First Crush- San Francisco

I heard so many good things about the food in San Francisco (especially from one of my fave bloggers, Feisty Foodie).  I was incredibly excited when I was asked to travel there for business (I had never been) and extended the trip to include leisure travel with Mike over Christmas week.  I was so excited to try so many different restaurants in SF (plus I knew it was prime artichoke growing territory… MMM!) and we planned the last 2 days in Napa where more wonderful nomming was to take place.

It was just my luck that I came down with a wicked case of food poisoning or a stomach bug about an hour before leaving for the airport.  (I do not wish having stomach problems like that on an airplane to my worst enemy!)  It actually had me completely in bed for 24 hours after the trip and sans food for the first two days.  I somehow dragged myself to work on Day 2 but it wasn’t pretty (I was so bad off that I never would have gone in had they not paid for me to fly out there and I knew I actually had to SHOW UP or risk them not reimbursing me).  By the end of that evening, I was finally feeling semi-capable of nourishment and went with chicken soup from Westin’s room service.  It was actually quite tasty and I’m pretty convinced it was slightly magical as that was the turning point.

By the next night I convinced myself I was well enough to eat again.  We were staying in the Union Square area and used our Urban Spoon iPhone app to pull up a convenient restaurant.  First Crush sounded like a good place so we went for it without much research (very uncommon for me!)

We started with something that sounded right up my alley: roasted winter squash with chestnuts, pearl onions, squash puree, and pomegranate reduction.  It was really, really good!  I was a bit dissapointed that there weren’t more (and bigger) chestnuts since I love them, however, I got over this very quickly with the amazing flavor combination and freshness of the ingredients. 

Mike went with the pistachio crusted wild hawaiian walu with rainbow carrotes, roasted fingerlings, fried shallots, and glace de veau. The crust was perfect and the fish was moist and flavorful.

I ordered the artichokes braised a la barigoule with toasted barley, flageolets, sunchokes, and lemon oil.  It was good but I was expecting a bit more robust artichoke flavor.  (I think I expect too much of my favorite veggie).  I really enjoyed it, however, and I’m glad I ordered this dish.

Overall, for a random restaurant in the middle of an unknown city, I thought we found a gem.  None of the desserts sounded especially appealing (which was surprising for a wine place… I always expect those 2 to go together) so we skipped.  What we ordered, however, was especially fresh and very tasty.  We enjoyed this first meal at First Crush very much.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

Hopping Across the Street

One of the first things Mike and I noticed about our new building was the little Italian restaurant on the block. Carbone Ristorante is in the middle of the Garment District on a side street, so I can’t imagine they get a great amount of foot traffic, however, I was happy to see a new place to try that was so convenient!

I went with the Homemade Fettuccine with Artichokes, Smoked Ham, and Cherry Tomatoes. It was good, but nothing great. The artichokes tasted very dull, though the smoked ham was tasty.

Mike went with the special of homemade pappardelle with rabbit ragu. I would say the same went for this dish. Good but nothing great.

Overall, the only real victory Carbone has is that they’re close. It wasn’t great and the prices were average to a little higher than average for NYC fine Italian. We took a peak at the dessert menu and nothing really called to us… so we got Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pops on the way home.

Total Nom Points: 5 out of 10

My first attempt at Osso Buco

I have an affinity for Osso Buco that goes beyond normal.  I try not to think about it too much, as the extra layer under my chin doesn’t need any more fatty goodness and marrow, however, when FreshDirect had it on sale, I couldn’t resist.  I really wasn’t sure how to make it, so I found a recipe with a picture that reminded me of the ones I have preferred (most notably at Montenapo and Becco, as well as the lamb one at Charles).

The recipe wound up being very simple and basic, actually.  The only thing it really requires is time.  2.5 hours of braising made it clearly a Sunday meal.

I paired it with a quick prepare, microwavable side from Fresh Direct (“Sides in a Snap” Mascarpone and Mushroom Risotto with Chives) and a steamed artichoke dipped in Roasted Garlic Butter. Adding roasted garlic to butter for dipping is my new favorite way to eat artichokes.  There are few things I find more easily delightful to make than roasted garlic.

The final meal was a great combination, and the Osso Buco was good, but it just wasn’t great.  I guess I really shouldn’t compare my first attempt with restaurants that are known for making it great… but I still wanted more.  It was perfectly tender but the meat itself just didn’t have the same flavor.  I’m not sure if this was the fault of the cut or my preparation.  But I will try again and work to improve it to <3 caliber.

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RECIPE
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Osso Buco

Ingredients:

Nizza Pizza

Continuing our round-up of restaurants within 10 blocks of our old or new apartments while all our kitchen stuff was packed, we wanted to try Five Napkin Burger.  We were going to meet friends for drinks at 9pm, so when we saw a huge line of waiting patrons for Five Napkin, we decided to walk back down 9th Ave and Stumble Upon something.  Nizza was on the same block (9th between 44th and 45th) so we decided to try it.

They had a wine on special and offered me a sample.  I went for it and REALLY liked it.  So much so that I asked the waitress to write it down.  It wasn’t until I was in a wine store a bit later that I realized she only wrote down the type of wine and not the brand (duh).  So all I know was that it was a 2005 Valpolicella Superiore from Veneto, Italy.  We tried another one of this type and it was good, but not as good.  Oh well.  Mike got a Negroni (made with Campari, Gin, and Vermouth). It wasn’t my cup of tea, but Mike seemed to think it was okay.

The bread was warm and came with what seemed like a blue cheese spread/butter of some kind.  It was quite tasty.

They had Braised Artichoke Hearts on the menu.  If you know me, you know I had to order it. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t great.  The heart had some flavor, but overall it was a bland artichoke that the extras added little to.  I am a very harsh artichoke critic, however.

Mike got the spaghetti with sausage and meatballs.  He cleaned his plate before I even got halfway through my entree, so it must have been good!  I think he had some ordering envy again, however, as he drooled a bit when mine came out.

I ordered the Carciofo Pizza that came with tomato, roasted artichokes, goat cheese, parmesan & ligurian olives.  It was delicious!  Perfectly crispy and flavorful crust with great toppings.  Again, the roasted artichokes were pretty bland, but the rest of the flavors were great.  I even was full enough on three pieces to offer my last to Mike, who happily accepted.

Overall, Nizza is a good selection in the over-crowded area of Hell’s Kitchen.  We enjoyed our meal but it wasn’t anything amazing.

Total Nom Points: 6 out of 10

Plummy Pork

When I was at the Union Square Market with Mike, I saw mini plums and couldn’t resist. I used to get them at the Farmer’s Market in Ithaca, and they were some of the best fruit I had ever had. These were good, but not that good.

When trying to determine what to make for dinner on Sunday, Mike suggested making a plum sauce. A quick google later, and we found a recipe that sounded very good without the use of fats. We supplemented the mini plums with pluots (half plums, half apricots) to make for enough substance in the sauce. The recipe was a bit hard to figure out, however, we took some liberties and the recipe turned out incredibly well. The pork was tender and the plum sauce was tart and sweet and tasted incredible. It was quite pretty in color and when you cut it open, and the wine it was cooked in really brought out a great flavor in the fruit. I’d put it in the top five of the recipes we’ve made.  And I think it was pretty healthy!

I actually didn’t have cooking string to tie up the pork to wrap it, however, I did have some wire. I was concerned that the wire would do something funny, so we made a backup version of just the pounded pork with the fruit on top. The wrapped pork in wire wound up working, and the flattened ones were a bit drier, so I recommend the wrapping.

We paired the pork with brown basmati rice mixed simply with mushrooms as well as artichokes we bought for the sole purpose of using the artichoke cookers I got for my birthday from my friend and old college roommate, Kim (she also got me my very own NYC Nom Nom apron, that is adorable and awesome). They are very smart with a stand that allows the artichokes to steam upright. Unfortunately the artichokes we got were too big and didn’t have the flavor that they should have. The stems were also too woody. I look forward to trying the cookers again with regular artichokes.

Artichokes steaming:

Cooking down the plum sauce that goes on top:

Cooking the cherries in the wine (apples were added later):

Browning the wrapped pork in shallots:

Putting the pounded flat pork in the dish with fruit on top:

Browned rolled pork wrapped with wire:

A finished archie:

The finished plate:

Cut open rolled pork:

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Pork with Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

• ½ cup dried cherries (or cranberries)
• ½ green apple, diced
• 3 Tbl. sugar
• Red wine (I’m sure good wine would be better, but we used “Four Buck Chuck” aka Charles Shaw, and it was still fabulous)
• 8 ripe black plums (or red, or pluots, which is what we used)
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Pork chops, pounded thin
• Shallots
• High heat PAM

Directions:

1. In saucepan, mix 1/3 cup of wine with 2-3 Tbl. of sugar until sweet to the taste. Add dried cherries and put over low heat. You don’t want to cook them, you just want to reconstitute them. Add apples to soften (I just let this cook on very low heat until I was ready for the next step)
2. Cut the plums into a separate sauce pan. You don’t have to peel them. Recipe said to just cut chunks the size of your thumb off until you’re down to the pit. Add wine to a depth of about 1 inch. Add enough sugar that the wine is sweet to the taste (though not too sweet). Add salt and lemon juice. Cook over a medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the plums soften, about 40 minutes. Mixture should be thick like applesauce.
3. Preheat oven to 325°
4. In the meantime, place cooking string or wire under each thinly pounded pork chop so you will be able to roll and tie it up, about 1.5 to 2 inches apart (I used 3 per chop). Spoon the cherry/apple mixture into the pork and then roll up the sides and tie up. (You can also stuff a pork loin if you prefer)
5. Brown shallots in a pan and then brown all sides of the pork (use tongs to rotate)
6. Spray casserole dish with PAM high heat spray. Place pork in the baking dish. Cook at 325° until done, about 50 min. Set pork on platter to rest.
7. Pour pan juices into the plum sauce and boil 1 minute (I guess I cooked too long since there were no juices and just some solidified stickiness on the bottom, but it still tasted great).
8. Untie/cut/untwist wire/ties and either serve as a roll or slice the pork into 1/2 inch slices to reveal the center. Serve with plum sauce over the top.