weinoo

After a big restaurant meal, and then another (if slightly smaller) restaurant meal, we needed this last night... Penne with shrimp, asparagus, shallots, garlic, herbs. And a salad.

As described in this post about pop ups, and a chef's vision being carried out in a strange city/restaurant by a different team, we had a very nice dinner a few nights ago at Manresa at Intersect. Inside a restaurant for the first time in 14.5 months - wow! I definitely thought we were going to get the "you need to order everything at one time" spiel, but we didn't, and our order of the eggplant terrine with brown butter and roasted cumin showed up pretty quickly; in other words, in time to enjoy with our apéritifs. Good (especially for those who like eggplant cuz it's a big crock) - and the (Manresa) bread was great. Our first courses consisted of both the striped jack and the panisse/pomme paillasson combo. I'm a sucker for panisse and these were good, better even than the potato, in my opinion. Served with a dip of Meyer lemon and boquerones, which actually might've been the star of that show. The striped jack, sashimi style - yes, we could make this dish at home - but I don't know if I could source a piece of fish this good. Simple and superb, with a little citrus and slivers of daikon. Significant Eater wanted pasta (Significant Eater always wants pasta), so her trenette with pesto and avocado didn't disappoint, though it was incorrectly described to us, and in the one (or two?) service snafus (probably due to inexperience all around - we were served by 2 wait people, one in training) wasn't quite hot, yet didn't suffer tremendously from that - probably better than sitting under a heat lamp until my fish was done. Oh - it was described as the pasta being tossed with pesto and sitting atop some mashed avocado. No - it was either a pesto made with a little avocado within, or they left the avocado out. Either way, it was good pesto. She enjoyed it just fine. I opted for what appeared to be a favorite here - the black cod - which was great. All the many beans nicely cooked, fish just right in terms of doneness - wow. And I love black cod, in all its guises. In celebration of being out - two desserts - cause why not? Chocolate meringue Mille-Feuille. Coffee & licorice...mmmmmm. And the second one, which really blew me away with its sharp, tangy, citric thing going on... Salted butter ice cream. With rhubarb, Meyer lemon granita, brown butter bits. Fantastic, if not for everyone. We only drank by-the-glass wines, which were all quite reasonable, and nicely served; your glasses are refreshed, bottles are brought over, and tastes are offered. Should I be embarrassed that we had 7? And both the '96 Coteaux Layons (on at $10!) and the '88 D'Oliveiras Terrantez Madeira were delicious - and perfect for these desserts. Oh - here's Kinch making pommes paillasson...

From pop ups selling Korean rice hot dogs (oh yeah, that's a thing here), to fancy schmancy sit down dinners with chef's-in-residence, the restaurant world has changed a lot over the past few decades. But has it? I mean, there's always been street food, and from county fairs to beach boardwalks to carnivals and amusement parks, there have always been places to eat what one wouldn't generally go to a restaurant for. Our first dinner out (yet in) last night in over 14 months took place at Intersect by Lexus, a restaurant/lounge/bar space which often showcases well-known chefs from around the globe...I'll leave it to them for a more complete description. The chef's vision (and occasionally the chef himself) currently in residence, is that of one David Kinch of Manresa, a Michelin 3*** restaurant in Los Gatos, CA. We've never experienced the chef in person at Manresa, but we have enjoyed other chef's visions at Intersect and other places (i.e. Chef's Club) offering this type of dining experience, here in New York City. The chef's vision as it is carried out at Intersect (after a short training period under Kinch and a few of his staff), obviously skews towards product available here - this ain't Los Gatos, CA, and in Los Gatos, Kinch has a farm which grows for him exclusively. So while there may not be a big old Wagyu ribeye steak on the menu in CA, there's one at Intersect by Manresa (though there might be an ounce or two of that Wagyu in a course on the tasting menu). Also, the menu and fare at Manresa skews towards the use of the brilliant vegetables grown there; here, in this season, can it be as focused on that? Probably not. However, we really enjoyed our dinner; maybe we were grading on the curve, it being our first meal inside a restaurant since the before times. The chatter of neighboring (but 6 feet away) tables, the fact that I wasn't gonna have to do the dishes, different wines by the glass for different courses, all added up to a good time. To me, this pop up worked. Others haven't been as successful; probably the luck of the draw. It's not easy for a chef to go to a different city and pretend it's her restaurant. Anyone else have experience eating at pop ups, fancy or not?

Certainly one of the reasons to go to the OG. We ordered focusing on showcasing proteins; and although garden grows year-round, some of the summer vegetables are certainly not available to them in the winter/spring, at least not from their garden.

Lucky you! That's exactly what I remember - holding the arms up.

No - those were pretty limited and sold out quickly - you had to pre reserve and sit at counter. With one of the desserts we had, it was great. But...1875...wow! I can understand how everything after might pale.

Intersect by Lexus - currently featuring David Kinch's Manresa.

These two were drank with dessert last night... The Madeira, in particular, was quite delicious. The Coteaux wasn't bad either. Lovely to see some wines with age on them in an NYC restaurant. Not that easy to find at this price point. (Man, we missed going out!)

Especially considering the wines she was most likely tasting! I actually have a 2 or 3 qt. anodized Calphalon saucepan; I'll use it when making reverse-engineered rice a roni or something similar. Works great.

This reminds me of when we'd visit my parents and I'd go into pantry to find stuff to cook. And I'd have to throw stuff out behind their backs; though the only rice I think I saw was probably Uncle Ben's or Rice-A-Roni.

Throw that carnaroli out!

Have you tried The Rice Factory rices. They have 2020 harvest, and they mill it to spec. So sorta like getting freshly roasted coffee. Of course, they're only dealing with Japanese rices, and I think you use Jasmine almost exclusively?

Spoiler alert. Bean club shipment est arrivé... Two varieties I've never had before. And the dreaded quinoa. But this is of great interest... They look like giant peppercorns.

As I've learned with all the rices I've been playing with. The new harvest Japanese rices are so interesting in the amounts of water required. And also, depending on its final purpose, I sometimes use a bit less water as for chirashi, which is going to have liquid added after it's cooked... https://rice-factory-ny.myshopify.com/pages/how-to-cook-delicious-rice

and you couild go on to bomba, the risotto rices, the Japanese rices (I have a few which are partially milled and require different amounts of liquid), etc. etc. Turning on an oven to cook rice seems a little...annoying...like alton brown.

Shit, now you've done it...calling @JoNorvelleWalker!!

Interestingly reminds me of this pie we had in Rome...no cheese, and a thinner crust, but still.

Japanese rices, many of them (like when making rice for sushi) don't fluff. This is classic from you, @JoNorvelleWalker, the woman of 1,000 gadgets/accessories/appliances!! So tell me how weighing is complicating things? I have the scale on my counter right next to the coffee set up...so I can weigh the beans before grinding. Consistency in cooking/baking/coffee making is some of what I was taught. My guess is you actually have some sort of nuclear powered scale, but it weights too much to use on a daily basis!

Now I'm just a little bit jealous...but seriously, no blue crabs and they're open?! Have you ever been to Cantler's (my guess is yes)? My favorite place for picking crab.

Yes...I've become a fan of the scale for rice cooker rice cooking. With rice that doesn't get rinsed (e.g. bomba, carnaroli, etc.), I go a little more freehand. As @liuzhou mentions, and as Roy Choi has often mentioned on Chef - he's OCD, and he washes rice 5x.

I don't even dip. I put the rice cooker bowl on a scale, and weigh the rice - now it's in the bowl I wash the rice in, and after draining, it's back on the scale for the amount of water needed. I find that by subtracting how much water is left clinging to the rice from the total amount of water needed, the rice comes out beautifully.

Yes, at the ones I've been to, most everything is open for inspection.

Now, I'm much better - they get replaced frequently, and can even go into the dishwasher! And I use a fresh, clean micro fiber dish thing every day!

You should see how long I keep a sponge! Only kidding - remember, I wasn't a daily wok user, so they lasted; probably longer than they should have.

Flashback to old school Italian restaurants, Long Island style... Pane all'aglio. Spaghetti aglio e olio. Carciofi alla Romana not pictured.