There's a cute place on my block that I walk by at least two times every day... and I've been meaning to stop in for AGES... so I finally did.  The place is B. Cafe (240 East 75th St. between 2nd & 3rd).  It's a very cute Belgian cafe.  I think I was turned off a little bit because I thought it was a beer bar, and it sort of is.... but it's more than that also.

Of course they have the expected... various beers on tap and moules frites... but they also have some rather unexpected things like a roasted butternut squash salad with parmigiano reggiano and mache, seared scallops with parsnip puree, a lovely tarte tatin made not with apple, but pear...

It's quite a nice find!!  The bar is very pleasant, it even has the hooks underneath to hang you bag.  They also have a garden in back which would be pleasant in good weather.

They don't seem to have a website, but you can look at the menu and read reviews, here, at menupages.

I took this image from Google street view:

See, it's just a tiny slice of a place. It's cute though, they normally have 2 umbrellas up out front so you can't miss it...

The New York Times today has an interesting article about Fast Food's foray into "healthy" eating. ('Forget Jenny Craig. Hit the Drive-Thru' by Abby Ellin)  Taco Bell is now pushing a fresco menu of lighter choices... eek, who would have though Taco Bell and healthy would ever go together?

 

image: New York Times

The article mentions the problem with many of these items is a ton of salt. 

These articles are always rather funny to me... really what's the big deal?  People who make smart eating choices as part of their normal lives are usually fine (weight-wise).  If you end up in a pinch and have to eat fast food, of course, you eat the healthy thing on the menu. My go-to item has always been a grilled chicken sandwich, no sauce. Of course, I prefer not to eat fast food and pretty much avoid it at all costs. 

I saw these fun measuring cups in a magazine and I just loved them... how cute are these?

Here's the "official" description: matryoshkas made to measure

This set of 6 dry-measure cups nests neatly just like traditional Russian matryoshkas. They accurately measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup, and they're built from heavy-duty, food-safe, long-life engineering plastics. M-Cups are useful, easy to store, and quite charming...so why not doll up YOUR kitchen with a little Russian folklore? Each set is packaged in a full-color printed giftbox. 

These would make a really fun house warming gift for someone who loves to bake, maybe paired with a set of containers to hold flour, sugar, salt, etc.

You can buy them at Amazon and some other stores, but they seem to be out of stock everywhere right now.  They should be back in stock in early February.  They sell for about $12.50.

I had dinner at Orsay on Saturday night - - as the snow was coming down outside - - thankfully I live two blocks away!

I love Orsay, it totally reminds me of Paris!  ... the tile floors, dark woods, cozy banquets, art nouveau style chandeliers, etc.

 

I had a fabulous salad of baked artichoke with corsican cheese and walnut vinaigrette on baby arugula.  Wow, just delicious!  And for a main, the seabass crusted with parmesan and orange, fennel puree and a dollop of tomato confit on top.  I didn't taste the orange in the crusting at all, which is fine with me because it seems perhaps unnecessary to the success of the dish (sorry chef!).  It was also quite good - I'm a sucker for anything with fennel!  They have a tarte tatin on the dessert menu, it's fine, but not a traditional preparation. (I am still on a quest for the perfect tarte tatin!) You can view the whole dinner menu here.

They're having a nice New Year's Eve menu, the 9 pm second seating is a bit pricey but it looks very good (entrees like lobster salad and bison steak au poivre).

New York Magazine recently covered Cascabel Taqueria on the Upper East Side (2nd Ave. between 80th and 81st).  You can view their complete menu here. It looks quite unique and affordable, the tacos, several varieties available, are two for $7.50. The 'pescado' with tuna, hearts of palm and olives sounds great - - I'd pass on the 'lengua' braised veal tongue however!

Here's what they had to say about it:

"The counter is manned by a preternaturally friendly staff, who take orders and ferry food to tables on rectangular tin plates that evoke the army or a camping trip. There are unexpected niceties, like frosted glasses for microbrew beer, $6 glasses of wine, vibrant housemade salsas in chilled caddies, and copies of the daily papers incongruously stacked alongside old issues of Box y Lucha magazine on a room-dividing condiment rack.

 

On Saturday night I went to Perry St.  My friend and I had a 9:30 reservation because that was all that was available.  We arrived on time and they brought us right to our table. The room is a bit bland, modern and clean looking, but not particularly interesting.  It has a spacious feel which is nice, since so many places try to cram in tables wherever possible.

After we picked out a wine (a delicious Pinot Noir from Burgundy), they brought us an amuse-bouche.  It was a tiny cup of a creamy celery soup, served warm. It was good.

The bread was certainly disappointing.  I love bread and it is always really exciting to have exemplary bread (like at Commerce for example), but this bread was not up to par. It was a served by the slice, a white variety with a well cooked crunchy crust, too dry and not much flavor.  No second slice for me, thanks.

We decided to share the black pepper crab dumplings with sauteed sugar snap peas ($14). They are steamed (yay); I personally hate it when a nice dumpling is ruined by being fried. They were filled with all crab and the black pepper sauce on top was outstanding. It was tempting to order more!

I had the cod with lemon crumbs with sweet garlic broth and broccoli rabe ($24). I was worried about the garlic broth because I'm not a huge garlic fan, the waiter offered to bring it on the side, so that was perfect. Anyway, I needn't have worried - it was a delicious sauce with the right amount of garlic.  Not a garlic festival (as I like to call over-garlicked dishes).  The fish was a beautiful square and thick piece of cod with a nice amount of crispy lemon bread crumbs on top, balanced on top of a small mound of broccoli rabe. It was really quite delicious!  My friend had the slowly cooked salmon with passion fruit olive oil emulsion, spinach, jalapeno and black olive. She gave me a taste and the flavors of the passion fruit, jalapeno and black olive were really amazing, just what you expect from Jean Georges. I think we both picked very well!  Other menu items include a tuna burger, fried chicken, lamb chops...it's a rather eclectic menu.

For dessert, we ordered the twice baked butter cookie with coconut cream and raspberries on the recommendation of our waiter.  I had been leaning towards the fig tart, or the poached pear but they were all out of the poached pear anyway.  They seemed to forget our dessert though, so when they finally brought it out, they also brought a complimentary chocolate pudding with fresh cream and crystallized violets.  Neither of us are "chocolate people" so we never would have ordered the chocolate pudding, but I am so glad they gave it to us!  The crystallized violets were amazing and unique, and the fresh cream was un-sugared. The flavors worked so well together... In comparison I think we were both a bit disappointed by the cookie.  It was good, but not great.

Appetizers: $10 - 29

Entrees: $18 - 36.50

Desserts: $8 - 10

Overall the service was good, not snobby at all. But as mentioned above a bit uneven, we had to ask about our dessert after probably about 30 minutes...  I would go back for sure.  I thought the food (other than the bread) was all delicious and well prepared. And I'll know to get the chocolate pudding next time!

Menu Pages has just announced coverage of Paris and London menus!  Yay!  I love reading menus before I go places because I am so picky.  So this is great... now I just need to get myself to Paris...

I'm not a big liquor drinker, but this skull head vodka caught my eye at a wine shop. I don't even drink vodka, and I wanted to buy it!

Turns out, it's Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka. It retails for between $40 - $50 depending on the shop's markup.  Shoppers Vineyard in NJ for example, has it for $41.09.

I think this would make a fabulous holiday gift for a guy - - or anyone of course, who likes skulls.

Here is the story from the website:

Thousands of years ago, thirteen crystal heads were scattered across the earth and they are greater and more powerful than anything we have the ability to manufacture today. Their workmanship is perfect: they contain no tool marks and have been cut against the natural axis of the crystal, defying the laws of physics. Some say they are artifacts from the lost civilization of Atlantis, some say they date back to the Mayans, still others say they were created by a higher intelligence.

Brought together, the Crystal Heads are said to contain vast knowledge and enlightenment capable of unlocking our most enigmatic ancient mysteries. Alone, each is believed to house radiant psychic energy, which has magical powers and healing properties.

Wine Spectator's complete list of Top 100 Wines of 2009 will be revealed on Friday!

They have already released part of the list, #s 10 - 6 today, #s 5 - 2 tomorrow; and then on Friday the complete list.

I've found some great wines from this list in past years. For example, one of my house favorites, Frescobaldi's Chianti Rufina Nipozzano Riserva 2005 vintage (90 points) was #76 on last year's list.

The #10 -6 wines that were revealed today are:

10  Brancaia Toscana Tre IGT 2007 - 93 points - $20

9    Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley 2007 - 96 points - $29

8    Fontodi Colli della Toscana Centrale Flaccianello 2006 - 99 points - $110

7    Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco 2005 - 96 points - $44

6    Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Signature 2006 - 94 points - $42

I think it's great that part of the consideration for the top 100 wines is value.  Only 1 of these 5 wines is over $50.  That's great because most people don't buy wines over $50 for drinking very often. (collectors who cellar is a different matter of course)

Danny Meyer's Maialino, perhaps the most anticipated opening of Fall 2009, opened last week.

There's a good interview with Meyer, here, in "The Moment" the New York Times blog. It covers the collaboration with David Rockwell on the design, the trattoria concept and opening in an Ian Schrager hotel among other things.