gfron1

I did post about my visit to Mekelburgs in the NYC dining forum. Stuffed myself!

Another chef I see doing this is Russian chef Polly Kosheleva.

The dim sum was okay. Its an area of cuisine that I'm woefully uneducated about so I just point at pretty things and hope for the best. So everything was okay, but nothing too special. I was a bit concerned by their B grade from the health department but I don't know how bad that really is - they still get to be open. And we walked around a bit, but that's not really my interest, so where ever Tyler hauled me, I went.

Well I'm cheating because I've foraged quite a bit a pond scum before but generally it was a very heavily sea chlorophyll flavor. Almost a liquid burst in this dish.

And you could definitely isolates the plankton taste. Very dominate.

I really don't want people to mistake my comment. Blanca was good but more aligned with 1 star places I've been. And the pours varied since they included beer and sake but I'd say 2 oz. Also, keep in mind that I had been stuffing it in this week so I had a pretty strong resilience to booze at this point. Plus I train at altitude so this sea level drinking is like the minor league to me

Well I answered my own question. Ran all over the city looking for their recommended taco joint only to find its been closed and replaced for nearly a year.

Two slices from Rosarios. My travel writer friend says it's the best old school slices in the city. Now I'm done!

So let's summarize this first trip ever to NYC: Cultural exposure - MOMA for 1 hour, Natural History for 1 hour, Historical Society for 90 minutes, Kinky Boots show Stonewall Inn 20 min Meals - Christina's Polish Pokpok Mattie McGhee pop-up at ICC Momofuku Milk Bar (satellite shop) Mekelbergs Cosme Brooklyn Mac Shake Shack Big Gay Ice cream shop Mok Bar (Chelsea Market) Judge Roy Bean Public House (only cuz JRB is from our home town) B Side Pizza and wine Empellon chef's table Coatzingo Mexican Thakali Kitchen Dosa Delight Indian bakery Wassail Contra Cafe Noi Asian Jewels Blanca Little Italy Pizza III Milk & Hops I think we did okay. Off for one last lunch in Astoria!

Here's the thing. Right after that meal I had to grab a pizza and then when that still wasn't enough we grabbed some snacks at Milk & Hops Then I was satisfied.

Blanca I really liked their kitchen design Glass shrimp and plum Pancetta Baby squid, almond Pairing #1 (we were given their house beer when we arrived Garbanzo, olive Duck resting for later - the very whole duck Apple, foie and sunflower Pairing #2 Kobucha squash and macadamia Pairing #3 Lamb carbanara - best dish of the night Agnolotti and plankton - we've moved down on the food chain Great beer from Chicago Nduja ravioli Cheese and lardo Pairing #5 King crab and bottarga mayo Thank god they brought us some pizza dough to eat - we were all getting really hungry. Duck, pear and beet molé Paw paw and wheatgrass Pairing #6 Wagyu, vincotto - the disappointment of the night. Not tender. 1/3 of mine went back to the kitchen. Pairing #7 Sourdough ice cream and yuzu Goat cheese and celery This was an odd last bite for us all and no one liked it. Dry, bland cookie. Don't end on a low note! The first bite was meh, the last was meh, and with the exception of the wagyu, everything in between was really good. Super service - friendly and attentive.

Don't get me wrong - Blanca was a really good meal. I'm just sayin' that the stars are wrong. There was one dish that was off - the wagyu, and I left needing to go eat another meal somewhere else (as did the couple next to us), but the food and service otherwise were very good.

We did the menu plus tastings plus bread. A snack from the kitchen...don't remember. Seemed like an oat cake with nasturtiums and other stuff. Asian pear, walnut, black radish. Shrimp, sorrel, matsukake Monkfish, sorrel, celeriac Pork, cabbage and mushroom - did not like this at all. Almond and grape. Good meal. Doesn't stand out this week in the mix. Pairings were just okay.

Blanca. Grade inflation. 1 Star probably. Bib Gourmand definitely. I've done enough Michelin places to say not 2 star, at least not tonight. Great meal though. Empellon sure captured my heart this week. Its crazy that we didn't do anything less than 4 full meals on any day this week, and I'm still hungry!

A quick comment about Contra before we head out for dim sum. The feel of the place is like mine, maybe a tad bit more casual. Flavors were pretty conservative. Plating was standard for this type of restaurant. We had a really good meal - certainly exceeded Cosme, but fell well short of Empellon. Solid meal for the price ($67). Glad I went, and would recommend, but I don't need to go again as a visitor.

All very curious. Did they change names from Deluge? As I research it says they're in their soft opening but the OpenTable reviews go back a few years and people call it Deluge. So what's the story here. Also, I'm having trouble seeing if its a fancy Taiwan-French place or dim sum.

Following up on this. Dim sum in flushings?

It was one of two plate lickers, so that should answer that. The tamarind is what made it special - a bit of tang that I'll probably introduce into my work in the future.

Dang, that was a long post. Sorry and you're welcome! Yesterday was more low-key because we met up with some friends so we did a meal of Korean ramen Mok Bar in Chelsea I had two sliders the Army ramen (spam and such) and yummy fried rice sticks. Lunch #2 at the Roy Bean house gastropub only because we're from where Roy Bean was from so we had to. Nothing special. Dinner was after my first Broadway show - Kinky Boots, and we found B Side Pizza. I know that i'm not a pizza aficionado so I'll just say it was good. Could care less if it was authentic. Today is tacos and Contra.

I didn't have any time on the computer yesterday (that's a good think I think). So here's my Empellon Cocina chef's table experience. Just a fantastic, phenomenal, super, great, yummy meal. Alex was out on book tour so Isabella ran the table for us. A view in the kitchen from the chef's table I started the night with an Obregon Fizz and a shot of their best anejo before heading to the table. Our first was "Tigers Milk" which was their ceviche marinade - smart use of product. Apple marinated in apricot seed salsa Clam and tomato popsicles Those were paired with this anejo Then they poured this lovely wine This dish has gotten all sorts of attention and it is fabulous - zucchini, chile ash mayo, fermented coconut cream. I liked it enough that I threw my tongue at the plate... As good as it was, the painting of the plate feels gimmicky to me. The "paint" didn't come off even when I licked it, and I didn't taste anything when I licked it, so what's the point? That said, one of the top dishes of the night. Gordita inflatada with salsa verde mousse Egg white omelette with sikil pak (pumpkin seed sauce). Next pour: They never let my glass stay empty for long. Kumamoto oysters with nixtamalized popcorn kernels Avocado with breadcrumbs and crab Trout flauta. Our next pairing was a cider Then, out came this container So you know what was coming next. Chicken wing with salsa de chapulines and guac. Concha with chipotle date puree and american cheese Scotch egg Then this was fun. They had each of us pick an ingredient, and Isabella ground them in a metate and served it with the corn tortillas. Our group made a good salsa! Quesadilla with chicharron and quelites Blood sope We wondered about this all night long. Turns out it was a pineapple that had roasted all day with a piece of lard on top and maybe some chiles. that became an inverse al pastor. Next pour: and we're heading into the dulces Masa waffle with smoked maple syrup and chicken liver butter Ripe plantain with mole poblano a decent port, although at this point it didn't matter. Black mole with white sesame Chocolate with vanilla, tamarind and prune Our next pairing was a frozen blackberry margarita Tres leches with blackberry and watermelon - not very seasonal but it was a plate licker. One last drink. Orange sorbet with sal de guasanos

OMG! Tonight was the opposite. What an amazing meal at Empellon Cocina chef's table. I've been waiting for this meal for a few years.

I have now. Interesting article. So Cosme...sigh...drops chin to chest. We ordered too much food (according to our server) but they don't know me very well. We ordered (notice how I say ordered not received) the uni tostada, burrata, Tleyuda, and Cobia for starters. Didn't get the uni. Then the lobster and steak for entrees. Didn't get either. Instead was sent octopus. And for dessert the corn husk meringue and the nixtemelized pumpkin with cream cheese. We had a couple of cocktails. Both were just okay. This was the Telenovela with Pisco. The cobia (front) with pineapple salsa was nice. Tyler thought it was undercooked...I'm not sure since I had never had that before. The Tlayuda in the center was good but impossible to eat neatly. The chicharrones on top were not crisp at all - day old? exposed to moisture? Not sure, but not good. Otherwise tasty and probably the bes thing on the table. The burrata - quite frankly the one we had earlier at Mekelburgs was heads and tails above this one. Neither of our entrees arrived but they sent us this "crispy octopus" which wasn't crispy and was a far inferior version to one I had at the ICC show for lunch the same day and the one at the show was cooked in a friggin tent out in the parking lot! Meringue was great. Pumpkin was terrible textures - cream cheese was cold and thick. Pumpkin was stringy. Just not good at all. So, they fixed our $250 bill to account for the mistakes but it was still $170. That was a $75 meal...bump it to $125 for NYC pricing, but still not something I would ever pay for again. Better luck at Empellon tonight!

When I see wild on that menu I read, "some style that I don't have space to tell you about but its wild..." I suspect mine was an IPA or some heavily hopped variety. News of the night - Cosme...yeah, I don't need to go back. I'll post more later on it.

I was reminded of the infamous chocolate weight loss study.

And that's what I'm thinking - maybe us do-it-yourselfers are safe