Out and About in January

Here is a round up of my culinary adventures in January.


Might Quinn's BBQ

Sweet potato casserole - I actually think I enjoyed this more than the sandwich. 

                   

Hudson Clearwater

I met Shivani and Raina here for brunch, and it was fun catching up (over a bottle of sancerre). I ordered the french toast, it was unremarkable. 

I really enjoyed Raina's entree - steak and eggs. 

ABC Kitchen

I am obsessed with this place! I came here for a Sunday brunch and we luckily were able to grab two seats at the bar (otherwise the wait was 90 minutes for a table!). I started with a glass of sancerre. Organic Avenue and ABC Kitchen have partnered together and ABC now offers a few fresh squeezed juices from Organic Avenue. My friend ordered the beet juice, and it was delicious. Maybe almost tastier than my sancerre! Almost. The juice had strong hints of ginger, I realized I really like the combination of ginger + vegetables in my juice. This is something I would drink every morning if I had someone to prepare it for me. Yes, that good!

I've been following the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse for the past two weeks, and while I have been feeling really healthy and great, I was looking forward to eating something that was more than 8 calories and maybe laden with a lot of sugar. I was debating between the pancakes or the flat bread pizza, and I decided to go with the sweet option. I told myself I would come back next week for the flat bread. 

{Sunday afternoon perfection}

Off the menu dairy-free gluten-free cheese free omelet with some ham and onions and a side of fried potatoes. Where are we, LA?

Keste 

I met Saunak here before we went to watch Le Passe at Film Forum. We both exclaimed how we were trying to eat healthy and go to the gym, ha, this place didn't help us out there. So all of the pizzas look delicious, and we decided to share one pizza, the Pizza del Re. This pizza is topped with a truffle spread and prosciutto and delicious. As in, if you are on a diet, let this be your one cheat meal. You could definitely eat an entire pizza on your own (at least I could). There is also lambrusco by the glass!

We also ordered the burrata to start, it wasn't my favorite - I think the one at Di Palo's is better.

Then we ordered the nutella dessert pizza. Yeah, super "healthy".

Chilifest!

Anoop and I checked out Chilifest. It was held at Chelsea Markets, and over 20 different food vendors participated. Some were random, and some were delicious.

The first one we tried ended up being my favorite. Classic chili with some pimento cheese served on top. 

I learned that I like classic style chili with some crunchy texture on top. We had some tripe chili, and the texture and flavor was very different. At that point it really should have been called tripe soup. That one was not my favorite.

Chili with chicarron and radish!

This was a Korean-influenced chili, and had a nice spicy after taste.

After a while we got really full and made the executive decision to stop eating. It was a cool event to check out, but I don't think I would go again next year. 

Kingside

I came here for a work dinner, and this is conveniently located near my office. This is a solid place for a work dinner if you don't have a ridiculous budget to work with (ahem, Betony, Quality Italian, Nobu). Everything we ordered was fantastic. My favorite started was the octopus, and I ordered the flank steak with chimichurri sauce as my main. The steak was a salivating medium rare, and I actually thought it was better without the chimichurri sauce. I then ordered the caramel pudding. After such a heavy meal, you could definitely share dessert. Or, I guess, I could have stopped eating it half way through...but when do I ever do that with dessert?

My caramel pudding...

L'Apicio 

I'm also obsessed with this restaurant, the sister restaurant to L'Artusi. This place (along with ABC Kitchen) is going to become a staple. It is close enough to me and the food/ambiance is incredible. They also serve Scarpetta by the glass! It is very easy to get a seat at the bar and order dinner there, but my friend had made a reservation so we were at a table. 

My friend and I shared the panzanella. I have never had this before, and I'm not sure why, but it was great! This panzanella was served with a fried egg and squash, if and when I have time, I want to recreate this recipe at home. 

I ordered the gnocchi with the braised veal. Per-fection! You can't go wrong with a place that has amazing gnocchi. My friend ordered a delicious bottle of red and now I'm totally blanking of the name. I want to say it was Brunello something but not sure. 

For dessert, we shared the chocolate tarte. I liked the tarte, but I didn't like the mint ice cream served with it - it was like having a mojito, not subtly mint. 

I forgot to take pictures during this entire meal! 

It has been nice to get back into a very clean and healthy diet (lean proteins, greens, lots of water) and then splurge on the occasional meal as I did this month. 

I also visited Dover with Amitha, and we did the tasting menu there - a separate post on that to come!