Gotham Gal

Personal DNA

This morning Fred told me about the website that was launched by a company he had told me about.  He took it.  I was pretty impressed with their findings. He blogged about it.  So, I decided to give it a whirl. 

The site is called Personal DNA.  It takes about 15 or so minutes to complete the test.  It is pretty cool.  I like the questions that are asked.  Also, there are sliding bars that allow you to gage how much or little you feel about something.  So on one end it says agree and the other says disagree but perhaps you agree but not completely, you could put the put the answer exactly where you sit.  Also, they do the same thing with squares that have 2 different answers but also 2 different feelings.  You can put the dot somewhere in the square that fits you.  I really liked that.  Nothing is black and white.  There were a few questions that are but not most. 

Conceptually you could use this for a variety of purposes.  Customer profiles, hiring people, etc.  One thing that is pretty interesting too is that I can have people profile me which will then give a different version of my personality.  All and all, I really liked the test.

So, I took it.  It was quite spot on.  Here are the results. Even the answers that it gave me in regards to my personality were derived from questions that were not necessarily what the assessment was of me.  Pretty smart. 

Take the test.  It's fun and I think insightful.  Will be interesting to see how this product gets used over the web.

Thai Chicken Soup

Unfortunately my camera didn't click on the soup and I thought it did.  I got a new toy and am obviously still learning how to use it.  But, regardless, this soup is a winner and easy to make.

8 cups chicken stock
4 cups of water
1 T. green curry paste
1 2 inch piece of peeled ginger cut up
1 tsp. crushed coriander
2 cups cilantro leaves
1 cup jasmine rice
2 lbs. boneless chicken breast thinly sliced across
1 can (13-14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 lb. snow peas sliced into small strips
2 T. fish sauce
2 T. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. kosher salt

Combine the stock, water, curry paste, ginger, coriander and cilantro into large soup pot.  Bring to boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes.  Once this is done, pour the soup through a towel lined sieve.  Discard all the solids from the sieve.  Put the broth back into a heavy pot and stir in the rice.  Simmer again, uncovered for about 15  minutes.
Add the chicken and continue to simmer.  I did chicken and shrimp when I made it and we all preferred the chicken but you could easily substitute for shrimp and other white fish if you wanted to.  Simmer here until the chicken is done.  About 4 minutes or so.  Stir in the coconut milk, snow peas and fish sauce and simmer again for about another 2 minutes.  Add the lime juice and salt.  Serve.  You could also add some cut up cilantro on top for look but I passed.

This was really really good.  It served about 8 but we polished off the entire soup between 5 of us.

Fatty Crab

No reservations, open from noon to 4AM, take out available, sharing is a must.  Those are the basics at Fatty Crab.  But nothing about Fatty Crab is basic. 

It has been some time since I left a restaurant (and woke up in the morning saying the same thing) being absolutely "wowed" by the food.  The food is delicious.  Salty, spicy, flavorful, interesting and fun.

We got there at 6:30 on a Saturday evening.  My guess is from then on the festivities and lines begin.  We were told it would be about 45 minutes.  We put our name on the list and then ambled around the area.  We first went up to the top of Hotel Gansevoort for a drink.  The views are good and the scene is also a good view.  Then we roamed into a few stores which stay open until 8pm.  It was all perfect timing.

We walked into Fatty Crab and you get into the vibe asap.  The music is blaring.  Think Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and White Stripes very loud.  Many tables put into a small space.  There is a bar in the back with a few stools but I'm not sure sitting there would not be so choice. 

The kitchen looks frenetic but they appear to be having fun.  Lots of take out and restaurant orders coming out constantly.  There must be some serious preparation during the day.

Sharing was a must, as they tell you from the onset when taking your order.  We also went for the beers instead of wine with this meal.  Singha, our beer of choice after Thailand.

Our first plate out was Fatty Duck, brined, steamed and fried.  5 medium sized pieces of duck that is cut like osso bucco - bone in the middle.  Not only is the flavor intense, the meat is perfectly cooked.  It is served with a rich spicy brown sauce almost like a hoisin spice.  Excellent. 

Next to arrive were the slow cooked pork ribs and the chicken wings.  You get 3 large pork ribs which is too bad because I could eat an entire rack by myself.  Flavor is rich and spicy.  Everyone at the table was a rib lover, and an intense critic when it comes to ribs.  We deemed these fantastic.  Solid on the bone but the minute you sink your teeth in the meat falls off.  These ribs have been roasted in some type of dry rubs for hours upon hours and then roasted again hours upon hours with a spicy sauce.  Top!  The wings were also excellent.  Crispy and spicy.  Just how we like them.  We could have had a huge bowl of the wings too.

Of the variety of soups available, we all wanted to taste the Wonton Mee.  I really liked how they served this.  Small bowl of broth with a four shrimp pork dumplings one on side of a plate.  The other side of the plate was a huge mound of thin fried egg noodles.  Really tasty and good for dunking in the soup, or just adding it all in. 

Three main courses were about to come our way.  Short Rib Rendang.  Woah.  Braised short ribs that were completely fallen off the bone.  You could taste the lime, chili and coconut all at once.  This was served over a crispy yet simple rice.  We attacked the plate.  Next was a large piece of sea bass that had poached in the coconut broth it was served in.  Really tasty but not my favorite.  It was lighter than the rest.  Still full of flavor but the others were so unbelievable that at this point our expectations were high.  Last thing that came out was the Chili Crab.  Crab cut up in large bowl taken over by a rich spicy chili sauce.  It was served with nice sized pieces of toast to sop up the sauce.  Quite a mess but wet napkins are served on the side. 

Desserts was not big there or coffee or tea for that matter.  So, we got the check.  They gave us four small pieces of little sweets cakes.  Bite size.  Creamy and delicious.  I would have been thrilled to get a much bigger piece.

So, we walked over to the Chocolate Bar for dessert.  All good there too.

Fatty Crab....what can I say?  Sweet.  They rule.  Delicious. I can hardly wait to go back.  All of the above.

Defiance

Manhattan Theater Club  is back in my good graces.   We went to see Defiance last night.  The new play by John Patrick Shanley who wrote Doubt. 

Good acting.  Great writing.  Also, the bonus of being an hour and a half with no intermission. 

It was interesting to see a second play written by Shanley.  Both plays deal with power and authority and to make a choice between right and wrong.  His story interweaves the characters slowly.  Defiance, like Doubt has a dramatic ending that is in someway trying to teach the audience a lesson.

Defiance, like Doubt, are timely to what is happening in the world today.  Defiance is set at the end of the Vietnam war on a Marine base.  It is a story about race, war, leadership and defiance. 

Stephen Lang, plays Ltn. Littlefield,  the head of the Marine base.  His entire life is about the military.  He is interested in retiring as a General.  There are race issues on the base.  He takes to promoting Captain King, an African American, played by Chris Chalk to be his right hand man.  King has no interest.  He wants to fade into the woodwork and just do his job.  But the truth is, he is capable of being a leader where Littlefield is not.  Littlefield's wife, played by Margaret Colin, is smarter and wiser than her husband.  The Chaplain, played by Chris Bauer, seems to be deft but is actually more insightful than the whole lot of them. 

Through out the play there is always the underlying theme that the Littlefield's son has taken off for Canada to avoid the draft but that is just one defiance among many.

The words that Shanley uses to define the moment are wonderful.  The Chaplain has a soliloquy after some of the acts pontificating about what just went on.  I wish I could remember all of them.  My favorite line was, "morality is like the ocean, it flows back and forth". 

Definitely worth seeing and discussing. 

Park Central Hotel

We met someone uptown at the Park Central Hotel last night for drinks.  His choice.  He was in the neighborhood, his bags were there and he had a cab meeting him at 7:30 to take him out to the airport.  No problem. 

In all the years that I have lived in NYC, I had actually never heard of or been to the Park Central Hotel.  But, that is irrelevant. 

We sat in the restaurant, which looks over the street.  All glass windows.  Not bad.  But here is my question.  Why in a city that probably has many aspiring chefs or people who want to work in the restaurant business, is there bad food anywhere?  The food at the Park Central was absolutely awful.  Even the bread was bad.  We were starving and ate a few appetizers.  It took forever to get out of the kitchen.  It all tasted like a bad night at TGIF's. 

I just don't get it.  Wouldn't it make sense to hire someone who is willing to start their career anywhere to get to the next step.  Make an impact in a hotel where there are people traveling through there all the time.  People actually hear that they have decent food and all of a sudden the place has patrons.

Maybe it's me.  But, I just don't get it.  The logo says, share the experience.  I highly recommend that you don't.

DHL all the way

Skiing is a wonderful thing.  Schlepping all the stuff out is not.  Actually, schlepping stuff anywhere these days is a pain. 

I decided to ship our ski stuff out this past weekend so it was there when we arrived.  I have an account with DHL because I use them every year to send the camp bags. 

As a rule, they are pretty efficient.  After the transaction is complete, they bill you online a few days later. 

Today I got my bill.  It seemed way too high for the price I pay to send the kids camp bags out.  So, I picked up the phone and asked about my bill.

Get this.  The bill was $244.  The woman on the other end of the phone asked me what I thought the bill should be?  Truthfully, I wasn't exactly sure and told her so.  I believed that we paid about $40 for 2 bags to be sent to camp every summer that were larger and heavier but I'm guessing.  She said, "so you think that the bill should be $40"?  I said "yes".  She said "OK, I am changing the bill to read $40 and we will be  updating the charge on your account, is there anything else I could do for you today"? 

The answer was absolutely not.  That is fantastic customer service.  I am now a lifetime customer.

Only in NYC

Last night, after our daughter's basketball game, we grabbed a cab uptown.  We were going to drop her off on the corner of our street and continue uptown.  Our cab driver noted that it would take 45 minutes by cab and 12 minutes by subway. 

We knew that bit of advice but sometimes you just want to sit in a cab.  Although the traffic anxiety is so annoying. 

We laughed and told him he was right and decided to grab the nearest subway, which was about 2 blocks from where we were in the cab.  He wished us well and laughed.

Gotta love the NYC cab drivers.  Where else would a cab driver tell you that you are better off taking a subway uptown.  Save yourself the money and the aggravation.  We loved it.

The Strip House

The Strip House opened up in our neighborhood about 4 years ago, maybe longer.  At first, the place was slow and you could always get a table.  How times have changed. 

The bar was packed and the table were packed last Thursday night.  No surprises.  I think the steaks are some of New York's finest. 

Ambiance is very bordello like.  Lots of red and low lighting.  If it wasn't 2006, there would be a small window at the front which would open when someone knocked at the door to see if it was alright for you to come in. 

Steaks are always excellent.  Our dinner partners brought 2 bottles of wine from their cellar which is always a bonus.  The corking fee is only $20 which is incredibly reasonable.  We all had steaks. I started with a simple mixed green salad served in a crispy Parmesan like bowl, others had the Roquefort salad which is also delicious.  All the basics.  The ribeye is huge but juicy, tasty and cooked to perfection.  We also had a side of the sumptuous truffle creamed spinach and sauteed mushrooms where you absolutely can not go wrong. 

As far as steak restaurants go in the city, I always recommend The Strip House.  The food is good, the service is good, the vibe is good.   You can't beat it for a good steak.

Solitude Utah

My first time out in Utah, we stayed down in Salt Lake and drove up to the mountains every morning.  A short hop from downtown.  One of the few things that I really like about Utah. 

We discovered Solitude Mountain about 14 years ago on that trip.  The mountain was and still is fantastic.  Small resort, only 2 restaurants and no grocery store to speak of.  You have to order online and have Albertons bring your food in.  With a group of 18, that was fine and plenty of friends to keep us entertained. 

2 key things was having steaks shipped in from a meat distributor in the meat packing district.  The other was having a case of red wine shipped from the Italian Wine Merchants. 

For the one night we went out, we brought a bunch of wine with us to drink.  We had to pull off every label of the bottle because one of the laws in Utah is that you can bring wine and have a corking fee but you must have had bought the wine in Utah.  Make sense?  All their meats must be cooked well done too.
There are a variety of strange laws in Utah.  My never ending love hate relationship with the state.  Love the skiing and the powder, don't get the ridiculous laws. 

The snow was fantastic.  A bit colder than we like but we did hit the slopes with a vengeance.  It was fun having so many people cruising around the mountain together.  All with walkie-talkies in hand.  Cell phone service was not going to be an option.

Jess made a movie of the weekend.  Looking forward to the final cut.  Picture on the left is the group of Boarders before hitting the slopes.

Kittichai

Kittichai has been open for over a year now.  I finally got there.  The restaurant is located at 60 Thompson, which is a small boutique hotel.

Fred had not returned to that location since 9/11 where he was sitting outside at the cafe with a CEO of one of his companies and heard a plane roar above their heads.  They walked across the street and watched the plane veer around and hit the World Trade Tower.  Conversation turned to that last night, obviously, and it is still such wound in all NYers.  Of course we all discussed where we were, what happened, etc.  As much as we'd like to put it behind us, it is always there. 

The restaurant is quite beautiful.  You walk into a small bar that is lit boldly yet intimately.  The room is highlighted with gorgeous orchids.  Small banquette seating on the left, maybe 4 tables and a small bar on the right.  Small and simple. 

After leaving the bar you enter the restaurant.  Great lighting.  More orchids.  In the middle of the restaurant is a large square pool with floating candles - that we had fun pushing around - with single orchids hanging above the pool at different heights.  Really well designed.  The sound is good too.  A good buzz but not good loud.

We started with a vodka.  Small amounts with lots of ice.  Oh well.  We also split a bottle of a Sancerre with dinner. 

Everyone ordered an appetizer and main course.  We tasted each others.  I started with the rock shrimp, tempura style, served with grilled eggplant and a spicy lime sauce.  It was really yummy.  Not really Thai but more high end imaginative Thai.  Huge portions.  Fred had the chocolate ribs which everyone says is a must try.  They are good but not omigod.  They are cooked perfectly though.  Just enough to stick on the ribs and enough to pull the meat right off.  Someone also got the banana blossom with artichokes and chili.  It was very Thai.  Lots of different flavors exploding in your mouth.  Sweet, salty, spicy and crunchy.

I thought the appetizers were better than the main courses.  I might just order a lot of appetizers next time.  Fred had the monkfish curry which was just ok.  I had the organic chicken with roasted cashews.  It was really good.  Served wok style.  We had a pineapple fried rice and steam jasmine rice to accompany that.  Someone had the tuna special and I thought the flavors didn't work at all.  The braised short ribs with the green curry were really good.  Very flavorful. 

For dessert we had the butternut squash cake.  It sounded strange so we went with it.  Actually delicious, rich and intense. 

I really liked the space.  The food was good.  Not true Thai but fun.  As always, the company outweighed everything else.