Epicerie Boulud

I broke my toe last Wednesday.  I wish I could say it was a Sandy casualty but, really, it was just me being stupid and clumsy.  When I could no longer walk the mile and a half to work (remember, the subways were shut down), I took a cab...that promptly got into an accident.  I finally made it to work only to find out that our share drive was down.  So, yea, Wednesday was not my favorite.  The silver lining was lunch.  After about two hours at the office I left to get my toe checked out at the emergency med where I was told it was, indeed, broken, but there's nothing you can do for a broken pinky toe but wrap it and wait out the pain.  Fab.  I hobbled til I could find food, which happened to be at Epicerie Boulud aka: Wednesday's silver lining.

Epicerie Boulud is the take-out station/café from Daniel Boulud, of high end French fame.  I ordered the jambon et beurre sandwich (ham and butter with gruyère on a baguette) that tasted just like the ones I used to order in France.  I know it sounds like a hard sandwich to screw up, but you'd be surprised how many people mess it up here.  It comes at a much higher price ($9.50 for something that would have cost half that in France, a solid $3 more than the [bad] versions in other US restaurants), but it's worth it for the fresh ingredients that end up being far more satisfying.  Sometimes the simplest food placates the hunger pains better than anything else.  Since I was eating at about 4 PM, this meal was going to serve as both lunch and dinner so I also got the Moroccan chickpea salad.  I thought $10 was much too expensive for a salad that size until I started eating it and realized how filling it was since it didn't have a lettuce base.  I like hummus but don't usually like whole chickpeas.  My previous distaste was a total non-issue here.  The salad was whole chickpeas on top of pureed chickpeas with tomatoes, cucumbers, and TONS of spices.  I was in love and ate it with a spoon.  I think it was a special, but I would love for them to make this a permanent fixture.

After a terrible day, Epicerie Boulud lifted my spirits and reminded me that Sandy was a mere blip in the middle of what turned out to be a good week.

Side note: This was actually my first broken bone.  Even though it was kind of a wussy one to break, I am oddly proud of it.