Restaurant review: Barbuto

One of the few pleasures of spending hot, humid summer weekends here in New York City is the ability to eat at popular restaurants that have an annoying no-reservations policy stress free. That's because most city dwellers pack up and head out of town each Friday afternoon, leaving the rest of us to enjoy those places hassle free all weekend long. Holiday weekends are even better. For example, Kristy and I had a wonderful and wait-free dinner for two at Blue Ribbon, followed by an even better wait-free dessert at Blue Ribbon Bakery, over July 4th weekend earlier this summer. If you've ever tried eating at either place on any non-summer weekend night, you'll understand what a small miracle that was. Last weekend, while Judd took some well-deserved time off and headed out west to visit his family, my sister and I checked out Barbuto, Jonathan Waxman's rustic Italian hot spot in the West Village.

I had never heard of Jonathan Waxman before he joined the cast of Top Chef Masters. But he made it pretty far in Season Two and the other well-known cheftestants often seemed in awe of his talent, which was good enough for me to add Barbuto to my list of places to try. However, the no-reservation-for-small-parties policy was a big turn off. Who wants to eat at 6:00pm? Not me, but I also don't want to stand at a crowded bar for 90 minutes until a table is available. Which meant I wouldn't be trying Barbuto until the summer.

Barbuto occupies a former Rolls-Royce garage on the corner of Washington and West 12th Streets. The restaurant still has enormous garage doors that completely open the dining room up to the street when the weather is warm. And since it was close to 90 degrees last Saturday night, all of the garage doors were WIDE open.

We were bold and arrived at Barbuto around 7:30pm, (I had hoped to get there earlier, but my sister is slow!), where were promptly told we would have to wait a little while for a table. No big deal - - there happened to be two empty seats available at the bar, where we able to order some snacks: an arugula salad with grilled peaches, buffalo mozzarella, and aged balsamic vinegar for Kristy and bruschetta with caponata and grated ricotta salata for me. And guess who was lingering around the bar while we enjoyed our wine and snacks? Jonathan Waxman himself! Quietly observing the room, sipping a cocktail, and all decked out in a hot pink polo shirt and khakis. Twenty minutes later, the hostess escorted us to a prime outdoor table for two -- right on the corner -- another stroke of luck!

Barbuto's menu, while seasonally-inspired and changing daily, is still a traditional Italian menu: antipasti, primi (pastas), secondi (proteins/main courses) and contorni (vegetables/sides). Even though we'd already shared some appetizers at the bar, we decided to split a pasta before each ordering our own main course. Actually, it was gnocchi, slightly crispy from having been sauteed, and served with with fresh corn, cherry tomatoes and snipped chives. The individual little gnocchis were less crispy and more mushy than I would have liked, but you still can't go wrong with potato dumplings and corn. I'd order it again. For my entree, I had a grilled hanger steak with roasted whole shallots. It was excellent. They must have a super-hot grill in the kitchen, because my steak was perfectly charred on the outside and still pink inside. The serving was so big that I ended up taking half of it home. Kristy ordered roasted chicken with a fresh herb salsa verde. I don't get too excited about chicken, but it was quite tender. We also shared some kind of forgettable tomatoey-string bean casserole topped with breadcrumbs. That's all I can remember about it.

We were too stuffed to order any dessert and the large and loud crowd of drunk bachelorette party goers across the street at Tortilla Flats was getting annoying. So we called it a night and headed uptown with our doggy bags.

The verdict: very cool setting and ambiance on a perfect West Village corner location, but the food was just mostly great, not outstanding. Perhaps if Mr. Waxman had put down the drink, put on an apron, and headed into the kitchen, it could have been a home run.

**

Details:

775 Washington Street (between Jane and West 12th Streets)

New York, New York

(212) 924-9700 - don't bother calling if you're only going with one other person - they don't take reservations for parties of two

Dinner for two (with very little wine - I was still recovering from a margarita-filled birthday dinner the night before): $140

A rare treat

While up in Boston last weekend, I was lucky enough to stop for lunch at one of my favorite places from my college days: Mr. Crêpe in Davis Square.

I first discovered Mr. Crêpe during my senior year at Tufts. It was a tiny little sliver of a restaurant on Holland Street (near Black and Blues Boutique - which is still there) with not nearly enough tables for the many eager crepe eaters. Sometime after I graduated, Mr. Crêpe wisely moved into a much larger space right in the heart of Davis Square (it's near the Somerville Theater now). And nearly 10 years later, it's still going strong, with almost the exact same selection of delicious sweet and savory crêpes.

Last Saturday, I ordered my very favorite crêpe from their list of vegetarian "supercrêpes," the super avocado: an enormous crêpe filled with baby arugula, tomato, monterey jack cheese, and sliced avocado. I added corn relish, too. Not only was it fantastically delicious, but also a gastronomic time machine, bringing me right back to the 2000 - 2001 academic year. I was smiling all afternoon.

The next time you are in Somerville, Massachusetts, I strongly encourage you to stop by Mr. Crêpe at 51 Davis Square.

Tres leches cake

On Friday, July 23rd, Judd got the news that I'd been waiting MONTHS to hear - the case he'd been working on since last November, the case that was scheduled to go to trial in federal court on Monday, July 26th, had settled. Now if that isn't a reason to bake a cake, I don't know what is.

We'd gone out to a celebratory dinner on Friday night (or as celebratory as a man who's been working 80+ hours a week for who-can-even-remember-how-many-weeks on end can get) at Havana Alma de Cuba and enjoyed a delicious tres leches cake for dessert. When I mentioned to Judd that I'd make such a cake before and that it was very easy, he decided to give it a try for our Sunday night dinner with my mom and sister. He did an excellent job. And he didn't have to think about loan syndication once.

I can only say a handful of things in Spanish besides "mas sangria, por favor," but even I know that tres leches means three milks. Tres leches cake is made by baking a rich eggy and buttery sponge cake and then pouring a mixture of three milks (evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and regular old whole milk) over it when it comes out of the oven. As the cake cools, it soaks up the milk mixture and the result is a delicious cake-pudding hybrid.

The following is based on a recipe I saved from a 2001 issue of Martha Stewart Living:

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons) melted and cooled slightly

6 large eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups whole milk

1 12-oz can evaporated milk

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 9-by-13 inch glass baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, combine egg whites, baking soda, and salt and whip until soft peaks form.* Add the egg yolks to the stiff egg whites until completely combined. Whisk in sugar until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in melted butter. Fold in flour, 1/4 cup at a time.

3. Pour batter into the baking dish and bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean - 2o to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the three milks. Pour the entire milk mixture over the cake while it is still piping hot. The cake should absorb most of the mixture within 5-7 minutes. Let it stand until cool.

5. When cake has cooled to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill at least five hours or overnight.

6. When ready to serve, top with fresh whipped cream (heavy cream + vanilla extract + a little sugar, whipped until stiff) and fresh berries.

*If you have a hand mixer, get it out. Judd used our powerful new 9-speed Cuisinart hand mixer that we got as a wedding present (thanks, Lara and David!). I have whipped egg whites and whipped cream by hand before and it was terrible. Our new mixer made that otherwise tedious task a joy.

Three reasons to celebrate

It's been an exciting few weeks for this blogger. First, my sister moved home from London after two years and two months of living five time zones and a seven hour airplane ride away. In fact, I can't believe I didn't mention that sooner! (Apparently, she was all ready to read a whole blog entry about her return to town after reading the title of last week's post, but instead found herself reading about my recent joyful reunion with my favorite bartender and wine bar chef.) Second, "She's Still Hungry" turned one last Thursday! Can you believe that it's been a full year and 73 posts since I decided to electronically share my love of cooking and eating with the world - okay, that's probably a stretch - with my family and friends who already hear all about my love of cooking and eating? No one from Food & Wine or the Dining & Wine section of the New York Times has called yet, but I'm not giving up hope. And finally, New York City's annual Summer Restaurant Week started on July 12th - one of my favorite times of year to eat out.

What better way to celebrate these three happy occasions than a special restaurant week lunch with my repatriated sister at the very elegant River Café in Brooklyn Heights last Friday.

The River Café is definitely a special occasion kind of place. The west-facing wall of the main dining room is lined with enormous windows showing off the restaurant's absolutely incredible view of the Brooklyn Bridge, lower Manhattan, and New York harbor. (I found that photo online -- the view is also very pretty at lunch time.) Actually, the dining room, filled with stunning floral arrangements, sits on top of a floating barge right in the East River. Be warned: if you are at all prone to seasickness, (and I am), the sensation of eating on a gently moving barge is not entirely pleasant, even a pretty gently moving barge that otherwise doesn't look like a barge. So restaurant week was an excellent time to stop by for a visit since $24.07 would not even cover the cost of most entrées on the non-restaurant week lunch menu, and their three-course fixed price dinner goes for a hefty $98.

To start, I had a pretty standard baby green salad with sliced cantaloupe, a goat cheese crouton, and white balsamic vinegar. A little prosciutto wouldn't have hurt. Kristy started with three tender lamb meatballs au poivre with a cognac and green peppercorn sauce nestled in super smooth and buttery whipped potatoes. They were really delicious. For my main course, I selected a delightfully summery whole wheat spaghetti with asparagus, grape tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, wilted spinach, toasted garlic, and olive oil. All of the vegetables tasted fresh and bright and delicious. My sister chose grilled swordfish paillard with a lemon vinaigrette. I don't love swordfish and had never previously heard of a fish fillet paillard, but it was actually pretty good. I am not sure how they managed to grill such a thin and delicate piece of fish without having it all break apart, but it seemed like a real feat.

Besides the view and the flowers, dessert was the real highlight of our special lunch: a red, white and blue tasting trio featuring a classic vanilla bean crême brulée, a tiny warm blueberry and almond tart, and a perfect scoop strawberry ice cream from the neighboring Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Three reasons to celebrate indeed.

Reunited and it feels so good

Before Judd and I moved to the Upper West Side in 2008, we lived on East 81st Street between Second and Third Avenues. Which meant we were a mere 1/2 a block west of my favorite wine bar of all time: Etats-Unis, formerly located on the north side of 81st Street between Second and Third Avenues.

I cannot even begin to count the number of times I went to Etats-Unis between 2002 and 2009, and the frequency of my visits only increased when Judd moved to 81st Street and later when I moved in with him. If you ever stopped by the wine bar half of Etats-Unis (the restaurant half was right across the street on the south side of 81st Street) on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night during those years, there's a fairly good chance I was there, too. My friend from college, Geoff, was often working behind their long bar and making excellent dark and stormies (with fresh ginger juice!) along side Cipi, the very soft spoken but talented chef who prepared the best guacamole, cuban sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, crab dip, fondue, and date pudding I've ever had. And with such a small workspace! Freddie and Louis, my two favorite waiters, always found a way to move me to the top of the wait list when it was crowded -- and it usually was. And to top it all off, I always ran into friends and fellow Etats-Unis regulars there. It really was my own Upper East Side version of Cheers.

So I was completely shocked when I heard that they were closing last November. In fact, my sister's friend, Sarah (another regular) had gotten a text message from Freddie and sent around an e-mail titled "UES culinary news flash" with the bad news. I still have a sinking feeling that my move to the west side was probably not good for their business.

Then I heard through the grapevine that Cipi and Freddie had reunited at Rendez-Vous, another wine bar one block south of the old Etats-Unis on 80th Street between Second and First Avenues. I had to check it out.

And there they were -- just as if no time had passed! (That's Freddie on the left, and Cipi on the right.) Last Saturday, my sister, Kate, and I returned, for the second time in two weeks, for a joyful reunion full of excellent wine and tasty Etats-Unis favorites (guacamole with homemade chips, macaroni and cheese, tuna tartare, and warm crab dip with triscuits) at Rendez-Vous. Cause sometimes you really do wanna go where everybody knows your name.

But this date pudding is why you should go to Rendez-Vous. It is one of my favorite desserts of all time: a hot eggy date cake with whipped cream and caramel sauce - reminiscent of the best french toast with maple syrup you'll ever taste.

Zipadee doo dah!

I am the proud owner of a brand new corn zipper. I've been wanting one of these little gadgets since they first hit the market a few years ago and found one at TJ Maxx for about $10. I just tried it out last night - genius! The corn zipper has sharp little teeth that cuts corn kernels right off the cob. You just hold the corn cob in one hand and zip the kernels right into a bowl.

I felt much less likely to sever a finger using the corn zipper than I do when I am awkwardly balancing a corn cob on its end and trying to slice its kernels off with a sharp knife. And I got far fewer corn kernels on the counter and floor.

Last night, in the thick of a stifling heat wave here in NYC -- it was 98 degrees yesterday and got up to 103 today -- I decided to make a mostly cold dinner. On the menu: grilled flank steak (grilled in a grill pan, though finished in the oven) and a trio of refreshing sides (corn salad, greek salad, and tzatziki).

Summery corn salad

6 servings

5 ears corn, shucked

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1 small red onion, chopped finely

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

about 20 leaves of basil, shredded*

salt and pepper to taste

*a few tablespoons of chopped cilantro would also be good

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in corn cobs. Cook for 3 minutes.

2. Remove corn cobs from boiling water and immerse in ice cold water. When corn is cool enough to touch, remove kernels (with a corn zipper, if you've got one!).

3. In a large bowl, mix corn kernels, tomatoes, red onion, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

* * *

And for good measure, here's my favorite summery corn recipe of all time:

Summer corn and orzo salad with cucumber-feta dressing

8 servings

1 3/4 cups crumbled feta cheese* (about 8 ounces)

3 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon water

1 1-lb box of orzo

corn kernels from 4 ears of corn

1/3 cup chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

*I like French feta, if you can find it.

1. Place 1 cup of crumbled feta, half of the diced cucumbers, olive oil and water into a food processor. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

2. In the meantime, cook orzo in a large pot of salted boiling water, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 8 minutes. Add corn kernels and cook until orzo is just tender but still firm to bite, about 2 minutes longer.

3. Drain orzo and corn and transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining feta, remaining cucumber, chives, cucumber-feta dressing from step 1, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Can be served room temperature or cold.

faux fried rice

I usually don't get home from work until around 7, and that's too late for me to make myself anything too complicated for dinner. (Don't worry about Judd, on weeknights, seamless web makes him dinner.) Which is how I devised faux fried rice. The main ingredient is a carton full of brown rice (or white rice, but brown rice is so good for you!) from a nearby Chinese restaurant. For $2.50, it's worth letting someone else cook the rice.

Last night's version of my faux fried rice was full of green vegetables - a large bunch of asparagus, about 1/2 lb of string beans (they had a lot of them at the farmer's market this weekend), a cup of frozen edamame, and a bunch of scallions. But use whatever you have. I also really like sugar snap peas and snow peas.

Step 1: dice asparagus and string beans (just chop off each end and cut in half), and place in a large pot. Add frozen edamame, 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Cover and cook over high heat for 4-6 minutes until vegetables are cooked through.

Step 2: in the meantime, scramble and cook three eggs with sliced scallions. Set aside.

Step 3: add large carton of brown rice to cooked vegetables. Stir to combine. Add more seasonings to your liking (I added a tablespoon of plum sauce, a tablespoon of sriracha, a tablespoon of sesame oil, and a packet of spicy chinese mustard).

Step 4: add scrambled egg and scallions to rice mixture and serve.