Gotham Gal

Southern Indian Brunch

Our friends, who happen to be from Southern India but live in NYC, invited us to have brunch at Saravanaa.  They say it is the closest thing in NYC to the real deal Indian brunch.  We went early and the place was almost packed by the time we left. 

Aside from the food, I always love getting together with these friends because not only are they incredibly bright, it is interesting to hear them talk about India today.  Certainly you have to always talk about history in order to figure out how India got to where it is today.  How the country runs, the different dialects, the differences between the North and the South and the booming economy that is pulling many people back home were just a few of the conversations.

We started off with 2 different dishes.  Each had the same dipping sauces but the item you dip with is different.  The first one is called Iddly which is basically a steamed rice puff.  Interesting in texture almost like a dry barely baked bread.  The sauces are fantastic.  The white one is coconut but has the consistency of a chunky yogurt.  The biggest dip is a spicy lentil sauce which you can mix with all the others.  The green one had a Thai flavoring to it maybe had a green chili base.  The red one definitely had a red chili base to it.  Nothing too spicy.  All vegetarian. 

This particular bread is called Vadda.  Deep fried flour that is like a dry plain donut with pieces of black pepper running through it. 

We also had some lassas.  The mango was sweet and rich like a delicious thin ice cream shake.  The other was buttermilk based and salty.   I preferred the mango. 

Next round were dosas.  I know dosas from Hampton Chutney which is definitely one of my favorite summer haunts in Amagansett.  The dosas here are beautiful.  A semolina flour mixed in a batter and then prepared like a crepe.  The dosa had nothing in it with the dipping sauces on the side.  It was so big that I couldn't even capture the entire thing in the picture.

 

The other dosa was stuffed with a mashed potato, pea and vegetable mixture.  Probably some tumeric in it. 

Last out was the coffee.  Delicious.  The coffee comes in a small cup, super hot, and placed inside a bowl.   You take the coffee from the cup and pour it in the bowl and then continue to go back and forth, over and over until the coffee has cooled to your liking.  Yum.

So glad we went.  A total treat.  Right down the street from one of my favorite stores, Kalustyans where you can find pretty much anything for your pantry including foods from a variety of different countries that nobody else carries. 

The Meatball Shop

Rick and I got together on Saturday morning for a download.  2010 appears to be on the right track. I got to taste the newest product that should hit the stands sometime this Spring.  Had a bite of the new and improved, crisper S'mokra.  All good.

We opted for lunch at the nearby The Meatball Shop that recently opened on Stanton.

Great space.  Nice wrap around bar, lots of tables, open kitchen.  Simple new Italian vibe.  The owner,  Michael, was behind the bar.

Rick and I did a smorgasbord of meatballs.  There are a variety of ways to have them.  In a bowl, on a slider, mashed up or in a hero. You can also pick the sauces you want to pair with your meatballs.  I love options.  Since we were really just interested in the meatballs more than anything we went mostly with the classic bowl that comes with a sauce and small piece of focaccia on top.

The owner ordered for us so I assumed he created the combo that he likes best.  We missed out on the experience where you take a sharpie and check what you want on the laminated menu to give your server.  Very clever.  Next time.

We tried four different meals balls and two sides. 



Spicy pork with mushroom sauce.  This was good but my least favorite.  A nice bite on the meatball but the mushroom sauce was a tad overwhelming.  Made me think of Thanksgiving. 



The classic beef was quite delicious.  Flavorful and served in a nice tomato sauce.



Lamb meatballs were the special of the day.  You could taste a little bit of mint in them.  Excellent.  They came in a tomato sauce with the Parmesan sauce on the side (Ricks request). 



The last we tried was the chicken.  We had them as sliders with the Parmesan sauce over the top.  Yum.  Different and a nice kick too.  Probably my fave.



For the sides we had the sauteed kale which was nice and simple. 


We also had the roasted butternut squash with shaved ricotta salata cheese and walnuts.  Nice side but a bit heavy handed on the salt. 


We also had the mashed potatoes which are rich and heavenly.


The place was packed by the time we left.  Loved the place.  Great concept.  The small plates that they serve everything in is perfect.  The meatballs are the perfect texture.  You can cut through them with a fork and they stay together but they are still light and not too dense.  A really clever concept.  I know there is garlic in the food because I saw food being delivered to the kitchen but you can't taste it and it doesn't come back to kick you in the ass as the day progresses.  That alone, for me, is HUGE.  It means the recipes are good and the chefs know how to cook.  Garlic is used to enhance not to be used as a flavor.


Michael treated us to dessert.  His wife makes the ice cream.  Obviously a family business.  He has a partner but if he was there, we didn't meet him.  Brownie sandwich filled with serious mint ice cream.  The cookie, perhaps a signature, is a meringue walnut chocolate chip.  Tiny tiny chocolate chips in a very light crispy cookie that is perfect for dipping in coffee.  There coffee is very good.  That is key in my book.


Will I be back, you betcha.  

Veal Ragu

It snowed again today.  I had it in my head that I would make veal ragu for dinner tonight.  We came back from Miami a day early so I had time to watch the pot boil.  This is seriously decadent, rich and delicious.   Original recipe, although tweaked by me, from Food and Wine.

Veal Shanks - I used 6 but 4 is ample as they are ridiculously expensive
salt and pepper
flour
3 carrots, chopped
6 celery ribs chopped
2 spanish onions chopped
2 cups red wine
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 - 28 ounce cans of chopped tomatoes including the liquid
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 sprig rosemary

In a dutch oven ( Le Cruset, of course ) cover the bottom with olive oil.  Take the veal shanks and season them with salt and pepper and then dredge them in flour.  Once the oil is hot, put the shanks in and really brown them on each side.  5 minutes per side.  Then take out the shanks.

Add in the carrots, celery and onions.  Saute at a medium high heat until the mixture gets soft.  About 5 minutes or more. 

Now add in the wine and balsamic vinegar.  Mix.  Crank it up to high and let this boil down for about 15 minutes.  The sauce will get thick. 

Add in the tomatoes, beef stock and rosemary.  Mix it up really well and then put the veal shanks back in.  I tossed in a little salt too.  Heat up before putting this down to low. 

Almost cover pot, let it breath a little bit.  Let this hang out for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  The meat should be falling off the bone and shredding.

Take out the shanks, set aside.  Now use a really good strainer and pour the sauce into it with a bowl underneath.   It took me 3 times until I got all the sauce strained because the strainer was not that big.  I pushed down on the veggies and got as much juice out as possible.  At the end, you will have a bowl of cooked veggies and another one of juice.

I took the juice and put it back in the pot that it came from and let it boil down for about 5 more minutes.  The veggies, I put them in a tupperware for later use.  I'm thinking scooped out baguettes filled with the veggie mix ( warmed up ) with a cheese melted over it for lunch this weekend. 

Once the shanks have semi-cooled, cut them up into small pieces and put back into the pot with the liquid. 

Boil up spaghetti or linguine or pappardelle, pour the sauce over it and serve with a little cheese on the side. 

Yum. 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is such an incredible book on so many levels it is hard to describe. 

It is a true story about one African American woman and the legacy that she has no idea she left behind.  At age 30, with a handful of young children, she found herself with cancer.  When she went to John Hopkins to see a doctor in the "colored" area of the hospital, the doctor proceeded to scrape some cells from her.  Those cells ended up becoming the first human cells that grew and lived in a culture.  Medically they are referred to as the HeLa cells.  Those cells have been duplicated countless times.  The HeLa cells have been involved in the development for the cure of polio, atom bomb's effects, in-vitro, cloning, genetic mapping and more. 

The other part of the story is the family behind these cells.  They had no idea that her cells were being used for medical purposes.  A poor family who couldn't even afford a doctor.  The author, Rebecca Skloot, provides the reader with the human interest side.  At the same time, she educates the Lacks family in exactly what has happened with their mother's cells.  They had no idea.  Learning about the legacy of her children and the different generations is fascinating in itself.  Henrietta's generation was poor and uneducated but full of soul grows in to the generation of grandchildren who go on to college and graduate school.

The other part of the story is the history of medical research.  What has happened over time, how experiments were conducted and the players in the game.  To me, what is fantastic is how Skloot writes.  She writes in layman's terms so that for someone, like myself, who has no ability to recall medical terms, she allowed me to take it all in and retain the information.  Written like a good novel.

The book is fascinating, heartbreaking, amazing and historical.  A must read.  Brilliant.

Joe's Stone Crab

Joe's Stone Crab is one of those classic Miami restaurants.  Not that I have been to Miami more than a handful of times but I know that people love Joe's.  I kind of felt like I had to go and so we did.

They do not take reservations at Joe's and I get the feeling it is crowded every night.  The building, literally, has a variety of areas to sit and have drinks while you wait for them to call your name over the loud speaker.  The restaurant in itself has 500 seats and 40 waiters.  There are 300 people that work there.  Those numbers sort of say it all.

There is definitely something very old school about the place.  Most of the waiters have probably been there years.  We decided to split a few things on the menu and only order the items highlighted with a crab.  Those are the specialties of the house.

Of course we ordered the stone crabs.  I grew up in Maryland picking apart crabs that had been boiled in Old Bay seasonings.  You have to work pretty hard to get any meat but it was part of the charm.  Stone Crabs are a different breed.  You are served the pre-cracked claws with a mustard sauce for dipping on the side.  I am sorry to say, I don't get it.   Tasteless.   Could have been the weather, see the sign above that was at every table but I doubt it. 

We also had the fried tomatoes with the waiter assured us were a must-have.  There was a crab next to the side dish on the menu so we went with it.  Velveeta cheese over some herbs and a slice of tomato and then fried.  Not for us.  One bite was all we needed.

Crab cakes.  Big, round, deep fried and actually quite light.  The crab cakes were pretty good.  More crab than anything else which I really liked.  Not filled with a variety of seasonings but a straight up crab cake.

Hands down, the best thing was the fried oysters.  They were excellent.  Super crispy, lots of flavor and the perfect sized oyster inside.  We could have easily ordered another plate. 

Our waiter said we made a huge mistake not ordering the key lime pie for dessert.  He guaranteed it was the best in the world.  Not so sure I believed him.

Glad we went.  For us, I'd say it will be a once in a lifetime experience. 

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• Joe's Stone Crab, Miami Beach, Florida (gastronomydomine.com)

Prime 112

Fred and are in Miami for a few days.  How about a boondoggle conference in Miami during February?  Hmmm, let me think about that for a second.  We are here staying at the Mondrian. 
 
We got to the hotel last night, quickly dropped our bags off in the room and went over to Prime 112.  The place was seriously humming.  Miami is really a world onto its own. 

It is not okay that we have a reservation and we were seated 40 minutes past our time.  I'm starving, we just flew in from NYC and the woman taking the seating info is far from charming.  10 minutes it okay, but 40, I don't think so.  On top of that I just witnessed 2 people, perhaps locals, going in front of us.  At this point, I called the manager on it.  He said that they were always like this and because of the weather he had lost many patrons that evening.  I was surprised he hadn't lost more.  Needless to say, right after I shamed him, we were served to a seat for 4.  No apologies, nothing. 

I also felt like I was a fish out of water because I wasn't going with the flow.  What can I say?
Hey, I'm in Miami for the weather not for the culinary, seen to be seen, experience.  Obviously a mistake on my part.  Perhaps that is a world that I have left behind many years ago but it isn't okay to be treat your patrons like that. 

Regardless, we finally got seated next to Isiah Thomas.  There were a few NBA'ers in the house. 

It was late so we didn't want to eat too much.  We split the tomato/onion salad with blue cheese on top.  Classic steak house stuff but nothing to write home about.  For a steak, we split the rib-eye for 2 which was fantastic.  Excellent meat, well cooked, full of flavor and really rich.  For the sides, we went with the mushrooms and spinach.  Both good and loaded with butter which is what the steak was probably loaded with too. 

Good food, quite the scene which I was obviously not prepared for, and if you go, don't expect to be seated on time.  To top off the whole night, our cab drive was from Belarus and was on his second day.  He had no idea where we were going.  At least we did.

Puzzles

I love games, puzzles, cards and all that good stuff.  Josh spent the weekend with friends and came back dying to do a jigsaw puzzle.  Love that!  We started this past weekend.

Sunday dins

 

Chicken in the pot is an all time favorite.  I am sure I have posted about it before.  I did it a bit different tonight.  I wanted to have leftovers because I am going to be gone this week so I used 2 chickens. It is basically no fail.  For dessert, chocolate chip cookies.

2 chicken cut up
2 sweet onions diced
6 carrots cut into 1/4" slices
3 cups rice
1 bottle of wine
salt, pepper and paprika
spice bag filled with 3 bay leaves and 2 pieces of thyme or 1 tbsp. dried thyme

In a large pot (preferably a Le Cruset) cover the bottom with oil.  Toss the chicken pieces with salt, pepper and paprika.  Put them in the pot and brown.  It will take a few times because you don't want to crowd the chicken.  Set aside.

Put in the onions and carrot and saute until soft.  Add the chicken back in.  Put in the spice bag and the entire bottle of wine.  Crank up the heat until it starts to boil and then turn down to simmer.  Cover and let that hang out on the stove for about 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, add the 3 cups of rice.  Make sure you really mix the rice in with the chicken.  It isn't so easy.  Put the top back on and let that sit for about 20 minutes.  Check it out, mix again and then put the pot back on again.  It will take about another 20 minutes or until done. 

Once it appeared to be done, and the rice was basically cooked, I just turned off the heat and let the pot sit on the stove for about 10 minutes.  Serve

In the past I have mixed 2 cups of wine with 1 cup of chicken stock but I totally spaced and put the entire bottle of wine in.  You know what, it worked.  This is a seriously fail proof meal and great for leftovers.

Dessert is perfect because the cookies basically make it until Friday before the jar is empty.

A day of art

I have been so incredibly busy that I have not had time to get my museum fix.  I roped Fred into coming to the Guggenheim and the MOMA with me on Saturday morning. 

If there is one exhibit that is a must to go see, it is the Guggenheim.  This year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Guggenheim.  They chose Tino Sehgal to do the installation and it is brilliant.  The concept of Sehgal is that a visitor is no longer just a spectator but one that contributes to the installation. 

The museum is empty.  There is not a piece of art in the entire main atrium of the museum.  Even the desk where you usually buy tickets has been moved to outside near the revolving door.  In the middle of the atrium is a couple who is embracing, kissing, having contact.   You can see it from my picture above which I sneaked taking as there is no photography allowed.  Then there are people who come up to you and engage you in conversation.  You begin at the main floor and slowly walk up the circular ramp.  A young girl, maybe 8, comes up to me and asks me "can I walk with you and ask you a question"?  Sure.  She asked me what does progress mean to me.  I replied that progress is about change and moving forward.  Then she drilled down a bit until we came upon another person who she introduced me too and asked if she could walk with me for awhile.  We walked and she continued on the conversation.  Is progress positive or negative.  We talked for awhile about the topic until we came to another person who started off asking if I knew that people who speak 2 languages use more of their brain than a person who only speaks one.  Then we started speaking about speaking other languages and standardized testing and education.  At this point, I dropped off looking for Fred who had no idea that this was part of the entire experience.  I would have continued talking to each person who I was handed off to until we got to the top.

It was fantastic.  First of all, seeing the museum completely empty is an amazing experience.  People who brought their young kids were loving the emptiness of the side pockets where art is usually hung. Although the side rooms have art hanging and an installation of drawings from artists of what they think the Guggenheim should look like inside is worth seeing too.  But the best part is the main exhibit.  Not only is it fascinating to see how people react to the emptiness of the space, you realize how the physical structure of the Guggenheim is a piece of art in itself.  Highly recommended.  A once in a lifetime to see the Guggenheim vacant.

We then went to the MOMA as I have wanted to see both the Tim Burton and Gabriel Orozco exhibits.  Tim Burton was definitely the kid in class who sat in the back, sort of dark, who sat there in his own world doodling in anything he could get his hands on.  The drawings, the paintings, the sculptures are all there.  The exhibit is not only packed with people but packed on the walls.  Very cool stuff.  Orozco is not as packed but worth checking out.  A prolific artist from Mexico who has used photography, painting, drawing and physical structures to show the minimal boundaries of our every day environment. 

So nice to get out and about early Saturday morning to get a little culture.  I was in serious need.  More than anything, I am so happy we got up to the Guggenheim.  An installation that will stay in my mind for a very long time.

Goldspot

Fred and I went to Joe's Pub last night to see Goldspot.  I love seeing music at Joe's Pub.   The space is small and if you make a reservation you can get a seat with a small minimum per person.  You can eat or drink.  We sat right near the stage and had a few drinks.

Goldspot just recently came out with their 2nd CD.  I still want to say album.  Fred asked me how I found them.  Honestly, I can't remember.  I stumbled on their music a few years ago and their cd was in serious rotation for quite a while.  The second one has been too.  They sound a little bit like the Beatles meets Portastatic.  Two excellent bands.

You can only find them at Goldspot.net because someone else has taken Goldspot.com which they reminded us of last night.  The group is out of Los Angeles founded by the lead singer/songwriter Siddhartha Khosla.  I love his voice.

While I was sitting there last night, I was thinking about the beauty of NYC.  Here we are sitting in a tiny club watching fantastic music and how many other events are going on around us in the city.  The city that never sleeps.  God I love New York City.