Date Night @ Bohemian

The city is known to have several back door and secretive restaurants and bars. Bohemian is one unique Japanese restaurant that is discreetly tucked away without a publicized phone number or address. The only way to make it in to Bohemian is to either have a friend who has been there already and can pass you the phone number to make a reservation or to email them - ny-info@playearth.jp hope they will invite you.

I did the latter and was fortunate enough be invited. I made a reservation immediately thinking that it would be incredibly hard to get a reservation, but turns out that its wasn't that hard and probably because there are only so many people that have the number and address.

The $55 tasting course was amazing and a fantastic deal. I started with the Bergamont, earl grey infused into ginger with pomegranate syrup and frothed egg whites. Delicious...

Bergamont

The first item was a fresh assortment of vegetables (daikon, turnip, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, green pepper...) with anchovy cheese dipping sauce. Absolutely refreshing and could not get enough of the sauce.

We added pickled cauliflower to the tasting. I love anything pickled and this left me wanting for more throughout the week.

The mushroom croquette topped with uni was amazing with a perfect crunch on the outside and soft warm texture inside.

In between the croquette and sea bass, there was also a selection of cold cuts that I forgot to take a picture of since I was so excited for the next course.

The Mediterranean Sea Bass was amazing with an assortment of grilled vegetables - potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, garlic, onion and squash. It came out sizzling hot and was beyond fulfilling. On the menu, it is regularly $28, which is such a fantastic deal.

The next part, you can select either the wagyu beef burger with crispy potato or the ikura caviar rice bowl.

I opted for the burger and Marcos got the Ikura Caviar Rice Bowl.

At last, dessert was a sake Panna Cotta with brown sugar syrup. I was blown away and left me wanting for more.

Overall, the service was excellent, experience was amazing and we loved the food. Definitely returning - perhaps next week?

Love: DBGB for anytime of day

DBGB Kitchen and Bar is one of my favorite restaurants. The food is fantastic and I keep going back for more. I went a while ago and unfortunately, I have not been back since this past summer, which means its about time I return; however, I had to just touch on how much I love DBGB.

I've had all three of their burgers - TheYankee, The Piggie and The Frenchie. The Frenchie is my favorite - 6 oz beef patty with confit pork belly, arugula, tomato-onion compote and morbier cheese on a peppered brioche bun and accompanied with french fries (love the incredibly crispiness) and cornichon and mustard.

The Frenchie

I've always loved the sundaes, which are very decadent. My all-time favorite is no longer available - The grapefruit sundae was a grapefruit ice cream with candied grapefruit and fresh whip cream. I don't remember all the details and regret that I can't find the picture that I took from a while ago. The below chocolate sundae with truffle chocolates, fresh whip cream, caramel and cocoa bits is also no longer available on their menu, but so soooo good! Since I have not been back lately, I haven't tried the more recent concoctions but I'm sure they are equally as good as the ones that I have had in the past.

Chocolate-Caramel Sundae

On a separate occasion, I had the Omelette Norvegienne aka The Baked Alaska. This dessert is meant for two with vanilla and verbena ice cream, raspberry sorbet, fresh meringue and flambee with chartreuse. This dessert came out with a flare with the flambee chartreuse. It was a sight and simple delicious.

Omelette Norvegienne

I can't wait to go back again soon!!!

Love Dinner @ Mandolin in Design District in Miami

I spent a few days in Miami for work and one of the nights we went to the Design District for dinner. The Design District is mostly upscale furniture boutiques but also some very nice luxury boutiques such as Marni, Christian Louboutin and Tomas Maier.

The Mandolin was highly recommended and on a Wednesday night the place was packed with large groups wining and dining away. We were seated outdoors and really enjoyed our night out together.

Mandolin Menu

Mandolin Menu

The server was beyond helpful and we ordered everything he recommended. We started with the Turkish Sampler that was accompanied with homemade pita bread. The bread was well-made and three spreads were delightful complements - tomato and walnut, fava bean and carrot, traditional chick pea hummus.

 Turkish Sampler

The Cheese Saganaki was to die for! It is a crispy fried cheese and I couldn't resist asking for this one to the passed to me a couple of times to indulge in more.

Cheese Saganaki

The Kefte, beef and lamb meatballs with a dipping sauce was also delicious. The meatball is full of flavor and left me thinking if I should have ordered the lamb chops (one of the two recommended main entrees)

Kefte

Lastly, we also ordered the Marinated Grilled Octopus. It was made to perfection and thoroughly enjoyed.

Marinated Grilled Octopus 

For my entree, I decided on the Branzino (Mediterranean Sea Bass) and had it filleted. The Branzino was cooked whole (which kept is very flavorful) and simple grilled with olive oil, lemon and oregano. I feel like it has been a while since I had a well-made Branzino and loved my main course.

Branzino

Dinner was delicious and left us all so full that we passed on dessert.

The following day, we went to the Tomas Maier boutique in the Design District. Tomas Maier is the creative director for Bottega Veneta and he has his own boutique that incorporates some of the Bottega Veneta pieces that he designed. The Tomas Maier store sells a lifestyle from clothing, shoes, handbags to porcelain, perfume, coffee books. He's known for this fabulous swim wear, so if you visit be sure to pick up a piece or two. I couldn't take pictures inside the store, but here are a couple of shots of the store front.

Brunch @ Vinegar Hill House & Dessert @ Sweet Melissa's

Brunch at Vinegar Hill House in Dumbo, Brooklyn was really delicious. There was no wait at 1:00pm on a Sunday, but the place was full. Unfortunately, the place does not take reservations as I heard the wait can be quite long for dinner.

I loved everything about Vinegar Hill House except for the terrible service. The wait staff appear to be spacey and quite honestly run by a bunch of hipsters who don't really care. It's really a shame, because this place has so much to offer, but I definitely won't be rushing to return anytime soon.

Three of my girlfriends and I decided to try out Vinegar Hill House for brunch one day.

We started with the Eggs & Tomato with parmesan cheese and toast. This was delicious and we finished it without a bit left.

Eggs & Tomato

One of them had the Sourdough Pancake with apples, maple syrup and orange butter. The pancake from what I hear was amazing and compared to Clinton Street Bakery, which was named best pancakes in the city.

Sourdough Pancake

A friend of mine and myself shared the Lump Crab Omelette and it came with a small green salad on the side. The omelette was amazing and we awed over the incredibly smooth texture of the omelette on the exterior part. The inside was overfilling with crab and left us wanting for more.

Lump Crab Omelette

We also shared the Quiche made with cauliflower and gruyere cheese. This was another great dish served on a wooden cutting board.

Quiche

Our other friend got the Reuben Sanchez which has braised corn beef with sharp cheddar and a tomato-jalapeno jam.

Reuben Sanchez

Everything at Vinegar Hill House was well-made; however, the poor service is still on my mind.

After our fulfilling brunch at Vinegar Hill House, we toured around Brooklyn and I knew I had to make a stop at Sweet Melissa's. My favorites are the tarts. The pumpkin whoopie pie (upper left corner) was dry and tasted as though it was kept a few days too long. The lemon meringue and passion fruit with blackberry tarts were perfect and better than I remember them to be. The banana cream pie was for Marcos.

Sweet Melissa's has two locations - both in Brooklyn, but far from where I live. I hope they open a location in Williamsburg soon or at least in Manhattan.

Love: Dinner @ Bar Boulud

Bar Boulud is one of Daniel Boulud's many restaurants in the city. I've adored every restaurant so far and I've only been to two others - DBGB and Cafe Boulud. I know Marcos and I will eventually make it to his elegant restaurant - Daniel. Also, after going to his website, I'm eyeing to go to DB Bistro Moderne and Bar Pleiades asap!

I went to Bar Boulud with a good friend of mine and we truly enjoyed our dinner.

I started with the Salade de Crabe with peekytoe crab, pink grapefruit, avocado, jalapeno and tarragon. The portion was small, but the salad was divine. 

Salade de Crabe

Salade de Crabe

Right after our appetizers came out, they delivered a set of complimentary cheese puffs. So delicious and left us wanting for more. It also reminded me of two things - Daily Candy cheese puff recipe that I still have yet to attempt and The Artisanal Bistro.

Cheese Puffs

We decided on the Cobia et Legumes du Marche. The roasted cobia is a white fish (not fatty) and was complemented with vegetables (legumes) - sunchokes, market potatoes, crosnes, picholine olives and meyer lemon jus. We found the fish to be quite bland unfortunately and kind of regretted our entree of choice to share.

Cobia et Legumes du Marche

We decided on two sides to share - the Cauliflower Gratin and Pomme Frites. The cauliflower gratin was like a cauliflower mac and cheese that we couldn't get enough of. It was beyond perfect. However, the pomme frites was just good as they were without enough crisp.

Cauliflower Gratin

Pomme Frites

We ended dinner with Gateau Basque - a custard cake complemented with kumquat confit and vanilla anglaise. This was also extraordinary delicious. I was in love with the candied kumquats.

Gateau Basque

Overall, dinner was great, but wish we had selected a dinner entree to share. Will definitely return for another meal, perhaps brunch.

Love: Miami SoHo House

I was fortunate enough to join my company for a function held in Miami. One of the nights we had dinner at the SoHo House and it was amazing!!! The food, decor and service was impeccable. And I really didn't expect anything less given that the members have to apply and be accepted into this exclusive club.

Entrance

Foyer

Beyond the foyer was a living room like set-up with sofas and tables with couples sitting intimately together for drinks, dinner, chat. In the back area was an outdoor seating area.

On the 8th floor balcony was a beautifully lite full moon over the water. Perfect.

Below the balcony is the pool.

Dinner is served.

The food was excellent. We started with antipasti of prosciutto and large nuggets of parmesan cheese, tuna tartare and arugula mix, buffalato cheese with arugula and yellow beets. Everything was perfect and delicious.

The entrees came as a family style serving - steak strips, salmon and mushroom risotto. I have to say that this was the BEST mushroom risotto that I have ever had. Words cannot speak for how wonderful it was and really wish that I had more before it was it claimed by others.

 Dessert

We finished dinner with dessert - slices of lemon tart with whip cream, mixed berries with gelato and tiramisu. Everything again - perfect. I loved that I had the opportunity to go visit SoHo house in Miami and have this amazing food. Though simple - perfected.

Date Night @ Soto (Pre-Valentine's Dinner)

I could not wait for the moment to go to Soto. I heard for all uni (sea urchin) lovers, as myself, this is must visit the Japanese restaurant. The restaurant website has been "under construction" for some time, so I referenced NY Magazine's website for a sense of what is on the menu. I'm not sure how often the menu changes, but there were items that we ordered that are not on the New York Magazine website.

We started with the Uni Cocktail, which has fresh uni over a soy sauce-wasabi sauce and bits of seaweed on the top. It was a delicious and perfect start.

 Uni Cocktail

Next came the Miso Soup, which was a uni and lobster broth with some lobster meat and garnished with thinly sliced ginger shoots and chives. The soup was delicious and incredibly flavorful. It tasted as though there was a hint of truffle in the soup.

Miso Soup 

Next was a small dish of white shrimp in a shiitake mushroom and ginger broth and topped with two types of caviar with a slice of toro in between. This was very unique and had a great shiitake mushroom flavor. The broth was a bit on the salty side, but it was still very delicious.

White Shrimp with Caviar and Toro

 Marcos loved the next dish - Hokki Nuta. This was composed of thinly sliced surf clam with thinly sliced myoga ginger shoots marinated in a sweet miso mustard sauce. This dish was served over a partially cut out lime. The presentation was interesting along with the taste of the citrus lime flavor combined with the surf clam, mustard sauce and myoga ginger shoots.

Hokki Nuta 

The next dish was one of my favorites - Uni Ika Sugomori Zukuri. From the picture it is hard to tell what is in this dish. The inside is fresh uni wrapped in thinly sliced yari squid and shiso. It is served with a quail egg and tosa soy reduction and garnished with seaweed to make it look like a bird's nest. Quail egg is my favorite to top over specific sushi's such as wasabi tobiko, and I absolutely loved it within the mixture of the uni and squid.

Uni Ika Sugomori Zukuri 

The next dish was also one of my favorites - Broiled Langoustine. I love langoustines and this was done extremely well. My love for langoustine's began from when I went to Italy a few years ago. In this one region of Italy by the ocean, they often encrust the langoustine in sea salt and bake the langoustine. This technique really brings out the flavor of the langoustine and I loved it! So ever since, I always try to order langoustines when it is on the menu. This dish was a lightly broiled New Zealand langoustine topped with a creamy shiitake mushroom sauce. Everything about this dish was perfect!

 Broiled Langoustine

In addition to dishes from the sushi bar and kitchen, we ordered two rolls of sushi with uni, of course. The first was uni with white shrimp.

The other roll (which looks the same in the picture) was uni with squid.

I have to admit that by the end we were kind of uni'd out, but I still love uni and will definitely return for more uni!

Lastly, we got dessert! Homemade Mochi Ice Cream! Perfect and delightful! Mochi is made from rice flour and an incredibly soft texture. The combination of the mochi and ice cream has been a favorite of mine.

Homemade Mochi Ice Cream

(flavors - mango, red bean. strawberry, mango and green tea)

Inside of red bean mochi

Overall, we loved our dinner and it was amazing! The place is a bit small and we were seated in between couples (which we hate), but for the most part it was a quiet dinner and we enjoyed ourselves! Happy Pre-Valentine's Day!