Veal Chops

Brian cooked me an amazing dinner the other night! Veal chops in a mustard cream sauce with roasted baby potatoes and sauteed chard on the side. Yay. :)

-R

Japan Premium Beef: prelude

So when a new classy food-related store opens up on my street, it won't be ignored! I've noticed this gleaming meat shop many days on my way to school and always wondered whether it was as good as it looked. By the way it's on E. 3rd st. (actually the block where it's Great Jones street) and the meat is from Oregon. Today I'm going to go get some beef there! I'm getting more excited since I just read a review on yelp.

Let me just excerpt some comments:

"My wife and I were very excited to see this shop open in our neighborhood, as we met in Japan, and had good memories of the beef there."

"If you're a Japanese housewife living in Japan who've never lived outside of Japan, you might not understand why I'm sooooo exited about this place."

"First thing's first, it's like stepping into a set from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey -- the scene in the glowing-room toward the end of the film (where Dave approaches the Monolith and becomes a free-floating fetus and, metaphorically, returns to and equals Mother Earth)... Perhaps I've said too much?... Anyway, needless to say, the storefront is is stark and austere, a thing of beauty of art -- and the service is phenomenally informative and patient."

Well. I'm sold. I have yet to discover what cut of beef awaits me, but I am duly excited for this gem of Great Jones street.

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update: It was delicious. I got the marinated beef (strips...pieces???) a cause de laziness at $9.99 a pound. Just sauteed those bad boys with an onion and voila a tasty beefy sauce...served with long grain brown rice and kale! Yes, there are quite a few things over $20 a pound, but cheap stuff is still amazing...next on my list: burgers with their sassy ground beef at $4.99 a pound.

S.

OMGZ I found the perfect apple

It is named "Macoun". It's a cross between McIntosh (which I've NEVER liked) and something else...

Holy godz is it good. Honestly, I've never been so excited about apples in my life.

Read about them: apparently, they have a very short season and are loved by people with extreme sweet teeth (like me!)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macoun_apple

it is also really small and cute.

-R

Roast Duck Salad

Two duck legs, marinated with balsamic vinegar and chipotle chiles, browned skin side down in a cast iron skillet. Then placed in a 375 degree oven along with sliced waxy potatoes. After an hour and a half or so, you'll discover succulent roast duck, and a skillet full of duck-fat crisped potatoes. Serve over a bed of greens with goats cheese and raspberries and a dressing of duck fat and lemon juice.

Rachel

Places that make me happy for restaurants

So in the past week I've been so blessed as to eat in some very tasty warm n' loving places. Sadly my camera is out of commission until I figure out how to put up pictures again but I'll pirate some from various other sources.

This is an ode to restaurants that are just what restaurants should be: tasty, affordable, inviting

My three recent highlights are Otto, Lomzyniaka, and Kafana, spanning the hoods/deux boroughs.

Kafana is a delightful Serbian restaurant in the East Village on Avenue C between 8th and 9th. It's just a happy place. I was wandering in that area one night and I saw its lights from afar and as I got closer I could see happy Serbs sharing a tasty meal and wine. Everything I've had there is delicious. They have a weekend brunch, of it I sampled the savory French toast: huge pieces of hearth-baked bread, a mound of feta, scallions, and roasted red pepper spread. Oh dear...and $8. Also quite tasty: cevapi, spinach pie, Montenegro wines. Also if your inner football fan is yearning to celebrate some game, the German beer garden Zum Schneider is right across the street. extra plus! Their website isn't up yet check out the menupages deal.

Next: Lomzynianka. The name is a mouthful and makes me a little dyslexic but this is a pearl of Greenpoint on Manhattan Ave. EVERYTHING is under $10 and most entrees are about $5...also it's BYOB. So, head into a Polish deli and grab some Zywiec Zdroj or Wodka and sit down to a hefty plate of veal meatballs in dill sauce...or gigantor schnitzel accompanied by borscht, beets, and cabbage. Peruse their menu! You'll be full and just as happy, if not happier than clams.

One place a little less quirky would be the pizzeria/inoteca Otto of the Mario Batali persuasion. But truth: it's quite a tasty place. It's secretly in the basement of Washington Mews and on 8th...so VERY close to NYU. Their specialty is pizza but I was anti- and got pasta. It's pretty big downstairs and very lively/full...there's big vats of oil, olives, pickles tasties, etc. A nice hunk of bread and nicely green oil comes when you sit down. All the pasta is $9 and the pizzas (including Lardo...which is basically a pork fat pizza..yes!) are $10-15. I got pasta with escarole, sausage, and cheese. Yes, I don't know what specifically the cheese/sausage was but it was just right! Salty, melty, cheese and the sausage was a wee bit spicy and the pasta al dente. Ye be warned: the ricotta is runny and not fluffy, but not bad by any means.

As a whole, these three winners made me full, made me want to stay, and didn't put a dent in ze wallet. WIN!

S.

SEASONAL IN SEPTEMBER

Here's a list of September's bounty! Buy locally!

Apricot
Aubergine (Brits... Eggplant!)
Autumn lamb
Beetroot
Blackberry
Broad beans
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cavalo nero
Celeriac
Celery
Courgette (bah - Zucchini!)
Crab
Damson
Fennel bulb
Fig
Garlic
Globe Artichoke
Goose
Gooseberry
Grouse
Guinea Fowl
Halibut
Kale
Lamb
Lamb's lettuce
Leek
Lettuce
Peach
Peas
Pepper
Plum
Potato
Radish
Raspberry
Redcurrant
Salmon
Sorrel
Spinach
Strawberry
Sweetcorn
Swiss Chard
Tomato
Tuna
Watercress

I don't think you'd go hungry with that list.

NOW I am taking this list from an English website. But I don't think it will be too dissimilar here. Most importantly, you should buy these things locally! I'm really bad at this, but I want to start.

The hardest thing for me will be fitting in less tropical fruits in my morning smoothie, and more temperate in-season fruits. But, looking at that list, everything will be just fine.

-R

Sustain! Sustain!

Pretty sure I just found the greatest utility ever:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/local/seasonal/september

It's native to Britain, so take that into consideration. But, still, amazing. Every month, you now know exactly what you should be buying!

-R