NY Restaurant Week 2010

About.com has finally announced the restaurants participating in the Winter Restaurant Week- which runs January 25th- February 7th excluding Saturdays. *Reservations open January 12th so get ready.

I always make sure that I have my days, times and numbers discussed with my family and friends a week before so that on the first day of reservations I can call in and get the exact times I want. So, seeing as it's January 5th I have all of them picked out.

I make my picks by doing research in a few ways. I first go to NYmag.com and look at their picks for the year. I read the reviews by Adam Platt and see what looks interesting. I cross check these with Food&Wine Magazine to see which restaurants made both lists. I also look at the previous year's list to see what I didn't get to over the summer. After a few hours of family recommendations and menu browsing, I've selected four restaurants I will be booking next week.

1) Fishtail by David Burke- My boss first suggested this to me over summer but since I only had a week left till school started again I decided I'd wait. This sustainable fish restaurant is supposed to have an incredible atmosphere and even better seafood. Described in Adam Platt's seafood renaissance article, Burke, "the mad genius" serves baroque crab cakes and tuna tartare in a beautiful uptown setting.

2) Tabla- Danny Meyer's Indian restaurant seemed like a natural progression. After trying both Gramercy Tavern and Shake Shack, I doubt there's anything he can't do well, and I'm a huge fan of Indian food. Tabla is open for lunch only during restaurant week, and I'm excited to see his version of haute Indian food. This restaurant isn't as new, but was on the best restaurants in NY list in 2006.

3) Locanda Verde- Robert DeNiro's new restaurant, formerly Ago, serves rustic Italian food family style. Chef and Partner Andrew Carmellini, who previously worked under Chef Daniel Boulud, creates affordable dishes that are both filling and fashionable with specials like Rabbit Terrine and blue- crab crostini. I'm also excited to try the sheep's milk ricotta and herbs.

4) Megu- The Japanese restaurant has been discussed in every imaginable food magazine, blog and website for months. Their intricate menu and escalated prices are reason enough to experience Megu during restaurant week. I've been wanting to try this for a while, but for some reason never quite got to it so I'm thrilled to finally get there.

I will of course follow up with reviews after each meal. Other restaurants to try are Convivio for amazing and original Italian dishes and Acquavit for those who love seafood and great atmosphere.

The Good Life

When thinking of who really has it good in life, Ted Allen and Gael Greene have to come to mind, at least in the food industry. 

I have just finished reading "Insatiable," Greene's autobiography- which was advertising about 100 times on top chef masters. Greene was a judge on the show, but she is also a food critic for New York magazine and has been for god knows how long. Her book officially confirmed that she has the best life ever while simultaneously grossing me out (tons of sexcapades, which, aren't as hot when you picture her as the 60+ woman she is now). Her entire life consisted of long pre- paid excursions to France to eat for free in some of the best restaurants in the world. She also ate her way through New York for years which is pretty much my life goal. Her reviews are both witty and harsh and extremely interesting to read. Unfortunately she hasn't posed one on nymag.com since last December but her website (gaelgreene.com) has a section called "eating out" where she posts every time she goes out and says whether its good or bad, or tells you what to get. I'd say its worth checking out. 

Ted Allen is probably a more obvious pick- Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an awesome show and then he gets to be the guest judge on every mouth- watering show on TV. SO LUCKY. I seriously envy everyone who gets to sit at the judges table on Iron chef, especially for Morimoto. His new show chopped isn't as great as I thought it would be but thats still another job he's getting paid to eat for. On top of that, food network is now getting all of its stars together for the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" where Ted, and other stars, get paid to talk about the best pizza, BBQ and breakfasts. Awesome. I actually have yet to read his book 'The Food You Wan to Eaat" which is his recipe book- which re- does classics like crab cakes. I'm kind of waiting on his autobiography, I have to think that it would just be awesome.

You'll see that I'm going to keep bring up Gael Greene again and again until she eventually reads this and is so honored by my praise that she hands me her job. I may be here a while. 

Face Off: Danny Meyer Vs. Bobby Flay

It seems like the weakening economy has forced every great restaurant owner to open up a burger joint. Even Chef Daniel Boulud has just opened up DBGB, which is by no means a McDonalds, but has a bar menu with slightly pricy and higher class burger options. I've decided its the next place I need to visit when I go home  in November. I think his burger "The Frenchie" sounds amazing- who wouldn't want to eat a hamburger topped with pork belly and cheese? 

Before I left for school I made sure to try two of the new gourmet burger joints that are actually meant for the semi- average joe. 

Bobby Flay's "Bobby's Burger Palace" is in the Smith Haven Mall on Long Island but also has several other locations in New Jersey and Connecticut. The one I went to had about 10 burger options, some sandwiches, fries and of course, milkshakes. I tried the Napa Valley Burger (for only $7.50), which was made up of the patty, fresh goat cheese, watercress and meyer lemon honey mustard. It was incredibly delicious. The only flaw was the messiness. By the end of the meal both my clothing, hands and the rest of the bun were soaked with the honey mustard. The goat cheese was also slightly over- powering and I'm never one to ask for less goat cheese. I also ordered his sweet potato fries with honey mustard horseradish sauce and they were the best fries of my life. The sauce was simply amazing. I completely commend Flay on making a burger restaurant with meals that people can actually afford and options that taste both expensive and innovative. 

About a week later I went to Danny Meyer's Shake Shack in New York City. He has three locations including one at the new Mets stadium Citi Field, but I went to the one on the Upper West Side. The Shake Shack's options were much less gourmet, and the five burger options offered were fairly simple ranging from different types of cheeseburgers, mushroom burgers and hamburgers. I chose to get the ShackBurger, which was made with the patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato and "Shack Sauce." Honestly, the burger sounded pretty average so I wasn't expecting much, but for some reason it was the best burger I've ever had. To this day I still can't figure out what was so special about it but everything was perfect. The sauce was delicious and didn't seep into the bun, the meat was perfectly cooked, the bun was just a little crispy and overall it was just a fantastic burger, and only for $4.75. 

If I had to compare I would say Meyer won on the burger, and Flay won on the fries- but both burger joints are definitely worth trying out. And for less than 10 bucks, this is a trend I can totally follow. 

First Post

My name is Erica Cohen and I am currently a junior at the University of Delaware. Don't let that frighten you, I'm not actually from this state (which i criticize way too often). I'm from Long Island, NY about 30 minutes out of the city. Since high school I have been all but stalking the New York Times food and wine section along with New York magazine's food and restaurant pages. But my obsession with with food hasn't stopped there. 

I am extremely close to being that creepy number one fan of shows like Top Chef, Iron Chef, The Next Food Network Star, The Next Iron Chef and Chopped. Shows like these convinced me that I had to check out the New York restaurant scene for myself, and have since persuaded me to visit Gramercy Tavern, Asia de Cuba, Butter, Mesa Grill, Indochine, Spice Market, Fig & Olive and my personal favorite Aquavit, to name a few. 

It also needs to be said that my roommate and I talk about the hosts on food network as though they are close personal friends. We dream of dropping out of school to get our own show on food network. Unfortunately I don't see that happening in the near future, so until it does I thought I would share my "culinary point of view" (thanks Bobby Flay) here in the meanwhile.

This blog will review restaurants I go to, talk about food trends I've been noticing and basically allow me to spend even more of my time avoiding homework and thinking about food. I hope you enjoy!