Mission Cantina

Dinner at Mission Cantina was one of my gifts to Kev this December. I'm giving him an unconventional advent Christmas, and two weeks in, I've truly wracked my brain all month. It's challenging. This was one we could both enjoy. 

The lighting is Miami Vice style trippy and neon to the max, which I loved. The guys got Negro Modelos on tap while I tried two delicious soju cocktails. We stuffed our the awesomeness below and more: whole rotisserie chicken, sardine fried chicken, poblano pepper salad. 

Takashi

Lunch at Sweetgreen

This concept isn't new, but Sweetgreen does salad very very well. Natural and not-too-sweet drinks such as watermelon lemonade and cucumber limeade in place of fountain sodas sealed the deal for me. We went to the NoMad location, and I got the seasonal salad, shown below, that included arugula, watermelon, feta, spicy sunflower seeds, and kale dressed with a champagne vinaigrette. Delicious and filling and healthy, with bread from Sullivan St. Bakery.

We both got the app, with rewards and an easy pay function. 

See you again, Sweetgreen.

Lunch today: Mulberry & Vine

Kev bought a 30 day unlimited Metrocard contingent upon my agreement to meet for lunch often. We meet usually in Nolita or Soho, which is easy for both of us to get too. Today he came all the way to my work neighborhood, TriBeCa, for lunch at Mulberry & Vine. 

I'd been here once before for a coworker's birthday, and loved the selection of fresh made options, so was happy to come here again. The place has wifi too, so if one day I get a work laptop I'd love to do some work in its high ceilinged, well lit dining area or on the more secluded lofted second floor. 

We each got a plate of 2 cold/1 hot, $13.  ($1 gets you a bed of greens.) We shared the veggie curry, herb roasted chicken, kale and chia seed salad, tomato and watermelon salad, and beets with pomegranate seeds. We sat at the window counter and people watched while we ate. What's great about a lunch spot like this is that you don't get a food coma when you got back to your desk. 

We ate and still had time to take a stroll with coffee in hand from Kaffe 1668 nearby. Summer is ending but not just yet. 

Diner brunch

Blanca

I scored this reservation while sitting in a meeting, in a conference room whose walls were so thick my phone kept bouncing between 4G, Edge, and No Service whatsoever. It was stressful. 

We went to Blanca last night, my birthday gift to Kev. We got the drink pairing, as did 9 of the other 10 diners at the seating. Everyone had a great time, and at the end, happy and drunk, Kev got an impromptu Happy Birthday serenade from 10 strangers. It was wonderful. 

We were instructed to put away our phones, which came as somewhat of a relief, allowing us to focus simply on the moment. We lost count of the dishes early on because of it, and that was all right. 

The portions, the pacing, the pairings, all thoughtful and merciful, restrained. It is a rare thing to feel energized at the end of a long meal, especially one involving abundant alcohol, but that's what this meal did. 

Some memorable dishes were the corn pudding (cold) and tomatoes (warm, tiny, perfect spheres), the dessert of cilantro sorbet and watermelon, the raw littleneck clam served with myriad ingredients all melding into one briny bite, the ridiculous grapefruit orechiette absolutely drenched in citrus about which my drunk self proclaimed "There are 16 grapefruits in every bite," the fresh from the oven Hawaiian roll, the beef, the lamb, the crudo...

I'm realizing that every dish was impressive. 

Maison Premiere's Oyster Happy Hour

The oysters were no joke. The happy hour was an in good faith event, not "chef's choice" style which also means "no choice" for you. An abundant selection of east and west coast oysters and a quick 15 minute wait for 2 bar seats, where I had summery drinks and he had alcohol mixed with alcohol (good in a different way).

We'll be back soon, concentrating on the east coast oysters, which we deemed brinier and less creamy.

Also, how are the barkeeps so impeccably clean?

The Pines - Brunch

Speedy Romeo

A few weeks back, before the year's first heat wave, Kev and I took a trip to Speedy Romeo in Bed-Stuy for a quick brunch. We sat at the bar and had some big cappuccinos, chatting about the sleepiness of the neighborhood, the signs of a young and hip New York creeping steadily into a old New York part of the borough. The pizza was good, Roberta's is better, and what I really loved was the roasted beet dish. As you see below, big blocky chunks of roast beet and other big, simple ingredients. 

Littleneck

Last Friday the heat wave had yet to break, the work week was short (after Memorial Day), and we were craving summery, shorey things. We love clams and oysters on the half shell, and each year look forward to Clam Bar in Montauk in August with his family. Raw bar offerings are so reminiscent of summer for me, and are amongst the company of strawberries and watermelon. Fun fact: Kevin introduced me to the world of raw seafood - sushi, clams, and oysters.

I got there a little earlier, and sat on the quaint little bench out front. I was jamming to old school Mariah Carey, and Kev was in a bad mood, stuck in traffic on his way to Gowanus.

Been a while: Diner

Since moving to Brooklyn and with the warming weather, we've been enjoying early morning brunch on weekends, which gives the added bonus of making the days feel longer and more luxurious.

We got to Diner at 10, were seated immediately, and ordered the following:

the potatoes with chorizo oil
bacon with kumquat marmalade, ramp yogurt, and oats
duck hash with rhubarb, ramps, topped with a fried egg
bacon with polenta, fried oysters, green garlic, onions, and a sunny side up egg

Yum!

Then we bought some Diner swag, a tee and a tote.

Birthday dinner: Ichimura at Brushstroke

Last night Kevin took me out for my birthday, which was last week, which was packed busy with friends, visitors, and snow. On Friday a blizzard named Nemo came through and dumped 10 inches of snow, and the two of us were worried we wouldn't be able to make it to our seats. We did, and it was a joyous experience. I didn't take pictures until halfway through the meal, only after another girl seated at the bar brought out her iPhone.

We had small bites, the best, freshest uni ever, then moved on to sashimi pieces, then to sushi. It was really cool the way chef Ichimura kept plopping down more pieces of fish as we ate the sashimi, and the way we were instructed to eat the sushi pieces with our hands, and were presented with the little gems one at a time.

The meal started with golden crab and dungeness crab chawanmushi, and ended with a deliciously earthy green tea and a tea pudding. Kevin got for dessert a bowl of mirin ice cream and soy sauce ice cream into which the chef placed a pearl of fresh wasabi and told us in his soft spoken way, "it tastes better."

mirin ice cream, soy sauce ice cream, wasabi

tea pudding

monkfish liver and spicy ponzu jelly

clam

aged mackerel