Jim's

On Saturday Matt, Karina, and I took a lil trip to Philly. Why, you ask? Because I was craving a cheesesteak. No, really, why are you going to Philly, you ask again, rolling your eyes. Because I wanted a cheesesteak. That really is the only reason. When I learned that Philadelphia is a little more than an hour and a half away, I figured I had no excuse to not have the sandwich that sets the bar.

Pat's, Gino's, Tony Luke's, and Jim's are the famous spots and it seems everyone has aligned themselves with one. Matt's favorite is Jim's so we headed straight there. The line is at least 30 minutes long at any time of day and you will smell cheesesteaks for every moment of the wait. Tantalizing.

It was the real deal. The bread was soft but held up against all the fillings without getting soggy. It was also clear the meat was top round - that's a difference you can taste. My only regret was not getting double whiz because I want to taste that in every bite and there wasn't quite enough on mine.

I live right by Carl's, which by most accounts is the best cheesesteak in New York. Many people say it's just as good as anything you could get in Philly, but I had to make the trip to the city of brotherly live to make such a claim. Now I'll say with confidence that Carl's makes a legit cheesesteak (just as good if not better?!  Gasp!), but there's something special about eating a Philly cheesesteak in Philly.

Jim's lived up to my expectations and I'm glad I got to pit it against my own Carl's. But now there's a new challenge to be held: Jim's vs. the other Philly cheesesteak masters. I'm always available for a taste test.

Boulud Sud

Daniel Boulud may be a French chef, but the focus of his Boulud Sud is Mediterranean.  I would say it's more "inspired" rather than smack you in the face with a bunch of chickpeas kind of Mediterranean and this subtlety only makes it seem more high end.

We started by getting a whole slew of things to share: the octopus à la plancha, lamb terrine, Mediterranean mezze, ricotta with tapenade, crispy artichokes with aioli, and jamon iberico.  I'm exhausted just writing that out.  Though we were only six people and we had entrees on the way, we finished off all of the apps without much effort, a testament to how good they were.  The octopus, ricotta, and artichokes went first as they were the clear table favorites.  With a sauce or dip on every plate, I was in absolute heaven, swishing my bread across every dish to soak up as much flavor as possible.

Plenty of the dishes include cous cous, chickpeas, yogurt, and I could get several of those flavors by ordering the chicken tagine for my entree.  The tagine, a ceramic pot with a cone-shaped lid, is pretty much the cooking vessel of Morocco where Boulud pulls many flavors.  Somehow, the chicken skin managed to stay crispy while sitting in the sauce for an extended period of time.  It may have been one of the simpler dishes on the menu, but it was so well executed that I was very happy with my choice.

We ordered two different chocolaty desserts and they were good and fine, but the stunner was the grapefruit givré.  Givré means "frosted" in French and in the case of this dessert, references the mass atop the puff of white atop the hollowed out grapefruit that looked like snow and tasted like sugar feathers.  I couldn't tell you what was inside the grapefruit.  There was something gummied, some fluff, some sugar.  Other than the grapefruit peel used only as the dessert's vessel, I had no idea what I was eating but I liked it.

Boulud Sud may have a famous chef, but it is far from trendy.  They draw a large pre-theater crowd in the early evening but as it grows later, it becomes a who's who of Upper West Side society.  I saw media magnates, Ben Stiller, and Fran Drescher dining (separately) while I was there.  I am neither a West Sider nor a member of society, but I'm always game to pretend.

3 on Thursday

Once again, the quiet weekend I had planned has been booked up with activities and once again I don't care because I know I'm going to have a great time.

For years, Saturday night has been 80s night at Canal Room.  The cover band is ridiculous, half the people come dressed up, and you will likely walk away nice and drunky.  It's pretty much a guaranteed good time.  It's also a $20 cover and the drinks are pricey so I recommend some heavy pre-gaming.  If you haven't been, this should be on your NYC bucket list. 

A sex toy party is not my sorta thing.  I don't like to talk about that sort of thing at all, but my friend was hosting and needed to fill the room so I went in support.  Next thing I know, I'm having lickable and tingling lotions rubbed into my arm and being shown a variety of "bedroom accessories".  Talk about being completely out of your comfort zone.  Fewer people showed up than expected which meant I couldn't sink into the background - awkward!  I'm still very conservative and uncomfortable talking about personal stuff like this, but I suppose there's something to be said about pushing yourself to do something different...even if it makes you giggle awkwardly.  I'm sorry, I couldn't bring myself to post a pic of the toys so all you get is one of me testing out a lotion.

Back in the day, our group at my company was super tight.  Plenty of my original coworkers have moved on to other jobs and now that everyone is so busy, there doesn't seem to be the same level of camaraderie.  Every so often, we try to plan a little reunion at a bar to reminisce.  It's crazy to see how much we've all grown over the years and it's nice to see those early bonds (like the ones forged with my first cube-mates pictured above) remain strong.

Numero 28 Pizza

Ashley and I had a couple of overlapping trips - me to Curacao, her to Hong Kong/Manila and Savannah.  With all that exciting travel going on, we needed a dinner to catch each other up and decided to go to Numero 28 Pizzeria.  The brick oven pizza was nice and rustic - they didn't worry about getting a perfect circle and instead allowed the pizza to take on a squiggly rectangular shape.  We ordered the 18" San Daniele, which was topped with a super fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, arugula, and prosciutto.  It was the perfect size for us to share (along with a bottle of wine, natch).  As much as I love good brick oven pizza, I'm usually disappointed when it comes to the table and see how they've been stingy with the toppings.  Sure, it looks pretty and minimalistic but - come on - mushrooms cost about $.2; give me more than five of them.  Anyway, my point is that Numero 28 was the opposite, even when you're talking about nicer ingredients like prosciutto.  Yes, the pizza was slightly more expensive than other brick oven places, but it's not like it broke the bank and it was worth it to leave the restaurant satisfied because I got more than crust.  Another highlight was the very attentive wait staff.  Perhaps it was just because it wasn't busy, but they were all over our table.  Almost but not quite to the point of getting annoying, but there's no such thing as being too nice.

Sorry...no pic to share :(

The Redhead

I'm sure The Redhead was to beginning to feel more like the red headed stepchild for all the time it had been sitting on my list of restaurants to try.  I knew there was a Southern influence, but had I known there were Lowcountry items on the menu, I would have made sure to get there much sooner.  Although I went in after hearing good things, the food was actually better than I expected, always a welcome surprise.

We started with the house smoked sausage with brussels sprouts over potato puree with red eye gravy.  The sausage was filled with smoky spices and the brussels sprouts had a nice crisp on the edges that gave them a standout presence among the creamy potatoes and gravy.  At the waiter's suggestion, we also ordered the crispy cauliflower with green goddess sauce.  I assumed the cauliflower would be roasted, but it was actually deep fried and I shouldn't have to tell you that deep frying something is never ever a bad thing.  For my entree I actually got two smaller dishes, the small order of shrimp and grits and the side of collards.  I was a little nervous that the collards were prepared with corned beef instead of ham hock, but it turns out beef can provide just as much flavor as pork - who knew?!  In fact, I think using corned beef added the vinegar flavor during the cooking process, while I usually add vinegar at the table so basically they killed two birds with one stone.  The grits were super creamy - just how I like em.  (I basically like a little grits with my bowl of cream and cheese - who doesn't?!)  They also threw some andouille sausage chunks on the plate for good measure, and I thank them for it.  Although I didn't order it for myself, the one dish I kept hearing about was the fried chicken so I had to at least try a bit.  The skin was nice and brown - almost to the point that I thought the chicken could be dry inside, but it was nice and juicy.  There was certainly some cayenne in the spice mix, but I think I detected some sugar because there was a teeny bit of sweet in there.  I was too full for a whole dessert and I'm glad I passed because when the waiter brought the check he also brought out a homemade cookie for everyone at the table.  I stuck my oatmeal raisin in my purse and just like the restaurant itself, it was very happy happy discovery later on.  

Goat Cheese and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken

Time again to do something with chicken that will keep me interested in that fair foul.  I hadn't done a stuffed chicken in a while and it seemed like it was time.  First I sauteed chopped (not sliced) cremini mushrooms in a little butter and garlic and then mixed them with goat cheese.  If you do this right when the mushrooms come out of the pan, they'll be warm enough to soften the goat cheese, making it easy to combine.  I split chicken breasts in half lengthwise, leaving them just attached at the edge to create a pocket that I filled with the goat cheese mixture.  Fresh rosemary would be great here, but I didn't have any so...oh well.  The stuffed chicken then went in an egg wash followed by a breadcrumb/parmesan mixture.  After that, I baked them in the oven at 425 for about 35 minutes.  Some of the filling seeped out, which added moisture to the breading on one side and caused a little of it to fall off.  My solution was to add a little more parmesan before serving.  You can never go wrong with extra parm.  I wish I took a picture of the chicken's cross section so you could see the filling, but I'm sure you can imagine it.  Can you imagine how it tastes, too?  I hope so because then you'll want to recreate it.

I hope you can tell how massive this chicken breast is.  How big was this chicken?!  It takes up the entire plate and is really two servings...which of course means I ate the whole thing myself.

Tzatziki Tuna Salad

When I saw this recipe, I thought it might be a good way to give my tuna fish (which I typically make with just tuna and mayo) a little sophistication.  I had to adapt the recipe a bit because although I wanted grown up tuna fish, I can't help but be picky about what goes in it.  That meant the red onions and pepperoncinis were out and and the tomatoes had to be chopped a little smaller.  Though it seems like I may have left out a few key ingredients, the lemon and dill-filled tzatzki and cucumbers still made this a completely different tuna fish than the boring one I've always made.  Next time, I'll make the tzatziki separate from the tuna/cucumber/tomato.  I know that's what the recipe tells you to do, but I thought I could cut out a step and no one would notice.  Now I'm thinking it makes a difference.  As good as the flavor was, each ingredient would have been able to do it's job better had they been able to sit and come together in the sauce before being added to the tuna.  It was good the way I did it, but with the patience to make the sauce separately, it could have been called really good.