August 2010 Archives

The Standard Grill at Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel in NYC's meatpacking district was one of the hottest restaurant openings of 2009.  Things have calmed down a bit, but one certainly still needs to plan in advance for a dinner reservation or even weekend brunch.

The outside and front section of the restaurant have a fresh, bright bistro look with bentwood chairs and medium tone wood.


The dining room in back has a darker, kind of '50s steakhouse look with leather banquettes and casual linen dish cloth tablecloths.  Somehow it works though, in a retro chic way.

The tables in the back room come appointed with Peugeot pepper mills and little wooden bowls of fleur de sel. (bonus points for this!)  The menu is reasonably priced but portions tend to be on the smaller size.  Here is a link to the lunch menu, most items range from $10 to $20.  The roasted beet salad ($10) features baby arugula, panko crusted goat cheese and pickled red onion.  It was quite tasty although the red onion in rather short supply.  A tasting portion of the Jamon Iberico ($14) was fine, the meat quite flavorful and a bit fatty, but that's jamon for you.  It came with 2 green olives.  The main course of pan roasted sea scallops ($16) came with frisee, shaved endive, grapefruit and black olives.  The scallops were perfect - nicely browned, cooked correctly and super tasty!  The accompaniment was mostly frisee which was surprising since it's not even mentioned on the menu as being in the dish.  There were just a few slices of fennel and very few black olives.  None the less it's a good dish.  The size is what many would consider an appetizer size, which is probably why the price is so reasonable.

The wine list offers a good degree of diversity and prices.  Bottles range from $34 to $5000+. France is favored on the wine list, but there are tons of other offerings too - Spain, Italy, Australia, CA, Oregon, etc.  

If dessert had been in order, I would have tried the strawberry rhubarb crumble served with buttermilk ice cream.  I'm a sucker for rhubarb!  The dessert menu also offers some other interesting things like baked alaska and blueberry galette.  Here is the dessert menu.

Unlike many very popular restaurants, they do take reservations via Open Table which makes it a lot easier to get a reservation!  

Having grown up in New England I have to say I was never much of a crabcake girl.  New Englanders are all about Maine lobster!  The crabcakes that I knew of were these dreadful breaded, fried things that seemed to have equal parts shredded crab to breadcrumbs and tasted hardly like crab at all!

Well, as in most things, an education is necessary.  I've now had the opportunity to sample several authentic Chesapeake Bay crabcakes - - in Baltimore, Alexandria, Washington DC, even as far north as Philadelphia.  And now I've just tried Bubba's in Virginia Beach.  Bubba's is on an inlet just at the beginning of the Bay. (3323 Shore Drive, 23451)



It is a modest looking place, and certainly not fancy inside but wow, do they have good crabcakes!  The crabcake dinner for $20.95 includes two huge crabcakes loaded with jumbo lump crab and virtually zero filler.  They are broiled (you can also get them fried, but what sane person would do that?) and come with cole slaw that you can actually get without mayo (BRILLIANT) and you can get a side of broccoli to make it a reasonably healthy meal.  I was quite hungry but the crabcakes are so large I couldn't come close to eating both of them!


(sorry, I don't have a pictures of Bubba's crabcakes but these look similar)

Here is the full dinner menu.  Other fish offerings are fresh catch like tuna and mahi mahi, lobster tails and scallops. And of course, Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs (when in season).

The food hall in the basement of The Plaza is now open, officially known as "The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English".  It features a rather astounding variety of offerings: bakery, wine bar, grill, cheese & charcuterie, sushi bar & ocean grill, pizza, dumpling bar and market area!  The menu was designed by Todd English of Olives fame.

The space has an elegant look with dark woods, white marble and mosaic tiled floors.  It is supposed to evoke the feeling of European food hall.




Take a look at the menu here.  Among the offerings are golden potato pizza (shown below), butternut squash ravioli, salad nicoise, prime rib sliders and whole grilled branzino.



Prices range from $4 for a piece of sashimi to $125 for a large seafood platter from the raw bar.  Most items are pretty reasonably priced between $7 and $24.

Any pizza lover has probably been to Grimaldi's, tucked under the Brooklyn Bridge just over the river from lower Manhattan.  It's kind of a pizza pilgrimage.
 


Even though the place is kind of dumpy, it's just fun!  So I was sad to hear in the news today that it may have to close this location due to being behind on rent and city taxes, and not getting a rent renewal. Here's a link to the article at the Wall Street Journal.

It's 93 degrees in NYC today, and it feels even hotter with the humidity.  A nice frozen treat would hit the spot.

Here's where to get primo gelato in NYC and Philadelphia!

Il Laboratorio del Gelato (95 Orchard Street between Broome and Delancey, NYC) Amazing list of flavors including all the classics as well as some crazy ones like Wasabi, Basil and Tarragon Pink Pepper!



Ciao Bella (4 locations in NYC)  This brand is also sold in grocery stores, but they don't sell them the best flavors, you have to go to a scoop shop to get the best, like my favorite, cinnamon.  Other flavors include Matcha Green Tea, Asian Ginger, Italian Caramel.



Capogiro (4 locations in Philadelphia)  Unique flavors daily like Fior de Latte, Canella, Mexican Coffee, Sea Salt...  You can also order online, $60 + shipping for 6 pints shipped on dry ice.