Crabcake Corndogs: A Revelation

Within the past month, I've been lucky to reconnect with a chef whom I've long time admired.  Once manning the kitchen at his restaurant Wyanoka, then Mojo and then a slew of other oft overlooked gems (Lure, Suba) Chris Santos regained his footing in 2005 when he opened Stanton Social.  The big, boisterous Lower East Side four corners has consistently put out inspiring, lighthearted and eclectic cuisine since it's inception - I was glad I could still make this claim after dining their after a little 2-year sabbatical last week.

Some items on the menu have stayed - French onion soup dumplings, red snapper fish tacos - but some new ones have arrived.  My favorite, and what I really think is genius, were the crabcake corndogs.  Wowza! The mashup is both brilliant and obvious, which I guess is what makes it so brilliant.  Of course the flavors will pair! Of course the form will fit! $12 buys three minis, skewered onto wooden sticks and deep fried in a cornmeal-buttermilk batter.  The interior is a flavorful mixture of crabmeat, Tabasco, chives and panko.  A corn-spiked dip accompanies just to add a little more kick.

(picture from StarChefs)

This is one of the most exciting dishes I've had this year. Seriously! It was just so much fun.  Get yourself over to Stanton Social asap for a taste.

Tasty iApps

Having trouble keeping up with all the latest foodie iapps?  I am! Luckily, my boyfriend reads Gizmodo.  Last week he came across this wonderful post.  The usual suspects like Yelp!, OpenTable and Epicurious are reviewed, but there are also lesser known projects worth taking note of: VegOut is a vegetarian's guide to eating out in NYC; Global Eater Food Dictionary helps you to amp up the snobbery while dining by cluing you into exactly what agedashi tofu is and how spicy you should ask your gaeng phet to be.  Michelin Guide and a wine guide are also listed - for times when you really want to bouge it up.

Monkey Bar

A few weeks ago, I enjoyed a lovely dinner hosted by The Supper Club at Greydon Carter's Monkey Bar.  Menu, service and company were all wonderful in their own right.  Take a look at our line up.

BLT Wraps

A few nights ago at BOBO, CHef Patrick sent out two dishes that blew my face off. The first is a dish currently on the menu - Crab Dip with Fried Cornichons. A dish layered with cream cheese then cocktail sauce then flakes of numnumnummy crab. Piled alongside like Lincoln Logs was a wall of fried little pickles, ideal for dipping.



I highly recommend. Soon after, CP sent out some individual BLT wraps.  Lettuce cupped a tomato confit that hid chunks of seared pork belly below.  Toasted bread crumbs topped in as surrogate bread. At the end of the meal he told us he was thinking of putting it on the menu to which we all enthusiastically responded YES!

OOOO Yummy!

This looks good and mellow!

Grandmother's Birthday Poem

My Grandma Sylvia emailed this Birthday Poem to me today. I am a lucky girl.

Since I could not sleep last night
I thought I 'd stay awake and write
a little poem for my precious Jill
Whom I  love dearly  and always will
Hope I can hang in there so we can celebrate many more
After all- what are Grandmas for?

Happy birthday xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Love you

My Birthday White Board

Taylor and I have a white board on our fridge and every few weeks we craft a picture. I usually start by drawing something like a flower doodle or something else along the lines of a 3rd grade level stick figure.  Then Taylor comes in and doctors the image up to look professional. Once I drew a Christmas tree and then the next day the board was a gorgeous mountain scene filled with evergreens.  There was also one where I drew a bird and then he filled in an entire birdbath in the middle of a European-style garden. Incredible.

But this morning was my favorite. Because I didn't draw anything. And because it is for my birthday.