Archive
NYC: Empellón Cocina: The Push Project: Part II (Mar. 2013)
Authors: Victor and Jessie
Restaurant: Empellón Cocina (Push Project II)
Chefs: Jordan Kahn and Alex Stupak
Date: March 8, 2013
Victor’s Notes:
I follow Empellón Cocina on Facebook, and they’re one of the more interesting NYC restaurants that I like to keep track of, especially because their chef is Alex Stupak. He used to be known as one of the top pastry chefs in the country, and he was Alinea’s original pastry chef.
Every few months, Alex Stupak collaborates with a chef he strongly respects to create guest chef dinners under the name of “The Push Project”. Part I of “The Push Project” involved Enrique Olvera. For Part II of “The Push Project”, Chef Stupak decided to collaborate with Jordan Kahn, who Stupak worked with at Alinea. Kahn is currently the Exec Chef of Red Medicine, and he’s worked with pastries at Per Se, Alinea, and Varietal. You can find info on this collaboration at http://www.empellon.com/cocina/single.html?id=1591236.
Because the two chefs were superstar pastry chefs, there’s a huge focus on sweets. The meal consisted of four savory courses and five sweet courses. I think you have to really like desserts to be able to really appreciate all of the desserts as the sweets might be too much for some people. Overall, the savory courses were great, and the desserts were AMAZING, both in terms of taste and conceptually.
NYC: Per Se (Mar. 2013)
Author: Victor
Restaurant: Per Se
Exec Chef: Thomas Keller
Chef de Cuisine: Eli Kaimeh
Date March 3, 2013
Notes:
My friends Ava and Fangda are celebrating their birthdays this month, so we decided to go eat here to celebrate!
The server spilled water on Ava twice while pouring water :(. She even spilled a little water on Ava’s “Fish and Chips” course and left as if nothing had happened. It was kiiiiiind of awkward, and it was a rare instance of less-than-perfect service here :(.
I would add more food commentary and whatnot, but… I’m really, really full. I somehow found myself eating at Minetta Tavern two hours after finishing this meal :(. (We sat near Common and Vanessa Williams at Minetta Tavern, though, so that was pretty cool!)
Also, I feel compelled to mention this: Ava somehow finished 20 of the 24 chocolates. That was kind of REALLY impressive.
NYC: Prune (Feb 2013)
Superman, Suzy, Nam, and I all went to Prune for brunch the other week. I’ve read that Prune is be arguably the best brunch spot in the city and wanted to investigate. I read Gabbie Hamilton’s book, Blood, Bones, and Butter and found her to be a really fascinating character (Keep a lookout as in a few weeks I will try to publish a string of thoughts on chefs biographies that I’ve read lately!).
The wait at Prune is supposed to be pretty heft later in the day, so we arrived right when they opened and were seated promptly downstairs. The mimosas there are really unique and combine an unexpected bunch of ingredients.
Monte
Victor
tadv3
Happy Noms 