NYC, Part 2 (Tarrytown Edition)

After a cross Pacific and cross country plane ride, a monster sandwich at Katz's, a late night Roman-style dinner and a couple of drinks out on the town the combination of jet lag, food coma, and alcohol pretty much had me knocked out the entire next day. But it wouldn't keep us down for long. We had more eating to do. This time not in the city, but upstate a bit for a dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

I was excited to try this "farm-to-table" style dining and was looking forward to the best that Stone Barns and the surrounding farm country could offer. Though Dan Barber's original Blue Hill is in the city, I was excited to head to Stone Barns as it is as close to the farm as you can get.

CK and I headed over to Grand Central Station to meet LO and IR for the 45 minute train ride to Tarrytown. After another 10 minute cab ride through the darkened countryside we arrived at Stone Barns. Too late for the farm tour, we escaped the cold as quickly as possible and headed inside.

After a drink in the lounge and a glass of champagne at the table, I was already buzzing both from the drinks and the anticipation. The staff at Blue Hill started us of with a variety of vegetables picked right off the farm that day through a number of interesting preparations and presentations.

A variety of cauliflower

Baby carrots, baby fennel, and baby turnips

Potato and squash chips

Beet burgers (best "vegiburger" ever) and salsify

Dried Kale

Charcuterie ~ Chicken liver with chocolate tuile, speck, bologna, sopresatta

Pig's face bacon

Not a typo. Bacon made with the meat off a pig's face as every bit as delicious, if not more so, than "regular" bacon.

Homemade oatmeal crackers with ricotta, butter, arugula salt, and beet salt

Blue Hill Farm veal marrow with American sturgeon caviar

Pure indulgence. A veal bone split and roasted then topped with caviar. The richness of the marrow and the briny pop of the caviar made this dish a hit.

Forona beets, homemade yogurt, pine nuts, mache

Roasted baby butternut squash

This Morning's Farm egg, bloomsdale spinach & cracked wheat

Stone Barns Morteau Sausage, fall fruits and vegetables

An outstanding dish. The house made morteau sausage was singularly one of the best things I ate on my whole trip. Perfectly composed and balanced as everything on the plate had a purpose. 

Handmade kabocha ravioli, stone barns goose breast & lemon thyme

Stone Barns Pastured Lamb, baby field cabbage & heirloom shelling beans

Hudson Valley Venison, fall fruits & rutabaga

Butternut Squash Soup, apple cider gelee, mutsu apple-ginger sorbet

Pickled Plum Soup, honey, fennel, concord grape sorbet

Hazelnut Daquoise, quince, maple syrup, rosemary ice cream, and toasted meringue

Golden Beet Cake, molasses, white chocolate, and pistachio ice cream

As you can see, it was quite a marathon meal. Not even the most unhappy and non-talkative couple in existence, silently gnawing away at their food at the two top next to us could take away from the experience. While Blue Hill at Stone Barns didn't offer the most refined food, it was straightforward and delicious. You can tell that the kitchen has total respect for the produce and proteins that they work with. This is a product of both Chef Barber's philosophy and how closely they work with their neighboring farmers.

Honestly, it is something that I wish we would see more of here at home. I'm not asking for Michelin star food, or even food that tastes like it came from Stone Barns (or anywhere else, for that matter). I want to experience flavors that can only come from produce grown in Hawaii, presented in a straightforward manner. There has been a movement to make this more of a reality, but the demand has to be there too. Unfortunately, a populace that makes Romano's Macaroni Grill it's best new restaurant and continues to vote it one of the best for Italian food makes it quite an uphill battle to change people's minds. But this is a tangent and an argument for another time.

The meal took so long, we missed our train and had to wait in the cold for one of the last trains out of Tarrytown. After 45 minute train ride to chat about and digest and reflect on our meal we arrive back in the city at around 2AM. We headed back to CK's apartment to sleep and get ready to eat again.....

America's Best Doughnuts?

Just browsing the internet and came across this article highlighting America's best doughnuts and it reminded me of last night's post. While I don't how reliable a source Forbes Traveller is for rating food, I found the list quite interesting as I've been to at least 4 places on this list. It includes one local spot one wouldn't necessarily expect to see on the list of best doughnut shops.

Lilikoi Malasadas, guava coulis ~ Chef Mavro ~ Honolulu, HI

Variety of Doughnuts ~ Doughnut Plant ~ NYC

See the rest of the list here: Forbes Traveller

*All photos credit Forbes Traveller*

NYC, Part 1

No Broadway shows, no Times Square, no shopping, no giant double decker red bus, no Empire State Building observation deck, no Statue of Liberty, no Central Park horsey rides. I was going to New York for one reason. To eat. 10,000 miles (roundtrip) and countless thousands of calories later I can say, that I did it the right way and I didn't miss out on one thing.

After arriving in New York ahead of my baggage that was still sitting in the belly of Chicago's O'Hare airport and briefly settling in at CK's apartment, we soon set out for Katz's Delicatessen.  Katz's was founded in 1888 and has been feeding masses of New Yorkers and tourists alike ever since. 

Corned beef on rye.

Katz's has a unique ordering process where you actually order from the guys that cut the juicy slices of meat from the massive briskets and assemble the stacks right in front of you. They then mark a ticket which you use to pay at the front on the way out. CK and I split a corned beef and a pastrami sandwich so I could get a taste of both. Katz's serves some of the best corned beef and pastrami that I have ever had.

Pastrami, Corned Beef and Sour Pickles (There's our friend LO's pastrami in the background [sans condiments, of course]).

Whats a good Jewish deli meal without latkes?

Potato pancakes, apple sauce & sour cream

Despite us all proclaiming our level of fullness to each other and just to set the tone for the rest of my week in New York, we decided to make our way over to the Doughnut Plant to eat some more and try some of their world famous creations.

As seen on the Food Network, countless other blogs, and somewhere in Tokyo, the Doughnut Plant's signature doughnut is the Tres Leches.

Tres Leches Doughnut. Yum.

New to their menu was the Creme Brulee doughnut with a delicious crunchy sugary crust on top.

Creme Brulee Doughnut

At this point, I still dont think we fully grasped what we had gotten ourselves into. But satisfied, for the moment, we headed back to CK's apartment to rest, recover, and wait for United to deliver my luggage.

After a good nap and a 10PM visit from the courier with my bags, we finally headed out on the town for dinner. I learned pretty quickly that a Saturday dinner at 11:00 PM isn't to out of the ordinary as LO had gotten to the restaurant a bit ahead of us and informed us that they were full, but would have a seat for us in half an hour. Like all good things, it was totally worth the wait.

Lupa ~ NYC

This was the special pasta of the evening.

Housemade fettucini, duck ragu

Next was one of the best pastas I've ever had. "One of the best ________ I've ever had" was quickly becoming a running theme on this trip. Especially since I was able to try a lot of different things for the first time.

Bucatini All' Amatriciana

The carbonara, our waiter explained, was "aggressively seasoned." The rich sauce thickened with cheese & egg yolks and studded with chunks of crisp pancetta was especially warming and comforting on that below freezing New York night.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Now onto the mains, well the sides for the mains...the potatoes were particularly remarkable. Cooked like tostones (twice fried plantains ~ fried once, smashed, and fried again) then seasoned and served with sage.

Potato; eggplant

Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of lamb shortribs by the time we put our order in at about 11:30PM, but the kitchen was able to scrounge up something and throw these things together for us...

Pork shoulder with Treviso and Aceto

While not the most tender pork shoulder I have ever eaten, I loved how the vinegar helped cut through the richness of the meat. 

We also ordered the skate (also delicious).

Skate with Clams and Rabe

Then we moved onto deserts....

Black pepper panna cotta & fig

Lupa Tartufo

It was only my first 14 hours in the city, but I had already experienced great food with even better friends. I had an inkling I was going to have a good time before I got to NY.  But after my first day I knew for a fact that this trip was going to be one to savor.

Sushi Izakaya Gaku

After a short debate over which Izakaya we should eat at last Saturday, CK and I finally decided to check out Sushi Izakaya Gaku. I had only been once and it would be a first for CK and we were both in for a treat.

We called ahead and said we were interested in a table for 2 and were on the way. The host on the phone informed me that a table was just opening up and should be ready when we arrived.  

After perusing the menu for a bit we decided on the following dishes....

Also known as the "foie gras of the sea" the ankimo, or monkfish liver, was classically served at Gaku. For those who haven't had the opportunity to try ankimo, it and has a really delicate flavor and silky texture perfectly complimented by the tartness of ponzu and the heat from the of the spicy grated daikon and raw green onion.

Ankimo ~ Monkfish Liver, Ponzu, Negi, Momiji Oroshi 

One of the our favorite dishes of the evening, the Spicy Hamachi Tartare came on ice topped with tobiko and a quail egg. After mixing everything together, you spoon the mixture onto the unseasoned sheets of nori that come on the side.

Spicy Hamachi Tartare

The TNT or dynamite has become a staple of Japanese restaurants around the country and usually comes with an assortment of scallops, shrimp, squid, and/or other assorted seafood as well as mushrooms and onions all baked in a slightly spicy mayonnaise. The previous time I went to Gaku the TNT was heavy on the shrimp and scallops. This time it contained more squid and tako. At a less scrupulous restaurant, I would think it was because they were trying to get rid of seafood a bit past its prime. However, nothing about Gaku led me to believe that the choice of seafood wasn't simply based on what they had fresh on hand at the time.

TNT ~ Shrimp, Squid, Tako, & Mushrooms baked in a spicy mayonnaise

The Maguro Chazuke was another winner. A small bowl of rice topped with high quality slices or raw tuna. It comes with a pot of hot tea to pour over top and a garnish of fresh (frozen?) wasabi and green onions). Japanese comfort food at its best.

Maguro Chazuke 

Being a "Sushi Izakaya" we decided that we had to try some sushi. While not approaching Sasabune status, the sushi was fresh and I appreciated the presentation (no wasabi on the side, you only get as much as the chef wants you to have on each piece). The mackerel was intriguing in that it actually tasted nothing like mackerel, but was good nonetheless. 

Assortment of Sushi

All of this quality food as well as a couple of large Sapporos cost exactly $100 and was totally worth the price. We tipped $5 Rachel Ray style* and went on our way....

*Thats a joke, by the way and hopefully the first and last time I mention RR on this blog. Sorry CK........

Close, but 4,000 miles apart

Some people think a hot dog is just a hot dog. Those people aren't from Chicago. Actually, I'm not even from Chicago. However, I do have ties to the city and recognize that Chicago hot dogs, particularly those made by Vienna Sausage (absolutely no relation to the canned stuff so popular in Hawaii), stand head and [broad] shoulders above the rest.

The modern "twist" to the classic hot dog stand formula can be found both in Chicago at Hot Doug's and in Hawaii at Hank's Haute Dogs. 

After standing in line outside of Hot Doug's for about 45 minutes, made much more bearable by the beautiful weather on that particular Saturday afternoon, my family and I ordered up a few different dogs to try. 

Hot Doug's proprietor Doug Sohn made headlines during Chicago's absurd ban on foie gras by continuing to serve this...

Duck & Foie Gras Sausage, Truffled goat cheese ~ Hot Doug's

Lamb Merguez Sausage ~ Hot Doug's

Thuringer Bratwurst ~ Hot Doug's

Duck.....fat......fries ~ Hot Doug's

Henry Adaniya of Trio fame recently fulfilled his life long dream of opening up a hot dog stand here on Oahu. Borrowing a bit from Hot Doug's successful formula, Hank has put his own twist on the Chicago hot dog stand out here in Hawaii. He spares no expense to ensure that the Chicago dog he delivers is the real deal, going as far as importing the dogs, green relish, sport peppers, and even the steamed poppy seed buns directly from Chicago and always finishing the dog with a sprinkle of celery salt.

First the classic polish dragged through the garden...

All-beef polish sausage ~ Hank's Haute Dogs

Onto the the twist....

"The Fat Boy" ~ Deep fried bacon wrapped sausage ~ Hank's Haute Dogs

Classic sides...

Best fries in town ~ Hank's Haute Dogs

I'm going to have to return to try Hank's version of duck fat fries (served only on Saturdays and Sundays)

Maui Onion Rings ~ Hank's Haute Dogs

Hank's is enough of a draw that my father (probably the only individual that ever had a personal account with Vienna Sausage, importer of 1,000+ hot dogs and polish sausage every year and a guy who boasts the direct line to the VP of Vienna on his cell phone contact list) still makes his way down to Coral Street to get his fix. The draw is undoubtedly the nostalgia brought on by Hank's flawless reproduction of the classic (my dad, forever the purist, won't go near any of the "haute" sausages). I, on the other hand, usually love to try whatever crazy concoctions Hank can come up with.

There is probably one thing that Doug Sohn, Henry Adaniya, my dad, and I can all agree on though....NEVER PUT KETCHUP ON A HOT DOG!