I love you, pierogi and asparagus dinner.xoxo
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Il Bagatto hits the spot-o...sort of.
My friend L is an Italian food junkie (and won't eat much else), so she chose this place, Il Bagatto, for her belated birthday dinner last evening. A small group of five diners braved the V train to the Lower East Side, and we arrived at around 5:45 p.m. to begin the festivities.
The first, and perhaps most accurate, thing that I need to say about this place is that it's weird. First of all, the restaurant's Web site doesn't even include a regular menu, just a takeout menu. And, as it turns out, they only had half the items listed on the menu provided by nymag.com. Hello, "fusilli served with sausage, mushroom, peas, fresh tomato and a touch of cream"...where were you?
The restaurant itself is actually very pretty, with the standard "we're a rustic Italian trattoria" decor of exposed brick and white linens and candles. The strangeness began when we were ushered downstairs to wait at the bar while they "got our table ready," despite the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday. The downstairs bar, which is pictured on the nymag.com Web page, is actually pretty cool, and the back rooms are beautiful and private and would probably be quite romantic if you were hiding away with someone. However, we were not hiding away. We were loud, loud people who planned to celebrate a birthday in a drunken haze.
After five weird (there's that word again) minutes talking to the bartender and trying to decide what to order, they informed us that our table was ready. Upstairs. So, we all trooped back up there and plunked ourselves down. We ordered a bottle of wine (obviously), and listened to the list of specials, which seemed to have no end. It seemed strange that the list of specials was longer than the menu, but there were quite a few great choices, so there were no complaints. I ended up ordering fusili with eggplant in a tomato and ricotta sauce, and after everyone had selected their dishes we dissolved into drinking, witty conversation, and tearing apart the delicious hunks of bread varieties in the basket, including one with kalamata olives.
This is where a few more weird details make their appearance. L isn't a fan of eating bread dipped in olive oil (I'm pretty sure she's faking her Italian heritage), so she always asks for butter. When she requested this from the waiter, he informed her that they don't serve butter with the bread.
Silence. Crickets.
We know they have butter. They know they have butter. Why won't they just give us a pat of butter to humor us? Are they cutting back on their butter usage so much that they can't let the poor girl use a smidge of it for her damn roll on her BIRTHDAY?
A similar issue arose when we were served our meals. The waiter offered to drizzle a bit of parmesan on my pasta (which I OBVIOUSLY accepted), but when L asked for cheese on her meal she was told that they couldn't put cheese on her choice. I'm not sure exactly what she got, but it was PASTA, for heaven's sake. They can't spare a spoonful of cheese? My friend A, naturally, spoke up and asked if she couldn't please have the parmesan cheese anyway, despite their ludicrous policy. The waiter apologized and said that no, she could not, but he might be able to get her some pecorino romano cheese instead. She declined.
It must be said at this point that the food was pretty sensational. The bread was great and the fusili was pretty delicious too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wolfed down the entire plate! Also, they agreed to serve the same fusili dish to A, who is vegan, without the cheese, so in their defense they were at least accomodating in that respect.
After dinner, I wondered quietly to A if I should bother telling the wait staff that it was L's birthday, and she whispered back that she'd already told them. However, if we were expecting some kind of fuss to be made, we were mistaken. No slice of cake with a single candle. No singing. No discount. No mention of her birthday whatsoever from the employees, not a peep. However, they did manage to write "Happy Birthday" on the BILL. Happy birthday INDEED.
So all in all, I suppose I would recommend this place again considering the food is decently priced and pretty good, plus the decor is cute. However, do not make any perfectly reasonable requests for things like butter or cheese in this ITALIAN RESTAURANT. You will be DENIED.
Good thing we left and went to a bar.
Side note: I also have a few Italian restaurants that I'd like to try at some point: Fresh Basil, which didn't get a great review from nymag.com but which was highly recommended to me by a coworker, and Baraonda, which L found while walking to meet me for dinner elsewhere the other day. They had me at "semi-weekly dance party..."
The first, and perhaps most accurate, thing that I need to say about this place is that it's weird. First of all, the restaurant's Web site doesn't even include a regular menu, just a takeout menu. And, as it turns out, they only had half the items listed on the menu provided by nymag.com. Hello, "fusilli served with sausage, mushroom, peas, fresh tomato and a touch of cream"...where were you?
The restaurant itself is actually very pretty, with the standard "we're a rustic Italian trattoria" decor of exposed brick and white linens and candles. The strangeness began when we were ushered downstairs to wait at the bar while they "got our table ready," despite the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday. The downstairs bar, which is pictured on the nymag.com Web page, is actually pretty cool, and the back rooms are beautiful and private and would probably be quite romantic if you were hiding away with someone. However, we were not hiding away. We were loud, loud people who planned to celebrate a birthday in a drunken haze.
After five weird (there's that word again) minutes talking to the bartender and trying to decide what to order, they informed us that our table was ready. Upstairs. So, we all trooped back up there and plunked ourselves down. We ordered a bottle of wine (obviously), and listened to the list of specials, which seemed to have no end. It seemed strange that the list of specials was longer than the menu, but there were quite a few great choices, so there were no complaints. I ended up ordering fusili with eggplant in a tomato and ricotta sauce, and after everyone had selected their dishes we dissolved into drinking, witty conversation, and tearing apart the delicious hunks of bread varieties in the basket, including one with kalamata olives.
This is where a few more weird details make their appearance. L isn't a fan of eating bread dipped in olive oil (I'm pretty sure she's faking her Italian heritage), so she always asks for butter. When she requested this from the waiter, he informed her that they don't serve butter with the bread.
Silence. Crickets.
We know they have butter. They know they have butter. Why won't they just give us a pat of butter to humor us? Are they cutting back on their butter usage so much that they can't let the poor girl use a smidge of it for her damn roll on her BIRTHDAY?
A similar issue arose when we were served our meals. The waiter offered to drizzle a bit of parmesan on my pasta (which I OBVIOUSLY accepted), but when L asked for cheese on her meal she was told that they couldn't put cheese on her choice. I'm not sure exactly what she got, but it was PASTA, for heaven's sake. They can't spare a spoonful of cheese? My friend A, naturally, spoke up and asked if she couldn't please have the parmesan cheese anyway, despite their ludicrous policy. The waiter apologized and said that no, she could not, but he might be able to get her some pecorino romano cheese instead. She declined.
It must be said at this point that the food was pretty sensational. The bread was great and the fusili was pretty delicious too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wolfed down the entire plate! Also, they agreed to serve the same fusili dish to A, who is vegan, without the cheese, so in their defense they were at least accomodating in that respect.
After dinner, I wondered quietly to A if I should bother telling the wait staff that it was L's birthday, and she whispered back that she'd already told them. However, if we were expecting some kind of fuss to be made, we were mistaken. No slice of cake with a single candle. No singing. No discount. No mention of her birthday whatsoever from the employees, not a peep. However, they did manage to write "Happy Birthday" on the BILL. Happy birthday INDEED.
So all in all, I suppose I would recommend this place again considering the food is decently priced and pretty good, plus the decor is cute. However, do not make any perfectly reasonable requests for things like butter or cheese in this ITALIAN RESTAURANT. You will be DENIED.
Good thing we left and went to a bar.
Side note: I also have a few Italian restaurants that I'd like to try at some point: Fresh Basil, which didn't get a great review from nymag.com but which was highly recommended to me by a coworker, and Baraonda, which L found while walking to meet me for dinner elsewhere the other day. They had me at "semi-weekly dance party..."
Sweet surprise
Good news! Our vegetarian friends at Maoz have introduced a new dish that is dear to our hearts here at SPF. That's right kids, sweet potato fries (pictured here with a healthy dousing of tahini) are now available alongside your exploding falafel. Veg out!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Gnocchi Gnocchi! Who's there?
I just got a hot insider tip regarding some all-you-can-eat action. Apparently, Piola (that italian place on 12th) has a bunch of leftover gnocchi at the end of the month or something. On the 29th of each month, they offer an all you eat gnocchi special! It's around $12, and comes with soup or salad in case you somehow fail to turn your stomach into solid mass of dough. One month ends, and a new food coma begins.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
James Beard Awards!
Winners: http://www.jamesbeard.org/files/2009_JBF_Award_Winners.pdf
Thanks to T for that...and thanks to the dick who made the poll. It's like Homecoming Court (or, more accurately, Student Council) all over again.
Thanks to T for that...and thanks to the dick who made the poll. It's like Homecoming Court (or, more accurately, Student Council) all over again.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
New Coffee Shop Find
So I'd like to post some followup to my "what I think makes a good coffee shop" post, but I'm not going to do that now. I will, however, discuss a new place that has a lot of whatever it is (except the great coffee, oddly enough). The Outpost Lounge in Bed-Stuy is a pretty nice place to sit. Here are a collection of my reflections on the few hours I just spent there, numbered for your pleasure:
1. Liquid consumables. The coffee itself was adequate, but only that. It was slightly less expensive than the excellent coffee available in the more northerly parts of Brooklyn. That said, they had excellent tea, Awesome (!) cran-lemonade, and they served various boozes. Among the various downers my favorite was The Bed-Stuy Mimosa (without having tried it): a red stripe mixed with OJ or Pacifico and grapefruit juice.
2. Solid consumables. They had food, which I think is a big plus. This is not just your usual 'we had baked goods shipped in' stuff, but cheese plates with fresh mozzarella, chili of the meat and veggie kind, and pasta salads. Their salad was excellent, they had baguettes, all kinds of good stuff.
3. Location. It's in Bed Stuy. The clientele was 'mixed,' but only sort of. The ratio of 'hip' looking people to 'not hip' looking people shifted upon entering to such an extent that it was impossible not to notice even for someone as oblivious as myself. As a result I'm not sure how I feel about the place in some capacity. Maybe it's bringing a nice new opportunity to the neighborhood? Maybe it's forcing renters from their homes? I have no idea, but it's probably worth thinking about. All that said, a big plus about it's location is that there was room mid-day on a kinda dreary sunday, which is a big deal.
4. Music: they played some jazz that was nice, but then there was an awful lot of music that I loved, but which also made me think: holy shit I must be some kinda target demographic now. Of note: queen, madonna, george michael, GnR, Christ this list could go on forever.
5. Seating. There was a huge back porch that looked beautiful from the inside. Too wet to use a computer at, though. There was plenty of seating inside, though this lead to a dearth of walking room. Once you were in place it was not uncomfortable, but if you had to move for any reason things got awkward.
6. Decor: falling apart wood things that were obviously gotten on the cheap. It looked nice, inexpensive, and somehow not contrived. That was particularly refreshing given the ostentation its competitors. There was some 'local art' but it didn't dominate anything and was easily ignorable.
7. Hunkerability. There's free wi-fi, and at no point did I get anything like a dirty look for having had a computer plugged into a wall for hours while only having ordered a single beverage. People are doing their own thing, but they're friendly enough if you need them to move to plug in a computer, or if a cringeworthy song comes on and you happen to have forgotten to keep your verbal cringing to yourself.
All in all, it seemed to have most of the things I want out of a coffee shop going on except the great coffee. It reminded me of a place I used to go in Clearwater whose slogan was "because you don't have anything better to do" or "because there's nothing else to do," or something like that. The only difference is this is New York and there's a lot of better things to do. So why go there? What can I say, I like sitting in a place full of strangers listening to music and drinking stimulants.
PS. Lucky Shot, the place on Driggs in Greenpoint has very good coffee (Stumptown) made by people who know how to work an espressos machine. It is worth checking out.
1. Liquid consumables. The coffee itself was adequate, but only that. It was slightly less expensive than the excellent coffee available in the more northerly parts of Brooklyn. That said, they had excellent tea, Awesome (!) cran-lemonade, and they served various boozes. Among the various downers my favorite was The Bed-Stuy Mimosa (without having tried it): a red stripe mixed with OJ or Pacifico and grapefruit juice.
2. Solid consumables. They had food, which I think is a big plus. This is not just your usual 'we had baked goods shipped in' stuff, but cheese plates with fresh mozzarella, chili of the meat and veggie kind, and pasta salads. Their salad was excellent, they had baguettes, all kinds of good stuff.
3. Location. It's in Bed Stuy. The clientele was 'mixed,' but only sort of. The ratio of 'hip' looking people to 'not hip' looking people shifted upon entering to such an extent that it was impossible not to notice even for someone as oblivious as myself. As a result I'm not sure how I feel about the place in some capacity. Maybe it's bringing a nice new opportunity to the neighborhood? Maybe it's forcing renters from their homes? I have no idea, but it's probably worth thinking about. All that said, a big plus about it's location is that there was room mid-day on a kinda dreary sunday, which is a big deal.
4. Music: they played some jazz that was nice, but then there was an awful lot of music that I loved, but which also made me think: holy shit I must be some kinda target demographic now. Of note: queen, madonna, george michael, GnR, Christ this list could go on forever.
5. Seating. There was a huge back porch that looked beautiful from the inside. Too wet to use a computer at, though. There was plenty of seating inside, though this lead to a dearth of walking room. Once you were in place it was not uncomfortable, but if you had to move for any reason things got awkward.
6. Decor: falling apart wood things that were obviously gotten on the cheap. It looked nice, inexpensive, and somehow not contrived. That was particularly refreshing given the ostentation its competitors. There was some 'local art' but it didn't dominate anything and was easily ignorable.
7. Hunkerability. There's free wi-fi, and at no point did I get anything like a dirty look for having had a computer plugged into a wall for hours while only having ordered a single beverage. People are doing their own thing, but they're friendly enough if you need them to move to plug in a computer, or if a cringeworthy song comes on and you happen to have forgotten to keep your verbal cringing to yourself.
All in all, it seemed to have most of the things I want out of a coffee shop going on except the great coffee. It reminded me of a place I used to go in Clearwater whose slogan was "because you don't have anything better to do" or "because there's nothing else to do," or something like that. The only difference is this is New York and there's a lot of better things to do. So why go there? What can I say, I like sitting in a place full of strangers listening to music and drinking stimulants.
PS. Lucky Shot, the place on Driggs in Greenpoint has very good coffee (Stumptown) made by people who know how to work an espressos machine. It is worth checking out.
Friday, May 1, 2009
What (Sweet Potato) Friends Are For: A Side Dish Conundrum
Solving food problems exclusively via g-chat and text:
Eric: so I need to borrow some of your creativity...good side dish to go with mac and cheese?
me: ohhh....hmmm...what kind of m&c?
just regular?
Eric: homemade!
Eric: a little bit spicy
me: OH NICE...i would say a veggie of some kind
what about asparagus?
let me poll my foodie friends...
CaseyMustPie: asparagus...something green
CaseyMustPie: it's tough bc mac & cheese is a side dish
me: THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT
mwr: well that's southern, so i'd got with collards...you can get 'em nice and spicy and they're a great acompanyment ... and will also help digest that huge mass of noodle&cheese...most recipes call for a lot of boiling and stuff. if he doesn't want to take that much time just sautee 'em in olive oil and throw in some red peper/cayenne pepper and vinigear and add some onions too. if he wnats to get really fancy sautee it in pig fat...it's much better, though less healthy. it needs to be sauteed in some kindafat though otherwise it won't breakdown well and it'll be gross to eat.
mwr: Collards is the most fiber-pack and also healthiest of the big green leaves (kale, chard, etc.) and for that reason i think it goes well with mac over something like, say, spinach. Eating great and then feeling great afterward is amazing and rare
me: AGREED
T: bitter greens, like steamed kale with mushrooms & bacon or something like that
me: oooooh that' sounds good
T: yeah it's really easy too...kale is my go-to...with portobellos garlic and bacon and lemon juice
Eric: OH GENIUS...I make wilted spinach sometimes, but these are along the same lines but more creative than what I usually do...I usually just do some butter and onions
me: i'm asking R too, just to get a full spectrum...K comes in to work at 11
Eric: haha well I won't go to the veg stand until I hear all ideas
R: greens...jicama salad...something cool and crunchy to offset it
me: jicama salad?
R: yea--jicama, mango, red onion, cilantro...
me: i am unfamiliar with this jicama you speak of
R: http://search.chow.com/search?query=jicama+salad
me: oooh! thanks!
R: it is delicious
To: K (via text): Okay, foodie poll...Eric is making spicy mac and cheese and needs a good side dish so I'm polling everyone...thoughts??
From: K (via text): Sauteed kale with garlic
To: K (via text): NICE.
Eric: i'm excited for this experimentation...i'll be dorking it up later this morning, carrying my old lady shopping bag to the veggie stand
Eric: so I need to borrow some of your creativity...good side dish to go with mac and cheese?
me: ohhh....hmmm...what kind of m&c?
just regular?
Eric: homemade!
Eric: a little bit spicy
me: OH NICE...i would say a veggie of some kind
what about asparagus?
let me poll my foodie friends...
CaseyMustPie: asparagus...something green
CaseyMustPie: it's tough bc mac & cheese is a side dish
me: THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT
mwr: well that's southern, so i'd got with collards...you can get 'em nice and spicy and they're a great acompanyment ... and will also help digest that huge mass of noodle&cheese...most recipes call for a lot of boiling and stuff. if he doesn't want to take that much time just sautee 'em in olive oil and throw in some red peper/cayenne pepper and vinigear and add some onions too. if he wnats to get really fancy sautee it in pig fat...it's much better, though less healthy. it needs to be sauteed in some kindafat though otherwise it won't breakdown well and it'll be gross to eat.
mwr: Collards is the most fiber-pack and also healthiest of the big green leaves (kale, chard, etc.) and for that reason i think it goes well with mac over something like, say, spinach. Eating great and then feeling great afterward is amazing and rare
me: AGREED
T: bitter greens, like steamed kale with mushrooms & bacon or something like that
me: oooooh that' sounds good
T: yeah it's really easy too...kale is my go-to...with portobellos garlic and bacon and lemon juice
Eric: OH GENIUS...I make wilted spinach sometimes, but these are along the same lines but more creative than what I usually do...I usually just do some butter and onions
me: i'm asking R too, just to get a full spectrum...K comes in to work at 11
Eric: haha well I won't go to the veg stand until I hear all ideas
R: greens...jicama salad...something cool and crunchy to offset it
me: jicama salad?
R: yea--jicama, mango, red onion, cilantro...
me: i am unfamiliar with this jicama you speak of
R: http://search.chow.com/search?query=jicama+salad
me: oooh! thanks!
R: it is delicious
To: K (via text): Okay, foodie poll...Eric is making spicy mac and cheese and needs a good side dish so I'm polling everyone...thoughts??
From: K (via text): Sauteed kale with garlic
To: K (via text): NICE.
Eric: i'm excited for this experimentation...i'll be dorking it up later this morning, carrying my old lady shopping bag to the veggie stand
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