Umami Mart

Veniero is an East Village institution- una pasticceria (pastry shop) that makes the best cheesecake in the city. I say this with certainty. I’m reading that it’s been in the same building since 1894, owned and operated by the Veniero family the entire time!!! Now that is incredible. There’s even a sign on the corner of 1st and 11th Street- that’s some serious street cred.

I rarely go into the EV anymore (it makes me feel old!), but we stopped into Veniero for a teatime snack after an afternoon of thrift shopping. When you walk in, you there are glass cases upon cases of little mini cakes and tarts and cannolis- $11 per pound! What a deal. They say in their website “A full 40 feet of ecstasy for the dessert lover!” Hilarious, and true- is this not ecstasy?!

Walk all the way to the back to be seated in their dining room. It’s like you’ve been transported somewhere far away- I can’t place where exactly, but the marble floors, the decorative glass ceilings, tin moldings, the mirrors- it’s somethin’ else. Lots of banter and chatter from tourists and native NYers, always pretty rowdy and fun.

Our snackies:

Hm, the cannoli. I was disappointed. The filling was perfect- creamy and not too sweet, but the shell was soggy, which made me sad. I’m spoiled though- I have had many a cannoli all over southern Italy. In Rome, we stayed across from a sweet shop where a 105 year-old woman worked by herself and we would watch her take like 20 steps to the back kitchen to fill each cannoli to order. That was so awesome.

The cheesecake. Oh, the cheesecake. More ricotta-y than anything else. Crumbly. Soft. Fluffy. Not dense like the NY style, nor too sweet. It’s a beautiful thing, this cheesecake.

They devote an entire storefront next door to special cake orders. We order their cakes sometimes for work parties, and it’s always so good- never too sweet. But if you are in the neighborhood, definitely take a teatime break there to take in the entire Veniero experience. Buon appetito!

Pasticceria Veniero
342 East 11th Street
Between 1st & 2nd Avenues
NYC
T: 212.674.7070

I don’t know why I do this. The harder the recipe is, the more excited I get. I don’t know how I decided to make macaroons, but somehow I did..

When everyone goes to Paris (I’ve never been there, yet), they go queue up at either Laduree or Pierre Herme (did you know Pierre used to work at Laduree?) and buy macarons for 3 Euro a piece. Why? To me, macaroons are meringue and coconut, chewy, kind of gross sweets.

But French macarons are different. They are almost cookie like, yet a LOT softer and lighter than a cookie. I googled around a bunch of recipes, and found some. Since I am a pseudo-baker who does not measure exactly, I don’t like recipes with gram measurements since I have to go find my kitchen scale in the storage. So I tend to use recipes with cups and spoons. Also I don’t prepare all the necessary ingredients prior to the start baking, so my baking process is a complete mess.

Macaron recipe is very simple, which means VERY difficult to perfect… It’s basically a day old egg whites (this thickens egg white, apparently, and makes better meringue), powdered sugar and almond flour, plus food coloring, if you want. I will go into cream and jam making once I perfect macaroon part.

I baked them in 300 F for 15 minutes or so. Surface didn’t get smooth like the ones at Laduree, it didn’t have the “leg”, which is the little air hole on the bottom, which is the most important thing to look for if you succeeded in making macaroons or not… So I failed… This looks like a weird colored cookie, sandwiched with raspberry jam… It tasted good, since I used a very nice raspberry jam from Italy. Definitely Laduree wins… Yamahomo needs a LOT more trials.

After you pipe the batter out, you MUST leave it for 30-60 minutes and let the surface dry up. this makes smooth macaron.

This time, I was very excited, maybe I can beat Laduree on the second trial?! Go Yamahomo! I baked this on 360 F, and in about 3 minutes or so, “LEGS” showed up!!! This happens because the surface cooks in the first couple of minutes, and air from the egg whites try to escape, hence these air holes are created. This makes the french macarons the way it is. It looks almost like a hamburger bun. I was ecstatic! However, I noticed that the edges were getting too brown. I touched the surface and it was tough, so I took it out of the oven. Still very excited.

I went to bathroom, and came back, when i saw a sad deflated macarons on the cooking rack… WTF!!! There was a little bit of “leg” still remaining, and so I was ok about it.

Then a disastrous ending came along. I took them out of the oven too early, and inside wasn’t cooked through.. Everything was stuck on the bottom, and when I tried to pull it off, it broke into pieces…

Laduree, I must admit, you beat me, again… But I am getting better, and next time, I will perfect it and will open Yamahomo’s Macaron Shop.

I took a day off last week to hang out with a friend who was visiting from Tokyo. There’s something really special about wandering around the city like a tourist when you’re supposed to be working- you see NY in such a different light (it’s called daylight-on-a-weekday light).

We were on our way to Chinatown for lunch, but plans were diverted (as plans often are in this city), when I saw a listing for Balthazar in her tour book. Balthazar! For lunch! GENIUS!!!

Balthazar is a fancy pants French bistro in Soho. High ceilings, nice long bar, mirrored walls, gold railings- it’s a little bit of Paris in NYC, the kind of place where you just wish you could have a smoke mid-meal (although you couldn’t do that in Paris now either- boo). It’s pretty much still celebrity spotting central, even though it’s been around since 1997. Hence, I never think to go to there– it’s always a deathly mob scene.

It was about 2pm, and we just sauntered in and were seated right away. That would never happen after work, or on the weekend. These sort of spontaneous moments could only happen when you are actually supposed to be working. Magical.

Balthazar’s bread is top notch, they might just make the best baguette in the city. There’s a cute boulangerie next door that you can get to through the restaurant for a loaf or a crossaint to take home.

Their butter was soft. I was sad.

Appetizers and Stella on tap: nothing like drinking when you are supposed to be working.

Beef tartare: I’m currently on the search for the city’s best beef tartare. This one was quite good- great tang and crunch. I had it at Aquavit recently which was a real let down. Les Infant Terribles in the Lower East Side makes a good one too. High five to the person who thought to put raw beef with an egg, mix with capers and onions, and serve with toasted bread. Fucking genius.
Roasted beet salad with leeks, haricot verts (did you know that that’s the French word for green beans?), walnuts, watercress and some blue cheese called fourme d’Ambert, which was excellent. The beets themselves were not great- I may not know my cheeses, but I can roast beets better myself.

Ok, here’s what absolutely blew our minds- the roasted lamb sandwich. I’ve never been into lamb very much, but seriously, thanks to Balthazar, I have been converted.

Dude, the lamb was so tender, it was ridiculous. And there was this mustardy creamy stuff added that was just perfect. I can’t emphasize this enough: GET THIS SANDWICH NOW!

Grilled zucchini, mmmm…

Maho said this was one of her favorite meals on her visit. I will agree and say that it was a pleasant surprise. All this- 2 beers, 2 appetizers, a sandwich, and 2 coffees came out to be $80 after tip. Pretty pricey, but nice for special occasions. Like playing hooky (do people still say that, or is it so Sweet Valley High?).

Lunch during the work week. Treat yourself- I mean, all these people are. So you should too.
Balthazar
80 Spring Street
Btwn B’way & Crosby Streets
NYC
T: 212-965-1414

If Greenspan himself says we’re “in the throes”, well, dammit, I guess that means we’re in the throes. I don’t know about you, but staring down the barrel of a recession makes me want to drink more, not less.

I’m sure kanshefle will have much better tips but again, I must toot the horn of Chilean wines, which are generally cheaper and of high quality. My lovely local wine store (I highly recommend you make friends with your local wine store), the trusty Greene Grape, carries a couple excellent wines on their under $10 rack, one of them I’ll highlight here:
Terra Andina 2006 Carmenere D.O. Valle Central
$8.25

Huge steal. Great, chocolatey, spicy flavor, kinda musky, very drinkable by itself. (Carmenere is one of those varietals that survived the phylloxera blight that wiped out a bunch of 9/10ths of all vineyards in Europe in 1875. It survived because somehow the grape made its way over to Chile and no longer grows in France, where it used to be one of the 6 “noble grapes”.)

My dear childhood friend M (who would like to remain nameless) lives in LA where she is frolicking with cute boys and eating, get this, WHALE. Listen in on this top secret conversation (where she reveals nothing- I tried SO HARD to get stuff out of her but her lips were totes sealed!!).

M: he wasn’t there for the whale, but he has taken me to another cool japanese place

Minca, Setagaya, Rai Rai Ken – there are suddenly many of Japanese ramen joints hopping up in the city. Ramen’s best aspects are:
1. It’s easy
2. It’s cheap
3. It’s quick

I’ve been to some of the famed ramen restaurants, and to this day, I haven’t been impressed by any of them at all. I’ve read quite a few reviews on the new place Ippudo, and many of my friends were also RAVING about how great it was. They said, “there is NO comparison in the city!”, or “you should definitely try it, it’s SOOOO worth it!”. So we went for lunch today.

Decor of the place looked like an upscale restaurant, not a regular ramen joint. For a ramen joint, it was a very large place and almost too cool to be a ramen restaurant. Because of all the reviews and friends’ comments, we were quite excited, despite the fact the ramen was $13, plus a bowl of rice with a topping for additional $3.

There were shiromaru (original) and akamaru (original with spicy miso topping on top). 2 of us got shiromaru, the other 2 got akamaru.

Shiromaru was stinky. Really. It was tonkotsu (pork bone) based soup, and it smelled like a dead pig in the soup. Akamaru, thanks to its spicy miso topping, had a milder flavor and was tolerable. I am known for not liking restaurant food, but this was such a disappointment. Also how DARE can they charge $13 for a bowl of ramen?!! As I said in the beginning, ramen is great because it’s cheap. This place is diminishing the principal of ramen. $16 for ramen and rice? Unbelievable…

Below is akamaru (aka – red, maru – circle), hence it’s in red bowl?

Mentaiko(fish egg) rice. What a small amount of mentaiko!!!

Dead pig simmered shiromaru.

Verdict: I won’t go back there.

Ippudo
65 4th Ave
Between 2nd Ave & 8th Street
New York, NY

Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner
– Juicy, Notorious B.I.G.

Canned fish is really bizarre concept and I understand how people are weirded out by it. But seriously, I have an obsession with it. It tastes good, it’s good FOR you, and it’s so cheap.

Vinka, who works in our finance department always brings this awesome can of sardines that she opens during lunch to add to her salads and what-nots. I was always curious cause I never branched out into the world of canned sardines, and I would always ask her about it. The other week she brought one in for me! Yes, everyone at work supports my eating habits.

It’s packed in vegetable oil, and is from the Adriatic Sea, said the label.

So here’s what I did- I broiled asparagus, boiled potatoes, made a dressing of the fish oil left in the can with mustard and balsamic vinegar, sprinkled parsley, green onions, ground pepper and fleur de sel on top. Et voile! You got yourself a fast, vitamin-packed, cheap-o after work dinner, with enough left over for lunch the next day. Genius.

A boiled egg would have also been good, as would have some sliced red onions for color.

For an added crunch, I’m pretty into these fried onion pieces from Trader Joe’s.

Thank you Vinka for introducing me to the world of canned sardines!

In the words of Biggie, “It’s all good, baby bay-bee!”

Orson, Pastry Chef Elizabeth Falkner’s new restaurant in San Francisco is not to be missed. The restaurant is enormous with both upstairs and downstairs dining, and her desserts exude the same sultry sexy confidence that she does. Industrial concrete, dark table cloths and chocolate colored chairs make you feel just as sleek as your surroundings. Elizabeth also owns Citizen Cake.

Invisible, created by Elizabeth and her pastry chef Luis.

Black Espresso, Black Sorbet

Downstairs Bar/ Dining Room

Upstairs Dining Room

Orson
508 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

all photos © erin gleeson

Monday is not a good day as you know. After a weekend full of fun and relaxation, you have to bring your mind to work-mode, which sucks. Annoying boss, stupid colleagues, toilet-paper-missing-toilets, too much construction noise, pressing reply-to-alls when you are bitching about the sender. Nothing works on Mondays.

Because of that, it is more important to have a delicious meal on Monday nights. Who cares about Monday night football (is this the season? Gay People don’t know anything about football). We should all cook a nice meal on Monday nights.

Last night, I was craving for mussels that I love at Markt, but didn’t feel like going to the restaurant. Also we are trying to eat healthier, hence no carb was the theme of last night. I am totally ballooning and need to cut food/booze intake in order to have a decent shape before bathing suit season starts… Alas… How can I lose weight while not cutting food or booze nor working out? Breaking up definitely is the way to go, but I am happily in a relationship…

Anyhow, my favorite mussels recipe at Markt is tomato and basil. I cooked up onion and garlic in olive oil, dump tomato and basil then added half a bottle of white wine.
I got these beautiful mussels at Lobster House in Chelsea Market, which is always a reliable fish monger. $3.25 a pound is also a sweet deal. Once I cooked up vegetables, the smell was so sweet and wonderful, I forgot to take pictures from here on. Hence all i have here is shells…. It’s kind of cute, and almost look like a dish, doesn’t it?

I was requested to make a scallop dish. My colleague Tomoko told me she had this wonderful scallop wrapped in seaweed in France. Japanese food ingredients’ power is so great that even french chefs use nori nowadays!
I didn’t have any recipe, other than the way Tomoko described how it was done. So I wrapped seaweed around a beautiful scallop, sprinkled with sea salt, put a dab of butter, then broiled it for 3 minutes.

I thought I needed some sauce, so I cooked down soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and ginger and squeezed some lime juice at the end to make south asian style teriyaki sauce. Seaweed was crisp when it was done, and scallops were medium rare, almost melting in my mouth. Yum yum. It kind of looks like sushi, too.

After I saw Kayoko’s post on blood oranges, I was thinking about using it for something as well. So I made mesculin salad, with juice from blood orange, champagne vinegar, honey, salt, pepper and oilve oil, then arranged orange on top. It was very springy and good.

Healthy diet costs too much money, though. Not that I need to cook scallops and mussels everyday, carb is so much more filling and cheap… I already had a rebound, had donburi and udon for lunch at Seo today….