Gastroarte Review

With a name like Gastroarte, you might not be surprised to find food presented fancifully. But this Upper West Side restaurant has substance to back it up — the cooking is artful as well.

I was lured to Gastroarte by a Scoutmob discount, a good opportunity to try a place with prices that seemed high. But the portion sizes — especially for dishes listed as tapas —were better than I expected. They were ample enough to be filling. My dining companion and I were seated in the back of the room, which placed us in the "garden," a glassed-in patio beneath the backside of neighboring buildings, letting in the lovely light of longer days.

And we kicked off the meal with a beautiful savory carrot "cake" served with asparagus and Mahón cheese. Any doubts that vegetables can make a delicious, hearty dish will be erased by this dish. The carrot cake, made with pureed carrot, eggs, cream and topped with the cheese was creamy and wonderfully smooth. The asparagus was bright with flavor. A bit of candied carrots and vegetable purees rounded out the dish.

Next came a mixed plate of charcuterie —Serrano ham, salchicon and chorizo — on toasted bread with tomato, olive oil and garlic. Fairly standard. The writing in the powder was a bit hokey.

Lotus Blue Review

Lotus Blue is a new restaurant in Tribeca serving food influenced by the Yunnan region of China. A Chinese restaurant in this neighborhood, and an upscale one, is already likely to rouse the skeptics; its chosen region of influence, rarely seen in New York, will have them throwing mud over its authenticity.

Lotus Blue's Web site provides this introduction:

Yunnan province is located in the extreme southwest corner of China. It borders Burma, Laos and Vietnam on the south and abuts Tibet in the northwest and has one of the most diverse population in the country. As such the cuisine is influenced by cooking traditions from the tropical country to frozen highland. Lemongrass, mint, purple basil and cilantro are common herbs, and fresh fruits and flowers are regularly used in the cooking of the south. Cured beef, ham and mushrooms on the other hand are staples of the north.

I cannot speak to the authenticity after my recent meal there, but I can say that the restaurant is serving some interesting Chinese food that makes use of ingredient and spice combinations I have not seen elsewhere, and it is doing a pretty good job of it.

On the day I was there, the restaurant had a happy hour that lasted until 8 p.m. — two free glasses of wine with each entree and all other drinks were half off.

I liked the Pu-er tea-flavored slices of potted beef shank that we started with. Pu-er is the kind of tea my family always drank at home and in Chinese restaurants, so I may have a bias toward the flavor. The flavor doesn't overwhelm the meat, served cold, but gives it just the Chinese treatment it needs. The quail eggs were also braised in tea.

Mas (farmhouse)

Pleasant surprises can come from letting a restaurant slip down the "to try" list for many years after it has opened. It may have fallen under the radar yet it's still producing some of the best food and best overall meal experiences you'll find in a city with lots of options. And what better time to catch such a spot than for a special occasion.

Mas (farmhouse) was one of those kinds of places. For the purpose of celebrating a friend's milestone birthday, I recently dredged it up from the bottom of a list of places I had in my file. The West Village restaurant is focused on seasonal, sustainable food and succeeds in a great way. It was one of the most approachable and accommodating places I have been to. The server was friendly and knowledgeable about the entire menu and answered our questions thoroughly.  Though there is an a la carte option as well as a four-course tasting menu, our group put our dining fates in the hands of the chef, with the chef's six-course tasting menu, which would be designed just for us, not from the dishes on the menu. The chef composed an amazing evening, even with some dietary preferences, meaning that at times a different dish was given to one dining companion, but without forsaking flavor or innovation.

We kicked it off with an amuse bouche of smoked cod and potato with saffron mayo and a fingerling potato crisp. For the non-seafood eating member of our table, there was a dish of roasted beets, cheese mousse and hazelnuts.

The yellowfin tuna sashimi with balsamic-soy, crispy shallots and brown butter sauce was the restaurant's signature dish. And what a great one. The brown butter played well off the smooth richness of the fresh fish and this was definitely something I could have eaten more of. And once we had seen what the chef could do, we were excited to see what else was to come.

On the Road Eats: North Carolina

Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill was another stop on my tour of Southern food in North Carolina. Although the menu had some of the usual stuff of Southern restaurants, like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes, it also produced some more interesting offerings as well. The food was solid and the atmosphere was casual and comfortable.

The green Tabasco chicken was my pick —half of a roasted chicken served with mashed potatoes and sauteed mixed vegetables. The green supposedly comes from jalapeños, but I didn't taste much spice. No matter though because the sauce was tasty and the chicken was perfectly cooked. The dish was clean and simple and on the healthier side of all the meals I had.

Shake Shack in November

November brings us these custard flavors at Shake Shack:

Monday: Apple Rosemary
Tuesday: Chocolate Cinnamon Spice
Wednesday: Pumpkin Pie
Thursday: Maple Brown Butter
Friday: Banana Bread
Saturday: Red Wine Poached Pear
Sunday: Salted Caramel

On the Road Eats: North Carolina

Thanks to Chowhound, my dining companions and I discovered a little place called Cúrate in Asheville. It was relatively new, having opened in March of this year. And we scored the last available reservation for that evening on OpenTable. Despite the late time of 9:45, we still had a short wait when we arrived, perhaps attesting to the popularity of this elegant tapas bar. The hostesses were quite congenial though and while we waited, we were able to observe the fast-paced action in the open kitchen, including the preparation of some of the dishes we ended up ordering.

Once seated, we settled on a broad cross-section of the menu.

Pan con tomate with Manchego cheese was a nice portion size and the large chunks of bread were good to have with some of the other dishes we ordered too.

From the list of cured meats, we chose one of the more expensive and, according to the menu, more flavorful options, the jamon Ibérico de Bellota Fermín. It's a cured ham from the black-footed pigs of Spain but ones that feed only on acorns. The result was a smooth piece of meat with a slightly nutty taste. 

Tortilla Española is the dish by which I judge a tapas restaurant; this was an incredible iteration that really spoke to our overall experience. This was no ordinary tortilla — once you sliced through the small round, the inside had a uniquely liquidy center, like an over easy egg. It was heavenly. The small mound of salt mixed in made for a perfectly flavored tortilla.

On the Road Eats: North Carolina

The South is full of rich, fatty, stick-to-your-bones food. No matter what you eat — biscuits, fried chicken, barbecue — it seems like it's not likely to be the healthiest, but there is a lot that's tasty. I had a good sampling of it recently.

I started at The Pit in Raleigh. I had heard of The Pit because of its famed pitmaster, Ed Mitchell, who has been a part of New York's annual Big Apple Barbecue festival. Although he recently left the restaurant, I figured it was still a place worth a try.

Pumpkin skillet cornbread with maple butter was much larger than I expected. It was delicious, though I wouldn't have minded if  the pumpkin flavor had been a tad stronger. The melting maple butter was irresistible.

The fried green tomatoes with buttermilk lime dressing and basil were also a great choice for an appetizer. They were light and the basil was a nice touch.

Shake Shack October Flavors

The new flavors for October are:

Monday: Shackenstein
Tuesday: Coconut Caramel
Wednesday: Ginger Pear
Friday: Pumpkin Pie
Saturday: S'mores
Sunday: Apple Spice Cake

Shacktoberfest, with special menu items, returns from October 7 to October 16. And until October 21, you can also enjoy the food stands at Madison Square Eats.

Small Bites

- The Nation magazine produces a food issue, which includes articles by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser.

- Many claim that Mexican Coke tastes far better than what we get in the United States because it uses real sugar instead of corn syrup. Serious Eats tests it out.

- Eliminating salt from your diet is difficult. 

- Two essays on Gilt, one on Thai food, the other on Chinese food,  come to the same conclusion about the idea of authenticity: Letting go of it allows us to love food for what it is.

Cafe China Review

 

Despite (or perhaps because of) the plethora of Sichuan restaurants in Midtown, newcomer Cafe China recently opened its doors, inviting diners into the world of 1930s Shanghai. The decor is chic without the higher prices often associated with such an atmosphere. That's something it has going for it over some of the other Chinese restaurants in the area, though it may seem a bit incongruous with the Sichuan food it serves.


Beyond partaking in standard fare, liked dumplings and ma po tofu, you can venture for spicy diced rabbit or duck tongue with peppercorn. But my meal was fairly tame.

The savory tofu with celery shoots seemed bland at first, tossed with a little salt and soy sauce, but the combination grew on me. Between the softness of the tofu and the crunchiness of the celery the dish became oddly addictive.

Peels Review

Dinner early on a Saturday evening (necessitated by the need to make a movie) of a holiday weekend was the perfect time to try Peels. Though I'd read much about it being a popular, sceney spot on the Bowery, what I found was a comfortable restaurant whose white wood paneling decor makes you feel as though you've made a beautiful escape to the country.

The restaurant covers two floors and has outside seating. The lower floor has a to-go counter and the ambiance of a cafe while the upstairs feels uncharacteristically spacious for New York with roomy booths and tables that aren't too close together. The laid back service might help to encourage a sense of relaxation or it might just seem lackadaisical to New Yorkers often accustomed to being waited on more quickly. There were also several other service quirks, but I'll get to soon. But you should know — the food and the cocktails are solid.

Corn dogs aren't my thing, but my dining companions quickly devoured these Andouille corn dogs, which had just a bit of a kick to them.

The Baja salad —tomatoes, avocado, jalapeño-lime vinaigrette & Cotija cheese — combined with the chilled golden tomato soup worked as a lovely summer meal. But to like this soup, you have to like the tartness of tomatoes. A slice of bread would have been a nice complement. We asked for some, but the restaurant didn't have any, so we ordered a side of the Parker House rolls. Though they're not exactly what you want to eat with soup, they did come out warm and slightly crispy.

Small Bites

- Chez Panisse turns 40.

- Liquid nitrogen ice cream shop coming to New York City.

- Could eating bugs be the solution to the world's food crisis?

- Waffle House chain known for reopening quickly after tough situations like Hurricane Irene.

- Google buys Zagat.

- Slate writes about how the earthquake in Japan caused a fear of food.

- What mom eats may help to shape baby's food preferences even when it's in the womb.

September Shake Shack Flavors

It's time to head into fall with new custard flavors for September:

Monday: Cinnamon Spice
Tuesday: Chocolate Banana
Wednesday: Figs & Honey
Thursday: Thin Mint
Friday: Coffee & Donuts
Saturday: Red Velvet
Sunday: PB&J

Small Bites

- Slate tries to explain why so many restaurant Web sites are really terrible'. 

- One way to use Google + — host a live cooking class.

- The recession means newer restaurants are opening in tight quarters; that shouldn't be new to most New Yorkers.

- Decreasing intake of red meat by substituting it with nuts or low-fat dairy reduces the risk of diabetes.

wd-50 Review

For a city with such a grand array of dining options, New York comes up short for those interested in and intrigued by molecular gastronomy, most prominently represented by Alinea in Chicago and the recently closed El Bulli in Spain.

Maybe that explains why reservations are still tough to come by at Wylie Dufresne's wd-50 eight years after it opened in 2003. When I went looking for one, the only reservations available were at 10 p.m. for most of the next month.

wd-50 does play around with the traditional notion of food, presenting it in forms other than what you might be accustomed to. Some of it is delightful and divine. Some of it is fun, but you’ll find it fails to serve the function of feeding you.

My dining companions and I did notice that Dufresne was in the kitchen. It was nice to see a chef in his own restaurant, despite having reached the level of Top Chef fame.

The delicious Tommy-O (orange peel gin, lillet, clarified o.j.) and Catch o' the Day (cantaloupe, Campari and gin) cocktails.

A papery-thin sesame cracker reminiscent of papadum, an Indian cracker. It's so light and addictive, you'll be reaching for pieces nonstop until it's gone.

Each of the appetizers came with three sets of the featured composition, which worked out well for our party of three. The corned duck with purple mustard and horseradish cream atop a rye crisp was fabulous. The meat wasn't too gamey and the flavor was in the same family as pastrami. The horseradish really muscled its way through and worked well in this dish.

La Fusta Review

Sometimes you need an extra little push to make the effort to get to the outer boroughs to eat — a personal invitation brought me to La Fusta, in Elmhurst, Queens. But don't let its location stop you if its Argentinean food you seek.

The restaurant sits across from Elmhurst Hospital, but off the main road. Because I was a guest, the menu for the evening was taken care of. But given that everything was delicious, I had no problem with that. We tried a bit of everything.

To begin — a shallow platter of broiled, bubbling provolone cheese. Hot and melty and delicious on bread.

Though Argentinean food might be more typically associated with meat, don't let it stop you from ordering the fried calamari or this watercress salad. The calamari was lightly breaded but tenderly cooked.

The watercress salad was a fun mix of hearts of palm, tomatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs, red onions, avocado and large, sweet shrimp.

Restaurant Week: Colicchio & Sons Review

Though I had previously been to Colicchio & Sons and was underwhelmed, I chose to return because my first experience was only brunch, which often isn't representative of a restaurant's best efforts. Dinner was better, but it wasn't without its flaws.

In the plus column, Colicchio & Sons did offer its entire regular menu for Restaurant Week, meaning that this meal would give my dining companion and me a good sense of the restaurant's abilities.

The raw salmon with celery and pink peppercorn was bright and flavorful, but the portion was on the small side, the equivalent of what felt like just a few bites of food.

The roasted bone marrow with truffle vinaigrette and drunk onions was the best dish of the evening. The marrow was rich and unctuous and perfectly paired with the earthy truffle sauce. The marrow, served in the bone, also came with toast.

Shake Shack August Custard Flavors

It's hard to believe it's already August. But here's another new month of flavors.

Monday: Vanilla Almond Fudge
Tuesday: Caramelized Peach
Wednesday: Fromage Blanc Raspberry Swirl
Thursday: Strawberry Shackcake
Friday: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
Saturday: Blueberry Coffee Cake
Sunday: Basil

Restaurant Week: L'Ecole Review

After six years in New York, I feel like a veteran Restaurant Week eater. Each time it comes around, there are new restaurants added to the usual roster, but the list of places I get excited to make reservations for is now often composed mostly of old favorites that I can rely on returning to for a good meal. But this time, a coworker mentioned that L'Ecole, the restaurant at the French Culinary Institute, was on her to-try list. So, I thought I'd check it out.

The space is lovely, elegant and comfortable. And the RW menu was extensive with many options for each of the three courses.

Lunch even began with an amuse bouche — a delicious potato and chive ball topped with crème fraiche and salmon roe.

The seasonal salad was better than your average boring mix of lettuces. It had watermelon radishes, shimeji mushrooms, pickled cherry tomatoes and sherry shallot vinaigrette that made it all a bit tart, in a good way.

Small Bites

— These days, frozen treats go way beyond ice cream — ice cream sandwiches, shaved ice and popsicles are in.

— Grant Achatz talks about the next act (following Paris 1906) for his restaurant Next: present-day Thai food.

— The brilliant technology of the evolving pizza box.

— The SodaStream is making fizzy drinks popular at home.