weinoo

From the owners of The Queens Kickshaw comes their new venture, WASSAiL - a cider bar and restaurant, located on Orchard St., on the lower east side of Manhattan. The Queens Kickshaw has been known, since its opening, as one of the best places to get your cider on. Trouble is, it's in Astoria, not exactly an easy schlep from Manhattan. So, I was extremely excited when I read that the owners had taken a space, right here in my neighborhood. It opened this week. And to say I'm happy would be an understatement. We visited Tuesday night, their public opening, and were wowed - at any one time, they'll have between 80 - 100 ciders available, from all over the globe. There will be about a dozen available on draught, and a bunch more available by the glass. We only tasted 7 or 8, so we've got a ways to go. And of course, I blogged about it as well. Hail WASSAiL.

We were gifted a bottle of the Glendalough "Premium." The 80 proof, standard stuff I assume. I still haven't gotten the courage to open it up yet.

No, not heading that way; just staying in the city.

Fortunately, I'm able to time it when there are minimal lines, especially at some of the other locations (86th St. springs to mind. As does the location near Dupont in DC). We'll be in San Francisco next week, and might have to snack on an In 'n Out.

I don't think it's grass-fed beef. 100% all-natural Angus beef is what their menu reads. I like Shake Shack's burger, and I like some of the other offerings even more (concretes, hot dogs are both good).

I sure hope you have a good fan, or at least some ventilation.

Yes. The lamb ribs are from the belly and the rack is from the loin.

Danny Bowien serves lamb ribs at his Mission Chinese Food in NYC. They are very fatty - it's the nature of the beast.

The Death & Co. cocktail book. Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast

Feta and avocado omelet w/Rancho Gordo Chipotle Salsa atop. Balthazar Pain de seigle.

Maybe you overworked the dough? Try an hour in the fridge next time, or even in the freezer. simple explanation is that dough shrinks due to the gluten...real simple.

Here's the cider menu from the owners' first restaurant, The Queens Kickshaw. There isn't a menu for Wassail yet, but...

And this month, on the lower east side of Manhattan, a new bar called Wassail opens. Close to 100 ciders on offer. Can't wait. Wassail.

Let's say you invest 20 hours of work...does $750 sound like anything other than a nice number? Of course, $1K sounds better... Not including expenses, btw.

$750. For no reason other than it sounds like a good number.

I think it's in the 190℉ range.

At this point, I don't think it's fair of me to opine. I'm not your target market. Been there...done that. Not my favorite way to spend my dining dollars.

Here's a focaccia like flatbread, 1/2 topped with thinly sliced and blanched red potato. I'd like a darker brown potato, but was afraid I'd burn the bottom of the focaccia, since it was already pretty dark brown - as was the 1/2 of the bread without the potato on top. Baked on the bread setting, 450°F, for about 20 - 22 minutes. But I do preheat the oven on its regular bake setting, at the same temperature, for about 5 minutes.

Chicken scarpariello, sautéed assorted greens (kale, spinach, chard, beet greens) topped with some of the peppers and onions from the scarpariello, and focaccia with potatoes, which could have been a little browner, but I was worried about burning the bottom.

Frittata with 2 kinds of leftover pasta...carbonara and caccio e pepe.

Haven't tried the salsa yet, but I'm probably gonna use it as a condiment for the pot of beans I'm planning on making today. Steve told me that the Eye of the Goat beans are really good, but the harvest this year was meager.

I just received a nice order from, guess who...

Thanks for putting the romantic back into toast. As someone who often makes toast for my partner Significant Eater, I'd almost forgotten. And now I'm going to remind her, tomorrow morning, just how important her toast is to me!

No way. I also don't understand "intimate" at 40 or more people. Nor where it might be held.

I do like how "10 second toast" takes 8 minutes and 30 seconds before it gets there. I could've toasted like a whole loaf of bread already.