NYC - Del Posto

Our dinner at Del Posto was one I was really looking forward to leading up to the trip to NYC. Having Celiac Disease, it is difficult to find good pasta that is gluten free. Del Posto has a huge variety of pasta dishes, of which they can make every single dish as gluten free. A gluten free foodie's heaven if you ask me... The whole experience was wonderful. The restaurant was grand, the wait staff incredibly friendly, and the dishes superb. My purses even got their own stool at our table. Our treatment was close to perfect at Del Posto! I can't wait to go back and taste our items on their delicious menu. 

Lamb Neck Sausage Orecchiette with Carrots

Chestnut Ravioli with Porcini Ragu and Black Truffle Butter

Rare Salmon with Celery Root and Black Trumpets

Coconut Ice Cream and Warm Dates

Melanzane e Cioccolato alla Napoletana

Accompaniments with Dessert

Massive wine glass!

And here are some fun pictures of me and the family in NYC :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and you all ring in 2015 in the presence of loved ones. See you all next year! Thank you again for all the love and support you give me, it is greatly appreciated! 

NYC - Momofuku

On Saturday night we went to Bar Boulud. One of Daniel Boulud's more casual restaurants, the menu is really unique and fun. My favorite dish was a seafood salad appetizer, which I unfortunately didn't get a picture of. They offer a Frenchie burger with black angus beef, pork belly confit and short ribs which was a little dry but still tasty nonetheless. The restaurant also has an extensive wine selection. To get to the restrooms you have to walk downstairs and through the entire wine gallery which was nice to see and is included below. My brother Alex's birthday was the week before so we made sure to celebrate that as a family as well.

For brunch Sunday we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Momofuku Ssam Bar. If you like duck, there aren't enough good things I can say about their duck. They only take reservations for larger parties who want to order a whole duck but it is entirely worth it. The duck is stuffed with pork sausage, marinated and roasted. They slice it for you and serve it over greens, rice and chive pancakes. It comes with a few sauces, of which the hoisin sauce is my favorite. You get a choice of a few sides. I loved the fried brussel sprouts with xo sauce, sour cream and puffed rice. They also had a wonderful apple kimchi with maple lebne, and fresh country ham with an amazing sauce that they call "red eye gravy". While we were devouring the duck, they made a delicious broth from the left over duck juices and orange zest. I think we all voted this to be our favorite meal of our trip. If anyone gets the chance to go, I hope you love it just as much as we did and let me know what you think!

Feeling Festive in the City

BAR BOULUD

Hard Cider Steamed Mussels

Sea Bass "Loup de Loup"

Frenchie Burger

Chorizo-crusted Scallop "Saint-Jacques" Paella 

"Baba Calva" with carmelized apples and almond nougatine

The Happiest of my Birthdays to my big bro!

Wine Hallway

Wine themed decorations in the basement

MOMOFUKU SSAM

Benson Ham with Red Eye Gravy

Whole Duck

 Accompaniments to the Duck

Sliced Duck with chive pancakes

Up close look of this amazing duck!

Duck Broth

NYC - Eataly

Before Christmas, I spent a wonderful weekend in New York City with my family. We ate, drank, and shopped our days away. In my opinion, there are few places in the world that can compete with the NYC food scene. One of our favorite stops was Eataly. It is a combination of a gourmet market and food court organized by one of my favorite chefs, Mario Batali. We went on a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. Eataly has multiple restaurants within it with different themes - pizza, pasta, fish, vegetarian, etc. We put our names down at a few restaurants and ended up at the pasta restaurant, the most Italian of them all. Here are a few pictures but I don't think they do the place justice. If you are ever in New York or in Chicago, I highly recommend stopping by. I think they are even building a location in LA!

We also enjoyed a dinner at Gotham Bar and Grill, which has been on the NYC food scene for thirty years now. The atmosphere was very lively, and the holiday decorations festive. Their food was tasty, but nothing too inventive. Since foie gras is currently banned in California, it was nice to have that incorporated into our meals in New York. Here are some highlights:

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Seafood Salad

Tuna Tartare

28 Day Dry Aged New York Steak

Foie Gras

Muscovy Duck with Seared Foie Gras

Tarte Tatin

Gotham Chocolate Cake