Hudson Valley Restaurant Week: X2O Xaviars On The Hudson

I love the idea of restaurant week. Something about a limited time, pre-fix menu really motivates you to get out and try someplace new. Or someplace that you've been dying to go, but couldn't justify the expense. So, in honor of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week(s), I drove a few miles south to X2O Xaviars On The Hudson. The restaurant, which was featured on Anthony Bourdain No Reservations Hudson Valley special, sits on top of an old pier near the Yonkers train station. We were seated in the smaller dining room on the highest level -- at a corner table by the window, looking south toward the GWB and Manhattan skyline. After starting with a Hudson Bubble Cocktail (sparkling wine, blood orange juice and elderflower liqueur), we perused the featured menu which had a ton of options. I started with the spicy tuna roll, and I don't even really like raw tuna. But the generous eight piece serving was delicious and totally not fishy at all. My table also ordered the fennel soup (looked nice) and the mushroom custard, which unfortunately was a little too reminiscent in look and taste to Campbell's cream of mushroom soup straight from the can (although I am sure only the finest wild mushrooms and cream made it into the dish!). We all went with the roasted sirloin for our entree. And it was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy (and this from someone who typically orders her meat medium well). Paired with two sauces, the sauce choron listed on the menu and a sweet and spicy red sauce, the portion was perfect -- filling but not overfilling. Leaving room for dessert! While some went for the rich Belgian chocolate dome... ...I went with an off menu special -- chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream, which was perfectly nice and actually quite light (which I appreciated after my surf and turf dinner). I wish the ice cream (which initially sold me on the selection) had a little more pistachio oomph (like the pistachio gelato I had in Milan last year) but at least it wasn't green!

All in all, I had a great time. Although I felt a tad bit rushed through our meal (I get it -- they need to turn the table), the service was great and as Restaurant Week patrons, I did not feel like we were treated like second class citizens (as some places have been known to do).

There are six more days of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010 -- plenty of time to try to snag a reservation at X2O, or start planning your trip to Yonkers this time next year!

London Calling: Kappacasein at Borough Market

I've been doing a lot of traveling lately, which is why I have been doing less cooking (and less blogging!). In fact, I just returned from a big trip -- across the pond to London. I first visited London as a recent high school grad and have been back several times since. It was great to visit old favorites as well as make new discoveries. And for me, no trip to London is complete without a stop at Borough Market. Tucked under London Bridge, on the South Bank, Borough Market is foodie paradise. With a 50-50 mix of whole and prepared foods, even tourists without access to cooking facilities can eat their way through the market. But for me, there's only one stand to hit -- the "Raclette Guy." Originally affiliated with Neal's Yard Dairy, this visit, I noticed a new name on the stand -- Kappacasein (which Google tells me is a protein that is key to the cheese-making process). A recent Serious Eats post makes it sound like Kappacasein is still associated with the famous cheese shop, which is a relief. Despite the new name (and new prices), the stand still sells two dishes, both featuring gooey, melted cheese: raclette (which I have attempted to make before) and luscious cheese toasties, otherwise know as THE BEST TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICH IN THE WORLD. In my opinion, the key to their success is not the sourdough bread (although I think that is really the only kind of bread one should use for toasted cheese). Nor is it the nice mix of scallion, red onion and garlic sandwiched between the bread. No, it's the cheese. This time, I am pretty sure the cheese was a cows milk variety called Ogleshield and it was delicious, mild and melty. I must find some here in the States. If you visit, once you're done with your sandwich, resist the urge to go back for seconds, and instead wander west along the Thames River and hit the Tate Modern or cool home design stores (including Joseph Joseph and Black + Blum) at the Oxo Tower. Then, retrace your steps back to the market for seconds! After all, you'll have walked off the first sandwich no problem. Look for Kappacasein near the London Bridge side of the green market, directly opposite Southwark Cathedral (which has some stone walls and benches for you to sit and enjoy your sandwich).

Mangia Bologna: Cooking with Carmelita of Cook Italy (Part 2)

Four weeks ago, I was shopping in cooking in Bologna, Italy. My how time flies. Fast forward one month, and some of the seasonal ingredients I found in the markets in Italy are finally available here in New York State, including the first asparagus of the season! Sadly, I have yet to make it to the Union Square Greenmarket in time to buy some (sells out too early). But regardless, I thought it was high time I shared some more photos from my Bologna adventure. When we last were in Bologna, I had: gotten up at the crack of dawn; walked to the Milan train station in the foggy, semi-dark; boarded a high-speed train to Bologna; navigated my way through the city to meet Carmelita; slurped down a cappuccino; wandered through the back streets snacking on chocolate and pork; tried to follow as Carmelita exchanged remarks with shop owners, in rapid Italian, literally and figuratively over my head; and, after poking around a butcher shop that displayed its wares au naturale, half contemplated becoming a vegetarian.

Too soon, we were at Carmelita's darling apartment to begin cooking. In fact, I admired her sun-filled flat so much, I think she should seriously consider entering Apartment Therapy's Small Cool contest next year.

Side note: I entered mine the first year of the contest, and while it was small, it was deemed neither cool nor cute. This was before I realized how design-savvy AT readers are and how architecturally-savvy and creative other entrants would be. Sadly, I have made just a few improvements in the years since, but what can I say, my apartment suits me! At least until September, as my goal is to move once my lease is up.

But I digress. Carmelita's apartment is very cool with a large window overlooking a nearby church and a tricked-out kitchen running almost the length of one wall. The large prep table also doubles as her dining table, with bench seating tucked underneath.

First on the agenda was making the pasta dough. I had never made pasta. I may never make pasta again. I don't know if I have the patience to get the dough just so (something about folding and kneading and avoiding pleats). But in case I do get ambitious, Carmelita did make me write down the correct proportions: 100 grams of [cake or pastry] flour to 65 grams of egg.

With the dough tucked in the fridge, it was on to the other prep. Like shelling fava. I had never shelled fava beans before either. Nor would I have known that you can/should peel the skin off the individual beans.

We blanched the asparagus with the fava (since they were going to be pureed together), as well as boiled the hollowed-out round zucchini. Apparently, Italians do not like their veggies cooked al dente, as we left both pots on the stove much longer than I would have at home. But eventually, the zucchini was drained and cooled and half of the fava and asparagus blitzed together with olive oil to make a bright green sauce.

Once cooled, we stuffed the zucchini with a luscious mound of ricotta (which had been pushed through a potato ricer) mixed with the tiny shrimp (which had been cooked and coarsely ground with a mortar and pestle), olive oil, salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg. Garnished with larger shrimp (which were kind of mangled as I was not really good at slicing them lengthwise) and served on a bed of citron, I was pretty impressed -- this four ingredient dish looked like something from a food magazine.

However, eating would have to wait as the work wasn't over! Although the clams had been soaked and cooked, we still needed to shuck them, not to mention chop the parsley and garlic that would join the clams to make a simple sauce for the pasta. Plus there were morels to clean.

But once all that was complete, we took a quick break and popped out to Carmelita's corner wine shop, which just happened to be the famous Enoteca Italiana, to get a nice chilled white to drink with lunch.

The shop, which I later learned is in all the guidebooks for Bologna, is quite small but has a nice upfront area perfect for sipping a glass of wine and people watching. The shop also has a really interesting and well-priced selection of regional and Italian wines, but I could not face the thought of dragging wine bottles with me the rest of the afternoon (Unfortunately, I somehow got lost and couldn't find the shop when I tried to return later in the day. Oh well - another reason to return!).

With wine in hand, we returned to the apartment to cut the pasta. I was not a natural, by any means, but after folding and flouring and rolling and flattening a few times, I started to get the hang of it.

While the noodles dried, we combined the shucked clams, reserved clam liquid and olive oil. Once warmed through, we removed the pot from the heat and added the garlic and parsley.

Then, it was finally time to start eating. We as we cut into the stuffed zucchini, Carmelita threw the pasta in boiling water, deftly flipping the cooked noodles into the clam sauce mixture just as I licked the last shmear of ricotta from my knife.

While I twirled the pasta and simple clam sauce (and debated if I should break the no-cheese-with-seafood covenant and ask if Carmelita had any parmigiano reggiano), she was back at the stove lightly sauteing the morels (which gave off a lot of liquid) before cooking the fish fillets using a kind of steam fry method.

Once cooked, Carmelita plated the fillets on a pool of the green asparagus-fava puree, surrounded the pool with the remaining fava and asparagus and topped the fish with morels (kind of apropos as I learned some refer to morels as a "dryland fish"). One last drizzle of olive oil, and it was done.

I begrudgingly left some pasta and clams behind in the bowl so I would have room to enjoy the fresh, clean flavors of the vegetables and the flakiness of the fish. Despite my best efforts, I was only able to eat half the fillet, but made sure I downed all of the spring vegetables. After all, I knew it would be a while before I saw any for sale in my local markets.

Before I knew it, it was after 3 p.m. After more than six hours of walking, shopping, cooking and learning, it was time for me to teeter off in search of a caffeinated beverage in hopes of reviving from food coma. I needed a second wind to explore Bologna.

If you plan to visit Bologna in the near future, I encourage you to check out Cook Italy. And if you cannot get to Bologna anytime soon, here is a rough overview of the ingredients and method for the dishes I enjoyed. Buno appetito!

The Springtime in Bologna Menu

Round zucchini stuffed with ricotta and shrimp, served on sliced citron

Ingredients

2 softball-sized round zucchini

1 c. Ricotta cheese

Palmful of small shrimp (approximately 1/2 c.)

5 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, nutmeg

Method

Slice stem and top from zucchini, cut approximately 1/4 inch from stem.

Using a melon baller or paring knife and spoon, hollow zucchini; chop and reserve flesh for filling.

Boil hollowed out squash and lids in salted water until soft; scoop from boiling water, drain and cool.

Bring water back to a boil, add small shrimp and remove as soon as they turn opaque (e.g., less than a minute!).

Bring water back to a boil for a third time, add larger shrimp and remove as soon as they turn opaque (approximately 2 minutes).

Grind/mash/blitz small shrimp until they are at a chunky, paste-like consistency.

Combine shrimp paste with reserved raw, chopped zucchini flesh, ricotta and a glug of olive oil.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Mound filling into zucchini, garnish with cooked jumbo shrimp that has been sliced in half lengthwise.

Fresh pasta served with a sauce of clams, garlic and parsley

Ingredients

Little neck clams

Fresh pasta

Garlic

Parsley

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Shamefully, the method we used is a bit hazy (early wake up call + walking + wine = haze) but Cook's Illustrated's version, although calling for a few added ingredients, looks close. Not a subscriber? Try this link.

Fried steamed fish topped with morels served over an asparagus and fava puree

Ingredients

Fish fillets

Fava beans, shelled with waxy skin removed (or not, your choice!)

Asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

Morels, cleaned

Olive oil

Salt, pepper

Method

Again, I blame the haze, but do remember the method being quite simple: cook shelled and peeled fava beans and asparagus until tender; reserve half, combine the other half with a glug of olive oil and blitz using an immersion or standard blender; saute the morels in a dry pan, set aside; fry steam the fish until opaque; serve on a pool of the puree, surrounded by the reserved fava, asparagus and morels.

Someone else's cooking: Defonte's Revisited

Finally got to try a cold hero at Defonte's and was much more impressed than my last visit - first at the shear size and second at the combination of flavors. This time, the fried eggplant worked with the other ingredients. The giardiniera salad added a nice kick, but I did add some red wine vinegar as it needed a little more zing for my taste. All in all, pretty good Italian sub for the neighborhood and at $10.78, more than enough for two meals.

Someone Else's Cooking: Defonte's in Gramercy

Despite being in the 40s, it's a very spring-like day in NYC. And walking through the Union Square Green market, it's clear spring is on its way...but not quite here yet. My haul today consisted of a bag of onions from Mignorelli and two loaves of sourdough from Our Daily Bread (my contribution to an Oscars party tomorrow night. Sourdough = San Francisco = tribute to best picture nominee Milk, get it?). But having $7.50 worth of bread in my shopping bag didn't stop me from popping into Defonte's during their soft opening this afternoon. The Defonte's of Brooklyn in Gramercy is an outpost of the famous Italian deli located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. And it's a welcome addition to the neighborhood, given the past tenant in the location was a very skeevy Blimpies. For the soft opening, all sandwiches were priced at $5, which is a pretty nice discount compared to the official menu (let's just say they don't sell $5 foot longs). They were out of most ingredients for cold heros, so I ordered two hot sandwiches to try -- the #23 The Jerry Lewis (mozzarella, fried eggplant, and tomato) and #28 Deli King (corn beef, swiss, coleslaw, mustard). Why those two? No idea. It was a madhouse so I just ordered the first things that caught my eye. #23 (which I received sans tomato) was thin and crispy. The fried eggplant, which Defonte's is supposed to be famous for, was more about the "fried" and less about the eggplant. Sliced very thin lengthwise, the eggplant was most likely dredged in egg and some kind of flour mixture before cooked. My great uncle used to make zucchini this way, so I know it can be delicious, but in this case, the eggplant had practically vaporized in the fryer. All that was left was the crispy coating and a few seeds to prove that the vegetable had actually once been there -- but no eggplant taste. My take: treat the fried eggplant as a topping for one of the meat heroes or as a side dish. In fact, I picked the eggplant off the bread and ate it plain. The #28 was visually more impressive - a towering pile of fresh sliced corn beef with spicy brown mustard and the house coleslaw. But although it was marketed as a hot sub, by the time I got home (and I live really close) it was cool, so I heated in in the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese. The combination of flavors was nice, although the corn beef was slightly chewy (I don't think Katz's has to worry). All in all, pretty good for a soft opening, and props to the staff for staying cool given the unfamiliar menu and hungry crowds. I will definitely be back to try a cold hero. So maybe it's for the best that spring is still a few weeks away -- more time to work off lunches like these!

Someone Else's Cooking: Talulah’s Table

I really like Yelp. In the old days, I would have searched chowhound.com or citysearch.com for restaurant recommendations, but these days, it’s all about Yelp, despite the fact I have never posted a review on the site myself. So when planning a trip to Longwood Gardens over the holidays, I searched Yelp for top-rated restaurants in Kennett Square, small town southwest of Philadelphia. While the local Mexican place received high marks, Talulah’s Table came in at number one – and this article in Conde Nast’s Portfolio sealed the deal. Talulah’s, started by two Philadelphia restaurateurs, boasts one of the country’s hardest to secure dinner reservations. With just one nightly seating for 12, it’s no wonder. Even Ko seats more than that (although they start taking reservations one week in advance vs. Talulah’s one year). Luckily, lunch is easier to come by. Just grab a sandwich or salad from the case upfront, or wander toward the back to the store for prepared food by the pound (or, in the crab cakes and potpies, by the item!). Place your order and wander back to the coffee bar to grab a mocha or browse the shelves lining the room for a must-have gourmet grocery item. Then grab a seat at THE table and wait for your lunch. Although portions were on the small side, the dishes I sampled packed a punch. Lunch for three, including: two mochas, a chicken pot pie, a crab cake, a side order of brussel sprouts with walnuts and a small serving of porcini pasta salad came to about $35.

Talulah's Table

102 West State Street

Kennett Square, PA 19348

610 444 8255

Someone Else's Cooking: Ithaca Farmers Market

Sometimes, visiting the farmers market is less about the food you buy to cook and consume later and more about the food you buy to consume then and there -- as I quickly accepted when I visited the Ithaca Farmers Market.

I went to school in Ithaca, but for some reason, never once in my four years there did I ventured off the hill down to the market at Steamboat Landing. In fact, I don't really remember cooking a lot at all during college, so I am sure I would have not appreciated it.

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But I think I would have appreciated the other offerings at Ithaca, including vendors featuring mini wooden clock towers, handmade cards and jewelry, baked goods and prepared food.

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Oh, the prepared food at Ithaca is like no place else -- people wait in lines 10 deep for corn fritters or peanut noodles or platters at Macro Mamas (the only macrobiotic food I have tried and actually liked), which is right next to the Cambodian stand, which is down from the burrito people.

On my last visit, I noticed a new baked goods vendor with a genius business model -- a portable wood burning oven for made-to-order $7 flat bread pizzas. On a cold and blustery day, after slogging through the muddy parking lot just to get inside the market, $7 was a small price to pay.

Apparently, many other people thought so too, as this was the last margarita "pie" they were able to make as they ran out of tomato sauce. Very thin and piping hot, we devoured it while enjoying the water view. If I went back, I might try one other versions, including a white flat bread and Mexican style flat bread (burrito people, take note).

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And if you're curious, yes, I did buy some veg at the market, including some very pretty delicata squash, but it really was a day to enjoy the market ambiance and, for once, let someone else to do the cooking.