Archive
NYC: Dirt Candy (Apr. 2013)
Author: Victor and Monte
Restaurant: Dirt Candy
Exec Chef: Amanda Cohen
Website: http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/
Date: April 4, 2013
Victor’s Notes:
We’ve wanted to try Dirt Candy for a while now; a LOT of friends have recommended it and have said that it’s a great vegetarian restaurant—and it is! Unfortunately, reservations are pretty hard to get, so I did some OpenTable stalking and managed to find a reservation a few days before! (Reservations open up every now and then—otherwise you’ll have to wait at least a month…)
Combination of bad lighting + iPhone camera = terrible pics once again. Oh well.
NYC: wd~50 (Apr. 2013): 10th Anniversary Dinner!
Authors: Victor and Monte
Restaurant: wd~50
Exec Chef: Wylie Dufresne
Sous Chef: Sam Henderson
Pastry Chef: Malcolm Livingston II
Website: http://wd-50.com/
Date: April 9, 2013
Dinner: 10th Anniversary!
Victor’s Notes:
While in New Orleans, Monty and I learned that wd~50 was having its tenth anniversary. We made reservations ASAP once they were available, and before we knew it we had a reservation and a wonderful meal planned for today!
For wd~50’s tenth anniversary dinner, Chef Dufresne invited back a lot of wd~50 alumni to have a collaborative dinner, including (but not limited to) big names like Alex Stupak, Christina Tosi, and Mario Carbone. A lot of the chefs featured are doing some pretty amazing things right now. Stupak is running Empellón Cocina and Empellón Taqueria, Tosi is doing her Momofuku Milk Bar stuff, Jon Bignelli is running Alder, Carbone is one of the head chefs of Torrisi Italian Specialties and Carbone, and so on.
Each course was made by a chef or two, so this meal was very much like a meeting of the minds. (I was especially excited to see what kind of desserts Chefs Stupak and Tosi would come up with!)
The menu illustrates just how much work and thought went into this anniversary dinner, and all of the participating chefs even signed the back of every menu! (The signatures were slightly different for each menu, too; Monty and I checked hahaha.)
The meal was AMAZING, and I am really, really grateful to have had the opportunity to eat such playful and delicious food. This was definitely an experience that I’ll never forget. Everyone was happy and celebrating, the environment was exciting, and Chef Dufresne even gave a heartfelt speech at the end.
Monte’s Notes:
This was truly more than just a meal, and the celebratory atmosphere really made it an EVENT, and a fantastic event at that. It seemed like Victor and I, as just enthusiastic diners, were a minority in the room in the sense that it seemed almost everyone in the room had some connection to the restaurant industry. Drinks were flowing, the food was mind-blowing, laughter filled the dining room, and congratulatory handshakes and hugs were freely exchanged with the kitchen staff. Chef Dufresne really knows how to throw a great party.
NYC Sushi: Kura (Apr. 2013)
Author: Victor and Monte
Restaurant: Kura
Chef: Chef Ishizuka
Owner: Huey Chang
Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kura-new-york
Date: April 1, 2013
Dinner
Victor’s Notes:
My friend Maria recently told me about Kura. It apparently just opened in February, and it’s a really, really small restaurant with a sushi bar and one small table on St. Mark’s and Ave. A. There’s no set menu, and they only do omakase-style. Huey Chang and Chef Ishizuka run the restaurant, and they’re the only two cooks there. Anyway, I really wanted to check it out, so Monte, another friend, and I went a few days later!
We started off with a few kappo-style appetizers, and then we gradually transitioned to the sushi portion of the meal. I say “gradually transitioned” because they started serving sushi while we were still getting appetizers (chawanmushi and the green tea soba).
Chef Ishizuka is really, really nice and smiles and laughs a lot. He definitely made the experience more enjoyable!
They ran out of food to give us out the end. I guess we’re fatties :(. Chef Ishizuka did tell us to come back on a Tuesday or Thursday, though, when there’s fresh fish!
Victor’s Sushi Thoughts:
-The fish we had was pretty fresh. He didn’t really have the rarer fish from Japan (kinmedai, shima aji, mirugai, Hokkaido uni, akamutsu, and so on), but this is apparently because he gets new shipments from Japan on Tuesday and Thursday and only wants to use what’s freshest?
-The rice was really great in the beginning. However, it got worse later on—there was a time when he left the rice container open for about 15 minutes while we were waiting for our next piece (botan ebi). After that, the rice became colder and dryer.
-The oshizushi (“pressed sushi”), also known as hakozushi (“box sushi”), was pretty great! Osaka is famous for its oshizushi, and I actually enjoyed eating that the most because it was so different from the normal edomae sushi that I’m used to.
Monte
Victor
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Happy Noms 