Evaluating Wendy's New Fries

Here's the thing, I'm a fan of freshly-cut fries as much as any other food fanatic, but the thing is, when I go to a fast food restaurant, I want what you expect, pre-cut and salty and delicious. If I wanted fancy fries I'd go to Cafe Lalo or some place of the sort. Having said that, I still really love Wendy's and it's the place I go for fast food 98% of the time.

I'm content with what they gave me yesterday in terms of fries, I think they did a pretty good job of it actually for a massive chain like them. They tasted like real potatoes and looked the part (with the skin on and everything). They however, do not satisfy my search for poutine in New York, I might just have to go back up to Quebec to get some (that would be a pretty crazy post wouldn't it?).

Ultimately, they were good fries and Wendy's should be proud however, I do have a few criticisms. "Sea-Salt" doesn't mean under-seasoned. They needed more salt; I really only tasted potato, which isn't bad, but does get a bit mundane after a while and would cause me to slather them completely with mayonnaise. As well, I'm not sure what "natural-cut" means; I have a feeling that they say that so they don't have to lie and say "fresh-cut" which they weren't (they were too thin). Those were my only two problems.

I'm still satisfied as always with Wendy's and I'd like to congratulate them on their new fries.

I'm Alive and Recovered from Thanksgiving!

It's been a long time since I got back here to post and I meant to write about all of the stuff I ate on Thanksgiving, however I think that for myself, I may have gone a bit too far...

First of all after weighing myself before and after the meal, I found that I shockingly managed to gain one and a half pounds in one sitting. I started to feel like Adam Richman for a bit. Even though I admire what he does, I'll leave the competitive eating to him for a while.

Second, for the first time ever in my family's Thanksgivings, I volunteered to make the fresh pasta (because what's Italian Thanksgiving without a first course of pasta?) since my uncle who normally rolls out the dough was just coming back from a vacation in South Africa and did not want to cook under any circumstances for that massive meal. I was originally going to make 3 pounds of fettucini, however, I made 2 and we still had leftovers. Overall the pasta was a success but a tiring ordeal considering that I haven't done it in a while. I would do it any time again because it is fun and that's one of the things that I'll do for fresh pasta.

Now let's talk about eating 1.5 pounds of food. It's remarkable to me because I didn't even notice it, yet, there was a lot of food in front of me and I kept shoveling it in without any point to stop myself. First course, my fettucini with a heavy mushroom sauce, I must have eaten about a quarter pound which isn't that much but there was still an entire dinner to go.

When the main course came my plate was filled with and emptied of: large amounts of turkey and homemade gravy, cranberry sauce, Italian stuffing (rice, provolone, mozzarella, and sausage), traditional stuffing and corn pudding. Then came dessert which was a bounty of desserts made by another uncle of mine including: pecan pies, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cake with cream-cheese icing (that was my favorite).

Now its a bit obvious that it wasn't too hard for me to gain a pound and a half. However, I was so frightened by the fact that I gained that much so fast and jumped on the elliptical machine to start working it off.

The Stanton Social

I can't believe it took me so long to post about this. Saturday, we went out for my mom's birthday at Chris Santos' restaurant, The Stanton Social. The ability to sample so many things off of the menu was vast and amazing. We were able to share many dishes amongst ourselves and all of them were fantastic.

The six dishes we shared were:

1. The Potato and Goat Cheese Pirogies with truffle creme fraische.

I'm not the biggest fan of goat cheese, though, I have to say that I've never had any pirogies like that before. The creme fraische and the caramelized onions on top really sold them to me.

2. The French Onion Soup Dumplings

This is one of the restaurant's signature dishes and it just makes eating French onion soup so much easier. He makes the soup, "dumplifies" it, sticks a tooth pick in it, places them an escargot dish and melts gruyere on top.

3. The Lobster Pizzetta

I don't really know how to describe this one, however, it was really great. Truffles, lobster, bacon and herbs, it was just amazing.

4. The Beef Wellington

Another signature to the restaurant. It's a traditional beef wellington made with puff pastry, beef tenderloin, and fois gras mousse. Even though it was great, I can't seem to pick a favorite dish.

5. The Mushroom Risotto Cakes

I'm a big fan of mushroom risotto. To have it in a small cake didn't diminish anything about it at all, it just made it tapas style.

6. The Sweet Potato Ravioli

These were interesting, I only got a bite of them though. It was a combination of sweetness and pasta, really great flavor.

7. The Chicken and Waffles

This was a modern twist on a New York tradition. It had a lot of different flavors, like the spike of the balsamic vinegar.

AND THEN THERE WAS DESSERT

THE DOUGHNUTS!!!

These were some of the best doughnuts I've ever had and their going on the doughnuts of note page. They were warm, covered in sugar, and had three dipping sauces-raspberry, chocolate, and caramel. What else is there to say? They were great!

It was an amazing dinner and there were so many great dishes and you would think that I'd be full after that. I was, however, we still went out for cupcakes (just take a look at my previous post).

Cupcakes Pt. 2

After an eventful and delicious dinner and dessert at Chris Santos' "Stanton Social" for my mother's birthday (which I will talk about in my next post), we went for second dessert at this place called "Sugar Sweet Sunshine" (I know, it's a really masculine name), however, going past the name I got to try some fantastic cupcakes which I am a huge fan of (which you would know if you have been reading my blog from the beginning).

I was pretty full because a lot of small plates can really fill you up eventually. Having said that, I still had room for two very different cupcakes. The first of the two was a pistachio cupcake. Nothing you would accept from a savory ingredient, a great amount of sugar and incredible icing which lent some more sweetness to the flavor of the pistachio which was as well quite prominent.

The second of the two was a red velvet cupcake. You may be thinking: "how is this unique?" Let me tell you, the Chantilly consistency of the chocolate icing on this cupcake made this the best red velvet I've ever had. Not only that, besides the fact that it was a red cupcake with cocoa flavor, there was a huge burst of almond flavor which made it massively unique.

Yes, I was hesitant going into a store called "Sugar Sweet Sunshine," though, that's not going to keep me from having a second dessert. Even though I felt like my masculinity was depleting every minute I was in there, it was so worth it.

The New York Poutine Pilgrimage

Ultimately, you may be thinking to yourself: "why the hell is he obsessing over poutine all of a sudden?" It's just the fact that I've been thinking about it a lot recently. I miss Quebec, I have a strong draw to Canada for some reason. Anyway poutine is just one of those things that draws me, and even though it's sickly unhealthy, it just tastes so good. I decided since it was more of an effort than I thought to make home-made poutine than I thought, I'd check out the poutine scene in NYC.

It seems that it was much easier than I thought. I just typed in to Google: "Best Poutine in NY." Low and behold, I site something like CitySearch came up with the best places for poutine in the city and a lot of good looking and easy to get to locations came up. I decided I would show four of my findings; two in Manhattan, two in Brooklyn.

Let's start with Brooklyn:

Mile End

I mentioned this place in my last post about making the poutine. It's a Jewish Deli with a Montreal twist on it. Instead of pastrami or corned beef, you have Canadian smoked meat and other deli fare. Though most importantly, they serve poutine! It looks really good and "Quebec authentic" too.

Sheep Station

I've seen pictures of their poutine, and it does look good, however, at little less authentic. I feel that this place is on the bottom of the four. I think it's also a little more out of the way than Mile End too. There of course is always a desire to try it.

Now Manhattan,

T-Poutine

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this store in SoHo. Straight out of Quebec, a model who brought with him his favorite French-Canadian food, poutine. He then opened up this restaurant which looks amazing. Great looking, as well as authentic looking poutine, I'm very eager to try it. However, it's temporarily closed, though when it re-opens, I'm going to be the first on line.

Pommes Frites

I'm going to thank Nimz at her blog "Bothers" for recommending this place to me. I've heard of it before, however, I never really looked into it. It turns out that in addition to their fries and variety of sauces, they have authentic poutine as well. It's served in a Styrofoam cup like street poutine you would see in Quebec City. That'll be the first one I try since it's smack dab in the middle of the village and open.

I'm Not Waiting to go to Canada!

First of all, happy 50th post everyone, it took much longer to get here than I thought. I know now that I have something really good to write about. Let's get started.

I've never really stressed on this blog my love of poutine, which for those of you who don't know is a French Canadian specialty mixing together fries, cheese curd, and brown gravy. It's really something you have to go to Quebec to get. There is one exception however: there is a deli in Brooklyn that has a "Montreal twist" on a Jewish Deli, serving up Canadian smoked meats and deli items and of course, poutine. The place is called "Mile End" and it's not what I'm writing about.

Today I was thinking to myself, I haven't been to Quebec in a long time (since last February), and having poutine once every few months is okay. I just felt the urge to get poutine and going to Brooklyn was too much of an effort and something to do when leaving the city. So, I went out to the farm to pick up some potatoes (I already had the cheese and the stuff to make the gravy), went home and started up the fryer.

I've done homemade fries before, though when making something like poutine, you have more elements than just the fries, it's a balancing act with the other ingredients, the mozzarella being the easiest. I had worked for a good half an hour and my end result was great.

I sat down with my fresh poutine and a coke that I picked up at the store on the way home and was quite satisfied, knowing that I won't have to be craving that again for a few months. My portions were huge... it was really good though, and healthy.

This is my result!

How to Get To Promise...

There's a great little deli that offers up good food and peculiar sandwiches. That place is Promise Deli, and it's a pain to get to on foot. Walking there with my friend, Ryan, we usually have no issues walking on the side of the road that has no side walk and is very close to the cars (overly dramatic), however it's worth it.

Promise offers up traditional deli fare to your liking and as well, they have a variety of hot (and a few cold) sandwiches that will likely not be found anywhere else. The famed "Sandwiche" which is a combo of buffalo grilled chicken, mozzarella, bleu cheese on a garlic hero. A weird combination, though it works and I like to add bacon to it. Other specials include the "Boulevard," "Fire Island Chicken," "The Brooklyn Bridge" and many more.

The reason I'm writing this deli up other than the fact that I admire the business is that I had a really hard time getting there today. Normally, we do walk on the side of the road with not much room for movement on our side, only in front and behind, though that's never a problem. However, there were landscaping trucks parked all along our route to get there, and I wanted lunch. I'm making sure I eat after what happened this past Saturday.

Anyway, if the road is on our right side, to the left of us are overgrown weeds and bushes. Doesn't seem so bad, except we couldn't really get around the trucks on our right side without being in the middle of the road. I tried to make my way in on the left, and Ryan smartly waited for me to come back because I was stuck all over with barbs from rose bushes, which I wasn't going to do. We ended up looking and running, and we made it easily in one piece.

On the way out we decided to use the side walk even though the truck had left at that point. It was a good lesson learned, because I'll do a lot for food, though I'm not going to get killed over one lunch.

A Nice Rosa Mexicano Meal After Not Eating All Day

In my entire life, I have never once become dizzy from not eating all day. It's just never happened and it occurred to me that this passed Saturday, I just didn't have any time. Spontaneous recitals and rehearsals set me back when it came to food. Luckily enough for me, instead of going home after a long day, my dad was at the opera (for the second time and I haven't even gone once this season!!!) and I could go out to dinner with my parents. The only question was, where am I going to be able to go without fainting.

It had to be that good that I would walk all the way from the upper west 80's to Lincoln Center to get food. That place was Rosa Mexicano. I haven't been for a while and I just got the craving for a really good Mexican meal and I knew exactly what I wanted. The only trouble was getting there without a reservation on a Saturday night right before the night showing of the opera was getting in.

My parents were very skeptical about the idea, though I just had a feeling that we could get to the restaurant and get a table. It was a crazy feeling, though a feeling never the less. There was no way they were going to give me the satisfaction of taking a cab or the subway there. They were going to make me work for it and I knew it, so I walked in my fatigued state in hopes of finding a table at the most popular restaurant in Lincoln Center under the conditions we had.

Finally getting down there, we walked into the restaurant and they told us that we'd have to wait about 30 minutes, and I would wait it out if I had some thing to drink and then they told us that they had a table ready. I felt like a psychic and I was really pleased with perseverance to get to this place. It turned out that they actually had a few open tables that night.

Like I said before, I knew exactly what I wanted. We first ordered the guacamole to share amongst us and then I got the carne asada which is one of my all time favorite dishes (only from there though, and maybe La Condesa) and a coke (to wake me up and satisfy my caffeine addiction). It was exactly as I envisioned it and perfect. A nice table and I nice meal, I'm glad I work for food. After we ate my dizziness had subsided and I was finally full for once in the day!

Vegetarian Lunch?!?

On Saturday I was in a major rush to get something to eat in an hour, and something new to me. I stupidly went down to the Lincoln Center Library from 85th Street to look for out of print music that wasn't even available to look at... Anyway, I took a cab all the way to 83rd, because time made it look like I had to go to Hale and Hearty (which isn't bad, I just eat there too much). However, the cab was going down 83rd and I saw this "Cafe Lalo" which I had always seen and had never gone into. This is what it looks like from the outside:

So, I stop the cab, get out and go into this restaurant hoping that I can get a seat, eat quickly, and get back to the conservatory. I walk in and I was bombarded with a massive conglomerate of great smells and I knew that I was in the right place. I walked by the main counter to see all of the incredible desserts that they had to offer there and I was sat at my table.

I almost had a heart attack when my waitress said that there was no meat being served at this cafe. However, I didn't have time to waste. I ordered a mushroom-gruyere quiche and an order of hand cut fries (which is another weakness of mine).

My order came out very quickly with this beautiful slice of quiche sitting on the plate that was definitively the best combination of puff pastry, German cheese, and mushrooms on the planet. Moving on to the fries. Some of the best, most flavorful fries I have ever had, and it was served "David-Size" in a small red bucket which was hard for me to finish with that heavy quiche.

It turned out to me that what was the scariest thought of not having meat turned out to be one of the best lunches I've ever had, next to Jean Georges Nougatine.

Time To Make My Own Lunch

I feel like I'm losing my affinity for greasy food. I guess that this is a good thing for my health, however, I might miss the taste. I won't miss the after-feeling in my abdomen, though. I discovered this eating a burger from All American, which I love, though I'm going to need to limit my consumption. I also need to limit my going out to lunch. That's going to be hard for me to do, but it's a need and I'm willing to make the sacrifices. I'm going to start making my own lunch and avoiding excruciatingly unhealthy dinners.

First of all, the obvious, I'm going to eat dinner at home as often as I can and I'm going to make a better choice in eating when on the go. Second, I'm going to limit my trips to fast food restaurants and find snacks at home. When it comes down to caffeine, yes, I'm addicted at quite a young age which isn't good, though I'm not willing to break that addiction just yet, I don't want the lack of caffeine in my system to affect my performance and I also love the taste of Coca-Cola so much, I do everything I can to go out of my way to get a can of it (that's a different post however).

Now that I'm back from my diversion, I'll continue with ways to eat well and stay healthy... I'm starting to sound like Jenny Craig for God's sake. You know, I will start to eat better and cut down on the junk food, though I'm not going to make a massive life change and give up my passion for food, that's crazy. For example, never ever in my life would I pass up the opportunity to eat a really good looking doughnut. I'll just need to lay off the greasy food and do more exercise. I'll also make lunch for myself every day and since I consider myself a good chef, I'll be happy.

Of course, I will take time to go out to lunch with my friends, no diet is worth giving up a social life or eating out for that matter. How the hell would I live without Jean Georges or a great steakhouse in Texas, I wouldn't.

I know for a fact I can make a good tasting, healthy sandwich. I mix condiments that I have in the pantry to create unique seasonings. Next thing I have to do is get to the Italian Pork Store for the Italian sandwich that I'll make once a week for myself, with 50% of the cured meat being salted fat, I'll be satisfied.

So to sum up. I'm lowering my consumption of greasy food and doing more exercise. Thank's for listening to my rant.

It's Official, I Have A Love Interest in Food.

Yesterday, I said something that I never thought I would hear anyone say. When discussing different tones, we mentioned seductive, and it didn't necessarily have to be sexual, though very, very enticing. I wound up saying that I thought a really good looking hamburger could be seductive...

It's almost a low point for me. Other foodies would probably argue not. Thinking back, however, I would like to have replaced the hamburge with a few of the doughnuts from Round Rock. It's a shame, I feel that I have some sort of emotional attatchment to that doughnut shop and whenever I think about I feel remorseful about the fact that I won't be getting those doughnuts for a long time.

When it comes down to it, it seems like there are so many great places to eat outside of New York and some that are very far away. My uncle is getting married soon and he lives in Texas, I'm hoping that he had his wedding there so I can go to the ceremony and then get some great doughnuts and BBQ.

My cousin is getting married in San Fransisco and I'm looking to see what kind of food they have there. I can't believe that I'm taking advantage of these weddings for food. I don't think many other people would. I just have some strange love interest in food.

Disney Hunger Quest Pt. 3

DAY FIVE

My last day in Disney this year brought me to accomplish eating goals that I've had for quite a long time. First, I had to go for the churro. I was shocked to realize that by the last day of my trip, I had not had one churro! I went over to the Mexico Pavilion to the same stand where I got my guacamole and ordered a churro. Not only was this thing massive, though it came with a Mexican caramel sauce. I'm not sure how authentic the caramel was, however, it was really sweet and an excellent complement to the cinnamon-sugar covered fried dough stick. I was genuinely upset when I finished eating it because it went down pretty quickly and then I had to go to lunch to accomplish my second goal of the trip.

THE TURKEY LEG COMPLEX

Of all of the years that I have been going to Walt Disney World I have and other family members have notices the amount of larger than life people rolling around on their motorized wheel chair holding not else but a massive smoked turkey leg. For so long, my family has made fun of that in all different ways. This trip, I was going to get a first hand experience of this giant drum stick. I headed over to the American Pavilion to the Fife and Drum Stand featuring Turkey Legs and Popcorn. I only was interested in the turkey leg which I picked up and was pleasantly surprised. It was flavorful and had a nice smoky taste as well as the taste of the poultry. As well, it was really, really big... I however did make it to the bone. At that point I had accomplished my Disney Goals for that trip. I did get made fun of by my family quite a bit after showing the picture to them, especially since the leg was bigger than I was.

That was the end of my hunger quest in Disney in 2010. I came home the next day and keep in mind that I definitely left out some stuff that I didn't photograph....

Disney Hunger Quest Pt. 2

The next installment of my adventures in Disney brings me to two different restaurants, both worth talking about because they both have "Things I Do For Food" type stories! But first, a little diversion for some of the snacking that I did.

DAY TWO

On my second day, I went to the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours for the hotel guests. I saw this as an advantage to get breakfast before the park fully opens so I can get on the rides that usually have long lines. So I went over to the Main Street Bakery to spend my time eating a cinnamon roll the size of my head. It was really good and fresh out of the oven! I ate at my leisure and had time left over to still take advantage of the extra hour.

Keep in mind this picture was taken after I had already eaten half. Afterwards we went on Splash Mountain and all of the various other rides and went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. That night Epcot was going to have Extra Magic Hours for hotel guests until midnight and we were going to have to eat dinner before. That evening, we went over to Iron Chef Cat Cora's Kouzzina (meaning kitchen in Greek). There we shared two appetizers, fried saganaki cheese and amazing fried calamari, definitely at the iron chef standard. For my main course I had the Greek Lasagna, Pastitsio, which I have had several times before. I never would have expected that it would have been about 2 and a half pounds.

Notice the nervous look on my face because it is extremely heavy and it was big on its own as well. I was very, very afraid digging into it, though never the less, I finished it to my shock... After a few hours in Epcot, I wanted a snack!

DAY THREE

The third day, we went over to the Animal Kingdom for the Safari and to get soaked on the Kali River Rapids ride twice. There was nothing really special in terms of dining since we went to dinner off the Disney premises with my dad's cousin. However, I sampled the Mickey Ice Cream Bar and the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich that day and it was really, really good ice cream as well as the chocolate which kept me eating those all throughout the trip until the end.

DAY FOUR

Le Cellier Steak House in the Canada Pavilion of Epcot is arguably the best restaurant in all of Disney World. I didn't have reservations regardless of how much I tried before going on the trip. With my notion that persistence is key when you want something, I went for it. Every two hours from my arrival, I went to the concierge for them to check through the official dining system for reservations at Le Cellier. By the end of Thursday, I snagged a reservation for two for dinner on Saturday (YES!!). There was only one issue, there were three people... Saturday evening, we were ready to head over to the restaurant... in a monsoon. Thank God that the hotel was giving out towels and that we invested in the ponchos. Once we got to the restaurant, we went to the hostess and made the case that my father was with us and they gave us the seat!

I went crazy with the food. They started out with giving us our bread sticks which were hot and fresh baked including both sour dough and the pretzel which I loved coating in butter and finishing them off.

Next I had seen that the table next to me ordered onion rings which looked beautiful, I couldn't help but put in an order for those too, and they were completely worth it.

Next the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup as an appetizer. I cannot get over how amazing this is. It is composed of white cheddar, Canadian beer, and of course, bacon. My parents ordered cups of this, though I knew how it tasted and I would have wanted more than a cup, so I ordered a bowl.

Of course, there as well was the main course! It was a steak house and it has one of the best filets I have ever had there. It was a filet mignon with a mushroom risotto. Let me just say, the steak was excellent and top quality but the risotto was prepared so artfully and it was jam packed with flavor! It was completely worth the persistence, and I am so glad that I made sure that I snagged the reservation.

A lot of work for food I'd say, though there is one more story and that is going to be saved for part 3 just above!

Disney Hunger Quest

You may have been wondering where I went for such a long time without posting; let alone telling you that I was going to be away. The answer is that I was partying it up in Disney World Florida! People who see Disney in plain sight just think it to be a big theme park/resort that millions of people attend per year. However, it's much more than the general thought makes it out to be. To start, Disney is definitely not just for children, the attractions over most of the parks are actually designed to draw people over 18. I saw more groups of [over 21, though young] adults walking around without kids than children alone which made me feel really comfortable a I always am when I go there. The next thing that people don't realize is the quality of food in Disney and how much variety there is with great food. I took advantage of that as much as I humanly could in the 5 days that I was there. Lastly, the reason I know that Disney is adult friendly is the amount of alcoholic beverages that can be found around there and apparently, they are damn good (so I've heard).

Regardless, I'm not missing out on all of the dining festivities in Disney with the restriction of no alcohol, of all of the restaurants and food stands, one could get a range of food from the level of a Michelin Starred restaurant in Manhattan to the delicious fried food that you would expect from the South. Never the less, all of them are and will be delicious. I stayed in the Yacht Club Hotel on the resort property which is in walking distance of Epcot's World Showcase where most of the eating takes place. I wound up walking all the way down and going into the theme park just to get a bite to eat for lunch or a small snack and then immediately going back to the hotel without going on any rides (I was equipped with a Park Hopper ticket which allowed me to go in and out of all of the parks at my leisure which made everything in terms of my eating adventure very easy and of course I made sure I got on all of the rides more than once!).

Let's begin:

DAY ONE

Upon my arrival at Disney, my parents and I set down our bags and after our flight without eating any breakfast, we were hungry, so we went over to France for lunch. The small bakery on the France pavilion is one of our favorite places in all of Disney to grab a bite to eat, and that we did. I settled on a simple tartine (pronounced: tart-anne) sandwich, with ham, cheese, and tomato and for dessert a nice big piece of the cake of the day, a thick, all chocolate cake that has been serving as the cake of the day, every day for as long as I can remember and I have been heading down to Disney annually and sometimes bi-annually since I was 18 months old, I have a severe attraction to that place and a photographic memory so I know that it has never changed.

Later on, my father went to Winterhaven for the night to visit his cousin and my mother and I continued our eating quest after going on a few rides of course. After getting a light snack of a plate of guacamole from the Mexico Pavilion, we took a boat over to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) for dinner at one of the the premier restaurants in the resort: The Hollywood Brown Derby, which is a replica of the original Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, California. For an appetizer there I had a creamy onion soup with pecorino cheese and basil oil shown below.

For the next course, my mother and I both enjoyed a filet mingon with a tomatillo relish and red chili sauce on the side. We happened to enjoy it so much that I forgot to take a picture of it before devouring it. For desert, I had the Disney Brown Derby signature dessert, the grapefruit cake! The mix of bitter and sweet, layers of cake with a grapefruit-cream cheese icing and with a sweet grapefruit sauce.

That was it for the first night. As well, there is no way I can fit my whole trip into one post. Look up for part 2.

The Best Tri-Color Cookies in NY

Walking around in the village yesterday, we (my parent's and I) wandered into our favorite pastry shop in all of Manhattan, Rocco's. Here you can find a vast varieties of Italian cookies, cakes, and pastries; all of which are done artfully well. Rocco's signature dessert that he has in his shop is his cannoli that he makes completely from scratch. All of the shells he makes on his own as well as the cream and he only stuffs them when they're ordered so everything stays fresh. This quality control goes on with all of the pastries and they are jam-packed with flavor and aren't too sugary or sweet. JUST RIGHT!

I rarely get a chance to get to the village, so it's always a treat to get down to Rocco's and order my favorite: the tri-color cookies. These aren't like the rainbow cookies that you find in the supermarket in the plastic container, they are all hand baked and each layer has a generous helping of raspberry jelly. The cake itself is done wonderfully as he does with everything in his shop making for something perfect and you're always sad when you're done with them.

Below is a picture from them from a few years ago:

Keep in mind, they've evolved over the past years getting bigger and better, however, these were still far above par many years ago. I was still eating them back then.

Anyway, I went into the shop the other day and it was the afternoon so we only had an hour on the meter and we just ate lunch and left a good 10 minutes to go to Rocco's. We usually go there and sit down, however we just had to order and take out. It had been so long since I've had these (a month or two...) and I felt like I couldn't live with only a few. I ordered ten in a box to take home. I have to say that these cookies get bigger and bigger each time I have them and need to use a fork to eat one.

Believe me, ten was too much for one day though I enjoyed 8 and saved 2 for breakfast today, which gave me a good reason to get up early. The real reason to get up was not because I was happy about getting them, though I wanted to get at them before anyone else in the house could. I was happy that I could save them and have a cup of Aldo's coffee at the same time! The perfect breakfast for me!

Jean-Georges, NY

I never got to talk about the amazing food that is made in this man's kitchen. It was most certainly worth the money and well deserving of the 3 Michelin Stars (making his dining room one of the 4 restaurants that were granted 3 stars). Jean Georges Vongerichten has 15 restaurants, however, his restaurant in New York, Jean Georges (which is aptly named), is his signature and houses some very creative and innovative French food. I had one of the best and unique meals in my life at his restaurant. I'll go over what I ordered which everyone at the table was jealous of because they didn't order what I ordered.

It was a prix fixe dinner of three courses and then a dessert "themed tasting."

Course 1- Fois Gras Brulee with Strawberry-Balsamic Reduction

I've had some good fois gras, though this was just wonderful, not quite the fois gras you get in the top restaurants in France, though it was pretty close. He takes fois gras that's the style of pate and places it on a circle of brioche bread and then places strawberries and sugar on top of the fois gras and sets a blow torch to it. Next to it lies the strawberry and aged balsamic reduction. One last thing I have to say is that the balsamic was some of the best I've ever had.

Course 2- Butter Poached Turbot with a Châteaux-Challon Sauce (white wine and butter)

I apologize for the size of the picture, though everyone at the table said it was possibly the best course of the dinner. It was a perfect cut of fish that was cooked using the poaching method in butter. There were pieces of chopped tomato and zucchini on top of it (which were very fresh and flavorful). Then the sauce. Nothing can be better that when you mix it with butter, and you can see that it is not clear at all. There was a lot of butter and some very high quality white wine. I would have been happy if they just gave me a bowl with this sauce and a spoon.

Course 3- Crunchy Rabbit with a Soy Bean Puree and Citrus-Chili Paste

I couldn't find an image of this one, though I'm going to have you use your imagination. The rabbit was almost in the form of a sausage that was breaded with panko bread crumbs and lightly fried. In the rabbit and on the side was this hot paste made primarily of some chili and essence of citrus as in the description. The soybean puree seemed to be mixed with butter because the soybean only takes on the flavor of what is mixed with it. Lastly, a spiced rabbit broth was poured under the rabbit. Definitely a new type of French cuisine, though, never the less, very, very good.

Dessert- Chocolate Tasting

The great thing about Jean Georges is that the menu changes with the season so there is always variation, this is the summer variation of the chocolate dessert which I had. [Top Left]- This was a chocolate sorbet with a little bit of sea salt on the top of it that shocked me a bit when I expected sweet. [Top Right]- Ganache that was rolled in amaranth seeds for texture which was easy to pick up by hand and eat. [Bottom Left]- This one was great, it was a chocolate paste which was very tasty with a bunch of chocolate candy with it. On top of it were aerated sesame seeds which melted in your mouth though were served at negative temperatures which were fun. [Bottom Right]- Last but not least, the molten chocolate cake which is one of my favorite desserts and was one of the best I've had. I was so sad to have such a small sampling of it, but you can't have it all.

After dinner, like in all nice restaurants, the gave us petifores. One of selections was a house made marshmallow which was nice. Overall, a magnificent dinner and I completely recommend trying it if you're willing to pay the high prices; you know, "the things I do for food!"

Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana, New Haven, CT

I haven't been around for a long time but I have to tell you what I would do for this pizza, travel all the way from Long Island, NY to New Haven CT just to get it. This is by far one of the best pizzas outside of Napoli! It is as well a real Neapolitan pizza, more than any other in New York that I had and what a spot for it, right in New Haven. You don't hear about many Italians immigrating to Connecticut but the ones who did were really good cooks. I would know, I drove an hour and forty minutes just to get a large pie.

I felt truly at home in New Haven's Little Italy more than New York's for one reason, it felt more like Brooklyn than Manhattan. You walk down the street and your smelling from all of these food stores the scent of fresh tomatoes and garlic. In addition to the smells of a good Italian neighborhood, going into Pepe's for the first time, I looked at the pictures on the wall of Frank Pepe and he looked like a combination of my two maternal great-grandfathers. Those are a few reasons to go back.

Let's talk about the result of my day trip. I could tell from walking in to the restaurant that I was in the right place. I could smell the ingredients from the kitchen and I saw all of the people in the kitchen and they looked like we could be related. But enough of my habitual Italian family networking. One important characteristic of this pizza is the fact that it's not a perfect circle like any other pizza. The second thing about this pizza is that I knew that they were getting their ingredients from the pork store that I went into across the street.

It was so artfully cooked that it was incredibly great tasting as well as extremely authentic. In terms of other elements, the crust was so flavorful and the ends were burnt like they were supposed to be. People assume that burnt food isn't good, though, it has a unique and powerful taste and that's how you can tell that the oven has been on a very high heat which a good pizza has to be in.

Case and point, it was one of the best pizza's I've had and it reminded me of something my grandmother or great-grandmother would make. Definitely worth the drive to New Haven to get it.

I Break for Good Coffee.

Don't pay attention to the coming soon sign, I couldn't find any pictures of this shop.

When ever I'm out at the bay house I make an effort to get to Aldo's Coffee every morning that I'm there. Going to Aldo's, people find that aside from getting great coffee, Aldo Maiorana has a peculiar way of serving up his coffee: with a side of verbal abuse. He opened up his shop many, many years ago when he ended up leaving his career as a NYC chef and coming out to Greenport, L.I. to start his coffee business.

Now this is not just any old coffee, I wouldn't be talking about it if it was. Another good inclination that his shop is really great is that there is a Starbucks directly across the street and locals as well as tourists (sometimes) gravitate over to his side. When it comes to the preparation, never question it or you're just asking to be verbally attacked and you'll just have to go and buy a pound of his beans and prepare your glass yourself at home. However, don't be afraid, you can always have a calm, casual conversation with him.

What makes his coffee so special is that he has reserves where he orders and receives his beans daily; once those beans come he has his own machine in the front of the store where he roasts them for the day. Once the roasting process is finished, he takes half of what he roasted and bags them in pounds for sale ($13 a pound) and he takes the other half and uses it to make the coffee up at the counter. Once he is done with one of the types of beans, he roasts others. He imports his raw coffee beans from both Guatemala and Sumatra, selling both caffeinated and decaf.

I don't know how he roasts the coffee and I don't think that many people do if not any. He must be the only one to do so and he keeps his secret safe very well. Even though he has a limited selection in his store he makes an effort to keep everything artfully prepared. Which brings me to my next point about the shop which makes it great, though slow at times when there is a lot of business.

Aldo has very few people working for him and that includes himself. He rarely trusts people to do anything in his store and if they don't do something right, he'll get frustrated with them. It takes a lot for people to prove themselves to him. He has one woman preparing his scones which sell out instantly as well as his signature biscotti which are unlike any other in the US if not all of Europe. He makes sure that all of the baking is done right and routinely. In terms of making the coffee at the counter, he usually makes it himself with the exception for his niece and nephew from France that are assisting him for the summer and just recently he trusted them to make the coffee on their own.

Ultimately, I make all of the effort that I can to get down to Greenport to have one, if not two cups of his famous "Caffe Latte" and a pound of Guatemalan beans. It if for sure worth making the trip to have it, just don't piss him off.

He Who Saved Portland For Me.

The title kind of explains why I wasn't able to post for the past few days. I was up in Portland for my cousins wedding. While waiting for the wedding day, my parents and I were a bit lost in this foreign town. However, we managed to find a savior in Downtown Portland who managed to give us a huge load of information on the best places to dine in the city. This man's name is Jacques and he is the foodie and wine connoisseur behind the counter in "Portland Wine and Cigar."

My parents and I wandered into the store late at night on our first night in Portland because we ate a lot on the road an my mom wanted to have a glass of wine in the room. It didn't happen that we wandered into the store and Jacques began to tell us about places to eat; we were actually wondering if there was a place for dessert in walking distance from that store. When we asked him he began to give us a lot of great information about the city including a place called "Standard Bakery" to go for breakfast. However, he told us that there is no place to have dessert at all which is sad.

Jacques did direct us to a restaurant called Ribolita who makes the best flan he's ever tasted. He also bet that if it wasn't the best flan we've ever tasted, he'd pay for it; he even called the restaurant for us. Unfortunately, they didn't have any tables in the restaurant, however, when we went to the restaurant, the hostess kindly packed up two servings of the flan in it's presentation as it would be on the plate. It turned out after we ate it that it was the best flan that we'd ever eaten.

The next morning, we went over to Standard Bakery to have some of the best almond croissants of all time which Jacques had recommended and we headed back to the wine shop to thank him for the great flan. He was happy that we liked it and we started talking about how much he liked the city since he wasn't originally from there. Eventually, he told us about his meal the night before at Hugo's. It was his first time there and he said it was one of the top 5 restaurants he had ever eaten in. Judging from the fact that he has eaten in some of the best restaurants in the world while touring and selling wine.

After he told us about Hugo's he told us all of the best places to eat in Portland, including Miyake, Street and Co., as well as Ribolita, for the best Italian (I'm usually very skeptical of Italian restaurants, though when we went there for the flan, it smelt pretty good). So I have to thank Jacques for his help and hospitality and he really saved us from eating poorly over the period of our time in Maine (THANK GOD!).

Leonidas: The Best Chocolate from Belgium

I might just be saying that they're the best because I'm completely infatuated with these chocolates, but notice that I'm going back to the fancier food and I will as well talk about my dinner tomorrow when I dine at Jean-Georges for my birthday. After I talk a bit about these chocolates, I'm going to tell you a "Things I Do For Food" story; though it won't be directly about me, but my uncle and his excellent food finding skills. So let's talk a little about these small wonders.

Leonidas is a Belgian based chocolate company, and there is no chocolate being made in this country by this company. However, there is a store on Madison Avenue that is selling chocolate that is being delivered weekly if not bi-weekly. All of the chocolate is safely shipped and kept fresh from Brussels to New York. There are many different kinds of chocolate being sold which includes chocolate bars and many different assortments of truffles. Now that you know a bit about these chocolates, I'll tell you my story.

I mentioned before that it's around the time of my birthday. It already passed but because of my trip to Texas, we didn't get much of a chance to celebrate the actual day with family. So, this passed weekend we celebrated at our bay house and tomorrow I'll be going to Jean-Georges with my grandparents for mine and my grandmother's birthday. My uncle (who will remain unnamed) was shopping for a gift for me and he thought of chocolate. In addition, he knows that raspberry is my favorite fruit, especially with chocolate. He took that into account while shopping.

He thought of going to the Leonidas store since he works in Manhattan. Once he got there he looked all over for the assortment with the feature on raspberry truffles. He couldn't find them, however. He went over to the counter and asked if they had them in stock and they replied no. That's where his bluffing skills came into play. My uncle then replied with "well, if you don't have it, I'm just going to have to go somewhere else." That pressured them to go and look in the back.

After going into the back to review their stock and check for the raspberry assortment, they found it and as well found out that they came in a new shipment that hour. So, I have to thank him for his persistence and luckily he didn't have to work too hard to find my gift. He gave me a great gift of some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted in a small box!