Goosefoot

Recently, Jeff surprised me by taking me out to dinner. At Goosefoot! Only the restaurant I had been trying unsuccessfully to make reservations for (they are fully booked through August, the maximum date you can currently make reservations for).

Turns out, it was to celebrate our fourth anniversary, which had completely slipped my mind. Oops.

Goosefoot is touted as one of the latest best BYOB restaurants in the city, so we brought along the bottle of Seresin Rachel that we had lugged back from New Zealand. After hearing rave reviews from friends, our expectations were high.

As it turns out, the food, while solidly good, was not mind blowing. We had 8 on the menu courses (plus three more amuse bouche and dessert), so the portions were a tad larger than say Graham Elliot or El Ideas. I.e., we had an actual bowl of soup, not just served in a teeny tiny cup.

While some people appreciate a theme that runs through the courses, I got a little bored by the ubiquitous presence of goosefoot and truffle. In that regard, I felt that Chef Chris Nugent wasn’t quite as innovative.

But all in all, it was a delicious meal, with great company.

North Pond with Friends

It was a foggy and chilly night, but we felt so warm! Thanks Chris, Mi., and Eric for such a wonderful evening – for the dinner, for the most thoughtful gift, and the lovely company!

Eric made the reservations for North Pond, an elegant restaurant tucked away in the lush grounds of Lincoln Park that overlooks a large pond and the Chicago skyline in the background. None of us had ever been to the restaurant, or heard about it really, but it was a great find. The food was phenomenal. I had a grapefruit and pear salad with Belgian endives, arugula and pistachio, and I relished every mouthful. For the mains I had the lamb and sausage chop, and it was so nicely seared. Jeff and Eric had the duck breast, two generous slabs that were slow roasted and drizzled with citrus sauce that was just delicious as well. I was stuffed, and wanted to pass on desserts, but everyone else was keen and they all wanted their own, so I caved in and followed the waitress’ enthusiastic recommendation of their apple fennel – a cake topped with salted caramel mousse, cider and a scoop of green apple sorbet. Mmm-mmm. We passed our plates around to share.

Wasn’t this lovely? Hazelnut cakes courtesy of North Pond to close the evening. We didn’t expect this at all – and it was such a pleasant surprise too when we popped open the menu to find personalized copies addressed to us.

Chris and Mi.’s brilliant gift (I’m going to steal the idea!) – a memento of when Jeff and I got hitched. Hehe. The ’3′ is the number on Chris’ door; the ’24′ is the chapter taken from the Hunger Games book (which we didn’t recognize at first given we read the e-books); the ’12′ is a pair of dice Mi. kept from her dad.

R’s Review: Going Classic, My Final Meal in Paris

Going back to Paris – R reviews our final meal at the classic French restaurant, La Rotonde. How classic? Well the maitre d’ looks like he came right out of a cartoon, hehe, guess stereotypes have to be based on something after all!

From April in France

This photo doesn’t quite show how A and I burst out into fits of giggles every time he comes by and we look at each other.

La Femme Mange a classic Brasserie meal at La Rotonde

Posted on April 17, 2012

Terrace seating at La Rotonde

You are never far from an eating place anywhere in Paris, but Boulevard du Montparnasse takes it to the extreme, lined with nothing but restaurants and cafes. While many of the establishments are dime-in-a-dozen places that could be situated anywhere in the world, there remains a handful of venerable Parisian brasseries, neighborhood institutions since les Années Folles (the crazy years) of the early 20th century, when artists and writers flocked to the neighborhood after being priced out of Montmartre.

The burgundy insides of La Rotonde

Tourists on the artistic trail may delight in breakfast-ing at La Coupole’s bar à la Henry Miller or at Ernest Hemingway’s favorite, Le Select. But literature was not on our minds as we descended on La Rotonde for TPS’s final big meal in Paris. Instead, we were thinking of meat, big juicy chunks of protein, after od-ing on seafood while on the coast. With a reputation as one of the best brasseries and a menu advertising meat from star butcher Hugo Desnoyer, La Rotonde seemed like a logical choice to immerse our guests in some meat haze and Montparnasse lore.

Brasserie classic: Escargot

We ordered from the 39E 3 course menu that read like a list of greatest classic hits, or what a tourist would imagine eating in Paris. Starters included an envelope of goat cheese wrapped in pastry and somewhat measly slices of smoked duck, a tureen of unmemorable pumpkin soup, a half-dozen escargots, scalding to the touch and redolent with the perfume of butter, parsley and garlic;

Quenelle de brochet

and a fat quenelle de brochet in sauce nantua (though more savory flan like in this case), the airy pike mousse a Lyonnaise standard. All safe choices competently made, though I do have to make a trip to Lyon to find out if La Rotonde’s version passes muster.

Pavé de Rumsteack

Both A and I ordered steak served bare with a bowl of peppery sauce, though her thick piece of flavor rump steak was easily 150% larger than mine, with more sinews. Being accustomed to US steak eating habits, she was also taken aback by how bloody a rare steak in France was. This resulted in me taking half the time she needed to finish our plates and probably extracting more pleasure out of the steak.

Gigot d’Agneau de Lozère

TPS and the husband picked lamb (of the Desnoyer brand), also rare and sliced into buttery soft tranches. The lamb and tomato jus was pure umami, very tasty.

Profiteroles with hot chocolate sauce

As with the entrées and mains, the desserts on offer were also taken out of the classic French cooking playbook, emphasizing quantity and taste over creativity and looks. The profiteroles and creme brulée were just as they should be, old-fashioned but they sure hit the spot.

Macaron aux fruits exotiques

Our guests did order prettier desserts however, with TPS getting her macaron fix in the shape of a giant (about 3 times the size of a regular one) macaron filled with passion fruit flavored creme.

Mille feuille

A’s mille feuille was also a looker, its towering portions most impressive. Even though the vanilla cream was excellent, it was just not possible to finish the plate after the heavy beginnings.

Though La Rotonde is not known as the most atmospheric of brasseries and the staff is known to be not so friendly, we are happy to note no problems on either the decor or the service front. To us, the deep red banquettes and brass finishings were beautiful, our server was competent and more than civil, and we spent half the meal trying to place the maitre d’ in a movie we’ve all worked. Turns out his oh-so Gallic mannerisms reminded my friends of a certain personage in Disney’s “Ratatouille”. So while this wasn’t the best meal, nor was it the most well-priced, dinner at La Rotonde ticked the box for “so French it’s almost a cliché” and definitely made for a memorable evening to cap my girlfriends’ French sojourn.

Address: 105, Boulevard du Montparnasse 75006 PARIS

Website: http://www.rotondemontparnasse.com/index.html

Thanks for such a fun and amazing trip girls!

From April in France

Our one single touristy pose in front of the shiny Eiffel Tower (too lazy to walk all the way over).

R’s Review of Oysters in Brittany

Here’s R’s review of those delectable oysters in Cancale. If only we’d opened a bottle of Champagne to go with them!

La Femme Mange road trip versione francaise (oysters in Cancale)

Posted on April 15, 2012

Thank God for easy going travel buddies! If not, who would I drag awake at dawn (admittedly the initial sunrise watching idea wasn’t mine and dawn was sometime after 7 am on the Brittany coast) for a sunrise half hidden behind thick clouds, and then to rouse up again at 9 am for a savory breakfast of freshly shucked oysters?

Monsieur Frédéric Petit at Cancale’s marché aux huitres

Cancale is known for its oysters, with farms lining the bay of St Michel producing more than 25,000 tons of the priced shellfish per annum. History has it that these famous oysters were the preferred bivalves of the Sun King Louis XIV, who had ordered them to be transported to Versailles on horseback, no doubt to be paired with flutes of effervescent champagne.

Oyster shucking in process

No offense to his Majesty, but I’m certain our oysters, bought that morning at Cancale’s daily open air oyster market (open from 9am to early afternoon), tasted better. Why wouldn’t they, when they were opened by the friendliest oyster man, then slurped on the beach of Cancale mere hours after they had been picked? The shockingly low prices (under 5e/dozen for the creuses between sizes 1-3 and the belons at <1e each) just made breakfast even more palatable.

Plate (Belon) de Cancale

We tried 3 varieties, both the long and pale grey creuses that come in sizes from 0-5 (0 being the biggest) and the round, brown belons. The #2 creuses were meaty and very salty; the longues were a hybrid that tasted similar to the #2 but with a creamier mouthfeel and lingering sweetness; and the assertive belon, the texture almost crunchy, the flavors nutty, vegetal and long in the mouth. A who professed that she was not much of an oyster eater just the night before matched TPS and I, mollusk for mollusk. Decorum prohibited us from busting out a newly acquired bottle of champagne to go with the oysters, a decision we regretted afterwards.

Sure, you could slurp your oysters in the comfort of a restaurant, and almost all the sea-side establishments in town serve oysters in one form or another at a reasonable mark-up. Indeed, I had already eaten a dozen the night before at the restaurant Le Cancalais (where TPS ate her favorite fish dish of the trip) But to us, the unglamorous act of stooping behind the blue and white stripe oyster stands with an oyster in one hand and a lemon half or plastic knife in another was by far the more memorable eating experience.

Cancale Oyster Market: at the end of Quai Admis en Chef Thomas, 35260 Cancale, France  (oyster beds can be seen at low-tide, according to Google street view)

R’s Review: Cheese and Cider in Normandy

Gonna just steal a page from R’s recollection of our Normandy road trip. It was just a week ago, but feels like a lifetime ago already! If only I had a time turner… I’d go back for more of that grown up DuPont cider and stinky unpasteurized camembert .

La Femme Mange road trip version francaise (cheese and cider in Normandy)

Posted on April 14, 2012

Long road trips necessitate pit stops: to stretch one’s legs, use the bathroom and most importantly refuel both the car and its passengers. Driving from Paris to the coast and back, we made sure to hit Normandy’s cheese towns and cider route located in the Pays d’Auge region for some gastronomic snacking opportunities.

The aging room for livarot

Driving through Normandy on country roads was akin to talking a stroll down one’s supermarket cheese aisle. Livarot, Pont l’Eveque, Neufchatel and of course the most famous Normandy cheese of them all: the Camembert are both edibles and coordinates on the map. On our way back to Paris, we dropped by fromagerie E. Graindorge (an independent producer with a relatively large production facility) in the town of Livarot. There, we had our fill of raw milk cheese, staying shamelessly within an arm’s length to the plates of gloriously smelly and nutty samples. Before the tasting, we did the self-guided tour of the factory (better on a weekday morning when production takes place), the highlight being the cave full of aging Livarot. The smell of wet socks hardly diminished our enthusiasm for the tasting afterwards.

Cheese frenzy at Fromagerie Graindorge

Though TPS didn’t want to risk the wrath of US customs by bringing in contraband cheeses, A gamely carried a ripe round of hand molded camembert in 5 layers of plastic on a 12 hour flight to Hong Kong. Needless to say, I bought some cheeses too. With my fridge only 3 hours away, I had no excuse not to.

Bare apple trees

Besides cheese towns, one finds in Pays d’Auge la Route du Cidre, a 40 km circuit dotted with hectares of apple orchards and dozens of farmsteads that turn the fruit into cider, calvados, jam and other products. We found Domaine Dupont after driving through some windy backroads in the picturesque countryside, grateful that they were still open at 6 pm on a quiet weekday evening.

Domaine Dupont’s Cidre Reserve

The lady serving us proceeded to pour us artisanal ciders, apple champagne, pommeau (calvados/juice blend) and other derivative drinks such as givre (very sweet apple wine) and a calvados based cream drink. While all were tasty, we favored the Cidre Reserve, the additional step of aging in old oak barrels giving the drink extra oak and spice flavors. We bought several bottles and ended up opening one that very night.

Regretfully, we weren’t able to make time to visit more fromageries (preferably small artisanal outfits) or cider houses. Still, it was an absolute treat to taste these products of Normandy in situ!

Fromagerie Graindorge - 42 Rue Géneral Leclerc, 14140 Livarot, France

Website: http://www.graindorge.fr/

Domaine Dupont - La Vigannerie, 14430 Victot-Pontfol, France 
Website: http://www.calvados-dupont.fr/

Seafood in Cancale

When it comes to looking for places to fill our tummy around meal times, there is no better person to rely on than R, our friend, translator, and foodie extraordinaire. Angela and I happily left all the restaurant the entire trip picks up to her. And did we eat well!

The highlight of our food trail in France was undoubtedly in Cancale, a quaint little seaside village in Brittany which we visited at the tail end of our Champagne-Normandy trail. At Le Cancalais Restaurant, I had the most scrumptious fish, cod with its skin fried with omelette. The egg sauce and fried rice on which the slab of fish was resting on was phenomenal, and I mopped the gravy clean with baguette.

From April in France

In the morning, after we’d gamely awoken to catch the sunrise (which was unfortunately hidden in clouds), we leisurely strolled to the edge of town, where, at the corner of the jetty, we’re a half dozen stalls tightly clustered together, displaying mounds and mounds of freshly plucked oysters. We bought from the friendliest guy of the lot, who smiled and joked with us as he bustled about setting up his store. He helped us pick out and shack 27 oysters, which we greedily brought on two plastic trays to the stone steps by the pier, squatted unglamorously down, and began our slurping in earnest.

There are five different sizes of oysters, and these are further categorized into different breeds. At dinner the night before, we had the number 5 oysters (smallest, but still respectable!). For breakfast, we picked out two types of number two oysters, a dozen each, and splurged on three number one oysters, for the grand cost of 13 euros.

From April in France

They were super fresh! Juicy and briny, we slurped them down with gusto with just a dash of lemon. They weren’t in the least fishy! Those number one oysters were something special. Incredibly meaty, and reminded us oddly of abalone steamed with bak choy and oyster sauce. Its sweet finish lingered on forever.

From April in France

Our appetites were strangely whetted after the feast of 9 oysters each. R rushed us along to another round of food; she said she actually felt faint from hunger! So we trooped into a cafe, where we ordered a round of crepes and coffee each. I had the crepes with caramel, caramels being a Brittany specialty. Pretty delicious, as far as crepes go, and R assured us that they were much better than what we would find in Paris.

From April in France

Our hunger pangs were quelled after, but Angela was yearning for some langosteens (small lobsters), so we trooped to another store and bought 5 steamed ones for 6 euros. These we plucked and sucked on a bench outside our hotel, and the sweet chewy meat finally had us fully satisfied. Enough, at least, to tide us over till our next stop, cheese tasting in Livorat, a tiny town next to the famous Carmenbert.

From April in France

We were only in the town for a day, but we loved it, and I’d jump at the chance of visiting again. Brittany’s a special place – for the food, the history, and the scenery.

From April in France

Full moon over Cancale

From April in France

Sunrise over Cancale

Wandering and Eating around Paris

Back in Chicago, after a most marvelous week in France, with dear old friends from college. Thanks R and P, for your generous hospitality and fun times, and Angela for providing the comedy.

What a packed trip it was too! Here’s the brief itinerary run-down of our time in Paris (Saturday through Tuesday):

Saturday:
Arrived late Saturday afternoon, whereupon I took the Roissy bus to Opera Garnier to meet R&P. Too bad the opera house was not open for a visit that day. R&P picked me up, and immediately brought me to a couple of wine shops for a poke around. How well they know me! We then grabbed a quick bite at one of the many cafes in the area (the tables in French cafes are soooo tightly packed together; that would never fly in America), before returning home to digest in time for a big dinner.

Read R’s review of our delectable dinner at La Cantine du Troquet Dupleix here. I’m still dreaming about those pig ears!

From April in France

Sunday:
Museums are free every first Sunday of the month, so bright and early, we trooped to visit a medieval church, now converted into a museum, the Musée de Cluny. It’s now half in ruins, but in its day it dwarfed Notre Dame. It houses the six La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries, dating from the late fifteenth century. It’s supposedly one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe, though none of us seemed particularly impressed by it. We spent an hour and a half wandering around, before succumbing to our hunger at Vins et Terroirs, a lovely cozy little restaurant tucked in a cobblestone street on Saint-Germain-des-Prés. For 11 euros, we each got a plate of entree and mains. What a deal!

It took some encouragement from R&P, but I decided to try one of the most French dishes on the menu – veal liver in mustard sauce. The waiter wanted to double check if I knew what I was getting into, gesturing at his liver and looking quite concerned. Ah well, when in France… but it was turned out to be pretty tasty. The Dijon mustard sauce masked most of the earthy smell of the liver, which was meaty and quite satisfying.

From April in France

While R&P had worship rehearsals at their church, I wandered around Jardin du Luxembourg, the sprawling gardens at which the Senate is located with an American mother and daughter I’d randomly bumped into outside their church. The day was gorgeous, not too hot, not too cold, with bright blue skies, and there were crowds of people lounging in the sun, reading, dozing, and laughing. Little kids rented sail boats that they prodded along in the large fountain in the center of the garden, and it was funny to watch their excited faces as they chased after the boats.

After church, we had about an hour to kill before the restaurants opened for dinner (why do the Europeans eat so late!?!), so we decided to get some exercise in and walked all the way to Lao Lane Xiang, a Laotian restaurant in the Indochin part of Chinatown. I’d asked to go there, after having read R’s rave review of the food, and wasn’t in the least disappointed. It’s evidently a super popular restaurant, because a mere FIVE minutes after the doors opened, the restaurant was completely packed.

From April in France

Monday:
I spent the entire day with Thomas – he brought me out to the famed forest of Fontainbleau for a taste of bouldering. I’ve never bouldered outdoors before, and honestly, I don’t think I ever will again. Haha, give me a top rope please! Thomas tried unsuccessfully to convince me that I wouldn’t break anything falling onto his giant crash pad, but I’m a klutz, so I contented with mostly traversing along just a few inches off the ground. I did clamber up a few boulders, but it took a lot of frightened curses on my part, hehe. It was a beautiful day out though, with cloudless blue skies, and it was just so peaceful to be out in the countryside, feeling the soft fine sand under my bare toes, away from the smog and the din of the city.

From April in France

From April in France

Thomas was up to joining us for dinner, so R made last minute reservations at Le Casse Noix, a small restaurant hidden away in a quiet residential neighborhood near the Eiffel Tower with its flashy disco lights. Delicious fare, paired with a lovely bottle of French Viognier that was bright and refreshing, minerally with a touch of grapefruit; went well with our (mostly) scallop entrees and my fish steak main. Read R’s review here.

Tuesday:
Angela had arrived the evening before, so while R&P were in school Tuesday, the two of us headed out to explore Paris. First stop, the Lourve. We took our requisite picture, but unfortunately the museum itself is closed on Tuesdays (what a random day to close!), so we strolled through the Tulleries Gardens and stood in line for more than an hour to get into Musee D’Orsay.

From April in France

For dinner, we went to Chez Dumonet at R’s recommendation. She’d warned us that the portions were huge, and were they ever. By the time we were finished with the mains, we were sadly too stuffed to even think about dessert. On her urging, we ordered the duck confit and Boeuf Bourguignon. The latter was surely one of the best I’ve had – the beef so tender it melts in your mouth, and you could taste the wine with every bite. Speaking of wine, sadly, that was the closest I got to drinking any that night. Chez Dumonet had an absolutely amazing wine list – with bottles of first growths dating back to the 1960s – but all they had for wines by the glass was some generic table red. I asked for a sample to taste, and decided that the cooked wine sauce in the beef Bourguignon was better.

From April in France

Andrew Brochu at Graham Elliot

When it was announced at the end of January that Andrew Brochu was leaving El Ideas to become the executive chef at Graham Elliot, we were super excited for him. We’d thoroughly enjoyed his collaboration with Chef Phillip Foss at El Ideas, and found his dishes very memorable (think fried chicken liver, popcorn ice cream, cured egg dessert etc.), and were curious to see what ideas he had at his new gig.

So on Thursday evening, five of us foodies eagerly headed over to Graham Elliot for dinner. Jeff and I had been on a previous occasion, about a year ago, and hadn’t been too impressed with the food there then. This time, we all bit the bullet and opted for the most expensive repertoire tasting menu along with the wine pairing.

Was the food inspired! Not only was the presentation elegant though simple, the flavors were fun, fresh, and played off each other well. Particularly outstanding was the wine pairings. We started off with a glass of champagne from Domaine Berthet-Bondet Cremant du Jura, which was crisp yet nutty – I’ve got to do some research to see if I can hit up the winery when I head to Champagne in a month! In between our courses, our waiter also brought out extra dishes from the kitchen; Chef Brochu was working on the next iteration of the menu he said, and wanted our feedback. We suggested that he lighten up on the ponzu sauce on the parsnip bite on one dish, but otherwise raved about the dishes – foie gras lollipop with pop rocks, fun!

The outstanding dishes – smoked trout with bagel ice cream and capers and dill. It tasted exactly like a Jewish bagel; delightful! The chilled cauliflower with curry, cucumber, and yogurt was another refreshing course, and the cheery purple, orange and green cauliflowers added some much needed color to the otherwise dreary weather outside. The potato dish with the thick shavings of black truffle was heavenly too, particularly when paired with the pungent and earthy 2008 Alvaro Palacios “Placet” Viura from Rioja. Loved the scallop dish too – with the tart Eric Bordelet Sparkling Poire Cider from Normandy (I should look for that too when I’m out there!). Our waiter was generous with the wines and often topped off our glasses, and in this case he left the entire bottle of pear cider for us to enjoy.

Other amazing dishes: the pappardelle carbonara with gaunciale and egg. OMG, was that good! We’ve recently had flatbread at a bunch of restaurants that tried to do the egg and ham thing, but this version had us all drooling. It went down so well with the 2008 Soter “Mineral Springs Ranch” Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley too, and I am now on the look out to get some of this wine for our wine fridge. Then there was Brochu’s popcorn ice cream again, but this time it was dressed up in a spicier outfit, with cheddar and jalapeno. And he could do no wrong with the foie gras marinated in a light Szechuan sauce, nor the generous steaks of lobster which we washed down with the 2006 Michel & Stephane Ogier “La Rosine” Syrah, Rhone Valley.

By the time we came to the dessert course, we had already slurped up a good 15 courses, but still we found room to properly enjoy the sweets. We weren’t sure at first about the description of the doughnut with coffee, cream and sugar, but it turned out to be a clever play on the otherwise plebian dessert. Instead, we got an espresso cup filled with thick coffee syrup and the “doughnut” was a bready cream that we mixed into the coffee to drink. It was most phenomenal.

It turned out to be such a fun dinner! We’re definitely looking forward to return visits! And Eric loved this current menu so much, he’s determined to go back again in the next few weeks!

Mid Winter Party

We had about 20 people over last night for a mid winter bash, most of them fellow wine enthusiasts, with the theme of Syrah/Shiraz wines.

We love to host, though we’re not good cooks. Hehe. But we bought a gigantic chicken pot pie from Costco that I threw into the oven that was very well received, and even tried my hand at baking a cheesecake (which turned out really amazing too, yay!). Jeff also bought bunch of tulips to place over our mini wine fridge to give it more color.

It was a fun evening. We threw our friends from our different parts of life – climbing, drinking, trapeze, and work – into our living room and everyone mingled and laughed easily together. People brought many bottles of wine, which we mostly polished off, and Eric made an upside down pear cake that was most delicious. I had such a great time, I didn’t even pay attention to the wines I was drinking, and consequently, had to spend most of the day sleeping. Hehe.

Eating in New York

I love New York for its hundreds of restaurants everywhere. One is truly spoilt for choice. I stayed over at my ex-roommate Wendy’s place in the East Village this trip. I was drooling just from walking around!

We have our eating routine in New York down pat though: a nice restaurant the first evening, then Chinatown Sunday morning for cheap but delicious dim sum.

This trip, we chose Boulud Sud, which is conveniently located across Lincoln Center. Our last trip, we went to another of Daniel Boulud half dozen restaurants in the city, Cafe Boulud. While we enjoyed that meal, we found the ambience a little too stuffy.

Happily, Boulud Sud’s dining room has a much airier feel with its contemporary decor of high ceilings. The cuisine is Mediterranean-themed and the pre-fixed menu focuses on fish.

Our table of five weren’t too adventurous in our choices and stuck mostly to the same dishes. For the appetizers, we had the grilled octopus with almonds and pan seared mackerel that was meaty and immensely satisfying. Jeff ordered the eggplant and chickpeas falafel dish, which was unimaginative (on both his and the restaurant’s part) though decent.

For our entrees, 3 of us had the sea bass wrapped in scallions on a bed of polenta with a side of crispy potato gratin. It was delicious and paired really well with our Saar Riesling. Kat ordered the calf liver that I had been eyeing and it was so good! Mike had the wagyu beef and they were most generous with the cuts.

Dessert was also a highlight – orange dark chocolate tart with pomegranate sorbet. And grapefruit mousse with a caramel glaze served in a wine glass.

Haha, it was such a pleasure to indulge with seriously tasty food, instead of average fare dressed in really fancy presentation served by condescending waiters. Which was how our Alinea experience last week felt like. Alinea touts itself as a Mecca for molecular gastronomy, but thinking back, the only dish that really qualified as such was the distilled hot chocolate that looked like clear water but tasted exactly like chocolate. Otherwise, I’d say that the flavors were pretty distinct. In contrast, our meal at Boulud Sud packed a real punch in flavors.

On Sunday, we went to Shanghai Heping on 104 Mott Street, a newly opened restaurant in Chinatown, so new, they did not even have the credit card readers up and running yet. We went on a friend’s recommendation, and weren’t in the least disappointed. Their soup dumplings is the best we’ve had in recent memory!!! The skin was thin and delicate but sturdy enough to hold the ton of soup within. I was in such bliss sucking and slurping up the broth. Our table of 10 enjoyed the dish do much we ordered four steamer trays of it, on top of the 10 other dishes we ordered! Other highlights – Shanghai noodles, pea pods. Definitely worth a return trip!