UFOs

I stumbled across Trader Joe's UFO's last time I was there. There are very tasty and for $3.99 a bag, a steal in my opinion (they'll last you a while).  Try them in brownies, when making chocolate buttercream frosting or have a few as an after dinner treat.  They are great!

La Palapa Cinco de Mayo Dinner

Starting tomorrow, La Palapa starts serving its Cinco de Mayo special menu.  Frozen watermelon margaritas will go well with ceviche blanco de camaron y coco - it's shrimp ceviche the color of the Mexican flag!  One of my Palapa favorites is the setas a la diabla, mushrooms sauteed with ancho chile.  For Cinco festivities, the kitchen is serving them up with skirt steak marinated in tequila and served with fresh tortillas.  Whether you head to the St. Marks Place (East Village) location or the Palapa on Sixth Ave, you'll get the same killer Cinco de Mayo menu from May 1 until the culmination on May 5.

(if all else fails, eat some chalupas!)

Chocolate Bar Returns

This was important news in case anyone missed it this morning in the Dining Section.  The Chocolate Bar in the West Village returned yesterday and it's bigger and better than ever.

Still Tasty?

I have been using the website Still Tasty lately and thought I might share!  ST is "Ultimate Shelf Life Guide" and answers the tough question: "keep it or toss it?"  Culinistas from The Dish's Dish are always fielding this question since they make a week's worth of food for each of their clients in one day.  However, if you don't have a Culinista to answer this questions for you on a case by case (err dish by dish) basis, this is the website for you.  They get down to the nitty gritty - differentiating between fresh and frozen, whole and cut up produce.  The fish/shellfish category is extensive.  The site also includes excellent articles about topics such as "best by" and "use before" markings as well as tips for safe defrosting.  Check out the site today before slathering that lunchtime sandwich with mustard or mayo...

Crawfish anyone?

This Sunday from 1p until 10p, The Redhead will be holding it's second annual Crawfish Boil!  $30 gets you a sizable looking plate.

Wine + Cheese

My friend Anna over at Recession Cookbook points us in the direction of the chance to throw a cocktail party sponsored by the French government! Click here for details.

RSVP to hear me speak!

On Tuesday, April 28th, I'll be speaking at Citibabes about how to be a Culinista. RSVP to learn all the secrets, enter to win a free week of service... and get a free bag of granola ;-)

Frock!

The Dish's friends over at little biRd are having a little shindig at Tracy Reese tonight for tweens.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, because The Dish's Dish is supplying all these sweeties with our special Chocolate Skipping Stones for the event.  Should give them enough energy (re: caffeine and sugar) to sustain them while trying on prom dresses and pretties all night long.  Well, at least from 6-8pm.

food.com

Today I discovered food.com.  What is this?  It's a handy little application that lets you search through recipes indexed from the best recipe sources on the web, and allows you to store the ones you like - all in one place.  The 'net, not being my strong suit, I decided to try my best to explore what this is.  It turns out, it's really easy to understand and use.  Simply download the application, log out of your browser, and then when you re-enter, you'll have a little recipe toolbar:

I first serached for banana bread, reasoning that there are a ton of recipes for banana bread. And there were! But the 2587 search results within food.com came out super organized and from reputable sources (epicurious.com, foodandwine.com, etc.).

The recipe I liked was Caramel Banana Bread Puddings - not exactly what I was looking for; perhaps better?  It had received 4 out of 4 forks in Epicurious' ratings so I clicked "Add to my recipe box." You can click the URL to see the full recipe or, once you've added it to your recipe box, you can access it (from the toolbar) that way.  I am still exploring this app, but so far so good.  I can create recipe collections and specify my favorites.  I can also upload my own recipes - non-internet based - so as to manage those as well.

Food.com is still in beta, but that doesn't mean you should wait to start using it.  I can't count the number of ripped-out recipes I have stashed in various file folders around my office and apartment... not to mention the random ones I have bookmarked.  Food.com's toolbar, with such an easy searching capacity, has already guided me towards a collection of recipes that I want to try - and I don't have to worry about losing them in clutter.

Brooklyn Food Conference

The Dish's Dish will have a presence at the Brooklyn Food Conference on Saturday May 2!  What is the BFC, you may be asking. Well, it's a day of events, panels, nibblings and workshops about food - how we eat, what we eat, how we can eat better and what we can do within the community to make it happen.  The Dish's Dish will be there, along with Peter Hoffman, Bill Telepan and Dan Barber, putting in our two cents about increased well-being through food.  The Dish's Dish clients know that we use the best ingredients to cook their weekly meals - and it directly impacts their quality of life; we'll be at the BFC to share the love!  We will also be selling bags of addictively delicious granola.  See you there!

May 2

John Jay High School: 237 7th Avenue, Brooklyn & PS 321: 180 7th Avenue, Brooklyn

The Boat Basin

The 79^th street Boat Basin was one of my first New York Experiences, and for me, it still signifies the beginning of summer. On Saturday night my boyfriend and I decided to drop in for a burger and a beer. We soon learned that we were not the only ones with this brilliant plan. The steps leading up to the outdoor restaurant were overflowing with people savoring the first warm day, drinking margaritas and munching on salty potato chips. The wait was almost an hour, but we decided to stick around.

This no-frills, plaid-tablecloths and paper plates joint is not at all about the food. Views of the Hudson River await every diner, and in Manhattan, a six dollar beer with a view is unbeatable. So what if you’re practically sitting elbow-to-elbow with the table next to you, or if you have no idea who your waiter is—it’s about enjoying simple cuisine and basking in the warm weather. This is not a place for food snobs.

Read and I started with a chopped salad—romaine, cranberries, portabellas, mangos, strawberries, feta, and a light raspberry vinaigrette. It arrived in a plastic, pre-made salad container, but the salad was surprisingly tasty. A good starter to the meal.

I ordered a basket of popcorn shrimp which came with chipotle mayo. Read ordered a bacon and white cheddar burger, which arrived at a perfect medium rare. No sides, garnish, or filler adorned these plates (we had to order coleslaw separately). Like I said, this place is no-frills.

The Boat Basin is a summer staple. When the weather warms up a little more, Pier One opens up down the street at 7oth. Those looking for a chic-er experience should check this place out—glass tables, white wine sangria, hummus platters, and burgers served on brioche. But more on Pier One in a later entry….

Pio Pio Salon

The Upper West Side is not exactly college budget friendly. Even the cheaper restaurants can feel like a splurge when the food is less than satisfying. Sometimes I feel like I’ve tried it all, but it’s never true. On Friday night, my boyfriend and I went to Pio Pio Salon on Amsterdam and 94th. Known for their rotisserie chicken, simple Peruvian sides, and fresh seafood, Pio Pio is an Upper West Side favorite—according to my Upper West Side boyfriend. And it was packed. Lost in a sea of jam-packed two person tables, I thought that our dining experience would be affected by our lack of space. Surprisingly, I found the low hum of fellow diners and the steady bustle of the waiters to be very lively and warm.

Read and I started with a Papa Rellena, a deep fried mashed potato croquette filled with a savory meat sauce, topped with salsa criolla, and served with a side of baby greens and a heaping mound of pickled red onion slices. It was very good, homey food. The potato was creamy, the skin crisp, and the sauce oozed from the middle when we cut it open.

Our next course was extensive. Our waiter suggested multiple times that we condense our order, but moderation has never been our thing. We ordered a roasted chicken accompanied by a fresh avocado and tomato salad, fresh cut fries, and a vegetarian tamale. That would be enough for the average couple, but we also ordered their version of paella.

Everything arrived beautifully and with impeccable timing. The roast chicken was juicy, the avocados perfectly ripe, and the paella was a massive mound of seafood—not the usual bombardment of rice and three pieces of shrimp. We were not crazy about the tamale, but many people seemed to be enjoying it.

Our water was never empty, our pitcher of Sangria was too much for us to finish, and we were completely stuffed when we left. We couldn’t even split a dessert.

The best part? It was incredibly affordable. A roast chicken for under 10 bucks, a pitcher of Sangria for 20, you can’t beat it. A steady stream of eager customers flowed through the door the entire night, reaffirming that Pio Pio is a neighborhood favorite, and a great deal on the Upper West Side.

Rooftop Bars

As summer (slowly) approaches, the bar-going crowd is beginning to look for a warmer hangout. While most rooftop bars are still closed, opening later in May, I found a couple of spots that have already opened their doors. With the temperature hitting almost 75 last weekend, I decided to take a peek at the rooftop bar scene. The first place I checked out was Mé Bar, a rooftop bar on the top of the La Quinta in K-town which practically sits on the Empire State Building. The cheesy but charming set up of throw pillows on bamboo benches, tiki torches, and Christmas lights is a lot more fun at night, attracting a NYU crowd, the usual tourists, and young professionals. Drinks were reasonably priced and the bar had a very laid back, summer vibe.

Next, I did a drive by viewing of Local West Bar—a second story hangout across from Penn Station. From fifty feet away I could see that it was completely overcrowded with camera toting tourists and business commuters. Everyone looked like they were having a great time in the sun, but it looked so crowded that I worried about being shoved off the edge of the roof. I decided to skip Local West Bar and went on to my next destination.(picture courtesy of nymag)

Bar 13 is right off of Union Square, and has a separate entry for its roof top bar. Out of the three bars I checked out this weekend, Bar 13 gets my highest score. High above the traffic of Union Square, you would never know that this bar exists. I walked up the winding staircase to the rooftop to find a private party of young hippies and hipsters celebrating who knows what, complete with an open barbeque, animal crackers strung to the walls, and blow up animals dangling from rafters. It looked like a lot of fun. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of space for movement, so I had a quick drink and decided to return on the next sunny day!

Of course, there are also the more upscale rooftop bars. Those with 75 dollar gold martinis and exotic fruit cocktails were not on my short list, but for the right crowd, it looks like a swanky night out. These bars include:

A60: 60 Thompson, 60 Thompston St., between Spring and Broome Sts

High Bar: Gramercy Park Hotel, 2 Lexington Ave., at 21st Street

Hudson Sky Terrance: The Hudson Hotel, 356 W. 58th St., between Eighth and Ninth Aves

The Pen-Top Bar and Terrace: The Peninsula Hotel, 700 Fifth Ave., at 55^th

Plunge: 18 Ninth Ave., at 13th St.

Hotel Gansevoort: 18 Ninth Ave.

I was surprised to discover that there is no shortage of rooftop bars in Manhattan. In the 13 mile stretch, there are over 30 seasonal rooftop bars. Some of the favorites include:

230 Fifth: Located exactly where the name implies

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden: 1000 Fifth Ave. 5th floor

The Park: 118 Tenth Ave.

Soho House: 29 9th Ave

Hotel Metro: 45 W. 35th St., between Fifth and Sixth Aves

For a more extensive list with short descriptions, visit New York Magazine….and hope for sunshine!

Pelican Larry's

Pelican Larry's is that special place in Naples (Florida) where we stop on our way from the airport to the beach.  It's perfect: dive bar meets fresh seafood meets deep fryer.  It's our place.  At Larry's, a key job of the (cutie pie) bartender is to shuck oysters. 

And at Larry's, the oysters are served with Saltines, cocktail sauce and horse radish... not the fancy New York mignonette and other various jus meant to be drizzled just so. 

There is also a killer grouper basket available - five or six pieces of just caught grouper, dredged is a thin layer of crispy batter before getting dunked in the deep fryer. 

Maybe living in New York has sheltered me too much from the sheer thought of divey bars serving respectable seafood as snack.  Who knows - but I sure appreciate it when I come down here.  A visit isn't complete without conch fritters.   Some special blender of herbs give these a wonderful flavor after biting into the piping hot, crusty exterior. 

In the past, we've enjoyed peel 'n eat shrimp, crab cakes, calamari and a whole slew of the other seafood options on the menu.  Did I mention almost nothing is over $10?  So next time you are in Naples, want to catch a game (any game - there are over ten TVs just at the bar), eat delicious seafood and cheap beer (less than a buck on Monday nights), Pelican Larry's can be your place, too.

WTW - Sea Salt

Naples, Florida is an elegant town, but there is something about that sea breeze coming off of the Gulf that keeps it from being pretentious.  On a recent visit to Sea Salt, I wore an outfit both whimsical and sophisticated.  I paired a Forever 21 flouncy black T-shirt and sky blue jeans with caramel Manolo Blahniks.  Because we get to drive everywhere (and thus leave things in the car! Ahhh luxury), all I needed was my little Gucci wallet to carry a camera, phone and lip gloss. Hair was loose and air-dried.  Jewelry was the usual hodge-podge of Suki-purchased drop eagle necklace + black pearl + recently converted from earrings gold and pink sapphire lotus petal charm.  Earrings came by way of the contemporary art museum gift shop in LA.  But truly, so long as you remember to have a pedicure before you arrive (I opted for Trombone this week), anything goes in Naples.

Sea Salt; Naples

Last night I enjoyed dinner at Sea Salt - a relatively new restaurant to the 3rd Street area of Naples, Florida.  Chef Fabrizio Aielli comes by way of the DC dining scene, where he had a successful trifecta of restaurants.  However, after a few days of Florida sunshine several years back, he decided he had to open up shop down south.

Local, organic, naturally-raised... all are buzz words for Aielli's menu options.  Nautical-inspired wood, limestone and glass describe the interior.  The backlit photographs of Naples-famous locations (like the pier) infuse the perfect touch of neighborhood charm into the elegant restaurant. 

For those wanting an especially unique experience, request the chef's table, which sits in the midst of the kitchen - a very open operation into which people can (and do) check out what the chef is cooking on their way to and from the WC.  But even sitting at the table in the dining room will lend itself to the special experience.  The meal begins with the presentation of 6 types of salt - a trend in which even NYC isn't nearly saturated.  There is black salt - called kala namak from India - grey salt, Hawaiian salt, pink Himalyan salt, a particularly smoky salt and one that tasted like hard boiled eggs due to its interaction with sulfur while harvesting.

It was fun to get to try each salt alone - simply with excellent bread and olive oil - before selecting menu options that include many of the varieties.  I chose the kona kampachi carpaccio appetizer + a basket of crispy oysters to share while my dining companions opted for fantastic looking salads.

Entrees were very interesting - and, amongst the table, we had a wonderful balance.  Pan seared tuna with Cyprus black lava sea salt, fois gras mousse, silken cipolini onions and malbec mushroom ragout was a decadent pick.  Roasted Loch Duart salmon marinated in Limoncello, with green lentil mustard sauce, turnips, cipollini onion and topped with shaved poached pear looked divine.  My simply grilled salmon served with asparagus, grilled tomato and shitake mushroom was a solid pick. But I thought the braised lamb shank with roasted fennel, fontina cheese, swiss chard and mashed potatoes served with fig sauce looked like the tour de force.  We couldn't pass up the variety of fries and so opted for a classic basket as well as one flecked with Parmesan and white truffle oil. They came with black ketchup - made that way by a balsamic reduction - and pink mayo, thanks to chopped tomatoes.

It was a wonderful, memorable meal that has me ready to purchase and cook with my own array of salt asap.  My one hesitation with the restaurant is their dessert program.  The establishment has a little cafe in which they sell Norman Love chocolates and thus serve them for dessert at the tables as well.  The chocolate truffles are very tasty and indeed special.  But besides an ample array of them, there are only a few choices for made-in-house ice cream and sorbet; nothing else.  With a restaurant boasting sea salt, I'd love to see a caramel tart topped with a little of it.

Miguel's Chips

While in Florida, we came across these chips, Miguel's, at a really great organic market, Food & Thought.  I highly recommend the market for when you are in the area and the chips wherever you can find them.  We tasted the three pepper, which were great with both crab dip as well as fresh salsa.  There are no unknown ingredients in the recipe - just pure flavor. 

Clean Plates NYC

A few years ago, I had an idea to start a consulting company that helped people in New York pick the healthy options at restaurants - the idea being that if no one is going to give up eating out but still wants to loose weight and eat healthier, they'd have to start being savvy within the confines of the menu.  I was still in college when that thought flashed across my mind and by the time I had graduated, I was already onto my next endeavor.

So, when Jared Koch showed me his recently completed book, Clean Plates NYC, I was thrilled.  Someone else - in a more appropriate position - had capitalized on this idea in book form.  And the book is glorious. It's a pocket-sized field guide to 75 restaurants that he and New York food critic Alex Van Buren deemed both delicious and beneficial to the body.  The restaurants aren't what you think.  Well... sure Angelika Kitchen is in there, but so, too, are Babbo and Elettaria. This book sounds too good to be true, huh?  Well, that's because Jared put a ton of backend work into it.  He (and Alex) created a master list of restaurants that he first exposed to a health check.  He'd call each establishment as a potential customer and ask (for example) about the meat - is it hormone and antibiotic free?  He'd ask about the water - is it filtered? He'd ask about the produce - local? organic?  That whittled down the options quite a bit.

Thereafter, the duo would dine at the restaurants and ask more tough questions, while always keeping the criteria of a pleasant dining experience in the back of their minds.  Neither wanted to sacrifice ambience, taste or decor, reasoning that "healthy" eating can equate to pleasurable eating.  Of course!! But people really seem to forget that - a lot.  They also seem to forget that eating mindfully will inevitabely lead to (according to Jared) more energy, mental clarity, emotional equilibrium, fewer minor ailments, reduced risk of major illnesses, more graceful aging, and looking far, far hotter with clearer skin and a sexy bod (page 18)!

This book, out April 28th in New York, is for anyone - vegans, vegetarians and carnivores alike.  Jared goes extensively into his food philosophy in the first part of the book, setting forth his pillars of health and well-being.  They are refeshingly simple, logical and flexible ideas that have a very common sense, anyone-can-play quality.  The rating system for the restaurant as well as the symbols/legend make it easy to find a restuarant that will please anyone and everyone.  Pick up your copy of Clean Plates NYC asap - ...at least before you eat out for another meal.

Crab Gratin & Shrimp Remoulade

Hopefully I will have recipes for these soon.  But just a little teaser... I was recently treated to real, Louisiana crab gratin and shrimp remoulade. YUM!

My Alma Mater

It's always nice to be recognized.  This month, Barnard College shines a little light. Thanks! ... Ooo that apron is niiiice.

Click here to go to the page.

Pumpkin Seeds: Good/Bad News

After I made a very successful quinoa succotash early this week, I decided to investigate pumpkin seeds - an ingredient in the dish that I felt gave it tons of flavor and depth.  It turns out that, according to Health Diaries, Eat This! blog, they are a great source for prostate and bladder protection, warding off depression, prevention of many cancers, osteoporosis and kidney stones, reduction of inflammation, treatment of parasites and a good source for magnesium and lowering cholesterol.  I got a more in depth look at some of these benefits at world's healthiest foods; but then came the bad news.  These little buggers are very high in calories and fat!  Luckily, I'd only used about 1/4 cup for an enormous amount of quinoa, but still.  There are nearly 200 calories for that amount (imagine how tiny an amount 1/4 cup of anything is).  75% of those calories come from fat. Wow.  Well, I guess the moral is that you should eat pumpkin seeds in moderation.  Still, if you don't, a handful of these is better than a handful of M&M's.

La Fonda has Soul

After seeing Josh DeChellis masterfully prepare octopus, I couldn't help but want to check out La Fonda del Sol. Located in Midtown, this seemed like a great place to hit with my Grandma Thelma.  It turned out to be a perfect place to go with her.  Everything that we liked on the menu was in the tapas or appetizer section, which made for perfect nibbling between me and my tiny grandmother. It was also working to our advantage that the dining room -carpeted, soft, warm- was more than half empty.  We could hear each other easily and without strain.  I realize this may not be a plus for everyone, but if you want to take your grandma somewhere, the volume at Fonda is juuust right.

We started with an amuse - Taylor Bay scallops floating in horse radish, tomato jus, and a dribble of olive oil.  My grandma exclaimed that she herself could not make these, which was a high compliment.  I, too, was quite impressed - so much flavor is the mini give away!

Next came salt cod croquetas with romanesco sauce. These were also masterful.  Five came with the order, and they were rich.  But not rich enough for us to leave the odd man out.  We split the fifth.

We also quite enjoyed the sea scallop tiradito.  After a quick googling, I learned that this dish is also a relatively famous Nobu recipe.  But here, DeChellis adds tomato and uses baby cilantro curls to differentiate. 

We love shrimp so we had no qualms about ordering a jumbo prawn a la plancha as well as the garlic shrimp cazuelita.  They turned out to be very different dishes.  The prawn was indeed jumbo.  It was ginormous.  I loved it but my grandma thought it hadn't enough flavor.  She preferred the garlic shrimp, which came piping hot in a shallow dish all bubbling with garlic and oil and chilies.  Both were good; I couldn't decide.

We couldn't pass up the octopus - after I'd seen the video and the waitress stressed it's virtues.  But we ultimately weren't impressed by it - not compared to the other dishes we'd thus far relished.  We preferred the heavily charred/caramelized Brussels sprouts that we ordered to accompany all of the sea creatures.  We couldn't get enough of those - a line I usually reserve for my grandma and me with the petit fours.

All fulled up, we almost passed up dessert but we figured that sharing a creme catalona would be innocent enough. It was a wonderful way to end the meal.  It's mellow, creamy vibe was accented heavily with cinnamon and hints of orange.

And just when we thought we were all finished, we were presented with the petit fours... A three-tiered jewelry box of the daintiest rendition of petit fours.  Almond and passion fruit macarons, lemon triangle tarts, chocolate and salted caramel truffles, quince gelées and rhubarb cookies.  And of course, we couldn't get enough.