Frankies Spuntino 570 - NYC

In December I spent a long weekend in New York City. I went along with friends to celebrate a birthday. After doing a lot of research on restaurants and only going to one of them, we decided on the last day we had to try and make the effort to go to at least one more. We had a few places in mind, so we headed off to find Sorella. We had heard about Sorella after watching an episode of Iron Chef America where the head chef Emma Hearst aged 25 went head to head with Michael Symon. We didn't have a booking but thought something would work out, sadly we got to the restaurant and it was closed! We pulled out the list and picked the next place we thought might be good, so off we went to The Spotted Pig, a gastro pub type establishment in West Village / Greenwich area. Got to the pub and it was so busy we were told we would have to wait an hour and it was already 2:30pm and we were starving. Running out of ideas we headed back to a nice looking restaurant just down the road. It was called Frankies Spuntino 570.

Hipster was the word of the weekend, and I would have to say this place was pretty 'hipster'. It had a great Italian menu, items like Cured Meats, Salads, Mozzarella, Olives, Crostini, Pasta, Rabbit, Duck, Pork, etc, and a small modest list of Italian wines.
I ordered Crostini with White Anchovies. It was delicious! I hate those Brown Anchovies that come in a jar from the supermarket but I will never ever say no to fresh white Anchovies! $4 for one Crostini.

After that I could not chose between the Pork Cheek with Celeriac Root and the Roasted Rabbit Ragu with Braised Leeks. I ended up with the Rabbit as they had run out of the Pork. The Rabbit as you can see was like a soup that had pearl barley. A ordered the Lamb Ragu Pappardelle (yum, I was definitely going to put my fork in that one for a taste). 

Both dishes were amazing, they were so rich in flavour. We ordered glasses of Red Wine to accompany the food, and not being that familiar with Italian reds we just ordered what we thought might be nice. I ordered a Gradizollo and I can't remember what A ordered as it was so long ago (that will teach me for being slack with writing these blogs one month after the experience). Any way, they were both really nice wines that went well with the food. Had to ask for some bread, I am surprised it did not just come out to the table, any way, it was came with some lovely olive oil, the good quality stuff that is green! With my piece of bread dipped in olive oil and a touch of salt flakes added, delicious! We were so full that sadly we only had one course, but it was delicious all the same, and I highly recommend a visit to Frankies if you are heading to NYC. http://www.frankiesspuntino.com/  

Ribs fest

Who would have thought that about 8 years ago I hated pork, I did not eat it and could not stand the sight or smell of it (except bacon of course). Thankfully things have changed. They changed while I was living in London when friends took me out to a BBQ restaurant called Bodean's, it was in Clapham and there speciality was ribs. I remember this experience very fondly, I ordered a rack of baby back ribs and they were soooo delicious, succulent and barbequie. From that time on I have never looked back! I now have a love affair with pork and when I heard of the ribs festivals over here in North America I just had to check one out.

There are several ribs festivals taking place all around North America during August and September  (summer time). The festivals are obviously all about Ribs and they have many vendors from all over North America. They compete to try and win the prize for the best ribs. There are also sub categories like the best sauce, the best pig, the best pig rig etc etc. I went to the Burlington Ribs Festival, this was the 16th year running and they claim to be the biggest Ribs Festival in North America.

Off I went to the festival hungry for some juicy ribs. There were 18 different vendors from Florida to Ontario. Although ribs were the main part of the festival there were also rides, live music, activities for the kids, arts and crafts.

My first choice of ribs was from Sticky Fingers, Providence, Rhode Island. They won third place in the Judges Best Ribs Award. The readon I chose Sticky Fingers was because I liked the display and the fact that they were playing some country and western music, Yeee haaa !!  

The ribs were ok not the best I have had, there was a lot of meat on the rib and the sauce was nice. 

The second lot of ribs I ordered was from another Americano place, Gator BBQ, Florida. They were probably my favourite of the 3 that I tried. The sauce was delicious and they packed it on, which was great as you can never have enough sauce! It turned out that they actually won the best sauce award. 

Lastly, I tried the ribs from Boss Hoggs, London, Ontario. They were the defending champs and also Canadian, so I had to try them. They were pretty good, but I have to say the Gator ones were my favourite.

After eating to capacity we sat down and enjoyed some of the live music.

Overall the festival was a lot of fun. It was a great chance for me to indulge in delicious pork meat and to enjoy a North American cultural experience! I am hoping that I can find a ribs festival somewhere in Australia to indulge again. Does anyone know? And if so where? And if not perhaps I need to bring this tradition back to Australia!!!  

Part three - Montreal - Dinner

It certainly feels like I have been at Montreal a lot longer than a weekend as this blog has taken me so long to finish. This is the third and final chapter!

The first dinner in Montreal was at Chuck Hughes (http://www.chuckhughes.ca/) restaurant 'Garde Manger'. Chuck Hughes is a very famous Canadian chef from Montreal, I have seen a lot of him since living in Canada and I have become a big fan. He is sort of like a Jamie Oliver, passionate, inspiring and not crazy and mean like some well known chef's. I was dying to check out his restaurant and without a booking we almost did not get in. We had an amazing dinner but sadly no photos or blog as the lighting was hideous. I do recommend this restaurant but maybe book before going and definitely order the scallops, they were amazing!

The second night was the poutine aftermath so there was not much to blog about.
The third night we went to L'un Des Sens. We stumbled upon this restaurant while we were looking for a different restaurant we had researched, that was no longer around. L'un des sens had a really interesting menu where you could make your own degustation, what more could you possibly want! We had a quick cocktail at a bar called Baldwin Barmacie (http://baldwinbarmacie.com/) a very cool place for all the cool kids! I ordered a French Martini: Vodka, Chambord, Pineapple Juice - delicious. After the drink we went back to the restaurant for our journey through the senses. We ordered 5 courses for $55 a very reasonable price for fine dining!

First course: Quinoa and beet salad, egg runny, spinach

The idea is to mix everything together and eat. It was really delicious and had a lot of different textures. The quinoa had a nice nutty flavour and then the egg mixed through made it all so creamy.

Second course: Mackerel 

The Mackerel was cooked well, the skin was crispy and salty.

Third course: Duck, pickled quail egg, smoked duck breast, veal with rice rillettes.

The menu at times was a little lost in translation but we worked it out in the end. The rillettes was more like a terrine. The duck breast had a great smoky flavour and it came with some peanut butter, which went with some crackers and was supposed to compliment the duck. It was a weird combination but it was worked. The quail egg was good but I would have preferred a warm gooey egg not a hard boiled pickled one. 

Fourth course: Medallion of venison, panfried seasonal mushrooms with marrow. I chose this dish as I am having a venison thing at the moment and also how could anything be wrong with marrow.
 

It was extremely rich and delicious. It looks small but the plate was huge!

Fifth course: Frozen chocolate mousse, praline crunch, financial biscuit and custard.
I couldn’t decided on the desert course so I ended up ordering this but wish I had of gone with my other choice a lemon desert. Any way I was intrigued to know what on earth a financial biscuit was... Another thing lost in translation I suspect.

It was nice but not amazing, the biscuit was just a crumble chocolate biscuit. 
Adam ordered different things to me he was going with a foie gras theme so everything had foie gras in it, including the dessert which I managed to get a photo of.

It was creme brulee with foie gras, caramelised apple vinegar poppy, crumble and caramel. Basically a creme brulee and apple crumble all in one! Doesn’t sound like it would work but surprisingly it did and it was extremely rich and creamy.

Our final day and last supper in Montreal we went to 'Marche de la villette' a boucherie, charcuterie and restaurant that looked like it was straight out of Paris. It was constantly busy with tourists and locals. The Menu was very French consisting of French onion soup, crepes, fromage, meats etc etc.

I ordered a French onion soup followed by a Croque Madame. 

I cannot say I am a connoisseur of French onion soup but I found this one a little watery and I would have liked some more onion. 
The Croque Madame on the other hand was amazing, as you can see they were very generous with the cheese and ham.  

What a great feast that we had while in Montreal. It certainly was a nice break from the Canadian/American cuisine we are experiencing everywhere since being in Hamilton and surrounding areas (not the greatest cuisine). I recommend a trip to Montreal for everyone and make sure you do not hold back and eat as often and as much as you desire!  

The Maple Girl

Part two - Montreal - Poutine

What can I say about Poutine. A heart attack in a snack, well the one we ordered in Montreal certainly was. Poutine originated in Quebec and it is made up of french fries, cheese curds and gravy, additional items are often added. You can find Poutine mass produced in McDonald’s and other fast food places over Canada, but it is not the same as the poutine you can find in some restaurants in Montreal. It was on the list of things to eat in Montreal and recommended in the lonely planet.
After a very long walk all around Montreal including Mont Royal (the highest part of Montreal, a small mountain overlooking the city) we were starving and in desperate need of a toilet. It was a sign, so we stopped at 'Plaisirs Coupables, Snack.Bar.Urbain', for a small snack before dinner. The menu is described as 'decadent comfort food'. We ordered the Poutine with Confit Duck and Foie Gras. It certainly was decadent and comforting however, filling and super rich we were not so sure about dinner later on.

  

 

Breakfast in Montreal

I know it has been a few months since I last blogged, lots has happened. A computer virus for one, starting a new job and a few holidays too! I have not blogged about Hawaii because the food wasn't the greatest, perhaps we were unlucky with our choices, but then again Hawaii is still a state of the great US and A and I am thinking that has something to do with it...
The food in Montreal was totally the opposite, AMAZING! Because we ate so much in Montreal I have a series of blogs, this is part one called, Breakfast in Montreal.

On the plane over I was scanning the pages of the lonely planet looking for food suggestions, they had recommended a brunch place called "Eggspectation". At first I was interested as it boasted 8 different types of Eggs Benedict, but then I read on and noticed it was a chain and I am not the biggest fan of chain restaurants. I put a mark on the map just in case. It just so happened that on our first morning wandering the streets of Montreal we stumbled upon Eggspectation, we were hungry so we went in. I thought it was quite a cute place, mostly decorated with ornamental egg art work.

Yes the menu had 8 different types of eggs benedict and I could not bypass the traditional one. It was good, probably not the best I have had but I ate it and the eggs were runny and the ham was delicious, and for $9.99 who can complain really. Breakfast is so much cheaper in Canada compared to Australia.

Day two - Canada day and also known as moving day in Quebec - we had a hankering for crepes, and noticed a creperie the day before while we were walking around the Latin Quarter. We probably walked a few kilometres to get there but found that it was closed, upset but still determined to find crepes we noticed the place next door was open and also did crepes. This place looked much more authentic and interesting.  La Bulle au Carre, 3482 rue Saint-Denis, it boasted traditional crepes from Brittany, France.  

You can see comic artefacts on the tables and on the walls, I read in a review that the owner used to be a bookseller specialising in comics. It does not look busy but there were quite a few people sitting on the tables behind us. The other important thing to note is that Montreal is very European and like many European countries everyone seems to come out at night, it seems the later is gets the busier it gets.
The crepes on the menu are made in a style that is found in Brittany, France. They are savoury crepes made with buckwheat flour and salted. I ordered one with cheese, ham, tomato, and mushrooms $8.00, and it was delicious. I wanted to fit in a sweet one but it was a pretty large crepe, and came with a side salad I was also on a chocolate croissant mission so was planning on eating one of those later. 

Day three - I almost forgot what we had, but then remembered this cafe - Cafe Bistro mon Plaisir, 540 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, it was close to where we were staying. I had a smoked salmon bagel, and a chocolate croissant to eat later on, it was probably the best chocolate croissant I had all trip, sorry I did not take photos! 

Day four - has it's own post because it was such an amazing place with amazing food!

Day five - back to reality in Hamilton!

Sakai - Japanese & Korean restaurant

Sakai - a Japanese and Korean restaurant in Burlington (Burlington is a suburb next to Hamilton). The restaurant came as a recommendation from some regular customers of the restaurant I work in. These customers opinion I trust as when they visit we often get talking about food and wine and cooking and I can tell they know what they are on about. So off we went to Sakai to celebrate my recent job offer and to pig out. 

I thought it was a very cute Japanese restaurant. You can see the sushi chefs right there in front of the customers preparing the sushi & sashimi. On the way out of the restaurant I heard what sounded like regular customers request a table in front of the sushi chef's, something I might need to request next time!

I loved the placemat and metal chop sticks (not wood, yay)! Of course everything on the menu we wanted so we ordered what we thought was a lot and it turned out to be even more than we thought. The lady actually stopped us from ordering one dish as we had so much already, thank goodness for that. There are a few missing food photos, I got a little carried away by the food and forgot!

Starting off with a salad. The sauces in the background are for the other dishes to come. I also love the china they use, really cute. Salad was yum, delicious dressing.

The sashimi starter plate - $10, very impressed with the price (13 pieces of sashimi). Salmon, tuna, white tuna, then there was another sort of tuna (can't remember the name) and butterfish. Never had butterfish before but I loved it. The pieces of fish were also massive. Not sure the photo does it justice. Oh and the fish was all amazing and fresh and delicate!

Sushi starter - $8.00
The fish next to the salmon was the tuna type fish, it seemed to be seared and was yummy.

Another bad photo (sorry) this dish was AMAZING and really different. Poky salad - $6 (so cheap). Tuna sashimi, with fish roe, seaweed, chilli, radish. It had quite a kick to it.

Tempura prawns (or in Canada they call all prawns shrimp.... not sure why, it does not make sense to me, I always thought shrimp were those really little prawns). Anyway, this was lovely crisp tempura with delicious sauce.

This is beef sashimi (sort of like tataki) was probably the worst dish, but in saying that was still pretty good. The meat was a little tough, and the sauce just did not cut it. I was probably comparing it to the tataki at Ocha which is the best! It is also probably not fair of me to compare it with Ocha as Ocha is just the best!

Oh my goodness this was probably one of the best dishes, Ebi Shumai - $6.00, minced shrimp and scallop inside, with yummy Japanese bbq sauce.

Dol shot bee bim bap - $13, came with rice and miso soup, it was nice but I have had better dishes similar to this. What I loved was that it came with all the above extras, kim chi, chilli pickled veg, and the bean shoots. I also love the whole mix it at your table thing, you put the bowl of rice in and then you mix it all up and cook the egg. I also love the concept of the egg in the dish, it makes it so creamy and it reminds me of many of the staff meals at Ocha most often cooked by the Korean chefs. I also love kim chi and the way Koreans use chilli and I think that improved the dish for me.
There was one dish I did not take a photo of and that was soft shell crab. It was really tasty and I asked for Japanese Mayo, I mean who can resist it. Overall a really great place that I will definitely be going back to. Perhaps next time I will order less and try some different dishes, and request the table in front of the sushi chefs! I will also be asking the regular customers for some more restaurant recommendations.