Posts Tagged ‘restaurant’

Eating out | All the way across town to The Brackenbury

22 May 2014

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I’d be hard pressed to find a restaurant less conveniently located from where I live. Try as I may, I couldn’t figure out a way to get there in less than an hour. Miraculously, the Picadilly line would take me all the way; I guess I could find less conveniently located places, after all.

This is something one learns quickly about London. As any experienced Londoner readily points out, the city is huge, travel is inconvenient and slow. Choose your neighborhood well, because that’s where your life will unfold, it’s where you’ll stay. I was determined not to get trapped by this insularism, at least hold out as long as I can.

I might admit that the friend who suggested The Brackenbury lives much closer to the restaurant. I could have lobbied for a more practical choice, somewhere half way; but I know her well, and I trust her hunch. This was the place she’s really wanted to try. And anyway, on principle, I am game.

On the way toward the tube I began questioning whether being so open minded really is such a good thing; after a good 40 minutes on the train I began grumbling that this place better be very good indeed; partially lost and sidling into deserted dimly lit streets I concluded this probably wasn’t such a great idea.

Finally I arrived. From the street it looked bustling and warm and inviting. I relaxed.

The Brackenbury feels very much like a neighborhood restaurant, and resolutely untrendy. The space is a bit drab. With carpeted floors, comfortable seating, and starched tables arranged in nooks up and down steps in adjoined rooms that resemble an expanded home.

Most importantly, the food is great. The calf’s liver was probably the best I’ve ever eaten; perfect texture, cooked beautifully, impeccably accompanied by the most delicious polenta and kale. The starter was a simple salad of bitter lettuces whose name I can’t recall and it was very good (though when my friend ordered the same later as a main course it was a bit sloppy and overdressed). For dessert there was sweet, tart, ethereal rhubarb Eton mess.

Simple, and one of the very good restaurant meals I’ve had in a while.

Would I try to convince someone to trek all the way across town, late at night, for dinner at the Brackenbury? Perhaps not. But if I lived a bit closer I’d go again in a heartbeat.

The Brackenbury

Open for lunch Fri-Sun 2.00-3.00 pm
Dinner Tues-Sat 7.00 -10pm
Closed Monday

http://brackenburyrestaurant.co.uk/

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Eating out | With an Italian at Parm

25 October 2012

I tricked my very good very Italian (but longtime New Yorker) friend into going to Parm. I misused his optimistic trust in my restaurant tastes and lured him, this Italian food purist, to a ‘by-definition’ suspicious Italian-American place.

It is a few months ago already, but the evening is such a good memory that I’ve been wanting to write about it. So much about the enjoyment of a restaurant is about the circumstances. No bad restaurant will ever be good, but in the large realm of good restaurants, food wise, the evening will be great if the particular place suits the particular mood.

That evening we’d met at the New Museum Triennial late on a Thursday, and despite, I admit, some initial skepticism, as we strolled around the galleries and took a closer look I discovered some intriguing and a few striking pieces. An exhibition is the perfect start to an evening — it needn’t take as long as a movie or a play and in the evening galleries are often lulled by a more leisurely pace. Upon leaving the museum we were busy discussing the art and I took advantage of the diversion to head in the direction of Mulberry Street.

The atmosphere at Parm was bustling and joyful when we arrived. We waited at the end of the bar for a stool at the counter, just enough time to enjoy a beer before sitting down. Looking at the menu I could sense some skepticism on the part of my dining companion, but he was playing along.

It was late so we were there for a bite rather than a full dinner, which was perfect for the occasion. I wrote down what we ordered: garlic bread deluxe with ricotta, cauliflower, chickpeas, spicy rabe, eggplant parm, and zeppole to finish. If I recall correctly, the beers and wines on offer were all, fittingly, American.

I don’t remember the details of each dish but I know that everything was genuinely delicious with clear bright flavors, which is not necessarily what one might expect of an Italian-American joint, but what I had hoped from the highly praised restaurant. (Parm is more casual and just next door to Torrisi Italian Specialties. Both are owned by Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone.)

I’d venture to say that Simone liked it too. He had to agree that the dishes were very good, of course, and even conceded that the flavors were familiar, distantly but clearly reminiscent of home.

It was, that night, the perfect place.

***

Parm

248 Mulberry Street
New York, New York 10012

212 993 7189

Open Mon–Sun 11am–11pm (Thurs-Sat until 12am)
Bar Menu from 4-6pm

www.parmnyc.com

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Breakfast in Montréal | Le Cartet and Olive + Gourmando

17 July 2011

In my fantasy life I keep clearly organized folders of clippings, weblinks, and friends’ recommendations, collected over the years, about noteworthy restaurants and singular out-of-the-way hotels all over the world. That way, when one day I go to Sicily, Copenhagen, Singapore, or Atlanta, I will know just where to stay and what to eat.

In my real life I have no folders, I don’t always buy a guidebook in advance, and we rarely book a hotel before we leave. It’s charming and spontaneous, as vacations should be, and sometimes leads to unexpected, memorable moments like sleeping in a thousand-year-old manor house nestled on Dartmoor in the South of England. But not always.

So our family of five drove up to Québec over Fourth of July weekend in what may well be the last trip of our aging VW Beetle. The only room we were likely to find in Montréal during a weekend that turned out to be not only the height of the jazz festival but also Canada Day, was in a large nondescript hotel. And, despite the fact that since I acquired the cookbook five years ago the legendary restaurant “Au Pied de Cochon” alone seemed worth the trip up to Québec, I hadn’t booked a table.

We saw a lot of Montréal in a day and a half. We walked more than was reasonable with three young children, from the old port up past the recent Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec toward Parc La Fontaine and finally to Parc du Mont-Royal before heading to the jazz festival.

In the end we barely stopped for lunch, and didn’t plan for a civilized dinner; but we did eat two exceptional breakfasts. I would have stayed weeks longer just for the granola, the scones, and the apple cinnamon bun.

Le Cartet

Le Cartet has a store in the front with a large relaxed restaurant in the back. Everything on the breakfast menu seemed tempting and it was hard to choose. It’s the type of breakfast I like. You don’t have to decide for just eggs or just granola (though you can certainly opt to simply eat two soft-boiled eggs with toast).

The brunch plate I ordered included ginger granola with cashew nuts, yogurt, and blueberries; poached eggs on mesclun salad and whole wheat toast; cheddar; figs; and fresh fruit. And a very good cafe latte.

Le Cartet

106 McGill St
Montréal, QC H2Y 2E5
Canada

+1 514-871-8887

www.lecartet.com

Open Mon-Fri 7am-7pm, Sat-Sun 9am-4pm

*

Olive+Gourmando

Olive+Gourmando was crowded on Saturday morning, as it apparently often is, so we decided not to wait and rather take our breakfast out to a small park around the corner: coffee, croissants, scones, and an apple cinnamon bun to put all apple cinnamon buns to shame.

The blueberry scones, too, were probably the best I have eaten, perhaps thanks to a generous amount of lemon zest and, I would guess, a respectable quantity of butter.

Olive+Gourmando

351 Rue Saint Paul Ouest
Montréal, QC
Canada

+1 514-350-1083

www.oliveetgourmando.com

Open Tues-Sat 8am-6pm

*

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Eating out | Brunch at Blaue Gans

22 February 2011

I have a soft spot for Kurt Gutenbrunner’s restaurants. Gutenbrunner is the Austrian chef/owner of Blaue Gans, Wallsé, and Café Sabarsky in New York (as well as Upholstery Winebar and Café Kristall, which I have yet to visit). An essential part of the draw is the excellent food, which is largely Austrian with a number of nods across the German border, but the spirit is clearly more that of a Viennese Café than a Bavarian beer garden. The other thing I like so much about these restaurants is the ambience. Each has a unique atmosphere but with similar qualities: at once elegant and ever so slightly old-fashioned – a touch European in the best sense; but also laid-back and congenial.

Blaue Gans, the most casual of the lot, is great for an easy dinner with friends, a simple lunch, and particularly for brunch. It’s spacious and relaxed – exactly the kind of place you hope to stumble into on a lazy weekend morning – and the menu options span a large spectrum, so everyone is likely to find something that suits their mood, from simple pastries to a Wiener Schnitzel – why not?

There is excellent weisswurst with pretzel, and bratwurst with sauerkraut. But it’s not just the sausages. I am infatuated with the Bibb salad with radishes, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin-seed oil (in the evening the soups are tough competition). There are perfectly soft-boiled eggs in a glass and delicious Matjes herring “Hausfrauenart” – with apples. And then there is the creamed spinach, which can now be ordered as a side, so I get it every time, regardless of what else I’ve decided to order.

Incidentally, Blaue Gans is a good place to go with young children. Ours are always excited to go and invariably very welcome. They love the weisswurst (including Louise, who is already 11 months) and won’t leave without some Kaiserschmarren, the irresistible thick Austrian pancake cut into slivers and served with seasonal fruit compotes.

***

Blaue Gans

139 Duane Street (between West Broadway and Church)
New York, NY 10013

212-571-8880

Open daily, 11am-midnight (bar until 2am)

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Eating out | Fall soba noodles at Sobakoh

12 November 2010

I don’t intend to write restaurant reviews, but I can’t resist the temptation of mentioning some of my favorite restaurants, so I thought I would share those memorable moments when a specific place perfectly satisfies a peculiar craving.

Fall is the season for soba in Japan, when the flour ground from freshly harvested soba (buckwheat) is most flavorful; it seems the Japanese seek out soba noodles in the fall the way Germans chase asparagus in the spring. Although I didn’t grow up with the concept of a season for flour, I’m happy to embrace the idea, and coincidentally (or perhaps not), every year when the leaves begin to change and the temperature drops I am irresistibly drawn to Sobakoh.

Sobakoh is a small restaurant in the East Village with a low key atmosphere and excellent food. The owner can often be seen making his soba in a little windowed nook between the bar and the street; the process is beautiful, and the result delicious. The bowls of soba noodles – hot or cold – are the best I’ve had, and there are other incredible dishes: appetizers such as gomaae (broccoli rabe with sesame sauce), age soba (deep fried soba with sea salt), and a memorable burdock salad that was not on the menu yesterday, but which the kitchen was kind enough to prepare nonetheless.

***

Sobakoh

309 East 5th St. (between 1st and 2nd Aves.)
New York, NY 10003

212-254-2244

Open daily, 12pm-3pm and 5.30pm-10.45pm

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