Restaurant Week: Le Périgord in New York, NY

One of the first things I do for Restaurant Week, before looking for the menu, is to look for the cost. Opentable has this $ sign that goes from $ to $$$$, the latter meaning expensive. So I decided to apply a filter and picked Le Périgord, a French restaurant located Midtown East, that has been on my list for a while now. 

Périgord is a region in the South-West of France, known for its cuisine often made of duck or goose, such as confit or foie gras. Well, Interestingly, the family who started the restaurant are not from there! George Briguet, who opened the restaurant in 1964 is from Switzerland and his wife, Marie‑Thérèse, that I met after our meal, from Brittany. 

This is an old school place: fresh flowers on the table, white tablecloths and upholstery on the walls that transported us back in time.

Menu wise, they only brought us the Restaurant Week menu and I wondered at that time if it was some kind of profiling, restaurant bringing usually the regular menu as well as this one...

They first brought us some bread

And butter.

I admit that I was disappointed with the bread: it is a French restaurant bon sang! I mean serve a good baguette, not a bread that seems to have been store bought and is not what you would expect for this type of restaurant.

For her entrée, Jodi ordered the salade mélangée that is baby mixed green salad and goat cheese.

Restaurant Week: Porterhouse in New York, NY

There is no doubt what Porterhouse, located on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, is serving: steaks, steaks and steaks. 

With seafood, but steaks. It has been a while since I went to a steakhouse for restaurant week, as I typically tell people to avoid these types of places during that period, the quality of the meat being often sacrificed. I even did a test with my favorite steakhouse in Hoboken, Dino & Harry's: while the steaks have always been sublime, they were not good for Restaurant Week (see the post here). Why did I change my mind? Because my friend Julien convinced me that I would not be disappointed at Porterhouse. 

So, we booked the place on Opentable for a Sunday, for lunch. We arrived a bit early and got seated fairly quickly in this incredible 140 seat place that overlooks Columbus Circle.

To give you am idea of the place, it all started in 2006, when Chef Michael Lomonaco took the bet to replace Jean-Georges Vongerichten's V Steakhouse place by a more traditional and more successful restaurant. The decor, designed by Jeffrey Beers (The Wynn in Las Vegas, DB Bistro Modern in NY) is very elegant with its leather banquettes, polished designed and the restaurant feels roomy. Contrary to most of the steakhouses, there is a lot of light, thanks to the large windows. 

So we were there for the Restaurant Week menu that was printed on the bottom of the regular menu, replacing their business lunch and eliminating the awkward moment when you ask for it and can see in the eye of the waiter an expression that says "I should have guessed". 

Right after we ordered, they came with a bread basket that had three types of bread: French white, raisin-pecan and whole wheat. 

Jodi went for the French white

Dovetail in New York, NY

Chef John Fraser, the owner of Dovetail, is no stranger to me. Well I do not know him personally and would love to meet him; it is more that I have a personal story related to one of his restaurants that unfortunately closed few years ago: Compass, located few blocks down from Dovetail. That is where Jodi and I went for a drink on our first date. We went back few times to celebrate our anniversary or other occasions, always having a great experience there.

Anyway, Chef Fraser has an impressive resume: he worked at the famous French Laundry and Taillevent, an award winning restaurant in Paris. I was so thrilled to see how he works his magic.

So, this time I was at Dovetail, located few steps from the Museum of Natural History. I like the place: the decor is simple and elegant. I went with some friends on a Monday night and, to my surprise, the restaurant was packed. 

Menu wise, they offer seasonal dishes. For dinner, you have a choice between the vegetarian menu and the Chef's menu. I went for the latter. 

To accompany the meal, we decided to order a bottle of red wine. A Crozes Hermitage 2010. 

At first, they brought us some amuse. It started with truffled arancini, rosemary crackers and white cheddar corn bread that were all very good and a great way to open our appetite. 

Then, they brought us a delicious leek panacotta topped with honeydew. 

I think the most difficult part of eating that was the tiny spoon they give you...

For the appetizer, I decided to try the steak tartare that one of my friends recommended.

Verde Vita Toscana in Hoboken, NJ

When Choco-Pain opened downtown Hoboken, it was like bringing a bit of France to the city: delicious bread, pastries and viennoiseries, made traditionally and tasting like it should. I hate when I buy a croissant and it is not buttery! So, we were wondering when they would open Uptown. But no, it did not happen yet. Instead, Verde Vita Toscana, an Italian café opened few month ago, replacing a beauty salon, with the great idea to get its bread from Choco-Pain!

It is a great place with a very European feel and a relaxed atmosphere: ceramic tables, brick walls and a long counter where one can sip a delicious espresso with a croissant. 

Besides this, they sell different olive oil

Bareburger in New York, NY

As my cousin Sandrine was in New York, she could not leave without having a burger. This time, we proposed to go to Bareburger, at their location in Hell's Kitchen. I heard a lot about this place that serves organic meat, but never went before, so you can imagine my excitement. 

I was surprised to see that it was full table service, more used to the fast casual restaurants, where you order at the counter, get a number assigned to you and, they either yell that number when your order is ready or bring it to your table. No, at Bareburger, you can sit and relax. 

Decor wise, there is a play on words between bare and bear that translates not only on the walls, but also on their packaging. 

Menu wise, they have a large choice of dishes, whether appetizers, entrées or desserts. If you do not want a burger, they have a large choice of salads for instance. And, if you are vegetarian, they have a black bean patty or, again, salads. 

For burgers, you can either order one of their specialty ones or built your own. We went for the latter. 

To build your own, you pick the bun, the patty, the "bacon", the cheese, the toppings and the sauce. So, I had a beef patty on a brioche bread, with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms, brisket as my "bacon", sharp cheddar cheese, ketchup and mayo. 

Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, NY

Smorgasburg: weird name worth knowing. It is the perfect place to indulge, with lots of vendors selling various kinds of food that would make any food lover drool. The last time my nephew came for a visit, we went to the location in Williamsburg. This time, we went to Park Slope to show my cousin Sandrine Brooklyn and one of its flea markets. I admit that, while the ladies were interested with the market itself, I was more interested in the food...Not surprising I guess.

What I like about this place is the multitude of food stalls that offer different kinds of cuisine: BBQ, Mexican, Asian...

Here is what we ate:

Asiadog:

For a taste of hotdogs with an Asian twist. Jodi ordered a veggie dog with The Sidney topping that is Thai mango relish with cucumber, red onion and cilantro (she asked without peanuts):

This was pretty good and I could barely taste the fact that it was a vegetarian wiener! I loved the sweet and salty flavor and the mango and cucumber had a nice freshness.

Rice and Miso Everyday:

We ordered the basic rice ball with black sesame:

A day in Coney Island

One of the things my cousin Sandrine wanted to do was to go to Coney Island, so we hopped on a train on a Saturday morning, our food destination already decided...

After 45 minutes of train from Port Authority, here we are, in a place totally different from Manhattan. And outside of the train station, here it is: Nathan's, the hot dog institution, home of the July 4th Hot Dog Eating contest. Know that this location is the original Nathan's that opened in 1916.

Yes, you guessed well: it was out first destination. You cannot go to Coney Island and not go to Nathan's to eat a hot dog or two...It is truly American.

The place was crowded, so we had to organize ourselves: Sandrine and I were to order the food and, while we waited for it, Jodi took care of the ketchup and mustard, but most importantly, to find us a spot outside (there are no tables inside).

I should mention before describing the food, that we had breakfast in an Italian joint right before taking the train, so the girls were not that hungry. Sandrine got a hot dog with sauerkraut, as well as fries.

First, we got drinks: the homemade orangeade (I did not really like it):

The Seed, a vegan event (August 9th and 10th 2014) in New York, NY

Yeah, I know: you are probably wondering what the heck I was doing at The Seed, a two day event currently going on in the city. The goal is to have people who embrace a vegan diet, vegan curious and vegan skeptic to meet and discover what being vegan means, either via listening to over 30 speakers or trying some food. 

So, I got invited to that event, and went, decided to explore some of the food presented there. People often think that vegan food is tasteless and boring and, coming from a country where butter is widely used in cuisine, I was in that mindset few years ago, until I tried some vegetarian restaurants that served vegan dishes, like the regretted Table Verte that had this fantastic chocolate tart, completely vegan and gluten-free, made with rice flour and avocado instead of butter. Or Café Blossom on Carmine where I was invited recently. I will be honest: this event did not convert me, but convinced me more that, if some food was served to people without mentioning that it was vegan, they would love it, like these delicious bean and rice chips (my favorite was the ranch one) or the Love Beans chocolate spread.

If you are interested in going, you can get a 50% discount if you enter the code seed50 when ordering your entrance ticket on the ticketing site.

Here is some of the things we saw and tried:

Ortaggi - dairy free and organic frozen snacks made with vegetables, herbs and fruit juice.

Red pepper and peach:

Avocado and cucumber:

Whole Foods - Basil, Kale and walnut crostini:

Arty - Artichoke water:

Revisit: Taka Taka in New York, NY

Taka Taka characterizes itself as a Mexican Sushi and Japanese Tacos joint. I guess you understand: this is a Mexican / Japanese fusion restaurant with a very interesting menu, branching out to these two distinct cuisines. It is not our first time there (previous review here) and we were looking for an original place, close to the heart of Tribeca, to celebrate my cousin Sandrine's visit.

Another originality of this place is its conveyor belt or kaiten sushi. It is like a fun way to eat: dishes with a number will pass in front of you and you decide to pick them or not. The number refers to the menu on the table set, so it quickly becomes a game. First you will look at what is passing by and then quickly try to know what it is, and then, it will be the reverse: you will be waiting for that number 5 to come. But do not worry: if you really want a roll, you can just ask them and they will make it for you.

Each plate has a color that corresponds to a price, so be careful: it can be a fun game, a pricey game...

To start our dinner, we decided to order some mocktails. Sandrine and Jodi got  Kiiro that is tangerine juice, basil and a touch of lime.

I ordered the Gogo, a mango frappé with macerated blackberries: