NYTimes Top 12 Restaurants of 2012

We have been to many of these places..

Gwynett St.
image from the new york times

Reynard

This first December weekend we went back to Reynard in Williamsburg to have brunch by the window. We had the Dutch pancake again, tried the sausage and egg sandwich, and the parsnip doughnut with bourbon maple dipping sauce special. After eating we walked around Williamsburg for a little while in the sunny and mild weather, visited Catbird where I proceeded to touch every object, Whisk, where I wanted to buy up all the bamboo spoons, AG Merch, where Kevin bought me an anchor bottle opener to match his cast iron mermaid one, and Mast Brothers Chocolate, where we each had a sample.

When we got back home we spent some time doing the leaves in front of the house while Madison was being walked around the neighborhood. She ran back with all her baby energy and ignored getting blown a bit by the leaf-blower.

After football and napping, our great day got better when Kung Fu Panda started and Kevin's dad made his famous pasta.

Cocoron

What a great place to discover for winter. This tiny noodle shop on the corner of Elizabeth and Kenmare serves three styles of soba noodles: cold, hot, and dipped (cool noodles with a hot dipping sauce on the side).

Kevin and I came here for the first time after yoga one Wednesday night. They have since added sake to the menu. We have since been back twice, and by now have tried a few appetizers and one soba dish from each category.

On Friday, we took two friends after happy hour. I loved my Mexican inspired dip, complete with jalapeños and blue corn tortilla chips. This will be a cold weather back pocket place, and when it gets warm again, the cold noodles are delicious and refreshing.

Gwynnett St.

Second time was the charm for this reservation. Kevin and I had planned to go to Gwynett St. in Williamsburg yesterday for an early dinner, but the 6:15pm seating time was made impossible by the scheduling demands of my too-long weekend afternoon nap.

I'd read about this in the New Yorker many weeks ago, and upon mentioning it to Kev, found that he'd heard chatter about it also. We found it interesting that although the menu didn't particularly excite, we'd both only heard good things.

After cooking a pasta lunch (and 2 days' worth of work lunch) during the day, I carefully lay down to nap and tonight we showed up 5 minutes early.

We loved the bouillon which was served with the dry ingredients in the dish and the broth poured tableside. What amazed was that the pig's head terrine melted into the broth and made it so wonderfully savory. There were crispy strips of pig's ear in there, and as Kevin said, happily surprised, the dish was "Wow, so porky."

steelhead trout with figs, sweet potato, tobacco roasted onions

roots: beets, picked radishes, walnuts & kale

bouillon: pigs head terrine, quince jelly, rutabaga 

blood dumplings: pig's blood gnocchi, parsnips & apples

Momofuku Milk Bar

It's an oft touched upon profession of amazement and respect that we love love love Momofuku Ko. We've yet to visit Ssam and Noodle, but Ko has our heart strings lassoed around its caviar egg and other such dishes. Plus, Kev is something of a wizard at scoring seats.

Anyways, one Brooklyn afternoon with an impending storm in the sky we parked far away from Milk Bar and went for a visit, running back through the wind and rain clutching a paper tote of 3 cookies: compost, corn, & confetti.

Gramercy Tavern

The place is Old New York as soon as you walk through its specially decorated foyer. Classic, sprawling flora, rich and lush, wonderfully straddling the line between late summer and early fall. Kevin told me, before he told me where we were going, that they employ an in-house florist. Great call. Great work.

It wasn't the kind of meal we could photograph, but our take home gift, an oatmeal cupcake "for breakfast" was something that completely picked up the rainy day I see outside my office desk. I think the clouds are parting.

It was perfectly light and perfectly sweet.

Ruschmeyers, Montauk

Kevin's family goes to Montauk each summer, and over the years the group has come to include a new generation of significant others. I've been going out there for the past few years with him, and unfortunately had my shortest trip this year (2 days) because of my new job.

We went to dinner at Ruschmeyers before I left for NYC. Though beautiful, this is one of those places that shows just how trendy this seaside town has become. This farthest point of Long Island, until recently undiscovered, has been blowing up. Sad.

Buvette

Since reading about Buvette in my Martha Stewart Living magazine a couple of months ago, I'd been very interested in going to this West Village gastroteque. Kevin and I found time before a recent Yankee game to eat there on a 95 degree afternoon and deemed it fantastic date spot. Truly, it is drop-dead cute.

Next time, more wine. The wine list came in an adorable booklet, and the pricing was very reasonable.

The menu and wine list:
(pop-ups!)

Interior and decor. Love the potted plants on the windowsill.

The main event.

tomates

pulpo

prosciutto di parma tartine

watermelon infused white wine topped with sparkling

Made Nice

 

New video from Made Nice, the group that runs Eleven Madison Park and NoMad. The majority of dishes we tried at these two restaurants were very impressive, but right now all I want is some more of that EMP granola.

Lady Butcher

How awesome is this?

Restaurants with "WOAH" Moment Dishes

Torrisi - Garlic Bread
Marlow & Sons - Bouillabaisse, Escarole, The Creeper
brushstroke - Chawanmushi
Public - Foie
Parm - Salami and Egg Toast
Bohemian - Miso Black Cod
Szechuan Gourmet - Fish
Spotted Pig - Gnudi
Traif - Foie, Bacon Doughnuts
Roberta's - Axl Rosenberg
Alinea - Tomato 
Ko - Just about everything

The New wd~50

Pho Gras

Continuing the trend of posting slideshows of new tasting menus, here are 20 pictures of Wylie Dufresne's completely revamped tasting menu now being served at wd~50.

For our second Christmas together, I took Mary here and she cites the tasting menu as one of the transcending experiences in her culinary life. I was less impressed, but still get giddy when I think about everything bagel ice cream. That's all moot now as their new $155 12-course dinner consists of completely new creations, and although I see no point in creating faux rice from salsify, Pho Gras looks absolutely banging.

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2012/06/everything-from-wd-50s-new-tasting-menu-wylie-dufresne-nyc.html

Blanca

Roberta's Neopolitan-style pizza is good. Really good. Their tasting menu is supposed to be even better.. if you can get in. For a long time, this much-hyped, uber-expensive meal was only served two nights a week at 6 PM. In order to deal with the intense demand for a seat (I was on the wait list for over five months before getting a call), Roberta's has opened Blanca right next door.

After questionable experiences at just-opened restaurants, I'm going to let this one get things settled before I actively try to secure a few seats. However if this Flickr slideshow of every single plate on the 20+ course offering is any indication, the meal looks beautiful and very promising.

Is it good enough to justify charging as much as NYC's restaurant behemoths? Time will tell.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmoranmoya/sets/72157630025032751/
courtesy of Jose Moran Moya

Backyard Brooklyn

From the pages of Martha Stewart: greens

upcoming: FREJ

from FREJ's website

End of May. Not to wish away the month, but...

The NoMad

Zenkichi