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.   

Who Knew?

FYI:  Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale + Dark Chocolate = Excellent!

Italian on the East Side - Convivio

So Convivio was definitely very good on a number of fronts.  We did the $59 prix fixe and concentrated on a mostly seafood path through the menu for the first course.  From what we ate it seemed pretty clear that Michael White, who was there hanging out with a table in the dining room around when we were leaving, seems to do very well with bright acidic notes.  He was really able to use them to make certain dishes pop.  For the appetizer Alison had a three pieces of yellow tail with a mix of olive oil and fennel, capers, and lemon had an excellent contrast and really hit some high notes.  My marinated sardines with a caper-type pod was good but didn't shout in the same way.

Our pasta course, where White is supposed to shine was also quite good.  I had a saffron gnocchi with crab and sea urchin.  It was pleasantly buttery-seeming (though I don't think White cooks with it) and the gnocchi were substantial, smooth, and flavorful.  I wouldn't write home about it, but it was solid.  Alison had a ricotta and leek in spinach tortellini that was incredibly delicate and broke and melted all over your tongue.  It was excellent.

For our secondi we both got fish dishes again.  Alison got the bronzino again that had another nice pop of bright colors to it.  I got the mackerel over potatoes and some other things that are escaping me.  It was put together with all the richness that you would want on the coldest rainiest rawest New York day.  It was a strong testament to White's ability to be successful in very different ways with fish.  Our server suggested coming back for more of a meat-centric experience to get the full picture, but on very empty stomachs.  Those portions are supposed to be much larger.

For desert we had a nectarine tart with a delicious almond ice cream that was good but I probably wouldn't order again.  We also got what was a relatively massive mini-flourless chocolate cake that was made with a rich and multi-noted cocoa and topped with candied hazelnuts that were out of this world - definitely a far cry from the traditional hit your over the head hazelnut flavor that I come by too often in ice creams.

Two other things struck me about Convivio.  First, the wine list was very well put together.  I don't like it when wine stores organize their wines by their characteristics.  I still feel like you're taking a shot in the dark when you pick like that.  If you really want to get what you want you should be able to ask a knowledgeable employee.  At a restaurant, however, I found that it helped to narrow down the choices before the sommelier came by.  It was particularly helpful that not only were the reds and whites split into a very small number of categories, but each one was further broken down by region of Italy.  This was nice, especially since drinking wine with my friend Gene has exposed me much more to wines from Italy's north.  We settled on a nice mellow red with hints of rose.  It was a good, well-assisted choice.

The other thing that was particularly noticeable was that despite having a reservation for 5 (we had to catch the Steve Earle concert at Judson Memorial Church around 8) and were the first party at the restaurant.  The next party of two that came it was seated directly next to us despite the fact that about 20 other tables for 2 were available.

Overall, it was excellent.  If there weren't so many (okay 2) excellent pasta options (for but a fraction of the price in my neighborhood) I'd be back for that meat version even sooner than I will.

Bruni's review here and Platt here.

The Corner Bodega Just Seems So Far Away Now

Among the excellent wedding party gifts I've received, the Beer of the Month club membership from Dave is the first I can post to the blog. The mix of beers have a pretty wide range of geographies (Maryland, Michigan, Kentucky, and Georgia), types (Saison Ale, Belgian style wheat, English style dark ale, and an EPA), and levels of development. The Celis White Belgian style wheat comes with a label, but it's capped with a generic non-branded bottle cap. I receieved three of each of the followign. Hopefully reviews will ensue:

- Red Sky at Night, Clipper City Brewing (Saison Ale) Baltimore, MD
- Celis White, Michigan Brewing Company (Belgian Style Wheat) Webberville, MI
- BBC Dark Star Porter, Bluegrass Brewing Company (Traditional English-Style Robust Dark Ale) Louisville, KY
- 420 Extra Pale Ale, Sweet Water Brewing Company (Extra Pale Ale), Atlanta, GA

Milk Thistle Farm

Several months ago I switched buying milk from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy (though I still get my butter from them) in favor of Milk Thistle Farm. The main reason for the switch was that Milk Thistle is organic whereas Ronnybrook is not. In fact, in the beginning I slightly preferred the richness of the milk produced by Ronnybrook's Holsteins over that of Milk Thistle's Jersey Cows. However, that's not the case anymore. The Milk Thistle milk this week was just incredible. I don't know what the cows have been eating, but this is the most incredibly milk I've ever tasted. It's rich. It's creamy. It has more nuances of flavor than I could begin to describe. I first caught a change in the taste of the milk a few weeks after the cows were probably spending more time in the pasture, but that was nothing compared to this. If you're in the NYC area do yourself a favor and pick up a half gallon. Their green market schedule is below:

• Fridays: Union Square
• Saturdays (8am-3pm year round): Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NW entrance of Prospect Park
• Saturdays: (8am-3pm year round): Inwood, Isham Street between Cooper and Seaman
• Sundays: (8am-3pm June–Nov) Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Carroll street between Court and Smith
• Sundays: The Columbia Market, 114th & Broadway

Kansas City, MO: The Grand Finale!

So it all built up to this. As we traveled from St Louis, down the Mississippi, through Texas, and then toward the North again, all we heard over and over was...."Have you been to Kansas City yet?"

And now some history on Arthur Bryant's: In the 1930's, Mr. Arthur Bryant built a BBQ palace in an industrial district of Kansas City, MO. The word spread around, but as generations passed and word continued to spread, one wonders, could the meat really live up to the reputation? These were the thoughts running through our heads as we approached 1727 Brooklyn Avenue, K.C., MO. As the pictures show, we had to wait in a long line to find out. We had to make it through a pretty rough and tumble gauntlet of meat cutters and packers, as locals elbowed their way to their sliced brisket and rolled their eyes as we hesitated on whether we wanted a "combo" or separate orders of beef brisket, pork ribs, and sauced-up "burnt ends" of pork shoulder. We opted for a separate order of each. With much sweat and near tears we brought the bounty to the table, as depicted above.

The verdict: all that you hear about Arthur Bryant's is true. This is THE BEST BARBECUE THAT WE EVER TRIED, AND IF WE HAD STARTED HERE, WE WOULD HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTED BY EVERYWHERE ELSE. Meat: all tender in a way that was like a revelation, smoked slow with a deep and smokey dry rub. Sauce: truly unique paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin flavor with almost no sweetness. All dished up on slices of Wonder Bread with a side of french fries done up in PURE LARD. Just awesome. We really hope you all have the chance to make the pilgramage one day. If you want to expereince some of what Arthur Bryant's has to offer, check out the video at: http://www.arthurbryantsbbq.com/our_restaurants/brooklyn/photos.htm