And have a Happy New Year!
We will see you back here in 2008.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Food Shop: Piemonte Ravioli
190 Grand Street
212-226-0475
http://www.piemonteravioli.com
During the holiday season we always make a big tray of lasagna. It is a great meal for a crowd, and you can prepare it the day before your party. The flavors always seem to be better after resting in the refrigerator overnight. It is then slowly reheated in the oven for about an hour before the guests arrive.
Our choice is to make a béchamel sauce and layer it between the pasta noodles rather than using mozzarella and ricotta cheese. We learned this from John Clancy’s Favorite Recipes - A Personal Cookbook, where this recipe originated. The red meat sauce is prepared with two large cans of San Marzano tomatoes, and a combined mixture of about two pounds of beef, pork and veal.
The most important component to us is using fresh lasagna noodles. We always buy the green spinach variety at Piemonte in Little Italy. They cost $3.25 for a 1 lb. package. The wide green pasta is very festive looking against the red meat sauce. Santa would be delighted if this year you left him a wedge of spinach lasagna on Christmas Eve.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Restaurant: The Four Seasons
99 East 52nd Street
212-754-9494
http://www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com
www.opentable.com
When it is time for a special occasion dinner you cannot go wrong with The Four Seasons restaurant. This is where high powered New Yorkers and industry heads have eaten since 1959. Even the wine list has photographs of socialite Brooke Astor, architect Philip Johnson and President Kennedy mixed in with the Bordeaux offerings. At our dinner last night, to nobody’s surprise seated at the next table was one of the newly crowned kings in financial services.
Our reservation was booked on open table.com, and a nice feature is you can specify what you’re celebrating or special requests for the maitre d’. We asked for the pool room as we did more than ten years ago when we last ate here. Nothing has changed. A wedding reception was going on over in the grill room.
We were graciously escorted to a large corner table looking out to this grand room. A generous bread basket started us off. After the toast with a large glass of champagne ($24) and a delicious rendition of a sidecar ($16), our first courses arrived. Two langoustines ($32) atop a sea urchin risotto, and the other was a couple of in-season Florida Stone Crabs ($38) coleslaw and a horseradish sauce. We both got the Chateaubriand ($110 for two) with a béarnaise sauce and string beans. The classic table side service is a nice show, but can be risky because our beef was kept on the flame a minute too long. We ordered an extra side dish called a salsify gratinee ($9.50) that was delicious.
The birthday surprise was a mound of white cotton candy that looked like a wig worn by Marie Antoinette with a single lit candle on top. Underneath was a scoop of strawberry ice cream. They packed up the cotton candy in a glossy Four Seasons shopping bag that we will proudly reuse on another day.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Food Shop: Di Palo Fine Foods
200 Grand Street (at Mott Street)
212-226-1033
No website
How would you describe the top food shop in NY and what makes it so great? We think the place is Di Palo’s, which was originally a latteria that made mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Today they carry all sorts of Italian food products. When you visit Di Palo’s you will find it to be a unique NY shopping experience. Over the years here are just some things we have personally observed during our Di Palo excursions:
212-226-1033
No website
How would you describe the top food shop in NY and what makes it so great? We think the place is Di Palo’s, which was originally a latteria that made mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Today they carry all sorts of Italian food products. When you visit Di Palo’s you will find it to be a unique NY shopping experience. Over the years here are just some things we have personally observed during our Di Palo excursions:
The store is always crowded and you need to take a number and wait your turn.
Sometimes newcomers don’t know this and despite the crowd they know when you are next.
They specialize in cheese from Italy and import the best products they can find.
It is a family run business passed on from one generation to the next.
People come from near and far to shop there—even the NYC guidebooks list it.
Nobody gets special treatment, not even famous NY chefs.
The typical customer will purchase an enormous amount of products.
Samples are always given out and usually shared with anyone in the general vicinity.
Even though you wait a long time it is okay, in fact you are apt to make new friends.
The owners, Lou, Sal and Marie and their Mother (who’s in on Saturdays) are extremely likeable people.
We are never without a chunk of Di Palo’s Parmigiano Reggiano in our refrigerator.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Wine Shop: Union Square Wines
140 Fourth Avenue at 13th street
212-675-8100
http://www.unionsquarewines.com/
Printed on the window shade of the Union Square Wines & Spirits store is the USQ logo in big red letters. This is appropriate because we find a good portion of their red wine inventory to big, powerful and robust. And there always seems to be a large number of boxes stacked up by the exit door ready to be delivered. We look at USQ as one of the new breed of stores marketing wine and spirits in NYC.
The store is easy to navigate. Once you go inside just to the right is a huge Viking double refrigerator filled with sake. On their website, sake has a link with a drop down list. This is a product that is not so prominent in most wine shops around town.
USQ also has a large temperature controlled room for their high end wines. On the countertop in the center of the room is something called an enomatic wine serving system.(http://www.enomatic.it/). USQ has three of them located throughout the store with a selection of wine bottles attached for tastings.
The way it works is after they mail you an enomatic card, for every dollar you spend at USQ, you get five points credited to your account. Then, when you want to sample one of these bottles, you give them your enomatic card and they deduct the points from your account. The better the bottle, the more points they will deduct. It is a novel idea and we don’t know any other shops in NY that offer this type of tasting.
Once you are registered as a USQ customer, you can expect to receive occasional postcards in the mail alerting you to sales, and weekly e-mails about an upcoming tasting or special event. The store runs many of them, and the space works well for these programs. We always review the e-mails because you never know when a blockbuster 30% case discount is going into effect. It’s at those times that we most like to make a pilgrimage to USQ.
212-675-8100
http://www.unionsquarewines.com/
Printed on the window shade of the Union Square Wines & Spirits store is the USQ logo in big red letters. This is appropriate because we find a good portion of their red wine inventory to big, powerful and robust. And there always seems to be a large number of boxes stacked up by the exit door ready to be delivered. We look at USQ as one of the new breed of stores marketing wine and spirits in NYC.
The store is easy to navigate. Once you go inside just to the right is a huge Viking double refrigerator filled with sake. On their website, sake has a link with a drop down list. This is a product that is not so prominent in most wine shops around town.
USQ also has a large temperature controlled room for their high end wines. On the countertop in the center of the room is something called an enomatic wine serving system.(http://www.enomatic.it/). USQ has three of them located throughout the store with a selection of wine bottles attached for tastings.
The way it works is after they mail you an enomatic card, for every dollar you spend at USQ, you get five points credited to your account. Then, when you want to sample one of these bottles, you give them your enomatic card and they deduct the points from your account. The better the bottle, the more points they will deduct. It is a novel idea and we don’t know any other shops in NY that offer this type of tasting.
Once you are registered as a USQ customer, you can expect to receive occasional postcards in the mail alerting you to sales, and weekly e-mails about an upcoming tasting or special event. The store runs many of them, and the space works well for these programs. We always review the e-mails because you never know when a blockbuster 30% case discount is going into effect. It’s at those times that we most like to make a pilgrimage to USQ.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Hot Chocolate Stop at Shake Shack
Southeast Corner at Madison Square Park
(Enter at Madison Avenue and E. 23rd Street)
212-889-6600
http://www.shakeshack.com/
On Friday, we ate lunch at the Shake Shack. Hearing this food stand in Madison Square Park was going to stay open for the winter (with a closing around Christmas week), we decided to see how outdoor eating would hold up on a sunny but chilly December day. The usually long lunchtime line was mercifully short and we thoroughly enjoyed our cheeseburger, Wisconsin Bratwurst and fries. But we ate fast because in spite of the strong sun, it really was too chilly for outdoor dining.
(Enter at Madison Avenue and E. 23rd Street)
212-889-6600
http://www.shakeshack.com/
On Friday, we ate lunch at the Shake Shack. Hearing this food stand in Madison Square Park was going to stay open for the winter (with a closing around Christmas week), we decided to see how outdoor eating would hold up on a sunny but chilly December day. The usually long lunchtime line was mercifully short and we thoroughly enjoyed our cheeseburger, Wisconsin Bratwurst and fries. But we ate fast because in spite of the strong sun, it really was too chilly for outdoor dining.
We are always in search of some good chocolate treats around town, so we were happy to find a terrific hot chocolate now on the menu at the Shake Shack. Thick and rich with an intense chocolate flavor, the cup ($3.75) here comes with a giant marshmallow floating on top and a piece of toffee candy on the bottom. If you’re in the neighborhood on a chilly day and you’re craving some good chocolate, you can’t go wrong with a quick hot chocolate break at Shake Shack.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Holiday: Custom Gift Baskets at Dean & DeLuca
We stopped by the Dean & DeLuca shop in Soho this afternoon and saw that the back of the store has been transformed to a festive create-your-own gift basket emporium. We think it’s a great idea for a unique “Made In NY” food gift.
There are a wide variety of containers to choose from, including baskets, decorated boxes, and totes. And a helpful salesperson told us that we could select items from the store and usually within two hours or so, your basket will be attractively assembled and is ready to go. Prices start at $100. Courier service is available for local deliveries and UPS for more distant locations.
A similar service is available on their website. You can select a container, and while not as exhaustive as the in-store choices, there are many worthwhile options for filling it up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
