Restaurant experiment: Aldea

Aldea

31 West 17th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues

New York, NY 10011

212-675-7223

http://aldearestaurant.com

Since it was Stacy’s birthday, she was hosting a “splurge” dinner, and the venue was to be Aldea, a Portuguese restaurant suggested by her friend Mark.  Our group of eight was seated on the top floor of Aldea.  The restaurant is on the narrow side, and the table doesn’t exactly leave much room for spreading out.  But the space is modern and svelte, attractive.

All of us were going for the $85 tasting menu with five courses.  I opted out of the wine paring.  I looked over the cocktail menu but was not enamored of anything.  Eschewing the booze, I went for the homemade lemonade ($5) which was just my speed and was just like how I would have made it: tarty with a sliver of sugar.  Ended up guzzling two of those over the course of the meal.  Esther and Stacy kindly shared their wine parings with me so I was able to partake somewhat.

The meal started off with bread choices.  I had the baby baguette; I’m a sucker for mini-breads.  It was what you’d expect.  Cornbread and olive rolls were some of the other options.

Next was a raw oyster on a bed of salt with a cup of warming soup, maybe mussel soup?  Ugh, memory failure.  Do I need to start taking notes?  Anyway, I do recollect both treats being well worth eating, or slurping, in the case of the oyster.

A highlight of the tasting menu was the fingerling potato soup with sea urchin and shaved truffles.  I am not a truffle sort of person, so I could do without.  Esther agrees that truffles do not rock her world, but she is of the camp that the aroma of earthy truffles enhance the meal.  I could see that though I am not 100% in agreement.  Anyway, the urchin and the soup steal the show.

Cuttlefish and foam?  Some sort of multi-appendaged sea beast.  It was all right though I’m just over this whole foam thing.  Eh.

Now here we have a seared scallop with microfine squash shavings which the waitstaff emphasized were not saffron strands, but squash.  Interesting.

Looking back, I find the arroz de pato one of the most memorable dishes.  Since I dig duck in general, and rice too, I loved how there were generous amounts of the water bird mixed with the rice, and the rice was crunchified as well…I’m a sucker for crunches and near-burned foodstuffs.  There’s a lot going on here, not just duck and rice, but also chorizo, olives, and even clementines, so says the menu.  Wonderful.

Dessert was a citrus sorbet with ginger enhancements.  The fruit was so fresh and flavorful.  I could do without ginger, but overall, I could use several more mini cups of this.

And finally, complimentary petit fours.  I usually do not find petit fours to be worth discussing.  There were fine but superfluous, ending with the sorbet would have been exiting on a higher note.

It was nearly midnight when I left Aldea.  What a long meal!  The service was accommodating; when Steve had to leave, they boxed up his dessert so he could have it to-go.  Also, everyone (including Belinda and I who were no gos on the wine pairing) were given the final pairing, a shot of a light-colored port.

Restaurant experiment: The Breslin

The Breslin

16 West 29th Street at Broadway

New York, NY 10001 

212-69-1939

http://thebreslin.com

For Stacy’s birthday, we were invited to gather at The Breslin for food and drinks.  I’ve been to the hipper-than-you Ace Hotel twice already: once for drinks in the lobby and once for Stumptown coffee.  The Breslin is a new venture from The Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield.  You have to arrive early as no reservations are accepted.  Poo.  Even just shy of 5:30, The Breslin was bustling.  At the bar, I tried the Rush of Blood to the Head cocktail (all the speciality drinks are named after rock albums).  I find it amusing I dug this drink, as I dug the Coldplay album it’s named for and I personally feel that those lads peaked with this release.  The $12 cocktail blended Prosecco with blood orange liqueur, hibiscus syrup, and lemon zest.  Yum yum!  You can see it in the upper right had corner in the first picture.

Our large group was seated upstairs.  Looking at the menu, all I had to say was meat paradise.  Crazy meat paradise, as there were pig’s feet, beef tongue, and oxtail all listed.  There are only about five mains on the menu, plus some specials, and the rest are appetizers or snack.  Dave and I shared a small terrine board ($25), and Stacy and Josh did as well.   This board contained the following:   

Guinea hen with morels

Pork pate

Rabbit & prune

Headcheese [One of my favorites, unfortunate name though.  Wikipedia tells me it is “meat jelly made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig.”  Wow, that’s not something you want to share with your vegetarian pals.  It’s the brown rectangle with white swirls.]

Liverwurst [Also a top pick, unlike the liverwurst you get at the deli counter.  It is the circle in the photo.]

[Wee] Pickles, piccalilli, & [zingy] mustard

As my main, I ordered one of the specials, lamb necks.  This ended up being $29.  The cuts were so moist and tender, laying on a bed of whipped potatoes, soaking in a pool of gravy.  This dish had so much potential but was marred by an egregious amount of salt!  Seriously, I thought I had chugged a salt shaker.  Salt is wonderful, but who honestly thought patrons would enjoy this quantity?  Bummer.  The salt issue wasn’t limited to my necks since Josh and Stacy thought their cassoulet was on the salty side, and Dave’s lamb burger, while exceptional, was pro-salt.

The Breslin redeemed itself with dessert.  Nearly all of the $9 desserts sounded delightful to me, but Dave and I opted for the brioche doughnuts which came with three dipping sauces: maple butter, caramel, and chocolate.  The maple butter was easily the least liked since it was basically butter with a dash of maple.  The caramel and chocolate were off the chain however.  Doughnuts weren’t best for sharing since I wanted to be a hog and eat all of them.

And from our second story perch, we could peek into the open kitchen as we sipped on post-meal coffee (decaf for me) which I bet is from neighboring Stumptown.  The chefs ding a bell when a whole suckling pig is served.

We departed The Breslin by exiting into the lobby of the Ace Hotel which was hopping and happening.  Out of the sidewalk, a bouncer was denying guests entry.  I’ll admit it was kinda cool to egress in this fashion.  So trendy.

Restaurant experiment: Volt

Volt

228 North Market Street

Frederick, MD 21701

301-696-VOLT

http://www.voltrestaurant.com/

Normally I wouldn’t write about a restaurant outside of NYC, but since Volt has attained fame on a national level, I thought I would blog about it.  I don’t even watch Top Chef but I know a lot of my friends do.  All I knew beforehand was that there were two brothers Voltaggio on the show.  One won and the other was the runner-up.  The latter, Bryan, runs the kitchen at Volt in Frederick, MD.

In historical downtown Frederick, Volt resides in a stunning warm red brick building that used to be the home for six spinster sisters.

Top Chef enthusiast Esther had snared the private dining room for our larger group.  This dining room was a solarium.  While this sounds pleasant in theory, on a sunny afternoon, it’s not so desirable.  I was sweaty and blinded and considered donning my sunglasses.  Maybe some blinds would be wise.  On the upside, at least there was oodles of light to help my pictures look pretty.

Our server was on point and very professional.  The service was just like any starred restaurant in NYC.  We all had the $55 lunch tasting menu.  Complimentary sparkling or still water was served.  A couple of folks had bloody marys and highly recommended them.

I’m going to cobble this together from various menus posted on the website.

Breadsticks: the spice choices were a little harsh for such a simple item, but that’s just my thought.

Bread: a basket of options came round.  I picked the chive biscuit.  I think you were supposed to pick one, but a few of us tried two.  I had a bit of the chocolate croissant, fantastic.  The Vermont butter pushed the biscuit into lip smacking good territory.

Tuna tartare amuse bouche: nothing to say except that this was exceptional!  I wish this were one of the courses instead of the other fish dish.

Tasting of Tuscarora farm beets: as anti-beet person, I can’t admit I loved this dish.  But I learned that there are different varieties of beets, of different shades of the rainbow.  Out of all the colors, I liked the dark purple beet the best.  The meringue beet (the violet styrofoam-like cylinder) dissolved on your tongue.

Cherry Glen Farm goat cheese ravioli: the general consensus was that this course was one of the showstoppers of the meal.  If this were a Broadway musical, this would be the part when the diva finishes her big number and the audience leaps to their feet to applaud.  The squash sauce was a yummy pairing.  I don’t know about all this foam business though; sage foam didn’t really add much to the overall effect but look like dishwashing bubbles.  Though I did like the little maitake mushrooms.

Fish: The beans look like caviar but are definitely not fish eggs.  Were the cauliflower dyed or naturally those hues?  I guess we’ll never know.  White fish rarely dazzles me.  This sturgeon was fine but nothing to put you in a pleasure stupor.

Meat: solid steak.  Unfortunately this one left less of an impression, not because it was bad, but maybe since it came towards the end of the meal.

Goat Cheesecake: for me, goat cheese is a little too caustic for cheesecake; I simply prefer more mellow cheesecake (hello, cream cheese).

All in all, $55 well spent.  Volt is at full capacitance and electrically charged.  So when you hear Volt, don’t think about Chevy’s lame new car but about this charming, fantastic gem in old Frederick, MD.

Restaurant experiment: Marc Forgione

Marc Forgione

134 Reade Street between Greenwich and Hudson Streets

New York, NY 10013

212-941-9101

http://www.marcforgione.com/

I picked Marc Forgione for a dinner to celebrate an accomplishment because I wanted to knock some more Michelins off the list.  Its prices don’t give you heart attacks, I haven’t been cavorting in Tribeca lately, and it’s not so hoity toity that you feel like you’re in a museum.  And yes, the menu sounded satisfactory.  Perfect.  What was not-so-perfect was me fighting a pesky rhinovirus.  Bleh.

The restaurant is beautiful.  The main dining area has brick walls and tube lighting (like Christmas lights) sneaking behind the booths.  Glass lamps are suspended from the ceiling and encase flickering candles.  The bathrooms recall mountain cabins, with old framed pictures on the dark cloth walls.  I didn’t go into the bar area so I don’t know what that was like, but it seemed pretty popular.  There is also outdoor seating which I wouldn’t have minded either since this block of Reade is calm and not infused with automobiles and humanoids.

Stacy and Josh were running late, but thankfully the hostess was fine with a) pushing the reservation back some, and b) seating us first.  Our table was 50% booth, 50% chairs, and from the booth seats, I could peek directly into the kitchen which I of course was delighted by.  There was some hoopla recently about chef Marc Forgione ejecting a New York Times writer (not the restaurant critic) from his establishment, but Mr. Forgione refrained from yelling during our meal I am pleased to report (I think I saw him?).

In the meantime, Dave and I scrutinized the drink menu.  I decided to go for a signature drink.  Oddly, it doesn’t have a catchy name but is simply called tequila with mango-mint.  The cocktail’s mango is rather subdued.  What a soothing green color too.  Smooth and slightly minty.  Sminty!  We were brought two warm rolls with butter.  We cheered.  When Stacy and Josh showed up, Stacy also tried a signature concoction (rhubarb & elderflower mimosa) while Josh requested a Sierra Nevada which was out and the waitress brought him an alternative microbrew which he approved of, so points for her.  Also, bringing out more bread for all was appreciated.

The amuse bouche?  Two spoons of meatballs and two spoons of white beets and goat cheese.  I opted for the latter because of goat cheese trumping my dislike of beets.  White beets aren’t as punchy thank goodness.  Goat cheese seriously makes anything better.  How strange is it that you can only try one amuse?  Frown.

My appetizer was the “Hangtown Fry, Crispy Olde Salt Oysters, Smoked Paprika Aioli, Pickled Red Onions, North Country Bacon” ($15).  I guess I was expecting large oysters, but these were about the size of tablespoons.  And the Hangtown fry turned out to be an omelette.  A Google search led me to Wikipedia which stated that a Hangtown fry is a special omelette that rose to prominence during the Gold Rush.  One origin story had it that a prospector stuck the motherlode and ordered the most expensive breakfast out of the most costly ingredients at the time: eggs, oysters, and bacon.  Hehe.  Well, I hope that prospector liked his as much as I liked mine!

Both Dave and Stacy ordered the hamachi appetizer which earned approval from both of them.  The most curious aspect of this dish was that it came with sichuan buttons to pop in your mouth prior to delving into the fish.  I had never heard of this plant before.  It’s actually a miniature bud.  At Marc Forgione, it’s used as a palate cleanser.  It pops in your mouth and also triggers salivation due to the spilanthol which acts on the trigeminal nerve.  Wow, how cool is that?  I didn’t try any but I was fascinated.

A noticeable amount of time passed between the first course and the second.  Hmm.  Then all the mains came out for everyone.  I had ordered the bacon-encrusted pork chop which came with basil mashed potatoes and pickled peppers.  It was a massive cut of meat, that’s for sure.  Was I enraptured?  No, not really.  There just wasn’t a kick, an oomph that made you go googly-eyed during each bite.  Needed more bacon flavor perhaps.

Regarding the desserts, the key theme was comfort food.  No wacky sweets with bizarre freaky ingredients here.  You’ve even got baked-on-demand chocolate chip cookies.  Ice cream features prominently.  Stacy ordered a huge sundae which I sampled, and Josh opted for the PB&J which had peanut butter cookies as the bread.  Cute!  Dave and I split the “tattoos and strawberries” named after the tattooed pastry chef.  Homemade ice creams such as strawberry and chocolate, maple oatmeal cookie, rocky road, hooray!  Sadly my cold dulled the flavors, making it tougher for me to discern what each flavor was.  What a bummer.

There were complimentary wee blueberry oatmeal squares in cream with the check.  Made paying the check go down sweeter!

To sum up, I liked Marc Forgione fine, but Michelin star?  Skeptical.  I would go again for brunch, since the menu seems to have prices all in the low teens.