Restaurant experiment: Mercat Negre

Mercat Negre

65 Grand Street between Kent Avenue and Wythe Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11211

347- 223-4599

http://www.mercatnegre.com

In the interest of full disclosure, my dinner companions are friends with the owner of Mercat Negre; I haven’t met him however.  Ian and Laurel had been to Mercat Negre a couple of times and were overwhelmingly enthusiastic.  The Catalan-inspired restaurant is the younger brother of tapas bar Mercat in Manhattan which I haven’t  been to either.  Anyway, I couldn’t wait to try Negre that evening.  Firstly, Mercat Negre is huge and appears to be an old warehouse.  The ceiling is at least two stories high, and the front doors were opened, letting the brisk air waft in.  Interpol’s Antics was playing on the stereo system though later the music switched to more of an African bent.

Our waitress was slightly green (only on the job two or so days, she revealed) but eager to please and seemed genuinely to want us to have a great experience.  Service was attentive, with the busboy, other model-tall waitress, and manager all making frequent stops at our space; no cleaned plate spent much time on the table.  The restaurant wasn’t that crowded though it was pretty late for dinner.  In honor of it being St. George’s Day, ladies received red roses though gents did not receive books.

I didn’t take pictures because I neglected to bring my flash camera (fail), and it was dark in Mercat Negre, plus there were too many dishes to shoot.  So you will have to use your wonderful imaginations to visualize the small plates.  Note that the menu changes all the times, and you might find completely different dishes featured instead.

• Tempura rose petals (off the menu)–fried awesome.  These dainty delights melted on the tongue.  Who knew you could deep fry flowers?
• Bomba–Breaded Chicken & Pork Meatballs with Brava Sauce.  The sauce looked like ketchup but packed a kick.  The bomba was more like a croquette; we were picturing spaghetti-style meatballs.
• Bunyols–Cod Fritters with Romesco Sauce.  Not bad, fried fried fish.  Fried seems to be the word of the day?
• Empanada sampler–I sampled the chicken, shrimp, and pork ones.  The shrimp one strongly recalled New England clam chowder.  Not a bad thing by any means.  I was sorry I missed out on the blue cheese one.  The chicken one was creamy and hot.  Pork was almost like Thanksgiving turkey.
• Duck salad–pulled duck meat on top of greens, nice.  Detected a hint of salt on the duck.
• Steamed clams–small bivalves steamed in olive oil with crushed pepper.  Simple and a crowd-pleaser.  I was relieved there wasn’t too much pepper.
• Octopus–cooked and presented with watermelon and garbanzo puree.  Pairing octopus with watermelon is a bold move; the watermelon looked like raw tuna at first.  Seriously, you can’t go wrong with the eight-legged sea creature.
• Short ribs–I didn’t eat much of this by accident and ended up only tasting a tiny portion.
• Arros d’anec–Bomba Rice with Duck Orange and Pineapple.  A quick Google search reveals that bomba is a type of Spanish rice used for making paella, noted for expanding in width, not length, when cooked.  I could have told you that.  The grains of rice were definitely tubby.  This paella comes out in a frying pan the size of an XL pizza.  Ian and Dave were thorough in scraping all the rice off the pan, for the crunchier grains.
• Pa amb xocolata–Toasted Bread topped with Olive Oil, Chocolate and Salt.  These resembled egg rolls but were more stellar.  I was expecting a flat piece of bread instead of a roll.  Salt+chocolate works so well, I’m always amazed.  I need to try making chocolate covered popcorn.
• Xurros amb xocolata–Homemade churros served with chocolate.  The churros were delicate capital D shapes.  The chocolate was a pool of deep dark intensity.  There was too much to coat all the churros, and therefore Ian procured a container for taking it home.  Thou shall not waste liquid chocolate.
• Chocolate truffles–eight tiny cubes of truffle goodness.  Ian also let me sample his lemon frappe which was whipped up and strongly lemony; I am rather fond of the citrus.

Let’s not neglect the drinks.  I’m not going into them because I forgot all the components, but I had the Grand Street Grog which was rather grand, living up to its name.  Rum and other good things.  Oh wait, I found them: dark rum, muscatel (Spanish muscat wine), pineapple, citrus.  Everyone else was content with his/her beverage.

Bathrooms decorated with Calvin and Hobbes and Spanish cartoon pages, cool.  Cash only, boo.  There’s a rooftop deck opening up in the future which is rather exciting for the upcoming summer months.

Restaurant experiment: Merrion Square

Merrion Square

1840 Second Avenue at 95th Street

New York, NY 10128

212-831-7696

http://www.merrionsquarenyc.com/

Thanks to The Onion, I learned about Merrion Square and its terrific deals, deals which were doing their job, luring me to the establishment.  I guess with all the Second Avenue subway construction, Merrion Square might be having to work harder, luring people in.  Free wings with pitchers?  Free burgers with drinks?  Whoa, I’m totally there.

So one night, Lily, Afua, and I met up at the Square.  Since it was still after work time, the place wasn’t very crowded which was fine by us.  At least we weren’t the only folks there which is never a fun situation.  Due to being on a corner, a reasonable amount of sunlight entered the space.  For the game enthusiasts, there’s skee ball as well as pool to be played.  The bartender did double duty as waiter.  Because it was rather chill when Lily and I initially showed up, he came back to our table too often, but as MS received more guests, his visits became infrequent.

Lily and I ordered a pitcher of Blue Moon.  When the bill came later, we were shocked that it cost $26.  That’s a bit much.  At least the free wings took the edge off of that shocker.  Eep.

The three of us dove eagerly into the eight buffalo wings.  They were on the spicy side and slathered in sauce.  I prefer my wings to be very fried and crunchy; these were softer.  But not bad.  We also took advantage of the free burger with drink purchase deal.  As to be expected, fries were not a part of the special but we ordered some fries a la carte and snacked on cajun curlies.  Hooray for several fry options!  Out of blue cheese for the burger?  Bummer dude.  You had to pay extra for the cheese but $1 isn’t bad for a burger.  The bun was not made of strong stuff but the chuck was pure beef and not too dry for well done.  Quesadillas and chicken fingers were also good bar food. 

Later, three adults brought some daughter to the place, and this group of four sat at the table next to us.  Why do you bring children to a bar?  This ain’t Park Slope, people!  Then I kept thinking about that Reese Witherspoon movie.  “You have a baby.  In a  bar.”  Or something like that. 

While the food isn’t exactly anything to drool over, the lack of pretension and throngs of people will encourage us to return.

Restaurant experiment: Piatto d’Oro

Piatto d’Oro

349 East 109th Street at First Avenue

New York, NY 10029

212-722-7220

http://www.restaurantpiattodoro.com/

I’d been meaning to try Piatto d’Oro for the longest time but it never ended up gelling until now, when That Girl and I were looking for a place for our dinner appointment.  Its pros included being not too crowded, a different style of cuisine (it is Spanish Harlem after all), and reasonable costs.  When I stepped into the small restaurant, a gentleman who I assumed is the owner, guided me to a table in the center of the room but graciously let me switch to one by the wall (to avoid drafts from the open door).  There were only two other parties present when I arrived, and there was a family left right before we departed.

That Girl showed up soon after me.  The meal started off with a bang: complimentary garlic bread.  And then a basket of more bread, sadly not of the garlic variety.  Piatto’s menu is sprawling so you’re apt to find something for your needs.  Pastas, meats, salads, pizzas, yeah, no worries there.

I ended up getting the rigatoni ai carciofi, rigatoni with artichokes.  White sauce, wonderful!  Comfortably butter and rich, and plenty of artichoke pieces for my tastes.  And with freshly grated parmesan on top, perfecto!

The two of us couldn’t resist dessert.  Lots of options.  I nearly went for the chocolate mousse but then my eyeball latched upon the coppa spagnola which appealed to me after it was described as something like a semifreddo with fruit.  Sold!

It was kind of like cherry and vanilla ice cream, ultra-frozen, meaning very hard.  That Girl’s chocolate gelato was practically blackness and tasted like chocolate on the bitter side but felt gritty, for lack of a better adjective.  Was it supposed to be like that or not?  That Girl and I were unsure.  Bottom line?  Desserts were OK.

The owners let us linger as long as we wanted or at least I wasn’t noticing any dirty looks being shot our way.  I’m charmed & will be back no doubt.

Not charming, down the block, a man screaming obscenities at a woman.  Not a way to end a meal.

Restaurant experiment: Colicchio & Sons

Colicchio & Sons

85 Tenth Avenue at 15th Street

New York, NY 10011

212-400-6699

http://www.colicchioandsons.com/

Stacy and I showed up at Colicchio & Sons for our brunch reservation and were seated right away even without Esther; none of that full party nonsense.  What a spacious and inviting space!  I hadn’t been to Craftsteak when it existed so I don’t know how different the two are.  Pretty Chelsea location too, with the Hudson in the background behind a patch of park, and the High Line on the other side.  Colicchio & Sons, established 2010 as the sign informs you, is generous with the glass: two story windows make up the walls.  The trademark glass wine cellar is prominent, up a flight of stairs.  Piled up firewood welcomes you into the eatery.

Italian-influenced Colicchio & Sons is divided into the Tap Room and the Dining Room.  As you might have gleaned, the Tap Room offers tons of beers on tap.  Even some that are more than $20!  There is somewhat of a more relaxed vibe going on in the front Tap Room, and by relaxed, I mean cheaper.  Brunch is only served in the Tap Room which is welcome news for your pocketbook.

The space really is galaxy-sized, by Manhattan standards.  Stacy stated that she was glad that the tables weren’t smooshed on top of each other (she and Esther were just at Prune recently which is guilty of that).  Prices are reasonable for brunch, with most entrees around $10-$14.  Esther, Stacy, and I all had issues picking out our mains because each choice sounded appealing.  Finally I went with the Tenth Avenue Hangover which consisted of soffritto tripe, poached eggs, and beer sabayon ($12).  I do like the unique dishes.  They call out to me.  I didn’t know what to expect so I was a little surprised when the dish came out in a generous soup bowl.

We split an order of the lemon cream donuts.  Warm and sugary and lemony.  Man, I could have done with about five more of those guys.  We were also presented with small bread balls which came with a killer apple butter-ish topping.  Deelish!  And there were also triangles of complimentary bread.

And now, the Hangover.  The baby chives were cute.  Firstly, I fancy poached eggs, so that was a plus.  And tripe, it’s also near and dear to me.  The dish as a whole verged on salty, but it was flavorful enough.  If you like onion tastes, this is your friend.  While I lacked a hangover, I could see how this would either help remedy that malady (the richness of the cream and the eggs) or jokingly give you one since there was beer in the sabayon which I couldn’t taste all that much anyway.

Sabayon–eggy creamy custard (the yellow in the shot below)

Soffritto–I was aware beforehand that sofrito is a base used in Latin American cooking.  It’s basically the same thing in Italian cooking, a tomato-onion sauce with other veggies.  You can’t see it in the picture because it’s hidden.

You can see Esther’s Carolina rice johnny cake with duck confit & red-eye gravy in the background.  Good gravy!

Stacy kindly let Esther and I have some of her onion, potato, country ham, & sunnyside up egg pizza.  Brunch pizza, how about that.  Recommended, but my heart still lies with the Tenth Avenue Hangover.

Top Chef fans: Chef Colicchio can be found cooking here most nights of week, stated our waiter.  No sightings for us though.  And no matchbooks either to round out my Craft and Craftbar set!

Duck, duck, goose, liver

This post is for Mike who suggested I write about this topic.

I do love foie gras.  Nowadays, a lot of attention has been given to that fatty fowl liver, primarily practices used to obtain this delicious item.  It is pretty controversial.  But so tasty!

Foie gras impressively enough dates back to the ancient Egyptians and from the land of the pyramids and mummies, spread across Europe.  In modern times, France leads the way in foie gras production (and consumption), cranking out 18,250 tons back in 2005.  Interestingly enough, Hungary made the second place spot five years ago, producting nearly 2,000 tons.  Quite a big diff between first and second, huh?  The US was fourth after Bulgaria.  The species of goose mostly commonly used is the Toulouse goose, and with ducks, it is the Moulard duck.

Duck foie gras is cheaper to produce and therefore more popular in the States.  For that reason, I will focus on the duck as our model organism.  Ducks do not have teeth and swallow their food (plants and animals) whole.  The edibles go into the esophagus and some of it can be stored in a little side part called the crop.  Then the consumables travel along to the stomach’s first compartment called the proventriculus and following that, the ventriculus, aka gizzard which is kind of like a trash disposal, grinding the food into smaller bits.  Then it’s the small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and cloaca (opening for waste and reproduction).  For connections to the reptile kingdom, alligators and crocodiles have gizzards, and the anatomy of the duck’s stomach is quite like that of snakes.

In New York state, foie gras is produced at only one farm, Hudson Valley.  This farm raises Moulard ducks which are crosses between male Muscovy ducks and female Pekin ducks.  Moulards apparently are some of the best tasting ducks; the breast is called Magret (ah, didn’t know that). 

The only other producer of foie gras in the United States is Sonoma out in California.  The website chronicles how the ducks are raised; this includes being free-range and all-natural.  Near the end of the duck’s life, it is fed by oral gavage (tube down esophagus), putting rich corn meal into the creature.  Ducks do not have a gag reflex, how about that?

Foie gras doesn’t have to be liver from plumped up geese and ducks.  This variety goes by the monikers fatty goose liver, humane foie gras, ethical foie gras.  Foie gras is defnitely legally in France as foie gras entier (purest form), bloc de foie gras (>90% pure), and foie gras specialties (mixed with stuff).

Critics argue that force feeding is unnatural and does not mimic the fowl fatty loading or bulking up for migration.  They also claim that condions on farms are cramped and unhealthy.  The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) does not have a stance on the subject; some veterinarians say that foie gras practices are acceptable and some disagree.

Conclusion: foie gras is debatable but delicious. 

References

• http://hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com
• http://www.the-golden-egg.com/dir_aaa/inf_ducks.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras
• http://sonomafoiegras.com/
• http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/terry.derting/cva_atlases/canduck/digestsysduck.htm has pictures of a dissected Canvasback duck
• http://www.fleur-de-lys.fr/foie-gras-types.asp
• http://www.nofoiegras.org/faq.html
• http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/sep05/050901q.asp
• http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/sep07/070901f.asp