Gotham Gal

Parmesan-Proscuitto Biscotti

I have been keeping a huge 3 ring binder of recipes over the past couple of years.  I go through them periodically and pull out something that must have sounded good when I filed it away.  I am having a small group of people over for dinner tomorrow night and was searching for a light nosh to have with drinks before dinner.  I came up with the Parmesan-Prosciutto Biscotti.  This couldn't have been easier and they are really delicious.

8 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 ounces thinly sliced chopped Prosciutto
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt.

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy (one minute or so).  Add the eggs, one at a time and beating in between each egg.  Now add the flour, Parmesan, prosciutto, pepper and salt.  Beat until the dough just comes together.  Don't over mix.

Take the dough out with wet hands.  Shape the mixture into a 12" log that is about 2/3" in width.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.  There will be serious amounts of butter pouring out of the top. 
Take out the log and let it cool for about 10 minutes.  Also at the same time, take the heat down to 275. 
After 10 minutes, cut the log with a serrated knife into about 16 pieces.  Put them back on the parchment paper and back in the oven for about 20 minutes or until they are dry to the touch.

Let cool.  Serve now or serve later.  They will probably stay for about a week in an airtight container. 

Market Table

I watched Shopskin's close and was thrilled when it was revealed that Gabriel and Joey from Little Owl were the new owners hooking up with Mike from Little Mermaid.  What were they going to do with the place?

The market opened up a few weeks ago.  Emily was the first one there.  She brought back a smorgasbord of dried fruits that were absolutely delicious and different.  We were counting down the days for the restaurant to open.  I tried last Friday but to no avail, Saturday was the first night and we were out of town.  Yesterday was my lucky day. 

Fred had already had lunch at Market Table but agreed to have dinner there too.  First of all, they have done an absolutely fantastic job with the space.  The market is on the left and flows easily into the large dining room.  Large big windows.  Simple seating.  Even the bathrooms have small touches of home.  Like Little Owl, you can see that these guys take complete ownership in their space and since they spend a fair amount of time there, they have make it feel like home for themselves and their customers.  I love it. 

The formula certainly worked at Little Owl and in many ways, it is the same formula.  The menu is simple.  I always think of it as going to someone's home for dinner who happens to be an outstanding cook.  Seven appetizers, 7 entrees and 3 sides.   The wine list is also solid and meant to match with the food.

I began with the heirloom tomatoes and am seriously trying to figure out how I can stop by and have that again today.  Quartered pieces yellow, red and green tomatoes in a small square bowl mixed with thin slices of basil and red onion with a balsamic vinaigrette that the tomatoes had been tossed in still sitting on the bottom.  Just fantastic.  Fred had the romaine salad.  Interesting combo but also delicious.  Pieces of romaine lettuce mixed with a chickpea, cucumber, celery dressing.  Lots of little pieces from the dressing and about 5 pieces of raw tuna over the top.  Sounds strange but totally works.  BTW, the bread comes from Sullivan Street that arrives at your table with some nice olive oil for dipping to begin your meal.

For dinner we went with fish.  It is still so bloody hot outside it was tempting not to go with the braised lamb shank but it gave me a reason to come back.  I had the grilled swordfish.  Grilled to perfection and sitting over a roasted corn, avocado and cherry tomato salad that had been tossed in a simple vinaigrette.  What was a nice twist were the crispy onion rings on top.  The combo of the crisp with the fish really worked.  Fred went with the seafood pan roast.  Scallops, shrimp, cod, etc. served with a fennel tomato white wine sauce.  Really simple and good.

Had to have dessert.  Chocolate peanut butter bar.  There are 5 desserts, all sound good but the chocolate was just calling out.

We got there at 6 and there was a line at 7.  You can begin making reservations 10/1 but for some reason I think they changed it for today. 

One of the best meals I have had at a restaurant in a while.  I am thoroughly impressed with these guys.  Gabriel works the room brilliantly.  My guess, this is the second restaurant and there will be more to come as they build a small empire in the West Village.  So far, two major hits out of the ballpark.  The pro but the con is that each restaurant is small and intimate.  The word is out so getting back in for another meal may not be so easy.

Los Dados

Los Dados opened on Washington Street, in the meatpacking area about 6 weeks ago. We live in the neighborhood and have tried 3 times to get reservations. 

First time, the girls went by themselves to see if they could have dinner.  The place was not busy but the hostess said that they would have to wait 15 minutes for a reservation not to show up and then in the end, decided that there would be nothing available for them.  Ok.  The second time, I walked over there with Jessica to see if they could take the 5 of us at 630.  They were booked and maybe another night or perhaps 930.  Not.  The third time, I called, 5 days in advance, to get Jessica a table with her friends to get a table at 630, Friday night for 5 people.  The hostess could not decide if they could actually do 630 maybe 6, maybe not.  She had to call me back after asking management.  In the end, there are nothing available.

Last night, Fred went out with his friend before a concert for dinner.  He told me they went to Los Dados.  No way.  He said they went there are 630 and were the only people there when they left at 8pm.  He also had a serious stomach ache last night.  He said the food was inedible.  Hmmm.

What's up with Los Dados?  Only looking for the right people, the right stars to venture in?  Spare me.  Restaurants are about being in business and creating a clientele.  Emily's comments about Fred getting in last night were spot on.  "We will never go there.  I hope they go out of business.  I hope Frank Bruni goes there and totally trashes the place.  They don't deserve anyone to eat there".  I couldn't agree more.

Wake up all the restaurant owners who think they are only going to cater to the stars and the "in" people.  All those people are looking for the next best place after awhile.  Good customers continue to come back.  Pissing people off in your community is not the way to longevity.  Duh...

Alive

I saw the HBO special, Alive Day, with host James Gandolfini the night it aired.  Probably a few weeks ago.  Honestly, I can't stop thinking about it.   

Our country is at war in Iraq but our country is not at war at home.  Alive Day is a documentary.  Gandolfini interviews 10 soldiers and marines who are now veterans of the Iraq war.  What is amazing about these vets is that they have survived a war with limbs missing, serious stress problems, half a brain (literally) and a variety of other ailments.  In years past, these soldiers/marines would not have had a chance of survival.  Now, due to modern technology, we can save their lives.  These 10 veterans are only 10 of the thousands who have come back not the same people physically or mentally when they left.  They fought for our country.  They all believe in what they did and the role they signed up for.  Are we going to take care of them for the rest of their lives?  We should.  And what have we gained being in this war except for possibly the access to oil that we can dependent on for longer, if that.  Watching these veterans weep, talk, and try to deal with the cards they have been dealt for the rest of their lives tears your heart. 

Then this past weekend I saw Across the Universe.  Across the Universe is a movie set in the 1960's pre-Vietnam, through Vietnam and not quite post Vietnam.  The movie is a musical and the songs are all Beatles songs which are used to tell the tales.  Very clever.  The music was written in that time period and some of the songs certainly tell about that time.  The characters highlight some classic characters of that time.  A Princeton drop out who ends up being drafted because he is no longer in college, a Brit who had a Father that he never knew but happened to run through his Mother's bedroom after WWII,  a singer making her way up and out of the East Village who appears to be Janis Joplin, her side kick, Jimmy Hendrix and their inter-racial relationship, Prudence, the lesbian fresh from Ohio and Lucy, the fair-eyed blond from a wealthy Connecticut family who is rebelling against the times and her Mother (although a small character) who gets what is happening but is just scared for her kids.  Cinematography and singing is fantastic.  But what I left with was thinking about the HBO film.  After all, Vietnam is another war that changed a generation of people and we probably shouldn't have been in.  Or at least, nobody had the balls to pull the plug early on. 

There is a line in the film when the Princeton drop out returns after the war and his friend, the Brit, says to him that he doesn't look so bad from the war.  His response is basically, I am fine from the neck down but completely fucked from the neck up.   Again, why?   History has done nothing to prove otherwise, like that was a war that we didn't win but it was a good thing we were in it because now...Will it be the same thing with Iraq?

Today I saw a preview of a movie where a wife goes off to war and the husband is left with the two kids.  The mother gets killed and her husband is left with 2 girls who he now has to raise alone.  I sobbed through the preview. 

Thank god we have a military that protects us.  People who want to serve.  They are our heroes.  But our President has put our military, our honor, our security, our country at risk and our armed forces just followed.  After all, that is their job.  It will be interesting to see in the future, if the Armed forces doesn't say, hey, wait a minute, we can't win this way.  It isn't the armed services way but you never know.  Think how different things would be if Colin Powell had stood up and said, this is never going to work, we can't do this.  He couldn't because he was trained that in the military, you follow the orders of your commanding officer.   Maybe he feels differently now when he looks at himself in the mirror every morning and reads the front page.   

I go to boot camp for exercise, have done it now for about 3 years.  It is run by former marines.  All of them were in Afghanistan and one just came back from Iraq 6 weeks ago.  I am always curious their take on the Iraq situation.  I asked Reuben, who I have worked with the entire time I have been there, if he has seen the HBO special.  He hadn't but this past Monday he said he finally sat down to see it.  Love HBO on demand.  He said it was really hard for him to finish watching it.  There are so many soldiers that he knows that are in the same situation as the 10 people interviewed by Gandolfini.  He thinks that every school in America should make their students sit down and see that show.  War is glamorized and truthfully, war is awful, evil and it is not what you think it is.   Maybe after seeing Alive Day, more Americans would protest this war. 

Many more movies are coming out about Iraq.  We have been in the war long enough that it is possible.  When will there be protests?  When will there be outrage?  When will somebody stand up in Government and say enough is enough?

I can't get those 10 veterans out of my mind.   We owe it to them to stop this madness.  We have changed their lives forever.  We have also destroyed a country and all the people living there.  And for what? 

The Highline

Fred and I went to see part of the Highline from 34th Street to 28th street last winter and we were just wowed.  Two guys, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, met at a Community Board meeting (the first they have ever been to) and got to work.  The meeting is about getting rid of the Highline.  Both of them were hoping that someone at this meeting would be proactive about keeping the Highline but nobody there seemed to care.  Joshua and Robert decided it would be there mission to turn the Highline into something spectacular.  Their journey has been difficult but the creation of their dream seems to be almost complete. 

Last night we went to a fund raiser for the Highline.  They have raised public and private funds and are  getting closer to the money needed to make the Highline into a park.  Take an old raised train track that was used from 1920-1980 to bring merchandise into Manhattan and bring it back to life in a different form.  It has not been used in years and is just growing weeds.  Ressurrecting an old piece of New York history by turning it into a community park which will be run by the Parks Department is brilliant.  Old tracks are being repaired to be laid down among the grass, trees, seating and kiosks.  Being above New York in a beautiful park with no cars around is a treat but seeing New York from a complete different vantage point is magnificent.  Being up there, one can only imagine how beautiful this small slice of New York will be.  The best part is that we are not only building something for future generations we are creating something that can be used in a year. 

Last night's event was a sold out success.  New Yorkers from all over the city giving to the Highline.  The event took place at Craft Steak which is a beautiful restaurant.  Mario Batali from Del Posto, Ralf Kuettel from Trestle on Tenth, Alex Raij from Tia Pol, Jimmy Bradley from Red Cat, Mark Meyer from Cookshop and Morimoto from Masaharu Morimoto collaborated on a menu and cooked for the event.  Everyone donated their time and energies as their restaurants are right under the Highline.  A real community event.

Congratulations to Joshua and Robert.   Who would have thought that a chance encounter would change the landscape of downtown New York.  Bravo!

Bar Fry

Truth is,  we were hoping to catch the opening night of Market Table but unfortunately it doesn't open until tomorrow night.  We did chat with Gabriel and Joey.  They did an absolutely fantastic job of renovating the place on the corner of Carmine and Downing.  The menu looks good too.  I particularly like the market place.  Sweet idea.  Old school.  I hope to get there in the next week or so. 

Instead, we went next door to Bar Fry.  Carmine Street is undergoing a serious transformation.  The Noodle Bar, the Pizza place, now Bar Fry which happened to just take over the lease of 51 Carmine to open up a raw bar (near future).  All good news. Restaurants on Carmine, food to take home and cook on Bleeker right around the corner where there is Amy's Bread, Murrays Cheese and the Lobster Fish Place.  A foodies heaven.

I really like what they have done architecturally to Bar Fry.  Blue trim surrounding glass and white.  Simple.  As Josh said, "high end food served in a non-high end way, quick and casual.".  He actually summed it up. 
FYI, liquor license is coming so you can pick up a bottle two doors over. 

The concept is perfect for sharing.  In some ways, the feel is similar to a nouveau Lobster Shack.  Not too expensive.  Josh, the chef, came out and talked to us about the food.  Love that. 

We tried a lot of different things.  The tempura has been written about everywhere.  Light and crispy but don't be fooled, it is still tempura.  Dipping sauces on the side are clever and tasty.  Red Chili Citrus, Jalapeno Soy (spicy), Sweet Miso ( a winner ) and Wasabi Remoulade (didn't love this one).  We went with the shrimp ( 3 pieces ) which was large and light and delicious.  They serve all of the tempura you order in a large brown box which is a nice visual and clever.  We went with the calamari, eggplant (in sticks), shitake mushrooms (caps), string beans, pumpkin and pork dumpling.  The calamari was crispy and light as was the vegetables.  The dumpling is huge and I didn't really like the filling.  Not light, too dense.  The special tempura was Skookum Oysters from Washington State. Huge, like the size of your palm, fried in a tempura batter.  Incredible.  I would have liked to go in the kitchen and have one raw.

We also went with some other specials.  Koma kampachi with spicy soy and chives flown in from Hawaii that day.  Sliced pieces of kampachi with a massive amount of finely chopped chives over each piece served in a spicy soy.  Very tasty.  The other special was the Raw Box.  Tartars of tuna and kampachi, tuna sashimi tea smoked anago (sea eel) rice and miso soup loaded with mushrooms.  Each one was served in a small white bowl.  Makes it easy to share.   The tartars were each served differently.  Kampachi was served with an avocado base and the kampachi was served with spicy chives.  Josh totally loved the anago, I found it a bit fishy. 

It was fun to be at a restaurant that just opened 2 weeks ago.   We tasted as much as we could so how could we resist the dessert to top off the meal.  Green tea cupcake.  Absolutely delicious.  Sounds strange but quite good.  They also make ice creams and sorbets there.  We had the triple whammy of ice cream.  Green tea, black sesame and bay leaf.  An interesting combo but each was tasty and rich.

Perfect location for a restaurant like Bar Fry.  Near NYU, near our kids school, the price is right, the service is beyond quick ( I swear everything came out with in 5-7 minutes of ordering) and the atmosphere is light and fun.  Food is good not stellar but hey, it's tempura. They could back off the hard core hip hop but it begins to fade into the background after awhile.

Thumbs up for Bar Fry.  New idea well executed. 

What is newsworthy?

We went through two evenings of curriculum night this week.  One for High School and the other for Middle School.  Both insightful.  Going through the evening confirms our belief in Progressive Education.   Whole student, participation in your learning process, how to solve problems not just memorize the solution. 

The sixth graders break into groups of four on a weekly basis and discuss current events.  One of them brings in a topic every week and there is a discussion.  I love that because it sets up a life long habit of reading about what is happening in the world on a daily basis.  Stimulate discussion and thought. 

The question is, what is newsworthy?  Is it newsworthy when Lindsay Lohan is back in rehab?  Is it newsworthy when Kate Moss is eating outside at Da Silvano next to the school?  These days, based on the media, this type of information appears to be much more newsworthy than the war in Iraq. 

We are living in an interesting time.  Privacy is gone.  Newsworthy is the latest in the celebs lives.  Mario Batali, who is playing with his kids and their friends after school are video taped in the afternoon and downloaded up on the web within hours.  Is there no privacy or respect for their personal lives?  Maybe they call out for it, maybe not.  Celebs obviously have not been able to deal with the constant pressure of being in the limelight, look at Britney Spears.  The "15 minutes of fame" the coined phrase of Andy Warhol, makes me wonder why anyone would even want their 15 minutes. 

Perhaps there will be a backlash to all this.  But from a bird's eye view, what is newsworthy is perhaps because the real news out there, like the war in Iraq, the state of our economy, the sagging dollar, the sad state of our environment are issues that people would rather not hear about.  Life is too stressful as it is.  Kicking back and reading about celebs or watching people on "real life" shows is much more entertaining than taking in reality. 

I just hope that through constant conversations about real newsworthy topics in current events, the kids at our kids school, our learning about the real world.  After all, they are our future. 

Philip Johnson Glass House

Last spring I had read about the Philip Johnson Glass House becoming open to the public.  10 people at a time, 1 1/2 hour tour.  Sounded like a road trip to me.  I asked my 3 girlfriends if they wanted to make a day of it.  We try and get together as a group every 2 months so this would be an outing.  I got online and made reservations for early Fall figuring the weather would be perfect and we'd all be back in the city groove after a long summer. 

Weather wise, it could not have been a more perfect day.  It takes about an hour to get up to New Canaan from the city.  You park your car in the municipal parking lot and walk over to the visitor center where a bus takes you to the property. 

The property consists of 47 acres.  Philip Johnson purchased this property (minus four acres which was just recently purchased as an addition) in 1945.  In essence, he purchased the property when he was roughly 38 years old with the vision to create this modern escape for himself and his partner, David Whitney.  When he was 97, which was a year before he died, he created the visitor center where people would meet prior to going to visit his property.  He has the whole thing laid out.  Even gave away over 2000 pieces of art he had collected in the last years of his life.  Fascinating actually.  On one hand, the total admiration for what he created is the ultimate in modernism.  On the other hand, no offense to the architects in the world out there, but most architects are a bit on the ego maniac side, did Johnson plot this out in order to leave his mark on the world.  Food for thought. 

The Glass House is a rectangle box that overlooks the property.  The perfect spot.  Simple and stark.  A kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, a few closets, a kitchen and a fireplace.  Radiant heating so that there are no lines to interfere with the landscape.  You are inside yet you are outside in that house.  Across from the house, in the same shape, is the Brick House.  Guests stay here.  There are some round windows in the back but nothing in the front which looks over the Glass House.  Two rooms.  One a bedroom with silk covered walls that slide to create a box with storage behind.  The other room is a library.  Between these two buildings is a round pool that coordinates with the round windows behind the Brick House.  All architecturally simple yet brilliant.

As you enter the area of the Glass House, Brick House and pool is a round cement Donald Judd sculpture.  Past the pool you walk over to the Painting Gallery.  This was wild.  A metal door that has been built under the ground.  It could be a bunker.  It is held up with metal and covered with mounds of dirt and grass.  Structurally fascinating.  Inside, an art gallery, filled with circular inventions that hang large fabric structures that art is hung on.  You can turn the walls by hand to see other art work behind.  Inside hanging are Frank Stella pieces.  Although there is a Warhol that Warhol did of Johnson that is one of the best Warhol's I have ever seen.  Probably because Warhol actually did that piece vs. a lot of Warhol's out there where you wonder was it done in the factory by a group of artists that he directed or did Warhol actually create this piece.  This particular piece is similar to the famous Chairman Mao.  Yet this one is in earth tones with lots of layering and texture.  Very cool.

From there, you walk over a bridge to the Sculpture Gallery which is an interesting sparse building with different levels in side and a glass and steel ceiling.  Almost has a feel of an old warehouse.  Big sculptures from Gehry and Stella but my favorite of all was by Segal.  A regular king size rod iron bed with two people warmly embracing on the bed who are made of plaster of Paris including the sheets and bed covers so in essence it completely flows white, the bodies and everything else.  Incredibly beautiful.  I couldn't stop staring at it.

From the Glass House, overlooking the back is a lake that has a wooden pavilion built on it where the ceilings are only 5'5" high that had gold embossed in the ceiling.  Interesting.  Behind that was a white sculpture that Johnson had designed as a nod to his friend.   You can see it in the picture on the right.

When leaving the property there is the last house he built which is called the Da Monsta.  Didn't love this structure.  Lots of weird angles.  Sort of shouts out, I am an architect and see how I use angles. 

I could go on and on but it is absolutely worth the visit.  Putting ego aside, Johnson has left the public a monument to him, yes, but also a monument to modern design to be studied and revered for years and years to come. 

Peasant

It has taken me a few years but I finally made it to Peasant.  I believe Peasant opened about four years ago which at that time opening a restaurant in that area was like being a pioneer on Elizabeth Street.  Now the neighborhood is filled with shops and restaurants at every store front.  It is really quite amazing.

I really like the vibe at Peasant.  Serene yet sterile.  Poured concrete floor with big steel glass windows, ground level with tiny wooden tables for sitting near the large bar.  The room is open and flows into many tables and the kitchen with the wood burning fireplace in the back.  New world Italian. 

A bit pretentious to have the entire menu written in Italian after all, we are in Nolita not Florence.  The waiter comes to your table and translates the entire menu.  I basically focused until he mentioned what I wanted or what sounded good.

I began with the cuttlefish that was cooked in white wine and tomatoes in a cast iron pan.  The pan comes straight out of the wood burning oven.  Nice concept.  Small portions.  It was a nice combo with the basket of bread and crumbled ricotta which is on each table.  Other people had the slightly breaded sardines, vegetable salad and small mozzarella balls wrapped in speck and roasted over radicchio.  Simple old world Italian cuisine.

For dinner I went with the whole fish that is served solo, no sides.  I ordered some broccoli rabe on the side which came very late to the meal and was so laden in olive oil that I had to eat it with my chin hanging over my plate.  The fish was good and simple.  Others had quail and roasted pig. 

Desserts were huge in size.  After not serving large portions for dinner, I was a little taken back by the size of the dessert.  Glad we shared.  Peach pie and roasted fig bread pudding.  The bread pudding was delicious, the peach pie was just okay.

The entire meal was just okay but I really liked the vibe there.  I am not running back but if someone made reservations there for dinner and we were coming along, I'd be happy to attend.  If I was in the neighborhood, I could definitely see going to the bar and having a drink and an appetizer or two.

At least I satisfied my desire to get there these last four years.

I Love Open Table

I never thought I'd say it, but I love Open Table.  In the past few weeks, I have attempted to make a couple of reservations at a variety of restaurants, and I get the obnoxious person on the other end saying "I have either 6pm or 930, would that work"?  Of course it doesn't work, if I wanted those times I'd have asked for them in the first place. 

Three restaurants in the past week, same story. One of them, I find it hard to believe that they are completely booked on a Tuesday night until 1030.  Instead of making another call, I went to Open Table.  Believe me, I am not going to the trendiest of restaurants. 

Open Table is transparent.  If there is availability, you get a table, if not, they recommend other times.  Brilliant.  I am sure the restaurants hold back a few tables, how could they not, but at least I get a table based on first come first serve vs. if I am somebody worth having at the restaurant. 

My new favorite service, Open Table.