outer borough dining adventure

A few years ago, my friends Stash and Lani and I formed an outer-borough dining club.  Sadly, our gastronomic gang was short-lived as both of my fellow dining adventurers moved away (to Los Angeles and Toronto, respectively -- the nerve!), but my wanderlust did not move with them.  As previously documented in this very blog, I have had a lot of fun eating my way through the nooks and crannies of Brooklyn.  But let's face it, who hasn't these days?  Brooklyn is the gateway borough for an outer-borough diner.  For a real adventure in an uncharted territory, you need to go farther than that hipster-filled enclave and a few weeks ago I rounded up my accommodating husband and fellow-adventurers Ann and Brian for dinner in just such a location: Staten Island.

The aforementioned outer-borough dining club had made it to that large mysterious island once before disbanding, for dinner at Enoteca Maria in the Saint George neighborhood.  The restaurant is conveniently located within walking distance of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and has a rotating cast of Italian grandmothers who create and cook the menu on a given night.  I remember thinking it was good, not great, and had sort of forgotten all about it until "the nonnas" showed up on the Today Show last week. Maybe one day I'll give it another shot.

A former co-worker and Staten Island native, with whom I had discussed my trip to Enoteca Maria, had recommended another Italian restaurant on Staten Island: Trattoria Romana on Hylan Boulevard.  Specifically, she had told me about a pasta dish they offer called the "Bandiera Italiana" - pasta served with three different sauces: marinara, alfredo, and pesto, all arranged on one plate, just like the Italian flag.  I had to have it.  And so on the Friday night before Hurricane Sandy blew into our area, Judd, Ann, Brian and I met there for dinner.

The restaurant, which doesn't take reservations for small parties, was quite crowded when Judd and I arrived around 7:30, and yet they seated us even though our intrepid dining companions hadn't yet arrived (we were early since it took less time to drive over there than I thought it would) -- just try getting a Manhattan host to do that!  (Perhaps having a protruding pregnant belly helped?) Immediately after we were taken to our cramped table, a fleet of waiters descended on us with bruschetta, plain bread, and fried polenta cubes.  After Ann and Brian arrived, we ordered a frito misto and a Caesar salad to share - both perfectly fine.

While there were many tempting menu offerings that caught my eye, I did settle on the Bandiera with linguine since it was technically the reason we'd shlepped out there in the first place.  I really enjoyed all three sauces, especially the bright, garlicky pesto. And despite my large appetite, I did end up with some leftovers.  Judd and Brian each ordered veal dishes and Ann got a very decadent "straw and hay" pasta (egg and spinach noodles with cream, sausage, and porcini mushrooms), each of which I sampled -- thumbs up all around.

I don't know how Trattoria Romana is doing in the wake of the hurricane, but I do know that Staten Island in general took a pretty big hit.  If you'd like to do your part to help bolster their local economy, I highly recommend a trip out to Hylan Boulevard for your very own outer-borough dining adventure at Trattoria Romana.

a bun in the oven

I have some very exciting news to share (for anyone who reads SSH whom I haven't talked to lately): Judd and I are expecting a baby girl on or around December 30th! I am quite certain she is going to turn our lives upside down, but we can't wait to meet her and bring her home in about ten more weeks.

I've had a pretty easy time so far - no morning sickness or any major complaints - but I do miss eating some of the foods that I've been advised not to eat, including Boar's Head deli turkey (why!!??? it's so innocent!) and raw tuna. It also took a while to adjust to the severe reduction in my caffeine and splenda intake, and don't even get me started on how much I miss wine. (I haven't gone this long without alcohol since I was a teenager.)

I haven't really had any strange food cravings, either, though I've gone to the Palm often enough that I joined their frequent diner club and will order macaroni and cheese, or anything covered in cheese for that matter, anytime I see it on a menu. So you can guess how plump and round I look by now, notwithstanding the 3-pound baby in my abdomen.  Last week, I decided to connect with my inner tourist and stopped by the famed Carnegie Deli (it's only a few blocks from my office) for a corned beef sandwich on rye. And I ate the ENTIRE thing.

Anyway, I intend to keep food the focus of SSH, but it may sometimes be of the pureed fruit and vegetable variety.

my favorite vinaigrette

Several months ago, my friend Steph suggested I do a blog post about salad dressing.  Excellent idea! I made a mental note to take photos and notes the next few times I made salad.  And somehow, nearly three months went by before I got my act together to share a very simple recipe for my favorite go-to salad dressing, which I particularly like with bibb lettuce. It tastes very French to me, and the shallots are mild enough that they don't overpower the delicate mustard-lemon balance (I generally don't like raw onions or even scallions, so if you can't find shallots, look for a sweet onion, like a vidalia).

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 large shallot, finely minced
1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup + one tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together, season with salt and pepper, and toss with lettuce.

zucchini windfall

On a recent Friday night, we were up in the country, getting ready for dinner, when we heard a knock at the front door.  At first, I thought it was just our very friendly neighbors from across the street, coming to say hello, as they are wont to do (I guess it's a country thing?).  But it turned out to be our next door neighbors, who we later learned have a thriving garden (in addition to cows, pigs, chickens, and horses), with an enormous basket full of oversized zucchini for us!  Since we were literally getting ready to sit down dinner (grilled steaks and scallops with summery corn risotto and an arugula salad with grilled portabella mushrooms and pine nuts), it was too late to include any of the 7 zucchinis in our meal, but the very next morning I cracked open my recipe binder and set about finding recipes to make use of our zucchini windfall.  (For anyone wondering, we decided *not* to sign up for a CSA this year because of how much weird lettuce we got last year.)

First up:  zucchini cornbread from the July 2012 issue of Bon Appetit.  I had seen this recipe last summer and was determined to make it eventually, so I happened to already have some of the more unusual dry ingredients (e.g., whole wheat flour and ground cornmeal) in my cabinet.  The finished bread, a delicious combination of sweet and savory, tasted most obviously brunchy, but was also nice with a cup of soup at lunch time and I can imagine including it in a meal featuring Mexican flavors or with a bowl of spicy chili.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal

1. Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Grease/butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan (I used cooking spray).

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Continue cooking until butter solids at the bottom of the pan turn golden brown, about 3 minutes.  Scrape butter into a medium bowl.  Set aside and let cool.  Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.

3. Trim zucchini ends.  Thinly slice five 1/8" rounds from 1 end and reserve for garnish.  Coarsely grate remaining zucchini and add to bowl with butter mixture.  Stir until well blended.

4. Mix both flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cornmeal in a large bowl.  Add wet zucchini and fold to blend (mixture will be very thick).  Transfer batter to greased loaf pan and smooth top.  Place reserved zucchini slices down center of bread batter (see photo above).

5. Bake bread until golden and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about one hour.  Let bread cool in loaf pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Next up: a savory zucchini, herb, and rice gratin from Deborah Madison's classic "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," (courtesy of my former colleague and vegetarian, Larissa).  This summery vegetarian dish makes a great main course (with salad) or side dish (with grilled or roasted chicken?) and is fairly easy to make, with the exception of draining the grated zucchini.  Deborah Madison's version uses white rice and a lot of marjoram; I used brown rice and a combination of chives and thyme.  (I'm not sure I know what marjoram even tastes like, but I didn't have any and I did have thyme).  This could also be a great way to use of leftover Chinese food rice.

Here's the recipe:

3 medium zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds), coarsely grated
1 cup uncooked long or short grain brown rice (or about 2 cups cooked rice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely diced
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan, gruyere, ricotta salata, or pecorino cheese
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly oil a rectangular baking dish (I used cooking spray).

2. Toss the grated zucchini with 1 teaspoon of salt and set in a colander to drain.

3. Cook the rice according to the instructions and set aside.

4.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and cook the onion over medium heat, until softened.  Squeeze the zucchini to get rid of any excess moisture and add to the onions, cooking until the pan is dry and the zucchini has begun to brown, about 10-12 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

5. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour, stirring and cooking until you end up with a golden brown paste (a rue!).  Add the milk and whisk until smooth.  Cook over low heat until milk mixture begins to thicken.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in chopped chives and thyme leaves.  (You have just made an herbed bechamel sauce.)

6. Combine the rice, zucchini, and half of the herbed milk sauce and pour into greased baking dish.  Top with grated cheese and remaining milk sauce and bake until golden, about 25 minutes.  Serve warm.

yankee doodle dandy

A belated happy July 4th to all SSH readers!  I celebrated our nation's independence up in the country with my mom and husband and our new charcoal grill.  It was too hot and muggy for sitting outside in proper barbeque fashion, but it felt very summery to be eating grilled hot dogs (since nothing is more all-American than German sausages, I had stopped by Schaller & Weber on 86th and 2nd before driving out of town on Tuesday to get some knackwurst and bratwurst for the occasion), homemade baked beans, and my favorite summer side of all time, summer corn and orzo salad with cucumber-feta dressing.  As you might have guessed from the picture above, we had a lot of leftovers.

Over the rest of the self-imposed long weekend, I decided to try my hand at something even more traditionally American and summery: deep-dish blueberry pie.  Normally, I do not like to bake anything that involves rolling out a crust, but the recipe for this pie, which came from an old issue of Food & Wine Magazine, seemed simple enough. You really just need a food processor, a lot of blueberries, and several hours to let the pie bake and cool and VOILA! A pie Norman Rockwell would have been proud to paint and any allegiance-pledging (or simply pie loving) American would be happy to eat, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Here's the recipe:

For the dough:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, still cold and cut into 1/2" dice
1/2 cup ice water, plus more if needed

For the filling:

8 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
pinch of salt

1) Pulse the flour and salt in the bowl of a large food processor.  Add the butter and pulse 5-10 times, until the diced butter is the size of peas.  Drizzle in the ice water and pulse until the dough forms a ball. 

2) Remove the dough from the food processor and divide in half.  Flatten each half into a round disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

3) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, toss the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. 

4) Roll out one half of the dough into a 13" round, about 1/8 in thick. Line a pie dish with the rolled out dough and pour in the blueberry mixture.

5) Roll out the second half of the dough the same way and lay across the top of the pie filling. Press the edges together and trim the overhanging dough. (I tried to also create an attractive "crimp" pattern, but I think as long as the top is sticking to the bottom, it doesn't really matter). Lightly brush the top with water and sprinkle with sugar (~1 tablespoon seemed right). Cut a few slits in the top crust for steam to escape.

6) Bake the pie until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 2 hours. Let cool for 5 hours at room temperature before serving. 

restaurant review: Do Hwa

As I have previously mentioned, I subscribe to BlackBoard Eats, which means that at least once a week, I get an e-mail coupon offer for up to 30% lunch and/or dinner at some NYC restaurant.  I always get excited when the offer is at a restaurant that I'd been wanting to try and a few weeks ago, Judd and I headed down to the West Village for dinner at Do Hwa with our 30% coupon in hand.

Do Hwa, on the corner of Carmine and Bedford Streets, describes its menu as Korean home cooking.  I'm not sure I know the difference between Korean home cooking vs. Korean restaurant cooking since the only Korean food I'd ever had was at Madangsui in K-Town, a bustling and ambience-less restaurant where the food is cooked on the grill in the middle of your table and served by actual Korean people (they looked Korean at least -- I didn't check any passports to confirm).  Do Hwa, on the other hand, has a sleek, and fairly contemporary decor with a dark, L-shaped bar and a more brightly-lit dining room.  Only four of the tables have that trademark grill-it-yourself feature, and we didn't get one of them, which is fine with me since I'd prefer to have someone else do the work and smell like a barbeque if I'm going to pay for the food, even with a 30% discount.  Also, unlike the servers at Madangsui in K-town, each member of Do Hwa's ambiguously ethnic and androgynous wait staff had on loose-fitting black tee-shirts and black pants; our unshaven waiter donned a knit cap and geek-chic glasses to complete his Williamsburg hipster look.

I had checked out Do Hwa's menu ahead of time, but still had no idea what to get when our waiter casually stopped by to take our order, so we asked for his recommendations and STILL had trouble narrowing it down.  I knew I wanted kimchi (a traditional Korean condiment made from spicy fermented cabbage), something barbecued, and bibimbop (a rice dish with many ingredients and spicy chili sauce in a hot stone pot).  As a result, and as is often the case when we have a 30% off coupon, we ended up ordering far too much food for two people, almost all of which I am delighted to report, was excellent.

To start, we shared mandu gui (pan-fried beef dumplings), kimchi pajun (kimchi scallion pancake), and mak gooksu (cold buckwheat noodles with sesame kimchi).  The dumplings were the least exciting of our three appetizers -- despite being crispy and fried (a combination I almost always enjoy), they didn't have much flavor, so I ended up drowning them in the salty dipping sauce.  The kimchi pancakes, however, were amazing.  Crunchy and still soft, with big pieces of kimchi throughout.  I was surprised that the vegetarian pancake was so expensive compared to the other appetizers ($9.50 when the dumplings were only $8 and the noodles were only $7), but we had the coupon, so they were only $6.33 to me.  The cold buckwheat noodles were a refreshing temperature and texture contrast to our two fried selections, and I was glad to sample a different flavor of kimchi.

For our entrees, we shared classic bibimbop with beef and a fried egg and deji bulgogi (spicy pork barbecue with chiles).  When the bibimbop arrived, our waiter stirred it all together with the chile paste, turning a bowl of rice topped with multiple exotic looking ingredients into something resembling fried rice.  I honestly am not sure I could tell you what was in there besides the rice, egg, beef, and sauteed vegetables, but I am now officially a bibimbop devotee, despite its extremely silly name (no disrespect, Korean speakers).  
    

The barbecue, which I don't think was actually barbecued on any kind of coal or flame, was a hair greasy for my taste (perhaps because we selected pork?) but nonetheless quite delicious.  It arrived sizzling on a cast iron skillet, not unlike a fajita, and was served with fresh lettuce leaves, sliced chiles, and miso sauce.  I love the idea of wrapping things in lettuce, but it is always such a messy endeavor (lettuce can't withstand heat and tears so easily) that I usually don't bother.  The barbecued pork was also served with more kimchi and an assortment of "seasonal side dishes," many of which I suspected could contain fish or fish parts, so I steered clear of those.

My one complaint about Do Hwa would have to be their chopsticks.  Think longer thinner knitting needles.  It was quite a challenge/nearly impossible to get rice and slippery buckwheat noodles into my mouth using such thin round chopsticks.  I almost asked for a fork, but feared the dirty look our hipster waiter might shoot my way.

Overall, I really enjoyed Do Hwa.  I am glad I strayed outside of my French-Italian-Mexican comfort zone, and I even spotted a reality TV star, known to many of this blog's readers as my old friend Charlie, and his handsome fiancee in the process (all the cool kids hang out downtown).

**

Details:

Do Hwa
55 Carmine Street
New York City
(212) 414-1224

Korean home cooking for two: $80 (pre-30% discount)

Tagine cooking

I bought Judd a tagine for our wedding anniversary in March. It was something he had suggested we add to our Williams-Sonoma registry before we got married, but that I had opposed given the size of our kitchen and how infrequently I thought we'd use it.  Three years later, he was very excited to unwrap a tagine of his very own, along with cookbook I'd found to accompany it: "Tagines & Couscous: Delicious recipes for Moroccan one-pot cooking."

In case you are not familiar with them, tagines are shallow, round cooking vessels with a conical lid designed to lock in moisture. They are commonly used in Moroccan cooking, which The word tagine is also used to describe the stew cooked inside the tagine. I bought Judd's at Sur la Table since the Williams-Sonoma at the Time Warner Center no longer carries them (I suspect other shoppers had also wondered how practical they were . . .). Ours is made by Le Creuset and has a cast iron bottom, which makes it appropriate for stovetop or oven cooking, and a glazed earthenware lid. (I actually have a feeling that a Le Creuset dutch oven might work nearly as well as a a tagine for cooking tagine recipes.)

Judd recently took a stab at a vegetarian tagine with carrots and chickpeas. The list of ingredients is quite lengthy, but most of them are probably already in your spice rack, with the exception of rosewater. The tagine turned out really delicious and I'm sharing the recipe with you, which I think you might be able to pull off, with or without an actual tagine.

spicy carrot and chickpea tagine with turmeric and cilantro

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1-2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
4 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
2 14-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1.5 tablespoons rosewater
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

1. Heat the oil in tagine over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring until soft. Add turmeric, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, black pepper, honey, and carrots. Pour in enough water to cover the base of the tagine and cover. Cook gently over low heat for 10-15 minutes.

2. Add chickpeas. Check to make sure there is enough liquid left in the tagine, adding a little more water if necessary.  Cover and continue to cook over low heat for another 5-10 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

3. Add the rosewater and cilantro and season with salt.  Serve with crusty bread and/or couscous, a dollop of thick yogurt (option) and lemon wedges (also optional).

strata with spinach and peppers

My sister got a great cookbook a few years ago, The New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook, which has become a valuable resource during all of the weekends I've been spending up in Dutchess County.  I recently tried a recipe for "overnight strata with spinach and peppers" for Sunday brunch and it was a big hit. And super impressive looking since it got quite inflated in the oven. I used all of the leftover basil and pine nuts to make pesto.

As the name suggests, the overnight strata, (think a savory Italian bread pudding), is supposed to be assembled the night before. But I was too tired to cook on Saturday night and assembled the entire thing on Sunday morning. Also, the original recipe called for 1 entire pound of brie cheese, which seemed far too decadent, so my version has less, but by all means you should go full cheese if you're up for it.

Here's the recipe:

1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for pan
1 each: red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, seeded, cored, and chopped
1 large loaf of challah, brioche, or egg-based bread
2 small bunches spinach, washed, chopped, and stems removed (pre-washed baby spinach would probably be easier)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup julienned basil leaves
8 eggs
1 quart milk
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
8 oz brie, sliced
2 cups shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Heat olive oil in a large pan and cook onions and peppers until softened. Add spinach leaves and cook until spinach has wilted down completely. Season with salt and pepper.

3) Blend the eggs, milk and garlic, and nutmeg in a blender. Season with salt and pepper.

4) Oil a large baking dish. Slice challah into 3/4" slices and arrange half of it into the bottom of the baking dish. Distribute half the onion, pepper, and spinach mixture onto the top of the bread, top with half the pine nuts, and pour over half of the egg mixture, pressing in the bread so it absorbs the liquid.  Top with half of the shredded mozzarella and sliced brie. Repeat with the remaining bread, vegetables, pine nuts, egg mixture, and cheese.

5) Place baking dish on foil lined baking sheet (in case of overflow) and bake for ~60 minutes, or until bubbling and cooked through. Cool slightly before cutting.

restaurant review: The Leopard at Des Artistes

Sometime during the late summer of 2009, Cafe des Artistes, the landmark French restaurant on tree-lined West 67th Street, quietly closed its doors.  At first, the sign on the door announced that the restaurant would be closed for a month-long vacation, but as the weeks went by, facing rising losses and a union lawsuit, the owners of the mural-clad institution decided to permanently shut the place down -- another victim of the global recession.

I had only visited Cafe des Artistes a few times. Once, for a lovely and memorable lunch with my mother and her cousin during summer restaurant week during the late 1990's.  Later, after I moved to the neighborhood, a friend turned me on to the small parlor bar across the lobby from the restaurant, where we spent an evening drinking wine paired with a cheese plate and perfect french fries. And finally, only a few weeks before it closed, I enjoyed a very pleasant restaurant week dinner with my friend, and fellow Upper West Sider, Steph, in the elegant and dimly-lit dining room. Business did seem slow, but summer in New York City usually is.

In early 2011, I was delighted to read that the owners of Il Gattopardo in Midtown had taken over the space and were reopening it as The Leopard at Des Artistes (gattopardo means leopard in Italian). Don't let the name fool you -- the menu is decidedly Italian, Sicilian in fact. And those famous murals, featuring Howard Chandler Christy's "Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties," have been cleaned up and reframed in the sleeker dining room.

I first stopped by in July of 2011 for a fancy drink at their bar with my sister and West 67th Street native, Catherine. We were treated to a plate of piping hot aranicini - a rich, greasy, and crispy compliment to a glass of full-bodied wine. I had been meaning to go back for dinner ever since, but the menu looked a hair too pricey for a non-special occasion meal. This spring, I am pleased to report that I had two wonderful special occasion meals at The Leopard: our third wedding anniversary and Easter with my family, and I am officially smitten with this new kitten on the block.

On our wedding anniversary, Judd and I shared a special pasta appetizer as our first course. The noodle was similar to a rigatoni, and the spicy tomato-based sauce included large chunks of lobster meat and fresh fava beans. It was really delicious. For my entree, I selected meatloaf, which Sam Sifton had described as "phenomenal" in his August 2011 NY Times review.  I happen to love meatloaf, and I was excited to try the Leopard's version with veal, beef, prosciutto, pine nuts, and peas. It was served smothered in a tomato sauce with a pile of spicy broccoli rabe and pureed potatoes and, true to Mr. Sifton's praise, it was outstanding. Judd ordered veal medallions braised in their own juice, dusted with fennel pollen. Also very tasty. We finished our celebratory dinner with a pleasing mascarpone panna cotta.

We returned for Easter with my mother and sister, (so did Howard Stern and his wife -- they were a few tables away), and had another fantastic dinner. We each enjoyed specials from the holiday menu to begin, including a spring vegetable soup and a room temperature pie made with seasonal greens. I had another order of the decidedly phenomenal meatloaf; Judd had homemade pappardelle with rabbit ragu and mushrooms; and my mother and sister both ordered the lightly breaded swordfish, simply dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and parsley.  Everyone was very happy with their selection.

We finished our meal with the panna cotta and zabaglione with fresh berries. The zabaglione, made table side (which I always hate) by our slightly awkward waiter, was the only low note in our otherwise lovely dinner. Too warm, too soupy, and too boozy. And too expensive at $16.

And speaking of expensive, while most of the entrees are priced well into the $30+ range, the pastas, which could certainly be eaten as main courses, remain affordable. Also, the noteworthy meatloaf seems like a bargain at only $26, so you can dine at the Leopard without going too far over the top. And I recommend that you do, because the Leopard is an elegant and delicious addition to the Upper West Side.

***

Details:

The Leopard at Des Artistes
1 West 67th Street
New York City
(212) 787-8767

Special occasion Sicilian dinner for two: ~$200 (but we sort of saved money because we could walk home!)

fun with fondue

A recent e-mail from Tasting Table turned me on to the fondue and raclette room at Cafe Select in SoHo. While it's been a fairly mild winter here in NYC, I still got excited about an evening of Alpine cheesy deliciousness. So I enlisted my fondue-loving friend Kate and made us a reservation in their "once secret back room." (FYI - they very annoyingly require a credit card number to reserve table for two and threaten to charge a $20 fee if you don't show.)

To find your way to the fondue and raclette room at Cafe Select, head straight to the back of the main dining room, proceed through the tidy looking kitchen, then walk down a few steps, and you'll finally end up in the dimly-lit, windowless room with only 12 seats, a disco ball, and lots of christmas lights. I am not sure I would described this is this as traditional Swiss decor, but it did make the room feel cozy, in a strange way.

All of Cafe Select's fondues are made with their "special" (and undisclosed) mixture of cheeses, white wine, and kirsch (a fruit brandy, traditionally made from cherries), and served with cubed bread, raw vegetables, cornichons, and pickled onions. While the back room menu offers a variety of cheese fondues, including white truffle oil, "south of the alps" (fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and olives), and fresh herb (a special available when we were there, at least), we opted for the traditional "select house" fondue for two ($40), two fairly lackluster salads (field greens for me, arugula and shaved fennel for Kate), and some heavy red wine.

Despite the spotty service, quirky surroundings and EXTREMELY skimpy glasses of wine, I really enjoyed my cheese-based dinner at Cafe Select. The cheese mixture itself was really rich and tasty and it is a lot of fun to dip little pieces of country bread and tangy pickles into a vat of bubbling cheese with a long thin fork! Our waitress was happy to bring us more bread and pickles when we ran out, but I didn't have the nerve to ask for more boiling cheese, even though je l'aurais beaucoup aimé. If you find yourself hankering for cheese fondue, I highly recommend you check out Cafe Select yourself.

chimichurri

My photographer friend, Kathi Littwin, recommended a cookbook after she and her husband, Gil, got back from their honeymoon in Argentina: Seven Fires, Grilling the Argentine Way. Kathi posted gorgeous photos from their trip on her blog, and the food looked so amazing that I had to buy the book and try out some recipes myself.

This weekend, while I threw some hanger steaks on a hot grill pan, Judd took a stab at the book's recipe for chimichurri and it was amazing! Bright, spicy, and salty -- a perfect accompaniment to grilled meat. And it's so light! I was imagining an oily sauce akin to a traditional Italian pesto, but the end result was like a thin green salsa, which led me to use it less judiciously than I had planned. I highly recommend you give chimichurri a try.

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled

1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

1 cup fresh oregano leaves

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the salt and stir until it dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2. Chop the garlic, parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes in the bowl of a large food processor. When the herbs and garlic are chopped, leave the food processor on and add the vinegar, olive oil, and cooled salt water through the feed tube until all ingredients are well blended. Remove the lid and mix in some freshly ground black pepper to taste.

To go with the steaks, I made some oven-roasted asparagus with lime juice and baked sweet potatoes. The whole dinner took less than an hour, and I have lots of delicious chimichurri leftover, which will keep in an air-tight container for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

baked fontina

I made the most delicious and decadent pre-dinner snack on New Year's Eve this year with our friends Catherine and Peter: baked fontina. And it was so simple! You just need a healthy amount of Italian fontina cheese, olive oil, fresh herbs, and garlic. Everything goes into a cast iron skillet, and after a few minutes under the broiler, you end up with a pan full of very flavorful melted cheese to spread on crusty bread. Add a glass or two of wine, and you'll be on your way to preprandial bliss!

The recipe, which originally comes from The Red Cat in Chelsea (one of my very favorite places), is featured in the lunch chapter of Ina Garten's book, The Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?. I myself would find it very hard to have a productive afternoon if I ate this much melted cheese in the middle of the day, so I recommend serving it as a first course.

Here's what you need:

1.5 lbs Italian Fontina Val D'Aosta cheese, rind removed and diced into 1-inch pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 crusty french baguette

1. Preheat the broiler and position the oven rack 5 inches from the heat.

2. Spread the cubes of fontina evenly around a 12-inch cast iron pan. Drizzle olive oil. Combine the garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sprinkle it over the cheese and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place the pan under the broiler for 6 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling and starts to brown.

3. Serve the baked fontina right out of the oven in the cast-iron pan, with crusty chunks of bread for dipping.

best and worst from 2011

Readers - the last quarter of 2011 was action-packed, and I apologize for the resulting shortage of new content on "She's Still Hungry." In the last week of September, we bought a country house in Dutchess County, where I have been almost every subsequent weekend. Then my previously very healthy mother-in-law had emergency open heart surgery in November, and we spent a very tense Thanksgiving with her in an ICU in Colorado Springs. Finally, in the end of December, I left my job of nearly four years as a state charities' regulator to join the legal department of a New York not-for-profit corporation. In any event, it seems as though the dust is finally starting to settle, and I am have some time to belatedly tell you about my favorite and least favorite places from 2011.

Places I recommend you try in 2012:

Spiga (200 West 84th Street): a cozy dining room overlooking a sleepy side Upper West Side street, with exposed brick and wooden beams -- the perfect setting for a rustic and reasonably-priced Italian meal. I particularly enjoyed the large selection of homemade pastas.

Madangsui (35 West 35th Street): my first foray into Korean barbeque and the bar was set high. Everything we had, from kimchi pancakes to marinated ribeye and short ribs, perfectly balanced grease and flavor. And they take reservations!

Peasant (194 Elizabeth Street): a satisfying Italian gem in NoLiTa that I finally tried for the first time last year (I think it opened in 2000). Only delicious things came out of their big open kitchen with its wood-burning brick oven and large rotisserie, including an enormous roasted leg of lamb, which could hardly be described as peasant fare.

Prime Meats (465 Court Street, Brooklyn): Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo, of the eponymous Frankie's Spuntino chain, teamed up again for this Carroll Gardens new American tavern with a farm-to-table menu influenced by "Germanic alpine cuisine." I loved every decadent thing we ordered, including the pork schnitzel, herb and gruyere cheese spatzle, and house-made pretzels. But I could have passed on the hipster waiters in vests and suspenders.

Sad news: BLT Market (1430 Sixth Avenue in the Ritz Carlton), Laurent Tourondel's fancy country cookery which I planned to include on this list, has CLOSED as of January 1st!? Not a huge surprise since ownership of the entire BLT group has been the subject of dispute since Chef Tourdondel (the "LT" in the "BLT" brand) split from his business partner two years ago.

And places I suggest you skip in 2012 and beyond:

Paptzul (55 Grand Street) - displeasingly greasy and uninspired Mexican food in SoHo, in a dining room so loud I could barely think straight. No es bueno.

Thalassa (179 Franklin Street) - underwhelming and very pricey Greek food in TriBeCa. I really wanted to like this place, but it hurt to pay close to $20 for a greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, feta), and more than $30 for "Seafood Thalassina" - diver scallops, gulf shrimp, and PEI mussels steamed in white wine over orzo - all of which was flavorless and overcooked.

Frankie's Spuntino (17 Clinton Street on the Lower East Side and 570 Hudson Street in the West Village) - I realize this is a controversial addition to a list of stinker restaurants since everyone and their mother seems to be fawning over "the Franks" behind this chain of causual Italian eateries (and Prime Meats, see above). But I thought both Frankie's 17 and 570 were overpriced ($4 for one little crositini?), not very tasty, and, in the case of the LES outpost, uncomfortable - the tables are WAY too close together! I may or may not try the original Frankie's Sputino in Carroll Gardens, which I've heard is the best of the bunch, but the two Manhattan locations have done nothing to inspire me to spend 45 minutes on the subway.

Blue Ribbon Sushi (308 West 58th Street) - I was thrilled when I figured out there was a Blue Ribbon Sushi within walking distance of my house, in the little-known Columbus Hotel. However, my delight quickly turned to disappointment during an unnecessarily long (terrible service) and expensive ($6.50 for a cucumber roll!? is that a joke? do you know how many cucumbers you can buy for $6.50?) dinner.