karendipity cooks: burgers

after watching the barefoot contessa prepare sliders and corn on her grill on foodtv, i was inspired to replicate the meal at home. i combined some recipes i found on the internet with one in my barefoot contessa cookbook to come up with the following recipe. she suggests putting a pat of butter inside each patty, but that's a bit much for me.

mix ketchup, chopped onions, chopped garlic, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice, and brown sugar in a small bowl. make about 2 tbsp of sauce and make sure it tastes okay. then add 1 lb. ground chuck, 0.5 lb. ground sirloin, 3 egg yolks, salt and pepper. form into patties, grill on a hot pan for about 3-4 mins a side. after flipping, i add a piece of swiss to each of derek's patties. in a second pan, i fried some mushrooms with onions and garlic to make his mushroom swiss burger. i prefer mine with arugula and a slice of tomato. i also fried some corn with my fake butter for a side dish. the burgers turned out pretty good, although nowhere as good as the shake shack. i think i need to figure out the "smashing" technique they use.

angelo's

new york, ny

website

my friends and i recently held a pizza tasting - everyone brought their favorite pizza to determine which was the best in midtown east. angelo's won easily. they use fresh mozzarella, great sauce, and tons of basil. the crust is nice and chewy, with a good amount of char. they also have an excellent arugula salad that you can start with, which makes you feel a little healthier. they also serve huge french rolls, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

the pizza is excellent when delivered, but even better when you get it fresh at the restaurant. also, when you go into the restaurant, they serve everything with really good olive oil - perfect for dipping the french rolls and pizza crusts. with a full bar and a casual atmosphere, it's great for hanging out with friends after work.

eleven madison park

new york, ny

website

dinner at eleven madison park is not a meal, it's an experience. i'm not sure my humble writing skills can do this place justice, so i invite you to read frank bruni's take on this place. the restaurant is housed in a beautiful old bank building overlooking madison square park. the service is stellar - this is a place that takes the "customer is always right" motto to another level. and the food - between the hors d'oeuvres, amuse bouche, appetizer, entree, dessert, and all the extras in between - it is sensory overload. it is foodie heaven. i'm going to try to explain the experience, but i'll have to go over my two paragraph limit.

we start by requesting a bottle of champagne from the champagne cart (yes, there's a whole cart) - vouvray petillant brut 2002. after ordering from our menus, the waiter brings the first plate of extras - hors d'oeuvres. these include a beet-flavored marshmallow, celery gelee with truffle, a savory macaroon, something with goat cheese, and my favorite - sweetbreads stuffed in a crispy shell shaped like a carrot. after a while, the waiters bring another extra - mushroom soup with parmesan foam, served with a mini brioche. it's unreal - rich and creamy but light and frothy at the same time. just when you think they're done with the pre-appetizer appetizers, they bring a curious glass container, filled 2/3 with dry rice and topped with a small, black ball-shaped item. what could it be? why, it's a black truffle beignet! of course. upon opening the container, the scent of truffles pretty much smacks you in the head. the beignet itself is doughy and earthy. quite surprising.

now we get to the food that we actually ordered. my appetizer was unbelievable - a farm egg, slow-cooked so that the white and yolk are both the same soft foamy consistency, served with a wine sauce, winter mushrooms, and extremely tender frog legs. again, the flavors and textures are incredibly rich, yet delicate. derek ordered the shrimp wrapped in avocado. for our entree, we shared the bluefoot chicken. the entire chicken was sliced in front of us - the breast meat was served with a truffle sauce with tiny potatoes and leeks. the dark meat was taken back to the kitchen where it was turned into a creamy dish with chanterelles. i didn't like the breast meat (but i rarely do), but the dark meat was delicious. at this point, i was full beyond full and i might have looked at the waiter skeptically when he brought our desserts - a vanilla souffle with passionfruit sauce and the chocolate peanut butter palette. both were quite good. and we're not done yet - next, the waiter presented a large plate full of adorable mini macaroons for us to choose from. i took one out of politeness and simply stared at it. derek really enjoyed his peanut butter and jelly macaroon.

finally, as a parting gift, we each received a lovely little box of housemade jelly candies in grapefruit, lemon, lime, and tangerine. the next day, or maybe a week later, taking a bite of one of the candies and tasting the fresh fruit and delicate texture, is the perfect way to reminisce about the eleven madison park experience.

blaue gans

new york, ny

website

last weekend, derek and i were craving some schnitzel and decided to stroll down to tribeca to join jenny for dinner. we ended up walking faster than expected and arrived at jenny's apartment about an hour early. no problem, we all headed to ward III for some "bespoke" pre-dinner drinks. simply tell the bartender what fruits/flavors/alcohols/herbs you would like in your drink and he puts together a magical concoction. my favorite is when i asked for something with peach and champagne - and the bartender created a peach pie cocktail with a sprig of rosemary! warning - the drinks are strong. one will give you quite a buzz, two will make it difficult to walk to your dinner destination.

we did, however, manage to make it to blaue gans for dinner. before derek's co-worker introduced us to blaue gans, i always thought that schnitzel was some kind of germanic pastry. but turns out, it's pounded fried meat (sometimes pan-fried, sometimes deep-fried). and it's delicious. blaue gans has several varieties of schnitzel. on a previous visit, i had pork schnitzel that was stuffed with ham and cheese. this time, to continue the double-pork trend, i ordered pork schnitzel topped with a bacon mushroom cream sauce. the sauce has an amazing rich flavor and the meat is tender and juicy. who knew german food could taste so good.

haru

new york, ny

website

everyone needs a local sushi place. in new york, it should be within walking distance, preferably just a few blocks. there should always be a seat available. and the sushi should be reasonably priced (for sushi). although you can't expect the sushi to be flown in daily from the tsukiji market in tokyo, the sushi should always be fresh and tasty.

despite the fact that derek and i have lived in the gramercy/flatiron area for over a year, i have yet to find the perfect local sushi place. instead, i've settled for haru. it tends to be a bit too trendy for me with loud music, an unnecessary waterfall, and expensive rolls. but it does have very good cocktails and unique rolls. my new favorite roll is the double toro roll - yellowtail toro, salmon toro, asparagus, carrot and cucumber. sounds strange to be sure, but it turned out to be a perfect combination of fresh fish and crunchy veggies.

6/19/2010: reposted with photo of giant platter of sushi

xoco

chicago, il

website

christine and val, fellow foodies, suggested xoco for dinner. i was very excited because i've wanted to try a rick bayless restaurant ever since he won top chef: masters. xoco is a casual restaurant located next to bayless's more formal restaurants. it's an interesting set-up, like a high end fast food joint. there's a large blackboard with the menu listed in chalk. you order and pay at the register, they give you a number, and then you sit down at your table and wait for a server to bring you your food.

at 7:30 pm on a friday night, the place was packed. they wouldn't let us order until there was room in the dining room for 3 people. after about a half hour, we were finally allowed to order. not one to pass up homemade chorizo, i chose the choriqueso torta with homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, artisan jack cheese, and tomatillo salsa - delicious. the blackboard also explained that xoco grounds its own chocolate in-house, so i ordered a chocolate cafe con leche - which was a bit bitter, but rich and chocolatey. val and christine ordered fresh churros for the table - unbelievable - the churros were perfectly crispy on the outside, steamy and chewy on the inside, and covered with sugar and cocoa bits. an amazing meal with excellent company, unique and delicious food, and even a celebrity sighting ("hey, that's rick bayless walking into the kitchen!").

giordano's

chicago, il

website

chicago, it turns out, is a food city. i wish i had more time to explore the culinary landscape, but i only had two free evenings. the first evening, i told kasi that i was craving chicago-style pizza. the hometown girl takes me to the famous giordano's on rush street for their famous deep dish pizza pie. we order the special, of course - sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions. the pizza takes about 45 minutes to bake, which is just enough time for kasi and myself to update eachother on: our lives, the lives of our mutual friends, and the latest episode of american idol.

the pie finally arrives and it is MASSIVE. we ordered the smallest size available. it's supposed to serve 1-2 people, but the pizza must have weighed at least ten pounds. i'm telling you - there is no way that 1 person can eat the entire pizza. i would be shocked to see 2 people finish it. there's a thick crunchy buttery crust, topped with gooey chewy cheese an inch deep, and another half-inch or so of sausage, veggies and red sauce. delicious. i can understand how someone might want to eat the whole pizza, but i only managed to get through 1/3. kasi succeeded in finishing another 1/3. we had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant, but it was worth every bite.

ariyoshi

new york, ny

link to yelp

jenny and i come here all the time to get their udon noodle soup. it tastes just like the udon i had in japan - perfectly cooked noodles and a rich, slightly fishy, broth (that has probably been cooking all day in order to intensify its flavor). i like to get the pork udon with miso. jenny usually gets the tempura udon with chicken. it's just across the street from our offices - convenient comfort food.

last week, we decided the cold weather necessitated some hot noodle soup. to our surprise, however, ariyoshi had completely changed its menu! it is apparently now an izakaya serving japanese pub food. so we took the opportunity to order some appetizers - the fried tofu and the cold radish with mentaiko mayonnaise - before sharing a bowl of udon. for dessert (pictured), we ordered the tempura green tea ice cream, which came topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. yum. so far, so good - we'll have to come back to try the rest of the new menu.

la mangeoire

new york, ny

website

jenny heard that la mangeoire just got a fancy new chef. even though it's a little bit pricey for lunch, jenny and i decided to try it out. the interior of the restaurant is rather dimly lit, but we walked through to the second dining room which gets a little bit more light. once it gets warmer, however, the outdoor sidewalk cafe is the best option.

we both ordered the prix fixe lunch, which is just under $20. the bread basket was a pleasant surprise, warm french bread with soft butter. the prix fixe includes soup/salad (we both chose a very good butternut squash soup), entree, and coffee. pictured is jenny's croque madame, which was much more photogenic than my ravioli niçoise (beef and spinach ravioli in a tomato, black olive & red wine sauce). definitely a comfort food spot.

fried chicken dinner @ momofuku noodle bar

new york, ny

website

large-format meals, where a restaurant prepares a preset meal for a large group of people, are a growing trend in nyc. some examples include resto's pick-an-animal meal and the ssam bar's bo ssam feast. derek, however, loves fried chicken and has had his heart set on the noodle bar's fried chicken dinner since it debuted last fall. momofuku uses an egalitarian online system, so whether you're able to snag a reservation depends entirely on luck and persistence. after months of trying, derek managed to get reservations for 4 of us at 11:45 pm on a friday night. not the best time slot, but with less than 40 reservations available each week, you take what you can get.

the long-awaited night finally arrived, but derek didn't leave the office until 11:15 pm. michelle, jenny, and i also had long weeks at work. so it was four bleary-eyed young professionals who sat down at momofuku just before midnight. a few glasses of wine later, however, we were ready for our giant mountain of fried chicken served two ways - southern and korean. the seasoning on the southern style was a little too salty, but the meat inside was amazingly moist and flavorful. honestly, i've never had juicier fried chicken breast. the korean style was extremely crunchy with an appropriately sticky sweet spicy sauce. an hour and a half later, we had managed to finish about 2/3 of the mountain without falling asleep. quite an accomplishment. it was a delicious and fun food adventure - there's something special about sharing a giant plate of chicken with friends - but next time we'll do a fully conscious trip to bon chon instead.