Yakitori Tori Shin - Asian Kebabs!

When you head to New York City, one of the major decisions is always where to eat.  With so many well know restaurants spanning every imaginable cuisine in one area, it can be hard to choose.  Since our friends there have yet to lead us astray we usually look to them for recommendations.  We ultimately decided on Tori Shin, a new Yakitori place in New York that is garnering much buzz.  All that aside, when I saw this, I really had no idea what Yakitori was!  With the help of Google, I found out that Yakitori generally refers to skewered food in Japanese, but more specifically, skewered chicken.  To fall into an even more specific niche, these skewers are cooked over a grill of specialty charcoals.  Not long after we made the reservations, we found out about a new Yakitori restaurant on its way to Boston!  As this is still a relatively new trend in NYC, I was impressed that we were hot on the Yakitori trail.

After a very busy afternoon at in Brooklyn, it was a good thing we had some downtime before our 8PM reservations.  Nestled on 1st Avenue on the Upper East Side, we arrived just in time and were immediately sat at our table.  While there was an extensive (and expensive) sake menu, when we heard the options for pitchers of Sapporo we jumped on it.  With a group of 10 people, this made things a lot easier!

Amuse Bouche

Shortly after placing the drink order we started to look over the menu.  Even after doing some research beforehand, I was not prepared for this extensive menu!  With so many a la carte options it made it difficult to decide.  Luckily there is the Chef's Omakase option, which most (8 of the 10) decided on.  This was basically a chef's tasting menu that provided a nice variety of skewers and other bites such as sides and amuse bouches.  However, there was still some decisions to be made, one of which was the chicken.  Yakitori is know for cooking up almost every part of the chicken.  So there was the "brave" option, which would include the organs, and the "chicken" (pun intended) option that included typical cuts of meat you would traditionally think to order.  Only one member of our group was brave enough to request organs, but he ended up with the "chicken" offerings to keep it simple.  From there we were off!

Commerce - Brunch in the Village

After a night out on the town, brunch on Sunday is always an important component to a complete weekend in New York.  Our friends made reservations at Commerce in the West Village, a historic space that has been thoughtfully restored.  It was a cozy little spot, and the servers were more than willing to assist with order recommendations.  We order a bread basket to share among the table, however, it proved a bit difficult to share among so many people.  Next time, I would go for the basket of donuts instead.

For meals, Nick got the Croque Madame.

Croque Madame

Hearth - Evening out in the East Village

When going to NYC for a weekend, one the big decisions is always where to head for dinner - with so many options it is hard to narrow it down.  Lucky for Nick and I, we have a couple of friends who are more than willing to figure out the "it" place to go!

This time, the decision was Hearth in the East Village.  The restaurant has walls that are exposed bricks, and warm red ceilings with wooden beams.  We were seated at the back of the restaurant at a big round table, which I always enjoy because it enables larger groups (like mine) to all be in the conversation without the struggle that sometimes comes with long, rectangular tables.  The menu here changes daily based on the fresh selections of the seasons.

When we sat down we were served an amuse bouche of a beet soup topped with a bit of creme fraiche. 

Amuse Bouche

Brooklyn for brunch - Le Gamin

After a bit of a rough night in New York (where I enjoyed more than my fair share of red wine) and a bit of a later start, my friends and I were off to Brooklyn to visit CAC's neighborhood and get a taste of life across the bridge.  I was surprised at how much more of a neighborhood feel Brooklyn has - I found it similar to Boston in that way.  There were plenty of cute shops and restaurants to take advantage of.

At CAC's suggestion we headed to Le Gamin to enjoy a later brunch.  Le Gamin is very cute inside, all shabby chic in a french countryside way.  Everything about the restaurant stays very true to its french roots - even all the dishes on the menu were in french!  The kitchen was so small that I really could not believe how they managed to make everything with not much in the way of equipment.  Regardless, the chefs and servers worked magic.

I ordered a cappuccino, which came in a fantastically large mug.  Interestingly, they actually served cafe au lait, which you do not see at most places.  The warm milk is always so nice in those!

My cappuccino

For what ended up turning into more of a lunch, three of us went with a crepe dish.  Wow - these were impressive.  Having an undying love of brie, I got a crepe, made with buckwheat, that had brie, mushrooms and caramelized onions. 

The Lunch Crepe

Words cannot describe how great this dish was.  It was so satisfying but also really light.  The combination of the textures of the crepe with the fillings was great.  The greens were a nice side to the dish and added a bit of color and variety to the plate.

AK went very traditional french and got a croque-monsieur.

Croque-Monsieur

Needless to say this sandwich was beyond cheesy goodness!  Adding the fresh bread to the mix was the icing on the cake.

While we were are more than full, we had to have one the dessert crepes - the savory ones were great, but we could not leave without trying on the of the sweet ones!  While I do not have a photo - we took bites that fast! - it was a "simple" dessert crepe with butter and sugar.  Again, this dish did not disappoint!  It was really nice and light and the perfect end to a great brunch.  There was a nice hint of lemon in the crepe that went well with the butter and sugar.

All in all, this was a great meal that just topped off a NYC weekend of great food and friends!

Alta - Tapas in New York's West Village

After a lovely NYC day of brunch, a visit to the MoMa, and mani/pedis, we were ready for a fun evening out on the town.  For dinner my friend CAC made reservations at Alta Restaurant in the West Village, which again did not disappoint!  Somehow we magically got a cab outside our hotel and headed straight out.  It was a cold evening - more windy than the day, which honestly did not seem possible - so I was amazingly delighted with the interior of Alta.  There were at least 2 fireplaces going, with the one in the back of the room in which we were seated looking like it was from the colonial era.  Those, in combination with the big beamed ceilings, the dim lighting and the exposed brick, caused me to warm up immediately upon entering the restaurant. 

Alta had an extensive wine list with a wide variety of prices, so we really relied on our waiter for a recommendation.  When I do this, I always worry about the price range I give because I assume they will go as high as possible.  Instead, our server actually recommended a bottle in the lower price point (the bottom, actually)!  With that we started our first bottle of the evening!

One a few bottles of wine!

Alta is actually a Tapas style restaurant with food of varying influences.  Knowing that we wanted to chat and drag out dinner a bit longer, CAC recommended that we order a few dishes at a time.  The food comes out in a hurry, so before you know it, you could be done with dinner!  We started by ordering about 3 dishes at a time.  Within 5 minutes, the food was arriving at our table - thank goodness for our strategy!
While I attempted to get pictures of everything, I missed out on a few items.

Bacon Wrapped Dates & Olives stuffed with almonds. 

This was in the first round, and we definitely forgot about the olive part and bit right in...for those who love olives it was great!  For me, though, with the exception of olives,anything wrapped in bacon works for me.  I just wished I could taste a bit more of the almond flavor. 

Fried Goat Cheese with lavender infused honey

I honestly do not know what else to say about this dish: if you like goat cheese, you cannot go wrong here.  It's cheese sticks of the highest class.  The honey was great - I definitely had a few more dips of that using only my fork!  One thing that I forgot to get a picture of was the Lamb Meatballs with spiced butternut squash foam, toasted sesame seeds and lebne.  I really could have eaten only those.  They were AMAZING!  They were so good that they disappeared before a photo op.

Sweet Potato Ravioli  with brown butter, hazelnuts, aleppo pepper and sage emulsion

This ravioli dish was interesting.  Believe it or not, under all that foam is a bunch of ravioli (about the size of a quarter) that were pretty good.  But like the presentation, the foam was a but much and a little overpowering for most of us.  AK really enjoyed the foam!

Crispy Brussels Sprouts with fuji apples, crème fraiche and pistachio nuts

These brussel sprouts were amazing.  I typically cannot get over eating what seems like a soggy head of lettuce, but these were so crispy and flavorful.  The apples and the nuts were a surprising addition to the dish.  They did not taste anything like a typical brussel sprout, and I am now officially a convert as long as they are cooked in whatever magic that these were prepared in.

Bruschetta of Spinach & Mascarpone, dried Turkish figs, pine nuts, parmesan & balsamic

I generally do not order bruschetta because of my issue with tomatoes, but this one, again, was not your typical bruschetta, instead of tomatoes there was spinach and it was delicious.

Seared Sea Scallops with parsley root puree, apple cider "caviar", chorizo oil and black olives

These scallops were tasty and cooked really well. 

Pulled Pork Empanadas with sweet spicy cilantro dipping sauce

The empanandas were tasty.  Though the pulled pork had a lot of flavor, the crust did not.  It was a bit greasy and not as flaky as I would have liked, but I enjoyed it overall.

Braised Short Rib of Beef Beet-Barbaresco taglierini and fresh grated horseradish

Unknowingly we saved the best for last.  There was no knife necessary to eat this pork.  It literally fell apart merely using your fork.  The meat itself had so much delicious flavor.  While I generally do not like beets, the pasta was great.  Whatever else they mixed the beet with really complemented the flavor and changed it up enough to add something extra. 

As you can see, I loved basically everything about this restaurant.  It was a fantastic meal and great company.  It was a lot of fun to be able to try a bunch of smaller dishes while enjoying a nice bottle of wine. 
The server was relatively nice about letting us sit.  It was not until we finally started tapering off the food ordering and were ready to move on did they start trying to get us to move.  At that point we needed the push!
I would highly recommend going to Alta for a great dinner. 

NYC Bunch - Aurora in SoHo

This past weekend I was lucky enough to head to New York City for a mini reunion with some of my oldest friends - some from high school, and others from even earlier than that!  CAC actually lives in the city and was nice enough to arrange reservations for all our meals, which can be difficult!  I will say now that she did an amazing job with her selection.  Each of the restaurants were a bit different but all laid back.  The main point: the food was DELICIOUS everywhere!

On Saturday morning we has our brunch in SoHo at Aurora Ristorante.  The exposed brick walls and wide plank floors were especially warm and welcoming on such a cold and windy day.  While we all got coffee, which was delicious, we also got complementary cocktails with a brunch order!  Some opted for the Bloody Mary, which was VERY spicy.  I know a lot of people who really love that, but for this crowd it was just a bit too much.  Not being a Bloody Mary person myself, I got a Frizzante, which had champagne and guava juice.

Frizzante

For me, this totally hit the spot.  The juice was really light so that you could taste the champagne (my favorite part).

Most of us stuck with the breakfast menu,  but AK was too tempted by the avocado burger combination.  The burger also came with tomato, caramelized onions, handcut fries, bacon, cheese, and mushrooms.

The burger

While not the best burger we've tasted, it was still tasty and juicy, especially for the price of $12.  CAC went for her standby of Eggs Florentine, which is basically Eggs Benedict but with spinach.

Eggs Florentine

Again, this dish was nice and tasty.  The Hollandaise was flavorful and creamy.  RS followed suit and got regular Eggs Benedict.

Eggs Benedict

Again, the Hollandaise was great and the ham, along with the rest of the dish, was cooked well.

Being a huge fan of Portobello mushrooms, I was immediately drawn to the smoked bacon, mushrooms and two eggs any way you want them.

Mushroom Breakfast

The dish was delicious and perfectly satisfying, but it seemed a bit lonely on the plate.  I think the dish needed a bit more juice from the mushrooms or something.  Some greens on the side would have been nice - there was just no real color interest.  However, it was all cooked well, especially the eggs, which goes a long way in my book.

Aurora let us sit for a while, even when the place started to get really busy (with a wait).  At no point did they really rush us out the door.  Also, we actually left a Bloody Mary on the table because it was too spicy and they gave us another drink for the refill price, which they did not have to do.  Overall the food was tasty and the atmosphere was inviting, allowing the four of us to catch up.  Aurora is a great brunch spot, and I definitely want to try their dinner the next time I am in NYC.