It has been a hot few weeks around the country. Of course we chose to spend a few days in NYC in the middle of the heat wave.
Stayed at the NY Hilton at their Hilton Club time share facility. Everything was fine.We obtained a good deal because we agreed to listen to a a timeshare pitch.
We saw One Man, Two Guvnors on Broadway and were not impressed. In fact we can't figure what the critics liked. The star is personable and is funny when he improvises but overall it was not our kind of humor.
Ate dinner at Tertulia http://tertulianyc.com/ This is a small tapas restaurant in the West Village on 6th Ave near 5th street. We had ham croquettes, lamb breast with faro, roasted potatoes, and grilled mussels on toast mixed with stuff. The food was much creamier than expected. The croquettes were creamy inside, the potatoes had a creamy sauce over them and the faro was creamy.
The wine list did not look inviting. They did not have a reasonable cava and did not appear to have any sherry. We settled on a Spanish beer on tap. The board listed the beer as $7 or $9. We received small maybe10 oz glasses of beer. The check showed $9 for a beer. When I checked with the waitress, she informed that we had the large beer. Oh well. It is difficult to accept a meal when 3 small beers are $27, even in NYC.
The New Yorker highly recommends this place. I would not tell anyone to go there. No reason to go. We have been to Spain several times and have had great food all over the world. I am coming to the conclusion that "tapas" in the US is not what I want to eat. I am may be finished with tapas for a while.
We also had dinner at Traif. http://traifny.com/ This is a restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and is worth the trip. We had a very interesting meal with very good food. It is a small place and serves small plates. I won't call them tapas. We had an amuse bouche of watermelon gazpacho. Then we had strawberry cinnamon glazed baby back ribs $10, an arugula salad with berries $9, fried collar of hamachi $22, and broccoli rabe, porcini truffle toast, asiago cheese and a fried egg $12. All except the arugula salad were very good. The toast was exceptional; the truffle oil added that little touch. I was surprised that the chef did not add bacon. The hamachi collar was different but good. It was the collar bone with meat attached that was deep fried. Not heavy and fun to pick at.
The dessert was chocolate pudding with sour cherries and black sesame ice cream. It worked. We had a bottle of Dibon Reserve cava for $30. It was good but a touch sweet.
The restaurant is small and the service was very good. We received new plates with each dish and the cava glasses nice flutes. Some times wine glasses are not too good, if you know what I mean. We enjoyed it.
While I am on the subject, this weekend's WSJ had article by their wine person Lettie Teague on wine snobs. "In Defense of Wine Snobs. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304299704577502660282767838.html?mod=WSJ_0_0_WP_2507_RIGHTTopCarousel_1She is a wine snob and thinks that wine snobs have a place in the world and have been feeling a backlash lately. She is counter attacking the backlash. Interesting article.
Ate lunch at Mangia http://www.mangiatogo.com/on 57th street in Manhattan. I have loved Mangia forever. They have several location in Manhattan. The salad/food bar is exceptional. They have salads, desserts, sandwiches and main courses. In NYC for the quality of the food, the prices are reasonable. We had red snapper from the food bar with wild rice, a chicken quesadilla, and a lemon meringue tart. All was good. With coffee and a soda the meal was $22.
We also found the Food Hall at the Plaza Hotel. They don't have much of a website. They have a number of food shops such as maison du chocolat, Francois Payard bakery http://www.payard.com/ , Luke's Lobster and Todd English's Wine Bar, Cheese & Charcuterie Station, Sushi Bar, Burger Bar & Rotisserie, Asian Noodle and Dumpling Bar, Espresso & Tea Bar, Brick Oven Pizza, and a Fish and Seafood Grill.
We had a lobster roll, an organic ginger soda and potato chips for $17 at Luke's. The lobster roll was very good. It was basically lobster on a hot dog roll. Payard has ice cream sandwiches with french macaroons. We had the chocolate sorbet with cocoa nibs, $5. Run don't walk to Payard's for the ice cream sandwiches. Best thing we have had in a long time.
The Todd English place is very large but almost hidden. It looked interesting with one menu giving the selections for all of the different food stations. Lots of different places to sit.
We went to walk the Highline http://www.thehighline.org/about/maps , the new elevated park in Manhattan. It starts in the meatpacking district, west 12th street, and continues to around 30th street. There are permanent food trucks and gardens and places to sit. Cool place.
We decided to ride the Staten Island ferry. It is free and may be the best thing in NYC. WE hopped on late in the afternoon and motored past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The view of lower Manhattan was great. When we landed in Staten Island, we just got back on line and took the boat back. It is about 25 minutes each way. Take the #1 subway to the end at South Ferry.
BTW we saw the Queen Mary 2 on way back to Manhattan.
We visited MOMA(Museum of Modern Art). It is always fun to walk around. They have a beautiful garden and on Thursday evenings they have music. Nice ambiance. The only downside with the Museum is the price of $25 for adults. They have student rates and kids under 16 are free. Also Friday nights are free but the lines are enormous.
NYC note- the popularity of Halal food trucks is amazing. At 10pm at night almost 50 people were lined up for food.
Wines of the Week
My Cellatracker notes at https://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=Notes&iUserOverride=215105&HideNullNote=0&T=1000
Protocolo Spain 2010 $6. A long time favorite, mostly tempranillo.
Chateau Larrivaux 2005 $12 Nice light Bordeaux. It was highly recommended for the 05 vintage. It is not as good as the 09 cheaper Bordeaux's but it has been improving the last few years and it was good the other night.
La Barotte 2009 Bordeaux $8. WAs written up in wine column. It was OK. Light, earthy with some fruit. Not really representative of the 09's.
Chateau Haut Barrail 2009 Bordeaux. $14.99. A very good Merlot based Bordeaux. nice fruit and and good structure. Some complexity. Tried twice.
Chateau Retout 2009 Bordeaux $17. Drank another bottle and liked it more this time. A little heavier than I originally thought. Great fruit and complexity. The Cabernet Sauvignon come through.
Fireworks
I was not terribly impressed with fireworks this year but I noted a trend. 2 major firework displays -San Diego and somewhere in Connecticut --had major problems due to computer issues. Think about that.
Farmers market
Todays's haul -- green apples, sour cherry pie, mushrooms, eggs, cucumber, potatoes, onions, little cherry plums, muskmelon, swordfish, clams, mahi-mahi, and flounder.
Good eating and try a bottle of rose with your meal. Don't be afraid to chill wine in the summer, even red wines. There are no rules.
Hope you had great 4th of July.
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