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

Restaurant experiment: El Quijote

El Quijote

226 West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues

New York, NY 10011

212-929-1855

http://www.elquijoterestaurant.com/

In ordered to celebrate Greg’s birthday, it was decided that there would be a dinner at El Quijote.  Since the dinner would be later following the end of the work day, Mike and I met up for a pre-dinner drink to whittle away the time.

Me: Do you have specials?

Bartender: Yes, we have specials [points to list of speciality cocktails].

Inner monologue: No happy hour?  What kind of a bar is this?  Bar fail.

I ordered the white sangria because it was the closest cost to a happy hour special.  Mike wasn’t too thrilled with his martini, but the white sangria I sipped was fine and doing its job well.  The drink menu is pretty extensive, and I noticed a $100 pitcher of margaritas available.  Yow.

Mike and I sipped our drinks by the coat check until our entire party arrived.  Diverse crowd.  I entered with an elderly lady using a cane and her family, and two young women were in the same dining room as us.  Popular place for birthdays, heard “Happy Birthday” three times during the meal.  The decor is notable in that you’ll certainly notice it.  It’s kind of like Chili’s, Spanish-style in that there’s lots of junk on the walls.

Our large party was regulated to a not-as-crazy back room which was basically empty.  And it had lattice on the ceiling.  The waiters were outfitted so that they sort of resembled bellhops.

The menu was diverse, and it seemed like that there was an option for everyone.  I finally settled on the Mariscada Ajillo, mixed seafood in garlic sauce for $20, after forgoing the other mixed seafoods because I didn’t know what green sauce and quijote sauce were.  So yeah, the menu could use some more descriptions.  Every entree came with a choice of soup or salad, and another choice of various sides.  That night, you could pick from rice, baked potatoes, fried potatoes, or broccoli.  The salads appeared first, and the waiters brought out three different dressings (two sets of three, if you want to be more precise) which must be convenient for them instead of repeated the dressings over and over after asking what dressing each diner wanted especially since 90% of us got salads.  The salad was fine.  The dressings were an oniony dressing, salty but yummy blue cheese, and an Italian style.

The baked potato was standard.  The mariscada ajillo was terrific though.  Usually when you order seafood at a restaurant, it’s always two tiny pieces of ocean dwellers, but here, I got numerous clams, shrimp, mussels, and scallops.  If you look at the image above, the silver pot is also full of shelled goodness.  Too much food!  It’s incredibly rare that I have food to go because I’m too stuffed.  El Quijote delivers bang for your buck, I must admit.  And they were really kind to split the checks for such a large party (NYC can be really awful about that).  And they had free matchbooks.

I don’t know it from Adam.

Mike, Douglas, and I were having a discussion about Adam’s apples.  How did that come up?  I can recall where it came up (Cafe Luxembourg) but not exactly how.

If you search for ”Adam’s apple” in Google Images, a lot of pictures of Ann Coulter come up.

The Adam’s apple is medically called the “laryngeal prominence.”  It develops at puberty and is basically a lump of cartilage covering the larynx/voice box.  Guys have these apples, and some girls do and some don’t.  Male cartilage meets at a 90 degree angle which is why it sticks out so much.  Female cartilage meets are more of a 120 degree angle, causing less protrusion.

What does it do?  Nothing.  How useless!

I like the name, a biblical reference.  And apparently the apple bobs around when some guys are nervous.  Iiiiinteresting.

References

•  http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/adams_apple.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngeal_prominence
• http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/061102_adams_apple.html
• http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1715.html

Restaurant experiment: Balthazar

Balthazar

80 Spring Street at Crosby Street

New York, NY 10012

212-965-1414

http://balthazarny.com

Mike and I accidentally stumbled onto Fashion’s Night Out in SoHo, so we were pleased to rack up free items from retailers, mostly bottled beverages.  The plan was to eat at Balthazar after.  Unarmed with no reservation, a scary prospect.  Amazingly we were squeezed in despite a 45 minute wait but had to sit at a miniscule round table in the flow of traffic by the bar.  Oh well.

Balthazar is a sister restaurant to Lucky Strike and Pastis, both other French bistros which I have patronized.  It has some other siblings, but those were of note to me.  This place is also known as a celebrity hotbed though I didn’t see any movie stars.

Mike and I nibbled on the free bread as we perused the menu.  We eventually settled on drinking a bottle of a red blend and sharing two appetizers.  He selected the lobster risotto, and I elected for the chicken liver and foie gras mousse which came with “red onion confit and grilled country bread” ($14).  The onion was nothing super special, but the mousse was all kinds of awesome.  Rich and delightful and melting in the mouth.  Yeah!

Mike’s risotto was strongly lobster-tasting.  The corn was a nice touch for a firmer texture since risotto can get too mushy for me.

We went with the cheeseburgers ($16).  At this point, I was stuffed and could have called it quits right there.  Man, those appetizers were practically entrees in themselves.  But Mike and I persisted.  The fries?  Laura said they were supposed to be the best.  I can’t say I agree with that, and while they were at my desired thickness and crunchiness, they needed more sodium chloride.  But noble effort!  Iceberg lettuce?  Um, okay.  I feel like I can’t fairly judge the burger since I was too full and couldn’t enjoy it as much.  No desserts for us.  I felt like I needed to be rolled out of Balthazar.

Our waitress was a sweetie.  I wasn’t fond of being in the line of fire and was fearing that my wine would be knocked over.  Thankfully no dining malfunctions.  The bathroom has an attendant.  What???  Those tourists are the money shedders I guess.  Who brings a bag from Dylan’s Candy Bar to Balthazar?  Tourist alert!  Next time, Mike and I are ordering the plateaux de fruits de mer.  Two tiers of raw seafood?  I’m there!  And we’ll make a reservation as well.  Too bad we aren’t famous…yet.

Restaurant experiment: Cafe Luxembourg

Cafe Luxembourg

200 West 70th Street at Amsterdam

New York, NY 10023

212-873-7411

http://cafeluxembourg.com/

Whew, thank goodness I made a reservation.  8:30 on a weeknight, and the brasserie Cafe Luxembourg is practically overflowing.  Squeezing by tables…it’s an art form.  Mike and I looked round for celebs, but we didn’t seen any.  Darn.

Decisions, decisions.  I wanted the Luxemburger (Mike stated it should be spelled Luxembourger, hehe) with cheese but I was also swayed by the steak tartare.  What to do?

Mike kindly offered to share entrees so I could have my cake and eat it too, or rather have my burger and eat my tartare too.  Perfect!  to make it semi-French. 

So Mike picked out a bottle of red wine for us to drink while dining.  The complimentary bread was marked by tough crusts which gave your jaws and teeth a workout.  That needs work.

The burger was good but from the land of salt.  You were offered a choice of fries or salad with the burger, and we logically agreed on salad seeing as the tartare came with fries/frites.  The frites were top notch!  Hot, crispy, and salty (not overly so).  The steak tartare was fine, but both Mike and I reminisced about our favorite tartare at other restaurants.  We wanted more capers, and it’d be nice to have it freshly prepared at our table.

 

Dessert time.  Blueberry pie.  $10?  Uh, that should be $6 tops.

Employees are friendlier than at most restaurants.  The host and hostess made me feel like a person of high society.

Rating for Mike: 3.75 stars outta 5

Restaurant experiment: Dos Caminos

Dos Caminos

373 Park Avenue South between 26th and 27th Streets

New York, NY 10016

212-294-1000

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/dos_caminos_park/index.php

Mike, Douglas, and I came here for Restaurant Week lunch, and we didn’t even order off the Restaurant Week menu.  Oh, the irony!

The Two Paths is very popular with the businessperson crowd, but we were bequeathed a nice semi-circle booth.  Of course we had to start off with the guacamole.  Dos Caminos is famous for their tableside freshly mashed guacamole; I’ve had it before, and it’s a knockout.  Even though it contains cilantro, I can rise above that just because it’s so scrumptious.  Indeed!  And the chips are hot, crunchy, and salty: the perfect complement.

I ordered a passionfruit margarita and the carne asada burrito ($17), “grilled marinated steak, chihuahua cheese, pico de gallo, baby arugula, spinach tortilla.”  I requested no pico due to all that pesky cilantro.  And it was most excellent.  That has to be the most expensive burrito I’ve ever eaten however.  The meat was rockin.  The salad on the side was too spicy and will earn a thumbs down from me.  

Douglas and Mike were game for dessert, so I went along.  We ended up with the cajeta sundae which was “vanilla bean ice cream, roasted banana ice cream, chocolate & cajeta sauce, cajeta sabayon, cascabel salted peanuts.”  Even with only a third of it, I was stuggling; the thing was massive.  The brittle-like piece in the middle?  A dessert in itself for real.

What is cajeta, you ask?  According to trusty Wikipedia, it’s a gooey syrup sauce made from caramelized milk.  Ah, the caramel-like sauce in there.

And what is that milky shot, you ask?  That is a delight called horchata.  It was new to me.  Our waitress Jenny (ask for her if you go to this Dos Caminos) gave them to us on the house.  Ah, refreshing!  This version of the almond-y milk beverage had a small dollop of sorbet in there.

Oops, lunch went over.  Two hour “business” lunch.  Yeah, that’s right.

For Mike: 4.5 out of 5 stars (rating Time Out NY style)

Restaurant experiment: Veritas

Veritas

43 East 20th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10003

212-353-3700

http://www.veritas-nyc.com/

Eight people commanding a restaurant.  Kind of cool but kind of not since Veritas was on the empty side.  Almost creepy.  It’s nice to have attention lavished on you, but a few more full tables would have been nice.  Holiday weekend?  A shame regardless. 

It was AmyL’s idea to check Veritas out.  Even though the chef associated with the place has since departed, it’s still noted for its cuisine (one Michelin star) and mammoth wine list.

We sat around a figure-8 shaped table which sort of segregated our group into two factions.  After some discussion, it was agreed to try out the nine course tasting menu.  Yikes.  I’ve never done a tasting menu that large before…have I even done a tasting menu?  Don’t think so. 

Armed with glasses of riesling, here’s what we had.  It was too dark in the restaurant for perfect pictures; we must make do with a small smattering.  The kind employees gave us menus to take home so we could remember all the dishes we tried.  Perfect!

1. Amuse bouche–asparagus soup with croutons, thumbs up.
2. Lemon marinated langoustine–mmm!  One of my favorites since I’m partial to raw shellfish, and it came with caviar.  Langoustine is also known as scampi and the Norway lobster, as I looked up just now.  Ah, now Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi makes sense.
3. Foie gras mille-feuille–mmm again!  Foie gras with pineapple was a rather unconventional pairing, but it worked. 
4. Lobster nage–eh.  Lobster soup with white asparagus.
5. Fresh white asparagus roti–the yolk from the egg attacked Stacy!  The egg was somewhat bland, but that was balanced out by the saltiness of the jamon.
6. 6.  Sauteed frogs legs–this had to be the most talked about platter during the meal.  The bone was pulled out in such a way that the meat turned into a lollipop.  Plus you had a special dish of water with which to wash your fingers.  What fun!  Mini-chicken drumsticks with green dipping sauce.
7. Wild turbot–another eh.
8. Barbary duck breast–while I did praise this, I was become stuffed at this point and couldn’t enjoy it as much.  Bummer.  Nectarines (whoops, I said peach) and figs were delightfully warm and sweet. 
9. L-Ossau-Iraty–cheese!
10. 10.  Chocolate mille-feuille–again, I was too stuffed.  They sure do like putting gold flakes in the food.
11. 11.  Bonus dessert–marshmallow and Earl Grey truffle and something that I forgot and ate before I took a snapshot.  The other two were not of note, but I drink Earl Grey like nobody’s business, so the Earl Grey chocolate was just my style.

Nine course tasting menus could be a bit of a mixed bag.  I don’t think any one dinner guest of mine was vehemently infatuated with all eleven courses, but we all liked a lot several and were neutral or didn’t like several.  It all evens out.

Healthy debates–err conversation, good friends, fun food.  And that’s the truth that I found in the wine.

Restaurant experiment: Maxie’s Bar and Grill

Maxie’s Bar and Grill

233 Park Avenue South/19th Street between Park Avenue South and Irving Place

New York, NY 10003

212-979-7800

http://www.angelo-maxies.com/home.htm

Mike and I came here for happy hour after we were rebuffed by Sugarcane at SushiSamba. In case you are wondering what went down (OK, I made it sound more drama-filled than it was), they wouldn’t let you sit at [empty] booths if you were just ordering drinks; the bar was packed. Ridiculous.

Fine, they didn’t want our money; we were going to patronize a different watering hole. Going down Park Avenue South, that ended up being Maxie’s, the non-steakhouse sibling of steakhouse Angelo and Maxie’s next door since Mike had been there before and could vouch for it.

He and I plopped ourselves down at the spacious bar. The happy hour special was from 4-7pm I believe, with various beers and wines and wells being discounted. Mike stuck to non-happy hour martinis, and I grabbed a gin and tonic before the clock struck seven.

Hot damn! The gin and tonic was packing a punch. I approved. Eventually we decided to order food as well as another round of drinks. Mike decided to go with a classic martini, and I went with another G&T. Since we love burgers, Mike suggested we try the slider sampler. The slider sampler ($9.95) was very confusing so the cheerful bartender had to explain it to us, and we were still confused. I’m sure the alcohol didn’t help, but it would have been easier for everyone if the menu included a description of what burgers exactly were sampled. As it turns out, you can pick plain burgers with the cheeses of your choice (plenty of cheeses to pick from), and/or the teriyaki, au poive, or coffee burgers. I think? Poor patient bartender.

The food was a bit of a bust. I would have never conjured up a coffee burger. Good effort, but coffee and ground meat do not really enhance each other. According to the bartender, the rub was coffee, not the sauce like I thought. That was simply the caramelization of the shallot. The blue cheese slider we ordered was too skimpy on the cheese. The sweet potato fries were fine to me, but Mike declared them too airy, and he’s the sweet potato fry connoisseur so I’ll have to defer to him. Fries came with the slider sampler, but you had to fork over an extra buck for the sweet potato fries. We splurged ($0.75 each) for dipping sauces: roasted red pepper and Hollandaise since I’m on a Hollandaise sauce kick. Holla! The Hollandaise sauce tasted like melted butter. The two of us were still skeptical, even though the bartender swore it wasn’t the truffle butter sauce.

The place was not crowded which was a shame. Yeah, it was a Monday evening, but the joint was not jumping. Poor Maxie’s. Though I did like being able to speak at a non-shouting volume and not be bumped or anything like that. Commendable bathroom facilities.

You know a place isn’t very busy when the hostess volunteers to take a picture for you. How kind of her though. Thanks to Mike for food styling and the picture! I labeled our order at your request.

Restaurant experiment: Nomad

Nomad

78 Second Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets

New York, NY 10003

212-253-5410

http://www.nomadny.com/

Yet another birthday celebration in one week, birthday week!  This time, it was Greg who was turning another year older.

I arrived early and sat at the bar until the rest of the party arrived.  Since I was the only guest in the place at that point, I was lavished a lot of attention by the waiter/host (waist? hoter?).  Nomad has a front dining area and a back dining area which is a little roomier, a way a lot of restaurants are laid out.  The back also has more atmosphere, meaning is prettier and more inviting.  Our party sat in the back, tucked away into a little corner.  It was just us for a while but then the place started to fill up.

The lamb and prune tagine was highly recommended to me by Greg and Ambika, and I was skeptical at first because of my dislike for prunes though Greg said these weren’t like your average standard prune.  The lamb was great!  Prunes, not so much.  I gave them a chance to prove me wrong with this dish, but nope.  Just didn’t win me over.  The only prunes I’ve loved have been at Freemans, only because blue cheese and bacon compensate for the prune-ness.

Even though I gorged myself of the free pitas and olive oil beforehand, I ate every single bite of the lamb, the unliked prunes, and my bowl of couscous, but I was still hungry.  This is rare for me since typically I can’t even finish my own entree, so I guess the portion really was small.  Ambika took pity on my predicament and offered me her bowl of couscous, and Greg bestowed upon me a bite of his red snapper.  Snappy tasting, that fish.

The check took a long time to arrive, par for the course.  But I would come back though I’m trying the chicken pastilla (chicken, almonds, phyllo, cinnamon, sugar) next time.  And maybe having a snack at home beforehand.

Restaurant experiment: Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike

59 Grand Street between Wooster and West Broadway

New York, NY 10013

212-941-0772

http://www.luckystrikeny.com/

Since it was a birthday dinner for Laura, I took great pains to select an appropriate eatery for the event. I haven’t spent much time down in this part of SoHo, but I should, as there were tons of appealing restaurants in the area.

Even around 9pm on a Wednesday, Lucky Strike was a hoppin’ happenin’ place, with a crowded bar and crowded dining area. We had to wait close to 20 minutes even though we were assured less than that. But hey, a place this busy couldn’t be that bad, right?

The menu has a bit of everything and was less Frenchy that I expected, as there were a couple of Italian dishes on there. I ordered the croque monsieur and Laura followed suit. As I later joked, it was like Paula Deen had prepared it as the sandwich was slathered in a generous heaping of butter before being grilled. And inconsistencies too, since Laura’s sandwich was significantly darker than mine. The croque was a little salty but cheesy and hammy. I was already full on that and left the salad largely intact, to be nibble on by Laura. Must’ve filled up on the free bread and happy hour drinks earlier. I sampled Mike’s moules which were yummers.

The rest of us were too stuffed for dessert, but Laura ordered a slice of chocolate mousse cake which I requested a candle for. The staff obliged. They did not sing “Happy Birthday,” but our table did the choral honors.

If you want the airplane bathroom feeling without leaving the ground, use one of Lucky Strike’s W.C.s! Levity aside, you can feel hip enough at Lucky Strike while having a reasonable meal. A lucky selection by me for the evening’s meal, I say.