Go Fig

Last night we wanted to eat in the neighborhood before heading out, but where to go?  Thus began the impossible quest to find a good restaurant within a five block radius.  It's not like there aren't great restaurants in my 'hood, it's more that when it comes time to pick one, nothing perfect ever comes to mind and we suddenly become super picky people. 

What about this one?  We ate there last week.  Here?  Nah, too heavy before going out.  And the excuses go on...

Finally, after consulting menupages (because after two years in this apartment I seemed to suddenly forget every restaurant nearby) I remembered that Fig and Olive was right around the corner.  Done.  Lucky for Dave, Restaurant Week has been extended so he got his first taste of the wonder that is the $35 prix fixe.  He started with the steak tartar (very good), moved on to the scallop and shrimp paella, and finished with the chocolate pot de creme.  I opted out of the Restaurant Week menu and started with the cucumber and pink peppercorn soup (served with a little open faced cucumber sandwich) and then had the sea scallops with truffle artichoke tapenade.  The scallops were the best dish of the evening.  They were served atop the tangy tapenade and topped with shaved mushrooms, pine nuts, and a sweet aged balsamic.  The flavor was on point.  You'd think two appetizers wouldn't be enough to satisfy me.  I didn't either, that's why I made sure we started the evening with a cheese plate.  Not the best cheese platter I've ever had, but it's still a plate of cheese.  You can't really go wrong.

They accidentally brought Dave the wrong entree at first and in addition to being incredibly apologetic, they brought an extra desert (shortbread topped with marscapone, strawberries, and a dab of chocolate).  It was the perfect bite to end the meal.  It's always nice to see a restaurant own up to their mistakes and correct them.  Fig and Olive proved to be a great date place, but I also love it for a night with a gal pal when you can have a drinkypoo (or two) and share the crostini and other apps.

From dinner, it was off to Chelsea for a little pregame at Em's apartment.  I loved having a time to digest before heading to the bars, but it wasn't long before we decided it was that time and hopped in a two second cab to the West Village where Diablo Royale was the watering hole of choice.  The bar area in this restaurant isn't huge, but it's fun.  Make sure you order a Michelada when you're there.  It's basically a Mexican bloody mary.  I'm not totally sure what's in it, but I know there's beer, lime, hot sauce, maybe some tomato juice and tequila?  Whatever it is, it's tasty and served in a nice large glass.  I woke up on Friday morning craving a fun evening.  It was all I thought about all day at work.  Now that it's Saturday morning (or early afternoon) and I've taken in my current state and surroundings, I've judged that such a night was realized.

Gold Standard

Last night, I headed down to Meatpacking with some co-workers to check out the Standard Grill.  You may have heard the best part of The Standard is the scandalous view into the non-curtained hotel rooms - use your imagination.  But I'm here to tell you, the food's not bad, either.

We started by sharing a few apps:

• Charcuterie plate, which came with about seven different meats 
• What's a plate of meat without cheese?  So next we ordered the heirloom tomato/mozzarella salad.  Tomatoes are much more fun when they're not boring old red.
• Charred octopus with sweet potatoes and chiles - a new flavor combo for me.  The flavors worked together, but the sweet potatoes should have been a little firmer, their texture detracted from the octopus, which was perfectly grilled.

When it came time to pick our entrees, everyone started talking about how good the halibut looked (with white and green asparagus and a poached quail egg).  By the time the waiter came to take our orders, everyone had decided on the halibut.  NOT SO FAST.  Time to step back and think about this.  We go to a trendy, Meatpaking restaurant and everyone's going to order the same thing?  No way am I going to waste a trip all the way down there without checking out the extent of their kitchen prowess so although it looked good, I branched out by ordering two appetizers as my entree.

• Fois gras with huckleberries - they won me over on portion size here with the two huge slices.  I prefer fois gras slightly seared, but this was still very tasty.  My only complaint is that it could have used more huckleberry.
• Haricots verts salad (tossed with yogurt, cinnamon, and crispy shallots).  Such a simple dish but so delicious.  I need to figure out how to replicate it.  Although the components sound heavier, the chilled green beans were very refreshing.  It was perfectly juxtaposed with the richer flavors of the fois gras.

You'd think six girls would take it easy on the desserts after a meal like that, but then you really wouldn't know me very well.  I thought we were ordering two, but somehow we wound up with four.  I'm not complaining.

• The Deal Closer: chocolate mousse, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings.  It was presented in a large glass mixing bowl with a spatula.  Who doesn't love eating dessert with oversized cooking utensils?  
• A warm, gooey brownie topped with ice cream and caramel.  Read that simple description.  It's pretty obvious we destroyed it.
• Wake and Bake: Warm chocolate chip cookies served with a jug of milk.  Good name; good dessert.
• My favorite: strawberry rhubarb crumble.  The other desserts were oozy/chocolately/cutesy, but the flavor of this one was different and stirred me out of my choco coma.

The food was good, but my favorite part is that it was not overcomplicated.  If you ever have a picky eater in the group and find it difficult to agree on a fine dining restaurant, try Standard Grill.  The food is fancy but not too frilly from the apps to the desserts, which were like the baked goods that come out of my Mommy's kitchen on steroids.

That's All She Twote

I finally caved.  First Foursquare, now this.  I kinda feel like I sold my soul.  It's not that I think anyone will care to know what I'm doing on a second-by-second basis, but I decided to jump on the bandwagon so I can keep up with marketing trends and follow others.  More specifically, I would plan to follow the food trucks.

I don't know the lingo.  Tweet?  Twit?  Twat?  Ew.

Follow me if you wish.  I may surprise you (and myself) with pithy insights in 140 characters or less.

WTF for a Minute

Soooo my background disappeared and now at 1 AM [instead of sleeping] I've been trying to replace it.  Not happy with this sitch.  This current background is probs temporary so don't be discouraged.  Same fabulicious blog so KEEP READING!  If anyone is good with computer-y stuff, feel free to reach out and get me out of my current state of eek.

Going on a Joyride

I have mentioned my love for food trucks and street food in the past.  I have also touched upon my fondness for Pinkberry-type fro-yo.  I have often pondered how wonderful it would be if those forces combined.  No longer do I need to wonder because such a truck exists and parks at 52nd and 6th on Mondays (then moves down to Wall Street).  

The Joyride truck serves both original tart and buzzed, which tastes just like original tart but has a shot of caffeine.  Not sure how they do that, but I loved it.  If you just want the buzz, they serve the revered Stumptown coffee.  Basically, they're able to satisfy your mid-day snack craving and your afternoon pick-me-up all at the same time.  All the good toppings are there, including a new one, jaggery, which is like maple syrup that comes from a Sri Lankan tree.  Don't worry about choosing - you can put on as may toppings as you'd like...and I like.  My small buzzed was not small at all and only cost $4.50 ($4 for regular, not buzzed), which means I'll be back next week. 

Party Hardy

The Princeton Review just released its official 2011 list of top party schools and guess who's numero uno?!  That's right, my alma mater, UGA!  I give myself a little credit for helping build the foundation of what would become such an award winning university.  I am not ashamed to say I partied.  In fact, I'm proud to say so because I emerged with a great education that I had a phenomenal time obtaining.  Congrats to my fellow Dawgs.  We've earned this.

Sun vs. Seafood

After spending hours upon hours at the beach yesterday, we decided to take a break from the sun.  Well, it was more like Dave decided I needed to give my pale skin a little time out.  There's only so much my fair complexion can take.  We opted to watch the much talked about Inception over watching me get sunburnt.  I'm still thinking about the movie.  Was the top falling over or was it still spinning?  How many dreams within a dream within a dream were there?  These are tough questions and it was a confusing movie but thankfully, we went in with full bellies so we didn't worry about being distracted by hunger.

Before the movie, we stopped by my favorite CT summer spot, SoNo Seaport, for some fried seafood outside (don't worry, my pale skin was protected from the sun's rays by an umbrella).  I always order the same thing: the softshell crab sandwich, and today was no exception.  However, this afternoon's meal was better than usual because this time I decided to start with the seafood bisque.  It was filled with tons of different types of seafood and the base wasn't overly thick/creamy, so it didn't seem weird eating a cream-based soup in the middle of summer.  I also stole one of Dave's fried clams and it was yummy enough to make me think about changing up my order next time.  If you're ever in the CT area and in the mood for a summery snack, head to SoNo Seaport.  I may not have spent the day laying on the beach, but sitting on the deck overlooking the water comes in at a very close second, and I'm sure my albino-style epidermis was thankful for the rest.