Augieland

Hearth, 672 yearlillian stars

Because most weddings happen on Saturdays, most first anniversaries happen on Sunday and seconds on Monday. The good news is tradition narrows the gift for you: the first being paper and the second cotton. The bad news is you must be very careful where you choose to dine. Even if the appropriate restaurants near you are open on Sunday and Monday these are often the days the leaders of the team behind the food take off, so it matters that the place you choose has its game in order.

All things considered, even if we didn’t know we could trust hearth on a Sunday, I still think Wife and I would have chosen Hearth for our first anniversary last year. Along our way we have seemed to commemorate romantic occasions in the company of Marco and Paul, from Valentine’s at Gramercy Tavern to birthdays at Craft, and so on. There has always been an association between our celebrations, Marco’s food and Paul’s wine. Being people inclined to tradition, for our second anniversary this year we stuck with what has worked so well in the past.

So at eight-ish on the quiet Monday of our second anniversary, Wife and I sat down to dinner at Hearth. Perusing Hearth’s wine list is something that should be done by all; seriously, stop in, grab a seat at the bar and a drink, and read it. Where else can you learn how such and such a wine from Austria is like Christina Aguilera, better and more talented than Britney Spears’ version from France, but less appreciated? It truly is a fun read, and if you’re not careful you will learn something about wine. This, however, was a warm, kind of humid night deep in September. Although the weather wasn’t quite fall-ish enough to move us into autumnal wines, it wasn’t warm enough to merit a summer quaff either, which is what made me so happy to see the Saison (seasonally released beers as explained) on the first page of the wine list after cocktails.

The first Saison sampled was Dupont, Vieille Provision from Belgium, described as having notes of yeast, clove, anise, and grapefruit, all of which I found, but I was looking for them. As it opened, though, the notes turned entirely to hops, gradually going from a little funky to full-blown skunk weed, but in the good way. As it warmed it got heavy, but that didn’t keep it from pairing well with my appetizer.

STUFFED CABBAGE with sweet breads, Veal, Pastina and Broth: in a mahogany brown broth flavored simply yet very deeply of roasted meats were tiny squares of thin pasta, disks of carrot in three colors (orange, yellow, and crimson), and thin strands of cabbage and shallot. Set in the pool of this liquid were cabbage leaves wrapped around sweetbreads and ground veal breast with parmesan mixed in (a pillowy, soft stuffing with the richness of the meats and broth made deeper by the sourish lactic contrast of the cheese’s aroma). If I ever do get gout as everyone says I will from my offal and red wine heavy diet, I want to eat this while I heal.

The second Saison sampled was Le Baladin Wayan from Italy, described as having notes of flowers, toast, pepper, and citrus all of which became apparent when looked for. This one was incredibly food friendly, going particularly well with my entrée and especially with the raw fresh thyme leaves dusting the top.

ROASTED GUINEA HEN with Pancetta, Mustard Greens, Corn and Corn Jus: one of the greatest aspects of Marco’s dishes at Hearth is his levels of interpretation. In this dish corn is poppy sweet white corn kernels floating in a corn flavored brown fowl stock, the guinea hen is the breast roasted rolled in pancetta, and the confit of thigh is made into dumplings floating in the soup. Variations on a theme that come together with that touch of raw thyme that harkens back to the days he was working with Colicchio at the Tavern, and mustard greens and parmesan adding hottish astringency and sourness, middling the dish right at the level food in a restaurant called Hearth should be.

With the Hen we had the Potato Purée (third time this season), still reigning as my favorite available starch.

Celebrations must include dessert, but I still had some Saison to get through before sweets could show up so we asked our server to select us some cheeses he thought would compliment it. He brought us Emmenthaler from Switzerland, Trumpeter Meadow from Fence Line Dairy in Wisconsin, and Grafton 4 Star Cheddar from Vermont. The Emmenthaler had that simple and distinctly Swiss flavor that makes fondue go so well with aromatic whites and Kirsch, but was a little sharp for the Saison. The Trumpeter Meadow and Cheddar, however, were exactly right; the Trumpeter more nutty, the Cheddar more meaty, both complex enough to play with the aromas lingering at the end of the beer.

My taste for sweets is very narrow, but safely in the middle of it are concord grapes in the northeast of America in September. So it was simple to pick MASCARPONE CHEESECAKE with Concord Grape Compote and Sorbet: the sorbet was such a perfect representation of the flavor of seasonal grapes that I quickly ate it before I tasted the other components. Then, sorbet well consumed, I had the compote with the cheesecake which balanced the concentration of tartness in the compote quite nicely.

So on top of being comfortable in a comfortable space and enjoying great food, what else could happen to reassure us that this is the perfect place for us to celebrate our nuptials year to year? When presented with a check the waiter told us a good friend of mine that happened to have been eating three tables away picked up the meal we had had up until his departure. In the long run, we enjoyed ourselves and had a meal I would have happily paid significant sums of money for, for nearly free. As magic as Hearth can be on a normal night, it goes to the next level on a special occasion if only by being as welcoming and comforting to everyone else as it is to us.

StarChefs: New York Rising Stars Revue

At last year’s StarChefs New York Rising Stars Revue the food was great, the chefs were available, and the operations were charmingly mismanaged. Standing in a small second-story space in the twenties I perceived it as cute when those of us that paid extra money to get in early were delayed a quarter of our hour preview time while they chilled champagne and got caviar ready. We happily drank wine from coffee cups after the glasses ran out early in the evening, and all in all there was camaraderie in the small group that had assembled joining together with our hosts in the interest of celebrating the talents of the next generation of chefs in New York rather than focus on the trivial.

Apparently the last event and the ensuing year brought about some success over at StarChefs. This year those that paid more money for the early hour preview were only delayed a little over ten minutes, however this time it was outside a night club in a people corral by bouncers dressed in black, the programs for the event had color photography, and the plentiful wineglasses were etched with the event’s theme.

So as we walked in we took a step away from awkward charm and toward the dream event of a contestant on My Super Sweet Sixteen. The good news is no matter how stale the air and awkward the lighting in the room, our rising star chefs are indeed potential stars for all the right reasons and they were still very available:

Upon entering, we (Wife, Misspooz, Ringwald, Soho, Fluffy, Pichon, Helmet, Bear, Dongato, and I) met Josh Dechellis of Sumile, a face from last year’s rising stars event where his poached hamachi with pickled melon and nori salt was a definite highpoint. As host to the VIP reception, Chef Dechellis welcomed us and explained that this year they were going with a push-cart theme. From his cart, Josh was scooping a mélange based around a diced conch into lettuce leaves to produce his JAPANESE CHILI CONCH WRAPS. A bit awkward in the passing and the eating, the flavor was definitely the kind of thing Josh does well. Slight sweetness mellowed a definite chili bite centered on diced conch with a pleasing chew, wrapped in the lightening effects of a lettuce leaf.

Also in this room was a cart serving caviar on a green apple/olive oil puree, that was quite nice as an amuse for the upcoming fare.

We found our way to the main room with the savory fare by a rather circuitous route which involved walking down one flight of stairs and up another and landing squarely in the back of a huge room right next to Zak Pelaccio of 5 ninth and Fatty Crab surrounded by the most wonderful wood smoke smell and group of assistants including a face familiar from the pits at the Brooklyn Brewery Pig Fest. Chef Pelaccio’s offering was FATTY BRISKET WITH PICKLED TOMATOES. A piece of brisket about one inch cubed with the red halo of dry rub smoking on a skewer was plunged in sweet cilantro sauce, dusted with brisket floss, and topped with a pickled cherry tomato. Zak explained that brisket floss was made by immersion frying the shredded leaner end of the cut. The result was crunchy little bits highlighting the tenderness of the deep smoked meat, which was accented as well as tempered by the lightly sweet and sour sauce.

Finding the next cart not yet ready for service, and knowing how quickly the ½ hour lead we had on the larger crowd would dissipate we next made a beeline up a rather grand staircase to try Gregory Brainin of Jean Georges Restaurants’ YELLOWFIN TUNA SASHIMI AND WASABI ICES. The mixture of wasabi sorbet, flakes of Maldon, olive oil, and balsamic that was left once the tuna was out of the way was the highlight of this offering. Hot in the form of spicy, cooled both by the fact that it was ice and the sweet touch of the vinegar, sharpness rounded by oil and highlighted by salt made for a very invigorating dish that made the tuna seem almost superfluous.

On the next level up on the catwalk that surrounded the large room was Iacopo Falai of Falai performing the one man show of handing out HUDSON VALLEY FOIEGRAS CANNOLI, CANDIED TAGGIASCHE OLIVES, AND SALTY SPICY VALRHONA XOCOPILI CHOCOLATE SAUCE. The flavor of the olives in the salty dark chocolate was both intense and interesting and made an exceptional foil for the richness of the foie mousse, which had been piped into baked phylo tubes and frozen. Chef Falai had packaged some of these to take home in those little jewel boxes delivery guys use for high end pot. In this apparatus the foie had time to warm, making it a much better representation than the version he hand-dipped to order which, straight from the freezer, was too cold to let the foie’s subtler flavors to shine.

Next along the catwalk was Galen Zamarra of Mas (Farmhouse) serving PORKBELLY SANDWICH, RED EYE GRAVY AND ONION MARMALADE. A sumptuous amalgam of deep simply pleasing flavors, this was a perfect little sandwich on a mini grilled bun. I assume due to fear of seeming base none of those I attended with would agree with me that this was either the first or second favorite dish of the evening, however it was the only one that each person had had twice, while some of us consumed three or four.

Almost as if a metaphor for his unassuming restaurant, around the corner and tucked out of the way in the dimly lit catwalk was Alex Ureña of Ureña, serving SALT CURED TUNA WITH CAVIAR. Much like for those who venture down the less traveled block of 28th street to try Chef Ureña’s food, those who probed the narrow, far end of the catwalk found waiting for them a delicious morsel straddling lines between traditional and modern, unlike anyone else’s in attendance. A cube of scarlet tuna made both denser and more true by the cure was topped with a dot of chorizo aioli which held in place a small bit of caviar. The caviar drew the attention to its own saltiness, leaving the fish to be about its chew and its sanguine beef-by-way-of-the-sea flavor.

A cloud of white smoke drew our attention and quickly our crowd down to Mark Andelbradt of Morimoto cart where through the haze we saw Chef Andelbradt and his assistants searing SKEWERED WAYGU BEEF, TOKYO SCALLION, MATSUTAKE MUSHROOM, AND SPICY MISO. Resting in the valleys of the waves created by running the beef along the skewer were the scallion and mushrooms. A bright orange sweet and spicy sauce was slathered over once it was off the intense heat. Eaten off the bamboo skewer while still incredibly hot, the entire package was about three bold flavors and unique textures uniting by playing off the sauce’s varying flavors – sweetness against the bite of the scallion, spiciness off the richness of the beef, and acids off the mushrooms’ earthiness.

Just a couple feet away and a couple steps up was Okuwa Makoto, also of Morimoto, doing what he does best and few do as well: sushi in the form of a roll. His SHIKAMAKI WRAPPED WITH PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA was gorgeous. In general, sushi may have been ill fit to an evening where the next most subtle cuisine was fusiony French, but Makoto rose to this challenge making a dish as beautiful and intricate in its assembly as in its harmony of subtle flavors. Sweet egg omelet, bluefin tuna, nori, and Japanese cucumber spreading out in kaleidoscopic color and pattern, bound in a thin sheet of prosciutto, dusted with panko and fried: an original and marvelous “chef’s concept” roll.

Across the dais was Franklin Becker of Brasserie offering HUDSON VALLEY FOIEGRAS HOT DOG, HUCKLEBERRY MUSTARD, ONION CONFIT AND A BRIOCHE BUN. To be nitpicky, the bun was too big for its contents and what you had was a very good mini hotdog-shaped brioche bun with the rest of the listed components. On my second try, I scooted the mini-wienie to the edge of the bun and ate it as well as its condiment with only about a third of the bread and it was quite good. Buttery brioche, rich, smooth, delicately spiced forcemeat, with a tart/sweet/spicy sauce and sweet cooked onions. Perfect finger food once you found a place to ditch the remains of the roll.

In the dead center of the floor Paul Liebrandt, who has recently left Gilt, was offering his FISH AND CHIPS 2006 – a small salt cod croquette made to taste more like fried cod and French fries than brandade, topped with a dot of what I believe was described as a horseradish mayo. Only having had one, I was left with the impression that this familiar thing definitely tasted more like fish & chips than any of the other croquettes I have had recently; I am still not sure whether that is impressive or not.

At the foot of the stairs was Tony Liu of August serving KING RAREBIT OVER SOLDIERS FEATURING HOOKS 10-YEAR AGED WISCONSIN CHEDDAR. August is a European restaurant, even though in most of our minds it is a Mediterranean one (there is a former Babbo sous-chef at the helm and an al forno at its center after all). As if to drive this point home, Chef Liu was making a most decidedly British dish in both name and flavor. Rarebit is basically cheddar and stout fondue (the bit that made it king was a poached quail egg) and soldiers are toast, in this case brioche. These went into a paper basket and were topped with pickled shallots and greens. This is the one I kept going back for. Sure the poached quails’ eggs were a little overdone in most cases, and putting the dishes together was a little slow, but it was melted cheese and eggs with pickled onions and the warm toasty apple finish of stout. Big, bold, pleasing flavors stealing your palate. No one could have served ten dishes like this, but just one was perfect, standing thunderously and perfectly alone while drawing attention to the skill of all the other chefs.

The final vending cart I stopped at for savories was that of Tony Esnault of Alain Ducasse at The Essex House, handing out LOLIPOP OF LAMB LOIN, APRICOT, RAISIN AND PIQUILLOS. The lamb was perfectly roasted, the lemon was only nuance, the dates and raisins were slightly savory, the piquillos were not at all hot, everything was a refined version of itself in that utmost French tradition, but refined past its ability to truly pop among the competing courses of the event.

Overlooking silly things like awkward speeches that include sentiments like "I know no one wants to stop paying attention to the food to pay attention to me, but I am going to ignore that so we can pat ourselves on the back for having enough success to throw this party" or, better, embracing the parts of the same speeches that thank the sponsors and introduce rising star chefs from other areas, this was a very fun food event. The flavors were great, the chefs were proud, the wine and liquor were plentiful, there were even desserts for those of you into that (one of which was a parfait, and everybody likes parfait).

Thoughts week ending 9/29/06

…Bill Buford’s New Yorker article about the Food Network started me wondering about things you don’t see on the Food Network any more other than chefs and dirt, like foie gras. How can a channel about food not show Foie Gras? I have to assume it stems from some ridiculous “don’t upset anyone, anywhere” approach to marketing. Add this to the list of reasons I no longer watch the Food Network. Does anyone else miss Discovery’s “Great Chefs” and Emeril before the audience???

…I just assume everyone that comes to Augieland clicks on that link to the Bruni Digest while visiting. If not, do so today. She is a very funny woman…

…Ok, clearly the whole world has gone insane. Mark it on your calendar: we are officially doomed as a race as of 9/27/06 and the exact thing to mark this event is this article by Marion Burros in the Times entitled “Tainted Spinach Brings Demands for New Rules.”

At this point we are all aware that somehow in the last month or so spinach caught a cold named E. coli O157:H7 and started giving it to humans. This particular strain is dangerous to humans and our best guess at the moment is that it got to the spinach through run-off water from factory cattle farms near the spinach fields.

One more important bit of information is that this dangerous strain of E. coli only comes from corn-fed cows, or more accurately stops existing in cows that are fed grass for as little as five days.

Now here is where the insanity starts. You ready for this??? Brace yourself… the proposed issue and solution, from a microbiologist at UC Davis named Dr. Trevor Suslow is, get this, “Should cows be raised in close proximity to produce? Ideally, you would like to see them well separated.” And the FDA has this to offer, “I’m speculating, but there is a logical link between cattle and manure getting into the water.” Can you smack a whole government department for being stupid?

So rather than stop creating the poison by ending the practice of feeding cows poison (yes corn is poisonous to cows) even though E. coli and all the other poisons current cattle farming practices create obviously will find ways into our lives no matter where we put the feedlots (it is spread through the water table), we will separate spinach and cows as if it were insane to assume animals and vegetables could coexist and that we have just been dodging a bullet for the thousands of years we have luckily gotten away with these crazy death-traps called farms.

Here is the solution I offer free of charge: STOP POISONING YOUR FOOD. How? The simple fact that the idea being put forth as problematic is that farm animals and farm vegetables need be separated makes it pretty clear the corn subsidies that are actually the root of this poisoning will not be ended. So what’s left? Avoid buying standard beef in the supermarket, restaurants or fast-food chains as much as possible. No kidding. Make steak a special thing, pay a little more for grass-fed beef raised on pasture, and enjoy it, it actually tastes far better. Tell your restaurants why you are eating less, they will get you what you want.

The ultimate irony is that if we fed all the tainted spinach we are throwing out to the cows rather than what we are currently feeding them the E. coli issue would probably clear up…

…So in the middle of an E. coli issue clearly tied to spinach four kids who regularly drink raw milk get E. coli and the milk is blamed and a recall enacted. Well the milk has been tested and proven not to have E. coli. Yet the recall stands. We all know where I stand on raw milk, and it is hard to talk about this without sounding like a strange paranoid conspiracy theorist. But here is an example of the result of years of demonization of raw milk by an industry that only stays hugely profitable if pasteurization stays the status quo. During a spinach-related E. coli outbreak in the part of the world the spinach is from, raw milk is the first assumed infector…

…I saw a post on The Gurgling Cod I felt inspired to comment on about snapping pictures in restaurants, which in turn led me to this article by Molly O’Neill in The Columbia Journalism Review, which I very much enjoyed because of writing like this:

From the beginning of newspaper food coverage, the pages have been home to dietary fads and weight-loss schemes. Horace Greeley was himself an acolyte of Sylvester Graham, whose vegetarian moralism makes that of say, Dr. Dean Ornish, appear to be downright sybaritic. But it may be nothing more than the mists of time that differentiate the dietary faddism of that era from the fads promulgated by food writers today. After being diagnosed with hypertension and counseled to reduce his salt intake, for instance, Claiborne wrote a guide to cooking without salt called Craig Claiborne's Gourmet Diet in 1980. Based on the medical establishment's assumption that foreswearing salt could stave off hypertension, Claiborne echoed the American Heart Association's position and rallied the public to join his low-salt life-style. Thus was a low-salt food industry born before further research revealed that although cutting salt consumption is critical for people who have high blood pressure, reducing it prior to the onset of high blood pressure generally does little to lower the chance of developing the disease.

Interesting, no???

...What good is lamenting the scourge of factory farms and sick cows without offering a viable and accessible alternative?

Wife and I have been heartily enjoying our weekly CSA vegetables from Stoneledge Farms and, saddened that our summers’ share will soon be drawing to a close, were delighted to learn that the Washington Square CSA will be offering a winter share this year consisting of winter vegetables, organic chicken, grass-fed beef, organic eggs and dairy products and assorted dry goods (beans, granola and the like) from local farms. Unlike our summer share, this will be a once-monthly pick-up and runs from December through April. We are looking forward to seeing what the winter brings…

Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick responded to Blind Tiger concerns

September 26, 2006

Thank you for writing about Blind Tiger Ale House. I am mystified that people were informed that the State Liquor Authority (SLA) denied the establishment's liquor license based on a letter from my office. While I appreciate the implied notion that a single letter from my office could have this effect, it is simply not the case.

I often hear from residents in opposition to either the oversaturation of liquor licenses or past behavior of a particular owner and try to take a balanced approach. I have written to the SLA in opposition to the granting of some of these liquor licenses, especially when I've received complaints or when an area is heavily impacted. Although I did write to the SLA regarding Blind Tiger Ale House, I am not aware of any instance when a single letter written by an elected official has sufficient weight to cause the denial of a license.

Regardless, after making inquiries with the SLA, it seems clear that Blind Tiger was denied a liquor license based on misrepresentations provided in its application and because the establishment's proximity to a house of worship violates a strictly-interpreted state statute. I cannot imagine a situation in which the SLA could or would grant a liquor license that contradicts this statute.

Thank you again for writing to share your views with me.

Sincerely,

<>Deborah J. Glick
Assemblymember

To which I responded

Dear Ms. Glick,

Thank you very much for your letter.

I am sure at this point you realize I am not alone amongst your constituents in wanting The Blind Tiger to have a liquor license. There is a petition here I am sure you are already aware of.

You seem to claim that although you have written a specific letter regarding the Blind Tiger to the SLA which the folks at The Tiger contend the SLA offered them as the primary reason for their denial, you wrote it knowing nothing about the establishment per se but as part of a series of general letters to the SLA regarding a general problem. If this is true, you have clearly missed the crux of my point entirely.

As far as your contention that there were “misrepresentations in their application,” without you providing said misrepresentations I must assume you are just politicking.  I would very much like to know what they were and how many other small businesses in the area were cited for similar misrepresentations in the past and whether or not they were granted licenses.

As cloudy as your allusion to specific complaints is, I have to assume that none were made regarding the actual new Blind Tiger at its current location. If, however, there were I would hope you would have disregarded them since The Blind Tiger has no track record at this location and any complaints would therefore be speculative and based on prejudiced assumptions. With your personal past and being someone upholding our innocent until proven guilty method of government, I assume the dismissal of such unfounded complaints would come naturally.

As far as your claim that a government body wouldn’t weigh the input of a government official so heavily, I will simply look past this as an attempt at some kind of “little old me” defense that rings false. You considered yourself important enough to write a letter to the SLA in the first place; to be surprised it had an effect seems disingenuous.

The contention “the establishment's proximity to a house of worship violates a strictly-interpreted state statute. I cannot imagine a situation in which the SLA could or would grant a liquor license that contradicts this statute,” is absurd and only serves to highlight the Assembly’s poor performance up to this point. The establishment at this location prior to The Blind Tiger had a liquor license, as do many of the establishments between The Blind Tiger and the local house of worship.

You work for me and as your employer, the taxpayer, I expect far more from you on our community level than blanket opinions on anything, especially something as significant to the success of a small business as a liquor license. One of the few businesses left in New York, especially in our little part of it, that local people still open are restaurants, and due to the cost of food, the prevailing market for it, and real-estate in our community there is no small business plan for a restaurant that survives let alone thrives without the markups that are available on beer, wine, and liquor.

If you want to represent me well, as well as have my vote in your next running, not only will you ask the SLA to ignore your previous letters, you will do your best to judge on a case by case basis the small businesses trying to start in our community. You can start by joining me for a coffee at The Blind Tiger so we can discuss this supposed threat to the standards so well upheld in our community.

Best,
Augieland

August, 331 monthzillian stars

I like suggesting restaurants; why else would I write this blog. I also enjoy restaurant recommendations, a thing people offer less and less the more I write. So when the time finally arrived to get out with other bloggers (Code and O’Groom) I happily let them choose, and their choice was August on Bleecker St.

I know what you are saying, “Um you always write about that neighborhood, and the name of your blog is Augieland, how the heck is it possible that you haven’t written up August?” The simple answer is I hadn’t been in the months since Augieland was started.

I know August as a good room with good food that for me would be more a stop by place than a planned evening place. Although I have never had to wait long for a table, they don’t have a bar so in my mind any wait would be spent standing outside, which as fun as it may be for brunch I shy away from at dinner.

The plan was to meet up one evening and partake in the Oktoberfest dinner special the restaurant was running. I happen to have been at August on the night before they opened visiting a good friend who was one of the opening chefs (a very short tenure, which may also contribute to my seldom visiting) and stood next to the big wood-burning oven while plans for a menu that encompassed all of western European food rather than just a country or area like the Mediterranean, and a glassed in courtyard were described. So for dinner with Code and O’Groom, it felt appropriate to have German fare in the now- finished courtyard.

The deal was from September 11th thru the 17th for twenty-eight dollars two people could each have a cast-iron skillet with a link each of house-made Bratwurst, Bauernwurst, and Bockwurst on a pile of spiced sauerkraut, as well as a plate of black bread and homemade caraway pretzels with a wholegrain and a Dijon mustard. All three sausages were pan fried with the Bock (the most traditional of the three for a Munich Oktoberfest celebration as far as I know) being the most mild, the Brat a little further along the spicy scale, and the Bauern being the most deeply flavored, although more finely ground than I expected. The pretzels were awesome, dense and chewy and liberally studded with caraway and the black bread was exactly as it should be, hearty.

To accompany the dinner two beers were offered, an Ayinger Oktoberfest and a Schneider’s Organic Edelweisse. The Ayinger was malty and dry with notes of spun sugar, great for sipping with the food.  The Edelweisse was lighter and a little hoppier, also well suited to the food and better suited to quicker drinking.

For dessert there was Schwarzwlder Kirschtorte, something like an individual black forest cake in a bombe torte shape. I remember the bite I took as being a lot of very good whipped cream with chocolate cake and marinated cherries.

Ok, this menu was a special that is in the past and no longer available, so why write a report on it? That’s easy, the dinner was great; we met and enjoyed fun people in a lively unique space, and had very good renderings of honest simple fare from parts of Europe usually isolated by cuisine in New York. The price was fair and the food was made in-house. I really don’t know what more you could ask for from a neighborhood bistro, except a bar ;-)

Chanterelle, 483 comingilillian stars

Be your guest at a sake and food dinner at Chanterelle in two hours? Of course I was the right guy to call when whoever it was dropped out, and of course I went.

In 1993-94 I would come into New York to work for free every day at a business in the Tribeca Film Center. These were the days when all of Tribeca smelled like roasted peanuts two or three days a week because Bazzini was a peanut roaster, not a gourmet store and condo complex. The Tribeca Grill was there and getting some attention, but the best meal and the best room were pretty much accepted as being at Chanterelle which had already been there for like ten years.

Needless to say, with my budding young food obsessions I always wanted to eat in the subtle, classy room I saw through the white curtains walking to and from the errands interns are sent on. I was assured by those who could and did go that the husband and wife team behind Chanterelle, David and Karen Waltuck, were not only drawing seasoned vets of the greater West side of the triangle below Canal but that people from as far as the Upper East Side were coming down for the food, which they explained as significant to the kid still commuting from Jersey City.

I finally did have a meal at Chanterelle at some point and remember little more than awe, making this opportunity to get back there much appreciated. What hasn’t changed is that the room is still best described as tasteful, and Karen Waltuck still cheerily makes you feel at home in the front of the house while David does the cooking. What is either new or I wasn’t food fluent enough to take notice of back then is the presence of sake.

Sake is something I wish I knew more about. I have learned the fundamentals along the way – sake is brewed and is rice-based; the rice for sake is polished prior to brewing; and the more starch that is removed in the process, the more the resulting brew becomes subtle and nuanced. The levels of starch removal I have learned, in order of least to most, are Jumnmai-shu, Ginjo-shu, and Daiginjo-shu. I am aware that there are unfiltered varieties (when I have had them I seem to prefer unfiltered) and brews made from different types of rice. There are sweet sakes and dry ones, and no good sake is consumed hot. I know that with the average Japanese meal in New York I seem to prefer Ginjo sake. But that’s the extent of my knowledge at this point (mostly learned at Decibel around the same time I was working in The Tribeca Film Center).

Learning food and wine always requires learning a new language, even if it is just the words in English that pertain to the particular process. The thing about sake is it requires you to learn a new alphabet. This combined with the fact that most of the restaurants in New York with a good collection of sake and a knowledgeable sake-geek have loud, uncomfortable bars that specialize in mixology and not always food means there has been little opportunity for me to go beyond a beginner’s level of knowledge.

Most of the learning I do about booze happens at a comfortable bar with a genial and knowledgeable professional pouring and teaching. The good news is Chanterelle definitely has the guy to fit the bill in the personage of Roger Dagorn, though sadly Chanterelle is a bar-less restaurant. As I understand it it was Roger’s passion for sake that brought the brewers of these samplings to Chanterelle for this dinner and somewhere between him and Chef Waltuck this menu was planned. Here is how it went:

Amuses Bouches: a fried oyster resting on diced cucumber topped with salmon roe and a pinwheel of prosciutto and fig, paired with Ohyama Tokubetsu Janmai ‘Nigori’(an unfiltered and unpasteurized sake that looked and tasted somewhat milky with floral notes of lilac). The sake was quite light in comparison to the crust of the oyster and the sweetness of the figs.

Chesapeake Bay Crabmeat “Ravioli” with Golden Beets, Avocado & Almond Oil: sweet crabmeat sandwiched between thin crunchy slices of golden beet, served with bibb lettuce and avocado, paired with Ichinokura Junmai ‘Himezen’ which involved aromas of orange blossoms, strawberries and pear nectar while tasting like the white (pineapple) Haribo Gold gummy bears. The pairing ended up a study in the lighter aspects of sweetness – the beets, the crab, and the sake itself – with the avocado offering weight to draw out each component’s individuality along the sweet spectrum.

Beef Carpaccio with Marinated Mushrooms: thinly shaved beef laid on a plate and ringed with brilliantly peppery arugula drizzled with a sweet miso dressing was served alongside Ohyama Junmai Ginjo ‘Ginsuika’ which had a saline and bitter vegetal palate and aromas of raw pine-nuts and toasted nori. In my mind the reason to learn about sake is that the wine world does not necessarily cover all vegetables and fishes, so it was interesting to see it paired here with beef. The miso definitely lent a familiarity of palate between the French and Japanese but beyond that the sharper notes of the sake were enveloped in the beef.

Ragout of Chanterelles with Fried Quail Eggs: pan-roasted chanterelles in a brown jus with a sunny-side-up quail’s egg, matching Otokoyama Junmai Daiginjo, with rosehips and white pepper on the nose and a boozy palate of jicama. The dish was salty, earthy and rich and the sake acted as another ingredient, adding roses to the earthiness and pepper to the salt while thinning the yolk’s lavishness.

Grilled Arctic Char with Grapefruit Butter: a grilled fillet of char on cabbage slaw with snap peas, orange zest and grapefruit butter, served along with Tsukasabotan Junmai Ginjo ‘Nama’ Sake which possessed a lactic richness and plum and balsa wood scents. Probably the finest pairing of the night, these were just in perfect accord. Like the greatest of wines, I find finer sake becomes more a familiar myriad of flavors without any one exact discernable unique note. This was the first sake of the night to smell and taste primarily like good sake, the fish’s skin had an awesome wood-grilled flavor to its grill marks that was almost plasticy, like a fugu tail but more subtle. Although maybe not the sake or course of the evening, this was definitely the pairing.

Spiced New Zealand Snapper on Vegetables Escabeche: a fillet of the fish with its skin seared crisp rested atop pickled vegetables and a similarly seared cauliflower floret and was served with Wakatake ‘Onikoroshi’ Junmai Daiginjo. The best word I have to describe this sake is pleasant; it conjured the image of sweet water as I have heard the term used to describe potable water in an unknown land, with a wispy aroma of perfume on the breeze. The dish, which I enjoyed, is remembered simply as nice which it was, it just didn’t speak to me like the drink did in this pairing.

Fricassee of Lobster with Lemongrass and Lime Leaves: lobster meat in a small cast-iron pot with a buttery sauce and citrus aromas was served alongside Tsukasabotan Junmai Daiginjo ‘Shizuku’ with a driving heat of alcohol behind its eucalyptus notes and an aroma of sweet flowers. I understand the motivation to serve this dish this way, but the result sadly was chewy lobster tail. The claws, however, went well and the butteriness of the sauce tempered the sake’s boozy heat.

Seared Duck Breast with Sweet Ginger Sauce: simply roasted duck breast with bok choi, chiffonade of scallions, and a chewy beggar’s purse resting on silver leaf was served with Kaika Junmai Daiginjo ‘Tobindori’ Shizuku with an herbal anise nose and a salty palate. This was the only mis-pairing of the night: as much sense as it made in theory, the scallions pulled an unpleasant acerbicness out of the sake making the great thought an unpleasant match.

Roasted Pears with Fresh Ricotta Crème and Honey Citrus Caramel Sauce: sweet more from roasted sugars than added sugars, it went along with Otokoyama Junmai Genshu ‘Fukkoshu’ Sweet Sake which smelled of banana bread, dried fruits, toasted fish skin and yeast, and was all pear juice on the palate. With this one we learned that most sakes are cut with water to bring their alcohol down. While this one wasn’t, due to its sweetness it was not as noticeably boozy as a couple of its predecessors.

In a perfect world, Chanterelle would have a bar I could wander into during the quieter before/after service hours and drink sake by the glass, trying to suck as much of Roger’s expertise from his brain as possible. That not being an option, I think this dinner was an acceptable substitute. During each course Roger stopped by our tables, often to introduce the person responsible for brewing the accompanying sake. He explained what made each sake unique, as well as his thoughts behind the pairing, and was very available for question answering.

As I understand it this was the seventh or eighth of these sake-centric dinners which are held annually at Chanterelle and a perfect night, as I learned a thing or two about sake and its process and enjoyed some inspired pairings. Until the Waltucks see their way clear to adding a bar, I can’t imagine a better venue for experiencing fine sake and fine food. Great food and great drink should not be separate, and need not be. These are well crafted drinks that paired well with well-crafted food, and in the crossing of traditionally staid lines I got to come to a better appreciation of both.

At this point Chanterelle is an august place doing an excellent job oft overlooked by me for the newer kids on the block. I was very glad to have this opportunity to be reminded of the brilliance that exists in the composed, sure confidence of a place that has proven itself and continues to by taking advantage of its position to explore things as unique as the pairing of pretty traditional French fare and the finest of Japanese sakes.

Goblin Market, 390 hobjillian stars

A significant portion of the restaurants that have opened recently seem to be huge conceptual spaces driven by the hope that a buzz will start about their particular version of fusion cuisine allowing them to recoup an enormous investment and cash some profit before this wave of trendiness crashes on the shore and we all paddle out for the next one.

The next wave, forming in the second half of this year, seems comprised of humble little rooms providing a more decidedly American cuisine. I am sure this is just the pendulum swinging completely the other way, and as long as we have ten Japonaises we will welcome and embrace many Little Owls. To see our surfing simile to its end, being a boy raised on this coast these smaller, less uniform, varying places are as authentically of this place as the similar waves of our shores, while the mega-restaurants are as foreign as the huge mythical waves that always grace magazine pages in glossy pictures (awesome to visit and quite fun while there but overexposure ends up to their feeling, in the long run, like cookie cutter stuff, seeming ultimately shallow and unrewardingly easy). Inevitably my favor always turns to intimacy and variety.

Goblin Market opened in SoHo this week, adding its twenty-eight chairs in a small, warmly lit, square, chestnut-brown wooden room to the current swell forming below fourteenth street, with a simple wine list of fifteen or so whites and as many reds (about four of each offered by the glass) and an equally concise menu.

The menu is divided into: SOUPS/SALADS, SANDWICHES, ENTREES and SIDES. As written, the menu touches on another, albeit longer-lived, trend in NYC dining, that of branding food by mentioning the sources it is drawn from. Here, the ever-popular Niman Ranch provides the pork belly and the mussels are from Prince Edward Island. Staying safely on the fairer side of price, the intention seems to be to become a neighborhood place to drop by on a night when delivery will not suit but neither will two and a half hours sitting in a restaurant; Goblin Market is not an “amuse guelle” type of place.

Looking for a nice meal prepared by someone else I could eat in track pants on the early part of a Saturday night, Wife and I dropped in for a quick in-and-out in the interest of reconnaissance and it went a little something like this:

Grass-Fed Angus Burger sesame seed bun, French fries, farmhouse cheddar: As we were sat I mentioned that I was interested in the burger, the gentleman seating us explained that it was a work in progress and that for day two of both the restaurant and the burger’s run they had upped the recipe’s fat content. Experimentation may explain its arriving on toasted golden brioche and not a sesame seed bun, but being as I really liked the bun I am letting that overweigh my care for an accurate menu. I love that grass-fed beef is better for you, and better for the environment, as well as being far more humane, but in general I order grass-fed beef because I enjoy its more complex mineraly flavor. In this version of Goblin’s burger it was not abundantly apparent. The chef definitely likes salt, a little too much for Wife and pushing right up against my limits; although I like a salty burger, in this case it overshadowed any other nuance. So in the long run, I had a nice, average-sized, well-prepared, pretty juicy (good move with the additional fat) restaurant burger with good cheese and a great bun. If the next experiment is to add pickle and onion to the greens and tomato that come on the bun, as well as to back the salt off a little and add an ounce or two of beef, this may be a very good burger.

Slow Roasted Yard Bird free range Amish chicken breast, potato puree, wild mushrooms, farmer’s market vegetables, brown chicken sauce: Starting with the name, I think “yard bird” is a very cool name, if for no other reason then it harkens back to great rock and roll. It is, however, a bit of a misnomer here because only one section of the bird makes it to the party: the breast. The good news is it is prepared quite well. Very moist, with nicely browned skin, it is sliced and set on top of the mushrooms and potatoes. Here, again, the chef’s touch with salt was decidedly noticeable to me and too much for Wife. The greenmarket vegetables were roasted carrots in a couple of colors, braised greens bitter enough as an ingredient to stand well next to the saltier components of the dish, and roasted pearl onions. Somewhere beyond the salt in the sauce and potatoes, it was clear that the chicken had deep flavor and that its accoutrement would play well with it. This is the kind of dish I want this type of place to have and I will order it again (if, however, it has been salted with such zest again, I may fake a blood pressure issue on my third visit).

We ended our meal here, saving dessert for the future. I was happy to see an artisanal cheese plate amongst the offerings and Wife came close to grabbing something called a warm cookie plate, but it wasn’t that kind of night. With our check came a comment card explaining the newness of the place and looking for feedback. This, more than anything else, spoke to the feature that makes me look forward to returning: they care what you think. I wrote on my card that the room was charming, the service was very good, the prices seemed fair, the wine list seemed appropriate, that the burger may want pickle and onion, and to be wary of the salt. All these thoughts, as well as my being encouraged to share them, seem to point to a promising little spot for a good dinner and a glass of wine.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon NY, 613 deuxillian stars

Made another swing by L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon last week for a second look and truly enjoyed myself, as did my co-diners Bear and Pichon. On the inaugural trip there was no doubt that everything tasted was exceptionally prepared and gorgeous to look at, but all in all it lacked that certain je ne sais quoi. This may have been caused as much by reputation and expectations as newness and a light hand with salt. On this visit we sat, decided to take it slowly, going course by course as the mood struck us, and this time had a stellar experience.

For wine we had, in order, an ’04 Leroy Bourgogne, an ’00 Beychevelle, and an ’01 La Tyre du Brumont, all chosen as likely to be food friendly, which they were. We also had the same waiter as last time who remembered Pichon and me before the camera came out, speaking to an appreciation of return guests which is of course appreciated. He seems to have settled nicely into the familiarity with product he seemed capable of.

As for the porn:

LE JAMBON Iberian ham with bruschetta: hand sliced Serrano ham with the other traditional sausages of the pata negra, served with grilled bread topped with dense, cheesy French butter and the same grilled bread topped with concasséed tomato, garlic and olive oil.

LE FOIEGRAS Traditional foie gras terrine, with toasted country bread: Simple and perfect for it, a slice of foie gras paté and its fat cap served with grilled bread, sea salt, cracked pepper, and powdered ginger snap. Of my three assemblings, a bit of the fat cap spread on the hot toast with foie spread over the melted fat and a small bit of the three accoutrements sprinkled atop was slightly better than just the foie alone and a bit of the foie with pepper.

LES CUISSES DE GRENOUILLE Crispy frog’s legs, garlic purée and parsley coulis: I am currently reading Chelminski’s The Perfectionist which credits Bernard Loiseau with creating this interpretation of the classic Burgundian frog’s legs with parsley and garlic. Having missed Loiseau’s, I was both happy and eager to have the opportunity to taste it prepared by one of his contemporaries. The meat, having been frenched from the bone, gathers at one end making a plump little morsel encased in crunchy fried breading. Holding the bone, you simply swirl this drummette through the garlic that has had all its bitterness steeped out before whipping, and the parsley puree which is almost pure chlorophyll at this point. A very refined and restrained version of a traditionally rustic dish.

LES RAVIOLES Foie Gras Ravioli in a warm chicken broth, zesty whipped cream: A small version of the dish was sent by the kitchen to pass the time while the Kobe cooked.

KOBE BEEF: A boned rib-eye of actual Japanese Waygu is presented whole and the waiter places a chef’s knife along the steak to let you decide how much you want (it is priced by the oz. offering a good opportunity to test your skill at eying a chop by weight; we aimed for a pound and selected 28oz., this was confirmed as ok by our waiter prior to cooking).  The Kobe was cooked medium rare, presented, and then sliced and served with Robuchon’s famous whipped potatoes. The meat was amazing, more like Otoro than beef. Decadent on a transcendent level, it was closer to white than red on the color wheel. More a sensation than a flavor, this level of ingredient is very sparse in this town, even though its name appears on many menus. As for these poor potatoes meant to be the best in the world, to put it simply they pale to the beef. Robuchon’s potatoes are famous as being the borderline of a saturated solution between butter and creamy potato. Next to beef of this richness they seemed thin. I want to have and love these potatoes, but after two consecutive tries I still vote for Marco’s at Hearth. Next time I’ll have to get just the potatoes. 

LES SUCRE Violet and lychee sugar sphere, milk ice cream, wild rose and blackberry coulis: having had this a second time, I happily declare it my favorite desert.

To be fair, it is not exactly hard to make things like Serrano ham, real Japanese Waygu, and foie gras taste good; it is, however, amazing to make them seem well worth their cost, and this was done in all cases. Nothing was cheap by any stretch of the imagination and at some point I worried I would suffer from sticker shock when I saw the check, but at the end of it all the bill presented seemed very in line with the experience, and in this town where I have ordered what should be opulent meals, paid opulent prices, and been let down that may be the feat in itself.

Thoughts week ending 9/15/06

Cru rules, that's it this week. I love it. I ended up drinking at the bar twice and in the dining room for dinner once this week, and realized it has been a while since i declared it: Cru rules.

The Blind Tiger, 770 screwedillian stars

We all know when the going gets tough the tough make exceptionally good double ristretto espresso, and that when life gives you lemons the only thing to do is make a hearty chili. Well the going recently got tough for The Blind Tiger when, after ten years as one of the few places with any integrity doling out micro brewed beers in the West Village, they were priced out of their lease on Hudson and Tenth to make room for a much needed Charbucks.

Life gave The Tiger lemons when, after choosing a new spot which had formerly had a liquor license a little more than a big avenue block away from their original location, they signed a lease and moved, only to learn that the State Liquor authority, under the influence of local assemblywoman Deborah Glick, apparently sees the relocation of a local small business as an undesirable thing and that, at the moment, they will not be granted a liquor license. So for the time being I can only report on the chili and espresso: while they await their license, The Blind Tiger is open and working at two-thirds capacity, those two thirds being food and coffee service.

A definite part of the charm of the old Tiger was the well worn feel of the room. It had an older world character that could not be well reproduced. Rather than try to force aged charm, this room has been decked out with lumber reclaimed from a farmhouse upstate, giving it a new feel of a place that will take living in well. With warm dark roughhewn wood walls, tables, chairs, benches and a bar, the space seems ready to accommodate whether it is well stitched up with a fire in the fireplace on a blustery winter day or, as it did this weekend, with its windows thrown open on a pleasant autumn afternoon.

Although the block of Bleecker The Tiger has landed on (between 6th and 7th Avenues) is not famed for haute cuisine, it is pretty well known in the food world. On this block are John’s Pizzeria, Murray’s Cheese Shop, Amy’s Breads, O. Ottomanelli’s & Sons Butcher Shop, and Faicco’s Pork Store; within 100 feet of it are Pearl Oyster Bar, Po, Home, One if by Land, and Joe’s Pizza. There are even some ridiculous places like the Caliente Cab Co. for Jersey kids to stop in and whoop it up while in the big city. With an eye to the future and a sense of what isn’t already covered, the folks at the Blind Tiger are making what is best described as contemporary Greenwich Village pub grub: warm sandwiches, soups, salads, chili and a selection of baked goods to accompany their coffee.

In what I would call a multi-purposed visit, this weekend I rounded up some other registered voters from the 66th assembly district and stopped in to sample the Blind Tiger’s wares, visit with friends, and offer moral and financial support to the place while they sort things out. Late Sunday afternoon, Wife, Downstairs, Octopus and I took a tour of the menu:

We started with bread and spreads: an olive tapenade, tarmosalata, and yogurt with cucumbers and dill. 

Rafael’s 7 Pepper Chili-Sirloin, pork shoulder, fresh & dried chilis and lager: This is a properly substantial chili with a nice spice (maybe 2-2.5 alarm).  A thick amalgam of rough chopped, deeply flavored tender bits of pork and beef topped with sour cream and some fresh cilantro leaves, a seriously great chili that will be perfect with a bottle of Magic Hat Blind Faith or a Rogue Chocolate Stout.

The chili came with fantastic grilled slab bacon cornbread, alone meriting a visit at any time of day.

Grilled Cheese with Gruyere and Sharp Cheddar with Beer-Stewed Hot Peppers & Onions: If you are going to make a grilled cheese on the same island as Murray’s Cheese Shop you better do a good job; if you are going to do it across the street it better be great, and this one is. All the sandwiches at Blind Tiger are served on ciabatta from Tom Cat Bakery which has a pronouncedly airy crumb that lends a light sensation to the sandwiches and allows this version of the grilled cheese to use healthy amounts of the gruyere and cheddar without going too far and getting thick. The pepper and onion sauce that accompanied brought nice acid-driven sweet and sour notes to contrast the general creaminess of the sandwich.  This is going to be perfect with a Duvel or a Lindemans Framboise Lambic.

Bloody Beast-House-Made Roast Beef, Sharp Cheddar, red onion, whipped Horse Radish served with Louise’s Bloody Mary Sauce: Sandwiches made with thinly sliced home-roasted beef are great even if the beef is not as well made as this. In this case, the meat has a soft warm sanguine bite that easily tears as you pull it from your teeth. The Bloody Mary dipping sauce thinned the thickness of these flavors which was welcome once I started the second half, this is a considerable morsel indeed. Well suited to something like a Sierra Nevada Porter or an Arrogant Bastard Ale.

Green Ham & Cheese-House-Roasted Ham Gruyere and avocado spread: Here you have a sandwich that nears perfection; warm, salty, rich and lactic, it was just pleasing to eat. My suspicion is if you slice up the cornichons served with it (and all the other sandwiches) or, even better, get a side dish of the pickled jalapenos that come with the Tigre Ciego, the contrast of sourness will take the whole to an astounding place. This one is going to knock it out of the park with something like a Brooklyn Pilsner or a Jever Lime.

As for coffee, to tie it all up I had a short espresso with a medium to heavy body and firm viscosity with aromas of corn, bakers’ chocolate, and roasted peanut and a slightly piquant palate which kicks the volatile oils out of anything being stamped out at Charbucks.

At this point, Blind Tiger offers an inviting and a comfortable space in which to enjoy good espresso and tasty grub while we wait for the government to find the sense to allow us to return to the contemplation of serious beer in the good company of neighbors. In the meantime, what place could be better for some sober contemplation over who to vote for for State Assembly?