starring SALAD: Park & Sixth Restaurant and Drinkery

RER 7.18.15

It’s funny when a salad is your favorite dish of the meal, especially when you’re gorging on gastropub fare. It happens, and it happened at Park& Sixth Restaurant and Drinkery. You never would’ve guessed that a beet salad would be the star of your show when cheesy pulled pork mac and cheese, succulent scallops with dense risotto, and garlicky oil-drenched chorizo and scrimp sidled up to your table.

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But it was. It was fresh and it was last. And it was beautiful. Sweet ruby beets, velvety in texture and in color, resting on emerald mesculin lettuce, provided a cool kind of warmth with a royal delicacy. Pale pink rings of pickled onion and herbed goat cheese shone like diamonds against the darker richer hues, while the salad glimmered, sparkling with cayenne candied almonds. This was just a salad, but the combination of the flavors from the sweet beets, the spicy nuts and aromatic cheese was magic, only rivaled by the raucous textures and crunch.

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Everything looked just as scrumptious as that broach of a salad, but flavors fell flat, textures were off, and execution was a shadow. The pulled pork mac and cheese, a special for the evening, was hot and melty, just like you like it, but the meat was so sparse in the sea of fluctuating cheese.

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But the two scallops had promise, the sweetness of the sea and salt with a healthy dose of pepper. It was the truffled risotto dotted with wild mushrooms that held back the small starter. The rice was not cooked enough, with dry chewy centers, and the risotto was lacking the creaminess you were expecting.

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Shrimp and chorizo go together, forever, but the oil became spicy almost until you could not bare it. The crunchy bread dulled the heat and softened with the oil, enabling the shrimp and fatty chorizo.

Park & Sixth’s (gastropub) refined renegade menu offers classics with a twist to amp up “dive bar bites,” but the lovely beet salad wove into your memory as those gem tones emanated in the night.

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7.18.15

re.CAP: weekend FUN

RER 5.2.15

This is was one of the first warm weekends we have had in what feels like ages. Spring is here and we are excited. That means almost sunshiny brunches sitting outside and soaking it all in at Amelia’s Bistro with too many mimosas or peach bellinis and tasty savory sweet meals. It means chatting over breakfast burritos with bright guacamole and warm sour cream and sunny side up eggs resting on a heap of over cooked potatoes and under cooked veggies.

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RER 5.2.15

That means too-late dinners, and cool evenings with clear dark skies, and long wait times for fancy artisanal pizza and limited specialty cocktails at Razza. It means spring specials are abound like beet salads with almost tempting pea shoots filled with earthy aromas and pizzas topped with not enough and browned and comfortable.

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5.2.15

RER 5.2.15

everything has its reason: the FINCH

RER 4.9.15

Stepping into The Finch is kind of like walking into your own kitchen, only it’s cooler. The lines are cleaner, the painted white brick is brighter—it’s just better.

And then passing the very open bar and the even more open kitchen, you step through a doorway, and you are transported to somewhere else. Wherever it is, it’s just as cool, just not as clean. This dining room has a formula, just as the front space does, it’s just not the same equation. Its exposed brick brings Brooklyn in and the classic furniture ties it to the front.

You sit down, and you want to explore. Your eyes wander, catching the mortar between the bricks, the different textures on display, the changing light coming in, and the many shades of green of plants. It’s intimate back here too, but it feels airy and open, almost outdoors.

The different spaces echo the streamlined menu and beautiful dishes; it’s apparent each is created, tested and perfected, but here too, there’s a formula. Everything’s there for a reason, even if you don’t want to believe it—like that unfinished back wall. Ingredients seem a little haphazard and unconnected at first, but you want to try everything, you want to see how it all works out.

And somehow, it does.

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Your appetizer is split gracefully into two large shallow dishes, one for each of you. Its arrangement is artful, crafted like sculpture, elements hidden and exposed. The sweet beets are roasted and red, soft and perfect, while the toasted traviso is bitter and smoky, cooled by creamy salted burrata. A savory brittle made with pine nuts crunches and plays to the sweet strengths of the beets and the mature savory moments of the traviso, while all unites with the mild and sensuous cheese. 

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Pork two ways makes for a whimsical dish, imaginative and sensible, hearty and delicate. A crunchy pork croquette, perfect and stringy, rests on a bed of soft cabbage and sunchokes studded with large pearls of mustard seeds. Every element melds to combat the delicious fattiness of the fried item, while a smooth apple puree marries pink centered slices of pork. There is no redundancy and yet a brilliant continuity is achieved.

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Your scallop entrée is a sexy surf and turf, bringing together sea and land seamlessly. The dish is a texture playground, where multiple feelings are playing tug of war. Stalemate. The soft, succulent scallops counter the rubbery, meaty snails that, too, have its own tenderness. There is heat and wonder written in slinky slender mushrooms and kernels of chewy Einkorn. Green things and grains bring in earthy tones and brilliant color, but you can swim in the richness and the decadence without getting lost…

Each bite and memory is meticulously constructed, precise and crafted, but also delectable and indulgent. You almost forget where you are and that your kitchen is nowhere as cool.

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4.9.15

RER 4.9.15

the let-DOWN : UMAMI Burger

RER 1.12.15

Maybe, I wasn’t finding that the meal was worth the hype. Don’t get me wrong— I’m a burger kinda girl. I really love a good burger. But as much as I wanted to love my burger from Umami Burger, I did not.

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I got the Manly Burger, which was topped with beer cheddar, bacon lardons, onion strings, house ketchup and mustard spread. It was greasy and a lot. The textures were fun—the chewy lardoons, the crispy onion strings, the decadent beef and almost fluffy bun. But it was too much grease, too much heavy, and somehow I feel like truffle had infiltrated everything.

I did try my friend’s Truffle Burger and that too, was greasy and difficult to get down. Delicious, but more than three bites of one of these burgers seemed nearly impossible to me.

By the end I peeled off the cheese, removed the strings and lardoons, skipped the bread and just ate my patty. My Manly Burger was emasculated and denuded.

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And as much as I love truffle, it is possible to over-do it. It seems like truffle is “the thing” at Umami Burger, and my friend wanted to eat there for the Truffle Burger. But I wasn’t feeling it. The truffle fries were skinny and salty, with a dense glob of truffle cheese. It lay thick and creamy and truffly, too truffly. Next time I would opt for the plain fries.

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I really wanted the truffled beet salad, before I realized how truffly everything was going to be. Surprisingly, I really liked the salad, even though its base was spicy adult arugula. The truffle was definitely highlighted but it made the arugula less aggressive. The smooth ricotta, sweet beets and smoked almonds broke up the utilitarian truffle. It was a vicious cycle of necessary evil and vanquishing that evil.

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The staff was super nice and friendly, even though our server never brought the beer I ordered. He answered all our silly questions and gave his recommendations. I don’t know if the cool vibe and the service are really enough to make me try another burger, though the dessert list looked pretty up my alley! 

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1.12.15

photo op: first days of SUMMER

RER 6.11.14

Summer has just begun and there has already been plenty of fun in the sun. A celebration of the longest day of the year was complete with meat on a bun-- an ooey gooey cheese burger topped with a fried egg and a bbq brisket sandwich with stringy mozz. 

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There has been sushi in the sunshine (more than once), bubble tea memories, mini cupcake moments, slammin’ salad, fresh farmer’s market produce, bomb blondies and short skirts. 

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What an awesome start to the sunny season. Has your summer started with a bang? Taste anything good? Don’t forget to follow on facebook, instagram, twitter, yelp and pintrest to keep up with all the food adventures.

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6.21.14