Brooklyn Food Tour

Recently we were inspired by a food guide to Brooklyn's South Slope written by Gothamist.  See
http://gothamist.com/2012/01/31/a_food_wine_tour_of_south_park_slop.php#photo-1

We (Chris, myself, my sister Tami, and our good friend Craig) decided to take the tour and add a couple of other spots.  The mission was simple, how many wonderful treats can be eaten in one day in the amazing food borough of Brooklyn. The result was a gut busting day of delicious eats.

We started the day off at Miles End, well known for their smoked meats, but more importantly, their poutine. The purists in all of us said we had to order a smoked meat sandwich on Rye bread as well; so we went with the Pastrami with extra mustard. The meat was spectacularly tender, flavorful, and overly salted, in a good way. To accompany our appetizer, we ordered the poutine with smoked meat. For those of you who have not had this delicious, greasy, and purely glutenous treat, it's a kaleidoscope of flavors in your mouth. It consists of salted double fried french fries, topped with homemade gravy, melted cheese curds, and the same delicious pastrami I mentioned earlier. THANKFULLY, there were four of us, because, three or four bites in, I had to stop, knowing, we had a number of other places to explore. A tip for those that want to eat at this extremely popular destination, the wait to eat in at Miles End can be long, however, if you order take out from the window out front, you will only wait 10-15 minutes and there are plenty of spots in the neighborhood to enjoy your meal outdoors.

                                       

Miles End Restaurant

       
Pastrami Sandwich

Poutine with smoked meats

Our next stop was Luigi's Pizza.  At this point, I must admit,  I am always surprised when we find new pizza spots that have legendary followings.  Having lived in NYC for almost a decade and researching pizza spots more than any other kind of food, it's always such a special treat to find a hidden gem. 

When we drove up to this pizza shop, it has a very old school facade. Faded sign, doors and windows wide open, the inside showing years of ware and tear, locals filling the teeny tiny inside, and the two pizza makers working in perfect sync with one another behind their small counter.  Fun fact, this pizza place was featured in the movie Big Daddy - a tiny amount of memorabilia on the wall pays tribute to this. 

On to the important information...we tried the grandma pie and the margarita. I will give props to the second runner up, the margarita for their amazing fresh mozzarella and the drizzled pesto garlic olive oil. There is nothing I hate more than a fresh made pie, with fresh made mozzarella that hasn't been dried out properly. It ruins the pie because the water from the cheese dilutes the sauce and makes the crust soppy. They definitely know what they are doing when it comes to their thin crust regular pie. However, the winner at Luigi's is their grandma pie. The crust is perfectly salted, crispy, buttery, and thin. The garlic, pesto, basil, and fresh olive oil resonates with each bite you take, but most, most, importantly, the mozzarella tastes so fresh, is salted and seasoned just right. 

This is definitely a spot worth putting on your must have pizza list. Sadly no booze, but they have a  fountain soda machine with all the classics.

                                                                  

Grandma Pie

Der Kommissar was an unexpected favorite of mine. I have not eaten at many Austrian places. However, the minute you walk into Der Kommissar you are greeted by a warm ambiance and incredibly delicious smell. The restaurant probably seats less than 30 people in a narrow hallway like bar.   The open grill greets you when you first walk. This small flattop is where all the magic happens. 

We ordered a sampler platter variety of sausages and sides. This consisted of frankfurters, bratwurst, andouille, with sides of sauerkraut, pickles/peppers, cucumber salad, and pretzels. Our favorites across the board were the frankfurters and the andouille. They both tasted exactly how you wish each and every hot dog/sausage you order tastes; fresh, crunchy skin, no chemical flavoring. And the andouille had some really nice heat that worked well with the spicy mustard. The sauerkraut was fresh and a perfect accoutrement, and their homemade pretzel bread were the best I have ever tasted. They didn't have that overly doughy and dense flavor most pretzels have.  One neat menu option is the family style meal which consists of one of everything on the menu.  Although this option was tempting, this wasn't the right day for it. 

They also have a great beer selection and an awesome bartender who in addition, played host and chef. I had a couple fantastic bio-dynamic Edelweiss from Georg Schneider (highly recommend checking out if you like wheat beers) followed by a group shot of Jameson. 

  

         


The Commodore was our last and final savory stop. As you enter this restaurant you feel as if you are stepping back in time, sort of. It's a diner, meets a pub, meets an underground dinner club. I know that's probably confusing, well that's exactly how I felt about this location. You can play 1980's arcade games for free, while at the same time feeling like you are sitting in McSorley's having a beer.

We ordered a few Six Point beers and the fried chicken platter. This is the second time I have had an all dark meat platter, which, I am not totally sure how I feel about. There is something very satisfying about biting into a fried chicken breast, the solid consistency and heartiness, that I don't necessarily get from eating dark meat. However, I will say, the batter on this meat was delicious. It was crispy, light, not overly greasy, and stayed on the meat even while cutting through the pieces. Also, I really enjoyed how they seasoned the meat before putting the batter on. All in all, one of the better fried chicken dishes I have had. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, it comes with the most amazingly, buttery, soft, crumbly, biscuit. I could have eaten ten of these on their own!

Our final stop was to cure our sweet craving. Sadly, this part did not even make it long enough to photograph. So this is more of a shout out to Momofuko Milkbar in Brooklyn. We ordered the compost cookie and the b'day cake truffles. All I can really say about this place, besides how much I love it, is that if you love desserts, this place will satisfy almost any cravings you have. Their tiny cult-favorite desserts pack a big punch.

Definitely a caloric filled day, but a success nonetheless.




Mile End
mileendbrooklyn.com
718-852-7510

Location:
97a Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY

Hours:
Breakfast: Mon - Fri: 8 am - noon
Lunch: Mon - Fri: noon - 4:00 pm
Dinner: Mon - Thu, Sun: 5:30 pm - 10 pm; Fri, Sat: 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Brunch: Sat - Sun: 10 am - 4 pm


Luigi's Pizza
718-499-3857

Location:
686 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215


Der Kommissar
derkommissar.net
718-788-0789

Location:
559 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Hours:
Daily Noon to Late


The Commodore
718-218-7632

Location:
366 Metropolitain Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Hours:
Daily 4:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.


Milk Bar Brooklyn (not pictured)
www.milkbarbrooklyn.com
718-230-0844

Location:
620 Vanderbilt Ave.

Brooklyn, New York 11238

Hours:
Monday to Friday 7:30am - 6pm
Saturday Sunday 9am - 6pm

Tra Vigne

My final California culinary adventure from our recent trip that I will be writing about is Tra Vigne. After doing a lot of research, I got a recommendation to check out http://www.napaman.com/. His write-up of Tra Vigne instantly made me want to experience it. He wrote about two of my favorite Italian dishes, fresh mozzarella, and Steak Florentine.

Upon entering the restaurant, I was not sure what to make of the décor. Tra Vigne seemed incredibly large in comparison to the other restaurants we had visited in Napa and I had a moment of concern that we had walked into an “Italian tourist trap”. We were seated quickly and our waiter came over and began to discuss the menu. From that point on, I knew we were in good hands.

Freshly pulled mozzarella

The go-to appetizer is their freshly pulled mozzarella, made to order. Now, I can’t even begin to tell you how many places I have eaten fresh mozzarella, including Italy, and I have never had it served this way. It took me a few bites to get adjusted to the warmth and texture, but once I got over my pretenses, I found this dish to be pretty tasty. The olive oil garlic rubbed crostini were the perfect partner for this warm and gooey must-try starter.

Pumpkin ravioli with butter sage sauce.

The next dish we ordered was the pumpkin ravioli with butter-sage sauce (one of my all time favorite pasta dishes). The homemade pasta was cooked al dente and the creamy, buttery, but not overly rich, filling was a perfect combination of savory and sweet. Of course, it is hard to go wrong with a browned butter-sage sauce. I will say the chef did a fantastic job of infusing the sage into the sauce. While it was a heavy dish, it wasn’t overwhelming.

Finally, the piece de resistance. Steak Florentine.

Now onto the main course….When the steak Florentine first came out, Chris and I both looked at one another and said “wow”! It is a porterhouse steak and the dish is overwhelming in size, particularly for two people (you could easily split this dish between four people). After multiple appetizers and some bread, we felt a little defeated when the waiter served us this enormous steak, along with spinach and potato sides. However, we pushed through, and after the first bite we grinned and went in for more. The presentation of the dish was spectacular - simple and rustic but still well organized and clean. We ordered the meat medium rare and the temperature was spot on. The meat was rested properly so that there was no blood dripping on the platter. Most importantly, the quality of this local meat was top notch. Crusted with sea salt, garlic, and rubbed with rosemary and olive oil, this was a true steak lover’s dream. While the sides were good, the steak was hands down the winner of our meal.

On a side note, they have a great wine list and decent beer selection. After a long day of wineries and a belly full of steak, unfortunately there wasn't another inch of space for dessert.

Thank you Napa Man for the recommendation! A few tips, the steak Florentine is not on the menu and while it’s a house specialty, they only have a limited number of steaks each night. So, if you want to sample this delightful dish, I would recommend going on the earlier side. Additionally, if you go with just one other person, you would be best to order one appetizer to share and the steak will be plenty to fill your belly!

Tra Vigne

Travignerestaurant.com

(707) 963-4444

Address:

1050 Charter Oak Avenue

St. Helena, CA 94574

Hours:

Monday – Saturday: 11:30 – 9:00

Sunday: Brunch 11:00 – 3:00 / Dinner 3:00 – 9:00

Napa Wine Trail

I have always wanted to visit Napa, even though I consider myself more of an old world wine lover. After our San Francisco trip we spent three full days in Napa. We stayed in St. Helena at the Wine Country Inn, which was a lovely family owned B&B. Each day we began our wine tours at 10am and wrapped up around 4pm. It was quite the adventure. Below are some of the highlights from our tastings and tours although the entire trip was memorable.

This is tasting room #5 located at Beringer. This beautiful dark wooden mansion was once the home of the Beringer family. We didn't have an appointment here but stopped for two reasons, the tasting room looked beautiful and my mom LOVES Beringer. We sampled their library wines and their tasting room was certainly one of the most beautiful ones we visited.

Schramsberg was hands down my favorite winery. Specializing in sparkling wine, this winery gained notoriety in 1972 when their 1969 Blanc de Blanc was served at the "Toast to Peace" in Beijing between President Nixon and Premier Chou En-lai. Schamsberg wines have been served by every subsequent presidental administration.

We were also fortunate enough to see Ramon Viera at work. Ramon is Schramsber's riddler and is responsible for turning thousands of bottles daily in order to help filter out the sediment. It is becoming more uncommon for riddlers to turn bottles as machines have largely replaced their job. Ramon is known as one of the best riddlers in the world.

Sipping wine at the top of Rubbisow's vineyard

I discovered Rubissow randomly from a Google article about unique boutique wines in Napa. It was nearly impossible to find any additional information, as they are not even on the Napa wine map. Luckily, I stumbled upon their phone number and was able to schedule us a tour. Rubissow is a small production, high quality, family-run winery. They sell to some of the top chefs and restaurants throughout the US. They are a favorite of President Bill Clinton and you can even find one of their Cabernets by the glass at Per Se.

During our visit, we were fortunate enough to meet one of the owners, Peter Rubissow, who was a wonderful host. He allowed us to taste some of their sold out library wines, and among my favorite was their 2004 Merlot. This was the most personalized wine tour we had, and the views of their grape vines were breathtaking.

Opus One was the most austere winery we visited. The exterior and interior of the winery is very modern. Opus only produces one vintage per year. You have the option of tasting one library wine and their current vintage. We tried both and the library wine won out. It was the smoothest initial sip of any Cabernet I had tried in Napa. The age allowed the wine to develop more complex flavors that helped to balance out the high alcohol content. A good tip at Opus, they sell a non-vintage wine, called Overture, that is about 1/3 less than the vintage, which is almost as good, but not good for aging.

The original Stags' Leap wine production building.

This is the original Stags' Leap Winery (not to be confused with Stag's Leap Wine Cellars). One of California's earliest wine estates. The stunning buildings and property set off of the Silverado Trail, had the most historical wine tour we experienced. The estate is filled with history, from California's first in-ground pool to its infamous dispute with their neighbors down the street that have a similar name. This winery had the only Chardonnay that I liked. Aged in steel, it did not have any oak characteristics, it had good acid and was very fruit forward.

A view of the Stags' Leap Vineyard

Rubissow's Grapevines

French Laundry

I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Chef Keller two years ago, which happened to be the night before I ate at Per Se. I felt instant admiration for this soft spoken, thoughtful, and down to earth Chef. Up until French Laundry, my dinner at Per Se was the highlight of all of my dining experiences. So you could imagine my excitement when I was able to get a reservation at French Laundry. I was finally going to experience eating at the place where he practiced, honed, and perfected his craft the way that he had always wanted to do it.

From the moment you enter through the infamous blue door, your journey begins. We had a cozy and intimate table on the first floor right next to a fire place. We arrived during the first seating,and although it was initially a tad bit quiet, within 15 or 20 minutes the whole room came to life with conversation. Immediately, you felt the difference between here and Per Se. French Laundry's dining room is warm, cozy, and very intimate, while Per Se's dining room is much more austere and formal.

We had a choice of three different 9 course tasting menus. I chose the Tasting Of Vegetables with a slight modification. I LOVE Chef Keller's lobster dishes and asked our waiter if they could make one for me. Sure enough the kitchen agreed to prepare a sweet butter poached Maine lobster dish. This is something that both Per Se and French Laundry do, and do well - make accommodations for their guests. At both dinners, we found that the kitchens were incredibly flexible with their menus and willing to make substitutions and changes on request.

Chris chose the Chef's Tasting Menu. The third menu was a special Offal Tasting Menu that was being offered for a short period of time.

In addition to the dishes on the printed menu, there are some special treats in between courses. Some of the dishes were classical, some whimsical, and some just simply astounding. While we took photos of every course, the lighting in the dining room is dim, you are not permitted to use a flash, and we were using an iPhone, therefore, I am only going to include a few of our favorites below. I could go on forever about each course, the freshness of the ingredients, and the smile on my face after I left, however, I think the small sampling below should be enough to convince anyone that this culinary vacation is well worth it.

In addition to the food, the wines we had were spectacular. We started with a 2006 bottle of Viña Sila, Verdejo, "Naiades," Rueda and then moved into a 2001 bottle of La Rioja Alta, "Viña Ardanza," Riserva Especial, which was absolutely remarkable. This vineyard has only produced a vintage three times in its history: 1964, 1973 and 2001. Besides the amazing food, the staff and service is world-class, without being stiff or snooty. I felt as if I was a dinner guest in someone's home. There was nothing sterile or pretentious about the experience.

French Laundry was the highlight of all my food experiences thus far. If you love food, this a place you should try and visit at least once in your lifetime. Also, don't be shy - ask for a kitchen tour after you eat, it is a perfect exclamation point on a remarkable evening.

Keller's classic amuse bouche - Gougeres. These are light and airy with an amazing burst of warm Gruyere when you bite into the center.


Chris had the salmon cone and I had an avocado, lime, and jalapeno cone.


Baked Sierra Beauty apple (Granola, Garden Blossoms and Yogurt Mousse) - this simple, yet incredibly creative dish was the perfect beginning to my meal.


The infamous "Oysters and Pearls" (Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar).


Kurobuta Pork "Jowl" (Vallarta Beans, Cavolo Nero, Jingle Bell Peppers, Garlic Confitand "BBQ Sauce") - Each bite was an explosion of flavor. The crispy garlic on top, the perfectly cooked pork that melted in your mouth, with all the fixings you would crave in a traditional BBQ dish. This unique play on pork and beans was stunning in both flavor and concept.


Snake River Farms "Calotte De Boeuf Grillee" (Sesame Seed "Pain Perdu," SanMarzano Tomato Compote, Petite Onions, Romaine Lettuce and "Ranch Dressing") I have to apologize that the quality of the photo is so poor, however, this was one of our favorite dishes, so I had to throw it on here. Perfectly cooked medium rare beef. A slightly salty and crispy crust encompassed this beautiful cut of meat. It too, melted in your mouth. This was a "fun" dish, as it was Keller's attempt at a play on the "Big Mac", thus the delightfully sweet and savory dressing.


Butter infused roll with butter (on the left) from Napa Valley that was slightly sweet and butter (on the right) from Vermont with delicious little crystals of sea salt mixed in.


Pecan Pie (Verjus - Poached Honey Pears, Maple-Brown Butter "Gastrique" and Grains of Paradise Ice Cream). Every single bite was better than the next, it was definitely my favorite Keller dessert to date.


Sugar Dusted Donuts and Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts - Perfect little bite size donuts, served warm and fresh, and the pudding reminded me of homemade pudding my mother used to make when we were little. The macadamia nuts are dangerous - you could eat the whole bowl without even thinking about it.


Mignardises (Chocolate Truffles with various fillings) - Just when you think you can't possibly eat another bite, these come out and you can't resist. My favorite, peanut butter and jelly truffle!

French Laundry
www.frenchlaundry.com
707-944-2380

Address:
6840 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599

Hours:
Seven days a week
Lunch 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Dinner 5:30 p.m. - 9:15 p.m.

Home Cooked Valentine's Day Meal

I am going to take a brief interruption from our California food adventures to highlight a special meal. Thus far, I have only spoken about our dining out, however, I want to make this something different than a restaurant review site. I hope to have occasional posts about about recipes, wines, and other interesting dining related experiences. So now onto my first home cooked meal post.

Chris and I love to cook, we just don’t do it as often as we should. After being away for over a week (hence all my West Coast postings thus far), we were both dying for a home cooked meal. Valentines Day dinner’s are generally Prix-fix menus and sub par service. So…Chris cooked up a delicious meal. 

We started with a whole wheat personal pizza, with Gorgonzola dolce, fresh mission figs, baby arugula, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar that we picked up in Italy. I thought the dough was crispy and salted well. The figs were so fresh and the balsamic added just the perfect amount of acid and sweetness. The arugula added a subtle peppery flavor that I love. My only complaint, the pizza’s needed more Gorgonzola!

Second course was a whole wheat pasta with cauliflower sauteed in garlic bread crumbs and parmigiana. Pasta was cooked perfectly, and seasoning was spot on. 

Last but not least…he made a vanilla blueberry custard in a whole wheat vanilla tart. If I didn’t eat so many sweets on our California vacation I could have eaten many of these little tarts!

Thanks to my amazing husband for a special home cooked Valentines Day Meal!

In-N-Out Burger

Shake Shack has been my only comparison to this legendary west coast fast food chain. Although I love Danny Meyer and his empire, there is no question that the Shack is the step-child of this phenomenal burger. My biggest criteria for a burger is the flavor of the meat, sans all the fixings. In-N-Out definitely seasons their meat well and I love their always fresh and never frozen motto. When you add their flavorful sauce, fresh buns, lettuce, and pickles to their well seasoned burgers it is heaven in a paper sleeve.

Little did I know, however, that In-N-Out has a “secret menu”  (yes I now know the secret is not so secret). My husband (hereinafter Chris or Desi) ordered the double double, animal style….which is mustard seasoned beef patties, extra pickles, cheese, special sauce, and grilled diced onions.  I must admit, I didn’t try Chris’s burger…it looked too overwhelming, but he swears by it. This coming from someone who doesn’t eat fast food (unless you count pizza as fast food) is a major compliment. 

So onto the fries - somehow their fries cut from fresh potatoes are starchy and flavorless. They taste like salty styrofoam.  

So the moral of the story is - order a burger, even two, but take a pass on the fries. You will have a great meal for about $5, but, unfortunately they don’t have any booze. FYI - They actually have an app to help you find the closest location, which is pretty cool.

In-N-Out Burger- http://www.in-n-out.com (Multiple Locations)

Double Double Animal Style Up Close

Pizzeria Delfina

Coming from NYC, eating pizza in other cities is always an interesting adventure. Hearing many great things about this wood fired pizza spot, we decided to give it a try. It mostly lived up to all the rave reviews.

We tried out two locations. The first was in the Mission. We ordered the fennal sausage pie. The crust was salted well and the sauce tasted like an authentic traditional Italian red sauce.  The homemade fennel sausage was fragrant, well spiced, and not greasy, and the fresh mozzarella and basil was the perfect topping to this delicious pie. Most importantly, you could pick up the slice, fold it, and eat away. I washed down this meal with a delicious glass of falanghina. 

The second location was in Pacific Heights. I popped in for a quick lunch. Having tried a meat pie, I decided to go with a vegan white bean and sun choke soup, which had a creamy, velvety texture. It was a bit sweet on the palate at first but had a savory finish. I also ordered the margarita pie with broccoli rabe. The crust and sauce held up as well as our sausage pie, however, the broccoli rabe was a little too bitter and watery, so it weighed down the pie and diluted the flavor of the mozzarella. I washed down lunch with an ice cold Anchor Steam.  All in all, Pizzeria Delfina serves a solid pie that could hold its own against some of the best in New York. 

http://www.pizzeriadelfina.com/

Multiple Locations in San Francisco

Roostertail

Fresh off the plane from NYC, we were starving and looking for something filling and quick. We popped in here because of positive Yelp! reviews and were not disappointed. This small San Fran rotisserie chicken joint opened up sometime in December of 2011.

I went healthy and ordered the Goddess Salad - a combination of romaine, cherry tomato, cucumber, celery, croutons and their green goddess dressing. Of course, being at a chicken spot, I also opted for some rotisserie chicken on the salad. The vegetables were incredibly fresh, and the chicken added a great smokey flavor.

My hubby ordered the BBQ chicken sandwich (acme rustic deli roll, aged white cheddar, portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions and bbq sauce). Yes, there was a lot going on in his sandwich, but WOW was the flavor amazing. The BBQ sauce was the perfect combination of spicy and sweet, the cheese added just enough extra salt, the chicken was tender and melted in your mouth, and the bread actually held up for the majority of the time it took to consume the sandwich.

We also shared two sides, which probably weren’t necessary, but they looked too good to pass up. The corn bread was buttery and added a great sweet, but not overly sweet, to our savory dishes. The brussel sprouts and bacon were cooked well but a little over salted for my taste. We topped it all off with two of their home made cookies…tasted like they were fresh out of the oven! FYI - they serve wine and a great selection of craft beers.

Roostertail
http://roostertailsf.com/
415-776-6783

Location:
1963 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA

Hours:
Monday-Saturday
11:30am – 10:00pm
Closed on Sundays