaking, Chef Botsacos has done a very good job on weaning me away from my meat. Dairy is a whole different topic.
As of yesterday morning, when I check my morning Twitter feed, I read Midtown Lunch‘s tweet, that Momofuku Midtown (or Má Pêche) was serving lunch! I e-mailed Zach of ML if he’d welcome company to eat with him since I have every intention to try at least half of the Midtown Specials. And thankfully, being the cool guy that he is, he accepted my invitation. Awesome…
Menus; Midtown Specials on left, Mezzanine Menu on right
I went there early before Zach and his adorable kid Harry made it. I checked out the menu and was surprised it’s empty, at least in my experiences with Momofuku restaurants. By the time they arrived, he told me he wanted to try everything on the menu. So, here we go…
I felt compelled for a few years to try The Modern‘s tasting menu, after seeing Ulterior Epicure’s gorgeous photos of his experience and hearing it from a friend who did enjoy his dinner thoroughly for week before I went, I thought it’s about time to give it a whirl and go there.
Taken place on August 13, 2009. Sorry I haven’t been writing, just stuck with work and some stuff in life.
Aureole
The last time I’ve been to Aureole was nearly two years ago for Restaurant Week, in its former location in the Upper East Side. Back then, I used to think the food was ok but nothing extraordinary. I went in to Aureole with not-too-high expectations though its caliber and pricing should not be taken for granted.
Walking up to the desk where all the hostesses were, they all greeted me and walked me over to the dining room, just passing through the casual bar room. Generally speaking, the restaurant seems to be a tad smaller than its former location. It’s one large space that’s divided into two smaller rooms. Both rooms are adorned in lots of wood and marble have that modern, casual, glitz appeal. Technically, when I look over their Aureole Las Vegas site, it does look like they modeled the NYC location after it. Continue reading “Lunch at Aureole” »
I’m putting my HK/China posts on the back burner for now since I’m eating out NYC a bit more since it’s SUMMER here. If you’re anticipating the HK/China posts, just hang on for a bit. Sorry.
Back on June 11th, I had lunch at Marea, after reading positive reviews on this place. I like seafood and thankfully, I’m not allergic to them anymore. (I know weird, right?) So, I hauled my butt over and tried their tasting menu, which is four courses but you pick your own from the menu.
Dishes from Marea
I’m not going into depth since I’m waay behind blogging, I’ll succinctly say Marea is a very good seafood-centric restaurant. You can’t go wrong with pastas since Chef Michael White is great at making tender strands of noodles and it’s oversauced. If you want the break down of each dish, go to my set. It’s not Le Bernardin-level seafood but it’s close to it. Continue reading “Lunches at Marea & Momofuku Ssäm Bar” »
The last two days of the official Restaurant Week, I’ve had lunch with my co-workers at Aquavit on Thursday and on Friday, I did a double-header of lunch (with Ariel at Town) and dinner (with Ariel and Helen). The first one is very familiar since I went there last year and the latter two were new places just to expand our horizons of what the city can offer.
Aquavit Dining Room Interior
At Aquavit, the menu was very similar to last year’s except the fact that I’m eating in the Dining Room and the small tweaks in the menu. Instead of the avocado soup, they served the chilled corn soup for the appetizer; replacing the grilled salmon, they had the hot smoked salmon, and finally for dessert, they substituted the chocolate peanut butter cake with a chocolate custard cake. Continue reading “Wrapping Up The Rest of Restaurant Week – Aquavit, Town, and Blue Water Grill” »
The last time I’ve been to Le Bernardin was about three years ago and had their prix fixe menu. Arguably to say this, I’m not really a stranger to this place but years have passed, foodies still praise this restaurant and my inquiring mind wonders if this place is still good as it used to be.
I went there the day before Thanksgiving with Ariel since he’s willing to take the plunge with me on this expensive lunch. If you do look at their menu, $64 for three courses ain’t cheap. Include tax and tip, it’s at least $80. Yeah, for that price we have high expectations.
