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

JeJu Noodle Bar Visited 10/11/2017 3.5 Forks

JeJu Noodle Bar   679 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10014

JeJu has been getting a ton of press lately mostly because the chef is a Per Se and Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare alum.  Plus they been touting that they are one of the few Korean style ramen places in the city.   I hadn't really hard of Korean style ramen before but I was eager to give it a shot on a gross rainy day with Borami. 

My first impression of the place was that it was very sparely designed.  It was kind of empty and soul-less feeling but I will say that the bar area was beautiful.  The menu itself is also very sparse - there are only 3 types of ramen, none of which are vegetarian but one is fish based.  There were more appetizers but the only one that was really calling our names of the ssam bun ($9), which at this point is kind of a must have for any ramen shop.  Borami and I split the 2 non-fish based ramens:  the Gochu ramen ($16) and the So-Ramyun ($17.50) and we both got an extra egg ($2).  When the hell did ramen start to creep into the $20 range?!?  The ssam bun was good but what irritated me was that they didn't give us extra plates so we had to hover one this one small dish.  I give them props for trying something different with this bun by adding corn and jalapeno but I still much prefer the Ippudo one instead.  Why fuck with the traditional version when it's so delicious?  Next came the ramen bowls and the portions were fairly big.  The gochu ramen is a spicy pork broth and probably closer to a traditional ramen version.  It came with pork belly, kimchi, and charred scallion.  It was ok - nothing about it really blew my mind away.  Like many ramen dishes it was salty AF.  I didn't really realize it until Borami mentioned that she was craving a cold beer and she was right, it hit the spot.  The so-ramyun came in a veal broth instead of a pork broth but to be honest, it didn't taste all that different from the other ramen.  Both were good but not anything that I felt warranted so much buzz.

By the time we left, it was pretty crowded so definitely make a reservation unless you wanted to eat at 6pm like we did.   There are a ton of ramen places in the city and while this place wasn't the worst, it certainly wasn't the best either.   Total bill:  $38/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Casa Publica Visited 10/10/2017 4.5 Forks

Casa Publica  594 Union Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211

Despite living in the greatest city in the world, I often think how few really decent Mexican places there are in NYC.  Sometimes I want Mexican food that isn't Dos Toros but not at the Cosme level either.  Enter Casa Publica - it's the perfect balance of Mexican food that doesn't have burritos the size of my head or ants in my food.  The best news is that's in my neighborhood too. 

Paige and I met up right as they were ending happy hour and the waitress was nice enough to push in two drinks for us even though she had said technically we had to be finished with one before ordering another.  Score 1 for our waitress.  She said that pretty much everything on the menu was delicious and that we couldn't go wrong and she was right on point.  It was really hard to narrow down our taco choices because they all sounded awesome so we did what any foodie does and over ordered. We netted out with the aguachile ($16) and queso fundido ($14) to start and split the flank steak taco ($12), octopus taco ($14) and squash blossom taco ($14).  

The aguachile is a ceviche with shrimp, octopus, tomatillo, cucumber, chile, jicama, and lime.  It was refreshing and tart - I still prefer a fish based ceviche but this one was just as tasty.  Next came our tacos and while there were only 2 per order and they looked small at first glance, they all packed a punch and were piled high with really delicious ingredients.  The steak taco came with flank steak, poblano peppers, melted cheese and a tomato and habanero salsa.  The steak was cooked perfectly and the small tortillas tasted homemade and delicious.  The octopus taco was equally fantastic and honestly it's not a typical taco you usually see on the menu.  The octopus was tender and cooked a la plancha with red chile adobo, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and pickled red onion.  I was a huge fan of this and it made me wish more places at octopus tacos on the menu.  Lastly, we got the squash blossom taco because who doesn't love squash blossoms?  While they aren't the most exotic dishes, you still don't see them very often on menus, so when I do see it, I have to get it.  This one was stuffed with cheese and herbs and topped with swiss chard.  Yummy.  In the midst of all this, we (and the waitress) realized they forgot our queso fundido.  In all honesty, I was so full that I would have been ok if they skipped it but they were nice enough to bring it out anyways and I'm glad they did (although I'm sure my waist line was not happy).  There's nothing more comforting than melted cheese with chorizo with fresh warm corn tortillas.  

Despite all of this, we still ordered flan for dessert because that's what you do when you go to a Mexican restaurant.  It was creamy and lovely and a great way to end the night.  I left the night super full and really happy with everything about the meal.  Our waitress was incredibly nice which also made the experience even more enjoyable.  This is such a great addition to the neighborhood and while I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a destination restaurant, it is definitely one of the better authentic Mexican restaurants in all of NYC.  Total bill: $52/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Palma Visited 10/6/2017 4 Forks

Palma 8 Cornelia St., New York, NY 10014

I've been in NYC for quite a while now and have spent countless hours in the Village yet somehow had never crossed paths with this adorable quaint Italian place right on Cornelia Street.  Holly had mentioned how it had one of the most beautiful back patios in all of NYC, so of course I had to check it out.  We tried to get a reservation on Opentable but they did't have anything available on a Friday night but we walked in around 7pm and they were able to seat us, just not outside, which was fine. The inside is a bit cramped but with all the pretty flowers and open windows (it was almost 80 degrees in October), it felt welcoming and airy. 

The menu leans towards more traditional Italian but it's not old school red sauce type.  The menu itself is flowery and pretty like the restaurant and the waiter was very kind and walked us through a few things on the menu as well as the long list of great sounding specials.  We started with the tuna tartare ($21) and the burrata special for appetizers and then we opted to split two different pastas for our entrees - we got the pappardelle ($26) and the fettuccine ai funghi ($26).  We were a bit hesitant on the fettuccine because it was served with gluten free pasta and since neither of us had a gluten allergy we weren't sure if we really needed to go that route but the waiter convinced us that it was just as good but if we really wanted to we could switch it out with regular pasta.  We decided to take his word and see how it goes. 

The tuna tartare appetizer was excellent.  It was a huge serving of chopped up fresh yellowfin tuna with capers and avocado.  It was simple and so perfectly executed that I didn't want to really share the dish.  Alas, I didn't really feel the same way about the burrata.  Usually I am a huge fan of burrata and I generally feel that it's a hard dish to get wrong.  But this one was served with sautéed leeks and the flavor combination just didn't work for me.  The burrata could have also been a bit saltier also but luckily Holly really likes leeks so it all kind of worked out between the two of us. 

As for the pastas, they were both great too but who would have thought the gluten free pasta would have been the winner of the night?  I am a huge fan of pappardelle pasta because of the thick ribbon shape and it usually is served in a red sauce and this one was no exception.  It came with slow roasted lamb, olives, rosemary and pecorino.  It was a solid dish but honestly tasted like any other really good pappardelle dish in NYC.  Maybe it was because we had low expectations with the fettuccine that we liked it more but you really couldn't tell the difference between that pasta and a gluten filed pasta.  It was served with wild mushroom and black truffle pate, so it was a bit on the heavy side but it was really hearty dish and you really didn't feel like you were missing out on anything.  This isn't to say that I am on the gluten-free bandwagon, but I was definitely a fan of this dish.  The only miss of the evening was that we had to flag down the waiter a few times to get parmesan for the pasta - usually they come right when they serve the pasta and ask if you want any cheese to go with it (and the answer should always be yes) but this time they didn't which was a bit frustrating.

Even though we couldn't get a seat outside, I had to check it out and it was indeed a very lovely patio.  It had gorgeous lush greenery, lots of sun coming in, and adorable small twinkling lights.  I can see it being the perfect place for a romantic outing or special occasion.  

Overall, it was a lovely surprise and oasis smack in the middle of the busy Village.  You definitely feel transported away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  The food is good but what you're really coming here for the cozy and gorgeous atmosphere.  Total bill:  $98/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

48 Hours in Durham, North Carolina - Part 2 Visited 9/8-10/2017 3.5 -4 Forks

Foster's Market  2694 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., Durham, NC 27707                                    3.5 Forks

I was excited for Foster's because everyone kept raving about the grits bowl there and how amazing it was, so I was eagerly awaiting my chance to try it.  It's a super cute country market/cafe type place - you can walk around and buy all sort of adorable Southern focused food items and then they have a entire prepared foods section where you can order food to-go or to stay.  They have a lovely outdoor patio where you can sit and enjoy your food. 

I was all set to order the grits bowl when the guy at the counter said it would take over 45 mins for it to be ready.  I was super bummed because the bowl sounded amazing - stone ground yellow cheddar grits, two fried eggs, black beans and salsa.   Even though I wasn't in a huge hurry to go anywhere, it seemed a bit ridiculous to wait that long for food.  He said that we wanted something faster we could either order the farm plate or breakfast biscuit and those still came with a side of grits.  I'm not sure how they works where we could still get a side of grits but couldn't get an entire bowl of it.  Isn't it the same thing except the bowl is bigger and had more ingredients mixed in?  In any case, I wasn't going to argue with him and got the farm plate ($10) which came with 2 scrambled eggs, choice of meat (I got the country sausage), herb cheddar biscuit, fresh fruit and a side of cheese grits.  

You order at the counter, you seat yourself anywhere and then they come and find you.  Normally places will give you a number on a stick so that they can find you easily but here instead they take your name and then just scream it across the whole restaurant while they walk around with your food. There has got to be a better way for them to do it because most of the time you're trying to eat our food but the waiters are just running around screaming "Jenny! Is there a Jenny?".  In any case, my food came relatively quickly and in true Southern fashion it was hearty and great - for the most part. The biscuit was fluffy and you could tell that the sausage patty was home made.  It was easy enough to make your own biscuit sandwich with the eggs and sausage.  The Rise sandwich was better but this one was also really satisfying as well.  Ironically enough the thing that wasn't good about this dish was the grits.  They were actually really plain and flavorless.  I'm normally not someone who puts hot sauce on anything for flavor but for this, I dumped a bunch of hot sauce to give it some kind of flavor profile.  I was shocked at how bland it was and this was the whole reason we came here.  Aarti commented how it must have been a bad batch because it was normally much better than this.  It's too bad that I didn't have enough time to come back for another try.  Total bill:  $29 for 2 with tax, tip and coffees

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop 121 N Gregson St., Durham, NC 27701                           4 Forks

Even though Aarti and I were pretty full from our breakfast at Foster's, we had to stop by Rose's Meats and Sweets because Will and Aarti's friend is the pastry chef there and they were insistent that we stop by for a bite before we left for NYC.   When I walked in, this place reminded me of a place that you would easily find in Brooklyn.  It had a super hipster feel complete with heavily tattooed chefs and waiters, but I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all - in fact, it was nice to something that was very non-Southern.  Even the name has an artisanal feel to it, doesn't it?

Another surprising element was that the menu is actually Asian and not a BBQ focused place, which is what I would have thought with a place that had "meat market" in it.  The menu changes daily but they had things like steamed buns, silken tofu, smashed cucumber and ramen and then the dessert portion was more Southern focused with pies, ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, cookies and tarts. When we sat down the waitress told us there was only 1 ramen ($13) left, so of course without even knowing what was in it, I had to have it.  It was barely 1:30pm and they were already out of it, so I guess it must be good!  Plus everyone around us was inquiring about it so I figured I didn't have any time to waste.

I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was given that this wasn't a ramen shop.  It was a fairly traditional ramen with a salty flavorful pork broth, chashu, egg and greens in it.  The noodles were soft, the pork sliced thin and the egg was poached well so what's not to love??  It would have been nice to have some seaweed but overall I was impressed with the dish.

I was stuffed to the gills but of course we had to have dessert and the flavored ice cream sandwiches were awesome.  They are huge and the cookie is more like a soft gingerbread consistency and the ice cream is hard but not too hard that you can't bite into it.  We had a few samples the night before and trust me, they can be very addictive.  Unfortunately we had to run to the airport so we couldn't stay long but it was a lovely glimpse of a funky cool restaurant that caught me by surprise in what is otherwise a cute Southern town.  Total bill:  $35 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

48 Hours in Durham, North Carolina - Part 1 Visited 9/8-10/2017 4.5 Forks

Rise Biscuits and Donuts 401 Foster Street, Durham, NC 27701

I had never been to North Carolina before so when Aarti and Will asked if I wanted to join them during their annual visit there to see friends and to catch the NU vs. Duke game, I figured why the heck not?   The city has gotten some good buzz as being friendly and hip given that it's got a booming college town and lots of working professionals in the Research Triangle area.  We stayed with Will's friends from college who were the nicest people ever (is that what happens when you live in the South?) and luckily for me, his wife is a pastry chef!  So they knew all the great places to eat in the area. 

We spent Saturday afternoon at their local farmer's market which was great.  I love that kind of stuff.  It's was huge and had tons of stalls as well as food trucks and it seemed like the place to be on a Saturday afternoon.  Even though everything looked great, we got lunch at Rise Biscuits and Donuts which is a brick and mortar place right next to the market.  It's tiny and doesn't have any seating but don't let that deter you.  You can order at a kiosk or at the counter - we chose kiosk since the line was shorter.  As you can imagine with a name that has biscuits and donuts in it, it's all about the biscuits and donuts here.  You can make your own biscuit sandwich or they have ones that you can choose from.  I went for a traditional sandwich of sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit and Aarti got a version with fried green tomato on it.  Will was the only one who got a donut - maple bacon bar of course!  The wait can be kind of long but it is totally worth it. 

Like I said, they don't have any tables inside but they have a few benches outside.  I don't know how anyone can wait to take this home and eat it because we were practically tearing through the bag when we got our order.  This is Southern food at it's best.  The biscuit was fluffy and moist and extremely hearty.  The sausage and egg was a perfect salty combination with the sweetness of the biscuit.  I was afraid 1 sandwich wasn't going to be enough food but it is plenty of food - don't be fooled.  I didn't try the donut but it looked amazing.  While this is not the kind of food you should eat on a regular basis, it's definitely the kind of food I wish I could eat on a regular basis and not drop dead at 50.  I'm glad they don't have these in NYC otherwise I would have a real problem on my hands.  And what's even better?  The price.  Total bill:  $24 for 3 people with tax and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Mothers and Sons Trattoria  107 W. Chapel Hill St, Durham, NC 27701

Having a pastry chef friend in the area was amazing because clearly she's plugged into the food scene in Durham, so I completely trusted her choice of going to Mothers and Sons for dinner on Saturday night.  Given how small Durham is, you could tell that this was one of THE places to be - as it was packed to the gils on Saturday.  We were a fairly large party of 9, so we got a big communal table in the back but luckily the acoustics were pretty decent that we could still hear the person sitting next to us.

Since there were so many of us at the table, we essentially ordered one of everything off the menu. The men at the other end of the table got a lot of meat focused dishes like the rabbit and porchetta, while the end of the table I sat at had more vegetarians and we got more pasta focused dishes.  I won't list off everything we had because (1) I can't remember it and (B) everything we had was great.  But I will call out in particular that the squid ink pasta with uni and shrimp ($13) was truly outstanding, the arancini was fantastic and the artichoke salad with trumpet mushrooms creative and incredible. While we all shared family style there were definitely dishes that were so good that I wish I could have had them all on my own.  All the pastas were home made and perfectly executed.  If there were any just ok dishes, I would say I've had better polenta and I'm generally never really impressed with bruschetta in general.  The waitress was super friendly and knowledgable (she directed me to the squid ink pasta over the rigatoni that I originally ordered).

Overall it was a really lovely night out with great food and friends.  A lot of people at the table were saying how they were ultimately looking to retire in Durham because of the cheaper cost of living and general slower pace of life.  I can see the appeal and with restaurants like this, I get it...although the overall lack of diversity and extreme slowness of life might be a bit much for me but restaurants like this do make you see that living outside of NYC can still be fun and delicious too.   My only concern with the city is that there aren't too many other places like this in the area and one can only eat at the same fantastic restaurant so many times before getting bored but if this is what's like to be bored, it might not be such a bad thing.  Total bill:  $76/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Publican Anker Visited 9/4/2017 4 Forks

Publican Anker  1576 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622

It seems like brunch in any city is always a shit show.  It becomes much more of an ordeal than it needs to be and factoring in that I had a flight to catch right afterwards didn't help either. Luckily, Publican Anker was right next to the El train and we got there right as it opened so there was no wait. So if you are trying to hit up Ohare to catch a 2pm flight, this is a perfect option.

Even though I don't live in Chicago, I've been there long enough to see this space turn over a few times.  The last time I was here it was an Italian restaurant and now it's sort of a gastropub type place. The brunch menu is much more of a lunch menu - no eggs or other breakfast type food, more along the lines of burgers and sandwiches.  Since we were hungry, Deanna and I split the heirloom tomato salad ($13) and garlic aioli fries ($6) while I got the turkey sandwich ($12).  There weren't a whole lot of veggie entree options and I can't remember the details now but there was some confusion on what Deanna could get but it all worked out in the end as she got some kind of yummy mushroom dish.

The heirloom tomato salad was delicious but you would be hard pressed to find any heirloom tomato salad that sucked.  This one had avocado, arugula and fried shallots and a buttermilk dressing.  I could have done without the fried shallots - I mean I was trying to be healthy so throwing in fried shallots doesn't really help the cause. Next came the turkey sandwich - at first glance it sounded like it would be kind of boring but in reality it was really creative and tasty.  It reminded me of something Danny Meyer would make.  The turkey was juicy and a thick cut from the breast and paired with roasted broccoli, avocado, smoked cheddar and dill havarti on a multigrain bread.  Yum!  The flavor combination of the turkey, broccoli, cheddar and dill was fantastic.  My only complaint was that the bread wasn't strong enough to hold all of these ingredients and the sandwich fell apart quickly.  It's definitely a messy lunch but worth it as long as you're not on a date.  The one small service hiccup was that they forgot our fries and we had to remind them but they were apologetic about it and it came out quickly.  They were thick, salty deliciousness and there's no better dipping sauce than garlic aioli.

Since we were in right when it opened (11:30am), we were able to get in and out with plenty of time for me to get to the airport.  By the time we left the place, it was buzzing with people so I would recommend trying to get there early.  Even though it wasn't brunch food, the overall experience and food was satisfying and pleasant.  Hopefully this one sticks around longer than some of its other predecessors.  Total bill: $33/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp