TrelayneNYC

From last night's dinner:

House made tofu with scallion, bonito and daikon radish

Creamy and silken; excellent as always

Salmon sashimi

Chicken thigh and king trumpet mushroom yakitori with lemon and togarashi pepper

Berkshire pork and scallop dumplings coated in mochi rice, with hot mustard, baby bok choy and soy sauce

It was awesome; a Japanese take on lion's head meatballs

Fried anchovies with carrots and spicy vinegar

Someone in the kitchen knows how to fry, and this was no exception

Chilled udon with poached farm egg, nori, heirloom cherry tomatoes and Japanese cucumber

We had leftover cioppino and later, a peach galette for dessert.

If it helps any, they do deliver. 

hah

Lots of cooking today. 

Slow-roasted cherry tomatoes.

Some will be for tomorrow's breakfast, folded into scrambled eggs with crème fraîche; the rest will be for either crostini or with pasta.

Stufato di verdure, served with pesto.

Roasted figs.

These will be part of tomorrow's breakfast, served over Greek yogurt.

Split 1 lb. figs in half, then top with a mixture of: red wine vinegar, pinot noir, extra-virgin olive oil, wildflower honey, sea salt and black pepper. Roast for 20 minutes in a pre-heated 375 F oven.

Spiced roasted chickpeas

Tamarind margarita

Gul mina cocktail - feni, gin, kokum, lemon, basil

Naan.

I think this was the sourdough naan

Bengali roasted carrot salad, with pine nuts and lime juice

Crispy soft-shell crab, green mango salad

Goan grilled calamari, with lime, pickled onion and cilantro

Mexican Coke really works well with this kind of food.

Milk braised baby lamb, spring pea salad

Asparagus with coconut.

Braised gingered greens

Pilaf with morel mushrooms

Masala chai

Goan bibinca, apple-rhubarb compote.

Vanilla bean kulfi, edible gold leaf, strawberries, rosewater syrup.

Grilled pineapple, vanilla, black pepper syrup.

Would definitely return. My only regret is that this restaurant is 3,000 miles away from me and I can't just fly to NYC whenever I feel like it.

Paowalla
195 Spring Street (Sullivan Street)
SoHo

Foreground - ginger swizzle (ginger beer, mint, lime);
Background - cosmo-not (pinot noir juice, grenadine, citrus)

Bread with whipped goat cheese and sumac.

Radish, romesco sauce.

Strawberry-rhubarb gazpacho, vanilla sorbet, pistachio.

Fluke crudo, with sugar snap peas and kombu

Steak tartare, shaved radishes, new potatoes, pastrami spice.

Lobster, barley, carrot coulis.

Shrimp, broccoli rabe, fregola.

Hake, bacon, asparagus

Arctic char with olive and heirloom lettuces.

Nettle tortellini with shiitake mushrooms.

Pasta with maitake mushrooms and spinach.

Pork two ways -- sous vide loin and seared pork belly with French lentils, beets and caramelized shallots.

Wagyu steak, cipollini onion, ???

Cucumber gelee, cucumber broth.

Citrus parfait, blueberries, crumble

Berries, violet flowers, sorrel ice.

We felt this was "cute" for its own sake and not particularly worthy.

Coconut meringue cake.

Mignardises.

Hazelnut-sesame-chocolate truffles; yuzu gelee

On 10/25/2016 at 7:32 PM, Marty L. said:

Next time you're looking for a great, civilized meal in the West Village, try i Sodi (Tuscan without frills).

On 10/25/2016 at 9:28 PM, DonRocks said:

Note that chef-owner Rita Sodi also co-owns Via Carota with Buvette's Jodi Williams.

Some more pix from a visit a couple of months ago:

Porcini with blueberries and pecorino

Grilled artichokes with lemon aioli

Octopus with pesto

Grilled asparagus, caprino cheese, pickled shallots

Meatballs

Green beans with pesto and pine nuts

Chicken liver crostini

Rather disappointing. Was dry and needed a bit more "oomph".

Charred pork belly, served with sweet-and-sour onions

Awesomesauce on a plate

Raspberry crostata -- dry and crumbly.

Not too bad though -- with two glasses of white wine, coffee and herb tea, came out to $120 pp (incl. tax and 20% tip).

I prefer to let the pictures speak for themselves.

It's one of my favorite places to eat at in NYC although sometimes I do wish the aura of preciousness could be dispensed with.

Buvette
42 Grove Street (Bleecker Street)
Greenwich Village

Dinner menu for August 3, 2017:

Spaghetti with white clam sauce
Broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper
Italian fruit salad

Haven't been here in a while because being hospitalized after a seizure and multiple pulmonary emboli means you nearly died.

But I'm still around as you can see...

Oh, and this was today's lunch:

Fig and sweet pepper salad with mint and creme fraiche, adapted from "A Recipe For Cooking" by Cal Peternell, page 90

Spaghetti with clams, caramelized onion and mullet bottarga

My partner and I like to play a game whenever we watch TV.

We live in one of the least diverse cities in the country -- San Francisco, where the percentage of African-Americans is actually decreasing (I can't remember official statistics but it's something like 8% in 2015, now 6% in 2017) -- and the commercials reflect that demographic.

We say a commercial is diverse if at least 50% of the people in the commercial are women and people of color. Double points if it's a woman who's also a person of color.

As you can imagine, most of what gets shown fails this test.

I don't know how you guys split quotes into manageable pieces. I looked for the on/off html switch but couldn't find it.

This sentence:

"In the first 20 of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, 3 are Asian, 1 is Indian and 5 come from central/southern America."

is meaningless to me. So 9 out of 20 restaurants -- still less than 50% mind you -- are non-European/nonwhite establishments that may be owned by people of color. So what? What about the rest of the 50 restaurants? 9 out of 50 is less than 20%. Kind of pathetic, and both fail my diversity test.

Yes, it is true that being nominated is an honor, and yes it is true, that winning an award is an honor and validation by peers. But if women and people of color routinely lose to white men, then one can't help but think that another message is being sent however unconscious it seems. One's life experience dictates one's opinion and world view.

Moderators -- please delete as you see fit.

6 hours ago, Poivrot Farci said:

Conflating the entire restaurant industry with head chefs and a contorted awards process compensated with extra dough prospects makes a pretzel of sense at best. These are luxury services in the entertainment industry, not elected legislators directly affecting our livelihoods or providing essential services, though both receive votes that are based on anything but objective scoring.

Ostensibly, minorities are less represented than others because there are less of them. It may not be exclusively wholesale discrimination and more symptomatic of a litany of other social, economic and legislative factors. The $3billion NASCAR and the $4billion NHL (other stakeholders in the entertainment industry) were conspicuously absent from the NYTimes power exposé, and their profitable whiteness is probably because accessibility to go carts and ice rinks is more limited and costly than your average ball sports, instead of a collusion against anyone darker than the darkest Italian.

As it pertains to restaurants that fall within the grade worthy of JB/Michelin/GaultMillau/TopWhatever consideration, there is no reasonable expectation that the chefs who invariably work 60+hrs/week, nights, weekends and holidays represent the general population/labor force and statistics from the BLS concur.  Americans work longer hours for less pay and vacation than their international counterparts but 2/3rds still have weekends off and work somewhere in the 9-5 realm, perhaps less with telecommuting, which presents challenges in trying to oversee and manage a kitchen from home.

Absolutely not. Women make up 50.8% of the general American population (58.5% of the labor force and), but not of the industry (closer to 15%) and people of color/LBGT even less.  If LBGT people of color make up 15% of the chef population, then one can expect 10%-30% winners, but not more. That's just a matter of numbers and calculations and it would be a stretch to implicate 10^th Century Arabs in the numerical conspiracy to deprive minorities from awards shows a millennium later.

The awards (which, along with the Oscars have very little tangible merit other than driving up sales and egos)  are an inward looking masturbatory gala (every industry has them) that "should" represent the makeup of the industry (Asian chefs are the largest minority) but with so many categories the odds dictate that the largest population has a better shot of winning. It's more chance than malicious and a medal to hang on the mantel, not a scholarship.  In the first 20 of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, 3 are Asian, 1 is Indian and 5 come from central/southern America.

Working in a professional kitchen that strives to offer a premium product as a career is far from drinking snifters of scotch in club chairs at, chewing cigars and chuckling with the investors/owners/beneficiaries of said restaurants  The odds of breaking through to fame and acclaim in a fine dining restaurant (about 60,000 in the US) are worse than that actor who can't act like a server going to Hollywood or getting attacked by a blue lobster on the Cape.

The restaurant portion of the food service industry is awful. It is underpaid, under-insured and essentially an unskilled labor force that works shitty hours which are not conducive to a healthy, social or prosperous lifestyle. Dangling hopelessly rare prizes on the end of a sparkly stick is certainly not an effective way to court more passionate female chefs to a business that is one of the mascots for economic inequality & servitude to the privileged and no less flakey than encouraging little girls to grow up to be princesses. Anyone choosing to cook as a career for fame & fortune should invest in PR and a pair of ice skates or a tiara as a fail-safe.

It is an honor for these chefs to be nominated and validation for their work by peers who have established themselves as masters of the trade, but it is by no means meant to be a Benetton ad and I'll bet a fancy ham sandwich that most chefs were driven to cook out of necessity and to satisfy a creative craving for which there is an paying audience, rather than dreams of an elusive awards show indulged by star-fuckers.

The restaurant and hospitality industry already suffers from a diversity problem in case you haven't noticed, and just because they're head chefs or sous chefs or chefs down the ladder doesn't mean their problems and challenges should be trivialized as you seem to be doing here.  Awards shows that don't represent women very well are part of the problem because they send a message that the white male patriarchy is very much in place, that the JBF folks favor men over women. It's the height of irony that a foundation that was named for an LGBT person routinely reinforces an anti-diversity message where women and people of color lose to white men. This year's awards results are slightly better which is to say that no significant improvement occurred at all. You missed the point of the New York Times infographic completely -- it is true that the awards and the Oscars are verbal masturbation; that was never in doubt. White Americans are the people who decide what books should be written, what laws are passed, what movies get produced, who own the majority of companies and business organizations and sports teams, who lead most cities, and who comprise the majority of the most important of our elected leaders. It should be no surprise whatsoever that the restaurant industry mirrors this dynamic. Minority voices are not a significant part of this picture, if ever they were. 

For minority chefs, how many well-known black and Latino chefs have won at the JBF awards or placed highly amongst Michelin apart from Marcus Samuelsson? I can't think of another chef, can you?

If you want real change, then it starts with the customer base...namely, us. The same is true for the rest of the foregoing problems. If we want more minority representation in every aspect of life in this country, we have the power to effect change. Anything else is just a waste of time, and I don't have TIME to waste time.  Defending the system is a waste of time.  It doesn't sound like you care very much about these real issues which do exist, affect real people and are a challenge that doesn't get sufficient air time.

This paragraph: 

"Women make up 50.8% of the general American population (58.5% of the labor force and), but not of the industry (closer to 15%) and people of color/LBGT even less.  If LBGT people of color make up 15% of the chef population, then one can expect 10%-30% winners, but not more. That's just a matter of numbers and calculations and it would be a stretch to implicate 10^th Century Arabs in the numerical conspiracy to deprive minorities from awards shows a millennium later. "

sounds like a bunch of excuses and was a waste of my time to read. We probably don't have very many LGBT chefs who are award-winners. The point is that more is better than none. I can't believe I had to fucking type that.

I wouldn't put too much stock in statistics which can be manipulated to produce any outcome you want. As far as I'm concerned, those are about as useful as pages from the Bible which are good for nothing but toilet paper. 50% or more of the voters in this country are registered Democrats and women, and yet we ended up with an orange hamster who plays with his wheel. 

Why am I bothering to speak to privileged white folks? Good question.

3 hours ago, Poivrot Farci said:

Sure it is a pompously subjective affair that differs from the objective scoring of Track & Field and competitive eating and there is no harm in tokens on the podium, "but this year, 27% of the semifinalists were female, compared with 19% in 2009".  That exceeds the demographics compiled by the Census Bureau and BLS.  

#statisticallymorechefsaremenandwhite

Congratulations to Mr. Furstenberg, and his tireless head baker Ben Arnold who only gets crumbs of recognition and praise.

The JBF Awards, the Michelin star business and the 50 Greatest Restaurants or whatever it is are basically a bunch of (mostly) rich white people congratulating a bunch of white men with the occasional token woman or person of color so they can feel good about being diverse without actually showing any diversity. Lists tend to reflect the values of the list-makers after all.

In other words, business as usual.

In case you need reminding:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/26/us/race-of-american-power.html 

Why should the restaurant industry be any different? I expect it to mirror America. #sarcasm

Yes, congratulations to all, but let's be realistic about exactly what it is that is being won. 

I'm jaded, bitter and cynical -- don't mind me.

Also this year's awards are automatically better than last year's since at least THREE women were winners of Best Chef: Regional.  Well, better than one I suppose. #damningwithfaintpraise

3 hours ago, Poivrot Farci said:

and there is no harm in tokens on the podium

There is harm if you care about diversity in the restaurant and hospitality industry, and by "diversity", I don't mean tokens but actual meaningful change. As a person of color, "diversity" to me means 50% or more of the industry consists of women, people of color and LGBT. Not this ridiculous word that doesn't mean anything because execution doesn't tee up with expectations.

If the folks at JBF want more women in the industry, they could start by nominating more women, having more women finish as semi-finalists and finalists, and have more women win. They have a long way to go and it seems I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Will the James Beard Awards prove that in 2017 that they support non-white/female chefs or will women and minorities be tokens (as in the 2016 awards) once again where only 1 woman out of 11 total chefs for Best Chef: Regional was female? And of those 11, only one was a person of color. They couldn't even reach 10 percent, the poor dears.

#oldboysclub #sameoldsameold #ChefsSoWhite #ChefsSoMale #zzzz

BTW, you know it's true love when your partner spends Friday night by helping you peel 3 lbs. of fava beans for meals during the weekend.

April 30, 2017:

Poached salmon with parsley, dill and butter sauce
Asparagus and leeks vinaigrette

April 29, 2017:

Asparagus, fava bean and herb salad
Clams and mussels with bacon, thyme and fava beans

We had Japanese brunch on Saturday at Okane (669 Townsend at 18th in South of Market), a sister restaurant of Omakase.

House salad, rice cracker, ume vinaigrette.

Miso soup.

Tsukemono.

You can really tell how good a restaurant is by whether the kitchen pays attention to detail, and these were no exception.

Pictured are kyuri-zuke (pickled Japanese cucumber) and asa-zuke (zucchini, carrot and onion quick pickle).

Oysters with tobiko (flying fish roe) and scallion.

Clockwise from bottom center: stewed pork belly, green onion; sesame tofu with cucumber and wasabi; soy-glazed smoked salmon; broth with daikon radish, hon-shimeji mushrooms, chicken and watercress; tamago-zushi (egg omelette cooked with mirin and dashi, wrapped around Japanese rice with nori seaweed).

This was served with a bowl of Japanese rice.

The salmon was a tad overcooked, but otherwise everything else was spot on.

We were comped a plate of tuna and salmon sashimi that the kitchen sent out because the oysters took about 15 minutes to get to our table.

A very nice gesture on their part.

Really great value for the price. Total bill was $67 for 2 people not including a 20% tip.

I always tip 20%. I view it as part of the price for eating out.

For me, it doesn't matter if the restaurant in question is Per Se, Applebee's or something in between. While I would never go to Applebee's, you get my point.

What staff does with it after I'm out of the picture isn't my business. *shrug*

ETA:  Just read the link and noted the date (2005). That's great! But I don't think that service model will catch on in the U.S. as widely as I would hope, which is a pity.

Lots of places have it on their menu and based on my experiences, these range from cheap and rushed to sublime.

A pet peeve: the use of kale in poke which transforms it into a fusion version of chirashizushi and rabbit food. Don't do that and we'll get along swimmingly.

I hadn't been to Masa before because:

(1) I could never afford that kind of meal until my move to San Francisco; and

(2) since its rating dropped, I figured that it might not be worth it for the amount of money spent, so automatically removed it from consideration.

But seeing your post might make me rethink.

That being said, a visit won't be forthcoming when we return to NYC in May as we've already made plans for other venues.

And was it worth it to him?

There are restaurants in San Francisco that charge nearly as much for one person, like Saison.

Roast chicken and vegetable salad, shallot vinaigrette

The salad is a little involved and looks are deceiving.

You will need leftover roast chicken, salad greens and an assortment of vegetables. We used green beans, potatoes, red onion, tomato and celery. The vegetables were each prepped separately.

You can use any kind of vegetable you have on hand. It's a great way to clean out your vegetable crisper.

Strip the leftover meat from your roast chicken carcass. Tear into bite-size pieces.

Trim the green beans, then either steam them or simmer them for 5 minutes in lightly salted water. If you simmered them in water, blanch them in ice water to preserve the color.

Dice the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Set aside.

Slice the celery thinly and place in a bowl. Set aside.

Steam the potatoes whole, then peel and cut into chunks.

Slice 1/2 red onion thinly and soak in ice water for 15 minutes, then drain. This will help eliminate any harsh "bite".

When you're ready to assemble the salad, combine the salad greens, chicken, green beans, tomatoes, celery, potatoes and red onion in a large salad bowl. Season with salt and black pepper, and sprinkle with 1 tbsp. each minced flat-leaf parsley and thyme. Add 3-4 tbsp. salad dressing (recipe follows), then toss to ensure that the salad ingredients are lightly coated. Serve at once.

Salad dressing:

1 shallot, finely minced
sea salt
1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. thyme leaves
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
a pinch of sugar
sea salt
black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine shallot, a pinch of salt and sherry vinegar in a small bowl. Macerate shallots for 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes are up, grate some garlic with a microplane grater over the shallots (or alternatively, you could pound the garlic into a paste with a little salt in a mortar and pestle). Add the mustard, thyme, white wine vinegar or lemon juice, remaining 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper. Whisk in extra-virgin olive oil in a thin stream or until dressing becomes emulsified.

Use as desired. Keeps in your fridge for up to a month.