More Cathching Up: Rhode Island Weekend

Last weekend we trekked to Rhode Island to cater a surprise Birthday party for our son, the oldest!

It all started very innocently, by asking our daughter-in-law what the plans for the weekend were.  We suddenly had more free time than we had expected and figured we'd drive up on Friday, and depending on their plans, have a barbecue on Saturday. Within a few hours and a ton of back and forth emails it turned into a surprise party of 20 on Friday.  That way our presence would also be a surprise!

Meanwhile the Birthday Boy is inviting people over for Saturday night having no clue as to what's going on.  His wife convinced him to come home from his extra job and they'd go out to dinner for Date Night, after dropping the grandsons with a friend! We did successfully surprise him, even though as he's pulling up (the ONLY time in his life he was actually early) he spotted one of the guests walking towards the house carrying wine!   Bobby's response was great, he acted confused and said he thought Burke had invited him for Friday not Saturday.  Burke's thoughts were that Monica had switched days to surprise him, but still only imagined Bobby and his family were inside!

It was text book surprise, when he walked into a room full of friends and family and the bonus his NY parents!  It was great fun, the house had been quickly decorated in a tropical theme to signify the true end of summer!



Here's the menu:

SPINACH BALLS

TEQUILA LIME CHICKEN THIGHS W/ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE

TACO & TORTILLA FIXIN'S:

BEER MARINATED GRILLED SKIRT STEAK

PULLED PORK

BARBECUE SAUCE

PERUVIAN AJI VERDE SAUCE

COLESLAW

SHREDDED LETTUCE, TOMATOES, GRATED CHEESE

MINI SCALLION CORN MUFFINS

CUBAN STYLE BLACK BEANS & BROWN RICE

WHITE RICE

SMOKED PAPRIKA ROASTED BABY POTATOES

MEXICAN CREAMED CORN W/CREME FRAICHE & COTIJA CHEESE

TOSSED SALAD W/SHERRY VINAIGRETTE

BROWNIE BITES

STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE

CHOCOLATE CAKE

We all had a great time, good food, wonderful family and friends to share it with! Even the Grandsons were excited to surprise their Dad!

The picture to the right are Nana's Favorite Boys!

The Great Fire Pit

And we even managed to take some leftovers for an impromptu tailgate party at the beach on Saturday night, with cool ocean breezes, crisp salt air, sunset, kite flying and glorious fire pit, what could cap a great weekend better?

Cold Chef Eating

Sunset @ the Beach

Tailgating!

Tailess Kite Flying







Celebratory Dinner

Tonight we had Tiff & Howie over for dinner to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. Seems like yesterday we were in Las Vegas attending their wedding which ended with dinner @Tom Colicchio's CraftSteak in the MGM Grand Hotel. Maybe by next year I'll figure out how to embed the Internet broadcasted video of their ceremony on this blog!!

We started out the day trekking out to Old Brookville to go to Rottkamp's Farm for corn and tomatoes. Of course we never come away from the Farm with only what was on our list! We got Field Tomatoes, Corn, Purple & Red Potatoes, Red Onions, Red Bell Pepper, Cucumber and Yellow Grape Tomatoes all for dinner. And just cause we couldn't leave them there a few peaches and a couple of Heirloom Tomatoes.



On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's for the other ingredients and general grocery shopping.

The menu turned out to be:
Hors d'oeuvres
Guacamole/Chips
Roasted Yellow grape tomatoes & goat cheese tarts
Prosciutto wrapped Bread Sticks
Mixed Nuts
Trader Jose beers with lime


Dinner
Purple & Red Potato Salad
Salad Plate: Field Tomatoes, Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Cucumber, Radishes and Deviled Eggs w/capers
Pickle Plate: Pickled Cauliflower, Green Cherry Tomatoes & Brussels Sprouts
Oven Roasted Corn
Marinated Filet Mignon Roast
Grilled Chicken Breasts w/Barbecue Sauce
Rosado Rioja Wine/Sauvignon Blanc/Iced Tea


Dessert
Glazed Chocolate Cake
        (a Martha Stewart recipe you can find here.)

Pickles

Salad Plate

Potato Salad

Dinner Table

BBQ Chicken/Corn/Filet Mignon

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Cake

BUTTERMILK CHANNEL

This restaurant in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, has been on my list to try for quite some time!  So last Friday, after an impromptu trip to DUMBO to surprise Nana with a Chocolate shopping spree @ Jacques Torres, we decided to explore some more neighborhoods in Brooklyn. When I crossed Court Street I remembered that I've been thinking about checking out a lot of restaurants nearby, so we drove up Court Street and located a few on the way then found Buttermilk Channel.

From the outside our impression was that it would be an enjoyable place to dine, ambiance-wise, and if the food was as good as it's been touted to be. that would be a great bonus.  Kept on driving discussing the reviews and dreaming about a day when we would go prepared to eat there. 

Now neither of us is hungry so we do the IKEA shopping experience: (strolling the showroom and then hitting the marketplace) purchased one package of lime green cocktail napkins!  I've never, ever, left Ikea having spent less than $3.00!  Unless I was only there to measure and design!

At this point it's a little after 7 and the thought of going all the way back to Queens in Summertime Friday City-exiting traffic and then to start dinner was not a happy one.  So we drove around Red Hook for awhile and found the Red Hook Lobster Pound, perfect! A Lobster Roll is just what the Doctor ordered!  Whipped the car around to see that they were locking up....they close @7 p.m.   Arghhhhhh!

Now we figure we're dressed OK for an outdoor cafe and we'll head back to Carroll Gardens and find something casual on Court Street or a side street.

As fate always plays it's hand at the most opportune times, I drove up Huntington Street to Court forgetting that Court is one-way! At the light of  Huntington and Court we notice that we're at Buttermilk Channel--AND--there are empty tables outside--and better yet an EMPTY parking space directly across Court Street.  I say--let's go for it! Nana agrees and I make a rather illegal maneuver with the car to snag the parking spot and we are now justifiably excited for dinner!

Buttermilk Channel is named after a tidal strait between Brooklyn and Governor's Island you can read the legends here.  And a great interview with Doug Crowell, owner here; and of course one with Chef Ryan Angula here.

The biggest buzz about this restaurant is the Fried Chicken w/Cheddar Waffles and Savory Slaw. And all that Buzz is deserving! This is picture from their site: 

We started with Grilled Flatbread with House-Made Buttermilk Ricotta, Squash Blossoms & Lemon Oil.  It was a slice of heaven on our plates. The Creamy Ricotta had just enough body to keep the Flatbread crispy underneath the generous bed of cheese! And Squash Blossoms and Lemon Oil were the perfect bonuses!  Score two points! Pictures are not great as they are from my Blackberry and photog I'm not!

Nana ordered the Caputo's Fresh Linguini with Sweet Corn, Roasted Mushrooms, Brown Butter & Pecorino and she loved it!  It was a very healthy portion and provided her with enough for lunch!

I was really torn-the Duck Meatloaf was calling my name but ultimately I had to try the Fried Chicken. I was pretty sure that was the way to go but I still asked the advice of our waiter.  He pointed out that we were dining outdoors in 90º weather and what better way to enjoy Fried Chicken and save the meatloaf for when we dined indoors or in the fall!  And really, honestly, truly I was a very happy "picnicker"  The chicken was crunchy on the outside and perfectly cooked, moist and tender on the inside.  The waffle was a great foil for the chicken and the slaw just enough to ensure you ate your vegetables! Good thing Buttermilk Channel isn't on the corner of our block! 

We drank a wonderful bottle of Vino Bianco from Channing Daugthers Winery from the Hamptons on Long Island. This blended table white wine as perfect for a hot day, very sippable al fresco, and excellent with our food choices. It's made up of: The 2007 version is made up of 32% Tocai Friulano, 25% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Pinot Grigio, 9% Chardonnay (Dijon clone 96) and 17% Chardonnay (“Musque” clone).  Crisp and golden in color, lots of tropical fruit flavors and a very slight hint of oakiness.  Good thing, cause I'm not a big fan of any Chardonnay that is very Oaky.

We topped off our meal with one scoop of Van Leeuwan pistachio ice cream!  Couldn't pass it up on a hot night.  The perfect end of a great meal...another impromptu adventure and part of Nana's extended birthday celebration!

Our server, Doug, was quick, bright, efficient, friendly and just chatty enough to make our experience enjoyable beyond the setting and great food. Everyone we had contact with here were professional and friendly.  We observed the hostess telling many people about the wait for tables inside and she always smiled and maintained her excellent demeanor while some of the potential guests expressed their frustration at least with visual facial expressions! Kudos to all for providing us with a great evening.

Throughout our time dining outdoors we watched the sky darken with clouds and become a bit threatening.  Eventually, by dessert, there were some lightening flashes in the dark sky and we had joked with our waiter that we'd be grabbing and running inside if it started to rain. We asked for our check and it was brought with promptness. The second it was signed the first of many large drops of rain fell onto us. Nana grabbed the check and ran inside to return it to our waiter and thank him again, while I dashed across the street and got the umbrella out of the car.  I went back to the restaurant and got Nana to the car in a dry state (for the most part).  By the time we were a block away the downpour had lightened up to a drizzle.  Listening to the radio on the ride back to Queens we heard all the reports of wind damage, rain-caused accidents AND that Manhattan had been under a tornado watch much of the time we were dining outdoors in Brooklyn!  They also said the storm hit the Bronx, Queens and Long Island the hardest and seemed to barely skim over Brooklyn!  Chalk that up to the same fate that provided us with a parking space and empty table at our new Favorite Brooklyn restaurant: Buttermilk Channel!

We'll be returning to Buttermilk Channel soon!

Saturday in the City

We trekked into the city on Saturday afternoon, in the heat!  Our theory was that Sunday was promised to be hotter and more crowded!  Nana wanted to head to Central Park to snap some pictures of Victorian Gardens so we strolled through the park, something we haven't done in a very long time.  After the gardens we hit the Carousel; The Mall with many performing street acts; Naumbung Bandshell; Bethesda Terrace and Fountain; the Lake and checked out the menu at the Loeb Boathouse; and finally on to the Conservatory Water pool where they sail model sail boats and we rested near the Alice in Wonderland statue.  It was a great time revisiting sights we remember seeing for the first time 40 years ago and then showing them to our kids 20 years ago.

We exited the park at 76th Street and caught a bus down 5th Avenue to the Plaza Hotel.  Walked to 57th window shopping in Bergdorf's  and across to 6th Avenue.  Our destination was Rue 57 Brasserie Parisienne et Sushi Bar.  We had stopped here a few years ago after a Saturday Matinee on Broadway for drinks and ended up having a few appetizers at the bar.  This time we were going to have a proper meal and a bottle of wine. We sat on the Sixth Avenue side in the open window just one table from the sidewalk cafe portion. Thus taking advantage of the airconditioning but enjoying the ambiance of alfresco dining!

The restaurant bills itself as: The city's only brasserie-sushi bar! Not sure why they went with the combo, but it seems to work.  They offer a good amount of seafoods in addition to the sushi.  As we are much more into Francophile favorites we chose to stick with the Brasserie side of the menu.

We shared the  BUTTER LETTUCE SALADE sliced pear, sundried tomatoes, parmesan, house vinaigrette.  The vinegar pronounced dressing complimented the sundried tomatoes and sparked up the butter lettuce and pear slices. A very good choice on such a hot day. The wine of choice was a Californian Fume Blanc with just the right amount of crispness to be cooling and refreshing.

Nana's entree was the Plat Du Jour: SEA SCALLOPS with truffle mashed potato, spinach and asparagus and crispy onion garnish. She said it was great, I tasted the truffle mashed potatoes and could have made a meal of them!

My dish of choice was: POTATO CRUSTED SALMON with melted leeks, crimini mushroom ragoût and barolo sauce.  It was really very good. The Barolo sauce was perfectly reduced to that just before syrup stage and added a nice depth to the dish.

While this is no 5 star establishment, we found the food tasty, well cooked and beautifully presented. Our server was friendly and attentive and plates were cleared by staff efficiently and only when we both had completed our courses.

We skipped dessert and decided to walk over to the Time Warner Center for some retail therapy.  Our two favorite spots there are of course Williams-Sonoma and Borders.  No purchases this time, just loads of drooling! 

From there we trekked home on the subway, air-conditioned thankfully!  It was about an 8 hour visit to the city starting around 2:30 and returning home just after 10:30.  We always enjoy our holiday treks, seems like so many depart the city and we invade it! 

Friday Roundup

This week went by too quickly!  Cooking highlights were a new Rabbit recipe.  Used an English recipe for Rabbit and Leek Pie, but only made the stewed Rabbit with Leeks and added lemon zest & juice for the sauce.  It was very yummy! The rabbit was boneless, the first time I've dealt with boneless rabbit!  Most of the other dishes were repeats. 

At home we had the Veal Rolls! Double Yum and Nana asked for a Mario Batali dish she saw him produce on Rachel Ray's Show: Stuffed Manicotti with Beef.  I made a basic tomato sauce for it then prepared the beef ragu.  We cooled these and stored them overnight. Nana finished the recipe the next day for our dinner.  It was really good, I can't wait to make the Ragu again, so tasty.
I'm posting the cleaned up version of the recipe here.  There were a few issues with the recipe on the site, some typos and one major issue was that it told you to make the stuffing while you were heating the water for the pasta, meanwhile the stuffing needs to cook for 1 1 /2 hours!  So I rearranged the directions just a bit! Here's two pics of the process and plated:

On Friday we lunched in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with our Daughter @Dumont Burger we sat outside as it was a gloriously beautiful day, a tad warm but not scorching.  It was a great meal, Nana had the Mini Burger w/Fries; Tiff had the Chickpea Burger with Onion Rings and I had the Turkey Burger with Salad.  All were delicious. But the real star was the Fried Pickles we enjoyed for an appetizer:

After a walk of the neighborhood and a bit of shopping, we found our way to the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck!  Diets beware!  We tried three flavors-Mint Chip--Chocolate--Pistachio. All were perfect and refreshing! We had them in cups and no one spilled any on their clothes, therefore enjoying every last drop! Triple YUM!  It's just a good thing the truck doesn't come to our neighborhood, we'd embarrassingly be chasing it down the block!!

While I was at the Queens Health Food Emporium on Thursday, shopping for ingredients for my client, I saw the most gorgeous English Peas.  So on Friday Nana and I went back and bought a bunch along with Ricotta Cheese.  Came home and made Farfalle with Pea/Ricotta/Mint puree tossed with sauteed shallots and extra peas.  Served this as a side dish along side of grilled boneless chicken breast.  Here's the yummy picture:

Not a bad week for Foodies eh?

Field Trip: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

As Sunday was a beautiful day we decided to head back over to Williamsburg to check out two points of interest.  Meat Hook a store within a store.  Meat Hook is a wonderful butcher shop inside the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs' new digs at 100 Frost Street right under the BQE.  We had been to The Brooklyn Kitchen's original store on Lorimer but have been hearing great things about the new location, so we went to check it out.  Great space, they have two working kitchen labs where they conduct classes, and are available to be rented, and of course the awesome Meat Hook butcher shop in addition to a very culled array of kitchen necessities.

Perusing the meat cases we thought the handmade sausages looked amazing and we'll be returning to make a few test purchases! Some awesome looking aged beef, lots of hams, pork tenderloins & chops; some lamb and chickens and rabbits were in the meat cases as well.  They also carry a variety of frozen homemade stocks that I bet are amazing!  A few dairy products and a handful of produce like purple and pink radishes! All products are from local farms.

Next we went to Marlow & Daughters @95 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This butcher shop is located right down the street from the Famous Peter Luger Steak House. Another block away are Marlow & Sons and Diner Restaurants owned by the proprietors of Marlow & Daughters. Here also, were amazing looking cuts of meat and some special cheeses, along with some pantry stables, selected produce, bread and dairy products.  As it was now getting late and we needed to get something for dinner we opted to purchase the Lamb and Black Olive Sausage for dinner Sunday night and a chicken to roast with lemons and olives from Alex's Day Off. The recipe is here.  Picked up some ramps, baby carrots and asparagus to go with the roast chicken.  Got the olives we needed and a chunk of sourdough artisan bread!  Once we were home, I browned the sausage and braised it with onions, fennel and cabbage, using a grainy dijon mustard and white wine.  Served it with simple parsley new potatoes.  Another great meal.

Philly Phood!

Here's the rundown of our culinary adventures in Philadelphia. We spent the first weekend in May in Philly to belatedly celebrate our 40th Anniversary with my Sister and Brother-in-Law.  We had a great time, warm weather and a need to return to our diets!

READING TERMINAL MARKET

PEARL'S OYSTER BAR

On Friday we arrived around noon, checked in and walked over to Reading Terminal Market a few short blocks from our Hotel! This Market is definitely a Food Sensory Overload! After 5 minutes I was convinced it could take a few weeks to eat and savor the tastes available here! With four people all with unique ideas as to what lunch should be we finally decided to go to Pearl's Oyster bar. We secured a great table next to a window looking out onto the street. It is located on the perimeter in a corner of the building and would become the area from where we launched our search for everything food! Three of us enjoyed fried oyster platters and one had the Deviled Crab platter! The oysters were huge and well breaded and not greasy at all! Delish! Strolled through the entire market not missing a single booth, made some purchases of jarred items, like green tomato pickles and pickled brussels sprouts, jams and homemade ginger snaps for dessert!

PARC RESTAURANT

Our choice for dinner was Parc located across from Rittenhouse Square a beautiful metropolitan green space. Parc is a French Brasserie and as such has all the typical Brasserie dishes. (And as an amateur Francophile I couldn't fault that!) We enjoyed the following: Kir Royale or Stella Artois. I had Pissaladiere and Skate Grenobloise and for dessert Apple Tarte Tatin. Kathy had Tomato Tarte and Beef Bourguignon; Debra enjoyed Escargot and Bouillabaisse and Profiteroles; Fred tried Steak Tartare and Braised Lamb Shank. Felt like we were in Paris! Food was outstanding and the atmosphere was perfect, large open doors to the outdoors, very busy bustling dining rooms and friendly, warm service! What more could you ask for? Just a great night out.

CARLUCCHIO'S

On Saturday we hit the Italian Market after riding the ducks sightseeing tour. First stop was Fante's Kitchen supplies, shopped till we were starving, on recommendation of one of the managers we seeked out Carlucchio's a small Italian restaurant one block south of the Italian Market--where else should you eat a wonderful Italian meal if you couldn't get to the south of Italy? Kathy had the most amazing Asparagus Risotto, Debra Chcken Parm Sandwich, Fred Rib Eye Cheesesteak Sandwich w/sweet peppers and I had a Chicken Cutlet Panino with Broccoli Rabe! SOOOOOOOOOOO Good! The restaurant is new in 2010, only 26 seats and is BYOB!

LA BOURSE

A beautiful respite of a Lobby Bar in the Sofitel hotel for drinks before dinner! White Sangria or Sauvignon Blanc, all very refreshing.

TINTO

Saturday night's choice was Jose Garces' restaurant off Rittenhouse Square for Spanish style small plates. We enjoyed this experience as well! The food is over the top, each dish was better than the last and the only thing we decided was just great not over the top was one they put on the table that didn't belong to us: Crab Crostini! Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't up to the par of everything else. I'll just list the many things we had:

Mixto Charcuterie and Mixto Cheese Platters

Rodaballo a la Plantxa (Turbot, sauce pastis, baby fennel, citrus

Diver Scallops, cider demi-glace, benton's bacon, shaved apple

Duck Confit, serrano ham, black cherry, la peral spread

Kobe Beef, pisto lilbaina, romesco

Asparagus, smoked tomato compote, mahon espuma

Wild Mushrooms, roasted potato, shallt, parsley

Organic Chicken, truffled whipped mash, brussels sprouts, smoked bacon

Reveuelto De Cangreho, soft scrambled egg, jumbo lump crab, benton's bacon, english peas, herbed toast

No room for dessert! Wonderful Tempranillo wine! Talk about sensory overload!

AMIS

We were unable to return to our first choice for brunch on Sunday due to an MS Run taking over Broad Street preventing us from getting across town. So we went to Mark Vetry's newest restaurant and Roman version of small plates. Kathy had Artichoke Alla Giudia and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. Debra: Homemade Italian Cornetti with marmellata and Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup. I had Escarole Salad with apples and radish and Polenta Pasticciata with fennel sausage and provolone and Fred had: Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. While the food was very good and unusual it wasn't what we'd been expecting to eat @Parc.

RIDE HOME IN MR. GRAY

From Whole Foods on South Street: Apricot Ginger Muffin, Orange Cranberry Scone, Fruit salad, Bottled Water!

We truly enjoyed our Culinary Adventures in Philadelphia, can't wait to return!