Monthly Archives: November 2015

NYC – 10/9/15 – Sadelle’s

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My first attempt to visit Sadelle’s unfortunately was on a Monday and I did not realize that they were closed.  Its probably good that I gave them an additional week to work out some of the kinks.  There are several restaurants where terrible service completely ruined the experience for me and because the food was not exceptional I will never return.  On this visit to Sadelle’s service was honestly a complete disaster.  My table evidently fell through the cracks with no server assigned and I sat for 25 minutes before even being able to catch somebody’s attention.  And it really went downhill from there.  However in spite of this Sadelle’s is one of my favorite new restaurants of the year.  I absolutely loved the waldorf salad including the lemon vinaigrette which tastes exactly like one I used to make.  I wasn’t expecting anything great from the house beets but this may be the best beet salad I’ve ever had.  The fresh herbs and lemon zest made them somewhat addicting.  While I believe that food and service are equal parts of the experience, on rare occasions great food is enough to forgive the other issues.  I took a chocolate babka to-go and may have eaten the whole thing in two days (even though I hate to admit it).

Waldorf salad – chicken, raisin, walnut, celery, apple
 House beets
 Chocolate babka

NYC – 10/6/15 – Contra & Commis

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For some reason this is the first Contra collaboration dinner that I have managed to attend.  Such a fun evening and I’m glad to have finally experienced some of James Syhabout’s cooking as I have yet to get myself to Commis.   So many fantastic dishes that it is difficult to choose a favorite but I think I would have to go with the trout skin as I could have easily eaten a dozen more.  Looking forward to the next of these collaborations!

trout skin with smoked roe, cultured cream
 bread
 oyster, horseradish & red shiso, dried scallop broth
 cabbage & caramelized sunchoke, dill, anchovy
 hake, warm soup apple, verbena, licorice, caviar
 treviso, carrot, pistachio
 raw beef, kale, sorrel
 squab, ginger & plums, hazelnuts
 grape & oats

Chicago – 11/5/15 – Green River

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I first went to Green River two days prior only to see Julia Momose and have a few of her sure to be fantastic cocktails.  I hadn’t given any thought to actually eating here but we made a somewhat last minute decision to return for lunch prior to heading out of town. I love having absolutely no expectations and being completely pleasantly surprised. Outstanding job Chef Lirette. And thank you Julia for the great cocktail pairings and for taking such great care of us. I can’t wait to return! If you haven’t been, get past the seemingly odd location, and go.

 Farro Salad – Grape, Buratta, Almond
Cheese Plate
 Beef Tartare  – Yolk, Horseradish, Caper
 Smoked Whitefish Tartine – Egg, Radish, Celery
 Pork Terrine – Mustard, Fine Herbs
 Bouillabase – Fennel Broth, Mussels, Clams, Cod
 Parisian Gnocchi – Trumpet Mushroom, Squash
 Roasted Chicken – Cauliflower, Coarse Grits, Jus
 Cheeseburger – Cheddar, Pickles, House Sauce

Chicago – 10/4/15 – Next Terroir

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I tend to have the highest expectations for the final menu of the year, likely as they always have the highest price tag.  And while I try hard not to compare menus, this was overall one of my favorites. I don’t think that there was a stand out dish, but I genuinely really enjoyed every course which has not been the case on every menu. Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of all of the wine but I assume much has changed by now (and there was a lot of it!).  I’m always somewhat sad when a year ends after having these meals to look forward to for 10 months but on to 2016.
Char roe with rye and creme fraiche
brussels sprouts with beer and flax seed
caramelized onion with chicken skin and heart
prosciutto with honey and lemon
crostini with nasturtium and parmesan




 Sturgeon with scallions and iterations of peanut
 Consommé of barley with arugula and montasio
 Squab  with beets and fennel
 Pear with blue cheese and fresh moss
 Potato chips, caviar, popcorn


 Lion’s mane, bison, truffled soil
 Hamachi, ginger, fermented gooseberry
 Snail, artichoke, eucalyptus aroma
 Lamb, olive, valley wind
 Molasses cake, cottage cheese, bay
 Tea cookie, flan, caramelized white chocolate

Chicago – 10/3/15 – Nico Osteria, Green River & Alinea

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Nico Osteria
I’m pretty sure I swore I’d stop blogging about my trips to Nico because there have been way too many.  But I just can’t help it.  Still my favorite brunch in Chicago with consistently fantastic crudo, pasta and cocktails.  And it is always lovely to see familiar faces.


Rock fish crudo
 Rigatoni with a northern ragu
 Gem lettuce, caper berries, fig-balsamic vinaigrette, parmesan
 Salumi & Cheese – La Quercia ham, mortadella, milano salami, goat cheese

Green River
This was only a brief stop for pre-dinner cocktails which of course were fabulous.  More comments on our lunch two days later in a future post.  

Alinea
I’m fairly certain that I’ve been to Alinea more times than any other restaurant.  First world problems my brother would say.  I suppose I am fortunate but also need to stay home long enough to become a regular anywhere in NYC.   Still my favorite restaurant in the US and I can’t imagine that anything will knock off black truffle explosion as the best bite of all time.  On every visit I’m completely blown away by something and wonder how they will top it the next time, but they always do.  This meal Chef Davies’ trout dish was my favorite hands down.  I can’t wait to see what Alinea 2.0 has in store.

Peach – basil, murray river salt
 Bocadillo – bread, jamon iberico, manchego
Gilda – guindilla de ibarra, anchovy, olive
Jamon iberico – cantaloupe, salt, espelette
Tortilla – potato, onion, egg
Patatas Bravas – paprika, chile, garlic
 Strawberry – tomato, pumpernickel, burratta
 Char Roe – english pea, olive oil, chamomile
 Brook Trout – uchiki kuri squash, thai banana, blis
 Graffiti – matsutake, maitake, parsley

Unagi – pickled plum, white sesame

Corn – uni, nori, togarashi

Totoro Kombu – hamachi, ice fish cracker

Percebes – smoke, seawater, ash

Chicken – shishito, lily, kombu
 Hot Potato – cold potato, black truffle, butter
 Wagyu – matsutake, ginger, black garlic

Black Truffle – explosion, romaine, parmesan

Olive Cake – extra virgin olive oil, black pepper
  
Lamb – caper leaf, grapes, olives

Bacon – butterscotch, thyme, black pepper
 Parsnip – honey truffle, vanilla, orange
Balloon – helium, green apple (missing a photo)
Tropical Fruit – rum, vanilla, kaffir lime

Washington, DC – 10/1/15 – Little Serow, Jack Rose and Dram & Grain

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Little Serow
Luckily it had been pouring down rain all day and so the line at opening was much shorter than I expected.  This New Yorker certainly appreciated the generous table spacing and I quite like a set menu and not having to make any decisions.  While my favorite dish of this meal was the pomelo, I shockingly loved the tofu and it is one of my least favorite ingredients out there.  I will say that for some reason I was expecting the spice level to be much higher than it actually was.  Perhaps previous reviewers can’t tolerate spice or the cooking style has changed in this regard?  Regardless a fantastic experience.

nam prik num
finger chilies/shallots/bla ra

dtam som o
pomelo/lemongrass/rock shrimp
sai oua
pork/garlic/lime leaf
 laap pla duk chiang mai
catfish/galangal/lanna spices
 tow hu thouk
tofu/ginger/peanut
 het grapao
mushroom/basil/egg
 si krong muu
pork ribs/mekhong whiskey/dill
  

Jack Rose and Dram & Grain
The whiskey collection is certainly impressive and I still wonder how the bartenders know where anything is located.  Quite fun flights.  We then retired downstairs to Dram & Grain as we all love a hidden speakeasy style cocktail bar.  Unfortunately it was literally so cold that I remember little else about the experience and could focus only on how badly I wanted to leave.  Perhaps in summer this will be a better bet.



Washington, DC – 9/30/15 – Masseria & Thip Khao

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Masseria
Despite the protestations of two dear friends, there are great cocktails to be found in DC, but perhaps just not at the places you would expect.  We stopped at Masseria only for a pre-dinner drink but ended up having a second round and a few snacks.  Such a fantastic space that feels like you are anywhere but DC…perhaps SoCal….maybe Austin. I’m definitely looking forward to returning for dinner!




Thip Khao
Unfortunately we ordered so much, and debated dishes for so long, that two months later I have no idea what anything was.  Suffice it to say it was all fantastic.  My only complaint is that it was so loud that conversation was actually impossible.