The Strong Buzz Guide to Summer!

Now that the weather is warming up, Andrea Strong asked me to write a piece on some of NYC's seasonal offerings. From Greenmarket menus to street fairs, here is my latest Strong Buzz round-up!

The Strong Buzz Guide to Summer: The Best Eats From Blue Crabs to Greenmarket Tastings (and where to get them all)

We New Yorkers endured a long, brutal winter and a chilly, rainy spring—we’re in serious need of a little relief. Sure, sunshine and warm temperatures are a solid start, but what we’re all really craving is an al fresco meal (or ten). Most restaurants roll out the sidewalk tables the moment the thermometer reads above 60 degrees, and to celebrate the beginning of the outdoor dining season, The Strong Buzz’s Rachel Barbarotta has compiled a list of the best places to go for summer’s amazing seasonal fare, everything from blue crabs to Greenmarket menus.

IF YOU DON’T MIND GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY: Back Forty
Where: 190 Avenue B (at 12th Street), 212-388-1990, www.backfortynyc.com
When: Tuesday nights through the end of August (except 7/5) plus Wednesday 8/31 and Friday 9/2 - $40 per person.
On the menu: Back Forty will provide the mallets for a true Chesapeake Crab Boil including Spiced Blue Crabs, Buttery Potatoes and String Beans along with seasonal desserts and pitchers of Sixpoint Crisp Lager for an additional $15. Don’t worry if you’ve never cracked open a Blue Crab with your bare hands, the staff at Back Forty will show you how it’s done and provide plenty of towels to clean it all up. If you don’t mind getting a little messy in the name of sweet, succulent crab, this is definitely the place for you!

FOR THE GREENMARKET-OBSESSED: Tocqueville
Where: 1 East 15th Street (at 5th Avenue), 212-647-1515, www.tocquevillerestaurant.com
When: Now through Columbus Day - $39 for lunch, $55 for dinner and $30 for wine pairing
On the menu: In an age where we can find any restaurant menu online, it’s quite unusual when even the chef doesn’t know what he’ll be serving tomorrow! Tocqueville’s Chef Marco Moreira takes the Greenmarket trend to heart by creating fresh and inventive new dishes every single night. Chef Marco is leaving the fate of his menu to the offerings of his local Greenmarket, only featuring ingredients that he can find on that given day. This will guarantee the freshest dishes and a true taste of the summer season. Last year’s offerings included such creations as Fried Green Tomatoes with fluffy sheep’s milk ricotta and green tomato jam and Grilled White Peach Cobbler with sweet corn gelato and fresh blueberries. If sweet corn gelato doesn’t scream “seasonal ingredients,” we don’t know what does!

IF YOU WANT TO EAT ON YOUR FEET: Hester Street Fair
Where: Hester Street (at Essex Street), 917-267-9496, www.hesterstreetfair.com
When: Every Saturday from 10am-6pm
On the menu: Some of the best things about New York City in the summer are the street fairs. Those who drive may disagree, as traffic is often re-routed around them, but the Hester Street Fair is not only one of the hippest street fairs in all of Manhattan, but it also boasts some of the best food. With everything from New Orleans-style sandwiches and treats from Cheeky Sandwiches to fresh offerings from Lower East Side hotspot The Fat Radish, there is truly something for everyone. And who doesn’t love checking out unique jewelry and clothing while munching on an Empanada from La Sonrisa?

BEST FOR DATE NIGHT: Park Avenue Summer
Where: 100 East 63rd Street (at Park Avenue), 212-644-1900, www.parkavenyc.com
When: Sunday evenings throughout the summer - $35, 3-course Paella Menu
On the menu: At a restaurant that thrives on the concept of changing their menu with the seasons, Park Avenue Summer is the perfect spot to celebrate the warmer weather. Park Avenue Summer will offer a three-course Hamptons Paella Menu paired with Lieb Cellars Rosé on Sunday evenings for the duration of the summer. For an authentic paella experience, the classic Spanish dish will be made in the dining room in a 4-foot paellera and will be loaded with summery ingredients like Maine lobster, native corn and mussels. The regular menu will also include other summer favorites such as Swordfish Nicoise with Haricots Verts and Mediterranean Branzino. While this certainly isn’t a meal you’ll have to crack open with a mallet, the elegance of Park Avenue Summer is a true delight.

IF YOU LIKE TO DRINK YOUR VEGETABLES: Trestle on Tenth
Where: 242 10th Avenue (at 24th Street), 212-645-5659, www.trestleontenth.com
When: Select cocktails (four at a time) from The Drinkable Garden menu will be on circulation for brunch, lunch and dinner throughout the summer
On the menu: When you were little, you used to feed your vegetables to the family dog under the table. And while you can’t quite remember the exact day when you decided you actually liked Brussels sprouts, you never thought you’d be drinking them through a straw! To celebrate the season, Trestle on Tenth opened their newly renovated outdoor patio and simultaneously announced their brand new cocktail menu including drinks made with fresh vegetables! Whether you prefer the Belle of the Ball with vodka, red bell pepper, mint, grapefruit juice, lemon juice and yellow chartreuse or the 20/20 with house-made carrot-infused Tito’s vodka, fresh carrot and lime juice, we promise not to rat you out to your mom!

Bring on the sunshine!

Let's Eat!
The Fabulous Foodie

My Bone Marrow Piece on Wild Table

The food writer community in New York City is massive, I'm constantly meeting more and more people all the time. Attending the IACP Regional Conference back in February introduced me to a lot of food writers, like Andrea Strong, and another that I haven't yet introduced you to: Warren Bobrow.

Warren told a compelling story. Sick of the grind working for the man, he quit his job to become a food writer. And did he ever! Warren is now a successful writer for Wild River Review, contributing to the Wild Table portion of the site. A few weeks ago, Warren asked me to write an article on an ingredient and a chef that cooks said ingredient beautifully. After getting over the initial excitement at the opportunity, I decided to write about Bone Marrow. What an ingredient it is!

To read my piece, which also features my photography, please visit Wild Table > Bone Marrow.

I'll share my photos here with you as well, I think they came out pretty great!
Roasted Bone Marrow at Minetta Tavern (you've already seen this one):

Onion & Bone Marrow Soup at The Breslin:

And Again:

Roasted Bone Marrow at Beauty & Essex:

Thanks a million to Warren Bobrow for the opportunity. I've been lucky enough to meet some incredible people in this industry and I'm always in such awe of their kindness and talent.

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Pancake Month at Clinton St. Baking Company

When my brother Josh and I were little, we knew that staying at our grandparents' house meant we'd get to eat pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We both just loved our grandmother's pancakes, and when you're a kid, what could possibly be better than eating nothing but big, fluffy pancakes for 3 meals a day?

Clinton St. Baking Company in the Lower East Side is known for their incredibly delicious pancakes, and they have deemed February 'Pancake Month' where they feature a new flavor each night of the week. My friend Michelle devised the brilliant plan to have some of the girls over to her apartment, also in the Lower East Side, and get a pancake dinner delivered since the actual restaurant is a very small space with waits sometimes exceeding 2 hours. I love my friends for a lot of reasons, but their enthusiasm for this idea just reinforced why they're my friends in the first place.

Last week, we all sat around Michelle's coffee table in her beautiful 1-bedroom apartment and listened as she placed our order over the phone. The woman on the other end of the phone joked, "Wow, is this all for you?" to which Michelle replied, "Yeah, I'm REALLY hungry!" Our order came to over $100 (don't judge!) and we anxiously awaited the delivery of our meal. That night the special was Crunchy Banana Pancakes with Cinnamon Chili Chocolate Sauce and my friend Caroline and I decided to split 1 order and a side of Onion Rings. Yes, of course I had to get something savory on the side since pancakes are typically sweet.

When the buzzer rang, we literally cheered with excitement. The delivery guy dropped off our 2 huge bags of food and we got to work handing out each container to its proper owner. Once all the girls had their food, we dug in.

I was really happy that Caroline and I had decided to split an order of pancakes, because these suckers were very sweet. I had to skip the butter that came on the side, but I poured a healthy amount of maple syrup all over my portion and the liquid began to disappear, being soaked up by the porous pancakes.

Slightly crispy around the edges, soft and light in the middle and covered in crunchy bananas, I was delighted by the textures that mingled on my tongue. I only used a small amount of the chocolate sauce, but it truly made the meal since the result reminded me the of banana/chocolate chip pancakes I used to eat when I was little. I put the Onion Rings on the plate right alongside the pancakes, and the salt enhanced the flavor of the pancakes to create the perfect bite. Some maple syrup definitely ended up on those onion rings, but somehow it worked and was absolutely delicious. The Onion Rings were not the typical fake fried circular version that you get at a lot of restaurants. You could tell these were homemade, irregular in shape and covered in a skin that was flaky and lighter than I expected.

I cleaned every last drop of food from my plate and leaned back on the couch as the food coma began to settle in.

While I may have been able to eat pancakes several times a day when I was 6 years old, 20 years later one serving is about all I can handle. All the girls enjoyed their pancakes, orders ranged from the Crunchy Banana with Onion Rings to Blueberry Pancakes with a side omelet to just Regular Pancakes, and there was barely a bite left over by the end. My friend Meg was kind enough to save a few bites to bring home to her boyfriend, but like I said, I cleared my plate. Sorry Patrick!

If you haven't had a chance to try Clinton St. Baking Company's pancakes, hurry and get them soon to take advantage of Pancake Month, or head down to the Lower East Side and wait for a table that will be well worth your time. I'm so happy I got to avoid the wait, but still enjoy the pancakes with my friends.

How do you feel about eating breakfast food for dinner? Do you think there are pancakes in NYC better than Clinton Street's? Let me know, I'll have to check them out.

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Are You Ready For Some Meatballs?

I will start off by saying that no one, NO ONE, will ever make better meatballs than my dad's mother used to make. Now that we've established that fact, I can move onto the best meatballs not made by a member of my family. I heard about The Meatball Shop this past summer after it opened early in 2010, and I've personally been to the Lower East Side spot twice.

For those of you New Yorkers who are unfamiliar with this house of meatballs, I ask you, "Have you been living under a rock?!" The Meatball Shop guys (I am referring to co-owners Daniel Holzman & Michael Chernow) are everywhere!

Recently they were featured on The Jimmy Fallon Show. More on them later.

As a side note, I've been following another NYC foodie blogger named Megan whose blog is called This Girl Can Eat. If you haven't read her blog, you're missing out! I saw the post she did on The Meatball Shop and she mentioned that they were going to be putting on a 6-course meatball feast at the James Beard House and that tickets were still available. I immediately tweeted at her to find out if she was going, and such was the start of a lovely foodie friendship. We ended up getting tickets to the event and meeting up to enjoy the meal together. It's true that we both prayed the other wouldn't turn out to be a total sketchball, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we had a ton in common.

I'll spare you the details of two foodies bonding over meatballs and just tell you about the meal itself because It. Was. Fabulous.

We checked our coats and were shown into the James Beard House through the kitchen. But what's this? The Meatball Shop guys themselves are in the kitchen preparing the meal? So cool! We both stood there and geeked out for awhile before continuing into the main room for some Prosecco. We stood around getting to know each other and out of the kitchen came the first 3 courses:
1. Miniature Maryland Crabmeat and Potato Chip Meatballs with Old Bay Dipping Sauce
2. Miniature Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
3. Reuben Meatball Sliders with Sauerkraut and Thousand Island Dressing

Words can't even describe how incredible these 3 meatballs were. The Crabmeat and Potato Chip meatball tasted like the best crabcake I'd ever had. The buffalo chicken meatball tasted like the best boneless wing I'd ever had. And I was plesently surprised by the Reuben meatball because I'm not a huge fan of sauerkraut. They were all amazing!

At this point my dining companion wanted to go say hi to the Meatball Shop guys because she has been exchanging messages back and forth with them, so we stepped back into the kitchen. We found Daniel Holzman hanging out in the kitchen with his mom and he couldn't have been happier to talk to us. Talk about gracious! This guy was so nice! We chatted with him for a few minutes and we could tell he was genuinely a nice guy. I'm always happy when the good guys find success. They deserve it!

We finished up our chat and headed upstairs to the dining room for the main courses. We were seated at a table for 6, but we barely said a word to the other 4 at our table. Maybe it was rude, but my new foodie friend and I had only just met and we had so much to talk about!

One by one, the meatballs (and wine!) arrived:

Mushroom–Lentil Soup with Chicken Meatballs paired with Fattori Runcaris Soave

Mediterranean Lamb Meatballs with Braised Kale and Classic Tomato Sauce paired with Cesani Ireos Chianti

Spicy Pork Meatballs and Spicy Meat Sauce with Soft Polenta paired with Parusso Barbera d’Alba

Every course was better than the one before it, but they were all delicious. The wines paired perfectly with the meatballs and by the time I was finished, I was satisfied and happy.

I looked on the menu and saw that there was 1 more pairing left:
Walnut Meringue Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Ice Cream with a Port ToddyI only planned to take one bite so I could write about it honestly. And then once I took a bite, I was only going to take ONE more bite. And then, the whole darn thing was gone. Whoops. It went so perfectly with the spicy Port Toddy that oozed with cinnamon that I couldn't help myself. It's hard to say I'm "not a dessert person" after I basically lick my plate. Oh well, c'est la vie!

After we finished the meal, Daniel & Michael got up and thanked everyone for coming. We stood up as we realized that a glass of Prosecco, 3 glasses of wine and a port toddy meant our heads were spinning and giggled ourselves all the way back downstairs. We saw Daniel on our way out and he personally thanked us for coming and not for one second did I sense anything insincere about him. He is truly an awesome guy who has not let his overnight stardom go to his head. Like I said before, these guys deserve all the success they have coming to them, and I wish them nothing but the best. Keep those meatballs coming!

At lunch, they announced that 2 more locations would be opening, in the West Village & Williamsburg. Amazing! I can't wait for many more meatball meals at The Meatball Shop.

What are your thoughts about a restaurant that only focuses on one type of food? Love it? Hate it? Can't live without it? I fall into the last group in that list. I can't wait for more foodie adventures, but it will be hard to top this one!

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Fabulous Evening: Beauty & Essex

As I've mentioned before, there are few things as exciting to me as an incredible dinner out in NYC. Making the reservation, perusing the menu before the big night, having a drink at the bar while waiting for the table, finally sitting, ordering, taking the first bite. I'm not sure where my food obsession came from, but my heart was practically racing as Patrick and I walked into Beauty & Essex Thursday night, the new Lower East Side joint from Chris Santos of Stanton Social fame. If you haven't read my post on Stanton Social brunch, click here before continuing.I've been reading rave reviews of the restaurant since it opened a few weeks ago, so I really couldn't wait to see the champagne lounge in the ladies' room for myself. To make the night even more exciting, I had been Tweeting back and forth with Chris Santos for a few days, and he told me to ask for him when I got there. More on that later.

We walked through the funky pawn shop and opened the door to the restaurant. I was blown away by how beautiful the space was. High ceilings, dim lighting, beautiful accents, vaulted ceilings and a winding staircase set the mood for our night. We gave our name and went over to the bar for a drink. I ordered a Golden Peacock (cucumber hangar one & junmai sake, granny smith apple, pineapple & mint) and it was honestly the most delicious cocktail I had ever tasted. Our name was called and we were shown to a table for two in the main dining room.

When we opened the menu, we decided we would share several things between the 2 of us. We landed on the Chicken Fried Oysters with apple, bacon & braised spinach and the Yellowtail Crudo with caramelized citrus yuzu, avocado & cilantro to start. When the waitress took our order, I quickly asked her if she wouldn't mind letting Chris Santos know that Rachel was here. I wasn't expecting anything because I didn't want to get my hopes up, but it doesn't hurt to ask.The first thing the waiter brought to the table was an amuse bouche, 2 small "Caesar Salad" bites. There was a tiny bit of romaine and caesar dressing on a small round crisp. They were delicious! Then our appetizers came out and my mouth began to water. The Chicken Fried Oysters, something I've never had before, were crispy and flavorful without being the least bit greasy. The Yellowtail Crudo had a nice, fresh taste and the avocado was ripe and added a nice texture and flavor to the yellowtail. We enjoyed the appetizers and opened our menus back up to decide on what to eat for our main courses.Beauty & Essex dinner, like Stanton Social brunch, features small portions meant for sharing. Since we had already decided to share, this worked out perfectly. We couldn't pass up the 18 oz. Classic New York Strip or the Brick Pressed Chicken with creamy mascarpone polenta & sweet roasted tomato salad. At the last second, we added a side of Brussels Sprouts to our order to make our moms proud (and because we secretly love them!) While we were waiting for our food, I noticed Mr. Santos had come out onto the floor of the restaurant to greet some other diners, and my heart jumped. I was beyond excited at the prospect of meeting a chef I respected so much. I remembered how amazing it was to meet Wylie Dufresne at WD-50, and I truly hoped I'd have a chance to say hi to Chris.I made a quick trip to the bathroom so I could check out this free champagne I had been hearing about. Right there, in the ladies' bathroom, was a private champagne bar! Incredible! Why haven't any other restaurants done this?!

I went back to the table, and when the food came, I knew we had made the right selections. The steak was perfectly cooked medium/medium rare and the chicken looked juicy. I was impressed at the portion sizes, imagining they'd actually be a lot smaller. Both dishes lived up to our expectations. The steak was great, very well-seasoned and came with 4 side sauces that Patrick had a blast with. I'm not a huge sauce person, so I let him have at it. He said they were delicious, so I'll take his word for it. The chicken was as juicy as it looked, with a nice skin on it. The polenta under the chicken was a little too spicy for me, but had a unique taste that I did enjoy.

We basically licked both plates clean, and then we started our usual dessert discussion. It goes something like this:

Patrick: "Do you want to get dessert?"
Me: "Nah, not really."
Patrick: "Well, if I order something, will you share it with me?"
Me: "I'll probably try a bite, but don't order based on what I like, get what you want."
Patrick: "Okay, you'd eat the (insert dessert name here), right?"
Me: "Sure, why not?"

And then he'll order something that he knows I would eat. This time, it was the Apple Pie with Cheddar Ice Cream. Cheese? And ice cream? I had to try it! The small pastry that the apple pie came in was also cheddar, and nothing on the plate was at all sweet. This was my kind of dessert! Savory? Yes please! I was blown away by how much I enjoyed this so-called "dessert." Good thing Patrick is good at sharing. I pretty much attacked the ice cream and loved every last bite.By the time our bill came, I was both full and resigned to the fact that it just wasn't my night to meet Chris Santos. Bummer. Then I looked down at my phone and saw that he had tweeted at me again. "are you still here? I just went up to say hi and your not at the table?!? I'm sorry if I missed you!!" I was floored! I wrote back letting him know I was still there and where I was sitting. And then I waited. Finally, he came out of the kitchen and started making the rounds to a few other tables. We figured we'd go stand near the entrance and wait for him to be done chatting, and then he started walking over to us. I couldn't believe I was about to meet him!

I stuck my hand out and introduced myself, and as soon as he shook our hands, he started talking with us as if he's known us for years. He told us about the restaurant, the food, the menu... we were chatting up a storm! I had a huge smile plastered on my face. Then he asked if I had been upstairs yet and I told him I hadn't. He personally took us upstairs to show us around. A private tour of the restaurant by Chris Santos? Was I dreaming? After showing us around and chatting for a few more minutes, he lead us over to the bar and ordered a round of drinks on him. I seriously couldn't believe this was happening. He thanked us for coming and told us to let him know when we planned to come back.

Chris Santos is an incredible chef, an accomplished restaurateur and one of the nicest, most down-to-earth guys I have ever met. Thank you, Chris, your food and your visit with us truly made our night! We will absolutely be back.

To my awesome readers, have you ever met one of your favorite chefs? Were they nice? Which chefs would you like to meet? Everyone should put Chris Santos on their list, he's a great guy!

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Brunch Spots: Stanton Social

To write about brunch spots in NYC and not include Chris Santos' Lower East Side gem Stanton Social would be a crime. Stanton Social is a beautiful restaurant and bar that I first knew as the place to get an awesome dirty martini amid beautiful people on a Saturday night. The first time I tried it for brunch, my life was forever changed.

The first thing that sets Stanton Social apart from other brunch spots is the fact that the menu is tapas-style. Tapas? For brunch? Oh yes.

If you're anything like me, you'll order eggs for brunch and when they come, you'll wish you ordered pancakes, and vice versa. Or, you'll go all out and order the special that has eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, pancakes, biscuits and waffles, eat everything and then need to lie down to take a 100-hour nap. (And if you're a Dane Cook fan, you'll note that this is also called "taking a coma.")

But not at Stanton Social. Here you can order a stack of Silver Dollar Pancakes, 1 small Bacon, Egg & Cheese Slider, a tiny plate of Huevos Rancheros and an order of Pumpkin Mini-Muffins and still have room for the famous French Onion Soup Dumplings. This concept is brilliant, and I went for brunch this past Sunday with Patrick, Caroline and two of Pat's friends from Baltimore. Here is what we had.

Caroline and I started with the Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Butter. Seasonal, moist and absolutely delicious. Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors, so if there is a pumpkin item on the menu, I will usually order it. These muffins didn't disappoint. Patrick got the Ricotta Fritters with Raspberry Jam, and they were sweet with a wonderful ricotta flavor. We all know I'm not one for sweet, but if there is any kind of cheese, I'm in.

The next dishes to come out were the Huevos Rancheros, Red Snapper Mini Tacos and Spicy Lobster Benedict. The Huevos Rancheros are the perfect minature portion of the classic dish with scrambled chorizo & eggs, black beans, 'salsa fresca' & aged cheddar.

The Snapper Tacos were a delight, although I thought they were a little too tiny, and I didn't try the Lobster Benedict, but Caroline & Pat seemed very pleased with it.

One of my favorite items on the menu is the Double Smoked Bacon, Egg & Cheese on a Buttermilk Biscuit. This comes with a side of crispy salt & vinegar chips, and I have to say, this version of the classic blows away every other I've ever had. The biscuit is buttery (stomachache alert!), the bacon is smokey and the cheese is oozy. This is the point in the meal when I've stopped trying to make conversation with my friends and am just sitting there in awe of the delicious food I'm eating.

Another item that my friends ordered that I didn't try was the 'Kobe Philly' with Truffle & Goat Cheese Fondue. Those who did have it said it was their favorite thing they had. Sounds like I missed out, but there's always next time!

We rounded out the meal with the Spicy Lamb Souvlakis with Tzatziki, Lime & Harissa Aioli, the Social Mac & Cheese with Chorizo & Ovendried Tomato and the aforementioned famous French Onion Soup Dumplings.

The Lamb Souvlaki is delicious and is one of Pat's favorites, the Mac & Cheese was very good, although a bit heavy for me, especially after everything I'd already had, and the French Onion Soup Dumplings were, as always, incredible. A beautiful dumpling filled with piping hot French Onion Soup on a toothpick topped with a crouton and tons of ooey gooey cheese make for Stanton Social's top brunch item and my personal favorite. I'm not kidding when I tell you, if you try nothing else on the entire menu, go to Stanton Social and order yourself these dumplings. You won't be disappointed.

All 5 of us ended our meal absolutely stuffed, and the ONLY bite left on the table was the end of the Mac & Cheese. We were all too full to take the last bite. This is a brunch that I will recommend every New Yorker try at least once, go with a good group and share everything on the menu. The food is incredible.

Chris Santos has just opened another restaurant called Beauty & Essex around the corner form Stanton Social. I have dinner reservations there next week, and I can't wait to try it and write about it.

Well done, Mr. Santos. Well done.

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Fabulous Food: WD-50

If you're going to claim to be a foodie in NYC, there are certain restaurants that just have to be on your "must try" list. Per Se (it can't be the #1 restaurant on every NYC list for no reason), Del Posto (to see if it really deserved that 4th Michelin star) and, as the title of this post suggests, WD-50 (because what does "molecular gastronomy" really taste like, Mr. Dufresne?) Ever since I met my boyfriend Patrick a few years ago, this restaurant has been at the top of his "must try" list. For his birthday last week, I decided to surprise him with dinner at WD-50.

Let me start off by saying that I decided to take Patrick to WD-50 in mid-September. When I went on OpenTable.com (a popular reservation website) to make the reservation, I noticed there were only 6pm and 9pm reservations. How could this be? I was looking at dates that were a month out. I figured I'd give them a call. I told them I wanted a reservation at 7:30pm on October 21st. "Would you like to take 6pm or 9pm?" Seriously?! On a Thursday night a month in advance? Now I, too, was intrigued. I took the 9pm reservation and figured we'd just make a late night out of it.

We ended up at a bar in Soho for our friend Sam's last day at her old job before dinner, so we got into a cab around 8:30pm. I whispered the streets to the cab driver and made Patrick close his eyes. I was so excited to surprise him! We finally arrived on Clinton in the Lower East Side and got out of the cab across the street from WD-50. When he noticed the restaurant, a huge smile spread across his face. He looked like a little kid in Disney World. Finally we'd get to eat at the restaurant he's been pining after for years!

We stepped inside and were told our table was not yet ready, which was fine because we were early. We sat at the bar and ordered drinks. I had a fantastically crisp Savignon Blanc while Patrick, as usual, ordered the most intriguing cocktail on the menu, which was a mix of tequila and about 10 other ingredients. He loved it, and we were off to a good start.

When our table was finally ready, we were lead into the dining area and that is when we saw Wylie Dufresne himself in the open-layout kitchen. We were instantly starstruck. Great chefs are huge celebrities to us, and this was truly exciting. We sat down between two couples who were clearly enjoying the $140 tasting menu with $85 wine pairing, and we started to look over the menu.

Before we had decided what we wanted, the waitress came over with a bottle of Rose Champagne. She popped it, put it on our table and said "Happy Birthday, Love Mom." How sweet! Patrick's mom had sent a bottle of champagne to our table for his birthday. Thanks again Mrs. Patty & Mr. George, it was delicious! The bottle was a mix of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and it went perfectly with our meal.

Speaking of our meal. We decided to split 2 appetizers: The first was aerated foie with pickled beet, mashed plum & brioche. The texture of the foie was incredible, much like that of a chocolate mousse. When you took a bite with all the elements on the plate together, the taste was like nothing I'd ever had before.

The second appetizer we shared was the Peekytoe crab roll with salt ‘n vinegar chips & celery mayonnaise. Again, the taste was out of this world. The color of the celery mayo was incredible. The salt 'n vinegar chips added just the right texture and flavor to the crab roll. Patrick and I would take a bite of one of the appetizers and then trade plates until every last bite was gone. If our entrees were going to be anything like the appetizers, we were truly in for a treat.

For dinner I decided on the Duck breast with apple, cheddar & kimchee-cous cous while Patrick ordered the Iberico pork neck with smoked paprika spaetzle, peach & marcona almond. When they came out, I was pleasantly surprised at how large the portions were. Both dishes were cooked to perfection and smelled incredible. The dish with the broth is the duck, and the broth was a cheese-based broth (not butter, as I feared.) As we ate, we traded bites and marveled at how delicious it all tasted. Duck dishes I've had in the past have been both over-salted and rubbery, but this dish was both well-seasoned and very tender. I enjoyed every bite.

Patrick also seemed to love his pork dish, which I thought was one of the most delicious bites of pork I had ever tasted. The spaetzle was a delicious accompaniment to the meat, and the peach and almond added a nice flavor.

When we finished our dinner, we decided we had to try a dessert. As you know, dessert is a course I usually skip, but I already knew they were bringing out a candle for Patrick's birthday so I decided I would split something with him. I let him pick, and he chose the Hazelnut tart with coconut, chocolate & chicory. The dessert was actually more salty than it was sweet, so even I enjoyed it!

When we had finished the last bite, we thought the night couldn't get any better. That was until the waitress took us back into the kitchen to meet Wylie Dufresne himself! Amazing! He was so nice and humble, and it truly made the night one that neither of us will ever forget.

Happy Birthday, Patrick! I can't wait to go back and try the amazing tasting menu!

What is the #1 restaurant you're dying to try? If you could meet any chef, who would it be? My next goal is to meet Tom Colicchio, my favorite chef!

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie