Zen and the Art of Soba

Soba-Koh is simply one of the best restaurants out there. The whole experience of eating there is cosmic, clean, attentive, harmonious...

At the root of the menu is, of course, the soba noodle. The noodles are made from buckwheat and have a slightly grainy texture and a bit of a nutty flavor. The broth is a beautiful sweet & salty balance with slight flavors of vinegar, smoke, and even some citrus zest. Soba-Koh offers a fresh-made seasonal noodle for an extra $5 and I recommend the upgrade - if nothing for comparison's sake. The fresh noodle is certainly more flavorful and has a softer texture.

You can't go wrong with any dish here. The appetizers are delicious - vegetable tempura platter always comes with sweet crispy pumpkin, there's a delicate crab and egg dish that feels like silk on your tongue, and they serve raw octopus in several different forms, depending on the night.

The soba dishes are divine. The mushroom soba contains several kinds of Japanese mushrooms and the broth is kicked up with some spicy scallion. Any tempura soba is fresh and delicious and comes with your choice of tempura (vegetable, shrimp, soft-shell crab, etc) fresh fried on the side.

The meal is rounded out with a complimentary cup of green tea that's so fresh that, like the restaurant itself, it transcends it's simplicity and leaves you feeling warm and happy.

Sail the Salmon Seas

Attempt number 1 at making my own lox came out just ok.

The Recipe:

-Start with fresh Salmon - the fattier the better
-Place Salmon on a plate and cover all sides with salt
-Leave in Refrigerator for 24 hours. Drain the water off the plate.
-Re-Salt
-Leave in Refrigerator for another 24 hours. Drain water off the plate.
-Wrap salmon in tin foil and leave it in the freezer for 48 hours.
-Slice off the piece you want to serve. Defrost that piece for 20-30 minutes until it's soft enough to slice thin.

It tasted delicious when Beau and I tried it, but it is way too salty, to be honest. There was still a good amount of water after the second salting so I actually salted it a third time. This might have been where I went wrong...

I will try again... Trekking through the bacon fields, across the salmon seas, to the mountains of cheese on the distant horizon...

Last Night: Caffe Pepe Rosso

salad - simple and good

bread - fine

water - tasted kind of like mold -- srange

pasta w. garlic oil and veggies (primavera) - amazing
pappardelle with lamb ragu - delicious but not what I ordered

wine - small list - well-designed to pair with the basic Italiana - Montepulciano, Chianti, Sav Blanc, etc

I'd like to go back and try the sausage dish that I originally ordered...

nice, simple, not very pricey,

Salty Meats

Last night I made friends with a nice young woman who works at Murray's cheese (Grand Central) in the meats dept. She invited me to come by the store for a discount. We also discussed sheep's milk cheese and orchids on our train ride back to NYC from the wedding.

Maybe she can get me access to this room...


More to follow...

Back to My Roots

Autumn is a wonderful time at the farmer's markets. Crunchy apples, juicy pears, and fresh-from-the-dirt root vegetables. Decided to whip up a roasted root vegetable medly a few days back, on a stay-at-home fall Saturday.

The recipe was quite easy aside from a solid half-hour of chopping. We cut half-inch wedges of pumpkin, acorn squash, turnips, parsnips, onions and potatoes -- enough to fill up a large Le Creuset 'French Oven'. All that got mixed up with a generous sprinkling of olive oil, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and cinnamon. We added fresh rosemary sprigs on top and a few garlic sections with skin left on.

Baked the whole thing at 400 for about 50 minutes, stirring once or twice. About halfway through, the delicious smells of the sweet pumpkin and the parsnip began to seep into the room... The dish was incredible. A variety of sweet and earthy flavors blended with a bit of spicy cinnamon tickling the tongue. The pumpkin and acorn squash became a rich orange mash that held the solid parsnip, turnip, and potato all together. We squeezed the roasted garlic out of their skins and stirred them through the mixture to add a little extra punch. Delicious!

This could be a meal in its own right, but I paired with my new favorite honey-glazed chicken breast recipe and a nice rich glass of red wine.

Best Ice Cream in the World

Hagen Dazs 5 has only 5 ingredients.

This brown sugar ice may be the best flavor I have ever tasted in my life.

http://www.haagen-dazs.com/products/product.aspx?id=367

Try it with some fresh almonds!

Last Night: Gluttony Hour

The Arscott-Sheil wedding last night was no joke. I went for the "fill up on hors d'oeuvres" strategy.

I walked into the reception hall and was immediately shocked to see a huge raw bar... I mean, you don't get that every day. 2 types of oysters, 2 types of clams and mounds of plump cocktail shrimp. I limited myself to a half dozen. Wonderful briny bi-valves paired with a Ketel on the rocks - splendid start to an evening!

On to my favorite... the salty meats. Melt-in-your-mouth Prosciutto, salamis, soppressata, pepperoni. A dozen different cheeses. Marinated artichokes, mushrooms, etc. Mmm... so salty. More Ketel. Seltzer on the side.

How about the passed hors d'oeuvres? Duck pate, Filet Mignon on a stick, Buffalo chicken, Lobster pastries, raspberry-brie tarts, duck spring rolls, asparagus bruscetta, meat empanadas, bacon-wrapped scallops, and the kicker... you ready... Lamb Chops. What more can I guy ask for? You mean, all I have to do is stand here with a drink in my hand, and a nice young man in a tux will come by every few minutes and offer me another lamb chop? Life is beautiful.

Only in New York: International Pickle Festival

What an unbelievable event. Crowds by the hundreds turned out for the NYC International Pickle Day at the LES summer home of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (one of the absolute most surprising performances I've ever stumbled upon in the city). waiting in line to taste pickled stringbeans, beats, peppers, kimchi, kosher dills, new dills, garlic pickles, spicy garlic pickles, horseradish pickles, honeymustard pickles, thunder pickles and more.

Learned a few intersting things too:

Do you know what makes new pickles unique? They are brined in salt-water as opposed to vinegar.

Also - I never heard of these before: Physalis or "Husk Cherries". I bought a pound - they're fantastic. Like a tomato meets cherry with a juicy, nutty taste. Apparently there is only one or two farmers in the city that actually sell them. As Molly says, spread the word about the husk cherries so more farmers will grow them and bring them here for us to enjoy.

Last Night: 'inoteca

The quest for an LES birthday dinner spot had me considering Pho Grand, Casimir, and Schiller's. The final decision brought us to a downstairs table for 3 at 'inoteca - Birthday-Girl requested Italian.

We started off with a bottle of wine suggested by 'inoteca's wine director. We asked for medium-bodied red with an earthy taste and notes of spice. He brought an interesting selection - Caniolo. The Caniolo is a grape used mostly for blending chianti's, but it stood on its own in our bottle, which met our requests perfectly.

'inoteca serves Italian mezze courses. Meats + cheeses, bruschetta, panini, verdura, and some entrees. The antipasto sampler included a variety of rich and spicy olives, spicy sauteed broccolini, provolone picante, copa, sauteed endive, and - my favorite - an assortment of delicous farm-fresh pickled veggies.

We kept the meal generally light following the antipasto. A grilled octopus tentacle was tasty but not as awe-inspiring as those at my favorite greeks (periyali). Grilled mushrooms over arugula with shallots was well enjoyed and the Bruschetta sampler (black olive, butternut squash, white bean, porcini) was presented well on nice, big crostini but lacked real depth and flavor.

Dessert was the highlight. An affagato kicked ass and the chocolate panacotta was a rare find. Little Nutella sandwiches dipped in poached grapes were also a hit (with the ladies).

I'd do it again, 'inoteca. The experience was enjoyable - knowledgeable and helpful staff, impressive wine list. I'd shoot only for the downstairs though. Upstairs was noisy and cramped, the wine cellar room below was calm and dark. Perfect for romance or friends and few bottles.

Good Coffee

I get a free coffee from Wexler every time the Yanks win and the Sox lose on the same night (and vice-versa). Coffee's been flowing my way steadily in the last few weeks...

I take it sweetened with victory.

Damn This Is Good Coffee!

Last Night: Queen of Sheba

The mission - delicious, not-too-expensive dinner for four pre-theater in the west 50's. I was tempted to hit a few old standby's - Basso 56, Uncle Nicks, but one of our party had been to Queen of Sheba before and recommended it. Darling-Girl had been craving Ethiopian for months. We tried The Ethiopian Restaurant on the UES - it was ok, but the food fell a little flat. Seemed like a good opportunity to try another Ethiopian.

The food at Queen of Sheba was delicious from the start. We first had the Dabo, which is a thick Ethiopian bread served with a fire-red dipping sauce. It was superbly tangy and spicy. We also had the azifa, which was a cold lentil + onion mash served with injera. We ordered a bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc, which had a distinctly smoky taste that I didn't particularly care for.

Unlike most Ethiopian restaurants I've been to, where they encourage you to order a few entrees for the table, QoS actually charges a $5 per person sharing fee, which I found to be sort of obnoxious. For the four of us, we ordered 2 vegetarian combos, one taste of Ethiopia combo, and one other beef dish. The meal comes all served on a large tray of injera with a basket of extra bread on the side. All the dishes were rich and savory -- you can taste the slow cooked stewed flavors of meat, beans and spices - each little pile of stew with it's own special flavor. The platter contained beef, lentils, peas, chick-peas, collard greens, green beans and some other things I couldn't exactly identify.

I'd say the food was definitely richer and more flavorful than "The Ethiopian Restaurant". D-G didn't notice the difference. Zagat rates Queen of Sheba at a 23 for food, which frankly seems a bit high. But it's probably the best the best Ethiopian I've had in the city so far, so I guess it makes sense that it would be top-rated in its cuisine.

One of the biggest problems with the restaurant was the service -- and the decor wasn't so great either. Zagat agrees - they rate Decor and Service both in the mid-teens. Darling-Girl arrived last and I had to get up and go to the bar to ask for a wine glass for her and she didn't receive a glass of water (despite specifically asking for one) until after we were done eating. Instead of getting the two vegetarian meals we ordered, we got two meat meals and only one vegetarian. The decor was rather plain, and frankly, a little bit dangerous. A napkin on the table next to us was about 2 seconds from catching on fire from a candle (I saved the day) and there was a very sharp edge of broken glass on our table-top. The table decoration was a laminated paper print-out of an African cloth... not so classy San Diego.

The meal + wine (no dessert) came to $100 for the 4 of us. Which isn't terrible... but a C-note at Nick's takes you much much further.

I'll Take It To Go: Sapporo

Sapporo is one of my top favorite restaurants in the city, hands down. I stop by there anytime I'm even remotely in the area. It's great for the sit-down date, the quick beer and snack, the solo soup slurp... but can it handle the takeout. Survey says - YES!

I'm actually a bit surprised. I find that noodles often don't travel well. I stopped taking out hand-pulled Chinatown noodles because they're mushy in twenty minutes and the broth gets flat as it cools.

But Sapporo's Ramen held up beautifully. One container of Tan Tan Men (office favorite) and one Miso Ramen (for the spice-averse) plus 2 orders gyoza served 3 of us. Wonderful! The soup was still steaming even after the subway ride, the noodles were firm and tasty and the gyoza was the perfect porky vinegary compliment to the rich spicy sesame soup. I'll never get tired of this place, although I do miss DJ Kenta.

What a Waste

Farmers dump milk into a field in Ciney, Belgium, to protest European Union officials' failure to agree on an aid package for the continent's dairy industry, which is facing falling prices. Approximately 4 million liters of milk were poured during the protests. More details from NPR.

I guess they're making a pretty bold statement here. But it's a terrible waste. And it can't good for the fields. Also sad. Are they hoping to dump a day's supply in order to drive up the price... that's a stretch.

Meanwhile... Kenyan Farmers are eating dying livestock. If they only knew what was going on in Belgium. Nutritious whole milk being fed to the ground while thousands starve in drought-stricken lands.

Brat Pack

Bratwurst Backpacks.

Very cool. The long German brat on the little crusty roll is one of my favorite street-foods ever. No one's selling them in New York... Maybe this little gimmick'll bring em to the big app. Any entrepreneurs out there thinking of trying something new and different and super-delicous?

Last night: Dogmatic

Apparently Dogmatic's been open for a year. Not sure How I missed it.

Getting there was tough. Had to walk past "Harvest in the Square" - an exclusive tented tasting event where the elite take over the paths and sidewalks of the park to taste the finest foods and wines of the Union Square/Grammercy district. Annoyingly taunting to walk right past the delicious-smelling charcoal-grilled shrimp kabobs and free-flowing wine with the rest of the commoners.

Dogmatic is delicious. And Overpriced. And Over-Modern. It's a Gourmet Sausage System.

Tiny hollowed-out crispy-chewy baguettes contain one of 5 farm-raised hormone-free sausages (chicken, beef, pork, turkey, lamb) and one of six signature sauces (cheddar jalepeno, horseradish mustard, truffle gruyere, etc). I had pork sausage (fattiest) with horseradish mustard, which paired very well of course, and Darling-Girl had the Turkey Sausage (the leanest) with the Sundried Tomato Feta sauce.

Dogs come with sides -- we chose grilled asparagus and coleslaw, both quite yummy. I went back for a second side - Mac and Cheese which is made with the truffle gruyere blend. Rich, cheesy and bordeline stomach-ache-inducing.

The highlight of the whole experience might be the sodas. The homemade ginger ale was sweet, sharp, and spicy - very well balanced with the in-your-face ginger flavor that I crave. The coconut soda was quite unlike anything I'd ever had. Seemed like fresh coconut milk mixed with a seltzer -- the soda result is light, refreshing, and just barely sweet. I think next time I'll try the grape...

The dog/side/soda meal rings in over $10, which is a bit much for a single hot dog and some asparagus spears, but when you factor in the delicious sodas, it seems like its worth it. The draw for me is that I want to taste everything (especially sodas). 1-year anniversary party on October 13th includes free give-aways and guaranteed fun times. I think I'll be there...