14 – the Nomad Bar

Posted in New York by Mary Lynne Kupchella

Finally the Nomad Bar has started brunch and somehow I managed to be the first in the door for the inaugural Sunday. Of course starting Nomad cocktails at noon may not be the best idea, but we loved the menu additions and those we sampled were all fantastic. My only continuing complaint is that nothing on the dessert menu sounds better than having the hot dog as dessert.

Espresso martini – bitter chocolate infused cognac, cold brew coffee, creme de cacao, Kahlua
Bitches Brew – rye, cold brew coffee, zwack, mole bitters

Bay Scallops – marinated with yuzu & pistachio (could eat these all day)

Brussel sprouts – roasted with smoked lentils & Parmesan

Baked eggs – chèvre & fall squash

Short rib – hash, potatoes & duck egg

Hot Toddy – scotch, Benedictine, peychauds bitters, spices

Hot Buttered Rum – Venezuelan rum, compound butter, fall spices

And for dessert because why not?
Hot dog – bacon wrapped with black truffle & celery

25Nov2014

Princeton, NJ – 11/4/14 – Agricola

Posted in Princeton by Mary Lynne Kupchella

As I spend everyday there I am trying to visit the Princeton spots worth visiting. There were things I really liked about Agricola, but a few I just couldn’t get past. The cocktails were surprisingly good as were the starters. But in November I expect a ‘fall squash’ flatbread to contain butternut or acorn, not what I consider summer squash. And while the cranberry walnut bread pudding sounded delicious it was oddly flavorless and spongy (hence no photo).

Great Road Farm Slow Roasted Beets – coach farm goat cheese, spicy carrots

Kale salad – roasted delicate squash, shaved radish, toasted pumpkin seed vinaigrette

Manchester Farms Quail – polenta, salsa verde

Striped Bass – turnip chowder

Fall squash flatbread – sweet potato, arugula-pecan pesto, house made maple ricotta

24Nov2014

Washington, DC – 11/2/14 – DBGB and Rasika

Posted in Washington, D.C. by Mary Lynne Kupchella

DBGB
Sometimes when you have been out too late and maybe had one too many drinks, you need an old favorite. Even though the DC DBGB is new it still fit the bill. And while it had my NY favorites, executed perfectly, there were slight differences which kept it from feeling like a chain.

Chop chop – romaine, avocado, shishito pepper, carrot, Asian pear, ginger-sesame dressing

Hand cut steak tartare

Tuna crudo – Harissa-sesame sauce, cucumber radish, crispy rice

Brioche French toast – spiced apple compote

Smoked salmon – everything bagel, cream cheese, caper, red onion

Tunisienne sausage – spicy lamb & mint merguez, lemon-braised spinach, chickpea

The Yankee – iceberg, tomato, vidalia onion, sesame bun

Sundaes!

Rasika
It has probably been years since I have had Indian food and other than the chai, this certainly made me wonder why it’s been so long! Unfortunately sleep deprivation has caught up to me and I can’t remember what all of the dishes were so a few are missing descriptions. They were delicious whatever they were!

Palak Chaat – crispy baby spinach, sweet yogurt, tamarind, date chutney

Cauliflower Bezule – mustard seeds, green chilis, curry leaves

Honey ginger scallops – burnt garlic, red pepper

22Nov2014

Washington, DC – 11/1/14 – minibar and barmini

Posted in Washington, D.C. by Mary Lynne Kupchella

I have wanted to go to minibar probably since it originally opened but DC being fairly close has worked against me. As hopping on Amtrak requires little advance notice I’ve just never planned a trip to DC far enough ahead of time to make reservations. Perhaps for the best to now be able to visit barmini as well on the same evening. Some really great beverage pairings as I knew there would be and some very memorable courses. My 2 favorite courses weren’t really courses at all but brought back childhood memories. The first was pressed ‘flowers’ in a book presented in the lounge. The second a shrunken hand towel which expanded with hot water just like the capsules that expanded to sponges in the bathtub (I’m sure my brother and I went through hundreds).

Pressed flowers

Hot and cold pisco sour

Parmesan canele

Pineapple shortbread

Pizza margarita

Almond tart with blue cheese

Rubber ducky

Late night Chicken Shawarma

Burger

Vietnamese Pig Ear

Painkiller

Hot towel

Fusilli

Shabu shabu

Iberico Tendon

Espardenyes with Bone Marrow

Beech mushroom Papilllot with Truffle

Squab and Oysters

Bonne Bouche Cheese Puff

First Frost

Breakfast in Hokkaido

Sesame Pocki

Raspberry Chocolate Bar, Yuzu-Mallow, Raspberry Wasabi Bon Bon

Doughnuts

Whiskey Bottle

Cotton candy birthday cakes for the party beside us

16Nov2014

Washington, DC – 10/31/14 – Rose’s Luxury

Posted in Washington, D.C. by Mary Lynne Kupchella

While I’m not sure if Bon Appetit’s annual top 10 best new restaurants are actually the best in the country, I have never been disappointed in any of them. Rose’s Luxury was no exception. We arrived a half hour before opening and when doors opened we were able to put our names on the list for later in the evening (although by this time the line had to have been a block long). With a group of five we were able to order almost the whole menu. Lovely friendly service and expectations exceeded.

Kumamoto oysters w/ green apple & wasabi granita

Pork sausage, habanero & lychee salad

Charred broccoli w/ Caesar dressing & white anchovies

Jerk chicken, pickled mango raita, green papaya salad

Whole grilled quail w/ fall greens & mulled cider glaze

Cacio e Pepe

Sfoglini rigatoni w/ Parmesan cream & breadcrumbs & truffles (had to order double!)

Martello spaghetti w/ tomato, spicy lobster & mint

Honey glazed carrots, marscarpone, matzo meal & dill

Caramelized cauliflower, Greek yogurt & some other stuff

Fried rice salad w/ Asian pear, raw cabbage & country ham

Smoked brisket, white bread, horseradish & slaw

Our extra course

Asian pear-butterscotch “napoleon”

15Nov2014

NYC – 10/25/14 – Marta

Posted in New York by Mary Lynne Kupchella

I’m always excited to check out a new Danny Meyer place although in this case I was a bit skeptical as I am of all new pizza places. The food was all great, especially the pizza (and I dislike far more than I like). Unfortunately the service was dreadful. My pizza cooled while I waited 20+ minutes for my water glass to be refilled, and when I finally was able to get my servers attention to ask it took another 5 min for her to reappear. And of course I was never asked if I wanted another cocktail. I hope these were just opening kinks that will be quickly worked out.

La Certosa – green & yellow chartreuse, AMA Bionda Ale & lemon

Polo – charred octopus, sun chokes, oranges, castelfranco

Patate Alla Carbonara – potatoes, guanciale, black pepper, pecorino, egg

11Nov2014

NYC – 10/24/14 – Le Bernardin

Posted in New York by Mary Lynne Kupchella

How absolutely lovely to find myself just a few blocks from Le Bernardin with an hour lunch break. The prix fixe City Harvest lunch may be the best $45 you can spend in NYC. I am always surprised by how generous the portions are as they could easily get away with serving half of what they actually do. Unfortunately my lack of timely updates to this blog has finally caught up to me as I didn’t write down the dishes and the online version is long outdated. Regardless everything was as perfect as you always expect from Le Bernardin.

9Nov2014

Chicago – 10/19/14 – Next Trio

Posted in Chicago by Mary Lynne Kupchella

This is definitely the menu I was most looking forward to this year. I remember late last year when the menus were announced I flipped back through ‘Life, on the Line’ to see if I could get an idea of what dishes would be on the menu. I didn’t really find much but an hour later was still engrossed in re-reading the book. I wish I had the opportunity to dine at Trio but had never even been to Chicago at the time. How times have certainly changed. Absolutely loved this dinner and it moves into my top 3 of Next menus. So very cool to see the origins of many Alinea dishes. Hoping to do it again before it ends!

Brook Trout Roe – avocado, sugar, lime

Rock Shrimp – cranberry, Meyer lemon, vanilla bean

Crab – coconut, ten bridging garnishes

Chestnut – baked potato, bitter chocolate, quince

Ice cream sandwich – parmesan, olive oil, black pepper

Black Truffle Explosion

Duck – lavender salt lozenge, foie gras, plum

“Pizza”

Poached Loin of Lamb – floral infusion, artichoke, orange

“Cheese ‘n Cracker”

“Salad” – red wine vinaigrette

Raspberry – tapioca, rose, lemon basil

Pushed Foie Gras – pear, sauternes, salt-roasted pear sorbet

Passion Fruit-Mustard

Smoked Persimmon – endive, pancetta, coffee

Lobster – wild mushrooms, rosemary vapor

Burnt Pineapple – smoked salmon, soy, togarashi

Short Rib – root beer flavors

Transparency of Manchego

Huckleberry Soda – five flavors gelled

Maragda Chocolate at 94 degrees – flaxseed, yeast, beer

6Nov2014

Chicago – 10/18/14 – Nico Osteria, Momotaro and The Office

Posted in Chicago by Mary Lynne Kupchella

Nico Osteria
This was unfortunately the first disappointing meal I have had at Nico and it wasn’t even their fault. We started this day attending a James Beard Foundation sponsored cooking demo at Sur la table where Chef Achatz did the Carbonara Explosion, a Parmesan version of BTE. I’m not going to say it was better than BTE but it was a VERY close second.

So of course we left with an intense craving for pasta carbonara, which Nico luckily had on the brunch menu, but there was just no comparison.

Chestnut coffee cake

Kouign Amann

Madai Snapper – kohlrabi salsa verde, nasturtium

Soft scrambled eggs – peperonata, prosciutto, olive focaccia

Spaghetti carbonara – bacon, egg yolk, bottarga

Cotechino – lentils, sunny side egg

Momotaro
I really wanted to love Momotaro but I just didn’t. Many friends have prior to my visit and since. Maybe it was just an off night, maybe we made poor menu choices, but I was just left feeling like it was just ok.
Tuna Jaga – tuna loin, gochujang miso, wasabi crispies

Smoked bacon & Eggs – soy marinated quail eggs, bliss maple syrup

Angel prawns – red chili yuzu kosho, ohba butter

Diver scallop – uni, ponzu butter, seabeans, ikura

Wafu potato salad – wakame, hakurei turnips

Aji Yakusugi – smoked jacked mackerel, 1000 year old cypress

Kurosawa Saba megamaki – seared marinated mackerel, sudachi lime

Wasabi salmon – marinated salmon, wasabi crispies

Curry udon – heritage pork curry, futo udon noodles, shishito

The Office
A bittersweet ending to the evening with the last drinks I will have made by the amazing Charles Joly at the Aviary. I wish I could remember the ingredients but they were all absolutely perfect. Dinner was washed away by the tartare by which all others are measured (and maybe a black truffle explosion or 2).