Last Night - JoJo

Nothing like Restaurant week to reignite the blogger spirit...

Last night it was JoJo - a Jean Georges project rated with a Zagat 24-22-23.

The restaurant is lovely and romantic... although we were seated at a strangely narrow table in particularly low, although comfortable cushy seats. When the waiter came I feel like I was looking up at him like a little kid, a bit odd.

Anyway, my darling date and I opted to go for the $35 restaurant week tasting menu - 2 choices per course... we ordered one of each down the line.

For me:
Butternut Squash Puree with Creme Fraiche and Black Mushrooms
Chicken with Ginger, Olives, and Chickpea Fries
Fruit Salad with White Pepper Ice Cream

For Her:
Warm Asparagus Mesclun Salad with Avocado and Enoki Mushrooms
Baked Salmon with Truffled Mashed Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts and Truffle Vinaigrette
Warm Chocolate Cake with Caramel Ice Cream

The appetizers were both wonderful. The soup was was hot and delicious, the mushrooms giving a little punch and crunch. Cassie said that the salad contained the best asparagus she'd ever tasted... wow... the girl's tasted a lot of asparagus, let me tell you. Everything was off and rolling to a great start...

The entrees left much to be desired. Texturally the chicken was perfect, but I barely tasted any ginger, the sauce was over salted, the olives were nothing special, and the chickpea fries were a little bland and mushy. I tried one taste of the salmon and one taste only. It was very fishy and quite simply didn't taste good. I don't know if it was just a bad piece or what, but I couldn't even go back for another bite. The truffle mashed potatoes were great, as was the vinaigrette, but seriously, that salmon was foul.

Dessert, once again, was exquisite. Fruit salad in spiced syrup with white pepper ice cream. Could be the best fruit salad I've ever had - the syrup was amazing. The ice cream - interesting, tasty with the fruit, but on it own, objectionable. It was sorta like barn-animal ice cream. You know how white pepper can sometimes make thai food taste like horse manure... yeah. The chocolate cake was fairly standard -- and the caramel ice cream was devastating. Incredible!

So it begs the question... would I go back...? Probably not. I'm sure some of the non-restaurant week offerings (duck) would be delicious, but it's just not a good sign when a restaurant can't do salmon. I mean, it's in the neigborhood, it's romantic, it's lovely, but I don't think I'd return. Glad I tried it though...

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!