johnder

I had a meeting in the city, so I decided to stop by Astor wines and liquors. I tend to buy most of my stuff there or Lenells. Astor is pretty main stream, Lenells is good for the harder to find stuff, mainly bourbon. mmmm tasty, tasty gin. Ended up not buying anything. I headed down to the Bowery where there is an obscene number of resturant supply stores. I wanted to find some 2-4 oz plastic squeeze bottles. Anyone need a gazillon btu wok burner? How about a stove? or a used lowboy and keg fridge, complete with old keg handles attached? Ok, maybe used kitchen supplies isn't your style, how about: I think it is a fountain. Maybe. It scared me.

No kidding. It was a sad excuse for an everything bagel. I was thrown off when I asked for an everything bagel and they said do I want a whole wheat one or a regular one. Whole wheat bagel? Bleh. Almost as bad a blueberry bagels, which thankfully I haven't run into yet in NYC.

Thanks! It is always nice to hear from fellow Brooklynites! I am not sure if there had been any other borough bloggers, I will need to check into that. As far as Jacques, it is always crowded, just varying degrees. I don't think I have ever been in there when it was less than 3 or 4 people waiting. During the day I usually don't drink coffee except for my morning cup, I quickly switch over to coke which then fuels me for the rest of the day. On the odd occasion I will head over and get a double chocolate eclair, but I am trying not to ruin my figure.

Of course you will including something sour and sweet, ala apricot brandy? ← I am not sure if I will have time to take home the brandy today from work. Given I am heading into the city to pick up some stuff, I am probably not going to schlep the bottles around with me. But rest assured, I have tons of other bottles to work with. You know me too well Sneaky. Alas I used my lone bottle of vodka to make tinctures.

So I ran out in between meetings to grab some lunch and walked by Brookly Bridge Park. Luckily there is a pretty sweet park literally across the street. Unfortunately I don't have time to enjoy it on this beautiful day. I did manage to snap a few pictures of people who do have time to enjoy it though. Here is a picture facing north, with the Manhattan bridge visible, notice the peopel relaxing. Another picture facing south, this time the Brooklyn bridge. Lunch was a bagel from La Bagel Delight. It isn't my favorite bagel place, but it is the only one nearby. My main complaint about them is they don't put enough "everything" on the everything bagels. This could probably start a war with fellow New Yorkers, but the hands down best bagels (in my opinion) are Terrace Bagels. They are amazing. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, not too big, not too small, plenty of the "everything" on the everything bagel. Perfect. I will get some on Saturday to show you the real deal. I ran into this dog just chilling outside a cafe, he was looking at me like I should take his picture, so I did. Anyway, here is my bagel, which I am quickly scarfing down before my 3pm meeting.

Right. Duh. As a native New Yorker I should have known that.

I have always seen the Ramos with both Lemon and Lime, how did it turn out with just Lime?

So the plan for the rest of the day (aside from work) is: Stop by the resturant supply store in the city to pick up a bus tub that I can use for the sous-vide pork belly. The previous one I had experienced an tragic accident that rendered it unable to hold water. I may stop by Astor wines and liquors to see if they have anything interesting I need to add to my ever growing booze collection. Then am going to head home, start the spice mixture for the dry cure of the Pork Belly and go through some cookbooks looking for insperation for the dinner Saturday. Tonight is dinner at Applewood, which is at 8 -- most likely I will have a cocktail (or two) before dinner at home. Any suggestions?

The kitchen is kickass funky! Now, confess...what kind of background do you have (or good genes???) that you could whip up a kitchen of this caliber... ← As I briefly mentioned here, I had a lot of experience with my parents doing a similar thing when I was younger, so that sure helped. Aside from that, just a lot of patience, reading and learning as you go. The running joke is now that I can quit my day job and just start flipping houses in the red-hot real estate market in Park Slope.

It is pretty close to me. Maybe a 10 minute bus ride away. I haven't heard of this place, but I think I will have to check it out. The countertop was very important to me. We tend to have a lot of dinner parties and having space to plate up all the dishes was a prime factor in the layout.

Thanks Kim! Too bad I can't get a commission from the NY tourism council on this blog. If there is anything you, (or anyone else) would like to see, let me know and I can see if I can fit it in this week.

Thanks MissAmy!

On the way to the subway I decided to take some pictures of the neighborhood so people can see the eclectic mix of stores. The 3 pictures you see below are one side of the block between 11th and 12th street on 5th avenue. So I included this photo above because it shows commonwealth, a bar I go to often. They have an awesome jukebox, and a pretty sweet beer garden in the back. I may go there for a beer on Sunday, so hopefully the weather will be nice and I can get some photos of the yard. Tacos Neuvo Mexico is awesome. It isn't high on the decor factor or ambiance, but the food rocks, and is really cheap. Some mornings when I am walking to work they get their meat delivery and I see them carrying in whole pigs, lambs and goats for the weeks menu. They specialize in tacos and offer about 15 to 20 types, all served with copious amounts of cut radish and limes on the side. There is the seafood market that is closest to my house, but not super impressed with the quality, but I have to say their fried fish smells good when I walk by. I sure wouldn't want to live above that place though. Timboos is an old timer bar. I took this photo at 9:45 am, and you can see they are open for business. There usually is one or two older gentleman sitting there in the morning drinking a bud and chatting with the bartender. Then in was into the subway and off to work.

Ok, so this morning I had a 9am conference call that I decided to take from home. Given I had a few minutes before the call I decided to make a quick iced coffee using my Rancillio Silva pulling a shot of some Sweet Maria's coffee that I roasted at home. I am almost out of coffee so tonight before I head out to dinner I am going to roast a new batch using my IRoast2. I will make sure to take lots of pictures while I do. I think I need to get a new grinder, the one I have, even though it is a burr grinder, isn't giving me the fine grounds now that it once did. When I am in a rush I will just pull a shot, dump it into these cool Bodum vacuum glasses (which are a double wall glass that has a vacuum between them, hence preventing condensation on the glass) dump in a sugar cube, top if off with some wicked Ronnybrook farms creamline milk and a few ice cubes. I also had a few pieces of flat bread with some sea salt butter.

Thanks johnnyd. It was hell, but now I can enjoy the fruits of our labor. I think we are enjoying it so much that it is hard for us to stop and fix the last few outstanding items that need to be done.

Shishito probably. ← Yes, that is it! It was really good.

En is on Hudson and Leroy, which is a block or two north of Houston, so I think it falls in the WV. I am not sure what you would call the area South of Houston to Canal? Anyone? I work about 3 blocks from the River cafe. I haven't been there for dinner in years, many many years, so I can't remember how it was. On the other hand I have been there for lunch a few weeks ago and it was really good. I had a simple scallop ceviche and the hanger steak. The food was very well seasoned, and prepared nicely. Of course the view is stunning, but then again, I see that from my conference room. I think one of the biggest reasons I don't go there more is it is pretty expensive and for that price range, I have a lot of other places competing for that spot.

Fourth avenue is actually, if the realtors and developers have their way they want to -- and I quote, "Turn 4th avenue into the next Park Avenue". I wish them luck with that, that is a bold task. Recently they started building some huge 12+ story condos on 4th avenue around 3rd street. They are pretty hideous. As far as local joints go, the places we really like to go to on a somewhat regular basis is (Sneakeater did a good job at catching most of them) Blue Ribbon Blue Ribbon Sushi Applewood Little Dishes, which I think just changed name to something else. Stone Park Rosewater As far as bars, my favorite places are: Total Wine Bar Commonwealth The Gate On the topic of the BBG, this Saturday they are having their annual chili festival. They have stands setup where you can buy all sorts of chilis, chili plants and cooking demonstrations along with live bands.

I actually first met Jenn and Mike at the Grand Army Plaza greenmarket. We got to talking and found out after first trying their bacon I was hooked. I have also been to a few "Meet the Farmers" dinners at Applewood in which they had a meal planned around the their product and they spoke fo 15 minutes about what they are doing, and how they are raising the pigs. A year or two ago they started selling their chickens that they just let roam around the farm mainly for egg laying purposes, but at the end of summer they sell the chickens off -- man are the chickens good. Taste nothing like store bought fancy organic ones, way more flavor and texture. We actually have a summer house in upstate NY, it is on Canada Lake, which is about one hour west of Albany, in the southern most part of the Adirondack park. Where about are you doc?

Hi H, we sure are neighbors! You definately have a large selection of resturants go to aound you, and probably all the Pabst Blue Ribbon you can drink given the number of bars around you too. Yes, I can almost see Jaques Torres from my window. I try to have self control and not go crazy and spend all my money there. John

Oh, two last pictures. The kitchen as it looks when I got home tonight and hence -- post rennovation! The view of the first photo is pretty much the same view you see from the demolition photos above, mainly the one where you see the kitchen and bathroom together (or what is left of them). As I mentioned up thread, the kitchen is pretty much done with the exception of a few minor details. Mainly the toe kicks under the cabinets, the cabinet panel to cover the massive ductwork for the range needs to be installed, and the a few other odds and ends.

Given I have yet another early meeting tomorrow I am going to be heading off to bed. I was originally hoping to answer any questions that came up tonight when I got home, but given the stopover at Pegu and the minor battle I just had with imagegullet uploading the pictures causing time to slip away, I will defer answering them until the morning. Talk to everyone soon!

Ok, so after En it turns out Donbert was at Pegu, checking out the aftermath of the Greenmarket event they had earlier. I ended up making a surprise visit to pegu for 2 drinks. Yes... this is a first, I only had 2 drinks at Pegu. No, I don't have a fever, just 2 drinks. I started off with a classic -- the 20th Century. Donbert was finishing up his Ti punch which he was nursing. His next drink was a take on the Silver Lining, which Chad modified to use some house made blueberry infused gin. My second drink was a interesting one, a combination of Blueberry gin and Lillet along with some bitters. It was a drink Chad has been playing around with and I think is still undergoing some more tweaking. I think it was mighty fine as is. Unfortunately the picture came out way too blurry.

Ok, so originally I planned to cook a nice dinner at home today, but plans changed and I ended up going to En Japanese Brasserie. So we begin... first over to the train station, down the long tunnel...loooong tunnel at York street to wait for the F train, which seems to take forever to come. En is on Hudson street, which is technically just above TriBeCa (the Triangle Below Canal). Given this is above Canal street, I guess it would be localed in the West Village. We were a group of 6, so we just ordered a bunch of stuff off the menu to share. I will see if I can remember all the dishes. First was one of their specialties, which was their house made tofu, which they make every hour and a half. Next up was the tuna avacado tartare, pretty standard fare. Decent, but not amazing. Next -- some awesome fried shrimp balls, simply served with lemon and a grilled pepper. I can't remember the name of these peppers, but they must be in season because it is the 3rd time I have had/seen them in the last week. Next up, some seaweed wrapped sweet potato that was mmmmm deep fried. It was served with a small dish of salt for dipping. Next, the miso black cod that every Japanese place is making, based upon the original Nobu dish. Next, rock salt encrusted fried chicken, again served with Lemon. Finally, a giant sushi platter that we all demolished it pretty short order. Overall it was a pretty good meal. My one complaint which I voiced earlier (the noise level) really wasn't a factor tonight. The food overall was consistant and good. The hit of the evening was the friend shrimp balls, and I personally really liked the tofu. I apologize for the picture quality. As you can see the quality of the pictures increased as the evening went along, mainly due to me tweaking the settings on the camera.

Ok, stand by for a big update... still uploading pictures.