Honorable mentions:
And the my favorite dishes from this year:
1. Ravioli Al Uovo at Maialino
2. Eggs Rothko with Candied Bacon at Egg
3. Ravioli at Marlow & Sons
4. Spicy Rice Cakes, Pork Sausage, Chinese Broccoli, Crispy Shallots at Momofuku Ssam Bar
Honorable Mentions:
Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern
The gourmet Neapolitan pizza craze that has taken over New York, and now spread around the country, has been going on for about 1 year. The pizza craze in my life, has been going on since birth. I have been obsessed with pizza for as long as I can remember. I sometimes find it hard to walk past a pizza shop without going in. Recently, New York Magazine listed as one the reasons to love New York, "because we insist on perfecting what's already perfect" and listed the latest pizza explosion as an example. It's an interesting thing to see pizza all over the place. Isn't pizza already all over New York? Places like Di Fara, Patsy's, Totonno's or Lombardi's have been around long enough to claim to be America's first (Lombardi's opened in 1905.) Many years after than that, but more recently, Mario Batali opened Otto and the fresh made pizza, with toppings like fennel, cauliflower, soppressata or lardo worked its way into the public eye. But again, this was nothing new. Lil Frankie's, Fornino an Franny's have been doing this for a few years. There seem to be a lot of factors as to why pizza is gaining momentum, the economy being an obvious one. But also this wave of pizza might be better than what we're used to.
Before we begin, let's make the clear distinction between a slice place and a pie place. Most of the pizzerias mentioned above and those that follow do not sell pizza by the slice. They are completely different animals.
Recently, completely unintentionally, I went on a mini pizza tasting tour. First, I started at Grimaldi's Pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo.
After waiting in the rain for 30 min for a table, this pizza had the odds against it. I had also walked across the Brooklyn Bridge in the rain so I was thoroughly soaked. Grimaldi's is a full fledged tourist attraction. The people waiting in front of us were from Montreal. The ones behind, South Korea. The menu is simple: pizza or a calzone. The tables are topped with red and white checkered table cloths and there is a wall dedicated to Frank Sinatra. But none of this matters much—you are there for the pizza. And the pizza will do the talking. After only a few minutes, the piping hot pizza with roasted peppers and fresh basil arrived at our table. It was steaming and looked like to me what I dream pizza to look like. The sauce was tangy and sweet, the cheese fresh and the crust perfectly cooked to a crunchy, doughy consistency.
Next up was Carroll Gardens newcomer, Lucali, which has a reputation for a few things. 1) the extremely long waits (sometimes over 3 hours); 2) the longtime Colombo crime family associate Dominick (Black Dom) Dionisio who although under house arrest, is allowed by a judge to keep his job at Lucali and 3) of course the pizza.
Lucali has a completely different feel from Grimaldi's. It actually feels like someone's home. The walls, floors and tables are all wood. I hesitate to use the word rustic, but this was it. Owner Marc Iacono stands in the back slinging pizza and slicing all toppings incredibly thin on his mandolin. The dough was particularly airy and light. Above, is the pie we had with shallots and artichokes. Slicing the toppings so thin really was a brilliant move. The toppings become part of the pie, as opposed to overwhelming the other flavors, which so often happens elsewhere. Although I would have preferred more sauce on the pie, it is hard to criticize this pizza.
Next, my journey took me to New Haven, CT for the famous Frank Pepe's clam pizza (below).
Pepe's pizzas, especially the famous clam pie, are constantly featured on lists of the country's best pies. I was unsure of what exactly this clam pie was. Was it fried strips of clam? Was there sauce? No sauce? What it is, in a nutshell, is white clam sauce on pizza dough. It's garlicky, salty and clammy. Its reminiscent of dunking bread into what remains in the bowl after a good linguine with white clam sauce. Although the regular style pie was mediocre at best, the clam pie was certainly something unique and delicious.
Finally, my mini tour ended in Williamsburg at Motorino, the star of the show.
Unlike, the other pizzerias I visited, Motorino, offers already made combination pies. You do not make your own. Below is the Margharita DOC (tomato, mozzarella di bufala, basil).
Prosciutto di Parma (parmiggiano, olive oil, oregeno)
Pugliese (burrata, broccolini, sausage, fresh chiles, garlic)
Soppressata Piccante (tomato, fior di latte, spicy soppressata, fresh chiles, garlic)
Motorino, really had the best overall experience of the 4 places. While Grimaldi's had old school Italian charm, the turnover is such that the table clothes are dirty and remnants from the previous diners remained on the table throughout most of our meal until I finally cleaned it up. Lucali had excellent atmosphere and pizza, and although I did not experience a wait at all, the thought of having to wait 3 hours for a table is certainly a deterrent. Pepe's lacked any sort of atmosphere and while the pizza was interesting, I won't be running back. All these factors and more came together for me at Motorino. No wait, clean table, friendly staff and exceptional pizza. Generally I need tomato sauce on my pizza, not a fan of the white pie. But the prosciutto pie was so delicious, I won't even attempt to describe it. In fact, I think I will let the photos speak for themselves. I recommend that you go try it yourself. And now with a location in the East Village, its that much easier. (The space was formerly Una Pizza Napoletana, which was one of the most talked about spots and one of the few pioneers leading the current pizza revolution.) While establishments like Grimaldi's, Lombardi's, and Di Fara have history, when you eat at a place like Motorino you feel as though you are building history and that can go a long way with diners. There are so many more places to try and I hope to do so in this coming year. And when I do I will of course report back to you.
The final rotation in the kitchen, lands me at Poissonnier. The dishes below are what I will be working on for the next, and final, 3 days.
Tournedos of Salmon with Horseradish Crust, Baby Spinach, Spaghetti Squash Cakes and Beurre Blanc with Caviar.
2 more days left at FCI, and then on January 4th, we will have our final. The final works just like the midterm. Each student will pull a paper out of a hat and we will have to prepare two dishes from the Level 6 menu and present them to the judges. It's gonna be intense, that much is certain. The main difference between the final and the midterm is that in Level 3 leading up to the midterm, we did the same dishes over and over again. For the final, essentially we only get 2 days for each dish. So memory is going to be a key factor. The following day, those who pass the exam, will attend the graduation ceremony. Here's hoping I'm one of them.
Then at some point over the summer, I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. Hanco's, which has locations in Park Slope and Bourem Hill, seemed to be the right place to start. The menu is small and simple. They have various bubble teas to go with the 5 sandwiches. I went with the classic sandwich which is a toasted french baguette filled with roast ground pork, Vietnamese ham, pate, mayonnaise, butter, cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon radish. After only a few bites, I understood the hype: the sandwich was delicious. The crunchy fresh baked bread, the tang of the pickled veggies, the heat from the sriracha and all that pork really come together nicely. Although you won't read about them on every food blog anymore, the banh mi seems to be sticking around. They are readily available in most neighborhoods and on menus throughout the city. I was surprised though to find them on one menu—at the newest Momofuku location, Ma Peche.
Although the actual restaurant has yet to open, the Momofuku team have taken over room service and are serving a "midtown lunch" in the mezzanine of the Chambers Hotel. The deal is: your choice of banh mi du maison (three terrine sandwich, daikon, cilantro), banh mi de poulet (chicken, lemongrass, lettuce, mint), bun du riz (rice noodles, pork ragout, saw leaf herb) or gỏi calamare (squid salad, fish sauce, thai basil, greens) and a soda or water for only $10.The bun du riz (below) brings to mind my favorite dish at Ssam Bar, the spicy rice cakes with pork sausage. This certainly felt like Momofuku lite, but until Ma Peche officially opens, you won't hear me complaining.
gỏi calamare (squid salad, fish sauce, thai basil, greens)
Hamachi with Apple, Fennel and Horseradish
Chicken Consomme with Mushroom Flan and Gougeres
At the Level 6 entremetier station, we are responsible for a daily canape. A canape, is the small usually one bite offering that is sent out by the kitchen to start the meal, also referred to as an amuse bouche. Usually, we just take what is available around the kitchen and come up with something. So here is what we did:
Celery root, apple and chestnut soup
Salmon tartare with granny smith apples, radish, celery and creme fraiche
Wild mushroom and foie gras soup
Foie gras torchon, crouton, celery gelee and beet puree
8 more classes until the final!
Marlow & Sons, located in Williamsburg, has received the kind of buzz that some restaurants only dream of. Voted one of the top 12 restaurants that matter by Saveur magazine (alongside places like Gramercy Tavern, Commander's Palace and Joel Robochon); a glowing review from The New York Times' Peter Meehan; a visit from Anthony Bourdain and the No Reservations crew. However, hype can in some instances do more harm than good because it creates expectations. When reviews tell us about the next "it" place or "one of the best meals I've had in NYC," according to one Chowhound review, do we hurt our chances of liking the restaurant? When you finally make it there, can or will the restaurant live up to the expectations and the hype? Well the answer from my recent trips to Marlow & Sons, is a resounding yes.
Prior to my first meal at Marlow, I had dined a few times at another restaurant owned by the Marlow team, which is directly next door called Diner. (They also own Marlow & Daughters, the butcher and grocer just down the block and the newly opened Roman's in Fort Greene).The menu there changes daily and is prepared with seasonal and mostly local ingredients. A theme that continues over at Marlow.
The entrance is a grocery of sorts. Local products that are purchased directly from the producers, dairy and vegetables mostly from Greenmarkets and fresh baked goods. But it is further past that, into the small dark candle lit room in the back that fully encapsulates dinner at Marlow & Sons. The tight squeeze, backless stools and aged wood give Marlow an extremely casual aesthetic. Expect to be bumped into repeatedly on a busy night. But know that it will all be worth it.
The menu is a pleasantly simple one. Three entrees, three appetizers. Daily artisanal cheeses and meats. A daily crostini and salad. Comfort food of the highest order.
The cocktail menu, which also changes frequently, contains drinks such as Acid Wash (jalapeno rum, lime juice and pilsner.) Light, spicy, tart, excellent. Or the Wizard (gin, fernet, burnt fig jam, gingerale).
Marlow & Sons are known for their oysters so we started with 15 of the Maine and Virginia varieties. Both tasted incredibly fresh and were gone in a matter of moments. Subsequent visits featured oysters from various New York locations.
The charcuterie plate.
The ravioli were filled with squash on one night and mortadella and chestnut on another. Both topped with a brown butter sage sauce. These alone could warrant repeated visits. Incredibly creamy, buttery and homey.
on another night, the fish was a striped bass
One menu constant is the brick chicken. Wonderfully moist, lemony, with a expertly crisp skin and seasoned to perfection.
Unfussy, unpretentious, delicious food all in a casual setting. I'll happily jump on the Marlow & Sons bandwagon.
While chopping bunch after bunch of cilantro, running up and down a spiral staircase to grab more spinach, making the "queso fondido" or plating the pumpkin soup, I surprisingly got a lot of thinking done in the kitchen of Mesa Grill. One of the things I love about being in the kitchen is there are certain tasks where you can just put your head down, focus on what you are doing and the mind will start to work. This is especially so while doing a trail because you really want to do the best job you can. So while I spent the night watching plate after plate of food pass before me (that I seriously had a hard time not grabbing and eating,), the mind started to wander.
What is the relevance of a restaurant in a food crazy city like New York, that opened in 1991 and recently received a not so great review from the New York Times I wondered?
Bobby Flay is a big time chef, cookbook author and television personality. And in my opinion, that can help and also hurt your restaurant's reputation. Some people expect more from their meal than is possible. Some expect the chef to be in the kitchen and are disappointed with what they find. (Although he was there for most of the night I was there for the trail). While Bobby Flay's star wattage and culinary expertise are undeniable, how good are his actual restaurants?
The menu at Mesa Grill, his flagship on 5th Avenue, reads almost like a comic book to me. The foods and flavors described, leap off the page. Bourbon ancho chile sauce (POW!), mango habanero glaze (BOOM!), spicy, roasted, red, green etc. These descriptions instantly evoke images of the food he his famous for. Colorful, bold flavors that we have come to love over the years and that have permeated our everyday lives. Frank Bruni's review even suggested that the menus at places like Chipotle or Chili's have been informed by the "Southwestern swirl."
The first question I ask, however, is, who else is doing this food? I certainly don't know of another restaurant cooking food like they are here. And for that alone, Mesa Grill is a must-try restaurant.
While in the kitchen I was so taken aback by how different the food was from what we've been doing at school and at L'Ecole. Sure there is duck con fit, which I pulled off the bone and bechamel sauce in the "queso fondido", but the ingredients and the flavors are a far cry. After the trail, I would gaze at the menu itching to try everything. (Something I've been doing a lot of these days). So I was very excited when I finally got there for dinner this week.
"Are you from out of town?" the hostess asked. I was surprised and caught off guard by this, although it definitely answered one of my other questions, which was "who dines at Mesa these days?"
But sadly some of the plates did in fact fall short of expectations.
I started with the The Cactus Pear Margarita (below) which I mentioned in my last Flay related post. Just look at that thing. The photo does not do the bright purplish color justice. It has a sweet and sour taste that by no means overwhelms the tequila flavor. An excellent margarita in my book (and a perfectly acceptable time for a man to drink a pinkish drink. For those of you who care about that sort of thing.)
For appetizers, we ordered the Crispy Squid with Red Chile Pesto, Avocado Crema, Radishes + Pickled Chiles (above) and the Shrimp + Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale with Fresh Corn + Cilantro Sauce (below). The squid were cooked to crispy golden brown perfection. The tentacle pieces were fried further than most squid or calamari I have had and made me wonder why. All should be like this. It made most other pieces of fried squid I have ever had, seem undercooked. However, eventually the heat on plate from the sauces and/or the chiles started to dominate the flavor and just before I was done, became too much. I love spice, so it was unfortunate. The tamale, which has been on the menu since the restaurant opened, was creamy, garlicky and delicious. The sweetness of the fresh corn really made the dish for me.
I had less success with the entrees unfortunately. The Green Chile Cioppino with Lobster, Scallop + Mussels, Blue Corn Stick + Scallion Butter (all the way at the top) was for the most part delicious. The broth was creamy and briny. However, the lobster claw was a soupy undercooked mess and more color and crust on the scallop would have created that great contrast in textures that Bobby always advocates for. The New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-Ancho Chile Sauce + Sweet Potato Tamale with Crushed Pecan Butter (below) was cooked to a perfect medium. However, I didn't get the flavors that I was expecting. This was a "Spice Rubbed" tenderloin, after all. Although I again appreciated the vibrant colors on the plate, this one was sort of a mess. But I may be too influenced by the way we plate at L'Ecole, with possibly too much care and refinement. The Sweet Potato Tamale though was incredible. Pork is commonly paired with a sweet component, figs for instance, so this really was a nice combination.
Anaheim Chile Relleno filled with White Cheddar Cheese, Black Beans + Rice
All in all, my most recent meal at Mesa Grill was pleasing. Sure it wasn't perfect. But how many meals are? I wouldn't think twice about going back or recommending it. Some of my criticisms come from my tastes or expectations, some were clearly kitchen mistakes. But all in all I think a meal at Mesa Grill, aside from being a good meal, is a chance to see what launched the career of one of the biggest celebrity chefs out there. If anything, it is an occasion to see how much food has or has not changed since that time. Mesa Grill definitely feels like its stuck in time—in the best way possible. And that can be a comfort unto itself. While other restaurants, including Bobby's Bar Americain, might be more modern when it comes to the menu and the aesthetics. But a trip back in time isn't something to sneeze at. Especially with Bobby Flay driving the DeLorean.
Level 6 (the final level) began on Friday. Like Level 5, we will rotate around the kitchen stations. However, unlike Level 5, there will be two written tests and the level will culminate with our final exam which is worth 50% of our grade. The final exam will be similar to the midterm in that each student must prepare two dishes and if you fail, you must repeat the level.
The restaurant's entire menu just changed. So essentially each student has 2 days, give or take, to learn each of the two dishes at that station, before moving on. So it will be a lot harder than the midterm where we practiced the dishes over and over.
I started at the saucier station.
Hanger Steak Bordelaise with Brussels Sprouts, Pommes Dauphine and Pomegranate Seeds
Sauteed Pheasant Mousseline with Parsnip Puree, Fig and Egg Toast
If any of you are interested in coming to the restaurant, I suggest you do it soon. There isn't much time left until graduation! That is of course, if I pass the final.
Here are some of the dishes that were prepared for last nights festivities. Everything was served as passed hors d'oeuvres.
Bouillabaisse (fish stew)
Choucroute garni (sauerkraut with various pork products)
Brandade De Morue (Fish potato dumplings)
Lobster Salad with Celery Remoulade
Merguez (lamb sausage) with Harissa and Couscous
Braised oxtail with pommes puree
Oysters, Smoked Potato Cream and Caviar
Chocolate Pot Du Creme, with Creme Chantilly and a Tuile Spoon
Salmon En Croute (salmon in puff pastry)
Scallop Quenelle with Crafyfish Sauce
As I mentioned in my previous post, the deans were in attendance. But there were some unexpected guests as well. Yes, that is Eric Ripert you see. More on the event here.
I forgot to mention that the dishes prepared by our group were the Merguez and the Choucroute, both above. One more interesting article was featured in Time Out New York.
