Ono but no Yoko

It's Restaurant Week  in NYC. Scratch that - Restaurant Week has been extended until the end of February. I guess you can call that Restaurant Winter.

Last week we bundled up and headed down to the Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District for a $35 three course, prix fixe at Ono. The menu looked promising. I went with the spicy tuna maki appetizer, braised short ribs & king crab leg surf and turf, and warm chocolate miso cake. My sister ordered the crispy pork dumplings appetizer, half duck barbequed in plum sauce, and also the chocolate cake. Everything was done perfectly. The ribs were tender, the duck was tasty (although a little tricky to eat, not recommended for dates), and the cake oozed out warm chocolate. Way to go Ono!

I should add that Ono also offered a wine pairing menu with the dinner menu for $12.95. Nothing special in the pairings, but it was a great idea. Plus, they did a nice job with the space.

All China Grill Management restaurants have extended Restaurant Winter until the end of March. Check 'em out.

No Way to this Cassoulet!

On January 17, my sister and I headed out in the cold to Jimmy's No. 43 for the Cassoulet Cookoff. The event promised cassoulet samplings from noon-5pm from seven chefs for a $20 donation at the door to support the Greenmarket. Participating chefs included: 

Cathy Erway, noteatingoutinny.com
Chef Mark Bello of pizzaacasa.com
Chef Phillip Kirschen–Clark, formerly of WD~50, Jimmy's No.43, and Pegu Club
Melissa Rebholz, Greenmarket supporter and cook at Roberta's in Brooklyn
Kelly Geary, chef/owner of Sweet Deilverance.

Sounds promising, no?  What we discovered after we arrived at 3pm and paid our $20 was the bottom drippings of only three samples.  I would like to tell you which of three were edible, but alas that would be NONE!    The selections included pork fat cassoulet, uncooked bean cassoulet, and vegetarian cassou-something.  To her credit, the chef of the veggie cassoulet had prepared enough.  Unfortunately her dish reminded me of the the free food I used to eat at the Hari Krishna festival in Washington Square Park when I was a poor grad student.  What's worse, the hostess continued to accept the $20 "donation" at the door from customers as they entered Jimmy's long after they had run out.  We left Jimmy's annoyed and still hungry.

After the event we understood what it must  like to be a judge on Top Chef.  I had often thought that perhaps the judges on the show must have exceptionally high standards.   But after my experience at Jimmy's I understand what it must be like to be a Top Chef Judge.  The judge's table would have gone something like this.

Colicchio:  You know, when you plan an event to last five hours, you better make enough food for five hours.  They simply were not prepared.

Gail:  It just wasn't good.  I mean they served fat and uncooked beans.  That just isn't good enough.

Padma:  I spit mine out.