Fragole

Yoga Jen and I met at Fragole sometime last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal (and found a new favorite Chianti!) We get together from time to time, and our latest trip was a return to this awesome, no-frills Italian spot in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens.

I'd forgotten about a staple there: instead of serving butter with their bread, Fragole brings out this tomato-based dip with lots of spices and usually a few delicious olives in it. We ate every drop of it.

We started with one of the specials: grilled corn salad with shrimp and avocado. It was DELICIOUS! The corn was still on the cob, and it had those char marks from the grill, as did the shrimp (grilled shrimp=one of my favorites!) The avocados were perfectly ripe, and the dressing was tangy and citrusy. I even enjoyed the arugula, with its sharp, peppery bite that wasn't bitter. This was a great dish, and reasonably priced at just under 9 bucks.

Fragole has a good wine list, but they also break it out into another section: 27 dollar bottles. They offer about 6 reds, 6 whites at this price, for people who want to take some of the guesswork out of the ordering. These bottles are definitely crowdpleasers. We opted for a white this time: a 2006 Malvasia Bianca--I forgot to write down all the info on this wine, but it was nice without being too sweet, and it went well with everything. I also can't seem to drink as much white wine as red, which I guess can be a good thing. ;)

Jen got the grilled salmon, which came in a citrus sauce and a light blanketing of capers (a food I'm learning to like, slowly), sautéed spinach, and mashed potatoes. I sampled a bite and it was delicious.

I ordered the homemade black linguini with grilled shrimp, wilted arugula and a spicy arrabiata sauce. Normally I do NOT order pasta when eating out. It's something I can make at home, blah blah, but this was made there, fresh, and it just stuck out to me. The sauce was not really spicy at all, which normally would really disappoint me--but it was such a good dish I didn't even mind the lack of heat. I am so glad I ordered it--Jen tried a bite and declared she's getting it on her next visit. There will always be a next visit to Fragole.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, dessert came. I ordered the tiramisu. Jen had tried it on her previous visit and raved about how excellent it was. Here's the thing: I've had so many bad tiramisus that I stopped ordering it a long time ago--it just never lived up to my hopes. I knew Jen wouldn't steer me wrong--and she was oh-so-right. I took a bite, rolled my eyes in taste-bud ecstasy, and said 'THIS is how tiramisu should taste!" Intense chocolate flavor from the powder, strong but not overpowering liqueur flavor in the ladyfingers, and coffee. How I love thee, coffee. I shared some with Jen, and then proceeded to eat every last bite.

Jen's dessert, however, even exceeded the high bar set by the tiramisu. She ordered the mascarpone-maple cheesecake, which came with caramelized walnuts and maple syrup sauce. It just looks like a mound of cheese, right? No semblance of 'cheesecakeness' in its form. But.... OH. MY. BLOG. I...this just...words fail. This was outstanding, and we are both setting out to recreate it on our own. I could have eaten this and only this and still walked away ecstatic. It was sweet but not achingly so, and the maple syrup wasn't as strong as I expected. Everything worked so well together. Oh man.. I think I took TWO bites of Jen's dish. I'd go back JUST for this dessert. Seriously. Dude. Go. Try it. You'll thank me, and then I'll thank Yoga Jen for the both of us. ;)

Sushi on the Cheap

Carlota & I went once again to our favorite sushi spot: May's Place in the East Village(on 2nd Ave between 7th and 8th). Their rolls (the Stomp roll is pictured to the left) are half-off every day--after 5pm, I believe. And man, are these rolls good. I mean, really good. Fresh, tasty, always high-quality.

But first things first: we cannot start out at May's without getting the pork gyoza (crispy fried dumplings). These are a DOLLAR a dish, people! That's 20 cents a dumpling! Carlota, we SO should have gotten two of these. ;)

Getting back to the rolls: my favorite used to be the shrimp tempura (left), but Carlota introduced me to the Godzilla roll (right), and that stomped all over the shrimp! It has the crispy outside, crunchy (but not raw) broccoli on the inside...so good, we ordered TWO! I probably could have eaten more, but we branched out to try something new: the Stomp roll. It has smoked salmon, cream cheese, crab, and cucumber, I believe, topped with salmon roe and eel sauce, maybe? I loved smoked salmon, but this roll was a little disappointing. The smokiness of the salmon overwhelmed every other flavor. It also clashed badly with my 5.00 glass of red. ;)

We sat at the bar for the first time, and while we were tucked away in a corner, we also had a great view of the sushi chefs in action. Octopus, anyone?

I asked one of the sushi chefs if I could take his picture, and he was more than happy to oblige! As I was snapping it, a waitress came up to take a plate and said 'Oh, no photos, please!' I said "Oh my goodness-really?" and she said 'Just kidding!' Close call! Nice to know they have a sense of humor as well as delicious food!

I know I'll be back, but I'll remember to stick to the house white (also 5.00) next time. Pass on the house red, enjoy everything else..especially the Godzilla roll!

May's Place
121 E 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003

C is for Cookie

and M is for Mel! My dear friend (and coworker again-yay!) Mel has been on a baking blitz of late. I have been more than happy to sample just about everything she's tried. Her latest creation was the star of our weekly meeting today! She made some fantastic chocolate chip cookies from a recipe that's darn near identical to that of famous bakery here in NYC. While Levain does not post their own recipes, they do recognize that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and they post some of their fans' attempts at replicating the deliciousness that put them on the map.  


These are some serious cookies, let me tell you! They are dense, but not heavy, filled with just enough chocolate (but not too much) and oh-so-yummy. Mel used the recipe titled "Judy's Kitchen," and of course, added her own delicious touches. I was more than happy to sample a cookie during our meeting...and then sample another one, you know, just to make sure the batch was consistently scrumptious. :)


Thanks, Mel!!!

Cafeteria

I got to cross another 'must-try' restaurant off my list today with my friend Sara (check out her review here). She'd been to Cafeteria before, but I hadn't (even though Jenezuela lived around the corner for years!) For some reason, Jenezuela & I stuck to 8th and 9th Aves when eating in her hood, and rarely made it to 7th.

We started off with our drinks: Sara opted for the Peach Palmer (an Arnold Palmer, aka equal parts iced tea and lemonade, with peach purée added). Hers came in a Mason jar. I ordered the mint-lime iced tea. It was almost puckeringly-limetastic. Very tart, with just enough sweetness for your face not to collapse on itself with all that lime. It was like an iced tea mojito (sans alcohol!). Sara is also a food blogger, so we laughed when we both whipped out our cameras. I also love that we have similar tastes. I'd hemmed and hawed over what to order, torn between a fig salad and wanting something more satisfying. Sara solved my dilemma by offering to split her braised short ribs sandwich if I shared my fig salad. Deal! We make a great team.

Before anything else, we had the "Mac Attack," a trio of different macaroni and cheeses. This tasting came with smoked gouda & bacon, truffle oil, and a fontina-cheddar blend. Truffle is a flavor that I feel not everyone likes, but it's really been growing on me. It's GREAT in this mac and cheese. Forget that expensive dish at Waverly Inn and just head here for a fraction of the cost!

The braised short rib sandwich was ridiculously juicy, just salty enough, though we both agreed the bread was a bit bland. I felt it served to keep my fingers from getting too messy (though that still happened). I would have loved a mustardy bite to this meat, but that could just be my pulled pork obsession talking. Regardless, it was still delicious as is.

The fig salad sounded GREAT on the menu: fresh figs, shaved parmesan, crispy prosciutto, and a fig balsamic. I was glad to find it was delicious, too! The different textures all worked well together. The sweetness of the figs (with their soft-crunchy seeds that are half the fun) balanced so well off the salty cheese the prosciutto. I really enjoyed the flavorful fig balsamic, too. This was a delicious dish to try, but I'm glad we had the short ribs, too. It was all just enough food to fill you up...without leaving you too stuffed for dessert!

Sara was eyeing the apple ravioli, and I'd been deciding between the peanut butter cup and the homemade butter pecan ice cream. When I saw the ravioli CAME with butter pecan ice cream, that clinched it for me--another share-off! I ordered the PB, she got the ravioli. The ravioli was delicious, like apple pie filling in a light dough, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking something was off. Only now am I realizing : I didn't see any ice cream on the dish! Update: Sara is telling me it was there, it was just under those fried dough thingies. What a heartbreak. Sara says it's not that great, so I didn't miss much.

The peanut butter cup came with an intriguing topper: BACON peanut butter brittle. I'm not a brittle fan, but I do love bacon, and I do love peanut butter, and I was feeling adventurous. The peanut butter filling was super smooth and creamy, but the cookie crust is so hard we literally had to stab it and use serious force to cut it. They might want to consider serving it with a steak knife. The brittle, was, as we agreed, 'a little piece of awesome.' At first I was thinking "Hmm, I only taste peanut butter...still peanut butter...oh there's the bacon!" And sure enough, it works!

This was a delicious meal, well worth the wait (I've only been here what, 8 years? Ha) I am glad I finally got to try it, and glad That Sara was there to join me!

Cafeteria
119 7th Ave
New York, NY 10021
(212) 414-1717

Midtown Lunchin'

My schedule this past week or so has been different--an afternoon/evening sked that had me working through lunch AND dinner, so the meal inbetween really had to count! I'd come back to the office from our studio to do some paperwork, and my coworker Patty asked me to join her for lunch (her day was over--our 'lunch' was at 3pm!) We walked a matter of steps to an Italian place right next to our building, "Pasta Lover's Trattoria" (I couldn't find a working website, but it's 142 W. 49th street, between 6th & 7th Avenues). She'd been there before and said it was decent and cheap, so I was game.

The only other patrons we saw when we walked up to the bar were a trio of red-faced (tipsy) businessmen making lots of conversation with the pretty young bartender on duty. She was quite patient and professional with the loud but harmless bunch, and she came right over to us when we sat down. I'd heard her mention to the men that she's Russian, a fact I filed away for a little later. ;)

The waitress brought us out some rolls with softened butter while we waited for our orders. I was quite grateful because by now, breakfast had been a good 6 hours ago (and yes, I know, PACK SOME SNACKS! but I didn't and yes, maybe now I've learned my lesson but cut me some slack already! It was a long week) and I was quite hungry. They were basic rolls, crusty on the outside, fluffy on the inside, but nothing off-the-charts. They served their purpose, though! They kept me from crossing the line from hungry to hangry (Hungry + Angry).

Patty ordered her standard dish there--the Chicken Caesar salad. She also ordered a glass of their house Merlot, which smelled quite lovely. Speaking of smells, the Caesar salad was quite pronounced with its aroma of garlic--I could smell it before our server even set it down on the bar. Whoa! Fortunately, I happen to love that smell, and I had a quick flash of dish envy before I saw my order.

Torn between two wraps, I'd asked our bartender/server for a suggestion. She steered me toward the smoked turkey wrap, and I was glad I took her suggestion. It was packed full of fresh lettuce, avocado, some bits of radicchio (which I didn't even pick out this time!), a tangy dressing, and a thin but flavorful layer of the smoked turkey. It was delicious. The fries were good, but not great. They were crispy on the outside, decent amount of potato on the inside, but I would try the mixed greens next time if I ordered this again (there's a 50-50 chance I might. Okay, 60-40).

I enjoyed my visit there, and I really enjoyed getting to make small conversation in Russian with Lia, whose eyes widened when I tentatively, almost shyly, offered up some basic Russki. She was quite friendly and answered a grammatical question that's always been bugging me. She was very welcoming and had a large part to do with how much Patty and I enjoyed ourselves there. We chatted about where Lia's from in Russian, where I'd visited, where some of Patty's family comes from in what used to be Russia. It was a lovely break in the afternoon! I wish I could have stayed for Happy Hour (which was starting just as I had to head back to work) and for some of their Merlot--perhaps next week when I'm not on the clock!

I enjoyed the atmosphere, the food, and the friendly staff, but I wouldn't call this place 'cheap' just yet. The wrap was 10.95, the salad was somewhere around 11, and a glass of HOUSE Merlot cost 9.00 (though in all fairness it was an extremely generous pour)! I am sure Patty got a cheaper rate on the next round during Happy Hour, so I think I'll wait until THOSE hours to come back and try the vino!

If you're in Midtown and looking for a good, filling meal, I'd say stop in, but I wouldn't make a trip just to get here, and I would not call it Cheap Eats. Maybe I should start categorizing "Reasonably Priced" Eats, then? :)

Pasta Lover's Trattoria
142 W 49th St # 1
New York, NY 10020
(212) 819-1155

Sugar-sweet Sunshine

Sometimes you just need a sweet treat in the middle of a long week. I am (un?)fortunate enough to work on the same block as Magnolia's midtown outpost. Their Bleecker street location may be the famous one, but it's also where all the Carrie-Bradshaw-wannabes line up for their slice of the SATC experience, sending the line in a serpentine path around the corner. That spot is a tiny, cramped storefront where they file you in and out with the most interesting mix of chaos and order. The Midtown location is NOTHING like that. The workers pick out the cupcakes FOR you, instantly speeding up your transaction (and lowering the chance that someone put their subway-dirty hands on your cupcake) and hustling you through without making you FEEL like you've been hurried.

There are differing schools of thought on Magnolia--not everyone likes them. I tend to stick to the vanilla and chocolate varieties (and only recently have I liked the chocolate ones). I LOVE the particular vanilla flavor their cake has. A lot of people rave about their red velvet cupcakes, but those are my LEAST favorite--the few times I've tried them, they've been dry, crumbly, and lacking in flavor. So not worth it!

I'm also a bit of an icing fanatic--at least at Magnolia. Look at that icing-to-cake ratio in the previous picture! Gorgeous! This is too much icing for a lot of folks, and I can appreciate that, but it's just right for me! I like to tear my cupcake in half, and then plop the bottom on the top, so the icing is in the middle of the two pieces of cake. Yes, I play with my food before I eat it, sometimes. Theirs is an honest-to-goodness buttercream. I can't stand the greasy, lard-based icings that seem to be on way too many cakes these days, or the ones that taste like unsalted butter and nothing else (Cupcake Cafe, I'm lookin at you!). Granted, one is more than enough. I ate the purple one and put the pink one in the fridge for another day!

You might THINK you can put away two of these, because the first one is so delicious and yummy that more has to be better, no? NO. I did this ONCE. Never again. About halfway through the second cupcake I thought "Uh oh, this is going to end badly," but I'd already committed, and by God, I am NOT a quitter! Let's just say I learned my lesson. Okay. I didn't. A year later I tried to put away 2 again but only made it through the first one and a few bites of the second one. Then I REALLY learned my lesson! One is just enough, especially when you have an ice-cold glass of milk on the side. : ) CUPCAKES!!!!!!

Magnolia Bakery
1240 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 767-1123