WANT SOME STEAK WITH THAT SALT?

I'm going to go ahead and admit a moderate amount of failure on this one. It was good but it wasn't great due to one major issue - the steak was too salty.

See, I followed this guide I saw on the Grocery Guy to really get the moisture out of my steak with a whole bunch of salt. It it looked like it was working. The NY strip I picked up seemed to have dried out and I was all set to grill it up on high heat and get a great crust.

The problem was, that salt didn't go away and the whole thing was just too damn salty!

I think next time I'll try and wash it off? I figured the moisture would mess with my style, but it can't taste like that! And I should also start two days ahead of time. I only did this in a day.

Anyway, in addition to this steak, we had some olive oil mashed potatoes from Jamie Oliver's book:
- potato
- olive oil
- parmesan

I also threw a little porcini sauce over the steak:
- wild porcini
- water
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil

So it wasn't a bad dinner, but salt really came close to ruining it. But that's what happens when you mess around in the kitchen. Sometimes you get great results ... sometimes you don't. I'll keep working. This one is worth tweaking.

DAN BROUGHT LONDON BACK

Dan spent the week in London so he and Steve came on by for a little catching up and dinner in the neighborhood last night. I'm not sure if it rained while he was in London, but it certainly rained like we were on that soggy island last night. Thus the title. Sorry Dan.

Anyway, we thought it best to hit Boca Lupo last night because it was cold, threatening rain (when we left) and the place is literally steps away from us.

Another really strong choice. A weekend with both Chestnut and Boca Lupo? I'm doing something right. That's the kind of one two punch that seriously reminds you how wonderful your life is sometimes.

We ordered a real mish mash of food, but I'll break down the stuff Meena and I picked up first. Meena had:
- some sort of creamy pasta that was a special for the evening
- veal and porcini meatballs

Alec had an assortment of bruschetta:
- creamy leek and truffled cheese
- butternut squash and crispy pancetta
- cannellini mash and olive tapenade
- sausage and something else I can't remember

Oh, my. It was all very, very wonderful.

Oh, I almost forgot. We started with a cheese plate. You know how cheese plates are always good but never like ... mind blowing? This one was mind blowing. For me. I'm not sure anyone else loved it as much as me, but from the truffled one to the fruity one to the manchego-like one ... whooo weeee. Heaven by the slice, friends.

Dan had been before and he enjoyed his meal. It was Steveo's first trip and I think he was down as well. We finished the whole thing off with one of those nutella and banana panini things. It tastes a bit of donut, but it's seriously amazing.

I've said it many times before, but Boca Lupo ... don't ever change. I love you just the way you are.

PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST

Pizza for breakfast was one of my favorite things in the world when I was younger. My mom would probably cringe, but one of my greatest food memories was the pure jubilation I would feel when I opened that fridge door with groggy eyes and messy hair to find some of last night's pie waiting for consumption.

It never made it to the microwave. It never made it much further than three steps from the fridge. Cold pizza for breakfast was my thing. Plain and simple.

Which makes it feel odd that I've never done pizzettas for breakfast. If you read this blog often, you'll know we eat those joints with some serious regularity. So you'd think making the transition to the breakfast varieties would have happened some time ago.

Well, for whatever reason, I waited until yesterday to get moving on that front. I don't know why. I just woke up and got moving on them.

Nothing special. Two were tomato based ... one pesto. Here's the rest:
- eggs (with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper)
- chicken sausage with garlic and sun-dried tomato
- spinach
- olive oil
- marinara
- basil pesto
- bleu cheese
- flour tortilla

Awesome. Meena was singing my praises all morning! The only thing that really made these breakfast was the addition of egg. I suppose I could work on that. Making them more "breakfast" themed. But whatever. They were awesome and they got our Saturday moving in the right direction.

THIS ONE WAS NUTS

Friday afternoon Meena was on the ball and called Chestnut on Smith Street for a reservation. It had been a moderately annoying week and we felt like it was completely within our right to have a dinner out - and a nice one at that.

We'd been to Chestnut once before way back in October and the results were obviously strong enough for us to feel like a repeat visit was necessary.

The place is the picture of cozy. A cute bar welcomes you and you pretty much feel like you're at home the second you sit down. A home filled with strangers, waiters and lots of great food ... but you get the idea.

They kick off every meal with homemade pickles and breads. Any spot that makes their own pickles and brings them for a starter is fine by me. I suppose Ted's fits that description as well, but my love for Ted's ends at the pickles. Anyway.

This time around, Meena started with:
- buckwheat crepe, farro, house made gravlax & crème fraiche

And I went with:
- baby beet salad, marcona almonds & mizuna

Meena's crepe and gravlax outdid her haystack shrimp from last time. Tenfold. It was really, really delicious. The farro with the rich gravlax and creamy fraiche? Come on ... it gets no better and you know it.

My salad was amazing. The beets were really sweet and characteristically earthy. I have no clue what mizuna is. I should google it.

For a main course, Meena tried:
- hanger steak, fingerlings, valdeon & red wine

And Alec went with:
- grilled pork chop with figs and white polenta

Again, we made much smarter choices this time around. Not that I had bad food last time, but Meena was much happier this go around. Her steak was awesome and the potatoes were probably one of the better sides she's had in a long, long time.

My pork chop might have been, dare I say, the greatest one I've ever had. Seriously. It came on the bone, stuffed with figs and served over the top of the best polenta I've ever consumed. I don't even like polenta. But this was amazing polenta. And the pork chop was thick, packed with figgy flavor and decadent pork fat. It was cooked to perfection and will honestly go down as one of the best meals I've had in a long, long time.

We finished out with one of those flour-less chocolate cake things. I know. It's massively cliche. But there's a reason they're on every menu. It's amazing!

Thanks, Chestnut!

INSPIRATION

I got home late last night. Well. Not LATE late. But later. Because I knew the office was going to take me a minute, Meena was kind enough to run by Pacific Green and pick up some supplies.

When I rolled up on the block of Verandah, I was delighted to see she even prepped everything! Pasta was ready, spinach cleaned, sausage chopped. So I didn't even really do anything. I just threw it all together.

I should say this is inspired by Last Night's Dinner. This SORT of pasta seems to come up as an old favorite for her. I think she uses broccoli rabe, though. And Meena hates that stuff. So I just had her get spinach. I know that one is cool with my homegirl.

So when I got home, I threw together the following:
- orecchiette
- spinach
- marinara sauce
- olive oil
- salt
- balsamic vinegar
- sausage
- black pepper
- crushed red pepper

The sausage brought most of the flavor here. And that was fine by me. I think I had two bowls. Which isn't the norm for me. But it was really delicious. And it took all of about 3 minutes to cook since Meena had everything ready. Bring on Friday!

DELIVERY, LATE NIGHT

Last night I had to hit the East Village for drinks with a few former coworkers and other assorted friends. Meena wasn't feeling so hot and worked late, so she rolled in late and called in the helping hand of our neighbors at Joya.

She kept it strictly standard for herself:
- chicken pad thai

And I got the same thing I picked up last time:
- moo kratiam

Delicious as always. I threw a ton of sambal oelek on mine to give it an added kick. I'll be sure and cook tonight.

BOO 63

In a fairly odd turn of events, we were sent some of the worst Japanese delivery ever by our beloved Cube 63. Seriously. Cube 63. I'm not lying. It was terrible.

The filling was fine. No problem there. It was the RICE. They totally screwed it up. It wasn't individual grains stuck together. It was a paste of rice spread around the fish. It was bad. And that's sad.

Anyway, Meena had:
- shrimp shumai
- spicy tuna roll
- california roll
- shrimp tempura roll

Alec had:
- miso soup
- yellowtail and scallion roll
- spicy salmon roll

Very sad. Totally unfortunate. A real bummer of a dinner story.

The miso was good. I guess I can try to see the bright side. Meena liked her shumai. Honestly, it was just the rice. Bad rice. Killed the sushi delivery star.

FROM THE SEAS

I know what they say about seafood on Monday. I do. I really do. But whatever. I broke the rule because nothing else was open tonight and well ... Fish Tales is on the way home. So we stopped in on the way back from the train and picked up some shrimp and scallops.

Meena pulled out the shrimp and supplied cocktail sauce for a little pre-dinner snack. Not bad. I was skeptical, but they were solid. I figured .... if they were frozen previously, that's probably OK. Again, probably not the right assumption. But whatever. I did it. I need to rationalize now.

Then I threw together some snacks with a bit of smoked salmon I picked up yesterday. It included:
- smoked salmon
- smoked mozzarella
- watercress leaves
- dijon mustard

Very nice. We both enjoyed that quite a bit.

And finally, we did the scallops with some stuff like:
- scallops (seared in olive oil, salt, black pepper)
- red onion
- black sesame seeds
- garlic
- water
- sesame ginger marinade
- white rice
- basil leaves
- lime juice

This was totally a Meena dinner. She loved every bite and all the flavors were just her style. It was a little salty, totally rich and the scallops were seared to perfection. The sauce permeated the rice and every bite was really a pleasure.

SUPER D

I just have to come right out and say it. Evil was finally defeated. It was amazing. It couldn't have come at a better time. The Giants of New York were able to lop off the head of the beast when it counted most. It was no Colts win ... but it was for sure the next best thing for this Indiana boy.

And it wouldn't be football at James and D's house without some of D's amazing foodz. After an assortment of goodies prior to the big meal, we were treated to the most amazing meatball grinder/sub/hero ever (We had a regional vernacular discussion about what long sandwiches are called in our respective home states. I called it a sub, FYI. In Connecticut it's a grinder ... and NY calls them heroes. Funny.).

Anyway, it was awesome.

Then after the game, we all had the most amazing apple, almond cake ... well ... ever. It was seriously magic in every bite. Just look at that photo. You want to eat it don't you? Yeah. I knew it. Well, you can't. But trust me ... it was seriously amazing and you'd still be reeling from it today if you had been fortunate enough to sink your teeth into a slice.

BAKED EGGS BACK AGAIN

Well, this one doesn't look all that great. But I have to be honest ... it was pretty darn delicious.

I was inspired by the success I had with the muffin-tin madness the day before so I got busy with some baked eggs early Sunday morning. What better way to get ready for a souper boule right?

So it was pretty similar to the day before. Just a few tweaks:
- chicken roll (basil, sun-dried tomato, smoked mozzarella)
- marinara
- red onion
- basil
- egg
- salt
- black pepper

I threw the whole thing over some watercress and topped it with my own version of Heinz 57:
- ketchup
- marinara
- worcestershire sauce
- teriyaki sauce

Again, not all that attractive ... but very delicious.

THE GOD OF DINNER

Saturday night we made an odd call and went to Thor in the Lower East Side. It's the trendy restaurant in the Hotel on Rivington. See, Dan needed to entertain a girl from Milan who was in town for fashion week. Lots of Euros hang out at the HoR, so I guess the thinking was ... that would be a good place to go.

I went a couple years ago for a private party and it was pretty good. So I was cool with the idea. I hadn't heard much about it in a while so I was a little freaked out that it was on the decline. I had read the kitchen had turned over and a new regime was in place. So there was some worry for sure.

Turns out it was pretty good. The food was OK. Not AMAZING, but good. The atmosphere, while trendy, was nice because hardly anyone was there when we showed up at 8:00. We nearly had the whole thing to ourselves.

The service left a little to be desired. The waiter poured wine in my water glass. But he gave us more, so no biggie. Steveo got the wrong meal. But they got it right eventually.

Meena and I started with:
- tuna tartare with green apple, cumin, cucumber and potato crisp

Steve and Dan started with:
- fried artichoke salad

Then Meena had:
- steak frites with bernaise sauce

Dan had:
- duck with something in it. Can't remember.

Steve had:
- risotto with fricassee of mushrooms, garlic chips and pea greens

Alec had:
- skate wing with roasted cabbage and something else

Again, the food was OK. I thought Meena's steak was just OK and pretty overpriced. That was unfortunate. But we went to a great beer bar after and that was fun. And honestly, the atmosphere was fine in there. So that was OK. And all I really cared about was hanging with Dan and Steve and Meena. So whatever. Fun night!

MUFFIN TIN MORNING

I don't think I'd done muffin-tin madness in a minute so I figured I'd get that going this Saturday a.m. I think the last time it looked sorta gross on the blog. So I was determined to do a little nicer look this time around.

I had some leftover dinner from Thursday than needed to be used so I got it out and threw it together with the following:
- chicken roll (with basil, sun-dried tomato and smoked mozzarella)
- egg
- salt
- balsamic vinegar
- basil
- whole wheat tortilla
- red onion

I also threw together some roasted potatoes:
- idaho potato
- paprika
- olive oil
- black pepper

And threw the whole thing over some greens:
- watercress
- olive oil
- salt

This one really hit the spot and got us ready for ... the exterminator to come. Saturday! Yes!

UGLY NIGHT, LOVELY LOBO

Friday night was one of those gross rainy nights that makes you hate New York. Honestly, there are few places worse than New York when it's raining and cold. Because you have to walk through it. And everyone has umbrellas ... which are typically right at my eye level because I tower over lots of New Yorkers.

Anyway, that was the mindset we were in when we got home and decided we needed to keep it close and hit something we knew would hit the spot and make us feel warm.

Pretty easy. Lobo was the simple choice.

I had plenty of chips and salsa to get it going and because it was Friday ... a margarita as well.

Then for the main courses we had pretty standard meals. Meena had her usual:
- edwin's enchiladas with verde sauce

Alec had:
- chicken skinny enchiladas with ranchero sauce

We left completely full and totally satisfied. So so Tex Mex can work wonders sometimes.

ALEC'S LOST DINNER

It's hard to fathom, but due to a very unfortunate scheduling mistake, Meena is at her Glamour welcoming dinner and not here for the opening of an all new season of the world's most addictive television program, Lost.

And because I had jury duty today I ended up with some more time than usual to make dinner. I got lucky and every one of the cases went the plea bargain route. That means I got out a little before 5:00 and I don't have to go back again for nine years. Whoo hoo!

So I grabbed the butterflied chicken breast we had in the freezer and whipped up a little dinner for one:
- chicken breast
- basil
- smoked mozzarella
- sun-dried tomato
- balsamic reduction

I also threw together a small salad:
- watercress
- sun-dried tomato
- bleu cheese
- black pepper
- olive oil

The whole thing was good. The chicken was funny - it almost had the taste of salami when I mixed each bite with the balsamic reduction. Really strange. But as my Dad would say, I did get a really good scald on that bird. Not over cooked or dry, just wonderfully juicy with a nice smoky finish thanks to that wonderful mozzarella.

You may wonder why I'm typing this during the show. Well, it's because I didn't do my homework and didn't understand that the first hour of this "two hour" super show was actually just a recap. A Lost for dummies if you will.

So I figured I'd share dinner with everyone. Tada!

NECESSARY DELIVERY

Last night I went to see at show at the Mercury Lounge and it was a lot of fun. The Teenagers were in town from Paris (a fact they reminded us of often) and they played all their hits at an early show that wrapped up fairly early.

Then I sat in the train station for 45 minutes.

Then I got annoyed (really annoyed) and paid for a cab back to Brooklyn. It was massively frustrating so I called Meena on the way home and had her call in some comfort delivery - Chinese.

That's right. I had her call up China Hong and get me some General Tso's chicken. Obviously not the best thing for me. But I needed something comfortable and easy. So you know .... sue me.

While I was away, Meena called in some pad thai from Joya. Also delicious.

Now I'm off to jury duty. BORING. I'll upload pictures later. Peace.

DINNER ON THE ROUND

Meena submitted a request for pizzettas last night and because I feel like it had been a minute, I was happy to oblige.

I recently read some food blogger’s mission statement that said something about his whole purpose being to break his habit of cooking the same stuff over and over. It got me thinking.

Do I cook the SAME stuff over and over? I never use a recipe so honestly, the same dish is pretty much never served twice … for better or worse.

I do cook the same types of things a lot. Lots of piles of potatoes and fish. Lots of pizzettas. A healthy heaping of stews and slow cooked meats. And let’s not forget the fact we order the same delivery all the time.

Are we in a rut? I mean, it may seem like it. But it all still tastes good to me! So I guess maybe I’ll try to push it a little. I know I need to revise the page’s layout. And I need to fold in some new element or this thing is going to get boring for me. It’s already boring for all of you who read this. So I’ll do my best to integrate something fresh. I promise. It’ll be a late New Year’s resolution.

Anyway, enough of that. About these lovely pizzettas! I only used a handful of ingredients to make two different kinds. The first take featured:
- flour tortilla
- marinara
- anchovies
- red onion
- basil
- green onion cheddar

The second option went like this:
- flour tortilla
- basil pesto
- red onion
- parmesan
- roasted red pepper
- crushed red pepper
- sea salt

Meena wasn’t a huge fan of the red pepper dominated joint. I didn’t really have a problem with either option. I thought they both came out crisp, lovely and jam packed with a few simple flavors (mostly salty … which is fine by me).

Another successful journey though the land of pizzetta.

A BONE TO PICK

Last night was the final evening of our brief affair with the short rib so I figured I’d keep it simple to give it the proper send off. Wouldn’t want some wild taste infusion to ruin its memory, right?

Meena asked that I use James’ dish from the other night as inspiration. That memory yielded the following:
- idaho potato
- basil pesto
- milk
- black pepper

That’s right … pesto mashed potatoes!

So that was the base. Then I skimmed the fat off the short rib meat and gently reheated it. I feel like I remember that method from when I read Heat. If it’s good enough for Babbo, it’s good enough for me, right?

So I got that going and while it was coming up to serving temperature, I made a little onion thing:
- red onion
- olive oil
- paprika
- cinnamon
- salt
- crushed red pepper

The onion stuff went on the top of mine and on the side of Meena’s. She’s suspicious of such condiments so I figured I’d give her the option to mix when comfortable (or not at all).

Everything was really delicious. The potatoes were creamy and packed with pesto flavor. The meat was still rich and amazing. The heavy paprika scented onions even gave the whole thing a nice little punch at the end.

Oh, forgot to mention. We did a quick salad too. It featured:
- spinach
- parmesan
- red onion
- dressing (olive oil, maple syrup, basil, apple cider vinegar and salt)

It was also delicious. Again … how did I ever make a salad before the salad spinner arrived? I have no clue. Visions of me drying lettuce with a paper towel haunt me.

SHORT RIB SUNDAY

Today we had the whole afternoon free so we took advantage by firing up the crock pot with a nice slab of beef short ribs inside.

I was inspired by James' dinner last night and figured it would be pretty awesome to start up a slab in the afternoon, forget about it and open up the top six hours later to discover a pretty amazing treat. Turns out I was totally right.

The short ribs roasted with the following:
- beef broth
- coffee
- garlic
- maple syrup
- red onion

Once it came out, we shredded it up, threw off the bones and a bunch of the fat and mixed it up with Meena's barbecue sauce:
- brown sugar
- soy sauce
- garlic
- crushed red peppers

Then we served the whole thing with some white rice, green onions and spinach wilted with rice vinegar.

This was a truly amazing dish. It was like eating a ssam without the wrap. And the kimchi and shiitake mushrooms. But you know what I mean. It was filled with a great garlic punch and creamy, fatty goodness.

I can't wait for round two tomorrow.

PRE PARTY

Last night we went over to Williamsburg to join James and D prior to a party at Matt's sister's apartment. They'd scoped a new spot in the hood called Fiore earlier in the day and they were stoked to hit it with us. Lucky for us, the place was still really new and sans a liquor license so we were BYOB all the way. Excellent.

I didn't want to be that guy with the flash bulbs going off so my apologies for the crappy photos. At any rate, here's what we chose. Meena did:
- tuna salad with tomatoes, red onion and bread
- bucatini with amitriciana

I kept it mostly straight forward:
- beef carpaccio with parmesan
- two cheese pizza with black pepper

My pizza wasn't all that great, but I did like my salad a lot. It wasn't bad. The pizza. Not at all. But the crust left a little to be desired.

Meena's pasta was pretty good, but I'm not sure she loved it. I know she wasn't a HUGE fan of the salad. It was good, I think she just had something else in mind when she ordered it.

James got the real winner. Short ribs with mashed potatoes and stuff. Really lovely. I had a bite. It was amazing. The clear winner of the evening.

Matt's sister had a great place and the evening came to an end a few hours (and bottles of wine) later when James was awesome enough to drop us back in Cobble Hill. Thanks everyone!

KYOTO IN BROOKLYN

The week was finally over and Meena was finally starting to feel better. Cause for celebration, right? Well, we were planning to see Cloverfield with Dan and Steve but before we hit the theater, we had a few culinary stops to make.

We started with a little spread of snacks at the house. Nothing special, just some salami, crackers, smoked provolone, onion cheddar and the very necessary cornichons.

Lovely spread. We washed it all down with a touch of pinot noir.

Once Dan and Steve came by, we took off for a Japanese spot around the corner we'd been wanting to try for some time - Hibino.

The place was beautiful. And their angle in the whole Japanese restaurant game is Kyoto-style obanzai, fresh made tofu and new and traditional style sushi for a reasonable price. That's a quote from their site. And it's true. That's really what they're doing. Anyway, here's what we had. Meena got rolling with:
- obanzi stew (with diakon and fish cake and egg and all sorts of stuff)
- teriyaki chicken

Alec had:
- miso soup
- kyoto style futomaki

My food was awesome. Meena's food was really impressive. The chicken was rad and that obanzi was like nothing I'd ever had before. It was like stew ... but separated into it's four individual components. Strange, but great.

Steveo actually worked with the lady who owns the place so she sent us a free desert. Really nice. Sesame ice cream, these lovely little custards, green tea ice cream.

Very cool. And despite what everyone else thought ... I liked Cloverfield, too!