Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Aurora Ristorante

      70 Grand Street at Wythe Avenue, Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn
      718/388.5100
      about $125 for two, with a bottle of wine, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      Dinner’s always nice when a group of you eat and drink without feeling like you’re at a restaurant. The waiter asks for your orders and serves them unobtrusively. He also knows when to ask if everything is okay and knows when to leave you alone. I wondered whether this is just a Brooklyn thing, and if it is, I might find myself in the area more often.

      Aurora was a very cozy place for us to eat dinner one cold, Saturday night. Five of us shared two bottles of wine; one light and sweet and the other, heavier, courtesy of our waiter who gladly suggested them even though they weren’t the most expensive bottles on the list. The octopus was warm with potatoes and capers. The veal tongue was done just right and not overpowering. I loved the bagna cauda, the Piedmont anchovy dip served in half a roasted red bell pepper; it went well with all the vegetables that came with it.

      I haven’t had pork belly with skin that was evenly toasted and crispy. The meat was so tasty and not at all salty, which is easy to do with pork belly. The broccoli rabe and caramelized apple were side dishes with it.

      The frisée, fennel and pear salad was a nice addition to our table. My truffle ice cream was perfect with the chocolate powder and sauce. It was a nice ending to a very comforting meal.

    • The E.U.

      235 East 4th Street on Avenue B
      212/254.2900
      about $100 for two, with two drinks, without tip

      While the owners of The E.U. wait for their liquor license, they will do the B.Y.O.B. thing rather than delay the opening of their restaurant. On opening night, we were seated at the right time before they started turning people away at the door. The menu is a mix of small plates and sandwiches. They also have a raw bar and offer a few kinds of cheeses. It’s an incredible space with glass panels they open to let the spring air in. Minus the frat boys who brought Bud Light in cans next to us, beautiful people flocked the other tables.

      We asked for our orders to be served as soon as each plate is ready. The duck egg with duck prosciutto was prepared like eggs Benedict and was more filling than I expected. The beef cheek was a favorite on our table, slowly stewed and reminded me Babbo‘s ravioli. Small portobellos were baked with goat cheese, an appetizer I can always appreciate even though I can easily make them at home for less money. Small pieces of taleggio, pecorino and manchego cheeses were served with sweet seedless grapes, a honeycomb and a small piece of fig cake.

      We also ordered a dozen of oysters and some crab claws and clams but when we asked our waiter to explain what periwinkles were, he told us that they were cured meat. Skeptical, I Googled the definition using my cell phone and found out that they are snails. Of course they’re snails! They were listed under the raw bar section of the menu! To test him and see how he would correct himself, we added them to our order after the first of our plates were already served. He returned and sheepishly admitted that they are indeed snails; apologized and blamed his ignorance at opening night. (He should have known it’s okay not to know something on the menu; just don’t make up shit.)

      For dessert, we ordered the lemon crepe and the chocolate tart. Panna cotta was served instead of the chocolate tart and when we alerted another waiter, he took away the plate to correct it. A manager returned with it to our table, apologized and told us it was on the house while they prepare the chocolate tart. When our own waiter returned to ask if we’re set for the night, we told him that we were waiting for our chocolate dessert because he made a mistake by serving us panna cotta. At this point, I think he was just so stressed out that he insisted panna cotta is the same as the tart. An egregious error but we took it easy on him and let it slide. Our bill charged us for the panna cotta but not for the chocolate tart and the plate of $15 charcuterie that never came.

      Not such a bad experience on opening night but I hope our waiter realizes that if he thought we were difficult, then he has a long way ahead of him. I’ll give The E.U. a star for now but I expect to add another when I return and finally eat that chocolate tart.

      Update:
      Apparently, after we left at opening night, the cops came to stop the ruckus. A lower east side resident complained of the noise. The E.U. might not be doing B.Y.O.B. anymore so call before you go. Therefore, the one star stays.

    • Sol y Sombra

      462 Amsterdam Avenue & 82nd Street
      212/400.4036
      about $100 for two, with two drinks, without tip

      It was a slow Thursday night and we decided to step out for tapas. I loved the white anchovies with vinaigrette but why were they served on a bed of Romaine lettuce? The grilled sardines were more fishy than what I’m used to. They would have been better with some roasted julienned red bell peppers on the side. Staples like the Galician octopus, artichoke hearts and Spanish sausages were good but the pork tenderloin was boring and the leeks with a variety of mushrooms shouldn’t have come with, well, the mushrooms.


      Beautiful lanterns

      The bars along Amsterdam Avenue in the upper west side are scenes from frat movies I’ve never seen. Even though our bill was a bit steep compared to other tapas bars in the city, it was a bit refreshing to sit inside Sol y Sombra and enjoy a glass of Tempranillo without bothering with boisterous young men.

    • Ureña

      37 East 28th Street between Park and Madison Avenues
      212/213.2328
      about $150 for two, with two drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥
      Update, 2007: Renovated as Pamplona

      Ureña is the latest restaurant to open in Murray Hill from one of David Bouley’s apprentice and ex-executive chef of Blue Hill, Alex Ureña. The restaurant has been dubbed one of the ugliest by New York blogs when it opened, but it was obvious that they’ve listened to the critics by the time we visited. They’ve softened the lights to tone down the harshness of the yellow walls and swirl-patterned carpet. The bar is still by the door, but New York City real estate doesn’t come cheap and I can imagine that it will stay there.

      Alex Ureña is Dominican and Ureña is billed under Spanish food, but I would categorize it under New American because the menu was a mishmash of different ingredients and cooking techniques. There’s a lot more fish in the menu than I expected, but there’s really nothing unheard of. I wanted to see more of the experimental side of the chef–the El Bulli techniques he’s learned from another mentor, Ferran Adrià.

      I did enjoy the octopus and the arctic char with the sweetbreads. The beef ribs also melted like butter. The sauce was a good match to our Grenache. The reward came during dessert with one of Caryn Stabinsky’s creations, of Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50. I loved the beet panna cotta; it was in perfect harmony with the sour cream and orange salt.

      Our waiter did not warm up to us until he saw that we loved our dessert. When we were seated, he asked us if we wanted tap or sparkling water. When the boy answered tap, he asked us what “chap” was. He may have left us perplexed, but I’m pretty sure Ureña will finally surprise us the next time we drop by.

    • Filipino Callos, Tripe Stew with Blood Sausage

      To make callos, the main ingredient, honeycomb tripe, was easy to find in Chinatown but I was visiting store to store to find blood sausages. There was no way my version of callos was going to have Vienna sausages from a can. (Honeycomb tripe is the reticulum, the first compartment in the cattle’s stomach.) My trustworthy Spanish deli, Despaña, was closing for the day when I tried to buy them. The guy at the counter refused to sell them to me because the register closed five minutes before I got there. Talk about customer service. I ended up at Dean & Deluca but the packages on display were all expired. Dean & Deluca not carrying something I needed only meant one thing: I have to go to the Whole Foods at Union Square, the worst place to buy something like blood sausages. But I sucked it up and zigzagged my way through their awfully-designed space, past the beautiful people who don’t appreciate produce as much as they fawn over the buffet and of course, received the expected responses from the clerks behind the counter: what is that?, blood what? and I don’t think we carry those. A stranger overheard me and, bless his heart, tipped me off to a smaller store on Sixth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. It was called Jefferson Market and I hit the jackpot with their blood sausages and Spanish chorizos.

      I spent a total of five hours roasting beef bones, simmering them and straining the juice into containers until I had proper beef stock. The next day, I scrubbed the fat off the honeycomb tripe and cleaned off a veal’s foot before I boiled them together. The day after that, I finally got to work.

      Callos [kahl-yohs], or tripe in Spanish, is a famous dish from Madrid. Like other Spanish dishes, it comes with chorizo and tomatoes. Filipinos adapted the recipe, and after more than 350 years as a Spanish colony, we have made it our own.

      Ingredients:
      1 pound honeycomb tripe, washed throughly and excess fat trimmed
      1 foot of veal, cut in 2-inch pieces, washed and rubbed with salt
      2 chorizo de Bilbao, cut into thin slices
      2 blood sausages, cut into small pieces
      2 cups of beef broth
      2 garlics, 1 minced, another whole
      2 onions, 1 roughly chopped, another whole
      peppercorns
      1 bay leaf
      2 tomatoes, diced
      half a bag of baby carrots
      4 small potatoes, peeled, quartered
      1 can of chickpeas, drained
      1 can of sweet peas, drained
      1 red bell pepper, julienned
      2 red chili peppers
      3 sprigs of rosemary
      lemon juice
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Cook tripe and veal’s foot in a large pot and cover with water. Add whole garlic and onion, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; remove scum as it rises. Cover and simmer until tender, about 4 hours.
      2. Transfer the cooked tripe to a plate and cool. Strain the stock and reserve 2 cups for later use. Cut the tripe into 1-inch strips. Discard veal’s foot.
      3. In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and sauté the garlic, onions, tomatoes and chili peppers until fragrant. Add the chorizo and brown. Increase heat to high and add the tripe. Add the blood sausages and some of the beef broth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
      4. Uncover the stew and add the potatoes with the rosemary and peppercorns. Add the last of the broth to keep the stew from drying up. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze some lemon juice before serving.

      Related post/s:
      Offal in Filipino cooking
      Where to buy tripe, veal’s foot, blood sausages and Spanish chorizo

    • Roasted Chicken

      Adapted from Anthony Bourdain’s Poulet Roti

      Ingredients:
      1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds, washed throughly and patted dry, excess fat removed, giblets reserved
      half a lemon
      1 medium onion, halved
      1 sprig of thyme
      1 sprig of rosemary
      a handful of parsley, finely chopped
      half a stick of butter, sliced
      1 1/2 cups of white wine
      salt and pepper

      1. Preheat the oven 375º. Season the inside cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper. Put the lemon, half of the onion, thyme and rosemary inside. Truss the chicken with twine, “knees up, ass out.” (Check out the Les Halles Cookbook for a really good explanation.) Insert a slice of butter underneath the skin so that a few lumps sit on the bird’s breastbone. Season the outside with salt and pepper. (Try not to rip the skin.)
      2. On a roasting pan, put the giblets with the other half of the onion and 1 cup of the wine. Place the chicken on a rack and on the pan. Roast for 30 minutes while basting often.
      3. After 30 minutes, turn up the heat to 450º and cook for another 25 minutes. Poke the fat part of the thigh to see if the liquid that runs out is clear which means your bird is cooked. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest on a chopping board for 15 minutes before carving.
      4. Meanwhile, place the pan on the stove over high heat. Stir in remaining white wine and scrape the bottom to collect the fond. Bring the wine to a boil and cook until it is reduced by half. Discard the giblets and the onion and whisk in remaining butter. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve with chicken slices.

    • Dolmades, Stuffed Grape Leaves

      Adapted from Snack

      Ingredients:
      1 jar of grape leaves, rinsed and patted dry
      cooked rice
      ground lamb
      pine nuts, toasted
      a small box of raisins, roughly chopped
      1 medium onion, finely chopped
      a handful of parsley, roughly chopped
      a pinch of dill
      juice from 1 lemon and another lemon in wedges
      3 cups of chicken broth
      salt and pepper and olive oil

      1. Sauté onions in olive oil. Cook lamb until lightly browned. Add rice with half the lemon juice. Add dill, mint, parsley, raisins and pine nuts.
      2. Place a spoonful of the rice mixture on the dull side folding in sides and rolling up leaves like a joint. (That’s easy.)
      3. Put in a baking pan, open end down. Cover with remaining oil, lemon juice and enough broth to cover at least halfway through. Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven at 375º for about 40 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

    • A Salt and Battery

      80 Second Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets
      212/254.6610
      about $20 for two, with drinks, with tip

      I either order cod or haddock when I stop by. I soak them in vinegar and brown sauce. Everything goes down easily with Boddingtons. Mushy peas, baked beans and pickled onions are also on the menu if the chips are not enough for you. I could barely understand the cockney slang of the guys behind the counter but all I know is that the fish and chips at A Salt and Battery are as good as they get outside of the U.K.

    • Sobaya

      229 East 9th Street off St. Mark’s Place and Second Avenue
      212/533.6966
      about $50 for two, without drinks, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      One of the few places that still hand-roll and hand-cut their soba noodles is Sobaya, one of my lunch staples. Whether I order a hot bowl of soba or a cold one, I always pick the one with nameko mushrooms. The one with the yam is also good. If you have a large appetite, one of their lunch boxes is an excellent choice.

    • Otafuku

      236 East 9th Street off St. Mark’s Place and Second Avenue
      212/353.8503
      $5 for one, cash only

      More like a shack than a restaurant, Otafuku has been a mainstay of this small block of Japanese stores. They have Japanese pancakes, okonomiyaki, but going to Otafuku means ordering the 6-piece takoyaki, octopus meat rolled into balls and mixed with ginger and scallions and topped with bonito flakes. They’re delicious as appetizers while you wait for a table at Sobaya but they’re also a good alternative to sreet hot dogs when you’re out drinking.

    • Alidoro

      105 Sullivan Street off Spring
      212/334.5179
      about $25 for two, without drinks, without tip

      Known as the Sandwich Nazi to those of us who worked during the dot-com days around SoHo, Alidoro is now bright and airy with its yellow washed walls and friendly successor. I was once shushed by the temperamental sandwich maker while I stood in line for a $9 Geppeto (sopressata, caponata of eggplant, arugula in focaccia bread) so it’s now refreshing to have someone behind the counter smile even if you mispronounce the Italian sandwich names.


      Sopressata and arugula in focaccia

      It’s easy to assemble a prosciutto, mozarella and artichoke sandwich, making it hard to justify the $10 price (plus, you pay 50 cents to a $1.50 depending on the bread you choose) but everything just tastes better when you don’t have to lift a finger to eat a delicious sandwich.

    • Nagomi Japanese Restaurant

      179 Prince Street between Thompson and Sullivan Streets
      212/387.8230
      about $80 for two, with two drinks, without tip

      The space that Nagomi now occupies has seen different tenants throughout the years. When I’m at The Room, I always end up craving for sushi for dinner which can only mean Blue Ribbon down the block. With Nagomi closer than Marumi across Houston Street, I can now enjoy fairly-priced fresh fish without shelling out more than $40 for ten pieces of sushi and a bottle of Sapporo. I’ve eaten twice since they’ve opened and the uni has been consistently good. The scallop might not be as buttery as Morimoto’s but for $4 a piece, one can’t complain. Have I mentioned that they’re around the corner from The Room?