Cafe Boulud: Put on Your Fancy Pants

REVIEW

November 12, 2010


CUISINE: American (New), French, Fusion
NEIGHBORHOOD: Upper East Side

photo from nicknamemicket

 

I’m back from hiatus after a dinner at Café Boulud — because there’s nothing like some white tablecloths to get a girl in the mood…for food writing.

A word to our gentleman readers: do not take a girl here on a date.  Unless you are already retired, have taken to wearing sweater vests, and your lady friend has helmet hair and a Chanel purse that debuted in 1986, you will feel out of place.

A word to our foodie readers: If you like good food — the type where things come in towers and there are elaborate swirls of sauce spiraling outwards from a pristinely-plated dish — Boulud’s is where it’s at.  But you already knew that.

 

 

 


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Posted in FOOD on November 12, 2010 9:16am by Rachel Hochhauser | 11 comments





The Clover Club

REVIEW

June 30, 2010


CUISINE: American (New), American (Traditional), French
NEIGHBORHOOD: Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens

 

Photo from Eater

 

210 Smith St (at Butler)

718-855-7939

 

Clover Club is underselling itself. You may think it's just another Brooklyn haven for the whiskey and gin obsessed, manned by mixologists wearing tuxedo vests or suspenders, but it's so much more.   Neighborhood fans admire the seriously killer cocktails, like the Improved Whiskey Cocktail (rye whiskey, maraschino, absinthe, bitters) and the Little Bird (gin, muddled kiwi, aperol, lime, and bordeaux blank). What really impressed me, on my second visit, was the grub.  The menu is compact — a short list of "Savory Bites" — but each dish was packed with flavor and personality.(CON'T)

 


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Posted in FOOD on June 30, 2010 10:56am by Seth | 6 comments





Le Relais De Venise

REVIEW

May 10, 2010


CUISINE: French
NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown

 

590 Lexington Avenue E. 52nd and E. 53rd St

(p) 212-758-3989

 

Waitstaff breeze around the tables at this nostalgic Venetian looking-bistro marking paper tablecloths with "medium well" and "rare" — that's one of the few choices you have at Relais, the American brother to its international twins in Paris, London and Barcelona. The $24 prix fixe includes a salad and a stellar steak au poivre with slender cut frites. You'll be grateful for the Bernaise style sauce so you can mop up the second helpings of steak frites from speedy servers, who still manage to be genteel while they expedite everyone along their courses. READ ON

 


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Posted in FOOD on May 10, 2010 7:20am by Ashley Hoffman | 6 comments



italian ratatouille

RECIPE

April 19, 2010


CUISINE: French, Italian

 

 

You know how people name recipes "Not Your Mother's" whatever?  I've never really understood that.  It doesn't seem very intuitive to me —mothers are stereotypically good cooks.  Anyhow, this is my mother's ratatouille, and I can remember eating it as a kid, served over a pillowy bed of cous cous.  

 

I recently went home, and on my first night back, my sister and I made a mess of the kitchen recreating the dish.  Good news: in my family, whoever does the cooking, doesn't have to do the dishes.  (I'm well aware this is the only reason my sister helped me out.)

 

 

This is an Italian twist on the traditional French version — and made country style, with large chunky pieces of vegetables.  You can improvise a bit and throw in whatever you've got on hand.

 


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Posted in FOOD on April 19, 2010 10:00am by Rachel Hochhauser | 5 comments





BEST CROISSANT: PATISSERIE CLAUDE'S

REVIEW

April 15, 2010


CUISINE: French
NEIGHBORHOOD: Greenwich Village, West Village

Photo sourced from Serious Eats

187 W. 4th St.

t. 212-255-5911

 

I used to live down the block from one of those under-the-radar, neighbors-only, blow-your-mind little joints and I've been mourning the loss of proximity.

 

Patisserie Claude is a traditional patisserie, and it comes with a traditional French chef. Do you remember the grumpy French dude in the Little Mermaid?  Not to reinforce cultural stereotypes, but sometimes you meet someone who seems to be a cartoon character brought to life, and Claude himself could have sung "Le croissant le croissant" instead of "le poisson le poisson." CONT'D

 


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Posted in FOOD on April 15, 2010 12:00am by Rachel Hochhauser | 21 comments