Egg Review

I previously dined at Egg, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for brunch a few months ago. More recently, I had a chance to sample the dinnertime offerings. The menu overall has a Southern bent to it, but I had heard much to do about the fried chicken, so I was eager to pass judgment on it.

In place of bread as a starter, there are boiled peanuts, soft and salty.

The caramelized grapefruit with mint, served warm, was more sweet than bitter, as grapefruits can be. 

Il Matto Review

Il Matto, a fairly new restaurant in Tribeca, by all appearances could be the domain of a madman, which is one way to translate its name. You get this psychedelic feeling from any number of characteristics: the tracks of multicolored lights on the ceiling; the colorful teacup-shaped booths anchoring the corners of the restaurant; backward letters and rough sketches on the menu; the grenade salt and pepper shakers; terrariums serving as candle holders; or vinyl tablecloths. Not to mention some unfamiliar concoctions among the food and drinks.

But it adds up to more than just a schtick. There are things here to make mouths happy. Start with the crazy playground that is the cocktail list. It unites ingredients that will make you wonder how that could possibly taste good; several of them introduce alcohol to some savory components. We tried the Smilla (vodka, lemon juice, sugar, peach puree, celery, white pepper), the Rosso Tiziano (rum, lemon juice, sugar, raspberry and cherry tomato), and La Signoria (gin, lemon juice, sugar, lettuce, strawberry, balsamic  reduction). Who knew that peach and celery are, in fact, quite complementary, mellow flavors that embrace each other.

Hide-Chan Ramen Review

When the rippling heat transforms into brisk breezes, I can handle ramen for dinner once again. The steam wafting in my face, opening up my pores, the warm broth toasting my tastebuds. Ramen joints seem to be proliferating these days; there are lots of options around the city to get your fill. And the price points and quality vary with each. Hide-Chan Ramen in Midtown East exists where another Japanese spot, Yakitori Torys, once was on 52nd Street close to 2nd Avenue. Hide-Chan was opened by the same owner as Torys and of the Totto family of restaurants (Totto Ramen is another new-ish ramen place on the West side). But Hide-Chan is a bit out of the way, perhaps a better stop for East side business lunches.

I tried the Hakata Char Siu Ramen, served with extra sliced pork marinated with soy sauce and brown sugar. The broth was creamy and salty, but the pork had thicker strips of fat than meat and the scallions overpowered the bowl when it was all mixed together.

Small Bites

- Americans find it tough to fulfill their daily servings of fruit and vegetables.

- Ferran Adrià says that when he turns his restaurant, El Bulli, into a research lab, he'll post a new recipe from it online every night. Most of us will never have a chance to eat at El Bulli, so we'll have to settle for reading about others' experiences —Vanity Fair has a good profile of Adrià.

- Salon's Francis Lam tries a doughnut ice cream sandwich and lives to tell the story.

- Eater.com recaps the recent conversation between David Chang and Anthony Bourdain at the 92nd Street Y.

- The Wall Street Journal clues us in to what Restaurant Week does for restaurants.

- Trader Joe's will open its Upper West Side branch on September 20, according to MyUpperWest.

- High fructose corn syrup has earned a bad reputation, so corn refiners are trying to rename it corn sugar.

The Chicken Keeps Coming

If you like fried chicken, not only do you have many Korean fried chicken options to choose from, there is now Hill Country Chicken nearby. Eater reports that the chicken place, opened by Flatiron barbecue spot, Hill Country, opens tomorrow and there's a copy of the menu. Looking good...

UPDATE: Zagat Buzz has more details on the look and food of Hill Country Chicken.

Recent Eats

Lunch at Eataly

I checked in on Eataly at lunchtime recently. My dining companion and I found a crowded, confusing food hall. The retail options are mixed in among the food stalls making for a not-so-comfortable experience. It's still early, so perhaps when things settle down the place will seem calmer. But our attempt to try the pizza was thwarted by a 35- to 40-minute wait to sit down. So instead, we ended up at the panini counter. The choices were limited — just a couple options for cold sandwiches and hot ones. 

We both got a mushroom and taleggio cheese panini. It was a fine sandwich, but nothing special, nothing that impressed us and nothing that made us think we'd definitely return.

We also got an apple cake from the counter across the way. It wasn't too sweet, but the texture was grainy. Maybe we didn't choose well, but it didn't say much for Eataly.

West Side Gets Artichoke Pizza

Now if you need your late-night fill of Artichoke pizza, you don't have to head to the east side, you can wait on the west side instead. The Chelsea branch has an actual restaurant in addition to the take-out window.

Maialino Review

That I have returned to Maialino several times should in itself be an indicator of how good I think the place is. The attentive and genial service never fails to buoy its reputation, the food never fails to leave its mark of satisfaction. And for that, I recommend it to everyone.

Carciofini Fritti: Fried artichokes & anchovy bread sauce. Coarse artichokes are transformed into a crispy and delicate appetizer. The creamy sauce cuts the slightly sour taste of the vegetable.

Salumi Misti & Olives. Mortadella, soppressata and speck (top to bottom). I wasn't crazy about the mortadella, which reminded me too much of bologna, but the speck was amazing, thinly sliced and salty.

Small Bites

- The market for halal food in France expands and gets more upscale, spurring debate over its significance.

- A Q & A with cookbook author Grace Young on stir-fries and woks.

- All the fat and salt in McDonald's food seems to keep it from spoiling for a disturbingly long period of time.

- Unemployed life for former Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl means daily bread-baking.

- The Village Voice covers nine cuisines the New York dining scene is weak in.

- After winning the first season of Top Chef, Harold Dieterle opened Perilla restaurant in New York. Metromix talks to Dieterle about his next place, a Thai restaurant called The Kin Shop, opening this fall.

- A new study shows that people who drink alcohol outlive nondrinkers.

- The Feast blog conducts a taste test of Shake Shack concretes from various branches.

- Experts provide advice on how to eat safely while keeping to a budget.

- Global food prices rise, prompting concern.

Rockmeisha Review

Rockmeisha Izakaya, on lovely Barrow Street in the Village, is an intimate place to sample Japanese small plates. Everything we tried was good, but the thing to go for was the ramen.

Gyoza

Mentai (roe) potato salad. If you don't like it when the roe tastes fishy, you won't enjoy this.

The Early Word on Eataly

Even those who don't read food blogs religiously or closely follow highly anticipated openings in the food world have heard about Eataly, the mega-market opened by Mario Batali, among others, and seem to be excited about it. So, because people keep mentioning it to me, here's an early look at the Italian supermarket, including a review from Serious Eats of the pizza place inside and one from The Food Doc on the upscale steakhouse.

Recent Eats

Sam's Falafel Stand downtown reminds me of the highly regarded and oft-recommended falafel spot in Paris, L'as du Falafel. Several rounds of crispy, not too garlicky falafel stuffed inside a soft pita with eggplant, hummus, lettuce, tomato and a little spicy sauce.  It makes for a very tasty and satisfying lunch. And for $4, it's a bargain.

Wafel & Dinges is a yellow Belgian waffle cart that you may have run into around the city if you were paying attention. Although I had passed by it several times, I'd never had the opportunity to try it out. This time though I was hungry for something sweet and it fit the bill. Wafel & Dinges now have several carts out, but this one is stationed at South Street Seaport. Although the guy in the cart tried to explain the ordering, there still seemed to be some confusion as to just how many toppings you get with your order. We ended up with the "de bom," a wafel topped with a scoop of strawberry ice cream and our choice of toppings — strawberries and strawberry jam.

The wafel was a nice soft and chewy chunk of dough that absorbed the fruity jam nicely. The ice cream didn't exude enough strawberry for my tastes but overall the combination did the trick at quelling my sweet desires.

Small Bites

- California is the only state where home ec is still called home ec. Should the class be mandatory?

- Food helps one family's child to stay connected to her heritage.

- Pleasant Ridge Reserve, one of my favorite cheeses, is named the best cheese in America by the American Cheese Society.

- Roger Ebert can no longer eat or talk, but he cooks and writes about food.

- Check out a slideshow of different types of mooncakes and get ready for the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 22.

The First Fall Flavors

Although I don't personally need a reason to look forward to fall, Shake Shack gives me some good ones with the new custard flavors. If you've missed Red Velvet on previous occasions, here's another opportunity to indulge.

Monday: Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice
Tuesday: Red Velvet
Wednesday: Buttered Rum Raisin
Thursday: Coffee & Donuts
Friday: PB&J
Saturday: Grasshopper
Sunday: Figs & Honey

Blue Smoke Review

Though dinner at Blue Smoke is a casual affair, it can require some advance planning as it is almost always full and arriving without a reservation can mean a lengthy wait. Thankfully we came prepared.

There are many barbecue places in the city, but they are not all alike. Depending on what style of barbecue you're in the mood for, you'll choose differently. For example, if you're seeking out a dry rub, Texas style, you should head to Hill Country. Danny Meyer's Blue Smoke covers barbecue from a few different regions but seems to do them fairly well (at least to someone who isn't an expert and has no regional loyalties for this type of food.)

We ordered the chicken fried steak - two thinly breaded pieces of steak covered in a chunky gravy and served with a biscuit and mashed potatoes. The potatoes were wonderfully buttery. The biscuit was good, though I've had better. And the meat gave me that feeling of sticking to my insides, just the feeling I was craving.

Crazy Corner

How much more fried chicken does the corner of Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street need before it hits its limit? Apparently, the owners of another chain, Mono + Mono, think that hasn't happened yet — the new spot will offer fried chicken and music. Another branch of it will be located in the East Village.

Mile End Delicatessen Review

Mile End Delicatessen in Brooklyn is a Jewish deli, styled after delis in Montreal, specializing in smoked meat.  The affordable dinner menu gets right to the point and is short and sweet, including some classic deli foods. Unfortunately, they were out of the matzo ball soup on the evening my dining companion and I ate here. But here is what we were able to sample:

The sour pickles in a Brooklyn brine. This was a giant pickle and a large bowl of pickled cabbage that had a minty undertone to it. There were small seeds that looked like caraway seeds that were mixed in there. Both were good, not too sour.

The smoked meat sandwich, which is a heap of beef brisket on rye with mustard. The meat, similar to pastrami, is tender and a bit fatty and rich, but smokey and well-spiced. It's definitely a good thing to share with a dining companion.

Small Bites

- If you're having trouble losing weight, maybe you should try the Twitter diet.

- A vegetarian struggles to balance her food beliefs with life.

- Several New York restaurateurs and eating establishments are expanding to D.C.

- Want that bagel sliced? You'll pay for it.

- Cooking for Geeks takes a more scientific approach to preparing food and engages with a different crowd.

- A discussion about why the latest outbreak of salmonella in eggs happened.

- Food styling has gotten more natural.

Spot Dessert Bar Review

After any fulfilling dinner, what I usually want is a good dessert. Sometimes the place you're at just doesn't offer many good options, but sometimes moving to a new place is a good way to extend an evening. I often lament the lack of places in the city to turn to just for dessert, a place where you won't be made to feel unwelcome for taking up a table where people are still seeking out an evening meal or where the restaurant would prefer you imbibe expensive cocktails.

So, I was excited to try out Spot Dessert Bar in the East Village, opened by pastry chef Pichet Ong, chef at Village Tart and who previously owned the now closed dessert bar P*ong. Spot serves up slightly experimental Asian twists on American desserts. P*ong had a similar bent, but seemed to fall too heavily on the Asian side and I was not charmed by my one experience there. But the menu at Spot relies more on traditional favorites, such as cheesecake, ice cream and cupcakes (though the main desserts are confusingly labeled as tapas) and the setting is fun and casual.

The servers are extremely friendly and helpful with ordering, explaining the background of the place, what the desserts entail and making recommendations. They are perhaps also good salesmen; we upgraded from ordering individual desserts to the omakase tasting, which would get us more dessert than we needed but was a better deal and a great way to extensively sample the menu.

The Yuzu Eskimo were slices of a citrus ice cream and oreo crumbles with strawberries and passion fruit foam. I didn't detect a strong citrus flavor, but I love an ice cream cake with chocolate crunchy things.

The Soft Cheesecake was more like a "cheesecake" made of whipped dollops of cheese with orange, blueberries, walnut cookie crumbs,  and raspberry foam. Despite having long spoons to reach inside the cup, this was clumsy to eat. It became more manageable when one of my dining companions decided to dump the ingredients out on to the plate. The cheese was strong and a little rich for our tastes, but the fruitiness of the other ingredients played off of it well.

Sushi Yasuda Review

When your sushi dinner calls for a special occasion place, Sushi Yasuda fits the bill. It's a lovely place east of Grand Central, sparingly decorated with plain wood and high ceilings, feeling a bit spa-like. The coveted spots are the seats around the sushi bar where you can watch several chefs preparing your meal. But on this visit, my dining companions and I sat at a table, the better to converse.

When you order, you won't realize just how good you're going to think the food is, even if you are aware of its reputation as one of the best sushi spots in the city. You'll surely end up with a second or even a third round of fish. There's so much to choose from, making for some tough choices as you'll likely want more of what you just ate while also wanting to try the many other options.

We ordered a couple of appetizers on the specials list. We got a fried blowfish with ponzu sauce — a delicately coated chunk of toothsome white fish.

Custard Tastings

Blueberry Coffee Cake Tuesdays: Shake Shack's blueberry-involved flavors are definitely the prettiest of the custards. I highly recommend them for their taste as well. This one was a solid, smooth berry custard with sugary crystals embedded throughout, like the crumble on a coffee cake, my favorite part.

Basil Thursdays: Ordering a cone sure seems like a better deal; it appears that you get what nearly amounts to two scoops. Though the basil custard has a clear vegetal flavor, it was refreshing. But by the time I reached the cone, I had had my fill, reinforcing my theory that Shake Shack does better with flavors that have texture contrasts.

Cascabel Taqueria Review

I don't often make it to the Upper East Side for food. But sometimes the location can't be helped and you need a good meal. So, after reading Serious Eats' strong recommendation, I settled on Cascabel Taqueria for a recent lunch with a friend. We decided to share a few dishes to maximize our ability to sample the menu.

To start, we each got a small paper bag with what essentially amounted to a giant tortilla chip sprinkled with chili powder.

We ordered the blue crab and corn fritters with fresh salsa, piquillo pepper aioli and sopa de tortilla, listed under the "To Start" section. But strangely, all our food came out at once. My dining companion and I were both drawn to this by the mention of blue crab. But these crispy balls were a bit too dark, so fried that the flavors were muddled. The dish was a bit skimpy on the sauce, but the tomato salsa was refreshing.

Keeping Track of the Trucks

Food trucks are everywhere these days and because they move around, offering their goods to different areas, it can be hard to keep track. But the Web site, Roaming Hunger, maps their locations in real time and keeps track of the essential Twitter updates. They've gathered information for several locations around the country and you can also easily view results by what you're in the mood to eat (i.e. savory, vegetarian).

Small Bites

- How long would you wait for a cupcake? If you don't want to wait, just catch one of the many cupcake-themed shows on television.

- As shrimping seasons begins in the Gulf, concern over the industry's survival continues.

- Don't eat your cat. It'll get you in trouble.

- Despite room for improvement, FreshDirect makes the life of one writer better for seven reasons.

- The unlikely success story of a startup yogurt company.

 - A program in Massachusetts tries to address childhood obesity by handing out "prescriptions" for produce at farmers' markets.

- A new book looks at what people around the world eat in an average day.

- Changes are being made to industrial farming in response to concern for more humane treatment of animals.

Recent Eats

I recently stepped in to the world of chef Kurt Gutenbrunner's restaurants specializing in Austrian food, with brunch at Blaue Gans. An early meal meant my dining companion and I had the place to ourselves for awhile. The offerings are fairly simple as is the presentation, but they're done well and reasonably priced. I'd like to return for dinner sometime.
 

Two Poached Eggs with Creamed Spinach and Baked Ham, Hollandaise Sauce.

Wiener Schnitzel, Potato Cucumber Salad and Lingonberries.

Small Bites

- For some people, dissatisfaction turns into restaurant rage.

- Ever bought an unripe cantaloupe? Here's a guide to picking a better one. If watermelon is your fruit, learn how to analyze its shape and color and how to store it.

- And if you've ever wondered how long your food can stay out of the fridge, use four hours as a guideline.

- Studies suggest that global warming will cause rice yields to fall.

- Grant Achatz, chef of Alinea, and his business partner Nick Kokonas discuss an innovative way of paying for your meal that they plan to institute at their new Chicago restaurant, Next.

- Turning butter into fuel.

- The recipe for Thomas’ English muffin is closely guarded secret, but one insider has been accused of trying to take it to a rival.

- Vitaminwater is not good for you. But Coca-Cola claims no one would believe it is. Is that a viable argument?

- An entire cafe devoted to selling Pop-Tarts has opened in Times Square. There's even Pop-Tarts sushi. See what Mark Bittman thinks.

- What is the war on high fructose corn syrup really about?

Northern Spy Food Co. Review

Getting to Northern Spy Food Co. in Alphabet City is a bit of a trek, but it's one that pays off. The place had popped up on my dining companion's list of suggestions for dinner several times and I had continually bypassed it in favor of other, closer spots.

Around 7 p.m. on a Sunday evening, the place was just lightly filled and it was easy to get a table, but by 8:30 p.m. it was packed. The casual setting, with white wood-paneled walls and exposed brick, was something you might expect by the shore.

The drink list includes an interesting list of seltzers. My dining companion ordered a watermelon-basil seltzer while I opted for the sparkling sangria made with blueberry juice. Both were refreshing, though my dining companion wished the watermelon flavor hadn't been so diluted. And when our check arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we'd made it in time for happy hour and got a $2 discount on the sangria.

Summer Restaurant Week: Maialino

After a couple of good experiences at Danny Meyer's newest, Maialino, I jumped at the chance to book a Restaurant Week reservation there. I had also heard rumors that they were giving out vouchers toward a future breakfast.

Lunch began with a basket of assorted fresh bread from the bread counter here. I could live off that bread and the quality olive oil served with it.

We started with smoked swordfish, pickled onion and caperberry and mizuna. I have never heard of smoked swordfish much less seen it on a menu. This was a sharp dish with the right flavors to highlight a fairly mild fish.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we ordered the tripe, pecorino & mint. If you associate tripe with chewiness, you'd be pleasantly surprised here. The tripe was tender, similar in texture to cheese. The tomato sauce, ever so slightly sweet, and pecorino made this dish go down easily.

Small Bites

- A photographer comes up with a possible new way for food magazines to adapt to tablet technology.

- New York chef Anita Lo talks about women in the kitchen.

- Why is ice cream getting so expensive? Maybe more places should try making ice cream without eggs.

- The Washington Post makes note of the popsicle trend.

- NPR looks at the evolution of the human diet.

- All about lychees.

- A British market started selling smaller heads of lettuce for single people.

- Food writer Michael Pollan talks to the Wall Street Journal about local eating.

What to Do?

Mark Bittman recently posted about his bad experience at a restaurant where he found plastic in his corn soup. He asked readers what he should have done differently and wrote a follow-up post, noting that he didn't think it right to reveal which restaurant it was. I tend to agree that for one particular mistake like this that it's not fair to ruin the restaurant's reputation.

But I often wonder when it's appropriate to make known any complaint I have with a restaurant. I tend to avoid sending back my meal unless it's utterly inedible (and that has rarely happened) for fear that the chef will be offended among other reasons. But perhaps it's reasonable to share any complaints with the server or with a manager at the end of the meal — a good restaurant will ask how everything was anyway. If you don't plan on going back then there's little at stake and just maybe, other diners would be spared similar problems. This situation came up at a recent bad dinner I had at SD26 and though the waiter did stop by to ask how our meal was, we didn't offer our true thoughts. In retrospect, I do wish we had at least made it known that we weren't satisfied.

And once I've spoken up, what do I expect a restaurant to do? If it's after the fact and the problem can't be corrected, I do think it's right for the restaurant to offer to comp some portion of the meal. The mere act of raising a complaint is an opportunity for the establishment to show that, no matter what happened, it still knows how to provide exemplary service.

Upper East Side Gets a Shake Shack

Hot on the heels of the Times Square Shake Shack opening, the Upper East Side branch soft opens and unsurprisingly there was a line. The good news — it looks like the branch will have a C line.

Summer Restaurant Week: Bar Room at The Modern

This past winter, I dined at the Bar Room at The Modern and thought it was worthy of returning for another round this summer.

Tomato and Almond Gazpacho with cucumbers, teardrop tomatoes and basil oil. This was a visual beauty, chock full of ingredients. It's not your typical gazpacho, which to me makes it better because I usually don't like cold soups. This was creamy and interesting, though if you prefer a simpler soup, this wouldn't be for you.

Fried Chicken Wars

Midtown lunch reports that the new branch of Bon Chon on Fifth Avenue will open next week. Just down the street is Kyochon, which opened a few months back with mostly disappointing results (so I won't get my hopes up too high for Bon Chon) and Mad for Chicken is across the street. Mad for Chicken has better food, but it loses points for the clubby atmosphere. Hopefully Bon Chon will hit the right combination of great chicken and casual atmosphere.

August is Here

And so are the new Shake Shack flavors:

Monday: Salted Caramel
Tuesday: Blueberry Coffee Cake (this will be my must-try for this month)
Wednesday: Cavaillon Melon
Thursday: Basil
Friday: Chocolate Chuckles
Saturday: Caramelized Peach
Sunday: Sweet Corn

Small Bites

- New York City is looking for a new food czar.

- A look at stadium food doesn't look so good.

- The newest territory for bacon is cocktails.
- One trader has a lot of sway over the cocoa world.

- Jose Andres, a DC chef known for his use of molecular gastronomy, defended and explained his use of liquid nitrogen at a talk at Google's offices.

- Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, highlights the status of legislation that would help address food safety problems.

- Follow Frank (Bruni) around town. One of his stops? Aldea restaurant.

- How are food and migraines linked?

- Few foods help with sleep problems, but there are some things to avoid for a better night's rest.

- A guide (for non-Chinese people) to ordering in a Chinese restaurant.

National Ice Cream Month

I don't know how it escaped me, but July was National Ice Cream Month! Ronald Reagan designated it so in 1984. Zagat.com offers suggestions on where to get some unusual ice cream flavors around the country while Saveur has recipes for crazy concoctions you can make at home. Momofuku's Milk Bar is serving soft serve ice cream in BBQ and creamed corn flavors.

Summer Restaurant Week: Fig & Olive

I had a bonus Restaurant Week lunch through a friend who needed a dining companion for Fig & Olive in the Meatpacking District.

The lunch began with bread and a spread of three olive oils of varying origins. If my memory serves correctly, we had oils from Australia, Chile and Algeria. Decent, but only slight variations.

Pies 'n' Thighs Review

Several strong reviews of Pies 'n' Thighs, a Williamsburg restaurant specializing in fried chicken and pies, were enough to motivate my dining companions and me to endure the ride to an outer borough for brunch on a hot, humid day. We expected a long line given the amount of publicity it seemed to have gotten of late. But we were pleasantly surprised to find our choice of tables (perhaps it was the lack of air conditioning that did it) and we chose the one in front of a giant fan. We were able to linger for hours and eat at a leisurely pace, in stages. It's the way a lazy Sunday morning should be.

We split two chicken boxes between three of us. Each platter came with three pieces of chicken, a biscuit and our choice of side. On one plate we got fruit salad (as if to assuage the guilt of eating fried chicken) and home fries on the other.

Recent Eats

This summer, I acquired a Key to the City, part of an art project organized by Creative Time. It's a pretty neat project that basically gave me an excuse to venture to places I would otherwise never have explored. So on a recent blazing summer Saturday, my dining companion and I decided to set out for an adventure in Queens. But we started the morning by fueling up with a mega-breakfast (the only kind you can get) at Shopsin's. It was tough to narrow down the most expansive brunch menu in the city, but here's what we settled on:

Adobe: egg burrito, coconut pancakes, cranberry salsa. You can't even see the massive burrito hidden underneath. The cranberry salsa gave the plate a nice tinge of sweetness.

Fairie: pecan pancakes, bacon fried eggs, flat biscuits. Shopsin's really knows how to make pancakes. They're fluffy and light and buttery. With all the flavor combinations they offer (including mac and cheese pancakes that are actually good), there's no way you won't find one you like. I also loved the flat biscuits, which were like a chewier version of pancakes that tasted like biscuits. 

Summer Restaurant Week: Aldea

We're in the middle of Summer Restaurant Week and this time around, there weren't too many new places I wanted to try, so I have been using it to revisit spots where I've had some great meals. Restaurant Week was just extended until Labor Day, as it has been for each of the past few rounds.

Aldea was the first return trip I made and it didn't disappoint. The menu has just three choices each for appetizer and main course and two for dessert, but the offerings looked interesting and based on my previous experiences, I knew that the kitchen would do them well. The service has remained attentive and helpful as well.

Rustic Pork & Duck Terrine with muscat wine gelée and wild arugula. I would never call terrine, a sort of meatloaf of mixed meats, one of my favorite foods, but I am generally interested in trying it as I am most things. This terrine had a pretty strong, gamey flavor, probably drawn from the duck meat. The gelée had a tangy bite with a recognizable alcoholic quality to it that made for a good contrast. I had expected the texture of the terrine to be closer to the smoothness of a pate, but it was less spreadable and more solid. I liked it, but it was a good share plate.

Arugula & pickled cherry salad with Sao Jorge cheese and hazelnuts. Salads can be really boring, and while this one, visually, didn't shine, the ingredients made it satisfying. Each component had a different texture. I loved the thin wedges of semi-hard cheese that was similar to a Swiss cheese. Chopped hazelnuts were a great choice for their distinct nuttiness and crunchiness. And the cherries showed me that the chef was really thinking about how to compose a more interesting salad, given that it's not a fruit you see as often.

Small Bites

- Eater.com compiles a list of New York City chefs who blog. 

- For those of you who still widen your eyes at cupcakes, Serious Eats has a roundup of the best ones in New York City.

- Make ice cream without the machine. 

- During the New York City Wine & Food Festival in October, there will be several food-related Times Talks, including an interview with Rene Redzepi, the chef of the globally acclaimed Swedish restaurant Noma, and a conversation with several prominent New York chefs.

- An argument against raw milk.

SD26 Review

We should have listened to the mixed reviews. Dinner at SD26 was one of the worst meals my family has had in a long time. SD26 is the reincarnated version of San Domenico, an Italian place that was previously located on Central Park South, where the restaurant Marea is now located.

The entryway to SD26 is a huge bar with lots of unoccupied space. You walk through a wide hallway until you reach the back of the restaurant, which opens up into a large dining room. How can a restaurant afford to have so much space and take advantage of every square foot to bring in the dollars? Well, it soon became clear — charge exorbitant prices for as little food as possible. If you're looking for value in your meal, head elsewhere.

In a first among restaurants I have been to, SD26's wine menu is electronic. While seemingly modern and fancy, it gave the staff here an excuse not to interact with its customers. Though a sommelier roamed the floor, she never came to our table. The wine was also not poured tableside, which I find inappropriate for any expensive restaurant. I'd like to say the service was uneven, but that would imply that it improved at some point — unfortunately it was evenly amateurish throughout the night. We even witnessed a server trying to bring main courses to the table next to us while the diners were still eating their appetizers.

The potato gnocchi with artichokes and calamaretti was a plate of blandness. The gnocchi, "just a squishy thing" according to my sister, tasted like raw potatoes with little else providing extra flavor.

On the Road Eats: New Jersey

Plans for a recent trip down to the Jersey Shore were thwarted by weather reports of an 80 percent chance of heavy rain. Though the skies remained ominous all day, the rain never materialized. So, in the late afternoon my dining companion and I set off anyway for dinner at Bay Avenue Trattoria, in Highlands, NJ. Yes, we had made a dinner reservation even for a trip to the beach. We had a car, but Highlands is actually accessible by ferry from New York City.

We made it down early and decided to walk around the beach in nearby Sea Bright, NJ. Our parking spot seemed fortuitous — right in front of an ice cream shop with one of the funniest names I've ever heard of for for an establishment, Gracie and the Dudes. So, how could we resist a little pre-dinner snack?

Opening Experiences

I went over to the new Times Square Shake Shack around 9 p.m. one day this week to check out the scene. A coworker innocently hoped there would be no line while I was sure the line would be out the door. It was a 30-minute wait and there is no B line for easy access to custard here. We left that for another day. (Update: Midtown Lunch has constructed a wait time guide.)

A midday trip to the new Trader Joe's was gloriously easy — high ceilings, wide aisles, stocked cases and most importantly, no line! The friendly woman at the register confirmed how excited people seemed to be, peeking in the windows before it opened and clapping as they walked in (was she joking?) as though they were not grocery store employees but celebrities.

Small Bites

- How chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten entertains summer guests at home.

- Competitive eating has become a big deal.

- A new study finds that having many restaurants within a five-minute walk from home makes women fatter.

- Some people don't grow out of being picky eaters.

- Ever thought about taking a culinary vacation?

- Eats.com tests out wacky ice cream flavors.

- Holton Farms is bringing a new form of community support agriculture to New York, via food truck.

- Analyzing the brains of overeaters.

A New Trader Joe's Opens in Chelsea

Hooray! The new branch of Trader Joe's has opened at Sixth Avenue between 21st and 22nd Streets. Racked has photos and it looks much larger than the overcrowded Union Square store. I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a more pleasant shopping experience at my favorite grocery store.

Free Dessert at Desi Truck

For the month of July, the Desi Truck, which I recently reviewed, is offering free dessert to those with the secret password.

On the Road Eats: Philadelphia

I spent July 4th weekend in the great city of Philadelphia and as ever, found some good meals.

Sabrina's has a faux diner aesthetic to it and the hearty meals here support the dineresque appeal. A full page of weekend specials does the job of making the brunch choice difficult. Feeling hungry and in the mood to take advantage of the specials, I went all out and ordered the "4th of July Blowout Breakfast Special: green onion-jalapeno buttermilk biscuit topped with sharp cheddar scrambled eggs with tri bell peppers and arugula. Finished with fried potato-herb encrusted chicken breast and Chipotle-plum tomato-shallot gravy."

I might just have been extremely hungry (and craving fried chicken), but this comes close to being one of the best breakfast combos I've had. The chicken and gravy were flawless — the chicken wasn't greasy or overly fried and it was tender, with a great match in the gravy. The potatoes were sufficiently crisp and salty, not quite french fries but close enough. I was thankful they were not bland sliced potatoes on a plate (a breakfast pet peeve of mine). I don't eat scrambled eggs often because I find them to be dry and tasteless, but if they could always taste like this, maybe I'd order them more often. A good helping of peppers and arugula was mixed in so that every bite had flavor. The biscuit was the weakest corner of the dish because it was too firm and the flavors mild. This biscuit would work better with a fried egg, where you'd need to sop up every last bite.

My dining companion kept saying she'd be amazed if I finished this whole thing. Seems like people want to evoke my competitive eating spirit. But I didn't officially step up to the challenge here. Nevertheless I nearly finished the entire thing and no doubt could have, but stopped short of the last few bites of the dry biscuit and a few potatoes that went home with my dining companion's French toast leftovers.

My dining companion went the sweet route and got one of the tallest brunch dishes I have ever seen: "Stars and Striped stuffed french toast filled with a sweet cream cheese and ricotta blend of blueberry jam, marshmallow, strawberries and sugar cookie crumbles. Topped with berry molasses compote and fresh berries." I had one bite and thought the filling was heavenly, but maybe a bit rich for an entire meal.

Katsuhama Review

On my most recent trip to Katsuhama, I was lured in by a special $22 set meal that included a choice of appetizer (mine was potato salad), choice of katsu (I got hire katsu or pork tenderloin) and prawn katsu and crab katsu. It all comes with unlimited miso soup and rice. The crab katsu was too mushy and the prawn katsu was just okay, though the potato salad was decent. The portion of pork katsu is also slightly smaller in the set meal than the regular entree. It seemed like a good deal and it was by the amount of food I got, but ultimately, the pork katsu is the best part and it would have been best to stick to the standard katsu meal.

It's Officially Open

The Shake Shack in Times Square is officially open. Midtown Lunch has a mouthwatering rundown of the concretes specific to this branch, which stays open until midnight, later than the Madison Square Park or Upper West Side ones.

On the Road Eats: New Hampshire Pancake Contest

Polly's Pancake Parlor is a charming breakfast spot in bucolic Sugar Hill, N.H. As our group perused the large menu, one of my dining companions said he wanted something hearty, so I pointed out the All You Can Eat pancakes option. And as I too contemplated it, I sensed that I was being scoffed at. So I declared that though I may not look like I eat much, I have a huge appetite.You can probably guess where that led: a head-to-head all-you-can-eat pancake contest.

Polly's menu described the pancakes as being 3 inches in diameter and when I peeked over the counter where they were being made, they seemed small enough that I could eat lots of them. At Polly's, you can choose from a few different types of batters and a few different add-ins to construct your ideal pancakes.

The Real Shake Shack Opening Date

The Times reports that the Shake Shack in Times Square will finally open on Monday and hints at the possibility that there could be a soft opening over the weekend if the staff is prepared.