Sunday dinner at Craftbar

This evening we enjoyed what has become somewhat of a habit, Sunday evening dinner at Craftbar. The biggest draw for me is the quality of the small bites available, including particularly the olive mix with marcona almonds. At $6, I would assert that you aren't going to get them any cheaper direct from the grocery store (well, at least not at Whole Foods), and not with a side of almonds. And certainly not prepared and delivered to you in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of tasteful dishes by competent if not overly attentive wait staff.

In addition to the olives, veal meatballs with ricotta are a recurring favorite, served with a side of fettucini pasta. 

Breakfast at Katz's

This morning at breakfast was my first experience at Katz's Deli. We arrived there shortly after 10am, and the lasting impression I have from the experience is that a ticket-based counter ordering system designed for high volume and throughput becomes baffling to the customers when business is slow.

When we entered a uniformed security guard handed each of us a yellow ticket and told us to order at the counter, eat and then present the tickets upon leaving to pay. In retrospect is sounds simple enough, but at the time it was a bit disorienting.

Once past the security station there are a number of ordering stations (cutters) at a long counter running the length of the establishment. Being a newcomer I wasn't familiar with which section of the counter I should head toward in order to order lax and a bagel, but after trial and error (unfortunately trying all of them) I finally got to the one authorized to let me have a bagel. Unfortunately this was not the same one that could give me coffee so I had to double back, but after only ten minutes or so I was able to collect my plates and head to a table and sit down.

After the ordering ordeal things went more smoothly. The bagel and lox were served with small containers of cole slaw and cream cheese as well as onions and tomatoes, all placed on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce leaves. Not being well versed in the tradition of new york bagels and lox I don't think I am qualified to comment on the finer points of the arrangement, but certainly I found the main components to be satisfactory, although nothing that would stand out from other places with a less complicated ordering system.

Sarabeth's UES

This morning we headed uptown to one of our staple weekend breakfast/brunch locations, Sarabeth's on Madison near 92nd. Having visited several other locations in the Sarabeth's empire, most notably the Central Park South and Chelsea Market bakery, we have find the Upper East Side location to be the most consistently pleasant experience in terms of food and service.

One of the things I like about Sarabeth's is that they open early enough for a respectable breakfast time (8am), while not restricting you to a limited menu that transitions into a more substantial brunch menu later in the morning. For a counterexample see Balthazar, where you can show up at 8am but you will only be able to order very few items from the contintental breakfast menu. At 10am they start serving the "full" menu which includes a full range of brunch items. Not at Sarabeth's, though. Here there is no menu penalty for having breakfast or brunch as an early riser, and the menu is consistent throughout the morning.

Today was pretty cold, so front entry area by the bakery counter was particularly crowded with people waiting to be seated. Space is at a premium here, with only a narrow strip in front of the bakery counter and a couple of chairs next to the hostess stand. Even in the dining room every inch of space is carefully allocated to maximum the seating capacity; on one visit my wife was scolded for rotating a chair around the four-top table that only had three chairs. Apparently the fourth was carefully omitted for ease of traffic flow and they noticed within thirty seconds and corrected the problem when we tried to disrupt it.

We know not to tamper with the seating arrangements any more, though, and subsequent visits have always been pleasant. I am a fan of the sundials of grapefruit with yogurt and granola and this is almost always my choice, but today I selected the green and white, which is scrambled eggs with cream cheese and scallions.

Sundaes and Cones

Close to The Smith is an ice cream shop called Sundaes and Cones. Before dinner I had seen that they were now serving pumpkin ice cream, and since I am a lover of pumpkin in all forms, I was compelled to give it a try.

The Smith

Tonight I happened to be in the East Village when the mood for dinner struck, and so I dropped by The Smith on 3rd Avenue. My previous visit there with wife and child had not gone well, but based on repeated recommendation from friends I decided it would be worth going by myself to see if it was better the second time.

On this visit I settled on the pumpkin salad to start, and then the hanger steak. I decided to forgo the included sides of fries or greens with the steak and instead went with the brussel sprouts listed in the sides section of the menu for just a couple dollars extra.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the pumpkin salad; the menu lists it with blue cheese and cranberries so initially I envisioned a sort of fall harvest twist on traditional potato salad with cubes of pumpkin tossed in a cranberry-laced dressing. I inquired to the waitress about the composition, and she indicated that no, it was an arugula salad with pumpkin seeds and topped with slices of pumpkin. This was confirmed when the salad arrived; the pumpkin effect was subtle and the very thin slices of pumpkin were just the right texture to compliment the crunchy seeds and crumbled cheese. One of the better salads I have enjoyed recently.

When the entree arrived, I was impressed by the large chunk of hanger steak, but was dwarfed by the enormous pile of brussel sprouts next to it on the plate. Definitely a generous portion; no question I got my money's worth.

The hanger steak was very good; exactly medium rare just as I had ordered with an impressive crust on the outside. The surprise star was the pile of brussel sprouts, though. As I found myself drawn to eat more and more of the sprouts (even more so than the steak), I thought to myself, how can it be that I am more compelled to eat these brussel sprouts than the steak? Brussel sprouts are not that good in general. Certainly I like them well enough, although perhaps somewhat of an acquired taste. Yet here I was all but willing to cast aside this perfectly prepared steak in order to eat more of them.

I started to examine the brussel sprouts more closely to see if there was something unusual about them, and then it struck me; they looked as though they had been deep fried. It seemed implausible at first; surely they weren't making "freedom" sprouts? Wouldn't they have advertised them as such if that were the case? The more I looked, though, the more convinced I became. They were either deep fried or else they were sauteed in so much oil that it had the same effect. The outermost leaves were browned and crispy, while the inside was cooked through but not overcooked and mushy. I'm skeptical that effect could be achieved through roasting; easier to believe that the secret is a vat of hot oil.