2 Weeks in Amsterdam - Part 2 - Visited 6/16-6/29/2018 4.5-5 Forks

The Seafood Bar  Van Baerlestraat 5, 1071                                                                               4.5 Forks

Everyone kept telling me how the food in Amsterdam is meh but most of my meals so far had been pretty great and this next round of food really blew me away.  I knew that they were more well known for fries and heartier food so when a colleague told me about Seafood Bar, I was super excited to eat something healthier. 

To set expectations, even if you you have a reservation, you're going to wait a long time here.  Luckily, Sophia and I weren't starving but don't go hungry because you'll get angry and cranky very quickly.  The service in general in Amsterdam is much slower in the US, so you'll have to temper your expectations a ton.  But once we were seated everything was fine.

The menu is a seafood lovers dream.  They have everything you can think of and then some.  We had a hard time deciding what to get so we opted to get the Fruits der Mer "Seafood Bar" with the mixed grill add on which is a STEAL at 80 euros for 2 people as the Fruit der Mer is 47.50 euros on it's own and the mixed grill is 34.50 euros.  Someone in pricing didn't seem to do the math correctly on this one!  At first, we weren't sure if this was going to be enough food but it was way more food than we could even consume.  The Fruit der Mer is a two tower raw bar stacked with mussels, cockles, razor clams, periwinkles, crab, shrimp, home made salad, seaweed salad, 4 oysters, half a lobster PER PERSON, langoustines, prawns, and snow crab.  Amazing.  Then on top of everything the mixed grill platter came out with a cooked white fish fillet.  Everything tasted fresh and delicious, although the waiter forgot to give us some of the tools, so we had a bit of a hard time opening some of the shellfish.

Overall, it was an incredible deal and if you're a seafood lover, it's a definitely must in a land full of meat and french fries.  Total bill:  $52.65 USD per person with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Rijsel Marcusstraat 52 B, 1091 TK Amsterdam                                                                           5 Forks

OBSESSION to the extreme.  I was initially annoyed that I had to stay in this weird Student Hotel away from the city center and kind of in this random neighborhood.  But it turned out for the best because otherwise, I wouldn't have discovered this place while walking around.  When I first walked in they said they were full for the night but the owner graciously said if I was willing to come back at 9pm, I could get a seat.  This is where being near my hotel was great, I went back and took a quick disco nap and came back out for this amazing dinner for one. 

The menu is French/Flemish and while it's a small-ish menu (it changes daily), everything on there sounded awesome.   They have very well priced pre-fix meals but I opted to get just an appetizer and main which was more than enough food.  You know you're in for a treat when the amuse bouche is duck liver pate!  Yum.  For an appetizer I got the white asparagus with a perfectly poached egg and heart stopping butter sauce drizzled on top of it.  It was out of this world.  For my main, I got the spring chicken which is an entire roast chicken served with spring peas a side of crunchy potatoes (and a side of mayo - this is Amsterdam afterall) and a very fresh and simple butter lettuce salad.  The chicken was incredibly moist and if it wasn't a nice restaurant, I would have tried to gnaw at the whole thing.   Thank god for the butter lettuce salad because between the chicken and potatoes/mayo, I needed something green in my system.  

But what made this meal even more special than the fantastic food was their wine list.  They had an incredible list of delicious French wines and since I was only 1 person, they were kind enough to offer me certain wines by the glass - including an amazing glass of Gigondas.  I almost died because you hardly ever see this by the glass anywhere. 

Everything about this meal was 5 stars.  The waitstaff was super nice and attentive but not annoying.  The food was clean, simple and fantastic and the wine was simply amazing.  I highly recommend you make a reservation because this place was packed to the gills when I went and I saw a few people get turned away.  In fact, I'm already thinking about going back on my next trip.   Similar to the Seafood Bar, the price was so incredibly reasonable for the amount and high quality of food.  Total bill: $59.34 with tax, tip and 2 glasses of wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Van t'Spit 

De Clerqstraat 95, 

1053 AH Amsterdam                                                                  4.5 Forks

Another day, another roast chicken restaurant.  This one was recommended by some colleagues in the office and unlike Rijsel, this is more of a hipster bar/pub than it is a white table cloth restaurant.  Tom and I went on a random quiet afternoon after our orientation was over and there was literally no one in the bar.  But you could still see them roasting whole chickens in the back. 

There is only 1 thing on the menu and it's (you guessed it) roast chicken.  You can either get a half chicken or a whole chicken and then they have a few sides as well but that's it.  The nice thing about the chicken here vs. Risjel is that they cut it up for you which makes it much easier to eat.  They also have a nice array of sauces you can put on your chicken and we got some kind of spicy sauce for it.  Similar to Rijsel, it was a fabulous juicy chicken.  For sides, we got fries (I mean, what else do you get here?) and cole slaw, which was fine but nothing amazing. 

Overall, it was a really nice casual bar and the guys running it were super laid back and really nice.  If I lived in Amsterdam, it seems like it would be really fun place to catch up with friends and relax on a nice weekend.  Total price:  $52.54 USD for 2 people

Photo Credit:  Yelp

St. Tropez Wine Bar Visited 4/27/2018 4.5 Forks

St. Tropez Wine Bar  304 W 4th St., New York, NY 10014

All I can say is SJP.   I had dinner here a few weeks ago and sitting behind me was Sarah Jessica Parker with some friends just having a casual dinner. This is why I love NYC.  I gotta say this is probably one of my better celebrity sightings in a while and in true NYC style, no gave a f*ck she was there (ok, except maybe me and Holly).  But I can see why she came here.  I know she lives in the West Village and this place is THE quintessential adorable West Village restaurant/bar.  It's cozy but not cramped feeling and it's just an all around relaxing place to spend some time.  It's primarily a French wine bar but they've also got a menu of yummy French dishes that you can easily make into a full dinner. 

The only downside is that there isn't really a happy hour but you get over that quickly.  Holly and I got there early (around 6ish on a Friday) and by the time we left at 9:30, there was definitely a wait.  The wine list is obviously French and they have a TON of amazing options - so brush up on your French wines!  The food menu also has a lot of fantastic items on the menu and they are all very reasonably priced with nothing more than $18.  I can't remember exactly what we had but I remember the beef tartare ($16), grilled shrimp ($12), beef stew ($18) and a cheese plate ($13).   The beef tartare was tasty but different than some of the other ones I've had since this one had mayo in it but I love mayo, so that didn't gross me out at all.  The beef stew was hearty and comforting but not overly heavy (in case anyone was curious this was the dish SJP had).  The chunks of beef were tender and perfectly executed in a red wine sauce.

I walked out of this meal so surprised by it because I randomly read about it on a food blog but it hasn't really gotten much buzz or press so I was expecting it to be ok but not great.  Maybe it's a good thing that it hasn't been written about in a bunch of places to keep the crowds away.  Although judging by the wait when we left, word has already gotten out - at least with the famous locals.  While I don't live in the hood, this is the kind of place I want to make as one of my go-to spots in the city.  Total bill:  $108/pp with tax, tip and lots of wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Another 48 hours in Mexico City - Part 1, Visited 4/13-4/15/2018 4-4.5 Forks

Taqueria Los Parados  Monterrey 333, Col. Roma, 06760 México, D.F.                                     4 Forks

Instead of flying back home via Leon, Jen, Kevin and I thought it would be more fun (and faster) to fly home through Mexico City.  Of course this meant another few straight days of serious eating, which none of us were upset by.  As I had mentioned in my post from last year, Mexico City is seriously one of the greatest and most underrated culinary destinations in the world.  The food is second to none and compared to the other great food cities of the world, super cheap.  I normally hate to visit the same city twice for vacation because there are so many other great cities in the world to visit, but I really didn't mind coming back to Mexico City. 

The cool, hip neighborhood is the Roma Norte/Sur area, which is where our Airbnb was.  We had just gotten off a 3.5 hr bus ride from San Miguel and starving.  We quickly googled best tacos nearby and Taqueria los Parados came up on our search a few times and it was only a 10 min walk from our place.  While it's not a restaurant, it's not really a street stall either.  Instead it's got a few counters you can stand at while you shove your face full of tacos and quesadillas.  The menu is large and expansive and to be honest, we didn't really understand everything that was on there but we just ordered a bunch of tacos al pastor, beef tacos, and beef quesadillas.  You can never go wrong with that combination of food.   

What's great about this place is that they have a nice selection of condiments which some of the street carts just don't have space for.  They have a huge vat of pico de gallo, diced onions and guacamole.  Yum!  We poured everything on each thing we got and it was all fantastic.  Super flavorful, the meat was moist, the cheese nice and gooey, what more could you ask for?  The tortillas were fresh and held up well with all the toppings we put in there.   While it felt a bit more sterile and had less character than sitting on a plastic stool on the street, if you're in the area and have a hankering for delicious tacos,  it's definitely worth checking out.  Total bill:  $22 for 3 people

Maximo Bistro  Tonalá 133, Col. Roma, 06700 México, D.F.                                                  4.5 Forks

After three straight days of Mexican food, we finally switched it up and got something that wasn't Mexican.  Instead, we got French food and it was nice to get a bit of a reprieve from it all.  Mamixo Bistrot got rave reviews from a friend of ours (and yes, Anthony Bourdain is also a huge fan) and the place was packed when we were there, so we felt like we made the right decision.

The menu changes seasonally and is beautifully pressed on a thin paper with gold trim.  We originally got the Spanish version of the menu so it was a little bit hard to figure out what everything was and we could have really made do with it, but we finally got the English version which helped.  The food here is elegant but not stuffy.  Unfortunately, we were all still a bit stuffed from our earlier lunch and I was honestly still reeling in pain from all the multi-course tasting menus we did earlier in the week (note: that they also have a tasting menu here but there was no way we could do another one), so I was glad to switch over to a more seafood focused meal.  We got the octopus ceviche to start and I got the seared scallops for my main.   It felt really good to eat clean, non-cheese based food and the portions were just right.  The scallops were a pretty decent size, seared nicely and served with sautéed Swiss chard.  

If I had ended my review here, I would have probably given it 4 forks.  It was absolutely a delicious meal but what put it over the edge was this freaking amazing cheese plate we got at the end.  I know said we were sick of cheese but really that was a lie.  They had this incredible camembert cheese that was insane.  It was served with a giant fresh honey comb and fruit compote and we were all in heaven.  Obviously if you do not like intense, strong cheese don't get it but if you do, this will definitely make your night.  Unfortunately since the menu changes seasonally, it may not always be on the menu but if you see it, get it!   This was definitely one of the pricier non-tasting meals we had on the trip but if you're looking for a low key yet sophisticated meal, this is right up your alley.  Total bill:  $238 USD for 3 people including tax, tip and cocktails

Hazel Visited 12/22/2017 3 Forks

Hazel  808 V St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Whenever I meet up with Dan in DC, he tries to find a fun trendy place in the city, which I appreciate.  We both agreed that we didn't really get all the hype around this one and it was a bit of #fail, although he seemed to dislike it more than I did.  The setting of the restaurant was totally fine - it was a bit dark but they had a nice outdoor space that looked like it would have been a lot of fun if it wasn't 20 degrees outside.

The menu here is kind of a mish mosh of a bunch of random small plates as well as a duck special for 2-3 people that I would have totally indulged in if I were with my friends Jen and Kevin.  Instead, Dan and I opted for the zucchini bread ($15), steak tartare ($15), roasted sunchokes ($13) and the gnocchi ($16).  The zucchini bread came out quite quickly (almost too quickly) and was served with a side of foie gras mousse topped with chamomile gelee and bee pollen.  The bread itself was nice, warm and slightly sweet from an overdose of butter on it.  The foie gras was kind of a weird pairing with it - it just felt odd to spread foie gras on a sweet buttered piece of zucchini  bread.  I'm also not a huge fan of gelee either.  Dan and I kept saying that we only liked the bread yet couldn't stop putting foie gras on each piece.   Oh well - who wants to waste foie gras?  Next was the steak tartare and I was on my own for this dish  since Dan wouldn't eat it and it honestly was the best dish of the night.  It was a nice helping of chopped up tartare served with a yolk on the side - the pros of this dish was that it came with a side of tater tots which I thought was a genius way to serve it up, the con was that it also came with a weird topping of onion dip.  I like my steak tartare really clean tasting and a creamy dip on top it didn't work for me.  But I loved the combination of the tater tots with it - yes, it seems a bit childish but I will eat tater tots in any format.  Next came the roasted sunchokes, which we got mostly because the table next to us got it and it looked healthy and green.  It was more like a salad with kale, sunchokes and pieces of fried tofu.  Unfortunately it was majorly overdressed - like to the point where the kale was soaking in dressing.  Total buzzkill.  I liked the idea of the dish but it wasn't executed really well.  Last came the gnocchi which came with a pork kimchi ragu and smoked pecorino.  The gnocchi itself was nice and soft and the pork kimchi ragu was a creative topping.  It was a totally fine dish but it could have used a bit more flavor or heat to it given that it had kimchi.

Overall, the meal was totally fine and enjoyable enough.  But neither Dan nor I felt like it would be a place that we would run back to and we didn't really get what all the buzz was about.  I would definitely come back for the steak tartare and ask them to hold the onion dip and pile on extra tater tots.  Maybe the duck dinner is the way to go but I guess I'll never know.  Total bill:  $57/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit: Yelp

Le Coq Rico Visited 11/11/2017 4 Forks

Le Coq Rico  30 E 20th St., New York, NY 10003

Ever since Jen, Kevin and I came back from France, we decided we should start a "duck club" once we came back to NYC.  Duck is such an underrated bird and so delicious that we felt like we should hit up all the spots in the city as much as we can.  We were going for more of a Peking style duck when we first decided to start the club but I had seen Le Coq Rico on Instagram and immediately made a reservation. 

The motto for this restaurant is "A bistro of beautiful birds" and indeed they have a full menu of beautiful birds.  It's mostly chicken (they have several whole bird format)  but they had a lovely duck for 3 on the menu which is what we came here for.   Upon entering, I noticed that it's definitely much more on the stuffy French side than I expected.  The clientele is older, whiter and generally more formal.  But none the less, we were here for the birds and not people watching. 

Almost everything is fowl related here, although there are a few sides that have no meat in them.  We started the meal with leeks vinaigrette ($16) and the duck rillettes ($16) and obviously for our main we got the Rohan Farm Duck for 3 ($84) and a side of macaroni au  gratin ($12).  Yes, it is a bit crazy to pay that much for a bird but it's NYC, but I just write everything off as being ridiculous. 

We got the leeks because we thought we were being "healthy" but it was really just covered in hollandaise sauce, so there's that.  It was quite delicious even if it didn't really do it's job in being our healthy green dish of the night.  The duck rillette was a bit of a disappointment as it was on the dry side.  We ended up mixing it with the delicious butter that came with the bread to give it some more moisture to it.  As for the star of the show, the duck was visually beautiful.  It's served breast on the bone but they slice it up for you.  It was quite a site for sore eyes.  They also give you the au jus on the side in case you want to really try to trigger a heart attack but it was moist enough for me that I didn't need it (but I did sneak a taste it was yummy).  The meat was cooked perfectly and the skin wasn't exactly crispy like a Peking duck but there was a nice balance of skin, fat and meat to each cut.  Some of the pieces closer to the bone were harder to eat and eventually I went caveman style and gnawed on the bone but hey, if I'm paying almost $90 for this bird, I'm eating the whole damn thing.   At this point, I didn't really need much of the macaroni and only had a few small bites.

They have a lovely but very expensive wine list - so a heads up on that.  The servers there are all very French and gorgeous - so also a heads up on that.  The overall experience felt very old school to me - it felt like I should have been on the UES instead of Flatiron.  The duck was indeed great and I had a great time which is why I'm giving it 4 forks but the price point did make me pause and consider giving it a slightly lower rating.  But I'm kind of in the holiday mood, so I'll be nice!  Total bill:  $138/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

72 Hours in Sonoma/Napa - Part 1 Visited 11/2-11/5/2017 3.5 - 4.5 Forks

El Molino Central  11 Central Ave., Sonoma, CA 95476                                                          4.5 Forks

A few of my friends and I were scheduled to go to Sonoma right after the terrible fires up there, so we weren't really sure what to expect when we got there. But I was so glad that we made it up there to help the local businesses.  It was kind of nice to be there when there weren't a lot of people and the local businesses were thrilled to have us there.

El Molino Central was a total unexpected find and it was fabulous.  Even though Mexican food is super popular in California, when you think Sonoma, you generally think more expensive farm to table or some other kind of bougie food.  El Molino Central is the total opposite.  It's a very casual Mexican place that is super affordable.  What I loved about the place was that the menu was authentic and the place was clearly run by local Mexicans.  Plus for some reason, walking through the kitchen to get to the back patio made me happy because that's how low key it was.

Everything on the menu sounded amazing and had more of a slant towards enchiladas and tamales - there was no burrito or sour cream in sight. I ended up with the fish tacos ($9.50) because if they're on the menu, I'm getting them.  We grabbed a warm cozy table outside under the heat lamp and the food came out fast and furious.  The fish tacos were two huge tacos filled with beer battered white fish, avocado lime mayo, a smokey spicy salsa and shredded cabbage and radish.  The fish was perfectly battered and fried - it wasn't too greasy but it had a great crunch to it.  I loved that it was two very hearty tacos and not the tiny delicate tacos you sometimes get a high end places in NYC.  I ended up splitting my dish with Neera who got one of the enchiladas, which was amazing.  Everyone raved at how fantastic the food was and how it really hit the spot.  It was quick, easy and very filling.  It was the perfect intro to our long weekend in Sonoma and a nice diversion from the rest of the more traditional rustic California food (which isn't bad at all but it is everywhere!).  Plus it'll definitely be the cheapest meal you'll get out here.  We joked that we should have gone back a few times here for lunch or dinner and if we had stayed longer, I could have totally seen us doing that.  Total bill:  $80 for 5 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Girl and the Fig 110 W Spain St., Sonoma, CA 95476                                                              3.5 Forks

Girl and the Fig is your quintessential Sonoma restaurant - it's total California locally sourced chic food.  There's nothing super fancy about the place but it's fairly well known since it's right off the main square in town.  Despite the fires, the place was pretty packed when we got there.

One of the downsides of having dinner in Sonoma is that you generally have been wine tasting during the day, so if you're not careful you can arrive to dinner kind of tipsy and or not super hungry because you've been noshing on bread and cheese the whole day.  That's pretty much what happened to us.  We had hit up a few wineries before hand and even though we weren't drunk at all, some of us weren't really on our A-game.  The menu is long and extensive and has a bit of a French feel to it with steak frites, croque Monsieurs, and lots of cheese plates.  They had a great sounding Plats du Jour deal where you can get a 3 course meal for $42 but it was just too much food for me to stomach.  The frustrating thing is that one of the 3 dishes was a Brussels sprout salad that sounded right up my alley but they couldn't/wouldn't offer up just the salad as a stand alone dish, which I thought was kind of annoying.  I hemmed and hawed for a long time on what to get because I was sadly not that hungry but didn't want to waste this opportunity.  I ended up going with the fig and arugula salad ($15) - I know it sounds kind of lame to come all the way here for dinner to just get a salad but we had eaten our weight in bread and cheese earlier so sadly I really screwed myself.  I got this salad because it had figs and hey, we're at Girl and the Fig right?

The salad also came with pecans, pancetta, goat cheese, and dressed with a port vinaigrette.  Honestly, it was a good salad but it didn't blow my mind away.  In fact, it was a bit overdressed and I didn't really get a ton of fig in it.  I also ordered a side of fries because I am such a damn sucker for them and they were delicious - it kind of rounded out the unhealthy part of the meal.

The main reason for the less than 4 fork review was the service was crazy slow.  Even though our waiter was a very kind man, it took forever to place our order.  We had eaten an entire plate of heirloom radishes and bread basket before he came back around to take our order.  Also, I had them bring out a dessert for Neera's birthday and we all agreed on the pumpkin pudding cake and it just tasted like plain pumpkin bread - there wasn't anything super special to it.  Maybe we just didn't order the right thing or maybe it was because we were in a slightly hazy state, but I found our meal at El Molino Central the night before to be way more satisfying.  But Girl and the Fig is an institution in Sonoma so I would go back and try it out again.  Total bill:  $255 for 5 people with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Augustine Visited 10/27/2017 3.5 Forks

Augustine  5 Beekman St., New York, NY 10038

I was excited to try Augustine since it's located in one of my new favorite hotels in NYC, The Beekman.  If you haven't been to The Beekman yet, I'd highly recommend it for a drink as it has a gorgeous lobby and especially during the holiday time, they decorate it beautifully. 

There are 2 high profile restaurants in the hotel from 2 famous chefs, one is Temple Court by Tom Colicchio and the other being Augustine by Keith McNally.  Anuja and I decided to check out Augustine to help Van celebrate her recent wedding.  I got there a bit early and as the host was pulling out my chair, he accidentally knocked over a glass that shattered on to the table next to us and broken glass fell into this couple's steak and fries.  To the restaurant's credit, they were mortified and apologized profusely and tried to bring out all new food to the couple.  But they were almost done with their meal and asked instead to get more wine (smart couple).  I could tell from this interaction that this would be an experience with a very attentive staff.

The menu leans towards a French Brasserie, so you'll see items like steak frites, duck a l'orange, and tuna nicoise salad.  We started with the steak tartare ($19) and split the sea urchin spaghetti ($33) to start.  Yes,  as you can see from the prices, you are definitely eating at a hotel restaurant.  For my main, Van and I split the leg of lamb ($29) and all 3 of us split the special of the day which was bouillabaisse ($31).  The steak tartare was lovely and hand cut with nori and a quail egg.  The sea urchin pasta was also tasty with a creamy heaping of crab and pickled jalapeño.  It was delicious but I'm also glad we split it as it could be a bit too heavy for 1 person.  At this point I was excited for the rest of the meal but this is where it peaked.

For some reason in my mind, I envisioned the leg of lamb to be on the bone but this was served sliced and on a bed of uninspiring beans and escarole.  It didn't really have the juiciness or tastiness that I was looking for in lamb.  As for the bouillabaisse, that dish was an even more let down.  The presentation was also lacking and kind of a brown blobby mess.  Again, I had a really different vision of what this dish would be.  When I hear bouillabaisse, I think of a hearty stew like dish with lots of shell fish and and fish.  While this had a good amount of seafood, the dish didn't feel hearty and was very thin and soupy not stewy.  In good news is that the fries for the table were on point and extremely addictive and a good dipping vehicle for the sauce of the bouillabaisse.

Overall, it was a nice experience but as with any hotel restaurant, definitely overpriced.  The staff was very nice and while the appetizers were winners, the entrees left a bit to the imagination.  I would come back for the fries though :)   Total bill: $216 for 3 people including tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Maman Visited 10/15/2017 4 Forks

Maman 80 Kent St., Brooklyn, NY 11222

I'm not sure if there is honestly a more Instagram worthy restaurant in all of NYC.  This place is made for social media - it's rustic, adorable, they have great branding and design and the food is beautiful.  Plus it doesn't taste too bad either.  The downsides of the Greenpoint location is that the restaurant is on the top floor of a small cafe, there are only 2 actual tables upstairs and they are only open on Saturday and Sunday.  Oh and the service is quite slow but I'll let it pass because it was one poor gal working the whole area.  It's also super hot upstairs, so even though it was the middle of October, it was one of those freakish warm days where it was almost 80 degrees and the place has no air conditioning.   While the restaurant is only open Saturday and Sunday, you can go to the cafe most days and they have a take-out menu of mostly sandwiches and salads that you can partake in.

The theme here is rustic French - the menu has croissants, tartines and quiches to name a few.  I really wanted to get the deconstructed avocado toast with a fried egg but I had been making that a lot at home so I opted for the waffle-iron hashbrowns ($16) and Aarti got the quiche of the day ($12).  The rest of the menu had great sounding healthy stuff like grilled chicken couscous, Mediterranean quinoa salad but also unhealthy but delicious stuff like matcha waffles and croque maman.

My hasbrown dish was actually more of a salad than a true hasbrown dish.  It was a big bowl of mixed greens, smoked salmon, avocado, cucumber, dill, a small handful of crunchy hashbrowns and then a "perfect" egg - which was really just a very well hard boiled egg.  It was a great healthy lunch alternative and all the ingredients were fresh and tasty.  And yes, the egg was perfect.  I actually could have done without the actual hashbrowns but they did add a nice crunch to it. This place is well known for their desserts and baked goods, but I opted out of it in the spirit of trying to be better about my food choices.  But definitely consider it when you're there.

In an idyllic world, I could see myself coming here with a good book, ordering a cup of coffee and some croissants and sitting at one of their antique tables and swing seats acting all hipster and cool.  While that won't happen in the real world, I can see myself coming here more often, especially since it's a bit off the beaten path and a much quieter brunch scene than any place I've been to in the city.  Total bill:  $23/pp with tax, tip and juice

Photo Credit:  Yelp

7 Days in the South of France - Part 2 2.5 - 4 Forks Visited 7/19-7/20/2017

Le Crillon 15 place Crillon, 84000 Avignon, France   2.5 Forks

Another French bistro, another order of beef tartare please!  Only unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of this one at all.  We had taken a lovely 1/2 day tour of Avignon, which is the closest big town from where we were staying.  There is an interesting papal palace and a few other cute sights around the city that made it worth a day trip.  We ended our tour in the middle of town where there were several traditional looking outdoor French cafes.  Since there were so many of us, we ended up picking Le Crillon since it could seats us outside and it had some semblance of an outdoor misting system since it was pretty hot outside.  It honestly looked exactly like the two other cafes right next to each other and all of them looked like they catered to the busy tourist crowds with roughly the same kind of menu.  

As expected the menu is typical French cafe food and since we were still binging on cheese and other heavy foods at the house, I went with the healthier meal of beef tartare again.  Sadly this one was not as good as the other one A la Maison.  Right off the bat you could see that the consistency of it was more on the mushy side.  I like my tartare to be more chopped or cubed in texture but this one just reminded me more of ground beef, which one I associated it with that, was a real turn off to me.  Plus it was missing the all important raw yolk!!  Who serves a beef tartare without the egg?!?  The overall flavor was kind of bland and boring as well.  Luckily it was served with fries and a salad that helped to fill my appetite.  

Given the craziness of the trip,  none of us really took the time to research where to eat after our tour so maybe this could have been avoided if we had planned in advance.  But it's really hard to plan with so many people involved and so many last minute changes.  While I didn't think my meal was awful, I was definitely not impressed by it, especially given how local of a dish it is.  

Nez   Place du Rouvis, 84190 Gigondas, France    4 Forks

If you ever have the chance to go to the South of France, I'm begging you to spend some time in Gigondas.  It is seriously the cutest town I've ever seen.  It's a tiny wine city that oozes charm.  One of the people there had mentioned that there are more wine stores and restaurants than there are people there.  It's like Napa or Sonoma but way cuter with their stone houses and blue shutters.  We had the great pleasure of getting a private wine cellar tour which was super fun.  Luckily the guide had asked us if we had any lunch plans and we stupidly said we'll just figure it out when we're done with our tour.  She looked at us like we were completely insane.  Apparently every place here is packed all the time, so you have to make a reservation.  The first place we wanted to try was all full, but their sister wine bar called Nez was free so we snagged a reservation there. 

I should caveat that it's really less of a restaurant but more of a wine bar that happens to serve some food.  The menu is tiny, so be prepared to only choose from 1-2 options.  Aside from that, the outdoor atmosphere is lovely.  It's a great place to relax and enjoy some wine and take in the sights.  They start you off with some small appetizers - one was a tabouleh plate, another was pig snout salad (it was very good and crunchy) and then a small serving of cheese.  It was a good light starter to the meal.  For my main I got the special of the day which was lemon risotto with chanterelle mushroom. Amazing!  It had an excellent consistency - firm but with a hint of softness to it.  It was very heavy on the lemon flavor - it almost tasted like they zested an entire lemon but that didn't really bother me too much.  The mushrooms were fabulous and a nice salty combination with the risotto.  It was definitely a heavy dish but not so heavy that you felt gross afterwards. It was also plated beautifully which was expected in such a lovely city.  

Although tiny, I was simply enamored with this city.  It screams cute European feel - it's almost a page out of Beauty and the Beast.    Obviously if you want to eat at some of the larger restaurants in town, its crucial to make a reservation in advance, although I have read that some places aren't even open for lunch.  While I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, I will say that the limited menu was a bit of a turn off in the beginning but it all worked itself out.  Besides, if you can't find anything you like to eat you can always just order wine and cheese all day and still be a happy camper too. 

7 Days in the South of France - Part 1 4-4.5 Forks 7/18/2017

A la Maison  4 place des Cordeliers, 84100 Orange, France        4 Forks

I know I'm writing this entry way late but it's honestly taken me this long to get over and recover from such an amazing vacation.  I won't go into all the details but a close friend of mine decided to celebrate his birthday in the South of France in a beautiful area 45 mins outside of Avingon.  I haven't been to France in really long time, partially because I've always held a soft spot for Italy in my heart but this trip has really opened my eyes to how lovely France is as well.

One would think that I would have a ton of food entries for this trip since France is also well known for its food and wine scene but we spent a lot of time cooking at home, so we ended up only going to 4 restaurants during the whole week.  Sorry guys!

One of the places we did go was this cute little bistro in the town of Orange - 30 mins from where we were staying in Sablet.  We chose this place because it's right across the street from the Roman Theatre where we were going to later.  It's your typical adorable French style bistro with outdoor seating and chalkboard menus. The waiters were super cute as an added benefit for your viewing pleasure.  As expected the menu has typical French bistro food - all of the menu is in French but it's easy enough to figure out and the waiters all speak English.

As many of you know, one of my favorite dishes is beef tartare.  But it's not often on menus in the States (unless it's a French restaurant) so I rarely eat. it  So I was beyond thrilled to be in France and see it on practically every menu here.  When in Rome (or France...) I guess.  I didn't even bother reading the description of it and excitedly ordered the tartare de boeuf.  On paper, the dish is pretty simple.  I mean it's cut up raw beef but in reality it's a dish that requires a lot of finesse and this one hit the spot. It was this beautiful dish with raw beef, capers, garlic, parsley, pesto flavoring (I think?), chopped red onion, chives, shallots and most importantly a gorgeous raw yolk.  After spending the last few days eating nothing but stinky soft  cheese and croissants, this dish was light and clean tasting.  It was bit unique in that it came with sprouts on top but I love sprouts so that was totally ok with me.  It could have been even cleaner tasting as it was a bit heavy on the parsley and pesto flavor but overall I was really happy with the dish.  It came with a side of fries which was great because this dish alone won't get you very full.  Everyone else's food, which ranged from salads to burgers, looked great too and everyone was really happy with their food.   They have a cute fountain outside where they keep giant bottles of rose chilled in buckets, which is a nice touch when it's 100 degrees outside.

This was a perfect easy introduction back into French food and if you ever find yourself in the town of Orange, this is a great place to enjoy a casual lunch overlooking the Roman Theatre.

Coteaux & Fourchettes   3340 Route de Carpentras Croisemement de la Courançonne (D8/D975), 84290 CAIRANNE, France      4.5 Forks

This was the main event of the trip - Kevin's actual 40th birthday.  Matt had spent a good amount of time looking for a place that wasn't too far from our house, could accommodate 16 people and was also a great restaurant.  Despite it being wine country, it's hard to find something that will hit all of these requirements but we finally settled on this place.  

I will say food wise it's not necessarily 4.5 forks (it's closer to a 4 or 4.25) but the overall ambience and presentation of everything gave it a few notches up.  The view is the lovely - it's completely surrounded by vineyards and they gave us a giant table underneath a beautiful pergola.  Since there were so many of us, the menu was already set in advance.  It was 10 courses (really 11 because there were 2 desserts) and each was paired with a wine.  I won't go into each dish in detail but the meal went like this (1) amuse bouche of olives, mini roquefort popovers and a salmon mousse bellini; (2) cold broccoli gazpacho with blue potato chips; (3) beet sorbet with poached lobster in a cold zucchini soup; (4) beef carpaccio with cauliflower gratin inside, topped with shaved parm; (5) duck froie gras, apricot jam and pink salt; (6) raspberry champagne; (7) pigeon with ratatouille; (8)  lamb with English peas and gravy; (9) cheese plate; (10) cherry tiramisu; (11) chocolate mouse with strawberry filling and raspberry sorbet. 

As you can see, it's a LOT of food.  In generally everything was tasty and well done with the beef carpaccio and pigeon being my two favorites.  I could have done without the lamb, not because it wasn't good but because I was so full at that point and it was hard to really enjoy such a heavy dish at the end.  The cheese plate was also quite aggressive as there were 6 pieces and some of them were super super stinky, even for me.  Lately having 2 desserts was also too much - one is more than enough.  The wine pairings were all great although to be honest at this point, I can't remember any of them but the very nice sommelier came out and explained all of them to us.  The pacing of it could have been a bit quicker although to be fair, she had no idea she was serving 15 alcoholics who needed a full glass every 10 mins.  The chef came out afterwards which was a nice touch.  You could tell he was very tired but proud of the meal.  The restaurant was nice to let us just be loud selves (we did try to keep ourselves in check as much as possible) and stay at the restaurant until it pretty much closed down. 

Matt had mentioned that only a few restaurants even bothered to get back to him and another place gave us kind of a lame menu but we were going to go with it because we didn't seem to have much of a choice being so far away.  I'm glad this came through because if nothing else, it was a lovely way to get out of the house and be surrounded by beauty.  The total bill wasn't too bad - it was around 150 euros per person.  If you are looking to do a set menu, I'd recommend working with the chef to pair it down a bit from what we got but overall, it was a really special moment and great place to celebrate a 40th!

Miss Paradis Visited 5/30/2017 3.5 Forks

Miss Paradis  47 Prince St., New York, NY 10012

The first thing you notice about Miss Paradis is the beautiful decor - it's got floor to ceiling windows which is lovely during the spring/summer time.  Unfortunately, we were there on a chilly night, so the windows were closed but they had mentioned that when it's nice outside, they open up the windows. I can see it being a great summer time brunch spot. 

The menu here is described as healthy French Mediterranean.  It's mostly tapas style and the majority of the dishes are veggie friendly which was perfect for celebrating Amy's birthday.  They also have a great line-up for yummy sounding cocktails - especially the ones that had infused rose in it!  We ordered a bunch of items to share: beets ($10), brussels sprouts ($10), eggplant ($10), black pizza ($19), spicy shrimp ($15), and Chilean sea bass miso ($34).  With the exception of the sea bass, everything else was tapas/small plates.  I found these prices to be a bit high for what we were getting but I guess that's what you get for dining in prime Soho.  In short, everything was good but not great. So while I enjoyed most of the dishes and found no real fault, nothing wow'd me or felt like a must have.  I will say that the black pizza was very unique though - it was made with activated charcoal, which I guess it is all the rage these days because it supposedly helps your body get rid of unwanted toxins (although to me, it kind of seems like a marketing gimmick).  It makes for a very interesting dish visually but it doesn't actually taste any different than regular pizza dough. Given the small sizes of the dishes, we (or mostly me) were still hungry and ordered the local burrata ($18) which came with cherry tomatoes, pea tendrils and covered in a tomatillo dressing.  This was the highlight dish to me and again, while it wasn't anything new, there's nothing more delicious and screams summer time than fresh burrta and tomatoes.

In the end, I left satisfied with my meal and it was a lovely place to have a veggie friendly birthday, complete with great drinks.  The staff was great and entertaining as well.  But despite all of that, it wasn't a super memorable place food wise and the prices were too high for what they were serving. One of the pluses to this place though is that it's a good option for vegetarians and pescatarians alike as there isn't anything with meat on the menu.  I'd definitely say if you're in the neighborhood, it's a nice place to sit, have a cocktail and a few bites with the windows open but I wouldn't necessarily call it destination dining.   Total bill $121 with tax and tip split between 2 people for 3

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Beaubourg Visited 3/29/2016 2.5 Forks

Beaubourg  225 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281

There was a time when my building literally had no food options except for our sad but useful cafeteria.  Then one day, they opened up Hudson Eats and then the Le District - an unofficial French version of Eataly.  Along with Le District, there were a few restaurants that opened up inside, which was nice given all the food limitations we've had but unfortunately, except for the view there isn't too much to celebrate here. 

I'll give them credit and say that the space is very nice and it's great that it's got such a nice view of the water.  I was there for a year end celebration lunch with my co-workers.  With any lunch time offering at a restaurant, it's always super stressful because undoubtedly everyone has to rush to a meeting right afterwards.  Knowing how 90% of their lunch time customers are business people, you'd think they would have a system down where the food would come out quickly - but we waited over 45 mins for our food which in any situation is ridiculous.

The menu tries to be French by having dishes like pate, escargots, and mussels on the menu.  I'll be honest and say that while I don't think French food is terrible, it's not one of my favorites (although I know almost every well known chef has done time cooking in France).   I was starving, so I opted for the cheeseburger ($18) which is undecidedly very Un-French but nothing else really spoke to me. The burger was served with Tomme de Savoie cheese (mild French cow's milk cheese), tomato, red onion, and a mustard/mayonnaise spread.  While the meat was fine and cooked medium rare, the cheese was way too mild for a burger.  It barely tasted like anything - to me, if you're going to get a cheeseburger, the cheese has got to be the star of the show.  There was also way too much bread - I had to pull a lot of it off because it made the burger too heavy.  The fries that came with it were salty, crispy and skinny.  People around the table got the heirloom tomato salad (I will say this dish looked beautiful) and the fish.

While my food wasn't terrible, the wait was just painful.  There are much better places to eat in the area - my vote is for Parm - which is why I gave it a low rating.  It's a nice place to sit outside and get some rose on a sunny afternoon, but I'd skip the full blown meal there.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Rue 57 Visited 3/20/2016 3 Forks

Rue 57  60 W 57th St., New York, NY 10019

In all my years of living in NYC, I have actually never been to Carnegie Hall.  So when my friend Amy invited me to a show (never mind what the actual show was - it wasn't that good but that's not the point) I thought it would be a fun thing to cross off my NYC bucket list.  Unfortunately, Carnegie Hall is located right smack in the middle of Midtown and tourist land.  I don't know of any good places to eat around there and luckily Amy had thought before hand and made a reservation at Rue 57 which was right around the corner. 

The place is hopping with tourists (it is near Central Park) and locals trying to get a meal in before a show.  The space is pretty large and it's got a very classic French bistro feel to it.  They do a really good job of creating a cozy feel in the middle of a bustling city.  Even though we had accidentally canceled our reservation (we thought we were going to eat elsewhere), they were kind enough to still squeeze us in when we came crawling back.  The menu here is what you would expect of a French Bistro at brunch - lots of brunchy options as well as sandwiches, salads and steak frites.  They also strangely had a full sushi menu too - not sure why.  I decided to stick to egg options and got the Country Omelette ($16.25).  I wasn't sure if the dish came with anything on the side but when I read that it came with roasted fingerling potatoes, bacon and gruyere, I figured it would be a lot of food. So I guess I just read the menu wrong because instead of the potatoes and bacon coming on the side, the actual omelette was stuffed with these ingredients which was totally unexpected (even though as I re-read the menu now, that's clearly what it meant).  The portion size was HUGE - enough for 2 people and to be honest, stuffing an omelette with potatoes isn't really all that great.  Plus there was waaay to much bacon (gasp, I can't believe I'm saying that) and it tasted more like bacon bits rather than fresh cut bacon.  While I was very full at the end, I definitely felt like I forced myself to eat more than I should of a mediocre dish.  

The location and speed of service makes this place a logical choice if you are going to catch a show at Carnegie Hall or anything in the area.  It's definitely not a place I would voluntarily go to on my own but it did get the job done.  Just expect tons of tourists and basic brunch food.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp   

Lucien Visited 10/21/2015 3.5 Forks

Lucien  14 1st Ave., New York, NY 10009

Even though I eat out a ton, but whenever someone is in town and asks for a place to go I always seem to draw blanks.  I always have a running list but for some reason or another, nothing on my lists ever seem right for the time.  So when I met up with Vivi and Erik for one last meal before they left, I felt guilty that I didn't have a long list ready for their list.  They were staying in the LES which is chock full of restaurants but nothing was calling my name, so we ended up aimlessly wandering and ended up at Lucien on a whim.  I've walked past Lucien many a times when I used to live off the F train and hung out in the E. Village more but had never been.

It's your classic, cute French bistro.  You feel like you've been transported to France with the cramped decor, tiny round bistro tables and loud environment but it's all very endearing at the same time.  The waitress was also French so that also lent to the authentic vibe of the place.  As you would expect the menu is classic French - foie gras, mussels, escargot, duck, steak poivre, and quail just to name a few.  Erik had asked the waitress what was good and she pointed out the 2 most expensive things on the menu: the squab ($42) and sea bass ($42).  I'm sure they were both delicious but there's always something that irks me when the staff only picks the most expensive items on the menu.  Vivi and I split the beet salad ($12) and I opted for a traditional steak frites ($28).   The beet salad was your usual kind with goat cheese and field greens - standard beet salad.  My steak was served medium rare - a bit closer to medium but still slightly pink on the inside - with a side of buttery pepper sauce.  Thank god the sauce came on the side because it was incredibly rich and would have really overpowered the meat.  The fries were on the thin side and definitely way to salty - I downed my entire water pitch when I got home.  Erik had gotten the rabbit and didn't seem super happy with it but he didn't say exactly what was wrong with it and Vivi got the chicken which looked pretty moist and juicy.

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to get home so we didn't really stay for dessert but I was full enough that I probably wouldn't have wanted it anyways.  While I most definitely appreciate French food for what it is and get that it's one of the most classic cuisines in the world, it just doesn't excite me as much as Asian food or even other types of European food like Greek or Italian.  I can always find something tasty to eat but it's almost too "traditional" for me.  That being said, there's nothing wrong with saddling up to a cute French cafe or bistro and enjoying classic French wine and cheese - that's the way to go.  Total bill:  ~$120 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp