Portuguese Duck Rice and Rich Reds at Aldea (European Wine Bloggers Conference Kickoff)

Last week a bevy of NY bloggers attended the European Wine Bloggers Conference kick-off hosted by Catavino and ViniPortugal at new Portuguese restaurant, Aldea, in Union Square. I was pumped for the opportunity to taste Chef George Mendes’ food and discover Portuguese wines, which I’d only had a handful of in the past. It was great to engage with old blog buddies like Lenn Thompson and Rob Bralow and meet new ones too.

It was a casual affair in the upstairs space at Aldea. We sampled signature dishes, each paired with a few wines. I started with a clean, lightly cured Spanish mackerel with a hint of smokiness, topped with crunchy soy, excellent with an Anselmo Mendes Muros Antigos 2008 (Alvarino). The Quinta da Aveleda Vinho Verde 2008 (made from Trajadura, Loureiro and Alvarino) had lovely lemon zest, high acid and effervescence, displaying how food-friendly these Portuguese whites can be.

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Quick Bites: Bar Stuzzichini

The Basics: Stuzzichini is a paradise for the peckish with little plates of Italian crostini, cheeses, grilled seafood, affordable pastas and more. Nothing revolutionary here, but it satisfies. I can’t figure out why people complain about the spacious, Brasserie-esque ambiance, it seemed fine to me!
Best Dish: Ricotta with saffron-honey crostini, Mixed wild mushrooms with ricotta and Orechiette con Cavolfiore (“little ears” with cauliflower and bread crumbs in a butter sauce)
Food: Good
Service: Good
Value: Very Good
Average App/Entree Price: $6-$10 for Stuzzichini, $20 for Entree
Wines: Order by the glass, quarto or bottle, they have selections that span Italy and Sicily from $29-$165
Location: 928 Broadway (at 22nd)
Word to the Wise: If you want to try a lot, the “Stuzzichini Misti” allows you to select a choice of three and enough to feed the # of people that you’re with. It’s a great deal.
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

Blown Away By Allegretti

I can’t remember the last time I entered a meal with so little expectation and left so inspired. On a whim, my parents secured a last-minute 8:00 Friday reservation at Allegretti, and I came along. I knew the restaurant had opened within the past year, but that’s about it. Their old-fashioned blue and yellow toned web site with a rooster symbol did not hype me up for the meal. Though probably fine cuisine, I anticipated old-fashioned, haute French.

I was so wrong. The Provencal food, hailing from Nice, is like a fusion of French/Mediterranean with some Italian influence to boot. You’ll find olives, artichokes, and seasonal vegetables like ramps, sugar snap peas and leeks sprinkled everywhere on the menu. The Mediterranean influence plays a hand with chickpeas, fava beans, and pine nuts. And then you remember you’re in France with a cassollette of garden vegetables and a fish soup with gruyere cheese. What you won’t find is a cream sauce or foie gras. The only caviar on the menu is eggplant caviar. The food at Allegretti is truly a breath of fresh air.

We had the ballotine of rabbit with young herbs, baby vegetables and a quail egg. We had nicois ravioli stuffed with braised oxtail and swiss chard. We had roasted veal sweetbreads with a pine nut crust , English peas, and veal jus. My black sea bass arrived naked, accompanied by some baby aritchokes, fava beans and mushrooms. I poured its delicate jus on top, until I had the perfect amount. Every dish was a star.

Eat the nicoise-studded olive bread and steer clear of the side dishes. An underseasoned wild mushroom trifolatti and dense chickpea fries were the only issues. Save your appetite for the complete plates, side dishes are superfluous.

As always, my Dad brought incredible wines, and the Sommelier at Allegretti was accomodating. We promised to give him a glass of the Gevry-Chambertin Serafin 1993 that my Dad brought, and he seemed delighted.

Our waitress was warm, knowledgeable, and excited to talk about the cuisine though slightly overbearing at times. There were moments when she’d linger at the table for longer than desired, though not enough to interfere with the meal.

After our experience, I did some homework on Alain Allegretti and discovered that he has quite a pedigree, after being the Executive chef at Atelier de Joel Robuchon (not to mention, very handsome!). Shame on me for not knowing anything about such a talented chef who is blazing his own trail here.

A restaurant like Allegretti should never have a free table on a Friday at 8PM. I would blame the dire economic times but I’ve had plenty of meals at packed restaurants in today’s economy. Is it expensive? Oh yes. Save it for your next special occasion. But please don’t let Alegretti be a secret. It deserves far better.

Alegretti: 46 W 22nd Street
Cuisine: French (Provencal)
Average App/Entree Price: $17/$33
Food: Excellent
Service: Very Good
Value: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

Markt

Heaping bowls of mussels dwarf pints of dark lagers at this warm brasserie. The menu at Markt is tremendous with a large selection of raw bar items, traditional salads and mains like Belgian beef stew and steak-frites. It boasts a list of six different mussel preparations such as mussels steamed in hoegaarden, mussels with garlic and fresh cream, and mussels provencale with tomato and fresh basil.

Though the menu borders on schizophrenic at times (linguine with pesto?), the dishes are all well- executed, a quality that any great brasserie maintains. A salad with goat cheese croutons, honey and pine nuts hit the spot while one friend enjoyed tuna tartare and another, a cold tomato soup. I went for the mussels coriander with cilantro, curry and cream. The sauce was delicate, allowing the flavor of the mussels to be expressed. Crispy, herbed fries were a welcome companion. Though I’m told the chicken with a kriek beer sauce was delicious, my personal recommendation is to come to Markt for the moules-frites and ignore the alternatives.

Markt- 676 6^th Avenue at 21^st Street
Cuisine- Belgian, Seafood
Average App/Entree Price:  $12/$16
Food: Good
Service: Good
Value: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.
Word to the Wise- Markt used to be in a gargantuan space in the meat packing district but it closed last year. Happy to have them back and in my ‘hood.

BLT Fish

BLT Fish-one of five restaurants in the BLT group- lives up to its namesake serving swimmingly fresh seafood in a pleasant, open air space. My meal there last week was sublime from start to finish. I expected to have nicely prepared fish but I did not expect such outstanding service. The waiter and sommelier were knowledgeable and all of the staff very helpful whenever anything was needed. I found myself constantly asking: isn’t the service here awesome? Got to be a good sign.

There’s not much at BLT Fish for those who stick with turf so I recommend leaving those folks at home ;) That aside, the menu offers a wide array of inspired appetizers such as grilled octopus salad with aged balsamic, lobster and jumbo lump crab cake, or rock shrimp risotto. There are also raw bar options though I got the feeling it’s not a BLT Fish focus. The standard oyster, clam, and king crab claw options were there but specific selections based on region were lacking. As we read the menu we ordered a red Burgundy: 2004 Chambolle-Misgny Les Veroilles from the Cote d’Or with help from the sommelier. Red Burgundy was a great idea as it could stand up to both steaky fish such as tuna and flaky fish such as cod. It served us well though it was a bit young.

Mom and I opted for the spicy tuna tartare with avocado, preserved lemon and American caviar. We found the tartare to be tasty with a nice spice though the caviar was overpowering and out of place. The balance was off and we thought it better suited with more avocado and less caviar. (My one complaint of the evening)

For entrees, diners order their fish by type and preparation then choose a sauce and sides. I opted for the whole roasted daurade with a Provencal crust w/pesto sauce while Mom had the Alaskan Black Cod with Acacia honey reduction. For sides we had hen of the woods mushrooms and sauteed garlic spinach. The fish was incredibly tasty with just a sprinkle of salt but the rich pesto sauce really took it to another level. We gobbled up our food and barely shared with each other. A very pleasant and successful meal overall.
BLT Fish: 21 W 17th Street
Cuisine: Seafood
Average App/Entree Price: $16/$32
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Value: Very Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

Periyali

I checked out newly renovated Periyali with my favorite top commenter, Embalina last Thursday. I really enjoyed everything about this modern Greek restaurant from the elegant yet breezy decor, to the inventive menu, and the sublime food.

After we were seated our waiter brought us a basket of crusty bread along with some assorted olives with spicy red pepper flakes. I perused the wine list which had some interesting retsina (a type of Greek wine which has pine aromas) and some wines from Santorini as well as some American Chardonnays and a few other wines from around the world. The wine list was rather succinct. Because we had a press invitation, the meal was free so I sprung for a Georges Duboeuf Pouilly-Fuisse which I imagined would marry well if we ordered seafood.

The chef does a nice job in creating a menu that stays true to its Greek roots, with a slight upgrade. For appetizers, Emily had a special sauteed oyster mushrooms dish and I had the octopus in red wine marinade over charcoal. The mushroom portion was huge and very flavorful with a light olive oil, garlic sauce. My octopus was a perfect texture- not too chewy- and was nicely charred. We both ordered the shrimp saganaki as our entree which came with gigantic prawns in a light, chunky tomato and feta sauce with string beans on the side. Everything was flavorful without being too heavy. We decided to round out the meal with a rice pudding and a Greek yogurt with preserved berries- a perfectly sweet conclusion.

My one qualm is that there was a long pause before our appetizers arrived. The service could have been timed better to make the pause between courses more even. Despite this fact, it was a very enjoyable meal and I would love to return to Periyali.

Periyali: 35 W 20^th Street (betw 5^th and 6^th ave)
Cuisine: Modern Greek
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Average App/Entree Price: $12/$26
Value: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

Sapa

French-Southeast Asian fusion? What IS that? Well, it is delicious and relatively well-executed at Sapa in Chelsea. The sleek minimalist restaurant is vast with two large dining rooms on different levels and soaring high ceilings. The decor is clean with a palette of dark wood and white lanterns hanging low from the ceiling. There is a handsome bar which serves up creative cocktails such as a cosmojito (figure it out), arguably one of the best drinks I have ever had. Towards the back, Sapa also has a roll bar where chefs craft homemade spring rolls filled with anything from lobster or crayfish to foie gras.

The menu is a nicely woven integration of cuisines with specialties such as peanut glazed spare ribs and coriander crusted ahi tuna with braised oxtails and a port wine reduction. It took my friends and I quite some time to decide what to order with all of the appealing options. The waiter brought us some pita bread with a pickled onion as well as a roasted red pepper spread. I found this to be a little out of place with the menu and neither was very good. A minor blunder on their part.

We started our meal with a spring roll sampler which featured a hamachi roll, a crayfish roll, and a beef roll. We all agreed that the rolls were just so-so. They were not explained well by our waiter who casually dropped them off with three mystery dipping sauces. We were a bit confused by them. Tasty, but not standout items. For entrees: one friend had the braised lamb shank with a spicy pistachio sauce, couscous and apricots, the other had the grilled maya prawns with an asian chopped salad with feta cheese and Chinese sausage. I had the cocoa and peanut glazed spare ribs as well as the Asian chopped salad. Everyone really enjoyed their main courses. The spare ribs were a huge portion that I gladly shared. The meat was incredibly flavorful and easily slid off the bone. The Asian chopped salad was perfectly accented with a light dressing and I was pleasantly surprised by how the feta and sausage paired well with the Chinese vegetables.

Just after we requested our bill, the waiter approached our table with a large tray of complimentary freshly baked cookies and we each chose one. Supposedly they do this at the end of every meal but it was a nice surprise for us! Though they got off to a bit of a rocky start, the entrees were the stars of the show and made the meal worthwhile. I definitely recommend Sapa if you are in the neighborhood.

Sapa: 43 W 24^th Street Betw 6^th Ave and Broadway
Cuisine: Southeast Asian, French
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite

The Legend of Shake Shack

Springtime is here, which can only mean one thing to serious Manhattan burger eaters: the opening of Shake Shack. For those who are unfamiliar with the legend, Shake Shack is a tiny burger stand in Madison Square Park owned by Danny Meyer, of Gramercy Tavern, 11 Madison, and Tabla fame. When weather permits, a line of hungry park goers can fill up the entire block. People wait in line for hours to feast on the no-frill famed burgers, served simply in cardboard boxes. Despite the fact that I am lucky enough to live a few blocks from Madison Square Park, today was my first Shake Shack experience. I rarely munch on cheeseburgers in general so I always hope they will be worthy of the indulgence. The legend of Shake Shack did not let me down.

The menu is simple and essentially offers 4 items: hamburgers, French fries, shakes and custard. The Shack also offers a pretty nice selection of beer and wine. On a nice day, it’s tough to think of anything better than sitting in the park and enjoying a juicy burger, washed down by a cold beer or even a glass of Caymus Conundrum (a personal fave of mine which I was shocked to see on the menu). The line today was around the block but it moved quickly and it only took us about half an hour to get to the front and place our order. There are also plenty of cute dogs bopping around the park to entertain you while you wait. I ordered a double Shack cheeseburger, cheese fries, and a Brooklyn lager only to be told the tragic news that they were out of cheese for the fries. I nearly cried. After ordering, composing myself, and getting my nifty buzzer, I walked to the table and mourned the cheese fry loss with my friends. I almost considered running across the street and purchasing some top notch queso dip to make up for the loss of cheese. It took us awhile to get over it and a few- Wait, that girl has cheese! No no that’s mustard. Wait, what’s she pouring on there? I think that’s cheese! It was hard to get over it, but we pushed through.

After about fifteen minutes, my buzzer went off and I leapt from the table to claim my burger as if I had won the lottery. Here is a picture of my prize:

The burgers are not huge, but a double burger will certainly be plenty of food with some fries on the side. I learned that these burgers are unique in that they use a mixture of sirloin and brisket rather than ground chuck which to me, made them less greasy and more fresh tasting. The burger is very tender though somehow the meat is dense at the same time. How do they do it? The bun is traditional and the French fries are your regular run-off-the-mill crinkle type. The (plain :( ) fries were tasty though very much overshadowed by the delightful burger. The Shack burger was not my favorite in Manhattan-the burger at Mollie’s continues to have my heart- but it was certainly worth the wait!

Shake Shack: Madison Square Park at 23rd and Madison
Cuisine: Burger Joint
Burger Price: $4-$7
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Value: Very Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.