jeunefilleparis

Well, it was a cold and rather dreary wednesday (last) so I decided to go over to Wallse since I hadn't been there in a while. My last meal there was so wonderful and I was very excited to eat there again. However, last weeks meal fell way below expectations. My first course was Spätzle with braised rabbit, wild mushrooms, sweetcorn and tarragon. Basically, all I could taste was the cream sauce. It was heavy and bland. The rabbit really didnt have a lot of flavor nor did the peas or corn in the dish. I was so disappointed because I had always wanted to try the dish and it was just incredibly boring. My entree was the Wiener Schnitzel with potato-cucumber salad and lingonberries. Now I know that the dish itself is very simple, but the way it was served was a bit strange to me. Basically there was this huge portion of schnitzel and a little pools of lignonberries and the potato-cucumber salad was on the side and had no flavor either. The schnitzel itself was very nice and well, tasted like it was, fried, the lingonberries added a nice fruty flavor to it, but there was only a small portion of it. At least the dessert was great. -warm apple strudel with walnuts and rum ice cream was really stellar. flaky phyllo and nice sweet apples. i guess i would go back again since my first visit was great, but this time it was quite disappointing. service was wonderful though and I supposed that I could have sent the spatzle back, but i guess that I just wasnt in the mood to cause any kind of problem,,,,,,,,,,

ok, lets put it this way, I can't bake or for that matter cook, but I make a great grilled cheese:)

AKA Cafe on Clinton has sloppy joes, but they might be a bit "gourmet"

if you dont bake, is it illegal to buy a REALLY good pie? L

steven, I would agree with most most of that. When my parents visit from Philly, I usually get in a least one great meal. However, most of my other expensive meals are paid for by me generally. But I do wonder, sometimes when I go to the 3 star restaurants and there are considerably young people dining how they got the money or if they are being treated, most people that I know, in the their early mid 20's wouldnt spend $100 and upwards on a meal, but food is something I live for, so I spend it,, I dont even want to think about retirement yet,,,,,,,,,,

At the prices they charge, aren't those in the main (plus doctors, etc.) the only people who can afford to go more than once in a blue moon? It depends. If you're childless, carless, debt-free, employed full-time with benefits, and living economically in most other respects (e.g., you have several roommates in an "emerging neighborhood" and therefore spend <$500 per month on housing and utilities), you can have several hundred dollars per month to spend on a hobby even if your annual income is $35,000 (which is roughly the average per capita income in New York City). That means editorial assistants at publishing companies, young public-school teachers, and others earning at that level can, if they are so motivated, eat pretty well assuming fine-dining is their one major non-essential expenditure. If you can find a compatible partner -- in other words someone who is willing to drink tap-water, not order add-on items like coffee, and take advantage of advantageous lunchtime and prix-fixe deals -- you can dine out at the three- and four-star level 48 times per year (aka almost every week) on a budget of approximately $500 per month (aka $6,000 per year). I correspond regularly with several people in this situation -- it is a definite subculture. steven, I would definately have to agree, I make well under the amount that you mentioned but i am also childless, carless, debt free ect. and if i know that there is a restaurant that i want to try then i will organize my money accordingly! and with Egullet, I always can find someone to dine with me:) like Bond GIrl:)))

well, i was craving it again, a 3 course dessert meal, so I went back to Chikalicious! This time I was alone, so I decided to sit at the bar so that I could watch Donna and Chika prepare the desserts. Once again Don greeted me, could he be any friendlier? and shortly after sitting down I received a pre amuse, amuse, which was a spoonful of mango puree with a small cilantro leaf. Great palette cleanser and such a great burst of flavor! I was going to get the fromage blanc island " cheesecake" but they had just added a new dessert, a semolina souffle with warm sweet potato puree and a sugar pecan tuile. The amuse was a lemon-milk sorbet served ontop of a lemon verbena gelee. I have never been a huge gelee fan, its consistancy is a bit to close to slime for me, but the flavor was still nice and went well with the sorbet which was creamy and sort of tart at the same time. I was told by Donna and Chika that I was the first person to try the semolina souffle, so i have to admit , i was very excited. It came out of the oven and they place in on the plate ( remember i was at the bar, so i could watch) and the souffle got somewhat stuck in the silver souffle mold ( i m sure there is a correct word for it , but since i am not a chef, i have no idea what it is) anyways,they got it out using a knife and then they poured the sweet potato puree around it. The semolina cake itself was not very sweet, rather mild tasting actually, but combined with the sweet potato puree it was perfect. SInce the inside of the souffle was very moist and therefore dense, if it had been sweet on its on, i feel that it would have been too much, but by adding the puree, it was perfect. the sugar pecan tuile tasted like a praline. Overall it was very very good. It was almost like fancy comfort food because the warmth and consistancy of the souffle, was , well, comforting. So, I was chatting with the chefs and I asked them if they every ahd people order more than one dessert and they told me that one guy had come from the upper west side and siad something like " i didnt come down here for only one dessert" I found that funny and well, inspiring, so I decided to order what I had originally come for, the cheesecake "island" I have to say that I had no idea what to expect. I knew the taste of fromage blanc, and of course cheesecake, but with the island part, i kinda thought about the french dessert the "ile flottant' which means floating island and is just sweet eggwhites floating on creme anglaise! So when a simple white circular shape arrived surrounded by chopped ice that seemed to sparkle ( seriously) I was taken aback. Oh and they poured cream on it too,,,,, So when I took a bite I think that I sighed and declared that it was amazing, bc they chefs laughed, but it was THAT good and so original. It basically has the flavor of fromage blanc with the conistancy of cheesecake and its somewhat sweet but not too much,and well, you just HAVE TO TRY IT! oh it was so good! Maybe i ll get an my birthday cake made out of just that! the petit fours were a coconut dusted marshmellow, a mini vanilla cream puff and a green tea papaya truffle! Also,. I watched them prepare the pear dish and the white chocolate mousee dish. Its amazing how simple they make it seem and how they do it with such ease and skill. Once again, I cant wait to go back sometime very very soon!

ok ok, i meant best burritos in NYC, PAN:)

i still think that mexicana mama on hudson street has the best burritos ever, my friend, who happens to be mexican says that they are pretty damn good too:)

the pig pickin' looked fabulous, and I VOW that i will attend the next one! I cant believe that I missed all those pies, oh my................ though, thanks to Ron, I did drink the most amazing avocado milkshake at a vietnamese place in Louisville KY, but dont worry i m sure it doesnt compare to those pies and puddin's, those pieessssssssssssssssss katie fill me in! i m drooling over my laptop...............

Wasabi sorbet doesn't sound like a dessert to me. It was sweet? yeah it was sweet! and was incredible!

my most memorable still was the wasabi sorbet served on a block of ice at Papillion 2 years ago when Paul Liebrandt was still chef,,, I was quite impressed!

Bond girl and I had a fabulous meal at Blue Hill in July. I cant remember all of the dishes but there was this roasted fig dessert with an exotic flavored icecream that escapes me, that was so good!. Everything was amazing. Bond girl when are we going out to eat again>>>?? Lauren

i ate at peasant twice now and both meals were great. the atmosphere is very cozy and welcoming. my favorite part is that they give you ricotta cheese to put on your bread:)

speaking of burgers,,,,,,,,,,, i ate a Corner Bistro burger (tonight), in under 5 minutes tonight, i think that the bartender was scared of me. mmmm it was great. and then i went to jefferson and had their yummy marscapone icecream, yuummmy

Don was a total doll- sweet, informative and friendly! i love that place.

HI everyone, a quick word, i couldnt find the old thread so if someone could put this there that would be great,,,,,,,,,,, So after months of hearing about Chickalicious, and then 2 visits to salivate over the menu, my friend Kelly and I went to indulge I had seen the space before, but I d like to add how serene and cozy it is. I felt like i was in someones kitchen the whole time. It smelled like toasted coconut, which i would later eat as a petits four so a gentleman named Don sat us and before we could even look at the menu we were served 2 tiny spoonfuls of vanilla panna cotta each were dotted with a pomagranate seed. It was rich and creamy and the seed added a touch of tartness to it. as we gazed at the menu, I am a die hard dessert fan mind you and choosing desserts is a very important deal,,,,,,,,, we were served a scoop of thyme icecream with fresh grapes. Now, i thought that I had had every flavor of icecream but i was wrong. The icecream was very refreshing and the grapes added a nice sweetness to the icecream. we decided on the roasted figs served in parchment paper and cinnamon icecream and the marscapone semifreddo with expresso granita and lemon cake. Both were incredible. The figs were served right out of the oven and had a lovely flavor and sent and coupled with the cinnamon icecream, well you could not have had a more ideal pair. the warm figs melted the icecream and was just lovely on tongue! the semifreddo was a delight as well. i love marscapne ( jefferson restaurant, wher i work, has a marscapone icecream) the semifreddo was richer and more dense but still had the nice flavor and smoothness, the expresso granita added a great texture too the semifreddo, and the bitterness of it took away some of the creaminess of the semifreddo. the lemon cake was moist, well , more like wet, and was lemony and sweet and suprisingly went along well with the other 2 flavors. the petit fours,,,, an expresso truffle, toast coconut covered marshmellow and a poppy seed cream puff were all a lovely end to a great first "meal" at Chickalicious Chicka and Donna were very sweet and didnt mind me chattering away about desserts! I cant wait to go back

great to see you Herb, sorry you didnt get to see the mad rush! You also missed when I walked into the back of the house trying to be helpful by bussing a table with 6 half emtpy glasses to have them all be knocked on to me!thankfully it was not on the floor, but I was "kindly" told by the chefs to remember to say "behind you" im sure that i ll remember that next time, thank god it was only water and not, say WINE! <> the fruit is called Calamansi!!

It was great to finally have proper Chinese food, i so rarely eat Chinese and I m glad that I got to sample all the ones I ve missed over the years! IT was so nice to finally but faces to screen names ( i think that Paige and Ms Varmint thought we were nuts by referring to people via screen name because " I just cant remember your real name" I walked as fast as I could tearing through the streets of china town to get to Jefferson for work and I barely made it on time! Elyse, the pie was the highlight for me:) I Hope to see you all again soon at another get together! Can we just have a dessert party? Lauren

is it too late to RSVP for saturday? I d love to come lauren

I stopped into Inoteca today for a glass of wine. The place is absolutely beautiful. I was so shocked at the size of it compared to Ino!!There are large windows on two sides that allow lots of great light as well as summer breezes in. Dark wood floors and furniture give it a chic yet casual feel. The staff is very friendly and the menu offers a couple of nice new additions. I ll be there tomorrow for dinner, report to follow Lauren

I ate at both 71CFF and Papillion April 2002. My meal at 71 CFF left me wondering why i had paid so much for such mediocre food. I dont remember every part of the meal at 71 CFF but i do recall that a lot of it lacked proper flavor and was not cooked properly( ie our cake was too dry and the fish was overcooked) Also, 'I remember that it wasnt as "out there" as I had expected. At Papillon Liebrandts food was incredibly adventurous. The flavors, even if they seemed oddly paired together, actually worked brilliantly. I still remember some kind of blueberry jello palette cleanser that had a beer foam on top..... and the best by far was the wasabi sorbet served on a block of ice, which absolutely blew me away. The prices at Papillon were also much more reasonable than 71cff. Needless to say, I was very upset that Paul chose to leave Papillon...... last i heard, he was a private chef,,,, does anyone know where he works now?? the menu at wd 50 does sound intriguing, especially the desserts since Iam a sucker for those ok, back to being a camp counselor ya roo i miss you L

I thought credit card transactions were instantaneous at this point. << Servers of course are paid small salaries, but they make their income from tips.>> a dear friend of mine works at ducasse, the person gets paid $13/hr and only gets paid for 8hrs instead of the 12hrs actually worked. it sickens me that the chefs get paid probably half of what the servers get at these top restaurants. yes it is said that once you have these grand restaurants on your resume that you can work anywhere but i wonder if it is really worth it......

I thought that his brother Joe opened the new ino downtown? I am pretty sure that they are at least partners in the new place...... anyone eaten there yet? when i escape the moutains next monday i shall check it out and report back!

hi everyone its lauren, long time no write! I m actually living in the moutains this summer, as camp counselor, its very strange to be out of the city. camp food is , lets say, less than stellar. in any case, i m back in the city on my day off, and i was curious if that dessert only place had opened yet? does anyone remember the name of it? if so please let me know, thanks lauren