Recently in Food Category

My last Restaurant Week dinner for Summer '10 was at Fishtail by David Burke.  It's a lovely spot in an Upper East Side townhouse.  The upstairs dining room feels like they've set up tables in a space that used to some lucky person's living room.  It's really quite beautiful.

Tribeca Grill is having a Clambake/Wine Dinner on Wednesday July 28th.  It's $75 for a family style feast with lots of great seafood and wine!  Here's a peak at the menu:


Yummy, yum, yum!!  Call 212-941-3900 for reservations.

I have been meaning to get to Luke's on the Upper East Side (242 E. 81st St. betw. 2nd & 3rd) ever since I read about them in New York Magazine a while ago.  Well, I finally made it yesterday.  They are located in the former Etats-Unis space, but it has been transformed into a Fish Shack.  The lobster roll is $14, or you can get a it with a drink, chips and a pickle for $16 (both + tax).  What interested me the most about this place is that I love lobster, but I HATE mayonaise, and almost everyone mixes the two - but here you can keep your lobster pristine (no mayo or butter!) if desired, or have it with just butter and/or lemon, and spices.  I tried it with lemon and spices... wow, I have to say they don't chintz you on lobster!  I was really impressed with the amount of lobster and gorgeous huge hunks of claw meat. (the claw is my favorite part)  The roll is nothing special, just your basic toasted hot dog roll, I didn't even eat it.  I just ate the lobster out of it with a fork, heaven!!

This is the picture from their website and yes, it really does look like that!



They even deliver, with a $20 minimum.  Check out the full menu here including soups, crab claws and crab and shrimp rolls. I hope they're successful, it's a great addition to the Upper East Side!

I'm going to stay on the topic of truffles today... another great and (relatively) inexpensive way to get truffle flavor is with a truffle oil!  I found a good size container at Home Goods of all places for $12 recently!  (and no, it was even expired or anything!)  You can get the same kind at Amazon (La Tourangelle Infused White Truffle Oil, 2 for $26.15), their price is very good too, it's 23% off the regular price.  The oil base is grapeseed oil, which is a very healthy type of oil.



A nice way to use it is to mix up an easy vinaigrette:

1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon white truffle oil, or to taste
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Toss it with mesclun greens. Dress up your salad a bit if you feel like it by adding some fresh fig cut into pieces and a little bit of gogonzola dolce!

I LOVE truffles, but of course they are so expensive, it's a rare treat. Well, here's a pretty inexpensive way to bring truffles into your life: Truffle Salt!

Williams-Sonoma Truffle & Salt, 3.5 oz. jar, $28. It is sea salt blended with a generous amount of Italy's fresh black summer truffles from Abruzzi.  It has received 4.8 stars out of 5 from Williams-Sonoma reviewers.  I would put this on basically anything savory!  Vegis, popcorn, scrambled eggs, omelets, salads.... Yum!

More from my weekend in Chicago... Osteria Via Stato in the River North neighborhood (620 N. State St.). You enter the restaurant into the more casual Pizzeria via Stato section and go through a swinging door to the Osteria.  It's quite large with 2 rooms and several really big farmhouse tables for large parties or communal seating.  We went on Thursday night, it was pretty busy but not full capacity.


Here is the menu.  It has a la carte and "famous Italian dinner party" options.  The Italian dinner party sounds fabulous if you're starving or with a big group.  It features antipasti to share, 2 pastas, a main course and sides for $38.95/person. Here is the full description.  We opted for a la carte but tasted several things.  We started with the grilled baby octopus with roasted fingerling potatoes, then shared a small serving of the handmade spinach ravioli with truffle oil, then the seafood stew and prawn entrees.  It was all delicious and we paired everything with different wine courses from their nice selection of wines by the quartino.  They also have a rather clever option for people who don't know wine very well called "Just Bring Me Wine" and they will match up the wines for you. Oh, and I almost forgot - - the bread is amazing!  It's warm and has a perfect crisp crust and tender center, it's heavenly.

I've been working up to having a burger for years... I'm not a vegi but I just kind of prefer not to eat meat.

Well.... I ran across a burger so compelling in Chicago this past weekend that I had to have it!

The burger was at the Park Grill in Millennium Park, the giant bean sits on top of the structure that houses the restaurant.



Here is the description from the menu: Peppercorn Crusted Kobe Burger with gorgonzola, balsamic grilled onions and grain mustard on a pretzel bun

Oh my goodness!  This was so perfect since I love every single part of this - what put me over the top was the pretzel bun.  I love pretzel bread and it's so hard to come by!  They gave no hassle about substituting the fries that normally come with it for a mesclun salad.  They had some great wines by the quartino, the Unti Dry Creek Zinfandel 2006 was a perfect match for the burger!

Their menus have a lot of great things.  Take a look at the lunch and dinner menus.  To my taste, stand out items are: the Apple & Fennel Salad with mixed greens, candied almonds, mindoro bleu cheese and cider vinaigrette; Thyme Roasted Scallops with edamame, tofu, radish, pea shoots and lemon-salt; and Pacific Dover Sole with crisp capers, arugula salad, baby artichokes and italian parsley.  

Over the weekend I went to Esperanto (145 Avenue C at the corner of E. 9th Street). It's a South American bistro.

It was quite good!  We all shared some red sangria. ($35/pitcher).  The wine list offered several very affordable options like a $26 Rioja and a $31 Malbec.  The menu was surprisingly diverse... usually when I think of South American, I think it's going to be really heavy on the meat, but this wasn't. Also, as you would probably expect on Ave. C, the prices were all quite reasonable.  I had a delicious tuna steak with a salsa and rice ($17).  It was perfectly seared (very rare) and the tuna itself was beautiful quality - - not a bit of that stringy stuff you sometimes get with tuna.  My friend had the salmon with mango salsa ($15.50).  She gave me a taste... also delicious!


The interior is a bit quirky, but it works.  It has a cheerful and lively vibe, not dump vibe.
The service was good, a bit slow at times, but nothing dire.  Despite being quite busy by the time we left, they didn't rush us at all.  I was really quite pleasantly surprised.  I'm looking forward to going back!

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 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!

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.

I had another wonderful brunch at Parc in Philadelphia over the weekend.  Wow, I love that place!  I actually think it's just as good as Balthazar (food wise), and certainly looks as good (aesthetics)... but you can actually get a table!  So it's even better.

One of my favorite things at Parc is their amazing homemade bread.  The bread basket they serve includes slices of their baguette, round wheat loaf and cranberry walnut bread. All of them are fabulous - - just the way good bread should be: crispy crust and a tender chewy inside.

If you ask they will bring you some jams, which is nice to go with the breads for brunch. They bring a raspberry and a marmalade.  I was curious to know if they had a special source for the jams because they also tasted so good.  Turns out, the raspberry is Bonne Maman and the marmalade is Polaner!  Pretty standard - - I guess they just taste so good because the bread is so good.

In today's NY Times dining section, Sam Sifton reviews the re-opened Aureole now on 42nd Street in the new Bank of America tower, A Kiss to the United States of Burgers, Fries and Sugar.  He gives it one star, "good".

Since Aureole used to be a classy affair tucked into an Upper East Side townhouse, it is very apt that Sifton calls the move south to 42nd Street "a Las Vegas event restaurant airlifted into Manhattan". 

It has a glizty look and large scale much more in common with the Aureole in Las Vegas than the New York original.

Sifton warns us that the dining room is uneven, "...It is nice in that dining room, quiet, and if your order goes well with the kitchen, you can have a good meal. If it doesn't, you'll be staring down a listless Wiener schnitzel, pale and greasy beneath a thick lemon-caper sauce, with too-tart applesauce."

The bar area is raucous. The bar menu features "an extremely good" hamburger.

Other dishes Sifton recommends are: sea scallop sandwich, sliders, pan-roasted shrimp, lobster and anything pork-bellied.

He sums up the review: "The restaurant is a love letter to an America we see reflected back at us in unflattering light: relatively happy, unthinking, desirous mostly of sugar and fat. That's Vegas for you. It's not New York."

Eek, that's not very flattering...

In today's NY Times Dining Secion, Sam Sifton gives Le Relais de Venise L' Entrecote a one star (good) rating.  (article: Hop Off the Wheel and Taste Paris)

The restaurant has no menu. It's salad and steak frites.

He describes the salad: "It is a pile the size of a softball, mixed green and red lettuces draped in a mustardy vinaigrette that in early days here was nearly as thick as a mayonnaise. Lately it has thinned out into something closer to silk. Walnuts are strewn across the top, rich and oily."

And the steak: "Your steak comes in two stages, on a relatively small plate: you eat your portion of meat, sauce and fries and then are served seconds. The beef is fine, sliced thin across the grain and as tender as cheap meat gets, a perfect midweek dinner with a friend. The fries rate higher on the crazy-good scale: salty and crisp, with tender interiors that aren't mushy even when soaked in the sauce."

The ingredients of the sauce are kept secret. Sifton desribes it as "perhaps a variant on the gravy poured out at Café de Paris in Geneva since the 1940s: butter, basically, infused with herbs and mustard and cream, with a metallic tang of chicken liver running right through its middle. Whatever it is at L'Entrecôte, you could pour the stuff over a boot and still have an excellent dinner."

Cheeses and desserts including profiteroles are available if you have room...

I have been going to Lucien in the East Village (1st Ave. between 1st and 2nd Streets) for over 10 years.  It may seem odd in a city with so many superb restaurants of different cuisines and levels of formality, but Lucien is my favorite!

The atmosphere, in all fairness, is nothing special... but it has a rustic charm that I love. I prefer to sit in the front section.  The best table is the one along the banquet that is closest to the bar, that way you can use the edge of the bar to hold some of your (tiny) table's contents... like the wine bottle or the bread basket.

Every time I go, I get the same thing.  It's terrible that I do that, but I just can't help it.  There are many other tasty things that I'd like to eat... but I have to get my regulars: endive salad, scallops grenobloise and cinnamon ice cream for dessert!  For wine, it has to be Champagne or Bordeaux (red).

Here is the endive salad.  I love how they don't mess with tradition... it's just endive, walnuts, and bleu with some traditional dressing.

Here's one of those things I should be trying... but I always end up getting the super delicious scallops grenobloise.

The tarte tatin is good... but the cinnamon ice cream is the best thing on the plate, so I've just started skipping the tarte and having them bring a martini glass of cinnamon ice cream.  It's not on the menu, but they are always happy to do it.

Here's a good find for a fun and tasty Halloween gift.

Vosges 'Day of the Dead Skulls' Chocolates

Set of 3, one of each: red fire, barcelona, bianca.

The red fire flavor is ancho & chipotle chillies, Ceylon cinnamon in dark chocolate. The barcelona flavor is hickory smoked almonds, grey sea salt in deep milk chocolate and the bianca flavor is single origin Venezuelan white chocolate.

They are usually $8 each, but the mixed box of 3 is $21.  Vosges has 2 New York stores now, one on Madison Avenue and 83rd Street, the other in Soho on Spring St. between Greene and Wooster.  Hot chocolate is back in season, so that's another good reason to stop by one of their shops - - the "haute" hot chocolate is available by the glass.  I like the aztec with chili and cinnamon!

I've already mentioned that I'm a pumpkin girl... I always love it when the year turns into Fall and pumpkin flavored this and that start popping up everywhere.  I stopped into Williams Sonoma this weekend to pick up a dish soap...and upon walking into the store I was enveloped by the most delicious pumpkin spice scent!  I walked directly to the back of the store where they have the store kitchen and do their sampling and sure enough, they were baking (and sampling) both pumpkin waffles and pumpkin bread!  Yay, score!  Being from Vermont, I am a waffle/pancake person to the very core (of course with real Vermont maple syrup).  The pumpkin waffles were very tasty.  Thanks to my tiny NY kitchen however, I do not have a waffle iron, so I didn't get the waffle mix.  The pumpkin bread was very moist and was even still warm... oh, my - I am such a sucker for warm bread!

Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Waffle Mix, $14.95.  You can also use it for pancakes.

Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread Mix, $10.95

They also have again this year the Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter, $9.95.  I've bought this in past years.  It's a great spread or you can use it to make a pumpkin pie.  I'm not sure why anyone would do that though, when you can buy canned Libby's pumpkin and use your own spices and the pie will cost far less than $9.95 to make, and taste just as good...

These things make great Fall gifts, if you are going over to someone's house and want to bring a little something... 

I've been going to Fiorello's (1900 Broadway, betw. 63rd and 64th) for so long I can't even remember the first time... For a while I had the great fortune of living about a block away, so I got to the know the place very well.

During warmer months they have a large outdoor eating area directly across from Lincoln Center so it's a wonderful place for the view and people watching. What I love the most though is eating inside at the antipasti bar.  The amazing team back when I used to go there all the time was Richard, Cleber and Elvis... they treated their regulars so well, always so welcoming and gracious.  You start with perhaps a proseco or a quartino of white wine... then they bring the bread basket!  Oh, the bread basket... with focaccia and this super thin paper-like crispy bread, YUM.  The antipasti bar itself is just amazing, they have vegi, seafood and meat items.  I'd always have the vegis and the seafood. My favorite thing on the antipasti bar is the shrimp and scallop salad with endive and radicchio.

The thin crust pizza is also FABULOUS.  It can be hard to eat at the bar though unless you get the prime corner spot (the one further from the door) that gives you a bit more space.  The pizza is a bit pricey at $25 for a margherita -  - but it is made with real buffalo mozzarella.  It's super, super thin - I love that!

They have a great wine list, and as mentioned above they serve the glasses in quartinos, so it's nice, a glass + a bit more.

Between the delicious antipasti and the pizza, I hardly ever made it to the real main courses!  Oh, especially because you must leave room for dessert!  As far as I'm concerned they have the BEST profiteroles in the city.  They bring out a little copper pot of hot dark chocolate sauce and pour it on right in front of you... MMMMmmmm!!!   Here's a link to the dinner menu.

I'll be going back soon!

Yay for us pumpkin lovers, Red Mango has introduced Pumpkin Spice for Fall.

It's a pumpkin and cinnamon flavor, all natural with 90 calories per 1/2 cup.  It will be available through Dec. 31st.  Click here for their store finder!

Luke's Lobster has opened in the East Village at 93 East 7th Street. Opened by a father and son from Maine, they're bringing us some seriously insane lobster rolls!

Photo: Lee Clower for The New York Times

They use only the claws and knuckles which in my opinion is the best part of the lobster... the tail is not as tender.  The roll has 4 oz. of lobster and is $14.  The most brilliant thing about it is that they offer them with butter, mayo and seasoning OPTIONAL!  Fabulous... there is nothing worse than beautiful lobster meat smothered in mayonaise!  They also have a smaller 2 oz. version for $8.

Cafe Boulud (20 East 76th Street at the Surrey Hotel) reopens today for dinner. It had been closed for renovations.  Starting October 9th it will also be open for lunch.  The interior is a refreshed contemporary design and will feature a new bar area - Bar Pleiades and also two new private salons for up to 14 guests each.

So glad to see they've reopened - who'd have guessed that Chanterelle, who also closed for renovations, would never reopen...

The New York Times reported this morning that Conde Nast will be closing Gourmet magazine!

This is rather shocking news!  Conde Nast also has Bon Appetit, and to me, Gourmet has always seemed to be the better magazine.  Also, Ruth Reichl (the former New York Times food critic), happens to be the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine.  For real foodee people, Gourmet is THE food magazine.  This is very sad, I guess my subsciption and everyone else's will get converted into Bon Appetit.

Saturday I was running around getting errands out of the way, you know the annoying things like getting watch batteries replaced and finding special lightbulbs at Home Depot... it was 6 pm and I was finally on my way home walking up Third Avenue and I realized I was STARVING, having had nothing but a grande skim latte all day...

So I stopped in at Accademia di Vino (Third & 64th) for a quick bite at the bar.  I have walked by this spot a thousand times and thought it was certainly time to give it a try.

The bar was surprisingly full and loud (music) for the early time.  The bar area in the front is the only part of the restaurant that is upstairs, the dining room is downstairs which is why I think this space has been challenging for restaurants in the past. The bar is a bit small but nice, it has bar stool seats and several high tables with seats which are good for eating with a small group. The bar has hooks for you to hang your bag on, which I think is a great thing. It's amazing how many bars forget this small (and inexpensive to provide) detail.

I got a seat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine.  I think the wines by the glass were a bit overpriced, but they had a fairly nice selection.  I got the carpaccio di manzo, which was delicious except that I hadn't read the menu carefully enough and it had raw red onions on it which I don't like.  Otherwise the preparation with very lean beef, shaved fennel, a tiny bit of fresh mint, parmigiano and black truffle vinaigrette was wonderful.  I just pulled the onions off. 

The menu is very nice. They offer 3 different carpaccios, all $15, the others are salmon and tuna. They also have salumi and cheese boards, each 3 choices for $15. They have some nice salads, among them: escarole with hazelnuts, mint and pecorino and a classic endive salad with gorgonzola, walnuts and apple.

They also have grilled pizzas ($16-19), pastas ($19-25), and entrees like herb crusted salmon with lentils ($29) and rack of lamb with roasted tomato and black olive conserva ($38). Other entrees are between $26 and $64 for a prime aged ribeye for two. You can looks at the full menu here.

I LOVE frozen treats.  We're lucky that here in Manhattan we have Pinkberry, Tasti D Lite, The Light Choice, etc...  Well, here's a new one to eat at home:  Yovation Vanilla Honey Granola Frozen Yogurt.  It's a very tasty vanilla with granola bits in it. It contains live yogurt cultures and a probiotic culture that helps with digestive health. 

 

You can find it at Wegmans stores in NJ.  Unfortunately I can't find it in Manhattan.  You can order it online, oddly enough... the $95 price for 5 1 quart containers includes shipping, dry ice and foam cooler.  I would be nervous about getting a frozen item shipped to me, but if they offer it, it must work.

I am surprised to hear that the New York Culinary Experience (Oct. 3 & 4) is almost sold out!  It's a very pricey event at $1,395.  You'd think it may be a tough sell since we're still coming out of the recession.  It is an exciting prospect however to be able to cook next to famous chefs!  The schedule includes sessions like "The New American Table" with Marcus Samuelsson (Aquavit), "Modern Italian Cuisine" with Scott Conant (Scarpetta), "Chocolate Creations" with Jacques Torres (Jacques Torres Chocolate) and "Holiday Dinner" with David Waltuck (Chanterelle).  There are also Q&A sessions with Ken Friedman (Spotted Pig), Sirio Maccioni (Le Cirque), Joe Bastianich (Babbo, Lupa, etc) and Dan Barber (Blue Hill). Quite a line-up!

It's a great event if you can afford it!  Buy tickets here.  The price includes classes, breakfast, lunch and a closing reception each day.  If you buy 2 or more tickets, you get $100 off each ticket. The event takes place downtown at the French Culinary Institute (462 Broadway).

Yesterday my boyfriend and I went down to SoHo to walk around and get lunch... We checked at Balthazar just for the heck of it, to see how long the wait with no reservations would be - - 1 hour!  Okay, so we kept walking West on Spring St and ended up at an old favorite: Mezzogiorno (Spring St. between Thompson and Sullivan).  They had outside tables and just above those, tables inside that were open to the outdoors.  We sat at one of those inside tables, it's perfect - just as good as being outside and elevated for a good view of the street and outside area (good for people watching)

We had the most fabulous lunch! To start we shared the CARCIOFI SALTATI IN PADELLA CON PISTACCHI E PARMIGIANO, which is baby artichokes sauteed with bits of pistachio nuts and served with parmigiano reggiano and lemon.  Oh my goodness, this was fabulous. They were cooked perfectly and utterly delicious.  Then we had the TAGLIOLINI ALLO ZAFFERANO CON SUGO PICCANTE DI GRANCHIO, homemade pasta with crab meat in a spicy light tomato sauce. Again, amazing!!!  The pasta was the perfect level of al dente and the sauce had just the right amount of spice not to overpower the taste of the crab. 

We also discovered a new wine from their wines by glass selection: MarcheRosso Fontezoppa 2007, a sangiovese/cab/merlot blend.

It was medium to full bodied with a nice round mouthfeel. Very tasty, we wrote the name down so we could look it up.  It's not a very popular wine in wine stores apparently, only 2 results came up in Wine-Searcher.  The best one being Shop Rite wines in Mercerville, NJ at a very reasonable price of $12.99/bottle.  A good find for sure!

I'm looking forward to going back to Mezzogiorno soon.  I would definitely order both dishes again!

Harvest in the Square at Union Square Park is next Thursday, Sept. 24th from 7:30 - 9 PM (6 pm for VIP entrance).

It features tastings from participating restaurants, NY microbreweries and wineries (both NY state and non-NY).  This year a ton of great restaurants are participating including: BLT Fish, BLT Prime, Blue Smoke, Blue Water Grill, City Crab, Gramercy Tavern, Olives, Union Square Cafe... (and many more).  North Fork wineries include: Bedell, Corey Creek, Paumanok..

Tickets are $115 in advance and $125 at the event (if available), purchase online here.  The VIP admission is $400, purchase here.   The event is put on by the Union Square Partnership and proceeds will go towards the ongoing beautification of the park.

 

Ed's Chowder House will be opening tomorrow in the former Center Cut space at the Empire Hotel, across from Lincoln Center.  I love a good chowder!  Growing up in New England it's kind of a classic thing, my Gramma made a fabulous corn chowder and we'd get some great fish chowder in Portsmouth, NH.  I'm more of a red chowder girl now (Manhattan or Baltimore Crab).... anyway, the prospect of a new chowder house is certainly good news.

Ed's Chowder House is a Jeffrey Chodorow (of China Grill and Asia de Cuba fame) restaurant. The Ed is Chef Ed Brown.  The chowders available will be: sweet corn, new england, manhattan style blue crab, and "Ed's loaded" shellfish chowder.  YUM!

Interesting appetizers include savory lobster crumble, smoked Chatham cod cakes and scallop ravioli.  Mains include peppered tuna steak frites, herb crusted skate with horseradish mashed potatoes, jumbo lump crab cakes, Chatham cod with potato chip crust, spinach and mustard sauce.  They also have a bunch of simply grilled fresh seafood.  You can take a peak at the full menu here.  It's a seafood lovers dream!!

The design of the place looks a bit too sleek for a "chowder house" to me, but pleasant anyway.

I can't wait to try it!

The much praised Williamsburg pizza joint, Motorino, will be opening an East Village location in a few days.  The spot in the former Una Pizza Napoletana space will open on Monday. (349 East 13th Street) 

The space was a great find because it came with the pizza oven, an Acunto, the cadillac of pizza ovens, hand crafted in Naples!

The U.S. Open is in full swing now.  For many New Yorkers this is the quintessential end-of-summer event.  The website Metromix New York has a fabulous food tour slide show of the Open's food offerings along with fairly detailed descriptions of each. They interviewed Michael Lockard, executive chef of Levy Restaurants, who is overseeing the entire U.S. Open dining program. As New Yorkers, we don't really know the Levy Restaurant Group because their restaurants are in Chicago (Bistro 110, Spiaggia, etc.), Los Angeles, Orlando and a few other cities.  But they have been doing the food at the U.S. Open since 2005.  (Kind of funny, you'd think a New York restaurant group would do it...)

Here are some tasty looking highlights:

Food Court - Lobster Roll (no mayo! special sauce with chili sauce, tarragon and scallions - yum!)

Food Court - Crepe with gruyere, spinach and caremelized onions

Wine Bar - Tomato Bread with manchego and serrano ham

Aces - Charred Salmon Entree with mixed beans and black sesame vinaigrette

OMG, seriously good food, right!  How often can you say that at a sporting event?  The U.S. Open is like a food festival and a sports event... I guess that's part of why I love going.

 

Parc at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia has been on my need-to-go list for months now, and I finally made it for brunch yesterday.

It has a great location on S. 18th facing the Park, in the restaurant row that also includes Rouge and Devon. The space is huge (think at least 3x as large as Balthazar) and is nicely done in that vintage bistro style: tile floors, pressed tin ceiling with aged patina, distressed mirrors on walls, trestle tables, mixed up chairs, white marble etc. etc. It looks great, but I think due to the huge size I felt that there was just a little something missing or off, design-wise. Overall though I was impressed with the attention to detail in the decor, our waiter mentioned that they even had faux European style electrical outlets!

Our table was a 4-top near the French doors that were opened up to the sidewalk tables. The service was fast, friendly and competent (same as I've experienced at all Stephen Starr restaurants). The brunch menu has the expected types of French bistro classics: salad nicoise with seared fresh tuna, moules frites, steak frites, croque madame and also some of the more traditonal breakfast-y types of things like pancakes, frech toast and omlettes. The bread basket is a SUBLIME experience with house baked breads: baguette, country wheat and a dark fruit nut bread.  I am a total baguette snob since I studied in Paris during college and I found theirs to be very authentic: crisp outside; tender, moist and chewy inside. We started with mimosas and shared the pissaladiere appetizer (onion tart with goat cheese, anchovies and black olives). It was served on a rustic wood cutting board with some nicely dressed mesclun greens piled up on one end.  I think this was the best pissaladiere I've ever had - perfect combination of flavors! The mimosas were heavy on the sparkling, not the OJ. I had the nicoise salad which included seared tuna and also the Italian style cooked tuna (that comes packed in olive oil), haricot verts, shaved fennel, fingerling potatoes, abundant black olives, hard boiled egg, tomatos and a combination of greens.  The portion was rather huge.  It was very good.  My boyfriend had the "steak and eggs" which includes not mere steak but a petit filet mignon. And he got his eggs scrambled with the fines herbs.  He mentioned that the filet was not as big as it had been on previous visits but it was still a nice quality piece of meat and the herbed eggs were quite good. The dessert list is cruelly compelling (as if anyone needs dessert after how good the bread and everything else are) with French bistro classics like tarte tatin, profiteroles, pot de creme, creme brulee....

On the way out, you can pick up a baguette to go for $3.  They plan to open a small take out bakery soon to sell all of their breads.

I also didn't mention that their bar is huge, which is nice for people who like to dine at the bar.  And the outdoor seating very plentiful.  I can't wait to go back for dinner.  Their dinner menu has two of my favorites: trout amandine and branzino.  (what is missing however is a classic endive salad with walnuts and roquefort, and provencal fish soup)

When I first got to know Philadelphia about two years ago I couldn't believe that they didn't have a great French bistro... I thought it was pretty obvious if anyone could duplicate a Balthazar-like experience in Philly, it couldn't lose.  Well, now it's done!  Yay! 

A couple more images from the Parc website:

Parc Restaurant Bistro & Cafe
227 S. 18th Street, Philadelphia
Tel: 215-545-2262

My Rating: Very Good

Congratulations to Eleven Madison Park who got elevated to 4 stars today by the New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni.

Four stars is "extraordinary".

Bruni recommends: Prawn roulade; farm egg with Parmesan foam; goat's milk ricotta gnocchi; halibut; lobster; duck for two; chicken for two; suckling pig; vacherin; peanut butter and chocolate palette; chocolate tart with caramel.

Bruni also wrote a Diner's Journal blog post with further thoughts about the elevation.

This week the New York Times announced the replacement for restaurant critic Frank Bruni. The lucky person is Sam Sifton.  He has been with the Times since 2001.  Most recently he has been the Times' cultural news editor. Before that he was deputy dining editor, dining editor and deputy culture editor.  He is 43 and went to Harvard.

I could only find this tiny picture of him. 

The Times seems to have removed the pictures on their website that had been up previously. Of course, the critic is supposed to be sort of undercover when dining, but I don' think that always works out.  There is a discussion about critics and anonymity in the Diner's Journal blog.

Sam will take over in October. 

Around my office Lindt is the #1 chocolate.  My favorite is the dark chocolate sea salt bar.  My boss' is the dark chocolate hazelnut bar.  Their pistachio milk chocolate bar is also amazing, as are the Intense Orange and Intense Pear... (yikes, I'm craving a sweet now)

Lindt has announced a brand new bar.

The Lindt Master Chocolatiers have perfected a timeless recipe with the addition of the new Lindt Classic Recipe Raisin & Nuts bar to its premium chocolate collection. The new bar, which combines creamy, smooth milk chocolate with raisins, gently roasted almonds and hazelnuts, is now available at Lindt Chocolate Shops and wholesale locations nationwide.

"The Lindt Classic Raisin & Nuts bar is the perfect balance of the highest-quality premium chocolate, raisins and nuts and provides a delicious taste that all chocolate lovers will enjoy," said Thomas Linemayr, chief executive officer and president of Lindt USA. "This new creation is chewy, crunchy, chocolate perfection."

Yum, sounds delicious!

On October 26, 2009, the National Pasta Association (NPA) and the International Pasta Organization (IPO) will present "World Pasta Day 2009," a conference of the world's leading pasta manufacturers to present the latest nutritional and scientific research on pasta to the industry at large. Since 1995, World Pasta Day has been an international celebration of pasta -- a food consumed all over the world in varying cuisines. World Pasta Day 2009's focus will be "Pasta Meals on Every Family Table."

Conference presentations organized by the Oldways Preservation Trust, a nonprofit education organization, will include a scientific update on nutritional aspects of pasta for families, research on the effect of the Mediterranean Diet on Alzheimer's, and a summary of recent research on carbohydrates. The annual event, set this year in New York City, will also include demonstrations from world-class chefs on preparing appetizing and healthy pasta recipes. World Pasta Day 2009 will take place at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in Times Square from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

"We are extremely proud to host World Pasta Day in the U.S. this year," said Mark Vermylen, chairman of the National Pasta Association. "We look forward to showcasing the increasingly wide range of pasta's health and economic benefits for today's families around the globe--it is a winning component of any meal."

World Pasta Day 2009 Program Topics Include:

• Scientific Update: An expert panel will summarize the scientific evidence to support why pasta is recommended to regularly appear on family and restaurant tables. The panel will also present brief summaries of new carbohydrate and Mediterranean Diet research reports.
• Pasta, The Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer's: Feeding Your Brain: New studies find those who closely follow the Mediterranean Diet, which includes pasta, have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's and cognitive decline.
• The State of Research on Carbohydrates: A summary will be presented highlighting the most note-worthy published studies on carbohydrates over the past five years.
• Culinary Panel Discussion: Pasta Memories and Pasta Cook-Off: Food writers and cookbook authors will recount their most memorable family pasta meals. Culinary stars will create 10-minute pasta meals for a live audience. Members of the audience will vote for their favorite recipe and preparation.
  

Confirmed Speakers Include:

• Dr. Nikos Scarmeas: Speaker, The Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer's
  

PhD, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Columbia Medical Center

• Dr. Joanne Slavin: Speaker, The State of Research on Carbohydrates
  

PhD, Professor, Food Sciences and Nutrition, University of Minnesota; Chair, Carbohydrate Committee, 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee

• Melissa Clark: Moderator, Culinary Panel and Pasta Cook-Off
  

Award-winning author and food writer. Books include, "Chef Interrupted: Delicious Chefs Recipes You Can Actually Make at Home"

• K. Dun Gifford: Moderator, Scientific Update Panel
  

President and founder, Oldways Preservation Trust

World Pasta Day 2009 is an industry event closed to the general public. Media interested in attending should please contact Stephanie Fraiman at 212-297-2129. For more information on World Pasta Day 2009 please visit www.worldpastaday.org.

World Pasta Day 2009 is generously sponsored by: American Italian Pasta, Barilla, New World Pasta, A. Zerega's Sons, Buhler, Canadian Wheat Board, Dakota Growers Pasta, Fava, Horizon Milling, International Pasta Organization, IPACK-IMA, Italgrani USA, Landucci, Maldari & Sons, Miller Milling, North Dakota Wheat Commission, Pavan, Philadelphia Macaroni, Rembrandt Foods, ST Specialty Foods and Strom Products

Love seafood but need help selecting what's right for you? FreshDirect is here to help with its Daily Seafood Rating System. Introduced this week, the Daily Seafood Rating System takes the guess work out of choosing high-quality seafood and eliminates the need to speak with a fishmonger to find out what's best that day.

Utilizing a star system similar to that used in its Daily Produce Rating System, FreshDirect's in-house experts inspect its seafood stock each morning to provide customers with recommendations that are accurate for deliveries on the day following the ranking. If soft shell crabs scored a 4-star rating on the Web site Tuesday, they are one of FreshDirect's top selections -- guaranteed to be great for next-day deliveries on Wednesday.

Judging by smell, look and feel, the way experts at the fish docks and neighborhood fish vendors do, FreshDirect can now advise customers on a broader range of seafood items that are the best choice for their dinner tables. This is particularly useful during the summer months when customers can take advantage of FreshDirect's local fish catch including wild black sea bass, wild swordfish and wild mahi mahi. The Daily Seafood Rating System also helps identify first-of-season catches on short seasonal fish like wild Alaskan salmon and shad.

The seafood will be rated with stars, based on the following chart:

Five Stars: Never Better - Simply outstanding; the best of its kind

Four Stars: Great - A don't-miss, peak-season product

Three Stars: Good - A dependable product, sure to please

"Knowing that not all seafood lovers are seafood experts, FreshDirect's Daily Seafood Rating System lets our customers know which items are the catch of the day and the best seasonal picks," said Marc Sirois, seafood expert, FreshDirect. "Customers can be confident that we are offering them knowledgeable recommendations on all seafood items, allowing them to safely venture out and try exotic fishes as well as enjoy seasonal favorites."

For me, strawberry shortcake brings back memories of summers in Vermont where I grew up.  My mom would bake her delicious baking powder biscuits and we'd have fresh stawberries that we'd have picked ourselves (berry picking was a favorite activity!).  My mom would crush up some of the berries and add sugar, but I didn't like mine like that... I just used cut up fresh berries, and fresh homemade whipped cream with no sugar.  (I'd take my whipped cream out before the sugar was added for everyone else)  Oh SUBLIME......

It looks like there's a nice contender available on the Upper East Side at Flex Mussels.

Now that looks pretty darn good, doesn't it?  I doubt the biscuit is as good as my Mom's though...

Frank Bruni wrote up Flex Mussels a few weeks ago in the Times, here is the link.

This is a great dessert for the 4th of July if you just add a few blueberries!  Cheers and Happy Fourth!

Burger fans should check out the article in today's Dining Section of the New York Times, "The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts" by Jane Sigal.

The article explains the evolution of the haute burger and gives different chefs' takes on the ideal burger recipe.  Warning, reading this article will probably make you want a burger...

There's also a cool interactive feature, Elements of an Ideal Burger.

(picture source: New York Times)

Good news for foodees in Midtown, Aureole is offering 15% off all menus during their soft opening period (now - Sep. 15th).  In a dramatic departure from the Upper East Side townhouse setting of the old space, the new Aureole is housed in the brand new Bank of America Tower on 6th Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, diagonally across from Bryant Park. 

The atmosphere is now more like the Aureole in Las Vegas... with the dramatic wine racking on view, and a more modern aesthetic.  It's also more approachable...  with huge glass windows at street level, it's more inviting and the format also encourages more casual visits.  The restaurant now has a bar room and the formal dining room.  The bar room features an a la carte menu and the dining room a prix fixe.  It also has seasonal outdoor seating.  The bar room is "smart, casual" and has table service for 64 and an 18 seat bar.  The dining room seats 54 and is more formal; it was designed to evoke the feeling of the former townhouse space with warm colors and luxurious textiles.  The outdoor terrace seating is on "Anita's Way" which is the pedestrian walkway connecting the 42nd and 43rd street sides of the building. The interior design was done by Adam Tihany.

Personally, I'm looking forward to trying the crispy soft shell crab with endive and granny smith apple and branzini with artichokes, capers and black olives in the bar room! 

Very bad news came today, Payard has closed earlier than expected.

Apparently, they are looking for a new space... so hopefully we won't have to wait long... and hopefully (for me at least) the new space will also be on the Upper East Side.  It's such a shame because the current space was so beautifully built-out, it really made you feel tranported to Paris... The unfortunate closure is due to a rent dispute... the landlord was asking for a very large increase.  Very sad.

I'm glad I made in it last week to pick up some macarons, it may be a while until I get more...

Green Canteen has opened in Williamsburg at 106 N. 6th Street. The new restaurant (by the same people behind Dogmatic Sausage System) is based on the simple philosophy that you can savor the great taste of fresh, delicious food and feel good afterwards. The "Eat Well. Feel Well" menu consists of Mediterranean inspired food and American classics prepared in an innovative way.

Green Canteen offers dishes using super fresh, high quality ingredients. These include fresh antipasti, flatbreads made in an earth-stone oven, fresh salads with grilled seafood, chicken or meats, hummus bowls with skewers of meats and vegetables, handcrafted mini burgers, freshly made soups and chilis, plus homemade sodas, shakes and desserts.

The menu allows you to feel good because the food is clean and wholesome. The ingredients are sourced locally wherever possible, and are free from hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, artificial flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats. Their chefs seek out sustainably grown food and free-range meats.

You can enjoy all of this in a cozy booth or at a community table. Its a friendly, non-stuffy envirnoment where you can just hang out and relax.

Green Canteen is the first New York State restaurant to be SILVER LEED Certified. In addition to the reclaimed wood for the community table, all other woods are certified from the Forest Stewardship Council. Green Canteen features many other eco-friendly innovations: solar panel hot water system to provide hot water, low-flow plumbing fixtures and has committed to 100% wind energy usage. Most of the design and construction materials for Green Canteen have been sourced form local manufacturers, suppliers and vendors.

It's already getting good reviews.  A New York Magazine reader says "Food was really, really good and reasonably priced. We ordered several dishes for the table and it was more than enough food...the flatbreads were fantastic; my wife loved the shrimp hummus dish...definitely going back there!"

Sounds great...  Their website is not up yet, nor are they listed on Menu Pages, but I am sure they will be soon.  Cheers.

I read in the New York Times that the Obamas had been to La Fontaine de Mars for dinner while in Paris last week.  I don't know the restaurant scene in Paris that well - -so I thought it was funny that this place IS one of my places that I always visit when I'm in Paris. It's a charming spot near the Eiffel Tower in the 7th.  It has that classic bistro look and serves non-fussy food like freshly sliced country ham, escargots, steak frites, daurade... etc. etc.  And they have a nice wine list with a wide selection of prices to suit everyone.

The location overlooks a charming fountain (thus the name) and there is outdoor seating in season.

Mark Your Calendars for Thursday, October 8th - Sunday, October 11th

Festival Founder and Director Lee Brian Schrager, in collaboration with Southern Wine & Spirits of New York, is pleased to announce tickets will go on sale June 15th, 2009 for the second annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine and Travel+Leisure magazines.

Taking place this Columbus Day weekend, all the proceeds from the Festival will again benefit the hunger-relief organizations Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength. "After a record-breaking year at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, we are excited to return to New York City with a one-of-a-kind program," says Schrager. "In these hard times, hunger-relief organizations need our help even more and these two valuable organizations excel at putting these proceeds to good use. We are honored to be working with them to bring awareness to this issue and help families in need."

Guests will be delighted to savor the selection of exciting new events that have been added for the 2009 Festival. The fresh program begins on Thursday, October 8th with Bacon, Bourbon and the Blues hosted by Thrillist with the following innovative programming continuing throughout the weekend:

• Beloved and controversial New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni will hold a culinary discussion to share insights from the field and discuss the highly anticipated release of his book "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater" (Penguin, 2009)
• An unprecedented dinner series in conjunction with the James Beard House will include:
  • The intersection between food and fashion will be examined at the highly anticipated dinner hosted by fashion designer Zac Posen with Giada De Laurentiis (Giada at Home) and Marcus Samuelsson
  • 2009 James Beard Award "Best Chef New York City" Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern hosting an Oktoberfest Dinner
  • An unprecedented dinner with Alain Ducasse and his chefs who will cook in the Beard House kitchen for the first time
  • A decadent Jacques Torres & Friends Chocolate Brunch
• TimesTalks presented by New York Times will feature a new line-up of discussions with Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Anthony Bourdain
• The Festival's interactive wine and spirits seminars and cocktail clinics will return, taking place at Festival headquarters, The Standard, New York with new headliners like Kevin Zraly, Tony Abou-Ganim, Andrea Robinson, Anthony Giglio and Josh Wesson
• Not-to-be-missed wine seminars at the Astor Center, featuring in-depth discussions with brand aficionados including Boisset, Perrier-Jouet Fleur led by Agnes Laplanche, and Chateau de Beaucastel led by fifth generation owner and winemaker Marc Perrin
• Delta presents Dim Sum & Disco Brunch hosted by Ming Tsai, featuring talent such as Shang's Susur Lee and Chinatown Brasserie's Joe Ng at China Grill
• An all-day affair Flavors of the Farm: A Day with Stone Barns Center and Blue Hill at Stone Barns
• Hill Country will play host to the queen of Southern cuisine and her friends as Paula Deen hosts Down South Up North with boys Bobby and Jamie Deen; featuring the latest creations from the Lee Bros., along with Art Smith, Chris Lily and Katie Lee Joel
• Closing out the weekend is an unprecedented tribute to Little Italy's most iconic dish the "meatball", with Meatball Madness hosted by Giada De Laurentiis at la venue at the Waterfront

Returning Festival favorites include the kick-off event Chelsea Market After Dark presented by Food Network and hosted by Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) and Sandra Lee (Sandra's Money Saving Meals); the Blue Moon Burger Bash presented by Allen Brothers hosted by Rachael Ray held under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO; the chic neighborhood-wide tasting Meatpacking Uncorked; RED hosted by Tom Colicchio with Paul Bartolotta; the celebration of sugary delicacies known as Godiva Chocolatier presents SWEET sponsored by Perrier-Jouet, hosted by Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes); and the unparalleled tasting of food, wine and spirits found in the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park.

SOURCE Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival

There was a great article in the New York Times on Sunday, "A Town Fights to Save an Osais of Baguettes" by Dan Barry.

It's a charming story about a French couple who moved to a small town in New Hampshire and opened "Le Rendez-Vous" a French bakery.  It opened in 2001 and was embraced  by the community.  Recently the State Dept. denied the renewal of the E-2 investor visa of one of the owners because the business was determined to be "marginal" and not meet the need of having a significant economic impact in the U.S.  And the bakery would have to close.  Of course, town residents were up in arms at the thought of losing their baguettes (and friends) and petitioned, wrote letters, etc. etc.  And it worked!  The decision was reversed.

Nice to see that sometimes things do work out for the best.  As a fellow baguette fanatic, I would definitely have done the same.

Vacationers and locals basking in the sunny Hamptons this summer will once again enjoy delicious, high-quality groceries, courtesy of FreshDirect, one of the nation's leading online gourmet food purveyors and delivery services. Beginning May 14, 2009, FreshDirect will resume its Hamptons summer service, offering the freshest seasonal and local produce and foods, including barbecue-ready fresh foods, competitively priced groceries and bulk items, for the ultimate in summertime convenience.

From local, fresh fruit and vegetables to high-quality meat and sustainable seafood, FreshDirect provides hundreds of options to satisfy the cravings of hungry Hamptonites. Those looking to keep their summer bodies in shape will love FreshDirect's organic and all-natural selection, including locally grown leafy greens, asparagus and fruit juice. For those looking to stock-up the summer house, FreshDirect also carries the essentials, including bulk items, health and beauty products, cleaning supplies and frosty beverages delivered right to your door. Avoid the nuisance of packed grocery stores and enjoy more fun in the sun!

"Summer is a great time to unwind with friends and family and enjoy fun outdoor activities -- from picnics at the beach to barbecues with friends -- and our Hamptons service is designed to help customers maximize this precious time," said Steve Druckman, Chief Marketing Officer, FreshDirect. "Our tasty, chef-prepared meals, sustainable seafood and local produce will only add to this summer's enjoyment."

Whether it's a Kansas City rib barbecue or a veggie wrap and tuna nicoise salad picnic, FreshDirect's seasonal menu is packed with a variety of delicious fresh foods that are the perfect companion to a wide range of summer activities and a healthy, on-the-go lifestyle. FreshDirect provides fresh, convenient solutions that match this way of life.

FreshDirect will commemorate Memorial, Independence and Labor Day with weekly top picks destined for tasty celebrations, all on sale. This year's Memorial Day picks include full rack grill-ready ribs, boneless rib eye steak and Karl Ehmer chicken bratwurst, all 50% off. Visit freshdirect.com today for a complete list of holiday picks and special offers.

Delivery zones include full service in the towns of East Hampton, Amagansett, Southampton, Bridgehampton, Westhampton, Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays and select surrounding areas. Customers residing in these towns can schedule home deliveries between noon and 8 p.m. each Thursday and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each Saturday. Existing FreshDirect customers can easily add their Hamptons address to their account at checkout. Orders must be complete by 7 p.m. on the previous night.

More details about FreshDirect's products and services can be found on its Web site: http://www.freshdirect.com/.

Following a national trend, Westchester County residents buffeted by the struggling economy are downsizing their out-to-dinner experiences, leading restaurants to cook up delicious deals, according to Zagat Survey's 2009/2010 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants Survey, released today on ZAGAT.com. In the Survey, based on the collective opinions of 4,502 local diners who together consumed nearly 640,000 restaurant meals in the past year, 46% of surveyors say they are eating out less often, 42% are being more attentive to prices when ordering, 37% of surveyors are eating at less-expensive places and 18% are cutting back on alcohol.

The dining downturn may also be a response to rising prices. The average cost of a meal in Westchester is $38.99 - a 3.5% increase from last year's Survey - making the region among the most expensive in the country, just below New York City ($40.78) and New Jersey ($39.24). On the bright side, many restaurants are rolling out their own stimulus packages to lure local diners.

Zagat's 2009/10 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants Survey covers 955 local eateries with ratings and reviews available as a guidebook, on ZAGAT.com and via ZAGAT TO GO(TM) - Zagat's mobile application for iPhone, BlackBerry and PDAs - providing portable access to 40,000 Zagat-Rated establishments worldwide, top lists, photos, maps, online reservation capabilities and more.

Farm-to-Table for Less: Despite tightening dining budgets, the green movement continues to take hold, with 70% of surveyors saying it's important that the food they eat is locally grown. Although 53% say they're willing to pay more for organic food, and another 55% will pay more for sustainable fare, a new spate of cheaper, eco-friendly options means they don't have to. While not inexpensive, The Barn at Bedford Post lures locavores for seasonal American fare priced steps below the inn's flagship Farmhouse restaurant. Likewise, Blue Hill Cafe in Pocantico Hills offers wallet-friendly bites from the same farm-fresh ingredients used at its parent, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Now joining the fray is Sweet Grass Grill in Tarrytown, spotlighting grass-fed beef burgers and local produce.

"Westchester and the Hudson Valley have long been popular destinations to find locally grown ingredients," said Tim Zagat, CEO and co-founder of Zagat Survey. "Restaurateurs are capitalizing on their resources and the growing trend toward locally and sustainably raised food to please their patrons and stay competitive in today's market."

Big Ticket, Not-So-Big Tabs: Even the county's swankiest eateries are shifting their focus toward value. X20 Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers - voted Most Popular this year - features two levels of dining: formal New American fare upstairs, and more casual small plates and cocktails downstairs in its Dylan Lounge. Special-occasion mainstay Crabtree's Kittle House in Chappaqua now offers a New American bar bites menu, and Rye's legendary French La Panetiere has loosened its prix fixe only format, adding lower-cost a la carte options. Meanwhile, diners seeking an economical celebrity chef experience fill up on pizzas at the Mario Batali backed Italian, Tarry Lodge, in Port Chester.

Winners: Once again, Xaviars at Piermont takes the No. 1 spots for both Food and Service. Peter Kelley's "beguiling" New American cuisine is rated 29 out of 30, and the restaurant gets a 28 for its "top-level" staff. Kelley's newest entry, X20 Xaviars, set on the Historic Yonkers Pier, is rated the area's Most Popular restaurant. Top Decor goes to Equus at the Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, where patrons appreciate the "magnificent" River views in the "lap of luxury." The Valley's Top Newcomer is New Paltz's hearty New American 36 Main, praised for an "adventurous menu" and "fair prices." Other celebrated arrivals include Tarry Lodge, Spadaro, Chutney Masala and Arielle.

Hudson Valley Values: Simplicity and comfort seem to be watchwords for Hudson Valley restaurateurs brave enough to open in a sour economy - but that doesn't mean quality lost out. Mid-region, Red Hook gained Flatiron, a bistro specializing in updated American fare, and Woodstock welcomed Cucina, dispensing Italian favorites. The bistro quotient got a boost in Rockland County with Nyack's Velo, an American hot spot, and Piermont's Sidewalk Bistro, offering robust French classics. Responding to the times, a few established eateries paused for menu makeovers. Amenia's De La Vergne emerged as a classic steakhouse, while Rhinebeck's Starr Place and Rosendale's Bywater Bistro now offer simpler (read: more affordable) grub on their New American menus.

Best Buys: Westchester and Hudson Valley restaurateurs strive to make fine dining accessible to all. At top-rated restaurants such as La Panetiere, X20 Xaviars or Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar, diners can enjoy bargain-priced prix fixe lunches for only $25. Dinner deals for $35 or less can be enjoyed at Ristorante Buona Sera, Crabtree's Kittle House, Relish or John Michael's. Locals will always find a good Bang for their Buck at standbys like Walter's, Red Rooster, Bread Alone, Apple Pie Bakery and Bagels & More.

Weighing In: When dining out in Westchester and the Hudson Valley, 73% of surveyors say it is important to have low-carb, low-fat or heart-healthy items available on the menu. In addition, 71% of local diners would support a ban on trans fats from food preparation in restaurant kitchens, and 60% would say they would like to see calorie counts listed on the menu.

The Guide: As with all Zagat Surveys, 2009/2010 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants is made by consumers for consumers. In addition to Top Lists for Popularity, Food, Decor, Service and Best Buys, the guide lists the Key Newcomers and maps the Most Popular restaurants. 2009/2010 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants ($14.95) was edited by John Bruno Turiano, Judith Hausman, Julia Sexton, Lynn Hazlewood, Lorraine Gengo and Michelle Golden. The guide is available at bookstores and other retail outlets, through ZAGAT.com or by calling 888-371-5440. Content is also available online at ZAGAT.com and on mobile devices via ZAGAT.mobi and ZAGAT TO GO(TM) for iPhone(TM), BlackBerry and smartphones.

SOURCE Zagat Survey, LLC