et: milan

March 12, 2011 in restaurants, travel

1. carbonara!

2. a trip to the market

3. little lunch for the train//italy's answer to the lunchable!!

4. bruschetta at a little place on via ticinese

how italian girls look like italian girls in a country that lives on cheese and prosciutto is beyond me. it's like they have super powers...can i get some of their genes? really, i felt no pressure to eat all of my vegetables in this country.

even though milan doesn't seem to be a big food city, all of the paninis and breads and stuff from the generic little cafes on every block were absolutely delicious and comforting...
and the aperitivo!
friend sarah took us to a bar in the navigli district for aperitivo, which is like milan's happy hour, but it is so much happier there because it involves an entire buffet of cheese, ham, focaccia, and butt loads of other things. it actually is too good to be true.

on our second day, cold and rain struck, so maria and i fled to our sanctuary {the supermarket} and got fresh pasta, tomaters, kinder eggs, and other goods to make a big fat italian feast. i made carbonara because it was that type of weather. i don't think they have soup weather in italy, i think there is just carbonara weather. it was amazing! {i attribute that to the fun little pasta shape!}

--yeh!!!

red rooster

February 23, 2011 in restaurants, dinner, new york

the only rooster i ever met was a gay one.

instead of

cockadoodle doo

he said

any cock will do*

{and at the end of the opera he got sold to the slaughter house, but nevermind that.}

this red rooster, the one that i finally broke my home-cooked meals binge for, is officially the

only

best reason to go

to harlem

above 96th.

so many simple foods that i had eaten before were just so much tastier with the aid of the spice master that is marcus samuelsson.

*a finalist for the title of this post

the cornbread was warm and moist and homey!

and honey butter is honey butter,

and the tomato jam was like... the feeling you get when the man at the corner pastry stand gives you a free donut...

and the mac and cheese!

holy comté.

it was disguised on the menu as mac and collared greens, or something,

and to that end i was a little nervous to see green things contaminating it.

but they just added a new accessory that every mac and cheese could wear!!

also, it may have been the first vegetable i'd eaten in days.

no. weeks.

no. days.

oh hella yeah it was good.

and there were correct breadcrumbs!

breadcrumbs are always a hard thing to get right on mac and cheese

because there's either not enough,

or there's way too many that don't actually end up getting crispy-fied.

this was perfect.

praise cheeses.

the rest were little itsy bitsy plates,

graced with little fishies and duckies and pickleys...

all very good.

oh! and there was this chicken + egg dish that was made with ethiopian spices and it made me want to try ethiopian food again. really, it was a hero of flavor.

mmmmm red rooster.

go to harlem, kids!

--yeh!!

red rooster

is on 125th and lenox.

reeeeeally close to the 2 and 3 train.

restaurant challenge: complete

January 03, 2011 in restaurants

things i learned,

things i ate,

and answers to questions that you probably didn't have {but my mom did}

1. cocks comb is gross,

so is jelly fishies,

and shrimps,

but truffles rock.

2. hot dogs and mac and cheese and schnitzel

still reign supreme on my list of most favorite foods.

3. more restaurants should have a menu option that reads something along the lines of,

don't worry about ordering...just sit down and let us bring you food

à la terroir tribeca

4. what were your favorite meals?

the ones with a lot of my favorite people and a lot of time

and a lot of booze:

terroir, piccolo angolo, alinea, to name a few...

and then there were the ones that i was completely obliterated for,

like the spotted pig and katz's and doughnut plant.

those were fun!

5. ok, but food-wise, which were your faves?

i have dreams about the breslin

and i've been back to kesté like a zillion trillion times

and the black label burger at minetta tavern really was worth an arm and an eye ball

and totto ramen

and baohaus...oh there are simply too many...

my favorites were all comfy foods

{but i did really love momofuku ko, and was astounded by alinea}

additionally, some of the best things i ate this year weren't part of restaurant challenge.

they were:

the banh mi at fatty 'cue {photos were kidnapped!},

the hot sauce and honey butter chicken biscuit from the pies n thighs booth at the columbus circle holiday market,

and, of course,

my 3,000 chicken schnitzel schnitzel truck sandwiches {happy birthday, oleg!}

6. things i ate for the first time:

cock's comb*, shrimpies*, truffles, fluke, sea bass, venison, duck, lamb, bunny rabbit, manta ray, caviar, salsify, rutabaga, liver, tongue, pickles, bone marrow, foie gras, turnip, tuna, quail egg, short ribs, goat, piggie face, mussels*, squid*, bitter melons*, eel*, seitan*, tempeh*, beets... ok i'm getting embarrassed.

*ew

7. did you get chubbier?

no. look at this graph i drew that charts my weight: